CHAPTER VII. 

 My Last Hunt on the Kinzua. 



TnjS this hunt was about 1868, before there were railroads in 



iJ this section, we went to Emporium, Cameron County, 



J |! Pennsylvania, and there took the train to Kane, in Mc- 



Kean County, then by team and bobsled route to camp. 



This making the journey much farther, we concluded to go by 



wagon the entire distance, which would shorten the distance nearly 



one-half. 



This time conditions were different than on previous occasion. 

 While there were three in the party before and every one hunted 

 on his own hook, this time I had a partner and we were to share 

 alike in profit and loss. My partner's name was William Earl, and 

 he had recently moved from Vermont, or, as he would jokingly 

 say, from "Varmount." He was somewhat older than myself, and 

 a man who was ever ready to carry his end of the load at all times. 



We hired a team and took a full line of grub and the camp 

 outfit, with about sixty small traps and eight bear traps. We 

 went by way of Port Allegheny, Devils Blow and Smithport, tak- 

 ing three days to get to camp, as we had to cut out the road a 

 good part of the distance of the last day's travel. They had just 

 begun to operate in the oil industry in the neighborhood of what 

 is now the city of Bradford, and as they used wood altogether for 

 fuel to drill with, there was a great deal of wood being cut for 

 the purpose. Bill, as my partner was familiarly called, used to 

 say that if we could not get fat on venison and bear meat we 

 would take a wood job, but we found plenty to do without the 

 wood job. 



On reaching the camp the first thing noticeable was that the 

 old hollow elm that I had used for a dryhouse to hang up skins 

 in, had met with foul play, for it lay on the ground, having blown 



78 



