Hunting at High Altitudes 



of the early settlers of that day, as a means of 

 livelihood, devoted their time to obtaining the 

 hides of all these animals and poisoning the car- 

 casses with strychnine to secure the hides of the 

 large gray wolf, the coyote and other carnivorous 

 animals. 21 These hides, after being dried, were 

 salable at the various trading stores. One man, 

 Barker, had a record of killing thirty-two' antelope 

 in one day. As the antelope left the Missouri 

 River, after watering, they went up a narrow 

 coulee in the Bad Lands, from which there was no 

 outlet. Barker followed them, and by his repeating 

 rifle, as they attempted toi pass him, he killed 

 thirty-two. 



At this time Olinger had a few cattle and had 

 settled down on his ranch to attend to them, while 

 Barker was prospecting for precious metals at the 

 head of Belt Creek. In the end, as the discoverer 

 of the Barker Mine, which I was glad to learn he 

 sold for from $15,000 to $20,000, he was success- 

 ful. Col. Geo. Clendenin, already spoken of, be- 

 came in after years manager of these mines, and 

 eventually lost his life there. 



Although I was kept fairly busy in securing meat 

 and packing in the deer, occasionally assisted by 

 Olinger, I visited Fort Benton during the Christ- 

 mas we'ek, leaving the ranch on the 24th of De- 



42 



