The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-07-29

Cunning Of the Brutes Thwarts
Efforts to "Snap" Them
at Home. =.
Special to The Journal,

Special to The Journal.
Spokane, Wash, July 2s.-Three griz-
Fly bears performed stunts about a
patent picture taking device this week
That completely set at naught the
efforts Of w. II. Wright, the hunter,
take dashlight snapshot of them
selves. Mr.. Wright has returned to
spent in the haunts Of the grizzly in
the dense timber OF the Jackson Hole
country at the edge of Yellowstone
park, vowing he will perfect another
automatic camera by which to circum-
vent willy bruin.
1.-THE grizzly is the sharpest animal
The common bear is an unmitigated
idiot, compared with him. Altho I
have spent twentyfour years hunting
grizzlies and have traversed the Rock
les from Alaska to Mexico City in my
guest, [ learned more about the cum
ming Of the grizzly last week than I
ever dreamed.
~ had stretched a tiny black
expectation that in the dark they would
spring that would set off fashlight
powder in a camera which l had sta
toned few yards away on the wind
ward side Of the trail. I hid in the
branches $50 feet farther to the wind
ward and awaited developments.
Three Bears in a Row.
cit had become so dark that I could
barely discern an object at that dis
lance, when three bears camo down the
trail, single file. I was congratulating
myself on the magnificent photograph
l was about to get when the foremost
bear shifted, halted two or three feet
from that black thread and proceeded
| to extend mis- nose cautiously toward it.
He had scented a No: 40 linen thread
when it was SO dark he could not pos
sibly see it.
"The second bear, curious to know
the cause of the pause and unable ia
pass the front one on the narrow trail
| placed his front paws on the back of
the leader and peered over his shoulder
at the strange,smelling object. The
rear bear, equally lnquiSitiVe, mounted
! the back of the second in the same way
and stretched his neck in the same
manner.
Thought It lightning Flash.
1.-THE leader touched the thread
was flash and a puff and the whole
scene was brilliantly illuminated
Instead Of running away, the bears
looked at the sky and then at each
other as much as to inquire why there
should be a fash of lightning on such
an imperfcction in my photographine
apparatus caused the picture Of these
three bears, with paws on each others
backs, much as elephants are trained tC
| do in circus, to be so dim as to. be
useless for halftone reproduction.
| ,"But to go ahead with the story
when those bears had recovered from
hs thread t. is soass IL stae
instead Of following it toward TIT
! camera, they nosed along toward thu
| end which was attached to a spool.
had taken the pains to bury that spoo
in the ground, but they dug it up il
| less time than it takes to tell it
Then they held serious powwow over
the spool, accompanied by much sage
shaking Of heads. After time, they
treat up the trail in the direction
whence they had Gomez
Saw Thirty Big Fellows. : -
In all, Mr.. Wright saw thirty bear.
approach that thread during his more
than ten days of patient effort to get {
photograph. Of that number not one
! crossed the thread. Four times wa.
the trap sprung by Mr.. Bruin, produc
ing a spark in small battery attached
to the pan containing the flashligh1
powder. One excellent snapshot wal
the result. The other flashes proved
inadequate. owing to insufficient pow
der, producing only dim outline Of the
| grizzlies that had touched the thread
with their noses thru curiosity. Mo-
one of them had done it carelessly. -,
Mr.. Wright is trying to secure these
photographs to illustrate q volume
entitled 'sThe Grizzly" which a New
York. publishing house has in type
Another volume, written by him, en-
titled "Animal Tracks" IS in the
hands of the, same publisher. For the
! latter, wonderful illustrations Of the
most timid animals, including mountain
sheep, antelope, grouse and ptarmigan
have been obtained by means of thu
tele-photo camera which contains {
lens that magnihes the object at s
distance of half mile, to proportion
that produce a first class negative sucl
as would ordinarily be obtained at close
range.
But the grizzly cannot be photo