282 



RECREATION. 



ment cartridge, claiming the heavy bullet 

 has more killing power. One more or less 

 truthful man said he had 2 horses shot on 

 the Hottinqua river by a hunter who mis- 

 took them for moose. A steel-pointed 

 bullet went through each horse, he said, 

 but in a few days he was working the 

 team again. I can believe that a man or a 

 horse who could live up there one summer 

 and stand the mosquitoes would not mind 

 a little thing like a bullet. 



The boys in Gold Run say they object to 

 the .30-40 because it kills game so far away 

 the meat spoils before they can get to the 

 animal to clean it. 



Speaking of game, Dr,. E. O. Smith, a 

 gentleman of veracity, who went to Daw- 

 son by way of Copper river, said mosqui- 

 t®es darken the sky, and he had to throw 

 up a stick or rock when he wanted a ray 

 of sunlight. The mosquitoes and black 

 gnats in summer spoil the pleasure of 

 hunting. On the river when a current 

 of air strikes them, they are not so bad; 

 but woe to the hunter when he lands and 

 walks over the moss and through the 

 underbrush, for then they rise in clouds, 



A few grouse and ptarmigan are found 

 near Dawson. We had heard that ducks 

 and geese were plentiful, but did not see 

 many during the year spent there. 



In June we left Dawson for St. Michael 

 in an open boat. The distance is about 

 1800 miles and the trip is usually made in 

 21 days. We were 32 days on the way, 

 through not knowing the route. The 

 Yukon river in places is 30 to 40 miles 

 wide. When one leaves the main current, 

 which is hard to follow on account of the 

 numerous islands, it may take 8 or 10 days 

 to find one's way out of the tangle again 

 into the main stream. On the upper part 

 of the Yukon the current runs 4 to 5 miles 

 an hour, but near the sea there is hardly 

 any current. 



We did not see any animals or game 

 along the Yukon, except the bear we killed. 

 That was busily engaged, either fighting 

 black gnats or digging roots, on the % bank 

 of a side stream on which we had been 

 lost several days. We approached within 

 150 yards. I shot him with a .30-30 soft 

 point bullet. Although badly wounded 

 he made- off into the brush nearly a mile. 

 The black gnats nearly stung us to death 

 before we could get him out of the woods. 

 It was several weeks before our faces were 

 reduced to ordinary size. 



The Indians get but little game and live 

 almost entirely on dog salmon, dried with- 

 out salt. They are fast dying off. The 

 white man's food and whiskey do not agree 

 with them. Consumption seems to carry 

 most of them off, and we saw few old 

 persons among them. 



The flats on Northern sound, near St. 



Michaels, are the building ground of sand- 

 hill cranes, and the great Northern diver, 

 or loon. While camped on the shore we 

 could hear their weird cries all night. * Sit- 

 ting around the driftwood fire on the shore 

 of the Arctic sea, we fancied we were lis- 

 tening to the wailing ghosts of gold seekers 

 who had perished from a surfeit of beans 

 and bacon. The hog may be an unclean 

 beast, no doubt a game hog is, but what 

 would the miner on the Yukon do without 

 sow-belly and the rich, and nutritious army 

 bean? B. F. Clayton. 



KILLED TOO MANY SHEEP. 



I recently heard that R. T. Boyd, of 

 El Paso, Texas, had killed 20 mountain 

 sheep in old Mexico, and am informed the 

 report was true. I asked him where he 

 found the sheep. He replied as follows : 



The first mountain sheep I killed was in 

 '96. I drove about 40 miles out from the 

 Mexican town of Ahuarnado, 90 miles 

 South of El Paso, in a light buggy, carrying 

 a saddle with me. When I could drive the 

 buggy no farther I mounted a horse and 

 hunted diligently 2 days. The finding no 

 water I had to turn homeward; but in 

 making for camp I found a young buck 

 sheep about one year old, which I had the 

 good fortune to kill. The sheep in that 

 part' of the country are in isolated peaks 

 of lime formation and barren of all trees. 



I made my second trip into those same 

 mountains in February of this year, with 

 Robt. Gloschear, and we brought down 2 

 sheep, but not finding a large one we went 

 West about 70 miles and found several. 

 Still we saw no large heads. There we 

 killed 2 more sheep and captured a small 

 one which a Mexican has been successful 

 in raising. We have the heads mounted 

 and they make live looking specimens, 



I had another trip in March, with Mr. 

 Townsend, of the firm of Townsend & 

 Barber, taxidermists and naturalists. We 

 went after some museum specimens that 

 time and were successful. We brought 

 down 8 sheep and 2 blacktail deer. It 

 seems that this is a new species and is in 

 demand at all museums. In that hunt I 

 got my first big sheep head and I had it 

 mounted life size. It is just finished and 

 is an interesting and beautiful mount. 



My next trip was with Mr. E. E. Bliss, 

 of Denver, Colorado, in April. We trav- 

 eled about 100 miles East of Ahuarnado 

 and we got 2 sheep heads, the largest that 

 have been brought out of Mexico. Mine 

 measured 16^ inches at base of horn. 



There is no meat, domestic or wild, so 

 good as mountain sheep steak. We saved 

 all the meat that was killed and, excepting 

 what we ate ourselves and gave to friends, 

 the balance was served in the hotel. 



