Hunting at High Altitudes 



went to Alaska, where at once he impressed his fel- 

 lows as he had done in Montana. He died only two 

 or three years ago. He was a man whose life should 

 have been written, and it was hoped that this task 

 would have been undertaken by Edwin Tappen Adney, 

 of Nova Scotia. 



"Johnny" Healy feared neither man nor devil ; and 

 to this day stories of his daring linger in the northern 

 country. 



21. The destruction of big game for the hides, 

 which was taking place in 1876, is hardly to be com- 

 prehended by those who did not see what was going 

 on in those early years. Buffalo, elk, mule deer, and 

 antelope were slaughtered by thousands without re- 

 gard to age or sex or season, and of the vast majority 

 of the animals killed, only the hide was taken. Dur- 

 ing the winter of 1874-1875 it was estimated that in 

 the valley of the Yellowstone, between the mouth of 

 Trail Creek and the Mammoth Hot Springs, not less 

 than 3,000 elk were killed for their hides alone. Buf- 

 falo, mule deer, and antelope suffered as much or 

 more than the elk. Travelers through Montana terri- 

 tory in the summer of 1875 constantly came on places 

 where buffalo carcasses were strewn everywhere, and 

 it was common to pass a skin-hunting outfit, whose 

 wagons were piled with the flat, dried hides of deer, 

 elk, antelope and sheep, as high as a load of hay. 

 This went on, as has been said, all through the year, 

 and the females of these hoofed animals were as 

 readily killed in spring or summer as at any other 

 time. Owing to the sparse settlement of the country 



268 



