182 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LApeil %, 1885. 



THROUGH TWO-OCEAN PASS. 



XI. — KILLING A SLACKTAIL. 



TT1THERT0 our march had been an easy one, for we 

 *-i had either been following well-marked trails or had 

 been within sight of certain known landmarks, which 

 pointed out the way quite as surely and plainly as the sign- 

 boards on a country road. Now, however, we were about 

 to strike out into a new country, one through which none 

 of the party had ever passed, and about which it seemed im- 

 possible to secure any information. No prospector, hunter, 

 or trapper that had been encountered seemed to know any- 

 thing ahout how to rind Two-Ocean Pass, or whether the 

 trail to it was easy or difficult. It was known that Pacific 

 Creek, or as it is called by those who live in Jackson's Hole, 

 Two-Ocean Creek, must, be followed up, and thatif the main 

 stream was followed to its sources, the Pass would be found 

 there; but then the stream branches constantly, and many 

 of these branches are quite as large as the maiu fork, so that 

 it might be a very difficult matter to select the one which 

 should lead us to the Pass on the Continental Divide. 



The morning, though not actually stormy, was very 

 threatening as we left the camp on Snake River, somewhat 

 in advance of the train, and rode back over the sage brush 

 plains toward Buffalo Creek. The wide valley is level, here 

 and there crossed by wide stream beds, most of which were 

 at this season dry, though evidently carrying in spring and 

 early summer a great body of water, for the whole precipi- 

 tation on the western slope of the Continental Divide finds 

 its way into Snake River through these channels. 



A mile or two from camp we encountered a prospector. 

 He was on foot leading his horse, and to the horn of his 

 saddle was tied the lariat of a second horse, which was so 

 lame that it could but just manage to walk. We stopped to 

 make inquiries of this man about Pacific Creek. He told us 

 that he lived about twenty miles further down Snake River, 

 and that he had been five years in the county. He had just 

 come down from Pilgrim Creek, where he had been pros- 

 pecting for fine gold. At first we were quite hopeful that he 

 could give us some information as to the trad which we 

 must follow to reach the Pass, but a little cross-questioning 

 developed the fact that he knew no more about the matter 

 than ourselves. He said that he had never been up Pacific 

 Creek, though he had been around its head, and knew that 

 the Pass was there, and also that there was a trail up the 

 stream for twelve or fifteen miles. He did, however, direct 

 us how to cut across from the mouth of Buffalo Greek 

 through the low hills to the bottom of Pacific Creek, thus 

 saving us several miles unnecessary travel. 



I had the curiosity to ask him about the winters here in 

 Snake River Valley, and his reply was that the snow lies 

 from three to five feet deep all through the winter. The 

 autumns are early and the springs late, snow usually falling 

 heavily in September and October, and remaining on the 

 ground until near the first of June. Tbe county is thus by 

 no means adapted to stock raising, though some men have a 

 hay ranch about seven miles below the mouth of Gros Ventre 

 Creek on Snake River. The country is valueless for farm- 

 ing purposes and has hitherto proved equally so for mining. 

 Our informant stated that men had been steadily at work 

 looking for gold for fifteen years and had not yet made day's 

 wages at it. 



By the time we had convinced ourselves that the prospec- 

 tor was entirely ignorant as to all the points on which we 

 desired information, the pack train had come up, and bid- 

 ding our chance acquaintance good morning, we rode on 

 to the crossing of Buffalo Creek. Just after passing this 

 stream, we turned to the right, and climbing the bluffs, near 

 the cabin, where the prospectors stable their horses in sum- 

 mer, followed up a little valley through the low hills, and in 

 an hour or two reached the bottom of Pacific Creek, It is 

 here very wide and the stream bed is enormously spread out. 

 The amount of water carried by it at this seasom, is abso- 

 lutely quite large, but is inconsiderable in comparison with 

 the width of tbe bed. Everything, in fact, that we have seen 

 on this western slope of the mountains, points to an extremely 

 heavy fall of snow in winter, and hence to great floods when 

 these snows melt. 



