The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1906-01-26
PHOTOGRAPHIC BEARS
BY O. A. STEPHENS.

In grating apple trees one has to
Otherwise you may have tree or a
row of trees intended for Baldwins
mixed up with early fall apples, or
anything else. 1t was from mis-
placed scion label that row of fifteen
young seedlings, meant for White
Winter Pearmains, was grated to Au-
gust Sweets at Clement Brooks's ap-
ple-farm, up among the Sierras in Cal
ifornia.
AS it cnanced, too, this row of
trees was on the extreme upper side
of the farm, where the log fence bor-
dered the yellow pine growth which
studs the mountain side of the little
valley. That was about the worst
place possible for early sweet ap-
pies, which should be near the pro-
prietor's house, where they can be
protected from boys, squirrels. crows,
hedgehogs and other pilferers. No
sooner did these luscious sweets be-
gin bearing than all the wildwood
sharers in mans bounty took knowl-
edge of the fact, and congregated
there. Not only squirrels and birds,
but deer and bears came poacning
AS matter of fact, bears are not
very numerous in that portion of the
Sierras. A grizzly is rarely seen
there. A few yellow or cinnamon"
bears rangs about the mountains.
Black bears are more frequently met,
about as frequently as in the State
of Maine.
Clement Brooks was New Hamp-
shire boy who had come into pos
session of this apple-farm in the
Sierras by way of a namesake uncle.
His family in New Hampshire nat
urally felt great interest in his well
fare, and a certain anxiety for him
after his uncle's dea.A, fearing that
he was quite alone in wild, remote
region.
AS a result of this solicitude at
home, Clements older sister went out
to California during the following
summer to pay him visit and learn
how he was prospecting.
Lucretia Brooks was school-teach-
er; but the summer vacation offered
a good opportunity for making the
trip. AS she was also an amateur bot
anist and photographer, she antici-
pated much enjoyment from the tour,
apart from the pleasure of seeing
Clement.
The bears had been holding carni-
val in that row of August Sweets for
two or three weeks before Miss
Brooks's arrival.
Clement watched for them On sew
eral nights with gun, and mad
Slightly wounded one of the black fell
lows. One bear, too, had nearly
choked to death from sucking an ap-
pie into its windpipe when the gun
was discharged Clement heard the
animal making most distressing
sounds as it ran off,
They came back, however, either
the same bears or others, in spite of
the gun. These apples proved a great
attraction to them. A bear, like a
man, enjoys variety in his diet, and
will eat almost anything, from pin
head cherries to salt pork. That is
lone of the secrets of his survival,
perhaps.
These were mostly black bears, al
though it is not easy to distinguish
one species of bear from another in
the night. Clement had seen but one
that seemed very large.
Clement was in the midst of this
campaign against the bears when his
sister came She had brought her
: camera, and indeed was enthusiastic
over the idea of hunting with cam
era," instead of with a gun. When
she learned about the bears, she was
DESTROYS of pnotographing one or
more of them in the act of robbing an
apple-tree.
A photograph by fashlight of a
group of bears at an August Sweet
tree would be notable one to send
TO prize competition. The more Miss
Brooks thought of this the more en-
thusiastic she grew
But the affair was not easily man
aged. To secure a good photograph
it would be necessary to bring the
camera within thirty feet of the bears,
and naturally the young lady was
afraid of them. 1t occurred to her to
set the camera and the f1asnlight
apparatus on post near one of the
apple-trees, and operate the shutter
and light by the aid OF. long lines ex-
tending to a covert behind the log
fence. Tnis project did not prove
practicable when attempted, and the
only other plan which Clement could
hit on to crafty his sisters whim
was to haul an apple-wagon out near
the row of Sweet trees, and use it
as hiding-place from which to ope-
rate the camera.
This apple-wagon had a body thir-