Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1910-12-27
PARADISE FOR BRU|R
Abundance of Food Has Made
Bears Very Tame.
Grizzlies, Young and Old, Form Peace
Pact With Surveying Party and
Become Exceedingly Friendly
No Sport to Kill Them.

Nome, Alaska-A grizzlies paradise
par excellence has been located In
great berry patch along the interna-
tional boundary line between the Do
mininion and Alaska, about thirty
miles inland from Taku Arm. The
bears are of the species known as the
Alaska brown. They range in size
from cubs of two feet from muzzle 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 peace pact with Domln-
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
airy survey work since 1904. His ex-
perience last summer was unique.
Mr.. Mussell, his assistant, N. ]. Ogil-
vie, and eight men arrived on the
Princess Beatrice from Juneau.
THAT is the greatest bear country
i'm existence. never saw anything to
equal it, even on the Stikine river,
where put in several seasons said
Mr.. Mussell in relating various incl
dents of the seasons work. Eve soon
realized that the animals, thanks to
an abundant food supply, were dis
posed to be friendly. They never at
tempted to modest us from the very
start, and they soon inaugurated a
series of daily visits to the camp.
They were little shy at first, but the
smell of frying bacon proved ire
sistible. At last they would approach
within twenty yards, sometimes half
dozen at time, 1nd stand on their
hind legs to grab at the feed we threw
them.
"The animals finally undertook to
visit the camp at night to forage for
themselves. This, we did not like, as
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. 1t was not uncommon to meet
them on the trail up to a glacier
where we were engaged in triangula-
ton work We usually gave them the
right of way. Once Jack Sheppard of
Nanaimo, one Of my assistants, met
four big brown bears three miles from
camp. Jack must have been in bad
humor that day or else he feared an
attack, for he leveled his rifle and
blazed away. He killed three, and
the other monster, mortally wounded,
managed to escape. After that the
bears did not visit our camp SO often
Mr.. Mussell described the country
as the toughest region he had ever
visited. 1t is vast series Of high
peaks. covered with glaciers or eter-
nal SHOWS. 1t was impossible to plant
boundary pillars, and the triangula-
ton WORK anu photographs VIII III III
the record of the location OF the
boundary in that locality. In all.
about four hundred square miles Of
the territory was covered.
This involved the climbing Of high
peaks, some of them having an e'e-
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 ascents.
One false step and death would have
resulted, as the glaciers We're unusu-
ally gashed with deep crevasses.