The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1901-11-10

depth, we descended to the Mammoth
pool Of the San Joaquin River 1000 feet
below, and through which all the water
from the immense drainage area of over
one thousand square miles of the head
waters of the San Joaquin River passes.
Nothing could be grander than the sur
rounding scenery, Mount Lyell, the Min
arets and all the high Sierras appar-
emily close at hand. completely covered
with deep snow and some living glaciers,
while almost all of the surrounding coun-
try was clothed with grand forests of pine
and cedar timber. Here is the home of the
deer. In one area of a few square miles
their tracks were almost as numerous as
would be made by a band of sheep; but to
get into the country means a long and
difficult trip, once there. however, game
and trout can be had in abundance, but it
would be entirely too slow work for one
to fish alone, as 1 have seen trout, and
good-sized ones. too, caught as fast as
one could cast a line and another unlock
the fish.
Bear are plentiful also. as we saw nu-
merous evidences of their presence. And
now for a bear story:
On a Sunday afternoon while in camp
high up in the mountains a most peculiar
sound was heard a quarter of a mile or
SO of. Each person gave his opinion as
to what 1t might be. One thought 1t was
made by a large bird. as he had heard
several years ago a large bird making. he
thought. a similar sound. Others thought
1t an animal of some kind. SO to make 1t
interesting 1 suggested bear. which all
at once agreed IT must be and hasty prep
arations were at once made for the hunt.
The rifle was examined and put in order.
the ma gazine loaded full of cartridges and
a pocketful taken besides in case the brute
had very tough skin and needed plenty
of lead. another armed himself with the
best ak the camp afforded, another the
big butcher knife and the fourth pistol;
while Major. the dog. was taken to make
the attack. AS four, with all the imple-
ments necessary for a close encounter,
seemed a large enough party to capture
or kill the unknown beast, whatever II
might be, the rest of us rYnained in camp
for developments.
The party went on eiated at the thought
Of killing a real live bear. and as at regu-
lar intervals the sound continued, always
coming from the same direction. the
hunters felt dead sure of their game. but
after a lapse Of fifteen minutes or so four
very much disappointed hunters returned
gameless. They reported the game as
having flown
The truth of the matter was the sound
came from the wind blowing the limbs OF
two trees together; so after that bear
hunting was a tabooed subject in camp.
This reminds me of another little excite
ment we had. With the exception of a
few nights, we never pitched the tents,
preferring to sleep on our cots in the
open air. So one night about midnight,
after all had retired. Major. who slept
near the cots, awakened camp with vocif-
erous barking and would not be quieted.
One Of the party upon arising to see the
cause informed us it was no more nor less
than that much-dreaded little animal, a
polecat, and that 1t was not more than
eight feet from three Of us. What was to
be done? Major was inclined to attack 1t.
/ knew that would be a fatal mistake. so
I grabbed the dog. Then one Of the party
reached for his rifle and was for shooting
II right off, but II he merely MANNED 1t.
what fix We would be in! So he was per-
suaded not to shoot: another tried to shoe
Il Off, but the audacious little animal
would not be shooed. Instead they said
It came nearer. so a match was lit to see
which way It. really was headed for and
one of the party had the satisfaction OF
seeing both its eyes, and he said they
were very large ones, too. This decided
a. 70 AZ M ground
so what to do was the perplexing ques-
ton. With Major barking and. several OF
us yelling, still on 1t came, slowly, to be
sure. but II gave us cold shivers neverthe-
less, and we were on the point of desert
Ing camp, when a second match was lit.
which revealed the cause of the whole ex-
element to be what? Only a bit of paper.
A very prominent feature of the country
is immense domes of granite, generally
bell-shaped, Hanged at the bottom and
ranging In diameter from so to nearly 1000
feet. 1t Is one of these that has had
much to do with the formation Of the
Mammoth pool.
From the pool the grade line of the pro-
posed tunnel water conduit ran down the
canyon of the San Joaquin with a fall oil
seven anu q hdik ASCl " TIC Aiiiics WHhe
the river had fall Of from so to 100 feet
in the same distance, so the river kept
falling lower and lower from the grade
line till at the end Of the line. twenty-ons
miles distant, 1t was 1870 feet below.
The survey down this line was an ex
ceedingly difiicult one. For much Of tn,
distance temporary trails had to be mad,
through dense brush or over cliffs to ge
to and from our work. One man carried
200 feet Of three-quarter-inch rope the en-
tire trip, which when cliff had to b.
scaled or worked around he would b,
some means get to a point above an,
fasten the rope around tree or rock
while we below would swing around o.
!, climb up the otherwise unscalable places
Day after day almost every step we mad
we took our lives In our hands, as q hest
tation Of but moment In crossin;
around cliffs or over those smooth m,
treacherous domes would have meant ,
, fall and almost instant death In thu cs -