The Appeal., 1909-10-02

VINO mad the reputation OF
knowing the river and was not afraid
OF bears, and sunny-faced boy named
Dease Lake Tommy; who proved him.
self an excellent oarsman. Albert
the man of moose-rather surprised
me by wishing to come down too, not
as hunter, since he knew nothing of
the St1kine and it's bears, but as
steersman of the boat, in which capac
lty he proved himself an adept. Just
as we were starting, Mr.. Butler, who
had been hunting in the Iskoot noun
ta1ns, turned up with three splendid
Sleeps heads. He wished "lift"
for 20 miles down stream to the cab
in of a certain Capt. Conover, an old
prospector and trapper who lives on
this lonely stream and knows all
about bears. Mr.. Butler had had a
good chance at fine grizzly on the
mountains, but alas, he had missed it,
and was anxious to retrieve his mis-
fortune. He stayed with Conover three
days and then came down stream
having seen and missed two grizzlies
Shortly after leaving Conovers hut
and having passed all the worst of the
rapids, we came in sight of a great
overflow which is known as Nc
Leod's slough. Just before reaching
the slough I noticed black spot
about 600 yards down stream, which
proved to be a bear swimming the
river. All was excitement in a min
ute. The bear, medium-sized one
reached the bank as we careened into
broken water at the bottom of the rap
id. The distance was not more than
so yards, yet found it almost i'm
possible to get even snapshot, ow-
ing to the rollingFof the boat. Seeing
that we should in moment shoot past
the bear, let three somewhat hope
less shots in quick succession, each Of
which struck the sand about three
inches below the mark, and had the
modification of observing the bear
walk slowly into the heavy bush with
complete Indifference.
Next morning, in most horrible
weather, we whizzed down stream to
a spot which, if only the sun would
shine upon it, might be described as
among the most beautiful in the world.
Under vast mountains about so miles
below Telegraph creek a small stream
cuts into the shaggy forest. One side
is overshadowed by precipitous rocks
and the other by dense forest of
great trees. This is called Klooch-
mans canyon, and the stream that
pierces it is spawning ground of the
humpback salmon, and consequently a
favorite resort of bears. We landed
about 400 yards above it, when Davey
and I at once proceeded to stalk the
place.
There were no bears there that
morning, but an abundance of fresh
signs
Three o'clock in the afternoon is
the usual hour for bears to start feed
ing, so Albert, Davey and I again re-
peated our stalk to the brook mouth
at this hour. The last few yards
went on alone, and at first was much
disappointed at seeing nothing but a
black dipper diving in the shadows
within a few yards. The forest and
cliff cast deep gloom on the little
river; it was showing as usual, and
the light was so poor that had to
look a long time at two black marks
about 80 yards away in the middle Of
the stream to determine their nature.
Presently, as I watched one of these
strange things, it seemed to move.
Was I dreaming or had it really
moved? Yes, it moved again, and
saw large black paw suddenly come
out of the water and grab at some
thing which it seemed to miss After
gazing intently saw that the other
black mark was the head of a large
black bear with cooked ears. The
bear was fishing, and had made three