VII. 

 TREEING A BEAR. 



Away back in the "fifties" bears were as 

 numerous on the banks of the Willamette 

 River, in Oregon, as are hogs in the hick- 

 ory woods of Kentucky in nut time, and 

 that is saying that bears were mighty 

 plenty in Oregon about forty years ago. 



You see, after the missionaries estab- 

 lished their great cattle ranches in Oregon 

 and gathered the Indians from the wilder- 

 ness and set them to work and fed them 

 on beef and bread, the bears had it all 

 their own way, till they literally overran 

 the land. And this gave a great chance for 

 sport to the sons of missionaries and the 

 sons of new settlers "where rolls the Ore- 

 gon." 



And it was not perilous sport, either, 

 for the grizzly was rarely encountered 



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