The prospector had told us to cross the valley, and we 

 would have no difficulty in finding, on the other side, a trail 

 which we could follow for a number of miles towaid the 

 head of the stream. We did cross the valley, but failed to 

 strike the trail, and so rode for several miles over steep hills 

 rough with down timbers, and then descended again into the 

 bottom several miles further up stream. Just as we were 

 about to make the descent, we were halted by the appear- 

 ance in the wide valley of a band of about forty horses 

 feeding, and herded by a man or boy. It was not a place 

 where stock would be looked, for and the presence of the 

 horses gave rise to no little speculation as to who their owners 

 might be. When we reached them the herder had disap 

 peared, but in a little clump of cottonwoods we saw-a blue 

 canvas tent and the smoke of a fire, which no doubt was his 

 temporary home. We did not visit it, and opinions were 

 about equally divided as to whether the inhabitants were a 

 band of horse thieves, who had chosen this lonely valley as a 

 safe place in which to cadit their stolen stock, or a party of 

 Indians making their autumn hunt from the reservation near 

 Fort Hill. 



All day long it rained more or less, and the high brush 

 and othertrees through and under which we rode were wet, 



dripping and disagreeable. The valley was narrow and 

 overgrown with deciduous trees, and there was little oppor- 

 tunity to see the character of the country. 



About 1 o'clock we made camp on a little bench about 

 thirty feet above the stream. We should have gone further, 

 but the valley was becoming more and more narrow, and it 

 was uncertain when we might find another suitable camping 

 place. It was now raining quite hard, and as soon as the 

 saddles were off the animals, the tents were put up and all 

 the spare pieces of canvas rigged, so that we were in shape 

 to be comparatively dry and comfortable. 



I tried the fishing, but could not get a rise, though I 

 changed my flies half a dozen times. The water was cov- 

 ered with small midges, apparently beaten down ou it by 

 the rain, and the trout were perhaps satiated. The country 

 hereabouts looked well for game, especially deer. There were, 

 too, some fresh elk signs, but the presence of the camp in 

 the valley below us and the fresh horse tracks in the trail 

 which we had been following, accounted for our seeing none 

 during the clay. 



When we looked out of the tent the next .morning the 

 ground was covered with a couple of inches of wet snow. 

 The great damp flakes were still falling thick and fast. 

 They clung to the tent and to the branches of the trees, but 

 as it was by no means cold, they melted fast, and everything 

 that had been left uncovered the night before was wet and 

 dripping. We breakfasted about 8 o'clock, and then made 

 up our minds to make the best of a snowy day in camp. 



Time flies, they say, but if this be so, its wing beats dur- 

 ing a, chilly, rainy day in camp are very slow and measured. 

 It was so cold that it was impossible to keep warm away 

 from the fire except under one's blankets, and standing 

 about the tire in the rain is not very exciting work. About 

 balf past ten o'clock I felt as if I could endure the mo- 

 notony no longer, and cast about in my mind for some oc- 

 cupation. The fishing was nought, that I had proved the 

 night before, but since there was a good tracking snow it 

 might be worth while to try the hunting. I therefore sug- 

 gested to Saddiemeyer, who was always full of energy, that 

 he and I should go out and try to kill some meat. He 

 agreed, though not with any very great degree of enthusi- 

 asm, 1 thought, and before long we set out. Mine was the 

 only rifle in the party, but I told Saddiemeyer that we 

 would share the shots equally if we saw anything. For a 

 few hundred yards we followed up the valley near the trail, 

 going through the green timber, which showered down upon 

 us water from the melting snow, and then, turning to the left 

 took the first ridge and began to climb the hill on the north 

 side of the valley. 



