The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-06-08
KILLING MOUNTAIN LION
GAME NOT TO BE DESPIsED WHEN
CORNERED BY THE
HUNTER
PLENTIFUL IN THE ROCKIES
One of the Largest Ever Taken Alive
Caught a Few Years Ago in
III 40 Montana Measured
Eight Feet.
Denver Times.

lion will not attack a human being ex-
! cer- in self-defense,2 but that is only halt
! a truth. Hungry lions are no respecters
| Of persons, and gaunt beasts OF this spe-
] c1es have been known to waylay and at
| tack mountaineers almost at the do rs
| of their cabins. And when he has been
| cornered the mountain lion always with.
| out exception has been able to put up
| mighty interesting fight
No census has ever been taken Of the
American mountain lion, but according
| to estimates from the Rocky mountai Iii
region loo Of him could be slaughtered
every season without making any ap-
probable difference in the supply. H,
ranges under different names. from Brit.
| 1sh Columbia to Patagonia, known To
| the South Americans as the puma, and
| to MeXicans and North Americans as the
| cougar and the mountain lion. In ap-
| pearance the mountain lion Is almost an
| exact counterpart Of the African lionese
! His fur is of the tawny brown of the
African lion, but his tail Is more like that
of the common house cat and without
i brush" at the top. He attains larger
size in the north than In the south.
| One Of the largest mountain lions ever
taken alive was caught a few years ago
in Montana, and afterward exhibited in
Columbia Gardens, at Butte. This spe-
cimen measured seven feet from snout
to tip Of tail.
| One measuring eight feet from tip to
tip and weighing 800 pounds was killed
in Bear Gulch, Jefferson county, Mon
lana. III 1898. after he had mangled two
| men and slain three Of a pack Of sevtn
hounds that had brought him to bay
The men who We're injured were wood
choppers employed by the Glass Broth
ars, of Basin. They were up on hill
! side cutting and trimming pines. which
were then slid down into the gu1ch over
the hard crust Of a snow runaway. The
| runway became jammed and one Of
the choppers had started down the noun
tain to clear il. He was half way down
when the mountain lion sprang upon his
back from clamp Of bushes, where it
had lain concealed, and rolled over and
| over. with him until they brought Up
! against the log jam. The chopper dropped
| his AK and one of. his arms was broken
! in the fall. He shrieked Justify for help
while struggling to free himself from the
| hungry beast and his companion ran to
aid him. In his haste the second man
i tipped eandEfell.T and his ax went spin
| hing down the, hillside, Selling a youns
| pine as club the second chopper at
| lacked the lion. raining blows upon the
| peasts head and back until it released
MS companion and sprang upon him
| Inc driver OF q wood wagon coming ur
| The gulch heard the sllriekS Of the wool
choppers and took desperate chance te
| succor them. He had rifle on the waS
on and he fired q shot at the lion, wound
ing him slightly. He fired again, and a.
| the second report the beast abandoned
! his prey and skunk back into the bushes
The wood hauler tockahe wounded men
| Oh his wagon ard carried them to Basin
When the story was told there a party
| was organized to Stay the lion. Nearly
! every. man ir the place keeps a houn.
| ind" seven OF the best fighters among
| them We're selected to accompany III.
! marty These dogs took up the trail from
the scene of the encounter and followed
it for half day before they got sight
| OF the lion. They fought him for half
| an hour before the party came UP and
| dispatched the beast with volley from
| their guns. In that time the lion had
| tipped open three of the hounds AMI
seriously wounded another. Out in BASIN
they don't, take any stock now in the
naturalist's theory that mountain lion
| won't attack a man.
| Another case Of record out there liz that
| OF Sam McDonald's encounter with a
lion. Sam is a miner and he had been
| cleaning up" at Henry Winters placer
camp, near the Porphyry dixie, at the
head of Basin Creek, when work shut
down for the winter. A big snow came
! along before Sam could moyc his family
down. into the town Of Basin, and it
| made the mountain trail impossible for
wagon Or sled, ~ mo- horse could wallow
| through it. '.F,s 's'"-
Provisions were scarce in the camp and
there was chance that all hands would
starve to death should there be another
heavy fall Of snow. Sam didn't propose
| to see his wife and little ones suffer il
ne could help 1t, so he volunteered to
shoe 1t down the mountains to town.
Most Of the miners out there use skis,
or Norwegian snowshoes, for winter trims
IN the hills. Sam got them out, and a good
stout staff as we'll and with gunny-
sack over his shoulder, started for the
town, twenty miles away. He had just
made the turn by Winters dam, three
miles below the camp when he heard a
great "whoof!' behind him. 1t was ike
the sound an exhausted man makes when
ne frees his lungs OF the air pent up in,
them. Sans first impression was thai
some one had followed him from camp
with message. lie turned to greet the
newcomer and saw an Immense noun
tain lion crouchcd In the snow not ten
feet from him. The lion had jumped
from the side hill, and when his trucAs
were measured later It was found that
the beast had covered eighteen feet in
that leap.
+ Sam aimed blow at the beast With
his star, the only weapon no had. He
SdtA AdSCE kihht TIC llOu looked to him
to be as big as q beef steer. He missed
1t. and the lion crouched as IL to sprinx
I; I hen Sam turned tai and fed.
= A man. can travel like sGreased lies,t.
ming on skis and downgrada. That's
the, way Sam Mcdonald travelec--and SO
dc that lion. Sam says 1t only hit the
high places IN the trail and that was
following him by leaps and bounds, let
ting out whoof" every time it land
ed In the snow at the heels cf the
skis Five miles the beast followed him
In that way. and then San. Mcdonald
began to forget his fear In his annoyance
lie brought up all standing with the AID
Of his staff, and then he made another
vicious swing at the lion as 1t landed
beside him. Again the beas- drew back
as if to spring and again Sam turned tall
IL the twelve miles that followed tho
scene was repeated four times, the last
time on the very edge OF town Justice
of the Peace Jerry Grifiths lived in
scafin just there, and he happened to be
citing his gun at the moment He saw
Sam and he saw the lion. He dro pei
his oil rag, pumped a cartridge into his
gun and fired just as Sam swung for the
liens head with his staff The brllc.
got there first. Sam hadn't heard tbs
shot, and so when he saw the .su.t ca-
alking towards him, gun in hard hs
called out:
Don't need your burned old gun now.
Jerry. Men this thing been trying to