126 FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



ater was an expert at it, graining the skins in the water and 

 using the brains of the deer and coon oil for tanning and then 

 smoking the skins. 



We did not kill many deer though they were plentiful, but 

 venison was so cheap in Detroit and other Michigan cities that it 

 did not pay one for the trouble. By the last of October there 

 was quite a fall of snow and Mr. Goodsil, who was a gunsmith, 

 suddenly came to the conclusion that he was neglecting his business 

 cic home and we could not persuade him to stay any longer. It was 

 only a few day5 later when Mr. Jones also concluded that he was 

 neglecting his business and left us. Now I began to wonder if Mr. 

 Vanater or myself would be the next to get the home fever, but 

 knowing the metal Charley was made of, I expected that I would 

 .be. attacked first. 



Charley and I being now left alone began building deadfalls for 

 mink, marten, fisher and lowdowns for bear. I will explain that a 

 lowdown is one of those affairs, half pen, half deadfall, which are 

 built by first making a bed of small poles, then placing on this bed 

 notched together the same as for a log house. The logs should 

 be about twelve inches in diameter, and two tiers will make the 

 pen high enough. The space inside the pen is usually made about 

 seven feet long, two feet high and twenty inches wide. The roof is 

 made of poles or small logs pinned to cross logs, the one at the back 

 end of the pen forming a roller hinge. The cover is raised up and 

 fastened with the usual lever and hook trigger, which the bait is 

 fastened to. The bear in order to get the bait goes over the logs 

 into the pen. I wish to say that while this sort of a trap is quickly 

 made, I do not like them, as the bear will rub the fur madly in its 

 struggles, and they are an inhuman sort of an affair at best. 



To get back to my story, Charley and I did fairly well in catch- 

 ing mink and marten, but the bear had either migrated or gone into 

 winter quarters. The coon had also gone into winter quarters. 

 The snow was getting quite deep as it was now past the middle 

 of November, and it now proved to be my luck to be left alone 

 in camp. One night when we were coming to camp, we had to cross 

 a stream on a small tree which had fallen across the creek. There 

 were several inches of snow on the log and Charley was carrying a 



