Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-04-02
mountain ranges to

| W
scour the hills for them and ship them
hence, says the San Francisco Chroni-
Gle. Cubs are taken alive, kept in pits
and fed until they attain several hum
dred pounds in weight, when they are
marketable The carcasses usually
displayed by butchers during the holt
day season are of domesticated bears
as the wild bears at that season of the
year are alternating A stall-fed bear
designed for the market Is treated in
about the same way as hog. He will
eat the same food a hog will eat
and about the same quantity and his
flesh tastes very much like pork, ex-
cept for gamy flavor which it pos
sesses. Aside from this the bears
blubber makes the finest lard, his
headquarters furnish superior hams
and his ribs yield the best of bacon.
The best bear grounds in California
are in Tulare county, in the region of
Mineral King, Homer's Nose and Hos
pital Rock. Bear meat is sold in San
Francisco at from 40 cents to 81 per
pound. 1t is, of course, delicacy re-
served for the rich. Some leading res
taurants have bear steaks on the bills
of fare when the meat is on sale in
town and they serve steak for from
40 to so cents. The region on the coast
most infested by bears is believed to
be southern Oregon, near the California
border, and from twenty to fifty miles
from the ocean. In this district run
| the Illinois and Rogue rivers, and
there, too, are many fresTI-water lakes,
notably the three great Klamath lakes.
Fish lake, Came lake, Crater lake, be-
sides many small creeks and rivuTets,
all of which TEEN with fish and about
which are the breeding grounds for
ducks and geese. On the banks OF
these fresh water bodies and stretch
ing away over the flat country are
thousands Of acres of bushes bearing
buckle and salmon berries, and the low
mountains are thick with the scrub
oak, which in the fall of the year yields
abundance of mast, all comprising the
most tOothsOme provender for bears,
as they will not eat flesh when they
can get vegetable food or fish. I'm this
country, bears grizzly, black OF brown
abound. They are a nuisance to- the
farmers, on whose pigs and sheep they
often raid, but to the hunters they are
source of profit and delight. There
are two seasons in the year for bear
killing-one a long, and the other
short one. The first il i'm the fall of
the year, after the mast is we'll drop
ped and Bruin is fat from feeding ON
acorns and nuts; the second is i'm the
spring, just as he is coming out of his
winters sleep. When the ground in
the fall becomes covered with SHOW
Bruin wallowsi in fat and cannot find
more to eat. Then he proceeds to
hibernate: In that state his lair is
sometimes betrayed by the steam
which rises through the snow from his
body. In that condition Ire can be
easily killed, for he will make mo- re-
sistance. When his Information is over,
in the early spring, he is still quite
LII anu 6dlu, tuC HuuLSludU. buL
he does not long remain i'm that con-
ditiom There being no berries or mast
when he comes out, he finds nothing to
eat and in about week he is run
down and as poor as the pruverbial
turkey of job In this low state of
flesh it is wanton waste to kill him
and he is not hunted Then the breed
ing season follows, which gives his
bearship immunity from molestation
Bears slaughtered on the Oregon
ranges are packed out on mules to the
stations where they are shipped to
butchers in this city. 1t sometimes
happens that the location where the
bear is killed is such that the hunters
cannot get the carcass out of the coun-
try in good condition. Then the pelt
is taken Off and the meat is cut into
strips and dried on wire netting sils-
pended over fire built in a hole in the
ground, piece of canvas being thrown
over all during the process. The grease
also is tried out, a bear weighing 400
pounds yielding about twenty-five
pounds of lard. This is eagerly bought
ny hotels and boarding houses in south
ern Oregon for cooking purposes. In
this city bear fat is used by perfum-
ers. Dried bear meat finds q market in
Oregon. Occasionally a shipment of
it is made to this city. OF all the bears
which come annually to this market
the black bear is the most common. The
grizzly and the cinnamon come in very
rarely bat the great bald-faced bear
of Alaska is seen frequently strung
up in front of Market street butcher
shops, the dressed carcass always at
tracing much public attention.
Reflections of u Bachelor.