92 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



seemed to inhabit a strip of territory some five or six miles wide. They 

 appeared to liave limited their range to the open lands along the coast. 

 Forty-two years ago all the ranch bnildings had elk horns nailed up on 

 the barn or other buildings. Evidently the elk had entirely disappeared 

 from Marin County before 1872, the year of Mr. Allen's arrival there. 

 AVhether the IMarin County elk were of the same species as the San 

 Joaquin Valley elk is not certainly known. It may be that the elk of 

 the heavily forested, humid region along the coast from Marin County 

 northward is a distinct species. The facts can be determined only 

 by comparison of nuiterial from the two regions. But \vhatever may 

 be the facts as regards tliis matter, it is clear that elk were very abun- 



FiG. 24. — The crate used in transferring the elk. from the corral to the raih'oad 

 cattle-pens. Photo by John Rowley. 



dant in the San Joaciuin Valley and adjacent foothills, certainly as late 

 as 1850 to 1854. From that time they decreased rapidly. In the early 

 seventies it is said the herd had been reduced to a few individuals — 

 one report says to a single pair — and they were on the Kern County 

 ranch of Messrs. Miller and Lux. It is said that the imminent extinc- 

 tion of the species came to the attention of Mr. Henry IMiller of the 

 Miller & Lux Company, and he immediately gave strict orders to all 

 the employees of the company that the elk must not be disturbed under 

 any circumstances, and that everything possible for their protection 

 should be done. 



That has been the policy of Messrs. Miller and Lux to this day. The 

 animals were protected. The herd increased. In 1914 it was estimated 

 to contain about four hundred animals. The state game law makes 

 the killing of any elk a felony, punishable by imprisonment for a term 

 not exceeding two years. Although the elk roam at will over the jNIiller 

 & Lux ranch, doing — the company estimates — from $5,000 to $10,000 

 worth of damage every year to the alfalfa and Egyptian corn fields and 

 to the fences, the;^ have not been disturbed. That the species was not 



