The Irish standard., 1890-05-10
GRIZZLIES.
Game That Old Hunters Do Not
Care to Meet When Alone.


eru;n Was Not Satisfied with Spanish
steers-A Bear Hunt In Which tho
Hear Did All the Hunting
That Was Done.
The California grizzly is most inter
ssting animal AS Bret Harte used TO
say, he has but one ungentlemanly
habit, that of scalping with his fore
paw, and this he caught from the wicked
red man. Otherwise, unless aggressive
ly assaulted, he is the pink OF good be-
hayior. He will walk of the trail and
rive you the right CT way, he will gather
salmon berries in the same patch, or
dig roots on the hillside while you are
sketching or writing not many yards
awav. If it were otherwise - 1t the
prizzlv had the temper OF the royal
Eigar - thousands of the pioneers OF
California would have persisted at his
claws, for a full-grown grizzly when
reused is terrible antagonist.
When Americans came to California
grizzlies were very numerous. General
Ridwell saw scores of them in the Napa
Valley. General Vallejo saw them feed
inc like sheep in the Santa Rosa. In
the acorn season they were found IN
droyes under the oaks. The Spanlards
learned to lasso and kill them. The
Americans found great sport in shooting
them from horseback. When the Mis-
sourian stockmen came they poisoned
thousand of grizzlies, and the work IS
still going on so steadily that the great
Pacific coast bear is very scarce, and
certain to become very rare in few
more years. At present the finest SKINS
that come to San Francisco are from the
high Sierras and from Alaska.
Forty-fve years ago there were grlz'
71ies in tho Santa Clara valley and in
the foothills within twenty miles OF
San Francisco. They were in the live
oak forests Of Encinal and the Contra
Costa, where Berkeley, Oakland and
Alameda now stand. They were occa-
sionally brought into the old mission OF
San Jose aud turned into rings to fight
Spanish bulls. But they lived for the
most part in contented obscurity.
When the pioneers came few of them
understood the nature Of the animal,
snd so the early stories that llnger in
the valley have elements Of surprise
that the later bear stories lack.
Old Captain Valpey, Nova scotlan
sailor, sold his sloop at an early day
and bought fcot-hill ranch. There was
a deep gulch on the tract full OF OAK
madrone and chapparal. Pretty soon
he discovered that large grizzly lived
there, The old captain went down to
the village for advice. "He will kill
your steers" said old Hester, who owned
a stock ranch ''Buy a bottle OF strych-
nine, and The first time you miss steer
90 out and poison the carcass" Captain
Valpey bought the strychnine. The
next day he climbed up the bill, over
The gulch, with his old spy-glass and
looked down He saw great brown
body moving along the trail, and soon
the bear passed within fifty feet of the
rock where he sat. The captain was
delighted at his appearance. The next
day at the village he declared: "Boys,
nobody shall shoot or poison that grizzly
of mine. He walks like an old salt, and
he's as big as g. horse! I amt too poor
to let him have hve-dollar Spanish steer
whenever he wants It.
Under these circumstances the Valpey
grizzly became famous and tArova TOT
several months. But one morning the
old CAPTAIN was up on ssMaintop Knob"
with his spy-glass. He saw his drove
OF cattle was in the wooded pasture be-
low, huddled up in bend of the creek.
Before them, marching back and forth,
occasionally rearing up and growing,
was the great grizzly. He was selecting
his dinner, much to the amusement OF
the captain. Suddenly tho bear charged
In 10 the band and struck down with one
blow the only blooded steer the captain
owned. The rest of the cattle escaped
with wild terror. The grizzly made his
naeal and went off. The captain swore
awhile, then he got his strychnine
bottle. and, late in the afternoon,
cautiously descended the slope to where
the body Of his 500 steer lay with a
broken neck. He poured the strychnine
over the carcass, saying wrathfully:
:.sWasn't Spanish beef good enough for
YOU, We old native Californian?" So he
poisoned his bear, after all.
d Z . IS 4 i 80
There was q family Of pioneers who
lived in the hills Of Alameda County,
not far from Valpey's. The elder,
Zachariah Cheney, took his son Joe and
q young man named Allen out to kill 9
grizzly. They all knew very well where
to find him, in s wild and broken canyon,
or about the rocks at its head, where
oak trees grew. They had come across
his tracks many times, and had seen
him grub oamass roots on the l hill W
side when they we're hunting up cattle.
so they though very little ct the
danger. Each Of them had 8 gun and p q
sreyolver. Sud- emily they met the bear l,
q 50 teo mead off the wooded gu1ch, who,
sssing their 9 tn w