EARLY DAY STORIES. 177 



roamed everywhere throughout that region. Besides these 

 there were wolves, mountain Hons and grizzly bears, and in 

 the timbered parts there were black bears. Not farther back 

 than 1875, there were also great herds of buffalo all through 

 that country. Now it is different. The buffalo, the elk and 

 the mountain sheep have entirely disappeared. There are an- 

 telope on the plains, but in greatly diminished numbers — the 

 black and grizzly bears and mountain lions are confined to 

 the rough interior parts of the mountains, and the big gray 

 wolves are very scarce. Black tail deer are still quite plen- 

 tiful in the very rough parts best suited to their nature, and 

 there are still a good many white tail deer high up where 

 there is much timber and many thickets of brush that afford 

 them cover. Both kinds of deer will probably always be 

 found in the mountains, and there will still be antelope on 

 the plains, because these are now all protected by very strict 

 laws. The bears, mountain lions and wolves will finally be 

 killed off, and they ought to be, because they destroy farm- 

 ers' stock as well as weaker wild animals. 



Thus far this has nothing to do with the bear story to 

 follow, but it is written because it is well for us all to know 

 of, and to hold in mind the conditions that existed in a large 

 tract of country so very near to us only a single generation 

 ago. 



In the fall of 1891 there was a man by the name of 

 Mason who owned and run a sawmill in Weston county, 

 Wyoming, just on the western side of the Black Hills. His 

 mill was located on the bank of a stream called Beaver creek, 

 and near the saw mill was a plank bridge spanning the 

 stream. Mr. Mason kept a yoke of oxen that were used in 

 hauling logs to the mill, and when not in use these oxen ran 

 at large with some other cattle. There had been some trou- 

 ble from the wild animals infesting the nearby hills, 

 but as yet no serious losses. One night Mr. Mason was 

 awakened by the cattle running past, either up or down the 



