AND OTHER HUNTING ADVENTURES. 251 



As further illustrating the habits of the mountain 

 goat and the perils attending its capture, I may be 

 permitted to narrate the experience of Mr. West- 

 lake, a ranchman in Eastern Idaho, who attempted 

 to procure a pair of skins for a friend in the East a 

 few years ago. He employed a Flathead Indian as 

 guide and assistant, who claimed to know the country 

 thoroughly in which they purposed hunting, and to 

 have had considerable experience in hunting goats. 

 Mr. West lake provided himself with a good saddle- 

 horse and one pack-horse, a rifle, camp outfit, includ- 

 ing a small tent, and provisions for himself and the 

 Indian for twenty days. The Indian was fairly 

 mounted on a small but tough Indian pony and well 

 armed. They set out on September 2, and traveled 

 across the country to the Clearwater river, up which 

 they rode several days, over a very difficult and tedi- 

 ous trail, and when well up toward the head of the 

 stream they reached the mouth of one of its tribu- 

 taries which debouches from a deep and rugged 

 canon. Up this they decided to go, for it was their 

 intention to reach the Bitter Root Mountains, one 

 of the best known ranges for the goat. 



This canon proved, like many others in that 

 region, almost impassable for man or beast, and it 

 was with the utmost difficulty and by the endurance 

 of untold and incredible hardships that they were 

 able to make seven or eight miles a day. They 

 encountered plenty of game in the canon, however, 

 among which were elks, bears, and mule-deer, and 

 the creek which ran through the canon yielded 

 them an abundance of trout, so that they fared 

 sumptuously so far as food was concerned. 



