THE -OnREGGON SPORTS MAN 29 
WHERE ARE THE ELK? 
By WarvEN BEN S. Patton, Estacada, Oregon. 
Between thirty-five and fifty years ago, according to old settlers 
of this locality, elk were still plentiful all along the Cascade Moun- 
tains between the Columbia and Santiam Rivers. Even as late as 
twenty-five years ago they were still rather numerous in a few locali- 
ties; but, like, the buffalo, went fast when they began to disappear. 
Some of these settlers who are acquainted with the history of the wild 
game think they were not all killed off—that they migrated to other 
parts of the country; that their coming in contact with civilization 
so disturbed their habits of life that the bands dwindled down and 
died off, etc. But on close analysis it is evident that they were 
about all killed off by hunters, whether white hunters or red, or 
both. These were about the years when the modern repeating rifles 
began to come into general use, and placed in the hands of men 
whose only idea of sport was to kill all the game they could without 
restriction, they were deadly to the wild game of the woods. The 
use of these modern rifles, too, seemed to bring another class of 
hunters into the woods—men whose habits of hunting were destructive 
to the game, and with a thirst for killing that was hardly known in 
the days of the old muzzle-loading guns. 
When the elk come to be extensively hunted they scattered over 
the mountains singly and in small bands and were soon hunted down 
and killed. A good example of how many of the bands as well as 
single roving elk were killed off is shown by a case that happened 
12 or 15 years ago in what is known as the Pike’s Peak country, 
along the high divide between the Clackamas and Santiam water- 
sheds. At one of the lakes in that region located in a deep basin- 
like area three hunters ran across a band of 17 elk. When the elk 
got sight of the hunters they stampeded and started up over a steep 
burned-over ridge in an exposed position. These hunters began shoot- 
ing and killed 13 of the band before they got out of range. Not even 
the hides of these animals were taken; but they tried to pack out 
a little of the meat, which spoiled before they reached home. Mr. 
Edwin Bates, who lived on Salmon River, a tributary of the Sandy, in 
the early ’70s, told of a band of 14 that were killed in that locality, 
in a like wanton manner. These are only two of many of such acts 
that. were committed, but they are typical of the way in which the 
elk of the Cascades were reduced to only a few remnants of their 
former numbers. 
But a point that is of interest at present, and will be in the future, 
in dealing with this problem, is that this region the elk roamed over 
is still in the wild state so far as it affects these animals. The moun- 
tains with their canyons, lakes and streams, timber and natural sur- 
roundings are still there. The only reason the elk and deer—the ani- 
mals nature has bred up to go with such a region—are not there is 
because they have been destroyed; and not because of anything in 
the way of development or of reduction of their natural range that 
made it impossible for them to exist. When one gets into the rough 
part of the foothills and mountains, settlement ceases, for the reason 
that the country is too rough for anything like agriculture to be prac- 
ticable to any extent. Much of it will remain about as it is indef- 
initely, with the exception of more and better trails that will make 
it more accessible. The wild life that nature has adapted to such 
country should be preserved; it will double the attractiveness of such 
a region to the people of the state. The Pacific Coast elk are the 
