60 PIONEER LIFE ; OR, 



creek, where they found a very large elk lick, and 

 saw about sixty elk at the creek, at one time. They 

 killed one elk, and the others became frightened at 

 the report of the gun, and fled. When they had 

 killed and dressed the elk, one of them preceeded 

 about a mile further, and found an Indian camp, 

 that appeared to have been occupied by as many as 

 eight or ten persons, but a few days previous. On 

 his return to his companion, he informed him of 

 the discovery he had made, and they concluded to 

 return. They started accordingly, going down the 

 creek five miles to a small stream which they 

 ascended two miles, and encamped for the night. 

 The next morning they went to their canoe by a dif- 

 ferent course, and descended the creek to the second 

 fork. After exploring, for two days, the country 

 lying on the second fork, they proceeded down the 

 creek twelve miles to a place called Hamilton's Bot- 

 tom, and the following day arrived at the town of 

 Jersey Shore, which terminated their expedition. 

 They were hired by a company in Philadelphia to 

 explore the country for the purpose of locating land- 

 warrants, and were the first white men that ever 

 penetrated the wilderness lying on Pine Creek and 

 its tributaries. The information which they obtained 

 was of great importance to us when we first settled 

 in this country, as it enabled us to find where and 

 how the elk lived, where the dens of rattle-snakes 

 were, and how to avoid them. "When hunting the 

 elk we frequently went to the dens of rattle-snakes 

 to see how many were visible at once. We used to 



