The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1914-02-13

splendid youth who smokes cigarettes while he
apes the manners and costume of his predeces-
sors but who is often too idle to throw rope
totally incapable of riding bad bukjumper OF
using effectively the revolver which he proudly
displays In fact IL most of these modern cow
boys attempted to draw his gun at an oldfash-
Toned saloon gathering in "wide-open" town OF
the west. before he could touch the trigger he
would have been as full of lead plum pud-
ding is full of raisns. For, alas. the glory and
glamour of the wild west has departed forever
First came the numbering OK wagons with their
hardy owners, emigrants and hunters, a race OF
men. SCARED and weather-beaten, fighting their
way grimly. inch by inch, to open the new Edo
RADIO. Foot by foot they drove the Indians and
game before them. and for years barely held their
own In these unknown lands. Tnen came that
mighty factor. steam and the steel roads with
their high-powered locomotives. today conveying
the settlers tourists in few hours across those
desolate praries. to traverse which once took
the old pioneer many weeks to accomplish
In consequence, he who today sets out in quest
of sport through such country as Wyoming
must be prepared for series of rude shocks IL he
hopes To- find anything approaching the state of
affairs there about which he has read in the books
of bis youth.
The splendid buffalo is extinct; but few de-
cayed bones relics of skull the last traces OF
animal which roamed in countless thousands
over the prairies and were wantonly exterminated
"
settlers to make way for their cattle The curious
pronghorn antelope also has almost been wiped
out in these district But the saddest of all, per-
haps, is to the present state to which the
finest deer earth, the American wapiti, has
been reduced This noble beast which was for
nerly deniZen of the open country, has been
driven to seek refuge in the densest forests Here
it is hard indeed for any number of them to OBJ
tain sufficient food, and in consequence the type
and size OF their antlers shows marked depre-
citation in modern years. AS every one knows a
harbor of refuge has been found for them by the
United States government in the Yellowstone
park and here the tourist may see, face to face,
grazing in bands the semtame remnants of the
once vast herds CT wapiti. Outside this sanctuary,
on every side as soon as the season opens, each
valley or pass which leads from the Yellowstone
to the surrounding country is peoped with so
called sportmen, meathunters. ali camped and
waiting for those unwary animals which may roam
beyond the confines OF their reservation.
In these outlying districts. where few Gun.
ming bands of wapit still survive. they have en-
tirely changed their habits during the early part
OF the season Formerly the herds would be
found grazing, roaming through the low-lying
open parks. while throughout the day and night
the forests would echo to that melodious whistng
call of the bulls. But today, If hunter seeks the
so-called American "elk" he must perforce look in
different places to those frequented by the old
time hunters. Far up, on the very edge OF the
timber-line, feeding and climbing almost IKE
mountain sheep among steep crags and on the
verge of snow-line, we find the few survivors
of the splendid animals And so terrified are they
by the constant presence Of their natural enemy
man, with his innumerable camp fires and at
tendant noises that the bulls seldom dare give
utterance to their challenging calls So true Is
this that the writer after spending many weeks
during the past season in the wilds OF Wyoming
only heard a wapit whisting on two occasions,
and. moreover throughout this period only saw
one bead worth shooting at. says C. q. Radcliffe
I'm Country Life. It is true this was a noble head,
ana one OF the finest brought ont of That country
for some time past but the capture of this head
entaiIed many weeks of hard work, many scores
Of miles travelling. and many thousands of feet
hard climbing, in country which few years ago
was teeming with good heads.
In the same way the bears and bighorn sheep
OF the Rocky mountains have almost become q
thing Of the past. Even the very numerous mule
y