Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1895-03-21
POLAR BEARS THAT GREW.
The Nearer the Hunters Got the
Bigger They Seemed.
At Last They Reached the Apparent Size
OF EIephants--TheIr Great Foot
prints-The Polar Bear in
the Smithsonian.


States revenue cutter Corwin lay at
anchor waiting for better weather
She was rolling heavily in the under
tow sent round the point by the strong
southwest gale, while fierce Wilt
waughs, eddying down from the noun
tain SUBMITS, shook her spars until
the hull quivered. The dressed quar-
tiers of two polar bears hung on the
boat spans, and their beautiful skins,
loosely sailed, lay III the launch along
with the tusks of walrus.
Assembled in the wardroom, enjoy
ing their after-dinner pipes that even
ing, those officers whose duties did not
call them to the deck discussed the
events Of the cruise, especially the re-
cent bear hunts. Some were old hands, it
being their third or fourth season in
these waters, while others were new
and full of delight at their recent sue
cess. Lient. Cantwell, though in age
youngster, was in service veteran,
having passed the two previous seasons
in arctic voyages and explorations.
He had distinguished himself by cour-
age and readiness in various ways that
try mems nerve and pluck, and bear
hunts were not new to him. During
lull in the conversation he broke out
with: -..
Talk about bears! Why, these we've
taken this cruise are nothing. You
should have been up here with us in
's5. Bears were thick then, and big!
We got one that looked as big as an
elephant to me when suddenly found
myself close to him. He weighed six
teen hundred pounds
''How did you get him? Tell us about
him." came in several voices.
'Well, you see, we came here on pur-
pose, and, as Uncle Remus says: we
hat ter git Inn cause we were ordered
to. Some of our officers, on the return
from the voyage OF the year before,
had reported huge bears on st. Mat
thews and Halls islands Prof. Baird
got hold of the story and applied to
the secretary for permission to send
one of his staff in the ship and investi-
gate these beasts. So we had on board
as passenger Charles w. Townsend,
representing the Smithsonian, an ex-
pert in birds, beasts and reptiles.
''We made Halls island in due time,
and on nearing the land saw the ruined
barra baras of the old Russian settle
ment over yonder which Douglass, the
pilot, told us about. While pointing
out this place to Townsend, and laying
plans for a bear hunt, we saw two
small white objects on the beach, a
mile or more away. They might have
been cakes of ice, but they were not,
for they moved and were evidently
alive. They could be but one kind of
thing, and that was bears. Soon every
man that could command glass was
looking at them. We youngsters, who
had come primed for big game, were
disappointed at their small SIZE
We thought them not bigger than New
foundland dogs, and hardly worth
chasing However, they were bears,
such as they were, and, of course, were
to be hunted, SO we went boldly to
work to compass their slaughter. The
launch was cleared away, and a large
party of us, as many as could well go,
with our rifles and ammunition, showed
off and pulled for the shore.
ION our nearing the beach these
small objects showed somewhat larger
than when seen from the ship, and
seemed now as big as half-grown
calves. Before there was time for them
to get any larger they had seen or
heard the boat and disappeared up
ravine.
1.-The party landed, and divided so as
to surround and head them off. Cook,
Brown, and myself with four or five
men went to the right, while Towns
end with the surgeon, pilot and four
or five sailors took the left. Our party
hurried rapidly on, looking bravely to
our arms, each telling where he meant
to place his shots, and only feeling
anxious lest the bears should get away.
Soon we saw one of them scrambling
over the rocks about a quarter of
mile off, and were surprised at the size
to which he had grown. He was now
as large as cow, some said an OK,
while others declared that he could
not be one of those we had seen from
the ship.
Every man thought that the bear
was now quite large enough for our
purpose, and privately wished he would
stop growing. What we said, how
ever, was: The bigger the better; we
want big one and kept on after him.
Whether from fatigue or some other
reason, we certainly did not go so fast
now as before. We began to find the
walking bad and to complain of being
awfully tired and blown. Every one
of the party from time to time found
something to detain him for a moment,
the effect being to hinder his keeping
too far in the front.
''While getting on In this manner
we came to soft piece Of ground. In
it was line of curious large holes,
which we had to take care to avoid
stepping into. fell to studying their
shape. They were IS to 20 inches long,
10 to IL inches wide and 5 to 6 inches
deep. They were in very regular
order, and crossed the soft places to
the hard ground beyond. Cook, too,
became interested, and paused with me
to closely examine one Of them. No
ticing this, l said:
.'Cook, what do you think OF these
holes?'
'.The rest Of the party stopped when
we did, and formed a circle, all gazing
at the holes.
This certainly looks like some
animals track said Cook. Did the
bear come this way?
Eyes said; he must have crossed
here
"sIf he made those tracks, Great
Scott, what beast he must be!'
Suddenly realizing that these were
the tracks of the animal we were after,
we all looked at one another and then
around. For q few moments silence
yeigned. We MI found ourselves un-