82 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 25, 1886. 



TO TEE WALLED-W LAKES. 



XH, — GOAT HUNTING AND GRUMBLING. 



r I ^HERE was little to be done about the camp uext morn- 

 ing. There was nothing to eat, and the preparations 

 for breakfast consisted in whittling up a pipeful of tobacco 

 apiece. While smoking, we changed the horses to fresh 

 grass, and then shouldering our rifles started off for Yellow- 

 fish's hunting ground of the day before. It was but a short 

 walk to the rocks. At the loot of the talus slope, beneath 

 the vertical cliff north of camp, we saw by the fresh tracks 

 and other sign of goats that these animals had been down 

 into the valley to feed during the night, and we at once 

 began to scramble up over the rough and steep ascent. "We 

 had got about half way up the talus, when I heard Yellow, 

 fish call out, Amo! Amo! (there, there) and looking in the 

 direction in which he pointed, I saw a goat and her kid walk 

 out from behind some brush on a ledge far above us. As 

 fast as I could, I ran up the slope for fifty or a hundred yards, 

 and at length paused, entirely out of breath, and as the ani . 

 mal8 stopped to look at us, tried to shoot. I was so breath- 

 less that I could not hold my gun steady, and the slope was 

 so steep that I could not kneel and rest my rifle on my knee, 

 I threw my sights up to 300 yards, and tried to take sight at 

 the game, but 1 could not steady the rifle, and when I fired 

 my ball struck a foot or two to the left of the animal at 

 which I had aimed, the female. The distance was well 

 enough estimated, but I failed to hold on. At the sound of 

 the report the two goats disappeared behind the rocks, and 

 began the ascent of the cliff, clambering up an almost verti- 

 cal and extremely narrow ravine, in which they were always 

 hidden by the rocks and brush. Once or twice we caught a 

 glimpse of them for a moment, but they immediately disap- 

 peared again. At length they showed themselves for the 

 last time about seven or eight hundred yards above us, but 

 it was useless to shoot at them at that distance. 



We kept on our course, and, half a mile further on, 

 entered a short cafion which led into a basin somewhat simi- 

 lar to that seen the day before, but less regular, being crossed 

 near its head by several very high ridges of Ted rock covered 

 with snow, and on which grew a little low pine timber. 

 Through the midst of the basin flowed a considerable stream, 

 tumbling down in a series of falls over the successive walls 

 of rock which crossed the valley at right angles to its course. 

 These vertical walls soon barred our progress, and we had 

 to climb them — a task of no little difficulty. Appekuuny, 

 who had set out with rubber boots on. was obliged to give it 

 up and turn back. Yellowfish and I kept on and did some of 

 the most difficult mountain climbing that I have ever under- 

 taken. Often one man would stay below on a narrow ledge 

 holding both guns, while the other would climb up six or 

 eight feet, take the guns and hold them until his companion 

 had passed him and got up to a point where he could take 

 the guns and wait for the other to gain a few feet, Often 

 we would have to ascend a vertical rock-face fifteen or 

 twenty feet high, on which the only foot or handhold would 

 be little inequalities in the rock about as large as a hen's egg, 

 barely wide enough to support one side of the foot or one 

 joint of the finger. In some of these places, which were so 

 nearly vertical that it seemed impossible for any four-footed 

 creature without claws to ascend without falling over back 

 ward, the little knobs of rock to which we clung were worn 

 round and smooth by the hoofs of the goats. 



After we had clambered with the greatest difficulty up the 

 first of these walls, we passed aloug over a steep half frozen 

 slope of shale where the walking was very laborious, and 

 then followed the stream for some little distance. Pretty soon 

 we came to another wall of rock over which the water tum- 

 bled in a forty-foot fall. Then we had to clamber up the 

 shale slope, and again to look for a place to pass up the 

 wall. This time a crevice was found in the rock, just wide 

 enough for a man to work himself up by means of his hands 

 and knees, much as I should fancy a man would climb up a 

 narrow chimney. Now and then there were little steps or 

 projections of rock on which we would rest; the; one below 

 passing up the guns to him in front, for here there was no 

 room to pass. The top gained, we went on to the next 

 wall. This was repeated a number of times, so that to re- 

 count the sorrows which we underwent would be weari- 

 some. The climbing was exceedingly difficult, and either 

 from this cause or else because I had had nothing to eat 

 that morning, I became very tired. 



