The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1909-10-01

unsuccessful shots at salmon rs they
swan past him. On the second occa-
sion l think he touched the fish in his
grab, for l distinctly saw him open
his mouth and show his white teeth
in anticipation of Selling the expected
prize. l would not have disturbed him
for the world, as I wanted to see the
whole business of bear-fishing; but l
must have moved my rifle up into a
shooting position somewhat clusmi-
ly, or he heard one of the Indians stir
ring behind me, for, with two great
plunges backward, he was out of the
river in trice and shutting along the
cliff-banks into some short bushes. He
appeared to be the largest black bear
| had seen, and his coat waved" as
he ran. l was most careful with my
first shot, but the beast "skidded"
sideways on some wet alders just as
he entered the bushes and my shot
was a clean miss. l then saw that II
he continued in his present line he
must emerge and cross about Is yards
of open mud under the cliff, so that
during the time he was scrambling
through the bushes l took two steps
down the bank and obtained my IA
vorite shooting position, sitting with
my back to a log. l was quite ready
for the bear Immediately he cleared
the bushes at shutting run. and COW
ering him with the white sight | let
go. The big fellow stumbled forward
about so yards, and then rolled over
on his side uttering two or three baby
like wines, which can only be de-
scribed as pitiful. I now ran up the
stream, and crossed where there was
fallen tree, soon reaching the bear.
which was quite dead. He proved to
be a splendid old male measuring five
feet six inches, and would have, l
should guess, weighed at least 500
pounds.
So we had great rejoicing and I
had obtained grand specimen OF
this beautiful animal. We had ter.
rible business getting the bear from
the stream to the river. wanted to
take him to camp complete so that we
could skin, draw and measure in COM
fort, and it was only after cutting
pole and singing him on it that the
entire staff succeeded in conveying
the huge carcass yard by yard across
canoe was in waiting. The Indians
soon made an immense fire and after
a generous supper we all set to work
on our several tasks and the relation
of bear stories both grewsome and hui
morous. The following day was
continuous snowstorm, so I declined
to move and made the Indians finish
the scraping of the bears skin-no
little task.
In the northwest you do not kill
many things, but when you do get
good specimen of one of the great
northern beasts it is something to be
proud of. Every occasion on which
the hunter is successful is red-letter
day forever afterwards and indelibly
stamped on the memory. So far had
been successful in obtaining all the
large American mammals, except the
grizzly bear, and that is a beast of
such elusive character that no man
can say when and where his chance
will occur. Baron Won Plessen, an en-
thusiastic Danish hunter, told friend
of mine that it cost him over $4,000
before he saw one, and then-he
missed it. But he killed two after
wards. Every hunter that ever set
foot in the Rockies or the northwest
thinks he is going to see grizzly round
the first corner, while a few hope I'd
goodness the bear will not see them.
]. G. MILLAIS.