THE WILD LIFE OF LAKE SUPERIOR 



125 



Photograph by George Shiras, 3d 



A MINNESOTA CONTRIBUTION TO THE SCENIC SHORES OE LAKE SUPERIOR 



Minnesota, by reason of its climate, its woodlands and prairies, its countless beautiful 

 lakes and connecting waters, has long been a paradise for wild life and a mecca for the 

 sportsman and tourist. Owing to wise laws and a most efficient game commission, it stands 

 in the forefront of progressive States. At some future time it is the purpose of this Magazine 

 to portray at greater length the out-of-doors attractions of this commonwealth. 



whitefish, lake and speckled trout, _ af- 

 forded such an ample and easily obtained 

 supply by the use of the net, that the 

 Indians rarely resorted to the rod. 



After the meal the possibility of maple 

 sugar led to a search, when Jack, sus- 

 pecting what we were after, lifted a 

 heavy, flat stone from the edge of the 

 shelter, exposing a tin can filled with 

 pulverized sugar, the treasure being thus 

 concealed because Bruin had a sweet 

 tooth and otherwise would soon have de- 

 tected this little store. 



A STRANGE NOISE FROM THE WILDERNESS 



Toward evening a strange noise came 

 from down the stream, a confusion of 

 bawls and whimpers, which Jack an- 

 nounced as the family bickering of an 

 old she-bear and cubs. Seizing the shot- 

 gun, I announced a preference for bears 



and suggested that we proceed accord- 

 ingly. Jack grimly rolled up a shirt 

 sleeve, exposing a shriveled arm, deeply 

 scarred, which he said was the result of 

 a fierce encounter with a bear ten years 

 before, and since he was responsible for 

 our welfare, the bear hunt was off on 

 this particular occasion. 



Not until many years afterward did I 

 learn how uniformly harmless was the 

 black bear, even with cubs, and that Jack's 

 misadventure was due to falling on top 

 of a big bear asleep between two logs, 

 and in an endeavor to escape the animal 

 had seized him by the arm under the very 

 natural impression that any one taking- 

 such liberties should be repelled by force. 



Little time was lost in starting the next 

 morning along a blazed trail leading to 

 higher ground, through which an oc- 

 casional glimpse of Lake Superior could 