At length we found ourselves on a little bench, half a mile 

 deep and twice as wide, on which was a beautiful little 

 Alpine lake, surrounded by a great field of snow, dotted here 

 and there with stunted pines. From here we could see that, 

 after surmounting two or three more steps of the series of 

 cliffs, we would be at the foot of a steep, high ridge, which 

 gave a gradual ascent to a high saddle, not much below the 

 summit of the mountain. Yellowfish. who is indefatigable 

 and seems never to tire, pointed this out and suggested that 

 it was a good road, and that we should go home that way. I 

 was about done up, but determined that I would follow where 

 he might lead, as long as I could put one foot before the 

 other, and so, after sitting down and smoking a pipe, I told 

 him to go on. He trotted off and I followed at my best 

 pace, which was, after all, a pretty slow one. 



By the time we had reached the level, snow-covered flat, 

 which led up to the foot of the high ridge, I was fairly tired 

 out. It was not— as is usually the case with me when ex- 

 hausted by climbing— that I could not get my breath, but 

 my legs from the wiaist down seemed almost incapable of 



motion. Even when walking on comparatively level ground 

 I could advance only a few steps at a time without stopping 

 and resting. I began to think that 1 should not reach the 

 top of the mountain, and seriously to wonder how they would 

 manage to get me down to camp if I should entirely give out. 

 Curiously enough the locomotion which was least difficult 

 for me was the clambering over the rocks, the stepping from 

 one to the next one above it. The gradual ascent was much 

 more difficult than the rougher, more broken part. 



Here, on this highest bench of all, we passed over another 

 lake, this one frozen and its clear surface swept bare of snow 

 by the bitter wind which was blowing. Before we had made 

 half the ascent to our present altitude it had begun to snow 

 hard, with a furious wind, and it was bitter cold. My 

 shoes, much dilapidated by contact with the rocks, had gone 

 to pieces during the morning, and when my weight broke 

 through the crust of the snow field over which we were pass- 

 ing the ice cut my feet. 



Very slowly and painfully I made the ascent of the last 

 ridge, creeping, not very carefully, over the steeply sloping 

 ice-covered rocks, but as we neared the crest of the mountain 

 I made better progress, for the fact that the top was so near 

 put strength into me. 



At last it was accomplished, and we stood on the very 

 crest of the mountains and looked directly down on the 

 valley and the lakes and the stream. We could see none of 

 the lakes below the fourth, but every one above that was in 

 view. Down iu the valley the sun was bright and clear, and 

 the stream gleamed and shone like a broad band of polished 

 metal. The descent was so sharp that it seemed almost as if 

 one could pitch a stone from where I stood down into the 

 lakes. For a few moments we sat and rested, while the 

 wind whistled about us, and the hard pellets of sleet and 

 snow rattled on our coats as against a window pane. A 

 great flock of gray-crowned finches were feeding along the 

 ridge, cheery and comfortable looking as they always are, 

 and fluttered and hopped about us in the most confiding 

 way. What they could find to feed on I could not tell, for 

 there was nothing on the ground but snow and ice, with 

 here and there a red rock projecting above the white cover- 

 ing. But the little finches seemed to like it. 



The descent was over a steep slope of snow-covered sliding 

 shale, here and there interrupted by vertical ledges, down 

 which the climbing, though sometimes slow and difficult 

 was not dangerous. Going down hill seemed easy work 

 and though my legs were not under very good control, the 

 falls that I got were not serious. On the way down after we 

 had got below the snow, we walked up a couple of blue 

 grouse, one of which flew a few yards and alighted on the 

 bare rocks, and the other went into a little clump of pines. 

 The former Yellowfish killed, the latter we could not dis- 

 cover, The bird was carried down to camp, and long before 

 it was cold, was roasting over the hot fire, and was soon de- 

 voured. There being nothing more to eat in camp we packed 

 up our possessions and started for the St. Mary's Lakes. As 

 we rode down the valley in the bright sunlight I turned back 

 for a last view of the stupendous mountains, which we were 

 leaving, but the dark snow clouds hung heavy over them 

 and their rugged magnificence could not be seen. Again, as 

 I crossed the last ridge going down the valley, I looked back, 

 but saw only the black clouds and the whirling snow. 



