The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-01
A FIGHT WITH A LYNX
A Thrilling Experience in De-
serted Cabin.
WAS LOST IN THE HILLS
Pete Casper Found an Undesirable Com
panon in a Shaft House in Which
He Was Obliged to Take
Refuge.

Pete Casper came in yesterday from
upper Basin gulch and related an eNper-
fence of the night before which must
have been thrilling if nothing else Pete
lives over the hill on Moose creek and
left home Friday noon for Butte. He
intended making camp Friday night
with friend who lives near the head
of Basin. He took his rifle with him,
and when few miles from home ne
saw deer tracks. He followed them un-
til nearly dark. Then he looked around
to find his bearings so that he could
reach his friends cabin before dark.
Off he started over the sparsely wooded
hills. He lost his bearings again, but
it was now dark and the only thing he
thought he could do was to go to a log
shanty near by and under it's shelter
pass the night, which, by the way, was
shivering cold. No sooner did he reach
1t than he found that he was in an old
shaft house. The wooden car rails,
windlass and other unused shaft house
equipment were there on all sides. He
crouched in one corner of the room and
imagined that he was in a warm place,
but he wasn't The wind whistled
through the cracks and before Pete had
was not warm He struck a match and
saw standing up against the wall near
him the dilapidated door of the shaft
house. 1t had evidently been torn or
blown down and by some one thrown
up against the wall. He decided to put
it up to the opening in order to keep
some Of the wind out of the cabin. No
sooner had he moved the door than
there was commotion-a crash, flash
and a howl.
Pete jumped back, stumbled over a
rock and fell sprawling on the ground,
his arms clinging around one of the
windlass uprights. A little further and
he would have had a drop of 40 feet
down the shaft. Frightened almost out
of his senses, he imagined that he saw
two balls of fire as big as his hat about
three feet distant. Then; he saw them
move to one side and then he knew that
he was i'm for it.. 1t was a lynx and no
mistake. He lay where he fell, not even
breathing, so he said, for fear of adding
to the wrath of the surprised beast. The
lynx walked around the shaft half
dozen times, occasionally pausing as If
to make a dash for it's strange intruder.
Finally Pete saw the form glide through
the doorway and disappear over the
dump. He sprang for his gun, which
he left standing in the corner when he
started to remove the door. and follow
ed the animal: but the lynx wasn't to
be seen. The night was clear and the
snow on the ground added to the
brightness of the surroundings. Pete
was now warm and didn't care whether
the wind whistled through the cracks
in the cabin or not. He was willing to
| turn the cabin over to all the bears and
wildcats in the mountains So he started
off over the hill apd was beginning to
figure out where he has at when 20 feet
in front of him We're those same two
balls of fire which had turned his hair
gray in the old shaft house. Pete raised
his gun and the cat lowered his colors.
Ii was a center fire, and when Pete ar
rived at his friends house at daylight
yesterday morning he carried with him
a 75-pound lynx. He proposes to have it
mounted by a taXidermist and keep it
as souvenir of his midnight experience
in the shaft house.
Mr. Casper will remain in town over
New Years. He is drifting in what he
considers very good ground. He intends
to work his placers next season on a
more extensive scale. He also says that
he anticipates quite an active season in
the gulch next summer.