The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1906-09-14
GRIZZLY IS SMART.
MOST CUNNING OF ANIMALS, &C
CoRDING TO HUNTER.
Well.Laid Plans TO Obtain Snapshot
by Automatic Camera All Frus-
trated by Willy Yellow.
stone Park Bruin.

Three grizzly bears performed
stunts about patent picture taking
device this week that completely set
at naught the efforts Of ". II. Wright.
the hunter, naturalist and author, TO
have them take a lashlIght snapshot
Of themselves. Mr. Wright has re.
turned to his home in Spokane after
fortnight spent in the haunts OF the
grizzly in the dense timber OF the
Jackson Hole country at the edge OF
Yellowstone park. yOwng he will per.
feet another automatic camera by
which to circumycnt willy Bruin.
The grizzly is the sharpest animal
that walks on tour legs" said he.
The common bear Is an unmiti-
gated idiot compared with him. Al.
though have spent "a years hunting
grizzlies and have traycrsed the Rock.
les from Alaska TO Mexico City in my
quest, / learned more about the Gun
ming OF the grizzly last week than !
ever dreamed.
II had stretched tiny black thread
across a wcllbeatcu trail. in the cN
pcctatlon that in the dark they would
walk against Il, thereby releasing
spring that would set OF a fashlight
powder In camera which ! had sta
toned few yards away on the wind.
ward side Of the trail. | hid in the
branches $50 feet further to the wind
ward and awaited developments.
1T had become so dark that | could
barely discern an object at that dis.
lance. when three bears came down
tho trail, single file. | was congratu.
latlng myself on the magnificent pho.
tograph ! was about TO get when tn
] foremost bear shifted halted two @
| three feet from that black thread and
proceeded TO extend his nose cautious.
ly toward IT, He had scented a No
10 linen thread when it was so dark
he could not possibly see IT,
Tho second bear, curious TO know
! the cause OF the pause and unable to
| pass the front one on the narrow trail
! placed his front paws o the back OF
the leader and pccred over his shout.
| der az the strange smelling object
The rear bear. equally inquisittyc,
mounted the back of the second IN the
same way and stretched his neck In
The sam" manner
THE leader touched the thread gin
gcrly with his nose Suddenly there
was a flash and a puff and the whole
scene was brilliantly illuminated. In
stead Of running away the bears
looked at the sky and then at each
other, as much as 80 inquire why
there should be flash of lightning on
such clear night. To my Infinite
sorrow. an imperfoCtion In my photo.
graphic apparatus caused the picture
II those three bears. with paws on
each others backs. much as elephants
are trained to do ina circus. to be so
dim as to be useless for half.tonc re.
production.
ITO 20 ahead with the story when
those bears had recovered from their
surprise, they proceeded to trace that
thread to its source Fortunately. In.
stead of following It toward the cam.
era. they noscd along toward the end
which was attached 10 a spool. had
taken the pains to bury that spool
in the ground. but they dug Il mp in
loss time than il takes TO tell #.
Then they held q serious powwow
over the spool. accompanied by much
sage shaking of heads After time
they turned about and beat an order
ly retreat up the trail In the direction
whence they had come
In all. Nr Wright saw 30 bears ap
proach that thread during his more
than ten days Of patient effort TO get
a photograph OF that number not
one crossed the thread -Four times
was the trap sprung by Mr.. Bruin, pro
lucing spark in a small battery at
tachcd to the pan containing the flash
light powder one excellent snapshot
was the result The other ila5hc
proved inadequate, owing to insutli
Client powder, producing only a din
outline Of the grizzlies that had
touched the thread with their noses
through curiosity. Not one Of then
had done It carclcssly.