We reached camp about 5 o'clock, and found three or four 

 Blood Indians from Fort McLeod making themselves very 

 much at home there. Villainous looking rascals they were, 

 and the one with the most forbidding countenance of all had 

 been engaged, as I afterward learned, with a half-breed in 

 the murder of a white man, whom they had killed for his 

 money. The half-breed had been duly hung, but this Indian 

 had in some way escaped punishment. 



The following day was occupied in fishing for lake trout 

 and lounging about camp. We had a pleasant visit from old 

 Keh-Ko-witz-Keyucla and half a dozen of our Kootenay 

 friends, who appeared, by comparison with the Bloods, like 

 polished gentlemen. 



That night, as we sat about the fire in the lodge and talked 

 over our bad luck, Yellowfish said: "My medicine is bad, 

 and we shall have no luck this time. The last time I was 

 here it was not so. Then, plenty of meat was in the lodge. 

 Then, every day we climbed the mountains, plenty of Eh-niah- 

 kee-kinny we found and killed. In one place where we 

 first climbed the mountains, I killed that time seven sheep. 

 Beyond, on the big square [Goat] mountain, we killed Apo- 

 mah-kee-kinny, may be five or six, not more. This time 

 not good. Plenty rain and snow and fog. Can't see good. 

 To-morrow I go back to the Agency. Bad luck is 

 coming." 



' 'What Yellowfish says is true, " said Appekunny. ' T was 

 here then and we had plenty of meat. A fat sheep was al- 

 ways hanging in the camp. All over the mountains about 

 these lakes, where we have found nothing and no fresh sign, 

 the tracks were very plenty and the place smelt like a sheep 

 corral. Where is the game now? There has been no hunt- 

 ing done here except by these Kootenays, and there has been 

 nothing here on the JSorth Mountains this summer." 



"What time of the year was it that you were here?" I 

 asked, 



"Summer," said Yellowfish. 



"No it wasn't," said Appekuuny. "He means only that 

 it was before snow had come. We were here all through 

 November, but the weather was as warm as it is now, and 

 there were only two or three days in the whole monjfch When 



we could not go about in our shirt sleeves with comfort. We 

 had no bad weather, only one little storm when an inch or 

 two of snow fell. Mild pleasant days were the rule, but it 

 almost always froze during the night." 



"Well," said I, "it seems very clear to me what our 

 trouble has been. The sheep are back in the mountains, 

 and there they will remain until some heavy snowfalls take 

 place to drive them down toward the lakes. Then when the 

 snow becomes deep on that portion of the range where they 

 are now feeding they will draw down toward the valleys 

 and on to the steeply sloping southern hillsides like those of 

 Singleshot and Goat mountains, where Yellowfish got so 

 many last autumn. If this were November instead of Sep- 

 tember, we might have done as well as he did then. But we 

 have not come properly prepared for the conditions which 

 we find. To get back to where the game is now we ought 

 to have at least a couple of good pack animals with suitable 

 riggings. Then we could pile on them enough stuff to last 

 us a week or two, and could get back to a hunting ground. 

 If we come back here again, we will know how to go to 

 work to make a successful hunt. The country is a good one 

 for sheep, and we have seen with our own eyes that there 

 are goats here. As for the other game I do not believe it is 

 present in any very great quantities, though there are bears 

 enough to satisfy any one. You can see from the hides in 

 the Kootenay camp that they depend altogether for their 

 meat on sheep, and that a moose or an elk is killed only by 

 accident. " 



"And to get sheep," said Dick King, "you ought to go and 

 camp right with 'em. Pack your blankets right up to the 

 rocks and sleep there, so as to get at the game early in the 

 morning." 



"Right you are," said I, and then turning to the Indian, 

 added, "Before we go to bed, Yellowfish, tell us a story." 



"Well," he replied, "one," and sitting up and putting 

 aside his pipe, he said: "That Old Man. Walked around 

 that Old Man. Came to where still dancing those ground 

 squirrels. Dancing about fire all those ground squirrels. 

