'Memories of a 'Bear Hunter 



second, while the 275 grain bullet had a muzzle 

 velocity of 1,910 feet a second. 



My conclusion was that the lighter express bullet 

 was not the best for game larger than deer. Later 

 experience has convinced me that the 340 grain 

 express ball is sufficient for all the large game of 

 the continent For great beasts like the buffalo a 

 heavy solid bullet is the thing, but during the sea- 

 son of 1 88 1, after I had become familiar with the 

 habits of the grizzly bear, I killed, using an express 

 bullet with no grains of black powder, twenty- 

 three of those bears, of which seventeen required 

 only a single shot. 



On September 29 we moved camp westerly 

 around the foothills of the mountains to the head 

 of Cotton Wood Creek, about twelve miles above 

 the only Indian trading post in the Judith Basin, 

 owned by Reed & Bowles. This post is at present 

 the site of the flourishing town of Lewiston. Major 

 Reed had been the Government agent of the As- 

 sinaboines and the Gros Ventres of the Prairie, 

 with headquarters at Fort Belknap on Milk River 

 in northern Montana. He possessed manly quali- 

 ties and was perfectly fearless in the presence of 

 danger. As an evidence of this trait it is related 

 that at one of the gatherings of the Indians one 

 of them shot Reed's dog without provocation. 



97 



