HUNTING IN THE BAKER RANGE. 



T. C. AUSTIN. 



The ever restless spirit of the pioneers 

 of the Northwest is like the tide of the 

 ocean, beating and throbbing against the- 

 rocky shores in its effort to escape iu im- 

 prisonment. The old hunters and trappers 

 of the Hudson Bay Company first opened 

 the pathway to Puget sound, disclosing a 

 field of adventure which several genera- 

 tions have been unable to entirely sub- 

 due. It is only within the past few years 

 that the mountain fastnesses surrounding 

 this great body of water have been ex- 

 plored and the leaves of Nature's book 

 opened to the hungry eyes of the natu- 

 ralist. 



The Baker range of mountains was, until 

 the summer of 1886, an unwritten page, 

 never having been trodden by the foot of 

 civilized man. During the early part of 

 that year gold was discovered on the 

 Similkameen river, one of the tributaries of 

 the Columbia, East of the Cascades. The 

 gold seekers were compelled to make a 

 long, circuitous route, through British Co- 

 lumbia, in order to reach the new El 

 Dorado, and the fact that they were re- 

 quired to pay tribute to their British 

 cousins was exceedingly disagreeable to 

 them. An effort was accordingly made to 

 pierce the then unexplored Baker range, 

 thus securing a trail altogether on Ameri- 

 can soil. 



Accordingly, on the 12th of July, 1886, a 

 party, consisting of William Powell, an old 

 '49er; Professor J. Y. Collins, an enthu- 

 siastic naturalist; Banning Austin, an ex- 

 perienced civil engineer, thorough woods- 

 man and experience hunter ; T. H. De- 

 haven, Samuel Belford and David Meyers, 

 all hardy men, left Bellingham bay for the 

 purpose of making the necessary explora- 

 tion. 



Each man carried on his back a pack 

 weighing about 60 pounds. This included 

 rations for 2 weeks, which they supposed 

 would be ample time in which to reach the 

 mining camp. 



The first few days of their journey were 

 uneventful other than that they were 

 amazed by swarms of mosquitoes in the 

 valleys. On the morning of the 16th, while 

 traveling in the valley of the North fork 

 of the Nooksack river, they came in view 

 of the great glacier of Mount Baker, about 

 10 miles away. The sun. was shining on 

 the face of the crater, in which the glacier 

 is formed, showing thousands of feet of 

 ice and snow, over which danced every 

 color of the rainbow. Added to this, the 

 noise of the rocks and ice. tumbling from 

 their lofty heights, made the scene grand 

 and awe inspiring in the extreme. 



The country over which the men had 

 passed was an interminable jungle of 

 fallen timber and underbrush, and as they 

 approached the mountains, new difficul- 

 ties were encountered. immense can- 

 yons blocked the way, while the stream- 

 which they were compelled to cross were 

 ice cold, being fed by the snows on the 

 mountains. These streams they found full 

 of trout, which partially repaid the trav- 

 elers for the suffering encountered in 

 crossing them. 



The next morning the journey was re- 

 newed, all the party being in good spirits. 

 Now and then they halted to regale them- 

 selves with the wild huckleberries covering 

 the mountain sides. During one of the 

 pauses Powell, who was slightly in ad- 

 vance, shouted for Austin, who carried 

 the only gun, that he had routed a bear. 

 Hastening forward, Austin discovered a 

 black bear cub ensconced in a fir tree 

 about 100 feet from the ground. A single 

 shot disposed of it and furnished the party 

 with the first fresh meat they had had 

 since starting. That night they camped 

 at the foot of a red butte, which they 

 named Baldy. 



Four of the party ascended this moun- 

 tain the following day, in order to obtain 

 a view of the surrounding country. On 

 reaching the summit Austin looked down 

 the mountain side, and, about 1,000 feet 

 below, discovered 2 mountain goats slowly 

 working their way tow r ard where he was 

 standing. Onward they came, slowly but 

 surely, passing the edge of an immense 

 precipice, over the dizzy heights of which 

 one misstep would have hurled them on 

 the rocks several thousand feet below. 

 The hunter at once began working his way 

 toward the unsuspecting ammals. and suc- 

 ceeded in getting within about 200 yards 

 when he opened fire. The first shot 

 missed, but the second took effect, when 

 over the goat went, falling at least 100 feet 

 before striking. It dragged itself about 

 1,000 feet farther, to a large bank of 

 snow, and gave up the ghost. The action 

 of its companion was indeed pitiable. 

 Glancing down the mountain to where its 

 mate lay, it made its way down by a dif- 

 ferent route and lay down by its side. The 

 dead goat was easily secured, and the meat 

 formed a welcome change for the prospec- 

 tors. Professor Collins preserved the head 

 and horns, carrying them all through the 

 toilsome journey. 



The party proceeded to the Northeast 

 side of the mountain, and as the atmos- 

 phere was extremely smoky, decided to 

 again ascend and then try to make ob- 



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