Evening star., 1933-02-17
A Thrilling Adventure
With Alaskan Buffalo
To the Editor of The Star:

| To the Editor of The Star:
| As an old Alaskan sourdough, was
| thrilled with Mr.. Matten's account of
| his 30-day hike from Seward to Fair
banks, Alaska. last Summer In search
of q job. as published in The Star Of
February 10: The large Alaskan colony
] here in Washington likewise must have
, got a huge kick out of the adventure.
! OF course, the best trail from Seward
| to Fairbanks is the Alaska Railroad.
aforementioned, which serves the
! community about as well as does any
| Eastern railroad in this section. Not
SO luXuriously, perhaps, but good
enough for the trough and ready"
Stations and section houses are ade-
| quately provided along the route, sufh-
cient to keep the road In excellent con-
dition.
What thrilled me particularly was
Mr.. Mattens account Of his thrills
while walking along the 500-mile trail,
particularly where he says he was
chased by buffalo, bears and wolves,
and had no gun"
It is a terrifying experience to meet
buffalo along the Alaskan trail. They
are more voracious and subtle than the
wolves and the bears. These Alaskan
buffalo are not the ordinary American
! bison, now nearly extinct. They are
an entirely different breed. but very
bad. They are indefatigable' On the
Seward Fairbanks trail, lurking behind
boulders and liable to spring out at a
hiker on the slightest occasion. They
have eight legs, four on the under and
four on the upper part Of the body.
When they get tired using the lower
four in their chase Of railroad mixers
they simply flop their body over and
start running with their upper four.
They simply wear a hiker from Hyatts-
vile all out.
I recall a trip that "Jake" Hammond,
Harry Munson, Roy Chase, Elmer
Cassel and I (now all Washingtonians,
but former Alaskans together years
ago) made to the Willow Creek mines.
We started from Seward one June
morning after midnight Gt is light at
midnight in the Summer in that sec
tion). Each carried a rifle and Colts
revolver and plenty of ammunition
Each also carried his trusty bucket OF
sourdough over his shoulder, for biscuit
purposes. About 10 miles out Of An
chorage, Chase sighted an Alaskan
buffalo crouched behind a cheechaco
bush, huge beast, with bloodshot eyes
His unutilized four legs, rampant
aback, were rigid. The four legs then
| supporting IuIn were paving the ulCSs
ferociously. What can humans do but
quail when they envision such sight?
We quailed, all five of us. We were
buffaloed.
With roar and fiendish wall, the
Alaskan buffalo charged. The end OF
the world had arrived. We broke for
timber; all Of us except Jake" Ham
mond. He stood his ground. His knees
sounded like castenetS, but, always cool
mentally, he unslung his rife. His
excellent eye for distance served him
well. He had calculated that the buf-
falo must flop over to use his extra
four legs at the identical spot where he
was then standing. He determined to
flip him on the flop. On rushed the
beast. Jake" had calculated accur-
ately. As the buffalo Topped his body
losing his objective temporarily, Jake
fired. A sigh, a grunt, groan and a
quiver, and all was over. The buffalo
steaks were excellent.
CHARLES w. JONES.