BRITISH COLUMBIA'S SUCCESS IN BRINGING 

 BACK BIG GAME 



Report by Campbell J. Lewis, Game Warden 



In 1906, following a memorable hunt- 

 ing exploration in the Elk River coun- 

 try, East Kootenay district, British 

 Columbia, John M. Phillips and William 

 T. Hornaday besought the government 

 and people of British Columbia to make 

 that region a game preserve. In it goats 

 were plentiful, sheep could be found by 

 hard hunting, one elk was seen in thirty 

 days, but moose were totally absent. 



In 1908 the Elk River Game Preserve 

 was created, and Campbell J. Lewis was 

 appointed its game warden. Of course 

 all hunting in that region (of 550 square 

 miles) ceased at that time. 



A recent request from Dr. Hornaday 

 to Warden Lewis for a statement of 

 game conditions at this time in the Elk 

 River Game Preserve elicited the fol- 

 lowing report : 



Report of Game Warden Lewis 

 "Your request for data on the East 

 Kootenay Game Preserve comes at an 

 opportune moment. I have just finished 

 a partial patrol of its boundaries, and 

 while I was well aware of a material 

 increase of the wild things within its 

 confines, in my wildest dreams I could 

 never have imagined game so plentiful 

 as it is at the present time on that game 

 preserve. On our first day out — and 

 please note we were not hunting, or tak 

 ing any pains to conceal our presence— 

 we saw twenty goats, five sheep and one 

 black bear. No account was kept of 

 feathered game, of which we saw a 

 goodly number, chiefly sooty grouse. 

 The other five days we were out we saw 

 game proportionate to that sighted on 

 the first day of our journey, including 

 six elk (wapiti) and one large grizzly 

 bear. 



"Our route of travel was by way of 

 Brule Creek (Avalanche Creek), taking 

 in the heads of its various tributaries, 



and thence westward across the divide 

 to Bull River. 



"In your book, 'Camp Fires in the 

 Canadian Rockies,' I remember your 

 remarking on the incident of your meet- 

 ing a bull elk. The occurrence at the 

 time of your visit to this district was, 

 no doubt, worthy of note. You will 

 therefore be surprised to learn that such 

 an occurrence today possesses for the 

 traveller in the mountains a merely mo- 

 mentary interest. 



"To give you some slight idea of the 

 spread of the elk over the East Koo- 

 tenay region, I may mention the fact of 

 those animals having been seen on 

 Sheep Creek, a few miles north of Ft. 

 Steele. They have even been seen as 

 far south as Rock Creek, three miles 

 west of the village of Elko. Bull River, 

 Fording River, and east fork of White 

 River all have their quota of this splen- 

 did game. As a friend of mine recently 

 remarked on visiting the upper Fording 

 River, 'the valley country has no trails 

 but elk trails, and these cut up the val- 

 ley so that it reminds one more of a 

 plowed field than anything else.' " 



"Moose have again made their ap- 

 pearance in the Elk River valley, and 

 are wintering there in small bands of 

 two or three. Last summer a cow drop- 

 ped two calves in the vicinity of C. P. 

 R. headquarters, about forty miles north 

 of Michel. Quite a number spend the 

 greater part of the summer on the big 

 meadows of the west fork of the Elk 

 River. 



"Speaking of the west fork reminds 

 me that a large number of sheep have 

 found their way into the west fork ba- 

 sin. Formerly this country was consid- 

 ered devoid of animal life, but recent 

 investigation has proved the contrary. 

 Goats abound, sheep are fairly plenti- 

 ful, while moose have evidently filed 



