TWENTY-ONE GRIZZLIES IN SIGHT. 



W. H. WRIGHT. 



A chance conversation between Mr. Cole- 

 man, of New York, Dr. Penfield and me, 

 led to an impromptu bear hunt in which 

 the hunters came off second best, though 

 game was more than abundant. During the 

 trip 21 grizzlies were seen ; also the tracks 

 of scores of others, some of the footprints 

 measuring 8^2 x 12 inches. 



I had heard of a place in British Colum- 

 bia where bears were found in droves. On 

 my speaking of it. we agreed that we 

 3 would visit the region provided we could 

 start at once, the time at the doctor's dis- 

 posal being limited to 10 days. According- 

 ly we left on an early train the next morn- 

 ing, and 2 days later found ourselves with- 

 in 20 miles of the bear country. The re- 

 mainder of the journey had to be made 

 with pack horses. 



It was early for bears to be out, as the 

 snow was still deep, and we were advised 

 to remain in town a few days at least ; but 

 as we had good tents, stoves, etc., we de- 

 cided to push on as far as possible and 

 then wait until the snow settled enough to 

 permit farther progress. This we did, hir- 

 ing a man and 5 horses to pack our outfit 

 while we walked. Our trail was an old 

 prospectors' path leading over the steepest 

 and most difficult hills. No one had trav- 

 eled it since the year before, and there was 

 much down timber to be cut. 



We struck the trail at 3 p. m. and fol- 

 lowed it 11 miles. The last 2 or 3 miles 

 we made by pounding down and plowing 

 through soft snow 3 to 4 feet deep. By 

 that time we were all tired, hungry and 

 cross, and being then on a little side hill 

 free from snow and facing South, we con- 

 cluded to wait a while. After sending 

 back the man and the horses we proceeded 

 to make camp, no easy thing in a (country 

 that fairly stands on end, and where there 

 is hardly a bit of level ground large enough 

 to play marbles on. - We cut logs and 

 boughs, drove stakes, skinned trees and at 

 last got our 12 x 20 tent erected, but at a 

 cruel cost to the timber of the Dominion. 



The weather, which had 'been mild for a 

 few days, became colder, with an occasional 

 snow storm. We could do nothing beyond 

 beating up and clearing the trail ahead in 

 readiness for a move when the time came. 

 This state of affairs continued 2 weeks and 

 outlasted Dr. Penfield's patience and leave 

 of absence. Early one morning he took 

 the trail South, promising to try again 

 another season. 



His departure seemed to break the spell, 



for the next day warm weather began. Two 

 days later, when the man and horses re- 

 turned, we succeeded in reaching a little 

 bottom 6 miles farther on, where we made 

 our final camp. Just before getting there 

 we saw our first grizzly track, evidently 

 made the evening before. 



The mountains are high, steep and hard 

 to climb. Every half mile or so snow 

 slides have left their mark, sweeping be- 

 fore them to the creek bottoms everything 

 that offered resistance. These old slides 

 are covered with bushes which, yielding 

 before the onrushing snow, have been left 

 to grow, slanting downward. This makes 

 it next to impossible to get through them 

 when going- up, though one can slip down 

 easily enough. Amid the bushes are little 

 parklike natches covered with grass and a 

 yellow lily having a bulb root. It is on 

 grass and these lilies that the bears live. 

 Emerging from their dens in spring, they 

 make their way down to the foot of the 

 lowest slides. As vegetation becomes older 

 and tough they work up the steep and nar- 

 row canyons, following the snow. When 

 they have reached the highest divide their 

 bedtime has come again. If when they first 

 come out the grass has not started, they 

 nip the small and tender twigs of the 

 bushes, which are mostly maple. 



There is no game other than bears in that 

 country, except on the high divides, where 

 caribou are said to be plentiful. We saw 

 none, however, nor even any tracks. 



Hedgehogs were all too abundant ; we 

 never went out without seeing a dozen or 

 more. They will eat anything at all salty, 

 or that has been handled by man. At first 

 we thought them cute, but changed our 

 minds when they began to eat the tent and 

 walk all over us while we lay asleep. Not 

 a night passed that we did not have to get 

 up once or oftener and knock the sawdust 

 out of misguided hedgehogs that insisted 

 on eating our shoes, hats and anything 

 else we had neglected to hang on the tent 

 pole. 



There were many large timber wolves ; 

 we saw their tracks everywhere. A band 

 came within 300 yards of camp. Following 

 the trail the next day we saw where one 

 had left the bunch. Out of curiosity we 

 tracked the lone wolf and were led to a 

 hole in a large cedar tree. The track went 

 in and out. In the hole were 4 little black 

 wolf pups, their eyes not yet open. We 

 took them to camp and returned to watch 

 for their dam. She did not return that 



20 



