The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1893-09-09
THE MOUNTAIN KING.


Terrible ferooity oe The Beld.Faee
pesss
Ne % Msaafch Of the ACKNOWLEDGMENT
snd RAtal Encounter With ~ Animal
More Dreaded Than the 0rissly-
An Unhesded warning.
There yet remain in the United
atAtel but two great game preserves
wide sections Of country, rough noun
talna, broad tablelands and forests a.
most impenetrable. where the native
Aenisens Of - century ago still range
Without feat of the hunter's ride. The
AnfGr1 Prise x sp0rtsmcn and the cupid
fly 81 pot hunters have In . great
measure pursued to the death the small
eame Of the country. Coupled with the
march Of civilization and the vigorous
pursuit Of the larger animals of the
wilderness they have been driven to
the deeper and more inaccessible re-
treats, until the remnant Of the many
monsters which once roanncd the plains
and Inhabited the wilds arc found In
the Olympia mountains in western
Washington and the 6awtooth noun
tains In northern Idaho, says the San
Francisco Call.
Thcso Idaho mountains are In reality
. spur Of the CREST range of the
Rockies, which extend like vast but
tz16fcs acroas the entire middle west
ern front Of the United states In
many places the Sawtooth range u In
expressibly rugged and there arc
stretches and depths which have mover
.1boon explored by any human being.
nat wilds ere to be found the
.inost dangerous animal of which there
6 any record in this country, an amt
nal which Is far outranks the dreaded
grizzly q that monarch doss the com
parativeiy Httic brown bear. whose
chief mission Is to frighten children in
de6fS tltor dark and catch IN occasion-
q atrnyiuR shoat, This animal is the
bald-fsced bear. He is emphatically .
NAL <ditiou Of the grizzly. has al the
te6acIty Of life and Is not only ALSO
lntsly fearless, but persistently aegres-
The .sbald-face'' owes his distinctive
title TO = face which is white. He il
larger than the grizzly. BEGINNING
above his eyes several inches, the dark
color OF his body fades into . dirty
Rrsy. tlience down to.thc point Of his
nose and on either side il becomes . pure
white. Hence the name "bald-face."
The grizzly will never run from man.
II will move on IT'S course frequently
after 1t sights him; when wounded it
will pursue the hunter for reasonable
distance, and when bodily hurt II some
times gives mp the fray and beats . re-
treat. Herein lies the dangerous DIFF
ference between the two species.
Pioneers and settlers of Idaho who
are acquainted with the habits Of this
hear, which is mot found, SO far rs | can
learn sqr eyer heard. In any other part
Of the united States, never think Of
attacking him. They never hunt the
bald-face Tor the reasons given. To
begin an engagement with him Is to
simply mean fight to the death.
shall mover forget an experience !
had with one of these animals. 1t was
in 1891. In company with three other
young men. | had gone into the Saw
tooth mountains to hunt big game,
deer, bear and such like. We had been
told Of tho bald-face, but having had
NO experience with him, and having
two grizzlies to our credit. our party
smiled increduously when Joe Penning-
tom an old hunter and trapper who
had, Of late years devoted himself to
the leas hazardous pursuit Of chicken
rounding near Boise City, told us TO be-
Snre Of the bsld-face bear Being f.
miiliar with the mountains, after con-
siderable effort we induced Pennington
TO accompany our party, taking along
three excellent dogs. we'll trained and
courageous
But Joe stipulated that we were not
= get into y controversy with the
bald-face, because he said it would
mean the death Of his dogs and the re-
trestpf our party 70 the foothills. il
nothiAg more serious.
We had been in the mountains q
week; had killed several deer and black
6oar and any number Of birds On the
morning OF the seventh day we left q
young Englishman named Kingsbury
In camp, a. on the day before some
animal had visited our quarters, eaten
: lot Of bacon and played havoc gehev-
ally with supplies. There had been
good deal OF chatting about the bald
face, and Pennington had grown tired
Of warning us Of the danger of an en-
counter. However, rs we left camp the
old trappcr shouted out, Is he whistled
to his dogs and walked away: Say,
Ktl&zbtry. II yousee 2 bald-face ad-
tIse you 70 nuke break for the mule
IA light out for the valley; for IL you
don't well never collect enough of the
remains to ship back to the folks at
home"
The mule referred to was staked out
about one hundred yards away in a level
clear spot The Englishnsn didn't re-
ply. bat held up his rifle and big
hunting knife Us an answer.
We thought nothing more of the cir
cumstance. The days sport was fairly
nod, one deer, one mountain sheep
apl several birds being the result Of
Mo hunt We met at an agreed spot
nome three miles from the camp and
proceeded together to our quarters, ex-
pecting that Kingsbury would have
prepared for us . substantial dinner.
Reaching an elevation some distance
from camp we paused moment, when
Pennington remarked: by gosh,
where's the mule?" We all looked. but
no mule could we see. Possibly it had
broken away and gone of. or it might