362 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Dec. 8, 1885. 



1^*^ Mff^ttmm §auri^t 



it^^o^^ eo?w>"4»i<ca.«o«s to the Forest and Stream FiibMsh- 



TO CHIEF MOUNTAIN. 



THE summer was over; the prairie grasses were dried 

 and yellow, the leaves had all fallen from the trees and 

 eveiy mommg could be seen a thin scum of ice along the 

 slough. We had worked hard all summer and thought we 

 deserved a play spell, so we concluded to spend a week or 

 two at the Chief Mountain lakes. Already the waterfowl 

 were wmgmg their way southward, Mock' after flock, be- 

 tokenmg that winter was close behind them. So we hur- 

 riedly got together our outfit, and on the 24th of October 

 puUed out from Kipp & Upham s store on Birch Creek 



I^i^^^^ ^^^'^ Charlie, myself and an Indian 



named Man-who first-took-his-gun-and-ran-ahead, but as this 

 name is a yard or so too long to appear in print more tlian 

 once we will hereafter call him Scip. 



Our outfit consisted of our four-horse team and wagon 

 one two-horse team and wagon, boat, lent, stove, lantera' 

 bedding and grub— plain grub, such, I think, as the maior- 

 ity of sportsmen would scorn, for it consisted only of bacon 

 Hour, beans, coffee, sugar, potatoes and some sage, summer 

 savory, pepper and salt. We had a big fishing outfit, in- 

 cluding a gill-net, for we hoped to catch a barrel of whiteflsh 

 tor winter use. 



Our arsenal comprised four magazine rifles and my 12- 

 bore breechloader. 1 forbear mentioning the caUber, flat- 

 ness ot trajectory, etc., of the rifles. They were not of the 

 kind recommended by many writers to Forest and Stream- 

 .^'^^ ^ pointer right here, that more elk, grizzlies' 

 buffalo, bighorn and other game have been killed with guns 

 of our kind than there are left for the men who can shoot only 

 with certain caliber and flatness of trajectory. Come you 

 who are crying for more powerful and destructive weapons 

 and look over our prairies, scarcely a buifalo is left of the 

 vast herds which used to roam over them. Stroll through our 

 valleys, scarcely a deer is left. Climb our wooded hills and 

 rocky mountains, seldom will you see an elk or bighorn 

 And yet you want a more destructive weapon! Well, I wish 

 you had one and would begin work by using it on each other 

 then m future years we might take a day's hunt with fair 

 prospects of gettieg a pleee of meat to take back to camp. 



Oct. 38, the first day out, we made only sixteen miles, and 

 camped at the Piegan agency. We noticed a great change 

 m the management here since our last visit. The former 

 agent. Major Young, through false reports to the Indian 

 J3epartment, had caused the rations to be so reduced that a 

 number of the Indians actually starved to death last winter 

 Among other things he represented that the Indians had over 

 800 acres of land broken, and were raising plenty of vegeta- 

 bles, wheat, oats, etc. The truth is, they had not forty acres 

 broken, and not half of that was tilled. In the presence of 

 some U. S. Indian Inspectors, other and more serious charges 

 were proven against this reputable member of a Brooklyn 

 Methodist church, but they were not of a character that may 

 appear in print. I visited the lodges on this reservation last 

 winter, where I knew the occupants were dying of hunger 

 IVIany, especially the aged, were so weak they could not walk 

 unassisted, and death was plainly visible on their counten- 

 ances. You will wonder why there was not an outbreak. 

 Well, when Mr. Young first came here, he had some trouble 

 with sis or seven different Indians, and, singularly, they all 

 died. The cause of their death was at once said to be the 

 agent's wonderful "bad medicine," and So fearful were the 

 rest of this that when he began to starve them they dared 

 not harm him. But for this he would have been killed long 

 ago. Now, however, things are changed. The new agent, 

 Major Allen, is a pleasant, energetic man, interested in the 

 Indians and doing eveiything in his power to promote their 

 welfare. They now have a fair supply of beef, flour, and 

 other provisions, and are better off than they have been since 

 the buffalo disappeared. 



