172 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



ting an account of it on paper, and in order to refresh my 

 memory I called on D. V. Coe, who now lives in Neligh, and 

 got the main facts from him, jotting down notes of our talk 

 at the time. Mr. Coe was a near neighbor of Mr. Smith in 

 the Black Hills country and knew all about the facts at the 

 time they occurred. 



In the fall of 1890 a man by the name of Leavitt, who I 

 think was boarding at Smith's ranch, while hunting came 

 across what seemed to be a bear's den. It was late in the 

 season, and winter was close at hand, it being about the time 

 of year for the bears to den up for the winter. It is the 

 habit of the bears of the United States, both the grizzly and 

 the black kind, to go into winter quarters on the approach of 

 very cold weather, where they hibernate, as it is called, until 

 spring. They become very fat during the fall months, and 

 at the proper time going into their winter dens, they sleep 

 through the cold winter, eating nothing during the time. In 

 the spring they come out poor and ravenously hungry. This, 

 however, is not the habit of the white bears of the Arctic 

 regions — they do not hibernate, but roam abroad the whole 

 of the Arctic winter. These explanations are made for the 

 younger readers, who are not supposed to be as well posted 

 in these matters as the older ones. 



Mr. Leavitt looked the ground over until satisfied that 

 it was really a den occupied by two or more bears. Return- 

 ing to the ranch without disturbing the bears, if indeed they 

 were at home, at the time, and reporting to Mr. Smith, they 

 determined to go after them without delay. 



The den was in a ledge of rocks in Hell's canyon, up in 

 the rough mountains ten or twelve miles northeast of Smith's 

 place. Several years afterwards I made quite a careful 

 survey of the place, going several miles out of my way to 

 see a real bear's den. 



