The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-07-25
HOW GRIZZLIES ARE cHLOROFORMED Simple Directions That Any Nature Student Can Follow FIND A SLEEPING BEAR But Do Not Disturb Hlm-AdmInTste Barrel of Anesthetic With a
 Hose and Photo
 graph Him.
FIND A SLEEPING BEAR

From the Kansas City Star.
 Tn the little town of Darby Mont. In the beautiful Bitter Root valley, lives the man who has killed more grizzly bears than any other hunter in the Unit ed States. His name Is George w Solle- der, and so many grizzlies have fallen to his rife that he has been spoiled for other sport of the forest. Now 1t takes half a ton of ferocious, maddened bear in action to drive the Kansas ennui out of Solleder's blue eyes and make his blood jingle with the lust of a battle | worth while. Although ne is one of the best rifle shots in Montana, yet it is his favorite stunt to chloroform grizzlies and then take their photographs at the only moment in their lives when they arc l looking comparatively pleasant. So far ! he has no competitors in this exhilarating amusement, which he insists Is a positive cure for all neurasthenic disorders, pro- , vided the chlorofoSm hunter proves good sprinter when the bear wakes up from the lethargy of the anesthetic Solleder's long suit Is grizzlies. and the Bitter Root valley grizzly. In addition to a very unladylike disposition, has an un- stable temper barbed like a buzzsaw Take 1t from Solleder-the Bitter Root valley grizzly is the only big game really 1 l them, shot them, studied them, photo graphed them, and fought them hand to paw in number of close calls that would have turned the hair of the ordinary hun ter to snowy whiteness. Solleder is a typical frontiersman-one of the few left of the rapidly disappearing pioneer trail blazer, the kind who tramped with Lewis and Clarke and made up the splendid manhood of the expeditions of Bonneville 1 Pike and Fremont. He is a trail-blazer turned home-buider and hunter.
 Why He Hates Grizzlies.
 Solleder's long feud with the grizzlies l originated in the early sos, when he To- cated his homestead at Darby, then al- most virgin wilderness. Solleder came into the Bitter Root valley over the long trail through the Big Hole Basin on his l honeymoon, and tied to the taiboard of his prairie schooner was Angelique the pet COW fthe happy bridal couple. It was a land of promise, which for An gelique was soon to be one of tragedy One morning soon after the homestead was located, when Solleder went to milk the COW he found her missing. He fol- lowed the trail a short distance up the valley and under a big tree he found the remains of Angelique, her back brok- en by the triphammer swing of grizzlys paw. Then and there was declared the feud which has not yet ended, although Solleder has slain so many grizzlies that both he and his neighbors have lost track of the count. Some years 1t has run up to 10 or 12. and at other times only five or six bear scalps would be obtained | To the shade of Angelique hetacombs of grizzlies have been sacrificed, and the 1 war still goes on.
 For 27 years Solleder has kept up his ;, feud against the grizzly. When the cam era became a popular fad Solleder added l 1t to his arsenal and has taken the keen est interest and pleasure In humiliating various grizzlies by making them pose | for their pictures. An experience during February last. however, came near writ ing f1nis to MT. Solleders camera studies in grizzly home life. The phenomenon of Information has always had for Solleder a keen interest, and he has neglected no opportunity to investigate 1t on the spot
 He has his own theories about hiberna- ton, and he believed that the evidence of the camera would prove his conten- tion.
 Leading Chloroform Hunt.
 Now, it's the theory" said Solleder in relating his attempt to snapshot hiber- hating bear, that bears den up and suck their paws all winter. Now, that doesn't apply to all bears. Where the den faces the sun I've seen them out in the middle of winter, but their forefeet are so soft and tender they leave bloody prints on the crusted snow. The first of February last got track of bear which had wan dered out of It's hibernating den. It struck me that 1t would be fine thing to chloroform the beast and take its pie ture-just one of those fool ideas man will have at times.
 well, I got two men to help me, and on snowshoes, with guns, rope, camera and two bottles of chIoroform we hiked to my hunting cabin on Hunter creek and camped for the night. The next day, by an early start, we crossed the middle
 Al. kx.I going up the side of the mountain toward a ledge of rock. We climbed up and just at the top of the slide rock we came upon the den. Softly we crawled up to the mouth of the den and peeSed in cautious ly. Our eyes were used to the glare of the snow and the den was as dark as a pocket It was an uneasy moment Tor we didn't know whether the bear had re- turned to Its hibernating sleep or was wide awake and ready for scrap. How ever, as our eyes got used to the dark ness we could see the bear way back in the den crouched up asleep. l then made a cone of a piece of paper, tied it on the end of my snowshoe stick, satu- rated 1t with the dope and crawled into the den, after posting my friends where they could shoot in @ hurry If necessary. When got near enough to reach poked the chloroform cone under the bears nose. As this was my first attempt at chloroformng grizzlies, I was just a shade nervous to see what would happen. After the first good whiff of the stuff the bear lazily lifted paw and polSed the conc away, much as a man would hit at a fly, but you bet your life l was ready for one of those flying exits. I breathed easier, however, when the bear dropped back to sleep gave him the cone again, and bless me if he didn't take to it this time like baby to a bottle of milk. You would have thought he had been raised on 1t. Pretty soon, after I'd given him almost all of the two bottles, he fell over dead to the world
 When the Bear Revived.
 "Taking the thongs off our snowshoes, I re-entered the den and tied the bears forefeet together and then tied the rope to the thongs in between his feet. Then we dragged him out and took a snub around a tree with the rope. I got busy right quick with the camera, for the med tcal dope sheets failed to say how long a grizzly would stay chloroformed. The dramatic climax came' about five minutes after the bear struck the fresh outside air, I had the camera about 15 feet away from him and my head was under the black cloth, as I was trying to get a focus. The blamed thing wouldn't work, somehow, and I was fussing around trying to find out what the matter was. when one of the boys let out yell.