Oct. 25 we made 18 miles, crossed Badger and Two Medi 

 cine Lodge creeks and camped on Cut 'Bank, which is the 

 north fork of the Marias River. The road was good, over 

 gently rolhng prairie. We passed several open lakes which 

 were covered with ducks, but they were very wild and I 

 succeeded in bagging only one, and that a hell-diver, which 

 1 cooked and fed to my retriever Babette. We had a good 

 supper though, for while Charlie and I were pitching the 

 tent, Jim caught a tine string of red-throated trout. About 

 diisk I shot a couple of prairie chickens, which I flushed 

 between the tent and the creek. 



Oct. 26 we traveled 18 miles and reached the south fork 

 of Milk River about four o'clock. The road was very rocky 

 and constantly ascending, and the wind blew terribly. An 

 overcoat wasn't a marker, and I could feel it even through 

 the buffalo robe I wrapped around me. The mouth of this 

 river is fully 700 miles from here, and yet here at its source 

 it is larger than it is where it empties into the Missouri. 

 There are no trout in this river nor in any of its tributaries. 

 Just beyond us is Milk River Ridge, the dividing line 

 l)etween the waters of the Arctic and the Atlantic. One 

 more day and we will have crossed it and arrived at our 

 destination. Thfere is no wood here and we take turns feed- 

 ing the stove with fine willow brush. Time was, only four 

 or Ave years ago too, when one might have made a good fire 

 here of buffalo chips. Perhaps those certain-caliber-flatness- 

 ofrtrajectory men will biing them back again. I might 

 have killed a duck or two on the road to-day, but it was too 

 windy to get out of the buffalo robe. The scenery here is 

 bleak but picturesque. All around are flat-topped hills 

 seamed with layers of soft, red sandstone, and here and 

 there are fanciful columns of the same material. To the 

 west, about 20 miles distant, the snow-capped mountains 

 are in plain view. 



Why, I would like to know, will civilized people persist 

 in giving places, rivers and mountains such ill-fitting names. 

 The Indian name for this river is Ke-nuk-tsT-sSk-tS, or 

 little river, which aptly describes it: and the lakes for which 

 we are bound are named Puh'-to-muk si kIm-Jks, or Inside- 

 big waters, meaning lakes in the mountains. 



Oct. 27. — At daybreak we were on the road, and traveled 

 over ridge after rid^^e, heading for Chief Mountain, which 

 loomed up grandly in the distance. At 3 o'clock we arrived 

 at a large prairie lake, about four miles in length, and as the 

 horses were tired we decided to camp. As soon as we 

 had turned out I took my gun and cartridge bag and went 

 out on a point which reached far out into the' lake. The 

 wind was blowing very hard, and the ducks flew high and 

 jfild, I shot some twenty odd, but secured only eleven of 



them. My retriever never having seen any waves before, 

 wouldn't venture in, and 1 didn't blame her, as it was so 

 cold the spray froze as soon as it struck the rocks. Had a 

 grand supper of stewed duck seasoned with sage and sum- 

 mer savory. 



Oct. 28.— Arose at daylight and bagged a few more ducks 

 before breakfast. We were now in the edge of the quaking 

 asps, and confident that we would reach the lake by noon : 

 but, alas, we traveled through quaking asp groves, bogs and 

 down timber until 2 o'clock, and then, on" arriving at the 

 edge of the hill, found we were about two miles below the 

 lake, so we drove down to the St. Mary's River and camped. 

 While going down Jim, who was ahead, jumped three 

 whitetail, but didn't get a shot. When we came in sight on 

 the hill we noticed an outfit on the other side of the river 

 break camp, hitch up their four-horse team and strike out 

 on the run. There is something suspicious about this. 'The 

 truth is that last spring some Canadians cut a lot of timber 

 here and drove it down to Fort Macleod, N, W. Territory, 

 where they sold it to Sir E. T. Gait's "Coal and Navigation 

 Co." A IT. S. deputy marshal was sent here, but the' tim- 

 ber was then all across the line, only six miles below here. 

 We suspect that the fellows who left here so suddenly this 

 morning are in the same business. 