It was horribly wet, for by this time the snow had turned 

 to i"ain. Under foot there were three inches of snow, and 

 beneath this an inch or two of water; from above the water 

 and an occasional mass of wet snow dropped on us from 

 the branches, and the willows and other undergrowth which 

 grew waist high, soaked us thoroughly. The ground was 

 soft, muddy and very slippery, and the snow, the wet 

 sticks, down timber, and loose stones made the walking and 

 climbing very laborious and difficult. The hillside was steep 

 and seemed to have no end, for as we reached the crest of 

 each ridge we could see the mountain tops still far above us. 

 One or two elk tracks, made this morning, were noticed be- 

 fore we had gone very far up the mountain, but the animals 

 had passed along early in the day and were moving briskly, 

 so we did not follow them far, but kept climbing higher and 

 higher. A few deer sign were seen, made since the snow 

 began to fall, but before the elk tracks, but nothing very 

 fresh, and almost all the tracks seemed to be leading up the 

 hill. Every now and then it would rain with great violence, 

 or a dense fog would rise out of the valley below, and creep- 

 ing slowly along the mountain side would shut out from 

 sight one hilltop after another, until at length it would close 

 about us and would render invisible objects within fifty 

 yards. There was a little wind from the west, and these 

 fogs did not last long, but while they hung over us we stood 

 still beneath some spruce free and patiently waited for them 

 to lift. All over the hillside were scattered migrating birds; 

 the red-shafted flickers, robins, Western song sparrows, and 

 little companies of Oregon and Aikens snowbirds. Some- 

 times while we were thus waiting, a flock of the green-tailed 

 finches (Pipilo ehloruvu*) would fly into the tree by which 

 we stood, startling us by the rushing sound of their wings, 

 and would then stand and shake the water from their feath- 

 ers within arm's length of us, and hop about and peer down 

 into our faces as if trying to decide for themselves whether 

 we were alive, or were only very ragged and wet stumps. 

 By this time we were of course thoroughly drenched, and, 

 equally of course, extremely cold and uncomfortable, and I 

 felt quite guilty for having lured Saddiemeyer out on such a 

 wretched excursion. 



We kept on, climbing hill after hill for two hours and a 

 half, and had seen nothing but tracks, when we became dis- 

 gusted and determined to return to the camp fire, following 

 the ridge on which we then were, until we had reached a 

 point opposite the camp, where we could see that a little 

 green -timbered hog-back led down into the valley. We fol- 

 lowed the ridge south, and as we went along quietly, I was 

 scanning tbe borders of the horizon just ahead, and Saddie- 

 meyer was close behind me. Suddenly I heard my compan- 

 ion whisper "Whoa." I stopped, half turned, partly slipped 

 a cartridge into my gun, and then stood motionless, for over 

 the crest of the ridge above us had risen the horns, head and 



body of an enormous blackta.il buck. Two others, both 

 yearlings, followed him, and in a moment or two a couple of 

 others, one almost as large as the leader, the other about two 

 years old, wandered up to the verge of the ridge and looked 

 over. They were about two hundred yards distant, too far 

 for a sure shot— from a rifle in my hands at least— and we 

 were so much in need of the meat that I was unwilling to 

 take any chances which might result only in alarming them. 

