THE REFERENDUM 



RECREATION'S PARADISE. 



Editor Recreation : 



Thirty years ago, a small boy in the East, 

 I sat in the school with a geography spread 

 out before me, with my fingers on that still 

 unknown Jand in Idaho, where the Rocky 

 Mountains sweep suddenly east from a south- 

 ern course. 



I mused, — if a small boy does such things, 

 — over that strange land, and in my mind's 

 eye I thought that perhaps some day I would 

 explore it and hunt some of the big game 

 which the text of the geography said inhab- 

 ited the mountains. 



Fate long since took me there, and now, 

 while there is a trail through this section 

 and prospectors have been over parts of it, 

 there are many pockets and nooks here and 

 there where man has never been. 



Practically, it is an unknown land, and 

 that this is so you can readily imagine when 

 I tell you you can go from one branch of the 

 Clear Water at its head to the other; and 

 going along the divide it takes five days of 

 hard traveling with a pack outfit. 



Over one hundred lakes, so the forest ran- 

 gers say, are contained in this region. This 

 great forest reserve is one hundred and fifty 

 miles long and about as wide. Elk, deer, 

 bear, sheep and goat abound within its con- 

 fines. It is traversed by rivers and streams, 

 filled with mountain trout, and, in season, 

 large salmon run up to spawn. 



It is death on tender feet, the roughest, 

 hardest and most irregular region imagin- 

 able, and this will insure the preservation 

 of the game for ages to come. The State 

 game warden has helpers who patrol this re- 

 gion wherever the trails make it possible for 

 parties to come in, either on the eastern and 

 Montana side or from the south and west, 

 and they have of late enabled the game to 

 increase by keeping parties from shooting 

 out of season or killing too many at one time. 

 This may decrease the number who come, 

 but it will increase the amount of game each 

 year. The market hunter does not enter 

 here. The distance is too great, the hills too 

 steep, the trail too hard for the market hunt- 

 er ! While in other places game protection 

 will never be settled until the market hunter 

 is driven out of business, nature has made 

 it impossible here for the man to ever do 

 much who makes merchandise out of the 

 small amount of game yet living. 



One can travel for days through heavy 



timber, and if you keep to the high ridges 

 beautiful changes of scenery come and go 

 continually. There are nooks and valleys in 

 this reserve as near perfect as it is possible 

 to imagine for an outing among big game of 

 a month or six weeks. Those who want an 

 easy time need never come. Those who can- 

 not stand the hardest and toughest traveling 

 along difficult and dangerous trails and who 

 cannot stand unpleasant conditions had bet- 

 ter stay away. 



That is the reason why so many come and 

 go back disappointed with the region and all 

 out of sorts with themselves. 



To the man who will hunt and get away 

 from the trails and who knows how to watch 

 for game the reward will be abundant and 

 satisfactory. This is the home of the grizzly 

 and brown bear. A Mr. Roberts, who al- 

 ways gets big game, had quite an experience 

 with two very large grizzlies. He arose one 

 morning very early before the party from 

 Chicago who were with him were awake, and 

 walking about half a mile, decided to get a 

 big elk before breakfast. He was obliged to 

 come out into a little opening from the tim- 

 ber through which he had traveled in the 

 dusky twilight. As he stepped out into this 

 opening, just twenty steps from where he 

 stood were two big silver tips quietly looking 

 at him and wondering what kind of creature 

 had invaded their hidden sanctuary. Al- 

 though he had a high power rifle, he simply 

 stood there with the cold chills running up 

 and down his back, for he realized that the 

 situation was hopeless for him. They calml> 

 walked away, occasionally looking back to 

 see whether he intended to follow them or 

 not. 



Two hunters from this region camped last 

 fall near our camp. One morning just at 

 daylight they spied a large silver tip about 

 eighty yards from their beds and from where 

 their horses were. Both arose simultaneous- 

 ly, ond one was so excited that he did not 

 wait to get the ramrod out of his rifle, but 

 fired it at the bear. In all they shot fourteen 

 shots, but did not get him nor hit him hard 

 enough to make him fight. 



For the man who has the love of nature in 

 him and who has will power enough to push 

 ahead and determination to hunt, this is rec- 

 reation's paradise. Many parties have been 

 known to refuse to go into the really rough 

 big game region of this reserve. They fear 

 so many things and hold back so much as 



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