The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1904-01-29
10 YEARS OLD
AND HUNTS BEARS
elisha StedmanW Whose Achieve.
ments Have Made Many
Brilliant Chapters.
is FAMOUS AS A GUIDE
Once He Led a Party of Germans OIL
Title on a Two Weeks Hunt for
Grizzlies In the State of
California.

q famous hunter, whose achievements
have made thrilling chapters in the an
nails Of the Pacific coast, has just left
Ventura, Cal. in charge Of a party OF
wealthy sportsmen from the east on a
long hunting tour for big game along the
Sierras, between California and Nevada.
Every one in California who hunts and
loves exciting sport with the rife knows
something about Elisha Stedman. Among
the boys In that region his name is a
synonym for all that Is daring and sa-
gacious. In past years he has piloted par
ties in which General Phil Sheridan, eX-
Senator Donald Cameron, the late Mayor
Carter H. Harrison Of Chicago. and Wil-
liam K. Vanderbilt were members. Once
he led a party Of Germans of title (stock-
holders In the Northern Pacific railroad)
on a two weeks hun for grizzlies in the
Siskiyou range in northern California.
He Is nearly 70 years old, but his out-of-
door life and his temperate habits and
freedom from cares have kept him young
and strong. He does not look to be over
b5. For thirty-eight years he has lived
principally among the mountains and has
Slept for weeks at a time WheresoeVer
hight found him. He is a native of Itch
field. Conn. and he was there baptized
when a child by the Rev. Lyman Beecher.
He was reared as a blacksmith. but from
his early youth he was filled with a desire
by reading Fenimore Cooper's novels to
live a hunters and trapper's life.
He anne across the plains to Oregon in
1854, mined gold for a year or two, and.
falling In with a party Of men, who, by
bunting for the Aston Fur company, made
more money than he, was charmed with
the idea Of living a life OF constant ad-
venture and Of earning q good livelihood
at the same time. He is a well-read man
In standard English literature, and numer-
Gus funny stories are current in Califor-
MIA Of eastern tourists who have been sur
prised to find that this grizzled, unkempt
hunter in a greasy suit of b%uckskin, moe
caSins Of his own make, and ancient, bat
tered sombrero, should have ideas of his
own about Shakespearean plays and Web
ster's debates. There is no one In Cali
fornia who knows more accurately about
the ways Of grizzly and black bears.
II suppose 1 shall keep at bear hunt.
Ing all my life" said Uncle Elisha just be-
fore starting out. II am just as fond of
the pursuit as when l was a young chap.
I've been as restless as a weasel this last
fortnight to get away from these towns,
with their noise and dust, to a lovely spot
In the grand old mountains. l hate this
living huddled up in towns, where every
Ole Is UOSScu ny laws dllo Alo JIG NC
Independent and free like hunters In the
most beautiful regions that God made for
man. Last fall l located the stamping
ground of some big grizzlies, and I shall
lead my party there and give them a
chance to have the widest and most eX-
citing shooting any of them ever knew.
After 1 lave done with the party Of east
ern amateur hunters l expect to meet my
partner, Joe Lamson, in the mountains,
and we shall hun and trap all by our
selves-over 200 miles from any white
mans home-until the cold weather drives
us out next fall. Oh, we'll get about a
dozen grizzlies in the course of the sum-
mer II we have good luck, besides an &C.
c~asional black bear, some foxes. mountain
lions, and such things.
Are there many grizzlies left in Cali
fornia7 Yes, plenty to keep the few re-
naming hunters busy for a good genera
ton longer. In fact, I don't believe the
greatest game beasts on the western hem
isphere will be gone for many years to
come, notwithstanding popular opinion to
the contrary. OF course, there has been
a powerful falling off in the last fifty
| years. Grizzly Adams, the greatest hunt
er. by the way, that ever lived, told me
that he used to see punches of grizzlies
In the valley and along the
Russian river in northern California,
which had fifty or more bears. That was
about 1876. I remember that in 1855 and
1856. when 1 was washing gold on the
Trinity river, we heard every few days Of
grizzlies having been seen there. I my
self saw fully 100 grizzlies a year in those
days, and l did not make a business of
going for them. either. The mining
camps in northern and central Califor-
MIA were full Of stories Of Expectations
by grizzly bears and the deaths of VEN
turesome men who ran up against the
inaddened animals.
along about 1862, when Leland STAN
ford was governor Of California, a boun-
~ of $25 was given by the state for every
grizzly bear scalp sent or brought to the
state comptroller's office. I got about
forty scalps myself one year, and 1 be-
lieve that California paid for over sOn
scalps In two years.
But now the grizzly has retreated to
The inaccessible away back In
the Sierras and coast range, and he
fanges among the mountains many miles
remote from any white mans abode: in
deed, far removed from where any hu-
man being goes for years at a time
There are probably about sixty grizzlies
taken every year in California, and. iudp-
ing from what hunters tell me and from
my partners and my own Observations
there must be twice that number horn
every twelve months. Twins are not nm
common among grizzlies, and I've known
personally of trlplet grizzly cubs.
'Grizzlies and black bears are now mora
numerous in the mountains in Kern and
Mono counties than before in some time
My partner says 1t IS because the ramon
men and lumber companies have cleared
away so much timber from the lower
mountain sides. When the timber yaa
thlck the bears were forced to fora pc on
roots and banks and on the rather scantv
supplies which the pig pens and sheen
corrals CT the scattered settlers afforded
them. The clearing away Of the woods
has been followed by the appearance IN a
very great area of all kinds OF berry
bushes, the fruit Of which forms the "a.
vorite food OF the bears and on which
they thrive.
The grizzly is the fiercest beast IN
America, but I ran see that the temner
Of the animal has softened even in the
years l have been hunting. The magazine
ilaes, the safe. sure steel traps, and the
improved accuracy Of the hunters have
done a vast deal to show the old monarch
Of the Sierras that he is no longer the
power he was. The most formidable
grizzlies I ever had any experience with
were those up In Idaho about twenty-five
years ago. where the Northern Pacific
railroad now runs through the state. A
dozen of US were paid to go up there one
year to pump lead into the bears, that
were q menace to miners and retarded
the development OF Idaho territory.