The Oskaloosa herald., 1899-10-12

Dayton. L showed them around an(
took them to the -four mill which hal
a capacity of 500 barrels a day, ant
the saw mill which can turn out from
20, 900 to %, 900 feet of lumber a day
We also visited the large warehouses
200 to 500 feet long, filed with las
years crop of grain, principally bar
ley. They are shipping train loads
to Portland to make room for this
years crop. Wheat is 40 cents 6
bushel and barley SIS cents per 10(
pounds. Mr.. Bridges wanted to know
what they would do with so much
grain, yet their faith and love is fol
old Iowa, which is good enough fol-
them.
On September 10, Cy Matthews and
wife, Mr.. Dennis and wife and my.
self procured teams and drove up the
mountains 20 miles to Days cabin
situated at the top of the Blue
Mountains, and camped there nine
days to hunt bear and dee You
never saw such mountains as | climb.
ed. One was SO steep that had to
use the butt of my Winchester to help
me up. l expected to come upon a
bear at any time, but I was prepared
with a rife, two revolvers and a
butchers knife. We climbed several
mountains and followed many trails
far beyond where anybody lived,
sometimes riding a pack-mule up
mountains SO steep you would think
you would slide off. At places we
would let 60 the bride and hold to
the saddle to keep from sliding off
over the mules ears, but had a sure
footed mule and made a safe trip. 1t
is wonderful how the mules and
horses can climb and descend these
steep mountain trails, mostly loose
| rock. One winds around the noun
tains like snake; some places so
steep and narrow should you make a
mis-step yourself and mule would roll
down the Rocky Mountains hundreds
| of feet to certain death.
But am bear hunting now. To be
on top of a mountain alone miles
away from camp in the pine forest
| where you can see from mountain to
mountain as far as your field glass
can carry, makes you think of all the
good deeds you ever did. But ah, it
is fine cool shade, the smell of the
pine, breathing the pure air and
sleeping in the tent at night makes it
nice and healthy. We had two &C
cidents in camp. AS | grasped my
A revolver to pull back the hammer
it failed to stand cooked and went off
| in my hands. Powder burnt my left
hand and shot three holes through
our tent, but luckily there was no one
in the tent. A little boy fooling with
45 rife fired it off but luckily it was
pointed up so no harm was done. To
carry a bucket full of Colorado
Springs water up a mountain for
three quarters 2of mile is no fun.
At night we would build large bon
fires and hear the coyotes howl. The
bachelors for miles around would
come to our camp at night and tell
US tales of bear and deer they had
killed on these mountains, but we
failed to find either bear or deer. /,
however, found bear and deer tracks.
We killed pheasants and grouse and
had fine time, land saw the mountains
in their natural state as they were
created. 1t is surprising what steep
mountains are farmed here thousands
of acres of wheat growing here where
you would be afraid to climb.
am back to Dayton again safe. |
saw thousands of acres of fine large
pine, fir, tamarack, spruce, balm and
all kinds of trees. The mountains
are so steep they cannot haul out the
lumber, so there they will stand until
the fires sweeping through the forests
destroy them. saw enough timber
killed on these down and standing to
keep Iowa in wood one year.
l have not given up killing a bear
yet; shall persevere until l kill one.
Stay in Iowa if you have to buy
flour.
All well. Goodbye.
September 20, '99.
p. S.-Daniel McCrarey, of FIRE.
mont, called to see me. He had Just
killed bear and felt happy. They
killed three bears and run out OF
grub and had to break camp or they
would have killed more. Inclosed
find BEARS claw.
o. r. GAsKILL.