EARLY DAY STORIES. 83 



since its settlement. At one time Mr. E. R. Palmer, one 

 of the first settlers in Cedar township, was out hunting, 

 when he started a panther on the west side of the creek, 

 and followed it west nearly to the place where Elgin now 

 stands. The animal was gray in color, as large as a large 

 dog, had a long tail, and ran with bounds like a big cat. 

 When it stopped to look back at him it turned its head only, 

 and looked back over its shoulder, cat fashion. This is a 

 peculiarity of all the cat family — they turn the head back, 

 but do not turn broadside after the fashion of a deer or 

 elk. Although it was followed several miles, there was no 

 chance to get a shot, and it never was seen here again. I 

 have seen a panther that I followed on the prairie and in 

 the woods of Oregon, many years ago, that acted in pre- 

 cisely the same way. 



About fifteen years ago I went to what is now Mor- 

 rill county, Nebraska, to examine some land for an eastern 

 party, and had occasion to run a section line through some 

 rough, rocky hills that were covered with pine timber. This 

 was in the immediate vicinity of the Wild Cat range, and 

 was in fact just a point or edge of that range of mountain- 

 ous country. It looked like a fine game country, and sev- 

 eral times I ran across tracks of black-tail deer. I stopped 

 with a man who lived on the smooth prairie about a half- 

 mile from this rough country, and he told me the follow- 

 ing story : 



'There have been two mountain lions Hving in this 

 part of the country, but I have not seen them for about 

 two years, and whether they have been killed or have left 

 the country I cannot say. They probably have left, for I 

 think I should have heard of it had they been killed. A 

 great many people used to come here to get firewood and 

 timbers from the scrub pines, but they do not come so often 

 now, for a good many have left on account of the dry 

 weather, but they used to come from as far away as forty 



