San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-07-12
Great Fun With Elk.
Globe Democrat.

Norman r. Smith, Mayor of Port
Angeles, on the edge of the famous
Olympic country which is the great
est elk country on the continent, is at
the Grand. he is accompanied by
Is. Conlican and G. E. Mitchell,
of Port Angeles. Mayor Smith aud
Mr.. Mitchell have made many trips
into the heart of the interior notably
to the Eiwah Valley, and the wild
country south of Lake Crescent. 1t
was Mayor Smith who cut the trail
for the entrsnce of Lieut.. ]. p. O'Neil
on that occasion.
The Mayor last night gave some
extremely interesting particulars of
his last elk hunt. He says, as doe
Mr.. Mitchell, that there are large
bands of monster elk running uDdis-
turbed in that country, and that
there 10 much other game there. Mr..
Mitchell really lives at Fsirholm, on
Lake Crescent, some fourteen miles
southeast of Port Angeles.
"Last winter. said he'll used to
see bands of sixty or seventy In each
band on the Solduck River, inme.
diately back of me, where the hot
Syringe are. have been in India,
tiger and elephant hunting, and been
In Manila and throughout Europe;
but never saw anything like 1t. 1t
is wonderful region for big game.
Some of these elk weigh 1900 pounds.
"Ibor Estensen is Norwegian
working for me at my place at Fair
holm. One day he disappeared with
his gun on an elk hunt. Night
arrived and he didn't return, and we
went to bed without him. The next
morning at daylight / WAS awakened
by Norwegian making a terrible
noise. 1 got up to let him in, and 1
saw an awful sight He was cover
ed with blood. and he held in his
hand bloody knife and the kidneys
OF some animals.
II have killed an elk, have kill
ed an elkW said the excited Norwe-
gian. 1t appeared that the elk was
the first one he ever tackled. He put
six Merlin balls into him at q dis
lance of $50 yards, and then went up
to cut his throat. The elk was not
vet dead, for Estepson was very
bad shot, and as the animal saw him
1t became perfectly infuriated and
made dash for him just as he had
got out his knife to cut his throat.
1T caught him on Its horns and
threw him over on the rocks, break
ing his shoulder and stunning him.
Then 1t made an effort to get at him
again. Estenson however, knowing
he would be killed If he did, managed
by desperate effort to evade him, aud
finally got his rifle and put the finish.
Ing touches to the animal. 1t took
him about b month to recover.
II wen. back with him to the elk
and got $50 pounds OF elk meat, and
there wasn't bone in IL. Then We
didn't take all of it. Its antlers and
six points each and were feet 10
inches long.
"On the occasion of which l
speak" said Mayor Smith 1--WE
struck an elk trail about ten miles
south of Port Angeles, and assembled
the north slope of Mount Angeles
At about 1000 feet we reached =
luxurisnt bluegrass valley, adorned
with flowers or brilliant colors, and
here we found the first signs of elk. =
1--WE made camp here, and. the
next morning began to ascend to u
low pass between two peaks, which
narrowed go that they came within a
few hundred yards of each other.
The rocks stood out In verticle es-
csrpments, like the noted Devils
Slide in Weber CanyoD-which thou
sands of people remember-On the
Union Pacific Railroad. IL was the
top of Mount Angeles, and showed
that it had once been an active vol
cauo. We had really camped in the
outer edge of the crater. There we
had a view OF all the country and the
ocean for q hundred miles. South
was hunch-grass and mountains
covered with juniper. Many snowy
peaks never assembled lowered about.
Suddenly we saw q sight that shall
not soon forget There below US on
the sward was q band of elk. The
COWS and calves were lying at ease,
while the bulls were stationed about
in positions that commended view
of the surrounding hills and ravines.
Naturally 1t was o period of excite
ment. / had never seen so many elk
There were scores of them. 1 thrust
cd explosive ball into my sharp's
rife of 45 81 csliber and raised the
sights for 1000 yards. But the elk
v ere really mile away. So, O'Neil,
who WAS with me, and L decided
TO stalk the game by our saddle AMI
mails. 1 had pony and O'Neil a
mule. We picked our way cautiously
down the mountain. A ridge finally
obscured the view of the e Tx. L was
ahead and q black bear became in
our way. Forgetting that my sights
were raised for 1000 yards blazed
away, and the bear, not hit, but
frightened, plunged headlong and
went over down the mountain. / do
not think came within feet of mis-
head, but he was removed, as effectu-
ally from the scene as If had blown
him to bits.
Both OF us were afraid the elk had
been scared away. Before we could