Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1915-08-18
CATCHING TROUT IN
MENDOC|NO COUNTY
B. ]. LOwrey Almost Kills Noun
tain LiOn-DOesn't
Climb Tree.
Coast Range a Wild and Rugged
Country With Wild Game Abound
ing-IntO the Primitive.
Farley, Cal, Aug. 2, 1915

Farley, Cal, Aug. 2, 1915
Editor Grant County Herald,
Lancaster, Wisconsin.
Dear Sherman
[ wrote you letter from Leadyille,
Colorado a month ago, while [ was
on my way to the coast, which I see
you considered of sufficient interest
to publish, and that prompts me to
scribble eff another this afternoon,
while awaiting the preparation of din
ner in our hunting camp in the noun
tains where, with my wife and a party
of friends with whom we have been
visiting in Oakland, Mr.. and Mrs. J.
W. Lovely and daughter, Grace, old
time neighbors and chums of ours in
Michigan for over twenty years, we
have been very pleasantly spending a
couple of weeks in camp during the
heated spell.
We are located along the line of the
Northwestern Pacific railroad, about
$50 miles north of San Francisco,
in the Coast Range mountains. With
a taste for the primitive we have gone
far away from fashionable haunts-
back into a wild district-Which has
but lately been made accessible by
railroad, and where big game is still
fairly plentiful There is scarcely q
day in which we fail to see one or more
deer close to our camp, which is on
the banks of a clear mountain river,
which winds its tOrtuOus way through
a rough and rocky country, within
plain sight of the railroad much Of
the way across MendOcinO county, and
! from our tent and our dining table,
which are upon the river bank, we
can plainly see rainbow trout GispOrt-
ing themselves, so our table is well
supplied with variety of good things
| to eat, such as VeniSOn, rabbit, SPUR
rel and mountain quail, which have
been included in the open season for
hunting during our stay, in addition
to plentiful supply of provisions OF
all kinds brought with us from the
city
Bear tracks have been seen several
times along the mountain trails we
have followed on our hunting excur-
sions, but so far we have seen no
bear. Two mornings ago, just at day
break, while seated at the base Of
/ tree we'll up toward the summit of the
mountain, where / had climbed
couple of hours earlier and gone into
hiding in the hope of seeing big
buck deer walk along the trail, | sud-
denly discovered an animal emerge
from the timber and slowly creep
across the grassy mesa and out upon
the trail by which | had made my as
cent At the distance from which [
1 first noticed it l could not make out
what it was, but it walked with the
crOuching, creeping movement OF
tiger. It paused upon the trail brief
I ly after smelling my tracks, and af-
! ter a steady look up toward where
was hidden, proceeded stealthily in my
direction
1t proved, upon closer inspection,
to be a big mountain lion and with
more or less trepidatiOn | resolved to
open fire upon him if he came within
range Of my shotgun, with an incl
dental calculation as to about how
/ fast l could climb the tree where I
was sitting, in case couple of charg-
/ es of buckshOt failed to put stop to
him.
He solved the problem for me, how
YER by swerving to one side of the
trail before he got within shooting dis
lance, and disappearing down the side
of the canyon, leaving me undecided
whether | was glad or sorry that he
had come no closer.
Mr.. Lovely was upon another side
of the mountain at the time and had
he been with me could have had a
fine shot at the lion with his rifle.
We tried to locate him later, but did
not succeed in doing so.
We killed one coyote yesterday
morning and had an easy chance to
shoot another this morning, just after
daylight, while lying in wait near the
trail watching for a deer, but had to
let him lOpe peacefully away, fearing
that a shot at him would scare away
the more greatly desired deer.
This (Medocino), is a very large
county and, geographically, very
rugged one. The north part Of the
county, thirty miles or more north of
where we are camping, is the scene
of active gold mining operations, while
garnets, Opals, and it has recently
been stated some diamonds, have been
found. The mountain sides where we
are located are we'll covered with fir
timber, and as one goes westward
from here toward the Pacific, which is
distance of about fifty miles, he
passes through one Of the largest and
perhaps one Of the finest tracts of
redwood timber in the world
Where we are encamped the cOun-
try is very sparsely settled and the
hardy ranchmen, who are largely
hOmesteaders, find it difficult to even
make a living of the most simple char
acter, as there is very little tilIable
land. Grazing is good, however, up
on the mountain sides during eight or
nine months of the year and now and
then there is found a ranch owner
having several hundred acres, who in
addition to his own holdings, uses
contiguous government land as a range
for his stock and thus makes some
money. In this vicinity | have talked
with a number of hOmesteaders who
say they find it difficult to exc out
a bare living, and | learned today
that one man, mile or so away, had
packed his limited household effects
for shipment elsewhere and abandon
ed his claim.