 The big leader had seen us at once, but he was evidently un- 

 able to make out just what we were, and for perhaps ten 

 minutes he stood there and watched. He was not alarmed 

 or suspicious; but we excited his curiosity and he kept look- 

 ing. He stood on the very crest of the ridge and behind him 

 was only the white sky, so that every outline of his graceful 

 form and large branching horns was distinctly visible. While 

 he stood there the others wandered about in an aimless way, 

 now taking a bite of grass, and then giving a long look over 

 the country. One of the yearlings came a few steps down 

 the face of the bluff to a young pine tree three or four feet 

 in height, against which he began to rub his horns and 

 head, just as a deer or an elk does when ridding his 

 antlers of the velvet, or as it is termed, "shak- 

 ing." Another, next in size to the leader, came 

 still further down the bluff, and began to feed at 

 an elderberry bush that grew there. A third, he was a 

 small yearling, was very frisky and played about almost like 

 a fawn. At length after his long, long stare, during which 

 we scarcely breathed, the big leader's curiosity seemed satis- 

 fied. He shook himself and then turned, and gave a long 

 look to the east and then one to the w T est. Then he lowered 

 his proud head, took a bite of some weed, and stepping 

 majestically along the ridge for a few yards, turned away 

 from us and disappeared. Just as he did so, two of the 

 young deer, like boys when tbe schoolmaster turns his 

 hack, and they begin to skylark, drew off and charged one 

 another, coming together vigorously head to head. It did 

 not seem to be done viciously at all, but rather in sport, and 

 one of them being evidently much the stronger of the two, 

 pushed his oppouent a few feet backward, when the latter 

 sprung lightly out of the way, and both turned and followed 

 in the footsteps of the big buck. Four of the deer had now 

 moved out of sight and there remained only the berry picker 

 on the hillside. A couple of dead trees, one leaning against 

 the other, stood thirty or forty yards in front of us, partially 

 concealing him from our view, and it was possible by steal- 

 ing up behind these to approach within 150 yards of him 

 and perhaps even closer. We were so much in need of the 

 meat at the camp that I did not quite like to risk a shot at 

 over 100 yards, but he stayed so long that I was afraid the 

 other deer might get beyond our reach, and so made up my 

 mind to take the chance. I had taken only a few cautious 

 steps toward him, when suddenly he stopped feeding, looked 

 about him, walked briskly up to the top of the ridge, and 

 then pausing for a moment to see where his comrades were, 

 followed them over the ridge and out of our sight. 



Now at last the coast was clear, and we hurried toward 

 the ridge and clambered with breathless haste up Its 

 steep face. Reaching the crest we very cautiously looked 

 over, but the game was not to be seen, and still as we slowly 

 advanced in the direction in which the deer had last been 

 headed we saw nothing of them. I was just about to sug- 

 gest that we had better go back and take their tracks, wheD 

 without a moment's warning a mountain hurricane of hail, 

 rain and snow r swept down upon us, blotting out from view 

 every object save those directly at our feet. The blast was 

 bitter cold, and while it continued, all we coilld do was to 

 turn our back to the storm and stand there patiently while 

 the pitiless elements beat down upon us. The squall lasted 

 but a few moments, and when it was over we started back 

 and crossed the tracks of the deer about fifty yards from 

 where we had last seen them. They were walking along 

 slowly, all except the last one, which had been trotting 

 to catch up to the others. Tin' trail led over the rolling 

 ground toward two little groups of spruces, where it seemed 

 probable that the deer might be found. When we were 

 within about one hundred yards of the nearest clump of 

 trees, Saddlemeyer's quick eye caught sight of a moving ob- 

 ject just beyond them, and a moment later I saw a dark 

 body move. Carefully creeping up behind the trees, 1 was 

 at last able to make out through an opening in the foliage 

 three tfeer standing^ close together. They were the big 

 leader and two of the yearlings. I was anxious, if possible, 

 to kill the former; but I could only see his head and neck, so 

 I waited for him to move and give me a shoulder shot. 

 While I waited he turned, looked me square in the face for 

 a moment, and then stepping to one side disappeared from 

 view. One of the yearlings still stood there, broadside to, 

 and to make sure of the meat I fired at once at his shoul- 

 der. When the smoke cleared away there was nothing in 

 sight. 



Handing Saddiemeyer the gun and a couple of cartridges, 

 we ran up to tbe top of the ridge beyond where the deer 

 had been, and in a few moments saw three of them 

 standing on top of a hill about three hundred yards away. 

 Saddiemeyer sent a shot or two after them, but the dis- 

 tance was too great for anything very effective. Stepping 

 back to the place where they had stood, we found lying 

 there a fine fat yearling, a welcome addition to our larder. 

 We took off the hams and saddle and started down the hill 

 with them, but they were pretty heavy and the walking bad, 

 and at length, after chaugiug loads once or twice, we 



