Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-22

him in how bad a fix l was. and how
hard it was to find any kind of job.
well, he said, IF you would care
to go out to some camp I might get
you something" He added that he was
working in the office of a mining firm,
which owned several large mines, and
that this company intended to start a
camp out in Idaho within the next
week.
Two days later / received instruc-
tions to call on my friends company. 1
saw the manager. who told me that if
was willing to go to small mining
camp to cook for seven men | could
start that very evening.
l promised to be at the depot at the
appointed time and went back to my
hotel to pack up
All $50 in the evening | took the
train to Butte, Mont, arrived there at
$40 next morning and changed for the
train TO Armstead, where | met Mr..
Frank Turner, the engineer. and five
miners. The road from Armstead to
Gilmore, Lima County, was at that
time under construction, and for this
reason We had to wait until O'Clock to
From Gilmore TO the mine it was near
~ nine miles, and after arriving there
we had to stop at the only hotel for the
night, and then proceed next morning
To the mine on horsa8aek.
Wearied out, we finally reached our
destination, in the heart of the Bitter
Root Mountains, in the forenoon, and
l had te commence work at once. l
had to cook Tor seven men-Mr. Tur-
ner, his assistant and FIVE miners.
The camp consisted Of two canvas
houses. with wooden frames and floors.
one was the dining room, the other the
bunkhouse; the tents were about 80
feet apart, surrounded by large old
pine trees. Behind the cookhouse was
the meathouse. a small affair about 10
feet square, built of boards. with an
air space on one side which was closed
with mosquito screen. The hut was
built on two big logs to keep it dry.
and for this reason stood about two
feet above the ground. The shaft of
the mine was around the hill. and has
nothing to do with this story
The seven men slept in the bunk
house. but as | had to get up early in
the morning 10 prepare breakfast /
slept in the cook house, a circumstance
which added great deal to the dan
ger of the incident | am going to re-
late.
We had already had about six feet of
snow. ard during my rrst Two weeks
there was not day that did not bring
some more. The winter was deadly
cold, and the squirrels and snipe were
as tame as | have eyer seen Them
they came right into the camp seeking
the scraps of food that threw out
One day Mr. Turner told me TO get
breakfast earlier than usual, as he in
tended to go to town to mail some let
tiers and reports TO the company.
promised to do so, and set my alarm
clock for . O'Clock before / went to
led With this my real story starts.
The next morning | woke up on time,
started my fire. and prepared for
breakfast. Then, taking my butchers
knife. / vent out To the meathouse to
CIT some steak When reached the
deer, however. | could not open il. as
it was blocked with SNOW which had
fallen during the night, Laying the
fnife aside, | got 4 shovel II clear tie
snow away, and after some pushing /
gel the door So far open as To he able
to squeeze myself through it,
When | came o1t again / noticed
that it WIS moonlight. but the moon.
Icing in her last quarter, gave a very
dim light
stood for a moment outside the
cookhouse, looking around. ! was close
by the door. and as stood there l
trampled the snow in front of it into a
sclid mass-a simple little thing that
was the cause of all the subsequent
trouble.
was looking around, thinking about
nothing in particular. when l heard
some curious sound coming from the
trail leading to The mine / listened.
but neither saw nor heard anything
else. and ! WAS just about to go in and
start on work when the sound came
agaiE-like the breaking of a small
board. | stared in the direction of the
noise, getting my eyes used to the UNI
certain hight, and presently saw some
object moving along the trail about 80
feet ahead Of me. Thinking that per-
haps some prospector had got into diff
ficulties and was crawling along the
trail, / stood my shovel down and call
ed out: sHalloal Is anybody there ?"
There was no answer to my shout, so l
started to investigate. was within
10 feet OF the object, and getting ready
to pick up the figure l could Just dis
Germ lying on the ground, when. to NV
horror. the mass all at once straight
ened up and presented itself to me as
a full grown grizzly bear of immense
size
The bear had one of the leg bones I
had thrown out under his right arm.
just in the same way as a human be-
ing would hold a parcel | noticed that.
Then he let out a roar and started to-
wards me. / made jump backwards
too frightened to think. Next moment
the bear dropped the bone and, raising
itself on its hindlegs, gave an angry
Srowi, showing his awful teeth Then
he came for me, his fore paws stretch
ed out as if he would like to take me
in his arms.
Wild with fright, | turned and ran
for the door of the cook house; but
to my horror, | could not open it; the
cpp,v had Thought laSSelv ctap,nal