We are now close to Chief Mountain, which is certainly 

 the grandest mountain I ever saw. It is a great spur jutting 

 out eastward from the main range, and on the top of 'it is a 

 great raass of rock which gradually tapers until its summit 

 IS lost in the clouds. One might ascend to its summit from 

 the west, but the eastern side is a cut bluff thousands of feet 

 high. I should judge that from its base to its summit the 

 mountain is at least 7,000 feet high. St. Mary's River, on 

 which we are camped, is a clear, rapid stream, some seventy- 

 five yards wide, and from the short reach I have seen, I be- 

 lieve that it must contain fish. The ground here and all 

 along the hillside which we came down has been literally 

 torn up by bears; there are no fresh signs, however, and 

 they have probably gone back into the heavy timber to hole 

 up. 



Oct. 29. — Our intention was, this morning, to pull out 

 for some good camping place on the lake, but shortly after 

 daylight there came alight skiff' of snow. So we all' struck 

 out for the quaking asp groves after whitetails. We had 

 not been out long before the sun came out and the snow 

 went off. I returned to camp first, and finding the boys 

 had not come in, started out to catch a mess of trout. Went 

 up the river a little way, and looking down into a clear, deep 

 pool, saw several hundred large 'fish. Hooked two, but 

 each time lost part of the line, which proved to be rotten. 

 Was returning to camp when I met Jim coming back, fol- 

 lowed by a four-horse team load of people, who proved to be 

 an outfit from the agency, here for a little sport. They 

 were Mr. Fowler, 5Ir. Bird, Oliver, the interpreter, and two 

 small boys. These last made themselves conspicuous by 

 shooting their repeating rifles constantly and in eveiy 

 direction, regardless of the lives of the rest of the 

 party. Charlie and the Indian having now returned, the 

 latter with the saddle of a fine buck, we hitched up and all 

 drove up the lake a mile or so and camped by a bay on the 

 south side. Immediately we had the tents up, we pitched 

 the boat, and although "it was nearly dark, .Jim and Mr. 

 Fowler went out and caught three lake trout, the largest of 

 which wei^^hed about twelve pounds. These trout are 

 identical with those found in the Fulton Chain and other 

 lakes of the Adirondacks. 



The lower St. Mary's Lake is about seven miles long and, 

 in places, a mile wide. On the west side of the lake an im- 

 mense flat-topped mountain comes down to the water's edge, 

 and on the east rises a high, steep ridge— it would be called 

 a mountain in the East— thickly wooded with fir. From 

 this ridge one can get glimpses of the upper lake, much 

 larger than this one and waUed in by stupendous mountains. 

 Beyond rise peak after peak of jagged mountains, some of 

 them with sheer cliffs thousands of Feet high. 



Oct. 30. — This morning Mr. Bird, Oliver and Jim started 

 out after bighorn and Mr. Fowler and I went fishing. We 

 first tried a spoon, and trolled in deep and shallow water 

 with and without lead, but didn't get a strike. We then 

 tried hand lines baited with meat, and in a few minutes Mr. 

 Fowler caught four large ones, the largest of which would 

 have weighed ten pounds. I hooked a large one, but he 

 broke away before T could gaff him. In the afternoon Mr. 

 Fowler went out alone and fished with two lines. He was 

 playing a fish when he saw his other line go spinning 

 through the water, This last fish proved an immense fellow, 

 fully four feet long, Mr. Fowler said, but alas! the gaff 

 broke and the monster still lives. About 3 o'clock the Indian 

 and the two small boys returned from down the river with 

 thirteen trout (red-throated), the largest I ever saw ; none of 

 them would have weighed less than two pounds, and some, 

 I have no doubt, would have tipped the scales at four. Saw 

 a mallard in the bay, flushed it and brought it down. Ba- 

 bette retrieved it and laid it at my feet, when it took wing 

 again; brought it down with the left barrel, this time dead. 

 Just before supper Mr. Fowler went out behind the camp, 

 and in a few minutes bagged six grouse and two mountain 

 rabbits — fattest grouse I ever saw. 



