The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1910-12-29
PARADISE FOR BRU|N
Abundance Of Food Has Made
Bears Very Tame.
orixzlIss, Young and Old, Form Peace
Pact With Surveying Party and
Become Exceedingly Friendly
No Sport to Kill Them.

Nome. AaskA--A GrixzlisS' paradise
par excellence has bsen located ina
great berry patch along the interna-
tional boundary line between the Do
mtninion and Alaska, about thirty
miles inland from Taku Arm. The
bears are Of the species known % the
Alaska brown. They range In size
from cubs Of two feet from muxxle to
tail to aged monsters ten feet long.
To shoot them would be wanton
slaughter. Abundance Of food has
robbed them of their fierce instincts.
So tame have they become that they
establish a peace pact with a Domin.
ion government survey party which
spent the summer in that vicinity en-
gagged In the work Of eliminating the
boundary line. The grizzlies. young
and old, paid frequent visits to the
camp when seeking change of diet,
and became so friendly that they
would stand up on. their hind legs to
grab choice tidbits thrown at them
from the cookhouse.
This was the remarkable story re-
lated in all seriousness by H. s. Mus
sell of Ottawa, who recently arrived
here. He has been engaged In bound
ary survey work since 1904. His ex-
perience last summer was unique.
Mr.. Mussell, his assistant, N. J. Ogil-
vie, and eight men arrived on the
Princess Beatrice from juneau.
THAT is the greatest bear country
in existence. I never saw anything to
equal 1t, sven OF the Stidne river.
where I put in several seasons" said
Mr.. Mussell in relating various incl
dents Of the seasons work. I'VE soon
realized that the animals. thanks to
an abundant food supply, were dis
posed to be friendly. They never at
tempted to modest 10 from tho very
start, and they soon inaugurated q
series Of daily visits to the camp.
They were a little shy at hrst, but the
smell Of frying bacon proved IRE
sistible. At last they would approach
within twenty yards, sometimes half
4 dozen at q time, and stand on their
hind legs to grab ut the feed W threw
them.
THE animals finally undertook to
visit the camp at night to forage for
themselves. This we did not like. az
we feared they might stray into our
sleeping tents. However, i must say,
they respected our privacy. and the
meat supplies were cached out Of
sight. It was not uncommon to meet
THAN ~ thA tna{I nm ~1A ~(n~
where we were engaged in triangula-
ton work. We usually saEs them the
right Of way. Once Jack Sheppard Of
Nanaimo, n of my assistants, met
four big brown bears three miles from
camp. Jack must have been In bad
humor that day O. else he feared an
attack, for he leveled his rifle and
blazed away. He killed three, and
the other monster, MORALLY wounded.
managed to escape. After that the
bears did not visit u camp SO often"
Mr.. Mussell described the country
Is the toughest region he had ever
visited. It is q vast series Of high
peaks, covered with glaciers or eter-
nal SHOWS. It was impossible to plant
boundary pillars. and the. triangula-
ton work and photographs will form
the record Of the location of the
boundary In that locality. In all,
about four hundred square miles of
the territory wal covered.
This involved the climbing of high
peaks. some Of them having an eve
walton Of over eight thousand feet.
Several glaciers had to be scaled.
The men had to be roped together in
order to make the perilous accents.
One false step and death would have
resulted, as the glaciers were unusu-
ally gashed with deep crevasses.