The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-11-30
KENNEDY AND
THE GRIZZLY

THE most remarkable instance that
ever came to my notice of ursine vi
tality and of the danger of attacking
grizzly, except under the most fav-
orable circumstances" said the man
from Wyoming, occurred recently
in the Wind river country of my state
amid the foothills that line at the base
of the main range of the Rockies.
"A bunch of IS head of beef steers
| that had been kept in pasture had
broken the wire fence and strayed off
into the hills. and a party of six, in
Guiding myself, went out to round
them up and bring them back. The
cattle had been gone a couple of days
before their absence was noted and
| word from a neighbOring ranchman
informed us that we had a trip OF at
least Is miles before us. A sugges-
| ton was made to take our rifles along,
in case we should run across a bunch
of deer or antelope, and the foreman
OF the ranch and one or two cow
punchers had their six-shooters with
them.
I'VE had gone about II miles and
were on the track of the truants when
the trail turned toward the foothills
and we had every reason to believe
that we would find the cattle on the
other side of a tumbling mountain
stream that went locally, by the
name of Teapot creek. While we were
fording the creek the bronchos began
to snort and rear and give evidences
of their unwillingness to go further.
This was rather unexpected, as the
water was not deep, and we looked
about for some reason for their action.
AS we clattered across we could hear,
above the noise of the rushing water,
the snap and clash of teeth and the
peculiar hog-like groWl of a grizzly.
"Standing on his hind legs and
stripping the servis berry bushes of
their succuent fruit was a big silver
tip He did not seem to be disposed
| to dispute passage, although his OBJ
lection to the interruption of his feast
was quite apparent. In spite of his
belligerent groWls he did not discon-
tinue his meal but went on taking the
branches through his open jaws and
masticating berries, leaves and twigs
as though all We're equally toothsome.
Upon reaching the other side Of
the creek We rode up the bank and
over a level stretch of ground that
| lay at the base of the foothills.
Someone had suggested taking a shot
at bruin but the foreman discouraged
the idea, calling attention to the fact
| that bear hides were not good in Au-
gust, and that it would be necessary
| to find the steers before dark. Just
| then the trail of the cattle was lost
| for a moment and we stopped to look
around.
Although we were fully 200 yards
| from the bear. it was evident that his
anger over our appearance had not
entirely cooled down. The same
| swinish growls were borne to our
ears, and the grizzly, still standing
on his hind legs and devouring the
servis berries, could be seen where
MS QedU lowered ABOVE the bank OF
! the stream.
"One Of the cowboys, ALI Kennedy.
| took exception to the '.livertip's' mood
With the remark, I amt goin' to hav.
no silvertip growlin an snarlin' at
me- he took his rife from its saddle
| sling and proceeded to look at the
magazine. The foreman saw what
| was up and tried to dissuade Kennedy
from his intention, urging the neces-
city Of finding the cattle inmediate1v
His pleading, amounting almost to .
| command, fell on deaf ears. for Ken
nedy, although a splendid cowboy,
was accustomed to doing as he pleased
on most occasions.