70 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



when he arrived in 1867, but that they were then still to be found in the 

 territory to the east. The various gold rushes to Tioga and Mammoth, 

 together with the running of sheep and other stock in the region, served 

 to clear the Yosemite country of its Grrizzlies at a relatively early date. 

 The occurrence of the one taken in 1887, by Wellman, was by that year 

 considered an unusual event. 



We were unable to get track of even a fragment of a specimen of the 

 Grizzly in the narrow section which we worked across the Sierras; but 

 since our field work was completed, there have come to light two skins of 

 Grizzlies killed elsewhere within the present boundaries of Yosemite 

 National Park. Both of these skins are now in the Museum of Vertebrate 

 Zoology of the University of California. One of these bears (obtained from 

 Mrs. John S. Washburn) is the last known to have been killed in the region. 

 It was shot ''about 1895" at Crescent Lake, which lies some ten miles 

 air-line east of Wawona at an altitude of 8500 feet. 



It is possible that a few individuals persisted in the same region until 

 a considerably later date. This surmise is strengthened by the following 

 account. Mr. John L. McLean and his son Donald have told us that during 

 the fall and winter months from 1908 until 1911 a very large bear lived 

 on Bullion Mountain. The tracks, which were examined on two or more 

 occasions in two successive years, "were 9 by 17 inches (or a little more) 

 by actual measurement." The animal had long claws, as shown by the 

 tracks. The bear had five separate trails leading up the side of the moun- 

 tain from the heavy chaparral (composed of Adenostoma and scrub or 

 "vine" oak) on the lower slopes, to the black and blue oaks on the top. 

 The dung indicated that the bear was living principally upon acorns. 

 There were wild hogs on the mountain and these may have been an attrac- 

 tion to the big bear. The smaller (Black) bears seemingly had little or 

 nothing to do with the big fellow, avoiding his trails and staying off in 

 another canon. A trap was once set for the big bear, and caught him; 

 but he pulled loose "at one jump." Finally a party of men with dogs 

 got after the big bear and it "left the country," without being injured, 

 and was not seen again. Small bears are still present in the region. 



The circumstances surrounding the killing of the "Wellman bear" 

 have been set down at considerable length in a letter written by one of 

 the principals, Mr, Robert S. Wellman, under date of April 20, 1918. 

 This letter is now on file at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and from 

 it we take the following. 



Mr. Wellman 's headquarters were, at that time, at Buck Camp, some 

 16 miles east of Wawona, near the South Fork of the Merced River. On 

 the evening of October 17, 1887, at the head of a small valley about a mile 

 away from the camp, he discovered the carcass of a cow on which bears 



