St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-03


Mt. Hood, in Which the Hunter
Nearly Lost His Life-GrizzIies
in the Selkirks.
w. G. Clark, one of the most advent
urous of the race of Western hunters
and trappers told of by Irving in his
Adventures of Capt. Bonneville" and
typified by Sublette and others of his
class, arrived here yesterday from
Mount Hood, Or, and is at the Amer
lean Exchange, says the San Francisco
Chronicle.
Since November last he has bad his
camp pitched on the south side of Mt.
Hood, near the source of the CIackamas
and Mollala rivers. For many months
OF his exile there the snow has been
more than twenty feet deep in this wild
part of the Cascade maintains. He
tells story about it, which, in connec-
ton with other experiences, is fit to go
into book. 1t is thrilling, and might
be expanded to any extent.
Clark is Texan by birth, and ap-
pears to be about forty years old,
though he says he is considerably older.
He is tall and raw-boned, with blonde
mustache and gray eyes. He began his
career by lighting Indians aud killing
buffalo OH the plains, and was for good
while associated with w. F. Cody, be-
fore Cody had made much of name.
Afterward he was for three years a
guide of the Seventh United States cav
airy with the intrepid and reckless
Gen. Custer. He was with him in the
war against the Sioux. though he was
| not on the Little Big Horn with him
when he died.
A year later he was with Gen. How
ard in his war with the Nez Perces, and
| stayed until the end. In the meantime
be hunted and trapped as the occasion
offered. Three years ago he Joined a
sealing schooner and shot sea otter for
time, and finally ended the year hunt
ing on the Yukon. The next year he
hunted and trapped on both sides of the
Canadian Pacific railroad in the Sell
kinks, near Donald.
He says he has had hard experience
in the Cascades, near Mount Hood. The
trees and brush are very thick, the
snow was unusually deep and it was
much colder than for many years. 1t is
remarkably good game region, though,
and he did well and made great deal
OF money. He says he could have done
better. but he was hot careful to equip
himself quite we'll enough.
Il killed 100 elk" he SAID, land about
200 deer before l quit killing in De-
cember, and then [ devoted my time to
trapping. l did we'll at this, too, for l
got great many mink, lion, sable, fox
and other skins. l only had four horses
with me. | ought to have had six.
Then l didn't take in traps enough |
ought to have had $50 or ZOO With 200
traps man has about all he can attend
to without any hunting. Then didn't
take i'll quite provisions enough before
the snow got deep and l was forced to
drag them i'll CD a toboggan. This
costs pretty high.
II had a packer early in the year, and
as killed the elk, bear and deer, he
took them down for me. Most of the
at sold in Portland. but some l
took to Tacoma and Seattle. In De-
cember the snow got so deep that l had !
10 take the horses out and to kee them
out. else they would have been showed
i'll. 1t was then that l settled myself to
trapping"
Clark has savage scar. When
asked if he had not had some narrow
escapes in his hunting, he said he had
many of them with grizzlies and other
wild animals, but one of tine worst he
had ever had was recently.
'Do you see this Scar?' he said. ''That
was made by big buck elk. on the edge
of cliff CLOSE to Mount Hood. | went
out one morning feeling we'll and look ,
ing for game, and saw this big elk
standing broadside, and l wanted him. |
L crept up pretty close and shot him. |
He fell over, and | waited for some min |
utes for him to make some move to get
up, but he didn't do it.
Then l started to make my way |
around the gorge. 1t took Inc some time |
to do 1t, for it was rough. | finally got |
around and saw him lying fiat. He was |
on the upper side, and came up to him. |
He appeared dead, and l graSped his
ear III order to turn his head and cut |
MS throat. In ali instant he leaped up |
and struck me, either with his !
knee or one of his hOofs. 1t |
knocked me fiat, and then he |
leaped onto my chest. l thought he |
would crush the life out OF me, but |
somehow l held onto his ear, and he |
was weak from loss Of blood, and | got |
from under him and still held Oh. He |
could not rise again, though he tried it |
repeatedly, and he wrIthed about threat
enlngly. de got part of his antlers
under my arm. and for time l thought |
he would break it.
Il did not dare let go, however, for if |
he got sweep at me with his horns lie |
would have killed me- The knife | had
in my hand l forgot about when he
Knocked me down, and it went behind |
me, and as L came down on my back its
keen blade cut through nv clothes on
my right side close to the skin. As it |
was very sharp it was a narrow chance
that was not cut, probably fatally, by
II. L could not reach the knife again.
but l could reach my revolver, and |
grasping it | shot the elk in the eve.
The shot killed him. | did not have to
lire any more"
Mr.. Clark says hunting is profitable,
though he holds that it is not quite as |
good as 1t used TO be. Nevertheless. the |
figures he gives show that the skilled |
hunter makes more than many profess |
sional or business men.
III man Is we'll equipped" he said, |
"a good hunter can make $1,000 a year. |
and even as much as $1,000. He can |
make $1,000 if he is good man and Is /
QUILTED as he should be. | have been !
selling almost all my furs in Chicago |
and Minneapolis. 1t costs a good deal |
to get them there, but it pays. The |
prices are very much rger than in Vic |
toria, Seattle, Tacoma or Portland. The |
fur dealers there pay you hardly any !
thing. They want everything. As for /
the elk meat. did we'll with that. | |
got 1215 cents pound in Portland, |
which is pretty good. There is great |
abundance Of both elk and deer about |
Mt. Hood. AS for the bear, they are |
all holed up in winter, and must be |
killed in the early fall or in the spring. |
mo, it was not lonesome at all about |
Mt. Hood. had log cabin, with a |
stone fireplace. and was just as warm |
and comfortable there as any one could |
be anywhere. A hunter and trapper,
too. who is successful has no time to be |
lonesome. He is occupied with his work |
all the time.
"My favorite rifle is a Sharp. though |
| have lately been using a Winchester. |
But l don't like it. lost my Sharp's |
rifle over year ago, and since then | |
utilized the other. As for revolver, | |
use Colts. No, not self-cocker. | |
don't like them. They are more bother |
than they are worth A revolver with