Things About Camp 



31 



This done, William, with 

 Whitman, decided to have a 

 try for duck, scattered pairs 

 of which had been seen in 

 flight over the river all after- 

 noon, while the voices of still 

 others were heard from the 

 hidden channels between the 

 willow islands far out. They 

 returned some time after 

 five o'clock with four fine 

 full-grown young red-heads, 

 taken with a sixteen-gauge 

 gun in a fly-a-way down- 

 stream. Taken over by 

 Fred for culinary exploita- 

 tion, the fire logged up for 



Jay Whitman 



the evening, the expectatory interval produced from Jay some 

 conversational particulars regarding himself. 



He came to Montana in 1881, thirty-three years ago, just 

 about the time of the last great movement of the now extinct 

 buffalo herds. He has never been back to Missouri to see his 

 folks since. He started back once, and got as far as Omaha, and 

 the prairie country of the East weighed upon his spirits with such 

 monotony — "looked so damn lonesome" — to use his own words, 

 "that I turned right around in my tracks, and came back to the 

 mountains. No, sir, I never tried it again." He ranches 320 

 acres fifty miles from St. Anthony, Idaho with a wife and four 

 children. His main product is timothy and wild hay, which at the 

 present time is worth around $14.50 a ton. It has been as high as 

 $16.00. In the memory of the writer it has been put up and sold 

 in the Canadian Northwest for $8.00 and $12.00 a ton. 



The artist, offering some question as to the habits of the 

 grizzly bear, is referred to Fred, busy in the cook tent, whence 

 an odor of duck in preparation enticingly circumambiates the 

 evening air. Asking Fred if he is familiar with the habits of the 

 animal in question, Fred responds in a matter of fact way, " I have 

 catched quite a few," and unhurriedly adjusts ham slices in the 

 frying pan. 

 3 



