Evening star., 1899-11-25

getting shut of them with so much waste
land about. The bears were the best crop
every year, so L made up my mind that
they would have to pay for their keep
They have.
Bog Bowman is known by his fame as a
hunter of bear to every sportsman in north
ern California, and any sportsman who Is
so lucky as to receive an invitation to visit
the Bowman ranch in the autumn or winter.
when the animal clearing OUT occurs, has
tales to tell all the rest Of his days of
"Bowmans Bear Ranch"
Ten miles from LaytOnviile Bog says his
cabin is, but it is ten miles the crow
flies, not by the up-and-down road horse
walks.
there, and we rode along from Layton
Vile, Bog, looking up at the trees, had said
half a dozen times: There's fine mast
this year; that means a good crop"
A Visit to the Ranch.
Mast" means the nuts and acorns, but
the crop" meant bear deer, grouse, quail
and rattlesnakes as well as pork and sheep.
Abundant mast means prolific fauna and
fat pocket books for the mountaineers.
Crossing Ell creek we came to the first
gate of Boys place, and when we had
nasscd at least twenty others, each with It's
own individual manner of fastening and
hinge we came suddenly upon the cabin,
and the deep-bay ying dogs whose voices had
sent q CHEEKY welcome to us While we were
still far below.
NV horse nearly dismounted me before
had invited him to stop, and ii took all my
force to keep him from boiling so that
had little opportunity to look about for the
cause of his fright. Mrs. Bowman caught
his bride and / Jumped down, but if had
not become absolutely nil admirari by my
previous experience in those mountains
believe | should have bolt6d myself. Every
where we're dogs growing and bayfng and
fawning and those half-grown bears were
rolling their ungainly heads and surround
ing Bog with the dogs, begging for ca
resses A great full-grown bear was growl-
ing and pacing not ten feet from me.
you need not be afraid Mrs. Bowman
assured me- "Pansy is tied and the others
are a. harmless as kittens"
Then I was happy to see great chain,
one end at Bruins collar and the other
around a tree. If Mrs. Bowman had not
been the Incarnation of hospitality she
would have laughed at me, but she did not
until we were better acquainted, and then
she always reproached Bog for not telling
me Of the bears.
PIucky's WOman's Story.
Away back in the forties the Bowmans
had crossed the death-trailed plains,
young couple from Missouri. When the gold
hunters came Bowman opened a tavern at
the ford of the Sacramento river, where
the city stands today, and here nine chill
dren We're born. 1t was the first outpost OF
l
upon, and it was not infrequent that the
Bowmans took In hundred dollars in the
morning before the children had eaten
their breakfast, all in gold dust at SIG an
ounce. 1t was Mrs. Bowman who an
swered with the rowboat the miners sum-
mons from the opposite bank of ''Ho-
Ferry" and 1T was she who cooked the al
most priceless vegetables carried around
the Horn in tins, and sold to the miners
for an amount gauged by the number of
tins remaining In the 1arder.
When Bowman did the best thing he ever
had done in his many drunken years-died-
his wife sold out the place. She knew what
seed was in the soul of the drunkard's $
children, and in order to save them she
moved with them up into Humboldt coun-
tvs fertile hills and rade a home The In
dams came and burned her house and barn
and drove on her cattle, but she never bent
her head to fate. Wounded in the thigh
with her children, the older ones leading
and carrying the younger ones and a babe
or three months in her arms, she kept her
pursuers at bay with her rife and covered
her retreat to the nearest neighbor. five
miles to the south. 1t was the last ont