The Elk of the Pacific Coast 169 



of the San Joaquin Valley are very broad and 

 shallow, with a vast margin between high and low 

 water that has a dense growth of this cover, which 

 also runs over many of the islands of the rivers 

 far up the Sacramento and the other streams lead- 

 ing into San Francisco Bay. 



Instead of going to the mountains, which spread 

 their robes of chaparral and timber down to the 

 edge of the plains and higher up offering fastnesses 

 as good as any of the Rocky Mountains, the elk 

 retreated from the open plains with the advent of 

 the American, and hid in the vast tule swamps 

 that covered hundreds of thousands of acres. 

 Here they made great trails that ramified until 

 lost in myriad mazes, while hogs that had gone 

 wild made it extremely interesting for the hunter 

 who dared enter on foot, especially if he had a dog- 

 to retreat between his legs at the first charge of a 

 big boar. As it was impossible to see any dis- 

 tance even on horseback, and the mud was too 

 thick for horses, the elk were quite safe for a time. 

 But as the swamps began to be drained and the 

 cover burned off, and roads made through the 

 drying ground, it was again the same old story of 

 the white man. By 1875 the antelope were a curi- 

 osity on the great plains, where so many thousands 

 lately glimmered through the dancing heat, while 

 the elk were almost as rare in the great tule 

 swamps that so lately seemed inaccessible. By 