At dark the hunters returned. They saw plenty of sheep 

 and mortally wounded two, which went up a cliff where 

 they could not be fc^lowed. They report plenty of elk, bear 

 and deei- si^n. The country is very rough, and away up in 

 the mountains they found three large lakes which are the 

 source of Swift Current, a creek which empties into the 

 river about a mile below the lake on the north side. 



October 31. — This morning the Agency party left for 

 home. They took with them fifty fine lake and red-throated 

 trout; the largest of each kind would have weighed about 

 twenty-five and five pounds respectively. Took a spin on 

 the lake with Charlie and caught several large lakers. If 

 "Kingfisher" were here I believe he would for once get all 

 the big fish and spring water he wanted. There are prob- 

 ably fifty springs for each mile of lake shore, and lake trout 

 are so large and plenty that it is no pleasure to fish. 



After dark a flock of geese lit on the shore near camp and 

 I managed to get one of them. Crossed the lake near the 

 outlet to-day, and as we suspected, found that the party 

 which pulled out so suddenly had been at work in the tim- 

 ber. We found several thousand fine logs which they had 

 cut. It seems to me that in the great and glorious province 

 of Alberta, Dominion of Canada, these men could find 

 enough timber without coming over here and stealing it 

 from us. 



As we were about to return to camp we saw two four- 

 horse outfits rolling in, and were agreeably surprised to find 

 that one of them belonged to Ben S. who is on a prospecting 

 trip with two young men named Dick and John. The other 

 was our friend M,, a beaver trapper by trade and known to 



all by the name of Medicine Beaver. They crossed the out- 

 let of the lake, and we packed up and all together moved up 

 near the head of the lake, where we made a good camp. We 

 had been using our gill net below with poor .success; here, 

 however, we did a little better, and during our stay' at the 

 lake managed to catch, in all, ninety-four whitefish, which, 

 when weighed on our return home, tipped the scales at 3.^2 

 pounds. I am satisfied that whitefish are very nlenty here. 

 Our nets were too fine, and only four feet deep, and the lake 

 trout completely ruined them by tearing holes in them the 

 size of a barrel. 



In the inlet we caught another variety of trout. It is very 

 long and thin and has an immense mouth, and is colored 

 more like the Eastern brook trout; the belly is white, it lacks 

 the red throat of the other variety, and has large dull crimson 

 spots on its sides. The red-throated trout here are very 

 small mouthed, and are shaped very like the bass, they are 

 so plenty that the most insatiable "trout hog" would here 

 become tired of the sport. 



Nov. 2.— A camp of North Piegans, under Chief Yellow 

 Fish, came in to-day and moved up to the foot of the upper 

 lake. They say that they are starved out at their agency at 

 Fort McLeod. Northwest Territory, and are here after game. 

 This is an unlucky thing for us, not on account of what 

 they will kill, but because they will scare everything out of 

 the country. An Indian is insatiable. When'he sees a band 

 of game he is not satisfied with making one killing, but will 

 keep following it and shooting as long as possible. "This gives 

 the game a tremendous scare, and they g^t out of the country 

 as soon as possible. By the way, thi's will be a good place 

 for the certain caliber flatness-of-trajectory men. They can 

 sit on the lake shore and with telescopes on their improved 

 rifles, kill sheep and goats on the top of the mountain. 

 Afterward they can send their guides up after the choice 

 portions of meat. We hear grouse drumming evciy night; 

 had thought that their drumming season was the spring 

 only. 



Nov. 5.— Ben, Jim and the Medicine Beaver went up 

 Swift Current to-day, sheep hunting. I took a short stroll 

 through the brush and killed eight grouse. It is really no 

 sport to hunt grouse here; as soon as one is flushed it lights 

 on the nearest twig and will allow one to approach within 

 ten feet of it. Wing-shooting is impossible, and the only 

 thing is to walk up and blow oft' their heads. 



Ben's two young men have been sinking holes in many 

 likely places, but as yet have been unable to get to bed-rock 

 on account of water. It is no boy's play to "delve for 

 gold." 



Nov. 6.— The sheep hunters returned this evening with 

 three fine bucks, the fattest animals I ever saw. They 

 went up Swift Current and passed five lakes, the two last 

 of which are on the very top of the mountains. The last 

 one has a sheer fall at the outlet of 200 feet. They say the 

 scenery is grand, sheep plenty and the lakes teem with fish. 

