DEATH GULCH, A NATURAL BEAR-TRAP. 



477 



that the gas ever accumulates here to a considerable depth, owing 

 to the open nature of the place, and the fact that the gulch draining 

 it would carry off the gas, which would, from its density, tend to 

 tiow down the ravine. This offers an explanation of the death of the 

 bears, whose remains occur not in this basin, but where it narrows 

 to form the ravine, for it is here that the layer of gas would be 

 deepest, and has proved sufficient to suffocate the first bear, who 



k2H* 



General View, looking downstream, of Lower Part of Death Gulch. 



was probably attracted by the remains of the elk, or perhaps of the 

 smaller victims of the invisible gas; and he, in turn, has doubtless 

 served as bait for others who have in turn succumbed. Though the 

 gulch has doubtless served as a death-trap for a very long period of 

 time, these skeletons and bodies must be the remains of only the most 

 recent victims, for the ravine is so narrow and the fall so great that 

 the channel must be cleared out every few years, if not annually. 

 The change wrought by the water during a single rainstorm, which 

 occurred in the interval between Mr. Weed's first and second visits, 



