The Cordova daily times., 1920-12-21

I in the Iditarod and Innoko flats, or the number of niggerheads there are on both sides of the trail between Chatinika and Miller House, or how many blueberries there were in the Tolovana precinct not picked by the middle of September, then it will be | plonty of time to get down to busi ness and count and name the cari- bou," declared Judge Charles E. Bun nell, of Fairbanks, in a recent de- scription of the herds of those ami mals he encountered during visit last fall to the Eagle district
 Judge BunneH's account of the trip and his observations on the status of Alaskas caribou herds follows in full:
 When travel west of the Missis- l sippi was with the real horse instead | of the iron horse our grandparents | used to tell about the thousands of buffalo that roamed the plains Like I wise they told us of flocks of pigeons in number so great that even on a clear day it seemed as if it were cloudy. l wonder what they would have said if they had seen whole ! hillside apparently covered with stubby bush begin to clear away and then found out that the stubby bush was the antlers of thousands of caribou. They would have said just what we say and that is that in Alaska today there are hundreds of thousands of caribou, probably mil lions
 Any attempt to make anything like an accurate estimate is out of the question. When someone undertakes to tell us the number of ducks that hatch out in the Iditarod and Inooko flats, or the number of niggerheads there are on both side of the trail within an hundred feet from the cen ter thereof between Chatanika and Miller House, or how many blneber- res there were in the Tolovana pre- middle of September, then it will be plenty of time to get down to business and count and name the caribou.
 On the morning of the 27th of Sep tember about twenty miles from Eagle on the winter trail from Eagle to the Fortymie l first encountered them in considerable numbers. They were on the hills on the right limit of O'Brien creek These hills are covered with spruce not very large and not all dense I will not say there was a a caribou for every spruce tree but do say that the hills for miles were fairly alive with them calve," COWS and bulls of all sizes and descriptions arrived at Liberty about noon. A hunter by the name of Frank Ono was there. Had stayed there the night before and. after getting his breakfast went out and in an hour had killed three fine caribou and big bull moose Not much of a day for hunting at that Said he had seen nine moose and any number of cari- bou. Just before daylight couple of bull moose had been fighting near the horse corral and broke down a section of the fence. This is pretty tough luck when the moose are Sc plentiful that they break down the mail carriers fence. Seems as If they ought to get out and fight in the open
 The morning of the 2Sth the ca-i
 tcu were so numerous on the ridge between Liberty and Dome creek that
 it was with difficulty l could follow the tracks of mule that was on the ridge trail and kept about mile ahead of me. The caribou were simply all over and everywhere. Snow had fallen to a depth of ten inches or a foot. It was all trampled down and caribou trails worn down to the earth divided the hillside into regular sec tions. On top of the hill between Dome creek and Steel creek the only way to follow the pack trail was by the blazed trees, for the caribou trails were eXceedinly numerous and were so we'll packed it was easier to follow them than the regular pack trail On the morning of the 29th whel on the ridge between Steel creek ant Jack Wade creek one could lool across the higher hills and see wha
 seemed to be large acreage of brusl
 moving slowly up the hillside. Goint
 down Jack Wade several caribou hat