The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1923-01-25

in great waves of sound. And in il
was Il sense Of reSiStleSS power; no
creature in the forest but what knew
this fact.
"The Gray Kius" one could imagine
them saying among themselves. The
effect was instantaneous. The little
raccoOn halted in his descent, then
crept out to the end Of II limb. The
coyote, an instant before crawling
with body close to the earth, whipped
about ms if he had some strange kind
of circular spring inside of him. He
snarled once In the general direction
OF the Gray King. Then he lowered
his head and skulked off deeper into
the covertS.
The blacktail deer, IN. yrr- golf.
ever the stately 1'nwny on stretched
in grace in his lair, Weakened from
sleep. The languor died quickly in
he ~latter's eyes, leaving only fear.
These were drawer than the Little
People. They waited until the thick
brush, not far distant from where the
bull elk slept, began to break down
and part before an enormous, gray
body.
No longer would an observer think
Of the elk as the forest monarch. He
was but II pretCnder, after all. The
real king had just Weakened from his
afternoon nap and was starting forth
to hunt.
Even his little cousins, the black
bears, did not wait to make conversa-
ton. They tumbled awkwardly down
the hill to get ont Of his way. For
the massive gray form-weighing over
half Il ton-was none other than that
Of the last of the grizzly bears, that
terrihl" forest hunter and monarch,
the Killer himself.
Lon" rgo. when Oregon was a new
lrn6 80 W. 'tc men. in the days of the
clipncr sl'irS and the Old Oregon
Trail the breed to which the Killer be-
lon"cd were really numerous through
, the little corner north of the Siskiyous
n west OF the Cascades. They were
Il worthy breed, If the words of GER
tain old NOV could be believed, the
l southern Oregon grizzly occasionally
in the bountiful fall days, attained a
[ weight of two thousand pounds. No
doubt whatever remains that thou.
; sand-pound bears were numerous.
! But unlike the little black bears. the
grizzlies developed displeasing habits.
They were much more carnivorous in
character than the blacks, and their
great bodily strength and power en-.
abled them to master all of the myriad
forms of game in the Oregon woods.
BY the same token, they could take a
full-grOwn steer and carry 1t off as a
woman carries her baby.
1t couldn't he endured. The cattle
men had begun 10 settle the valleys,
and il syas either n case OF killing the
grizzlies or viC'n"~ the valleys IN
them. In -" " ''n'lnSs war that fol.
lowed, the breed had been practically
wiped out. A few Of them, perhaps
fed farther and farther up the Cas-.
mountains. Others travelled east, 10.
eating at last in the Rocky noun
tains, and countless numbers of then
died. At last, as far as the frontiers
men knew, only m great specimen
remained. This was a famous bear
that men called Slewfoot-a magniii
cent animal that ranged far and
hunted relentlessly, and no one ever
knew just when they were going tC
run across him. He was apt suddenly
to loom up, like n gray cliff. Mt an!
turn in the trail. and his disposition
grew Querulous with age. In fact, in
stead of fleeing as most wild creature.
have learned to do. he was ratheI
likely to make sudden and unexpecte,
charges.
He was killed mt las, and sc n
, ingly the southern Oregon grizzi.e
were wiped out. But II is rather eas,
to believe that in some of his wander
4, ings he encOuntered-lost and far II
the deepest heart of the lnnd calle,
Trails End-a female of his ow'
breed. There must have been cub
r who, in their turn, mated and Tough
: and died, and perhaps two generation
, after them. And out of the last brOo
had emerged a single great male.
worthy descendant Of his famous an
, cestor. This was the Killer, who i
a few months since he had left hi
Businesses, was beginning to ruin tn
cattle business I'm Trails End.
AS he came growing from his be
this September evening he was not
creature to speak of lightly. He wa
: down on all fours. his vast head wa
lowered. his huge fangs cleaned Il
the dark red mouth. The eyes wer
small, and curious little red light
i. glowed In each Of them. The Kille
was cross; and he didn't ca-n VIII
knew 1t. He was hungry tbu
hunger is en emotion for the beast