 Behind sit that ground squirrel big with young. Old Man 

 cry [wept.]. Say, "Let me by that fire, too.' Ground 

 squirrel say: 'Come on, Old Man, sit here, too.' 'When 

 come there, Old Man,' he say, 'Me first by fire sit.' Old 

 Man take ground squirrels, hold back by [close to] fire. 

 When ground squirrel say sk, sk, then Old Man take another 

 squirrel, hold by fire. Old Man make same noise, sk, sk 

 [mocking them]. Old Man tired, say, 'All be in fire, too 

 many you.' Throw all in fire. That one, big with young, 

 go in hole. Old Man say, 'Let be that way. Make ground 

 squirrels more you.' 



"Rest in fire, went away Old Man [to] make willow basket 

 [to] cook those ground squirrels. Eat some, rest not cooked. 

 Say to nose, 'Sleepy me. [If while] I sleep, there is traveling 

 about something, holloa out.' Now sleep, Old Man. Nose 

 holloa. Wake Old Man. Many times. Some above bird 

 cry. Old Man say, 'Above bird nothing,' sleep again. 



"Come bobcat. Nose snore many times. Make Old Man 

 jump, so high, many times. Not wake up, Old Man. Bob- 

 cat eat all ground squirrels. Nose snore. Old Man high 

 jump, fall. Wake up, him mad. Take fire, burn nose. 

 Say, 'You fool, not wake me up.' Look for bobcat. Find 

 tracks. All grease, tracks. See bobcat [on] rock. He 

 sleep. Walk softly Old Man, catch him bobcat. Old Man 

 pound head [nose] on rock, make short face, pull [body] out 

 long, fix hair on face, pull off tail. That's why bobcat, 

 short face, long hair [on it], long body, short tail. 



"Now, Old Man nose burn like fire. Think wind good. 

 Hold nose wind. Wind blow [him] far off, pretty near blow 

 in creek. Catch hold blackthroat [birch tree]. Wind blow 

 here there, still hang on Old Man. That's the way survive 

 Old Man. Wind over, mad Old Man. Hit birch many 

 times. That's why birch [bark] now looks like much cut. 

 OM." 



The story told and duly applauded, we turned into our 

 blankets and were soon asleep. Yo. 



A FAMOUS FISHING POND. 



THE well-known fishing pond of the late Royal Phelps at, 

 Babylon has been purchased by Mr. Whitehead, the 

 counsel for the Society for the Protection of Game, and a 

 club has been formed to hold it. The terms of the new 

 corporation as filed in the office of the Secretary of State 

 are given below. We trust it may long maintain the hos- 

 pitable fame for which "The Reel" has been so celebrated: 



"We Percy R. Pyne, William E. Dodge, Jr., Charles E Whitehead, 

 Cleveland H. Dodge and Percy R. Pyne. Jr., being all of full age 

 worthy citizens of the State of New York, and of the United States 

 of America, do certify, intending thereby to form a corporation 

 under the name of the Rod and Reel Society. 



That the objects of the corporation shall be simple, social, country 

 life, and improvement in the gentle art of fysshynge as practised by 

 the goodly Iziak Walton and Dame Juliana Berners, and also main- 

 taining a fysshynge lodge and waters. 



The number of the Trustees shall be five, and those tor the first 

 year are to be the above named corporators, and the chief place of 

 bu-iness (if idleness can be a business) shall be the Fysshynge House 

 in the town of Huntington and County of Suffolk heretofore known 



The shares of this corporation shall be twenty-five, which shares 

 shall be unassignable either by voluntary sale, or process of law, 

 except by the written consent of all the other shareholders, and at 

 the death of any shareholder, his share shall belong to the survivors 

 upon such terms and conditions as may hereafter De provided by 

 the by-laws saving only his widow, if any, may eDjoy the same for 



he The Trustees shall have the power to purchase real estate, woods 

 and waters, fishing and fowling rights, or to lease the same, and to 

 make such bye-laws and rules as shall be meet for the peaceful and 

 quiet enjoyment of a happy fysshnge house. 



In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands, this, lath day 

 of February, 1886. Percy R. Pyne, Percy R. Pyne, Jr., W. E. Dodge, 

 Jr., Charles E, Whitehead,, pievelan«t H, Dodge. 



