52 THE BLACK BEAR OF PENNSYLVANIA 



this amusing story, and in the family scrapbook is 

 her account of it, called "Jack, or the Raftsman's 

 Bear, 1 ' which she wrote at the time for one of Colonel 

 John W. Forney's newspapers. 



When the Pennsylvania Alpine Club were return- 

 ing from their ascent of the Red Top, one of the 

 high peaks of the Seven Mountains, May 4, 1919, 

 on the north slope of Tussey Mountain a bear's hiber- 

 nating place, recently vacated, was noted. It was a 

 round hole, dug in the clay, on the steep mountain 

 side, and Mr. Chatham and Andrew Vonada, an old 

 bear hunter with the party, called attention to the fact 

 that this was a very unusual form of bear's den. As 

 a rule they hibernate in caves, or under shelving, rocks, 

 or in natural excavations under the roots of prostrate 

 trees, but where there are no caves or other suitable 

 retreats they will dig themselves in. 



Mr. Chatham tells an amusing story of a bear hunt 

 participated in by three old-time Clinton County hunt- 

 ers Ma'joir Hude Chatham, John Simcox and John Q. 

 Dyce. In McElhattan Gap they tracked a bear to a 

 cave beneath overhanging rocks, and their dogs soon 

 brought the animal out, only a fair-sized bear, at that. 

 As it rushed a't the hunters, Dyce's foot caught in a 

 root, and he fell to the ground, the bear almost jump- 

 ing on top of him. 



At the critical moment one of the dogs caught the 

 bear by the flank, and as it turned its head Simcox 

 shot it. Mr. Chatham says 'that all the old-time hunt- 

 ers followed the chase on horseback. One day old 



