THE GREAT SPORTSMEN'S EXPOSITION. 



125 



Mountain goat, and of a kid about four months 

 old. There is a head and skin of a great buffalo 

 bull, killed on Cabin creek, a tributary of the 

 Yellowstone river, in 188 1, from a herd which was 

 estimated to number 200,000 This was the 

 last large bunch of buffalo ever seen in the 

 northwest It was practically exterminated dur- 

 ing that year, and no other large band ever 

 existed afterward. 



On the floor of the cabin is spread the skin of 

 a silver-tip grizzly bear, killed on the summit of 

 a peak of the Big Horn mountains, in the 

 autumn of 1880. With two companions I dis- 

 covered this bear on an open plateau, nearly a 

 mile away We deployed, approached him from 

 three different directions, and I opened fire on 

 him at a distance of about 200 yards At the 

 shot the bear raised on its haunches, looked 

 around and my friends fired on him at that instant. 

 Seeing himself surrounded and between three 

 fires, he seemed to decide not to fight and 

 started, with race-horse speed, for the nearest 

 canyon. Other shots were fired at him as he 

 ran. none of which took effect. I mounted my 

 horse and started on a race to head the bear off, 

 but before either of us reached the brink of the 

 canyon, the first shot, which had passed through 

 his lungs, took effect and he died. 



In my cabin were also exhibited over 60 guns 

 and pistols, several of which have interesting 

 and even romantic histories. Among the num- 

 ber is a flintlock musket which was carried in the 

 Revolutionary war, and another was carried in 

 the Mexican war. Still another was dug up 

 from the bottom of the Fox river, in Wisconsin, 

 by a government dredge boat. It is of French 

 manufacture, and was covered with four feet of 

 mud, which had been deposited over it by the 

 natural flow of the river. This indicates that it 

 had been there many years, and it is supposed to 

 have been lost by a member of Father Mar- 

 quette's expedition, which passed up the Fox 

 river, in canoes, in the early part of the 17th 

 century. There is in this collection an old 

 Kentucky rifle, with a barrel nearly five feet 

 long, which crossed the plains, over the Bridger 

 trail in 1853, and which, if its whole history 

 were known, could no doubt tell of many bloody 

 tragedies. There is one of the old Sharps 

 buffalo guns, of 50 calibre, which weighs 16 

 pounds, and which shoots 100 grains of powder 

 and 600 grains of lead. This pattern of rifle, 

 more than all others combined, exterminated the 

 buffalo. Ninety per cent, of the old skin hunt- 

 ers used this arm. One of these old, long 

 haired vandals would sit behind a bunch of sage 

 brush, or a rock, 500 to 800 yards from a herd, 

 and would pick off the poor cieatures, one at a 

 time, until 25, 50 or even 75 animals were killed 

 out of the band before it would stampede. Then 

 the hunter would follow up the band until he 

 could get another stand, while his followers 

 would go in and do the skinning. The stock of 

 this old gun is sadly worn away by contact with 

 the pommel of the saddle, indicating many years 

 of active service. 



This collection of arms includes many of the 

 earliest breech loaders, which proved total fail- 

 ures in use, and which were discarded in their 

 turn. Then there are several of the more 

 modern breech loaders and repeaters which I 

 have used in my hunting in the mountains and 



on the plains A 40 calibre hammerless Sharps 

 has a record of 2 buffalo. 3 grizzlies, 2 black 

 bears, 3 elk, 2 mountain sheep, 7 antelope, and 

 13 deer. A 50-95 Winchester has killed 3 

 elk, 2 grizzlies, 4 antelope, 3 mountain sheep 

 and eight deer. A 45-90 Winchester has killed 

 3 elk, 6 antelope and 7 deer. A 50-110 Win- 

 chester has killed 3 moose, 1 black bear and 

 several deer, wolvts, etc A collection of pistols 

 varies from a little vest-pocket weapon, shooting 

 a 22 calibre cartridge and measuring less then 

 three inches in length, up to an ancient flintlock 

 horse-pi>tol of 63 calibre and measuring 17 

 inches in length. There are some curious 

 "pepper boxes," a bayonet pistol, another 

 which is handsomely and elaborately engraved 

 and which has a folding trigger that is entirely 

 out of sight until the hammer is raised, when it 

 drops into position for use. Another novelty in 

 this line has the hammer under the barrel ; still 

 another has the hammer on one side ; t and another 

 is a handsomely engraved and highly finished 

 duelling pistol, of the type formerly used by the 

 old-time southern men. 



On a bunk, in one corner of the cabin was a 

 sleeping bag, which attracted a great deal of 

 attention. It is made of waterproof canvas, lined 

 with sheepskin, and so constructed that the 

 hunter can crawl into it, button himself up and 

 sleep outdoors in the worst blizzard that ever 

 howled on the plains, meantime dreaming that 

 he is sleeping on a hair mattress, in a well heated 

 room at home. On a box in another corner of 

 the room rested the skull of the grizzly bear that 

 chewed up and nearly killed Ira Dodge, the 

 famous guide and hunter of Wyoming. On the 

 mantel, over the fire-place, was the skull of an 

 alligator, killed in Florida. The reptile was 

 over 12 feet long and was estimated to weigh 

 over 300 pounds. 



There are in this collection some rich and 

 novel specimens of Indian bead work ; an In- 

 dian quirt ; a buckskin lariat ; a horsehair rope ; 

 an old-time Mexican bit, handsomely inlaid with 

 silver ; a pair of spurs decorated with the same 

 precious metal ; a pack-strap ; many curious 

 deformities cut from trees and bushes in various 

 portions of the great forests ; a section of a birch 

 tree. 16 inches in diameter, which was cut down 

 by beavers, etc. 



I was assisted in keeping open house by Mr 

 M. W. Miner, one of my old-time guides and 

 hunting companions, from Idaho. He has 

 traveled and hunted over a great deal of the far 

 West, and tells many thrilling stories of his ex- 

 periences. He had with him a little 25 -calibre 

 Stevens pocket rifle, with a 16-inch barrel, with 

 which, about two months ago, he killed a large 

 bald-fac.-d grizzly bear. Mr. Miner has written 

 the story of the tragedy and it is printed in this 

 issue of Recreation, fully illustrated. I am 

 also under obligations to my friends J . E. Thursby 

 and Harry L Suydam, for valuable assistance in 

 entertaining the thousands of visitors to my cabin. 



You have struck the keynote in giving the 

 lovers of outdoor life such a magazine as Recre- 

 ation. If all your readers enjoy it as much as 

 I do your subscription list will be a remarkably 

 large one by the end of the year. 



John Leasure, Tacoma, Wash. 



