RECREA TION. 



285 



moonlight night, and was barking, which 

 seems to have vexed the wolf which was 

 prowling around. The wolf drove the 

 dog to the house and made a vicious 

 attack on him, when Len shot it within 

 20 feet of the door. 



On different occasions we saw tracks 

 of the large gray wolves near our camp. 

 They actually stole venison from the 

 coiner of Len's cabin ; but would not 

 touch meat that had been left for 

 them in the mountains. They were 

 seldom seen by day, but frequently 

 made the hills echo with their weird 

 howls at night. 



I preserved the skull and skeleton of 

 Len's wolf for the museum. The skin 

 was spoiled for mounting when removed 

 from the body. I have regretted since, 

 that I did not save it for a study skin, as 

 it was the blackest wolf I have ever 

 seen. The back was a dark iron gray, 

 while the legs and belly were full black. 



My first trip up Kettle river was made 

 in August and September, '89. Leav- 

 ing Al Thorp's ranch, near the Loomis 

 trading post, which is only a few miles 

 south of the British line, I travelled 

 northeast with four pack horses and one 

 companion. The first day out we made 

 18 miles, crossed the Okanogan river 

 and camped at Okanogan Smith's ranch. 

 The second day we held our course 

 nearly east, over a low divide or table 

 land, until we reached Rock creek, 

 which we followed down to Chinatown. 

 AVe were now on Kettle river, and fol- 

 lowed up the west fork about 50 miles 

 to "Trappers' Cabin." 



This was a good sized log house. It 

 had been built and occupied the winter 

 before, by Maurice Farrell, George Mc- 

 Laughlin and a man named Dore. With 

 a good supply of provisions, these moun- 

 taineer trappers went into this wild 

 place and built the log house for their 

 winter home. It was a warm, well built 

 structure, with a large fire-place in one 

 corner. Later in the season, an addi- 

 tion had been built for the storage of 

 skins and furs. 



A heap of five or six bushels of 

 charred bones, mostly skulls, which had 

 been burned a few rods from the cabin, 

 to keep down the odor, as spring opened, 

 testified to the skill of these men as 

 trappers and hunters. The country had 

 been thoroughly worked for 10 or 15 

 miles in every direction. From this 



cabin over $1,000 worth of fur had been 

 taken out, in the spring, on pack horses. 

 In the swamp, that extended for a mile 

 or two to the east of the cabin, 53 beav- 

 ers had been caught. Martens, fishers 

 and lynxes were taken in numbers ; 

 wolverines, otters and gray timber 

 wolves were not rare in the catch. 



The stories the trappers told me about 

 their operations in this locality would 

 fill a volume. They were all expert 

 trappers. Dore seemed especially gifted 

 in his understanding of the instincts of 

 the otter ; and seldom missed his game. 

 McLaughlin took good care ot the 

 wolverines, and Maurice saw that no 

 "amphibian," as he called the beaver, 

 ever got away. Maurice had a way of 

 making a beaver tail soup that would 

 almost make a fellow's palate melt. He 

 was the best all-around camp cook I 

 have ever met. He had several special- 

 ties, among which were pancakes and 

 beans. The latter he would bake all 

 night, in what he called a " bean hole." 

 This was out of sight — under the hot 

 ashes at night, and always on top at 

 breakfast time, Sunday morning. 



On one occasion, in March, McLaugh- 

 lin saw where three otters had crossed 

 the swamp and gone over a divide north- 

 ward. He proposed to Dore that they 

 follow them, as the snow was in good 

 shape for tracking. Dore objected. 



*' Just wait," he said. " They will be 

 coming back, in a week, and I will fix 

 them." 



He arranged his traps about the old 

 beaver dams, where the otters had spent 

 more or less time, as they had passed 

 through. In about 10 days the otters 

 did return, and Dore caught all three of 

 them in one night. 



A wolverine got away with one of 

 McLaughlin's traps. Some two weeks 

 afterward he saw where the animal had 

 gone through the snow, still dragging 

 the trap. About this time another wol- 

 verine got away with a No. 4 trap and a 

 piece of a green pole, a few inches thick 

 and over two feet long. The animal 

 had actually cut the pole completely in 

 two with its teeth. McLaughlin could 

 no longer put up with such perform- 

 ances. He put up a few days' rations in 

 a pair of blankets, picked up his rifle 

 and started, saying he did not in- 

 tend to allow the wolverines to start a 

 line of traps of their own at his expense. 