 Every evening now the boys congi-egate in our tent and tell 

 stories "until further notice," Jim told us an amusing 

 experience of his this evening. Long ago he and a partner 

 were prospecting on the head waters of the Yellowstone. 

 One day they saw a grizzly, and his partner shot it, wound- 

 ing it slightly. The bear ran in Jim's direction, and Jim, 

 badly scared.'made for a tree and thought he climbed it, but 

 when the bear had passed he found himself sitting at its 

 base, his arms fast locked around the trunk. 



One day Ben, Jim, Medicine Beaver and I concluded to 

 go sheep hunting. We took saddle horses and one pack 

 animal, a little bacon, bread and coffee, bedding and axe, 

 and started for the head of the upper lake. We crossed the 

 inlet above, where Yellow Fish was camped. The Indians 

 told us that sheep were very plenty, and the numerous goat 

 and sheep hides pegged out around the camp bore witness 

 that for once they told the truth. 



Leaving their camp we came to an old Kootenai trail, 

 which we were told reached across the range into Missoula. 

 This we followed through dense quaking asp groves, thickets 

 of pine, and down timber, and after about two hours' ride 

 came to a long park pretty well up on the side of the moun- 

 tain. Although the view from here was magnificent we had 

 no eye for it, but kept our necks craned toward the rocks 

 above us in hopes of seeing a band of sheep. Riding through 

 this park we came to an immense limestone ledge, which 

 reached from the mountain above to the water's edge, ter- 

 minating in a cut bluff. Running up the nearly perpen- 

 dicular side of this ledge is an old elk trail, and we could 

 see that the Indians had gone over it with their horses, but 

 we thought it too risky a place for our animals, and turning 

 them loose. we pitched camp in a grove of balsams at the 

 foot of the ledge and about fifty yards from the lake. As 

 soon as we had eaten supper and made down a thick bed of 

 balsam boughs, we found night had come, and after sitting 

 around the fire for an hour or two, turned in. Now, we 

 hadn't been in bed very long before an owl perched in a tree 

 top close by, and said very plainly, "Go wayl Go wayl Go 

 way! " At least this is the way Medicine Beaver interjjreted 

 its speech, and further, he assured us that we would kill no 

 sheep oh this trip as the owls scolding us was a sure sign 

 that we were out of luck. Some time in the night Ben and 

 the trapper assured us I said in a plain voice, "Throw it 

 away," and Jim, sleeping by my side, said as plainly, "Yes, 

 throw it away, it's no account anyhow." * 



As morning approached I arose and built a fire, and after 

 a hasty and frugal breakfast we climbed the ledge on the 

 old elk trail and reached the top of it at daylight. From 

 here a long high mountain extended to the upper end of the 

 lake. Jim and I concluded to follow it on the lake side and 

 Ben and the Beaver were to go round it and meet us at the 

 further end. After a long hard climb Jim and I got above 

 the timber and found a very fair sheep trail which ran along 

 the side of the mountain close up under the "reefs" or per- 

 pendicular rock walls, which are a distinctive feature of 

 these mountains. Almost every mountain I have seen in 

 this country is capped with these rock walls, some of which 

 run up to a great height, gradually narrowing, so that 

 the top is apparently as sharp as a jack-knife. Here on 

 every side of us, and indeed along the whole length of the 

 mountain we saw plenty of fresh sheep signs, but all that 

 day we never saw a sheep, the Indians had apparently seared 

 out of the country those they had not killed. We kept fol- 

 lowing the trail higher and higher, further and further 

 until we came to what Jim called the "jumping off place," 

 for here our mountains ended abruptly in a canon of great 

 depth. Here we were well repaid for our arduous climb. 

 Never in my life did I behold such grand scenery. Below 

 us several thousand feet, lay the lake (about twelve miles 

 long), its unruffled surface doited with several small islands. 

 In places the lake is very narrow, some of them apparently 

 not 200 yards wide. I could not describe it better than to 

 say that it is an immense cafion partly filled with water. 



