Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1891-12-18
A MIGHTY HUNTER DEAD
HE FOLLOWED THE TRAIL or The
LAST Pennsylvania ELK.

TIE fOIlOHtb lFE lnNI W WIS
LAST Pennsylvania ELK.
II Was In the Lariy Part % the winter
Of isos-s That the Last Hull Ria was
Tracked to ma. Death by the Iireie.s
spori,man OF tn. sinnamAhoninE.
"The man who was In Mt the death Of
the last elk killed In Pennsylvania died q
few days ago In Potter county said a
former resident Of that part Of the Key
stone State. ellis name was Ira Tar
menter, and he must have been ninety
years Of ago. lie was born near the forks
Of the sinnamahoning, where his father,
who came from Connecticut with his
family before the close OF the last cen.
fury, was one OF the first settlers. The
old hupter Just dead was the last Of his
race. lie had followed the life Of u hunter
aud trappcr until three years ago, when
he became partially blind aud was forced
to hang up his rifle, He had lived during
the times when elk, wolves and panthcrs,
all Of them now extinct, were numerous
Ia the Pennsylvania woods, and he, prob.
ably more than any Of his contompora-
neous woodsmen, aided in bringing
about their extinction.
For many years he insisted that hc
had killed the last panther ever known
TO be In Pennsylvania. But Jacob Ben
sley an old Pike county hunter. finally
brought such evidence to bear that lie
and not Parmenter was entitled 10 that
honor, that the latter acknowledged
Bensleys claim. That lac was IN the
hunt, though, which resulted In the kill.
ing Of the one lone elk that chung 10 It's
native hills and businesses In the Penn
eylvania wilds there IL no doubt, AL
though the elk was killed by another
person, and an Indian at that. This elk
hunt was Paunenters favorite reminis'
ccnce, among the hundreds Of stirring
stories Of his life in the woods that he
was always ready to relate, almost up TO
tho day Of his death.
on THE TRAN.
"This elk hunt occurred IA late as
1867, although II was supposed that the
las, Of the Waplu race In Pennsylvania
had met it, death twenty years before.
Not any OF the animals nor amy sign OF
them had been seen since 1916, when
Seth Nelson. Of Elk county. shot what
was supposed to DO the last one, aud ia
immense head and antlcrs for years were
exhibited NJ Pcalc's museum, IN Phila-
delphia, ~ those OF the last Penn-ylya-
mia elk. In the fall Of 1851 this SAND
Seth Nelson and Ira Parmenter wero
hunting along tho headwaters Of Ben
uetts creek, In Play swamp, from which
water flows on one side TO the sources OF
the Susquehanna. and FROM the other {,
the Allegheny feeders. They were oI
the trail OF "a deer. when suddenly they
heard the peculiar whistle u bull ELL
sounds unly 1T that tiino Of the year, TIT
whistle being the call Tor mate. Th'
two hunters got their hounds ON tn
olk's trail and iollowci II all day, whei
heavy and prolonged rainstorin cant
up and the trail was lost
1.-THE hunters roaned the woods 70
weeks trying to strike the lost trail. bu
did not succeed. The news that Their
was still another elk left In the sinna
mahoning woods spread throughout tn
region and clear 10 the Indian rcsery,.
tons over the New York sta. line
Among these wu a hunter and trappo
famous on the Cattaraugus reservation
known 10 the whites as Jim Jacobs. On
day In the latter part Of November In
Parmenter and Seth Nelson started on
10 try again TO find the trail Of the lon
bull elk of the Sinnamahoning. Their
I s....l sru.ItfFr uNtl M
south edge Of Flag Swamp they disco'
cred tracks la the snow that they recvs
nized AZ once as an elk's, and at III
same time they were surprised and by n
means pleased to SEQ the Indian hunter
Jim Jacobs, appear on the scene.
TiiE INDIANS rRIZE.
"Jacob was nm old man even thei
although no lived and hunted for te
years longer, when he WIS killed by IL
cars Mt Salamanca, N. Y. He In
hunted elk for fifty years, and knew n
their habits and instincts perfect.
) Parmenter and Nelson objected TO IL
Indian joining them in the chase of u
elk, and he was forced 10 leave the trial
, The two white men followed the elk Il
, four days, and 1t led them through u
almost unbroken wilderness Of westel
Pennsylvania clear down to tho hel
waters Of the Clarion river, In ClariC
county. There a binding snowstor
a came up, but they kept on, knowing tn
= the elk would not travel IN the stort
o At last they discovered that the elk hi
taken refuge in a laurel thicket, al
they felt that the prize was almost with
:, their grasp, when rifle shot rang O
y upon the snowy mir from the thick,
: They made their way into tho thick,
: and in an opening In the center sto'
> the Indian, Jim jacobs, one foot on q
/ dead body OF the ELK, and his rifle he
threateningly as he faced the viii
hunters creeping through the laurels.
y "The willy Indian had read tho cour
y Of the elk by HIS knowledge OF the al
!. mails instincts, and had followed It
I, surely rs II he had been on its ira
>, in the snow, md had actually reach
,e the laurel swamp where the animal 10
A. refuge before the elk reached there itse
The two white hunters, although a
appointed aud ehagrined over their "a
ure 70 capture the prize they had folio
~ ed for u hundred miles, were forced
!, acknowledge tue wonderful skill and I
" orring judgment OF the old Indian, u
IN aided him In carrying his :. rize hon
o, The head and antles OF the elk were
o. Jacobs house ut Salamanca at the III
~ Of his death, and are probably In Il
II. - =.