The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-13
THE MOUNTAIN KING
A CHAPTER ON GRIZZLIEs, WITH
ILLUsTRATIvE EXPERIENCES.
Variety OF bear which In Treated
with Universal Observation-Disclosures
OF sold ShackIef0ot."
Portland Core.) correspondence New YORK

apt to tell you that ne never iost >
grizzly and has therefore neversfelt It |
his duty TO hunt for one. There Is oc-
casionally a hunter who IL reckless
enough to tackle a grizzly with pre-
meditation. but the majority of them do
not feel ii beneath their dignity to take
off their hats and give the bear .
courteous goodbye If they chance to
meet him and he shows a disposition to
pass on without raising a disturbance.
as he usually does. The grizzly Is not a
quarrelsome animal. but he insists upon
all his natural rights and generally gets
them. The best thing to do with a
grizzly when you meet him unexpectedly
In the mountains is to bid him speed
and join with "Dogberry'' in thanking
God you are rid of a knave. Bears as u
general thing are not spelling for a
fight, least of all the grizzly. but no AMI
NAL on earth will enter one more de-
liberately or with more ferocity and
stay in 1t longer than this savage mon
arch of the Western mountains. This
IL what makes him an antagonist to be
dreaded. coupled with his great tenacity
of life. which enables him to remain a
dangerous fighter Iona after any other
animal would have given up the ghost.
This respect for the grizzly is not con-
fined to white hunters: the Indians
share it fully. Indeed, the Indians OF
many tribes look upon him as a sacred
animal and will not kill him, while the
tribes that do not reverence him to this
extent were accustomed to call a brave
who wore a necklace of bears claws q
mighty hunter.
When white men first came into tho
region inhabited by these monarchS OF
the mountains they found them far more
plentiful than at present. The old Rocky
mountai trappers used to tell tales OF
with grizzlies that would tax
the ~credulity of the most conffding ten
derfoot, and the pioneers OF Oregon and
California are not far behind them in
that respect. There are still grizzlies to
he found in the mountains. n II q
mar is really anxious to meet one he
nay have that sorrowful opportunity IL
he persistently seeks it. and II he lives
to return to civilization in ~presentabl9
shape he can draw as long a bow as
the next man about his hunting ex-
ploits. But, like most of the wild AMI
mails of America, they will some time
disappear entirely.
The popularity of a g~rizzly-that he
cannon climb a tree-has been the sal
walton of many a reckless hunter. The
black, brown and cinnamon bears can
lllAA GlSO WAtl 1AS ASLNS2 (o9C -
the grizzly possessed this faculty the
man who fired at him and failed to
kill him might as well give UP the ghost
at once. for he can run as fast as a
horse. The only thing to do in u a
case is to hurry up a tree. and not be
particular as to the tree. Any tree will
do that is not so small that the bear
can shake the climber out of it, but one
with limbs large enough to make a COM
Portable perch is preferable, since the
grizzly has the unpleasant habit of re-
naming around where he is not wanted
for a long time.
"OLD SHACkLDFoOT."
For years there roaned through the
Siskiyou mountains, lying along the bor-
der line of California and Oregon, a huge
grizzly known by the title Of "Old
Shaeklefoot" because of the fact that he
had injured one of his feet in a bear
trap and therefore made a peculiar foot
print. The ranchers had a bad
opinion of him. He had stolen too many
pigs to be in good odor witt them. But
/ never saw a man who had met him
who did not speak of him with the high
est respect. / had a personal interview
with him one summer when l was out
hunting with an old-time trapper. My
point Of observation was the limb OF a
young fir tree which ] had climbed in
l great haste In pursuance OF the. .auVlC4
suddenly given by my friend, who was
already half way up a tree when he gave
1t. From this vantage point, with no
weapo we watched Old Shacklefoot
eat all our bacon and sugar, spill our
| -four and coffee on the ground and make
a general wreck of our camp. Having
| had a good meal and not being an
gered. he then walked off into the tim
Der. 1t was with q great deal OF salts
| faction a few years ago that / read OF
the death of this highway robber at the
hands of a rancher whose squealing pig
he was carrying away from the corral.
Many a story is told of Old Shackle-
foot's There is a mar named
Johnson. living in Rogue River valley.
whose chief ear mark is the absence OF
his left ear. Old Shacklefoot amputated
it for him, but he never went back to
claim it. He was out hunting in the
mountains when this occurred, and had
even expressed a desire to run across
this old campaigner. His desire was
gratified. He made his camp on the
bench of a stream about
twenty feet above the water. One even
ing, returning to camp after a days
tramp, he found an unlimited guest maxi
ing free with everything it contained.
The guest was Old Shacklefoot. The
bear had eaten up all the provender
that suited his palate and strewn every
thing else about in confusion and ruin
and was sitting on his with a
smile of welcome on his countenance.
BEFORE Johnson, on emerging from the
bush. could decide whether to run.
shoot or shake hands, bruin gave him a
pat on the side of the head that ampu-
tated his left ear and rolled him sense
less down the bank to the edge of the
creek. The beast followed him, rolled
him over with his nose, and. being sat-
fled that he was dead, took his depal
ure. Johnson returned to Jacksonville
with a higher opinion of Old Shackle-
foot.
During the reign of his Siskiyou mon
arch a young English lord passed down
from Portland to San Francisco on his
way to India, where he intended to i'm
dulge in tiger shooting from the backs
of elephants. He stopped off at Ash
and to hun grizzly bears in the Sis
kiyous and found two old men
who were willing to risk their lives in
that pastime for British gold. He had
five different kinds of rifles for the big
game of Asia and Africa. but for such
an insignificant animal as a bear he
thought a Winchester was good enough.
He had shot prairie chickens in Iowa
and antelope in Montana. and now
thought he would shoot a grizzly or two
in Oregon before he got TO the country
where big game was to be found. The