The Alaska daily empire., 1920-11-30

the number of ducks that hatch out in the lditarod and lnnOko flats, or the number of niggerheads there are on both sides of the trail between and Miller House, or how many blueberries there were in the Tolovana precinct net picked by the middle of September, then 1t will pe plenty of time to get down to Dusi- ness and count and name the carl boa," declared Judge Charles E. Bunncll, of Fairbanks, in a, recent description of the herds of those animals he encountered during visit last Fall to the Eagle district.
 Judge Bunnell's account of the trip and his observations on the jtatus of Alaska's caribou herds fol- ows in full: .,.
 When Mountains Move.
 When travel west of the Missis- sippi YVES with the real horse instead of the iron horse our grandparents used to tell about the thousands Of buffalo that roamcd the plains. Like wise they told us of fiocks of pigeons in, number so great that even on 6 clear day it seemed as if 1t were cloudy. l wonder what they would have said if they had seen whole hillside apparently covered with 3tubby bush begin to clear away md 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 millions.
 Any attempt to, make anything like an accurate estimate is out of he question. When someone under takes to tell us the number of ducks that hatch out in the Iditarod and innoko flats, or the number of .nig- gerheads there are on both side of the trail. within an hundred feet from the center. thereof between Chatanika and Miller House, or how many blueberries there were in the Tolovan2. precinct that were not picked by the middle Of September, then. .it will be plenty of time to get down to business and count and name the caribou. 4 n.re ,t.
 One for Every Spruce a,
 On the morning of the N27th of September about twenty miles from Eagle on the winter trail from Eagle to the Fortymile l first en- countered them ig 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. l will not say there was a, caribou for every spruce tree but l do say that the hills for miles were fairly alive with "them-calves,' cows and bulk; of all sizes and descriptions. l ar rived at Liberty about noon. A hunt CT by the name of Frank. Ono was there. Had stayed there, the night before and. after getting his break fast went out and in an hour had killed three fine caribou and big bull moose. Not much of day for hunting at that. Said he had seen nine moose and any number of caribou. Just before daylight a couple of bull moose had been fight ing near the horse corral and broke down a. section of the fence, a This lis pretty tough luck when the moose are so plentiful that they break down the mail carriers fence. Seems as if they ought to get out and fight in the open. s.s.u
 Blot Out Trail. oa.
 The morning of the 18th the cari- bou were so numerous on the ridge between Liberty and Dome Creek that it was with difficulty I could follow the tracks of a mule that was on the ridge trail and kept about a mile ahead of me. The cari- bou were simply all over and every where. Snow had fallen to depta of ten inches or a foot. It was all tramped down and caribou trails worn down to the earth divided the hillsides into regular sections. 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 exceedingly numerous and were so well packed 1t was easier to follow them than the regular pack trail.
 On the morning of the 29th when on the ridge between Steel Creek and Jack Wade Creek one could look across to higher hills and see what seemed to be large acreage of brush moving slowly up the hill side. Going down Jack Wade sev- eral caribou had been shot and dressed and were left beside the trail ready to be hauled to camp. u
 On the 30th we had continual caribou carnival from Jack Wade to- Franklin. The distance Is about thirteen miles. And after arriving at Franklin a few thousand that were little late came off the steep hillside and forded the river. They were in two bands and crossed about ten minutes apart. The next day there were caribou all along the h