Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1896-08-07
THE OLYMPIC MOUNTAIN
EXPLORATION IN THE NORTH
WESTERN PART of TATE.
Among the Game Were Black Bears,
Cougars and a Large Gray
WOlf-Bunch Grass.

]. f. Becker of San Francisco has re
turned from a long exploring expedition
through northwestern WASHINGTON II,
was away from settlements almost tw,
| years. he pronounces the country |, iru,
terra ineognita. He says all description,
OF the country that he has seen are faulty
ana misleading. A recent account of al
| expedition which entered the country ii
the fall, and returned in the spring witt
stories of hardships and wonderful dis.
| coveries, he characterizes as wholly in.
| adequate and uncertain
MI. Becker was accompanied by j. C.
| Burke,, Frank Jones, William Pool Hen
| ry Wechter and s. c. Williams. The par
| ~ was seeking for gold, and Becker
claims that they found it in paying guam
tues. Just wnere. he does not choes
10 say to the public. At any rate they
nave formed the Hurricane Hill Mining
company. One of their number remains
In the mountains and the others have
scattered. Williams, the engineer and
surveyor of the expedition. has returned
| to San Jose.
1T is something of a wonder" said
MT. Becker to Portland Telegram re-
porter, that in this country of pioneers
and adventurous spirits a territory so
large, SO beautiful and so bountiful
should have remained to this day within
our borders practically unknown. But
so it is.
Between Puget sound on the east, and
the Straits of Juan de Fuca on the north,
the Pacific ocean on the west and and a
line drawn westward from Tacoma to
the ocean, on the south, there is a coun-
try as large as the state of Massachu-
sets, where there is magnificent tim
Der, coal and iron and great stretches of
grazing country and fish and game with
out limit. When / tell people of what
saw up there they do not believe me-
SO what is the use?
We started into the country from Port
Angeles, and followed the county road
south to the government trail. The gov
eminent trail is path blazed by gov
eminent engineers many years ago from
Port Angeles, on the Straits of Fuca, to
Gray's harbor. The trail begins at the
Elwah river, IL miles south of Port An
geles. We followed the trail over the
first range of mountains and then struck
off, blazing our own tra'i southwark to
Hurricane hill.
I'VE passed through forests of fir, yell
low pine, hemlock, red cedar and Alaska
cedar-a very rare wood. We crossed over
two ranges of mountains, the south slope
OF each OF which was covered with lux
uriant blue bunch grass of an excellent
nutritious quality. The north slope of
the mountains was more barren, and to-
ward the top was covered with snow.
The timber extended within a quarter of
mile of the top. In the valleys the
grass grew knee-deep, while the tops of
the mountains are wide plateaus, covered
with sort of fir brush. And all this vast
area remains yet uninvaded by the cat
tleman or sheepherder. 1t is wonderful
to me that it is so, considering how men
stampede into far less fertile regions
when taken from the Indians of the
plains and sheepherders are quarreling
over each others claims just east of the
Cascades
The ascent from Elwah river to the
mountain top IS SO gradual as to be
scarcely noticeable After travelling for a
long time with very little labor we look
cd back to discover to our surprise that
we were far above the river The timber
there is wonderfully open and free from
underground. We could sec long distances
in all directions through the woods. The
trees are immense. We cut down a cedar
that measured 300 feet
Game of every sort was most plenti-
full. There were black bears, cougars
and large gray wolf almost the size of
a Newfoundland dog. This seems to be
the last resort of the elk, and from the
manner with which it is slaughtered it
VIII not remain long there. We found an
animal which L had never before seen.
have looked 1t up In the books, but have
been unable to find any exact description
OF 1t. There IS an animal called the mer-
init which answers something of its de-
scrlptlon. We found 1t only above the
timber line in the mountains. 1t is about
the size of pug dog. 1t lives in holes,
dug straight downward and is almost
never seen except as it sits on the edge
OF the hole. 1t whistles like a man and
deceived us continually. As we passed
along the trail we could hear this whis-
tie, as of some man hailing us. Turn
n naa11
right, discover the little whistling mermit,
as we have agreed to call it, sitting per-
fectly motionless above it's nest. If we
moved on he would hail us again with
his sharp, shrill cry. If we shot at him
the bullet must kill instantly or we would
lose him, for If he had one kick of life
remaining It would drop him into his hole.
We caught quite number, however, and
found them very fine eating The animal
has long fur, which is very fine. It is
very fat and yields an excellent oil.
There were great quantities of game
o,rds, grouse and pheasants in particular.
and the streams were filled with fish.
'On the north slope of the second range
OF mountains we found two glaciers
winch were 10 miles across and contain
ng crevasses into which you could drop
q house.
we found several sulphur springs con-
tanning iron and sulphur water which |
even the horses seemed to like
Our first definite stop out from Port
Angeles was at place called Death val
ey 1t is on the government trail, and is
desolate and depressing place. The next
was at Starvation fiat, $500 feet up the |
mountain. 1t was marked and so named
oy the government engineers. From there |
we moved on to Government pass, over |
he mountains, to where we finally located |
md remained. We found in our pros
oecting veritable mountain of iron. At |
.erward we located what we consider a |
very valuable lead of gold and silver ore,
which we are making arrangements to |
work."