BEARS IN 1870, TODAY OTHER NOTES. 107 



times, nearly in the same place within the past three or four days, 

 since a light snow had fallen, I was satisfied that it was a bear 

 going back and forth from his lodging quarters to his feeding 

 grounds. 



So I left the trail of the deer and took up the trail of the bear, 

 taking the track that I thought had been made last. I did hot 

 follow the trail far, which led along the brow of the ridge, when 

 I saw that the several different bear tracks were forming into one 

 trail and making in the direction of several large hemlock trees 

 that had been turned out by the roots and lay in a jumbled up mess. 

 I followed the trail carefully until I was certain that the bear had 

 entered the jungle of timber. Here I worked carefully around the 

 jam of timber until sure that the bear was in the jungle and that 

 it would be impossible for me to get near the bear. The density 

 of brush and undergrowth was such that I would drive the bear 

 out before I could get close enough to Bruin to get a shot at him. 

 And this was a time, when I longed for a pard. 



Being convinced that I could do nothing alone, I got out on 

 one side of the trail the bear had made in going back and forth 

 and watched until dark, in hopes that Bruin would come out on 

 his way to his feeding grounds. But in this I was mistaken so 

 was obliged to give up the hunt for the time being and make tracks 

 for the shanty. My camp was about five or six miles from Edg- 

 comb Place, this being the nearest point to where anyone lived, 

 where I might get help to rout Bruin. The Edgcomb Place was a 

 sort of a half way house, it being about fourteen miles either way 

 to a settlement. The stage made one trip a week over this road 

 and stopped at Edgcomb Place for dinner and often some one 

 would come out from town in the stage and stop there for a few 

 days' hunt. It was one of these parties that I was in hopes of 

 getting to help me out in this bear hunt. 



I started in the morning before daylight as the stage had gone 

 the Kettel Creek way the day before, which was in my favor of 

 catching help at the hotel. As good luck proved to be on my side, 

 I found a man at the hotel by the name of John Howard, who 

 was stopping there for a few days' hunt. He was more than 

 anxious to join me in the bear hunt. We hastened back to camp 



