The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1897-04-10
BEAR MEAT FOR MARKET.

How San Francisco Is Supplied from the
Bear Haunts of the Coast Range.
The act hat bears bring from $50
TO $50 each in the San Francisco meat
market, and that there is a lively de-
mand for all hat are sent there, has
moved many men who live in the foot
hills of the mountain ranges to scour
the hills for them and ship them hence.
Cubs are taken alive, kept in pits and
fed until they attain several hundred
pounds in weight, when they i mar
ketable. The carcasses usually dis
played by butchers during the holiday
season are of domesticated bears, az
the wild bears at that season Of the year
are alternating. A stall-fed bear de-
signed for the market is treated in
about the same way as a hog. He will
eat the same food a hog will eat, and
about the same quantity; and his flesh
tastes very much like pork, except for
a gaIny flavor which it possesses. Aside
from this, the bears blubber makes the
finest lard, his headquarters furnish SUI
perior 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 forty cents to one dollar per
pound. 1t is, of course, a 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 a steak for from
40 to so cents.
The region on the coast most infested
by bears is believed to be southern
Oregon, neal the California border, and
from 20 to so miles from the ocean.
In this district run the Illinois and
Rogue rivers, and there, too, are many
fresh-water lakes, notably the three
great Klamath lakes, Fish lake, Game
lake, Crater lake, besides many small
creeks and rivulets, all of which TEEN
with fish and about which are the breed
ing grounds for ducks and geese. On
the banks of these fresh-water bodies
and stretching away over the fiat coup-
try 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 compris-
ing the most toothsome provender for
bears, as they will not eat flesh when
they can get vegetable food or fish.
In this country, bears-grizzly, black
or brown-abound. They are a nui-
sance to the farmers, on whose pigs and
sheep they often raid, but to h hunters
they are a source of profit and delight.
There are two seasons in the year for
bean killing-one n long, the other IL
short one. The first is in h fall of
the year, after the mast is well dropped
and Bruin is fat from feeding on acorns
and nuts; the second is in the spring,
Just as he is coming out of his winters
sleep. When the ground in the fall be-
comes covered with snow Bruin wal
lows 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
from his body. In that condition
lie can be easily killed, for he will make
no resistance. When lis Information is
over, in the early spring, he is still quite
and game for Ii huntsman- But
he does not long remain i'll that oondi-
There being no berries or mast
when he comes out, he finds nothing to
eat, and in about II week he is u down
and as poor us the proverbial turkey OF
Job. In this low state of flesh it is wan
ton waste to kill him, and he is not
hunted. Then the breeding season fol-
lows, which gives his bearship Inn
munity from molestation.
Bears slaughtered on the Oregon
are packed out on mules to the
nu.-o- o. ,l.f,.,;n ,,fI.nol Stofinn of
Ashland or Medford, where they
are shipped to butchers in this city.
1t sometimes happens that the location
" here the bear is killed is such u
hunters canno get the carcass out
Of the country in good condition. Then
the pelt is taken off and the meat is
cut into strips and dried on wire
suspended over Il fire built in
Il hole in the ground, a piece of canvas
being thrown over all during the proc
ess. The grease is also tried out, a bear
weighing 400 pounds yielding about %
pounds of lard. This Is eagerly bought
by hotels and boarding houses in south
nrn Oregon for cooking purposes. In
his city bcar-fat is used by perfumers.
Dried bear meat finds n market in Ore.
eon. occasionally "a shipment of it
IL made to this city. OF all the bears
which come annually to this marketthe
bear is the most common. The
and the cinnamon come in very
but the great bald-faced bear of
is seen frequently strung up in
of Market street butcher shops,
he dressed carcass always attracting
public attention.-San Francisco
Chronicle. It