The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1932-02-12

toes we scaled the rampant. ]
seemed like another world on tor
| Strange and unreal. The onl.
|. signs Of life were the goats, billies
and kids with their mothers. TX
make the scene more unreal, thu
kid goats seemed not to be afrair
of us. Moss everywhere for miles
At the lower end of our cabiI
valley the south fork of the Flat
head emerged from the mountains
1t swarmed with large trout. The
moment our fish-line struck its
waters, trout made a rush for 1t
We didn't "yank" them out but
slowly trailed them to shore. Had
we yanked them the hook would
have torn loose. In the tributaries
of this stream trout were smaller,
silvery and p~ink-spotted but in the
south fork trout were large and
browner. We split. cleaned, dipped
in hot brine and hung out to cure
many hundred large trout. In our
meat-house we had piles of dried
trout piled like cordwood-
Elk wintered in this south fork.
They came down from the mount
ain tops when the snow became
deep. Sometimes we watched a
herd of hundreds Of elk lying so
peacefully in a mountain meadow.
The majority rested recumbent
with a few strolling aimlessly a
mong them. After a while, we
would rouse them and watch them
20 in a long line up the canyon.
In Spring they broke trails through
the snow from the south fork
meadows to our spring. This spring
had some mineral in it which at
tracted them. Around it the ground
looked like a cattle corral. In the
Spring we used to lie in ambush
above it and watch elk come there.
Elk usually after drinking n
pawing around, lay down under a
tree nearby but goats always went
away after drinking. Elk were al
WAYS with us during Our stay there
of a year. In summer going through
the timber we would hear some
animal coming. We would sit on
fallen log until an elk would
come up, look us over, stamp It's
hoof uncertainty. blow a few times
and turn and trOt off. A few lone
bulls wintered near us, always
one by himself. probably driven
away from the herd. We saw IN
the tops mule-deer and black-tall
deer. In the valleys were white
tail deer. All over the mountains
shed elk horns, some OF them
gigantic. Near our cabin was a
Bavorite place where elk in Spring
the velvet from their
horns against trees. frequently
We saw elk fawns, beautiful Great
lres, white-spotted on a light
brown coat.
We found some beaver colonies
put did not disturb them. In sum-
ner blue grouse were plentiful and
also blueberries. P~orcupines were
'airly In the brush
YOU could see where bear
lad widowed. We noticed three
species Of bear, black, brown and
yrizzlies or silvertops. In winter
hey hibernate and some out IN
he Spring. Snowshoeing up a gulch !
day in Spring we almost ran 8
two grizzlies. They were !
at right angles to our trail {
me behind the other. We stopped,
hey came on, swung their heads '
round and glanced at us several q
ines, passed us and unhurried G
vent on their way. Books say that a
10 American wild animal will at d
ack you in the wilds but when |
net one under these conditions G
lways had an unesay feeling that /
he books might be wrong. If space S
,ermitted, incidents Of this kind
night be Of interest. A lone tim S
,er wolf on catching sight of us 7
n daytime ran toward US plainly
,ent on attack. AS it came close, s
nv brother shot it. It was undOubt- b
.dly mad and suffering from hydro i
jhobia as its jaws were covered I
With frothy foam. So this proves O
d
Things are on a big scale in r
he main range. On n rock prec- t
pice there is a trail in the side o
4 the rock where in case Of mis- v
tep one would fall q thousand feet. a
me train is narrow, not many inch II
IS in width and made by countless b
thousands Of animal feet through Il
nut the ages. Yet gingerly our 0
,ack train walked unfalteringly Il
this trail. They were of course s.
and we followed on moe
.ssins. In cases Of this sort, we 6
the belled leader horse Of the o
rain 90 ahead. On one occasion, Il
We tackled this trail with n pack il
Iorse, and we went adead. In the 81
of the trail is a place where t!
he rock wall had d~isintegrated. II