The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1897-02-04

lng word OF comment from his guest
Suddenly the latter pointed to a small
and obscure butterfly, saying, THAI
Is source kind"
Its extinct" said my friend.
What's that %
| 'All dead; no more of them any
where"
| Not much they amt. But, as
told yer. they IS source. l only noticed
that sort once, in a canon about half 8
| mile across"
As you went mp the gulch !irst was
that kind, pointing 20 another species
then this sort that you say is petered
out, then that other sort. l noticed
them all in one little fiat but [ was
trailing grizzly and SO | didn't STOP
long
My friend got county map, and
the old trapper leaned over it.
up Mad river, so far-Wild Cat
creek comes in about thar; not on this
map. Follow up Wild Cat about three
miles; thar's an oak bottom, the first
OF any size. Two gulches come down
on the left hand; take the second, and
somewhere about the middle of it, if
you hit the butterfly season, veil find
them yellow speckled ones that you
said was all extinct
The next year my friend made a
trip to the back country, and found
the lost species in the identical pocket
of the hills that the old trapper had
described. 1t has never been found
any here else.
Ihe bOtanlstS owe some of their most
important ''discoveries" of new plants
IN the Humboldt region to these forest
trackers. who could tell them where TO
look for rare forms. l once knew a
country school teacher who spnt his
vacation botanizing in the mountains
and hunting up very old trappers He
tod me that 1t was common expert
| ment OF his to place his specimen book
OF dried plants before one of them, and
have him say something like this:
wv ell, young man, there's a plant on
ridge about SO far north that YOU
ought ter gather"
"What is it Iike?''
Sort OF mountain lily, only diff
ferent from any you've got. Scarce
up here; may be lots of it somewhere
else" Then terse, vivid description
followed, from which the species could
often be determined.
The cabin Of the trapper may be of
logs or of stakes riven out of oak or
pine. In few cases it is built of slabs
OF limestone broken from lodges, but
usually the only Use made of these ma
tural walls, where the stone lies alrea
dy quarrIed, is to furnish the material
Tor the huge outside chimneys that of
ten fill one gable of the cabin. Where
stone IS scarce these chimneys are
made of sticks laid in clay. and a huge
box OF puddled clay forms the fireplace.
Unlike the ''shanties" that one finds in
second growth" forests of the Atlantic
slope, these pioneer cabins Of the far
west are large, comfortable ard plctu-
rescue. They stand in sunny glades of
the unrulned forests of redwoods and
oaks; the mountains rise high above
them, and wide, clear rivers flow past.
l have slept many p night IN such hos
pltable shelters, and made my break
fast on trout fresh from the brook and
quail from the chapparal. The old
trappers live on the fat of the wilder
nerS.
There has been no more remarkable
trapper in the Humboldt region than
Seth kinman, the maker of preseden
tai chairs" kinman was born in
Union county, Pennsylvania, in 1915.
and when lad left his home to seek
adventures IN the Western country.
lie trapped and hunted with MANY ex
ploring parties, until in the spring of
1850 he joined Major Readings noted
company that prospected the Trinity
basin, and took mule loads of eoid''
out OF Reading Bar, where Douglas
City now stands. In 1852 Kinman
helped to explore the humboldt region.
and IN 1858 became the hunter for
Fort Humboldt, at Bucksport, near
Eureka. The Fort was one of the
most popular posts on the coast. and
many distinguished officers were sta
toned there at one time or another.
Lieutenant, afterward General. Crook.
the Indian fighter, shot his first bear
under klnman's guidance. Lieutenant
Z. D Grant was one of the most pop-
/ ular of the young West Pointers at the
fort, and the pioneers tell many sto-
rles of his hunting trips.
Seth kinman became a well known
| character when James Buchanan was
elected president He was much stir
| red IN soul over the election of a Penn
sylvanian, and be madc an armchair of
splendid Humboldt county elk horns,
fastend together with clamps of Penn
| sylvania iron. This he took to Wash
lnsoon and gave to the newly elected
| president on May %, 1857. Much to
his own surprise, the chair and him
self were the subjects of extended
| newspaper comment: the leading New
York dailies devoted several columns
to interviews with the old trapper. AT
that time kinman was in the prime OF
life, over six feet high and extremely
massive. His dress was buckskin
throughout, and he carried a heavy
bowie knife aud rifle. When he reached
San Francisco on his way to New York
! he explained his errand in the follow
| ing terms:
Anybody can make a cheer, bot
take little credit for the elk horns.
My range is from Bear River Valley
to Oregon, an this winter killed and
stored more meat than usual, SO
thought l would take it easy an | sol
about maxim this cheer for old Buck.
After | got it done, the boys in oul
parts thought it would do to travel or
SO l thought / would go with it myself
and started with my rifle and powder
horn. Nobody has ever sot in thi:
cheer and never shall till after the
president does"
In due time the trapper and lhe chau
reahed Washington. General Denvel
introduced kinman, and IN the mids
OF loud applause" to quote from tn,
newspaper reports of the time, ''th,
president sat down in the elk-horr