178 TRUE BEAR STORIES. 



along the stream. One of the most success 

 ful miners was Mike Brannan, whose cab 

 ins and mining appliances lie unused and 

 decaying about six miles from the place 

 where the expedition camped. 



From the camp on the Mutaw the expe 

 dition followed Piru Creek down to Lock- 

 wood, and the latter up to the divide be 

 tween Lockwood Valley and the Cuddy 

 ranch at the foot of Mount Pinos, called 

 Sawmill Mountain by the settlers. The 

 mountain is about 10,000 feet high, and is 

 covered with heavy pine timber. Ever 

 since Haggin & Carres sheep have been on 

 the mountain, the bears from forty miles 

 around have made annual marauding ex 

 peditions, and kept the herders on the 

 jump all the summer. The first band of 

 sheep and the Examiner expedition arrived 

 at the old Sawmill simultaneously this 

 year, and the Basque who was herding the 

 band, having a very lively sense of the dan 

 ger of his situation, pitched his tent close 

 to the camp, where he would be under the 



