382 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Pec. 9, 1886. 



NOTES FROM THE PARK. 



YELLOWSTONE PAEK, Nov. 21.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream : Since my last letter we hare been having 

 slight snows until there is now at the Falls, Lower Basin and 

 Norris about 2ft. on an average. At the Mammoth Hot 

 Springs there is about Ift. On the Cooke City road and 

 Swan Lake country there is about loin. 



Teams are still emjjloyed in the Park, getting material 

 on the ground for the new hotel at the Grand Canon and 

 for improvements at the Lower Geyser Basin. 



The trains on the Park Branch, which have been run- 

 ning two and three times a week, from this time on will 

 run but once a week. 



The mail service has been increased to six trips a week 

 in place of three f i-om Livingstone and three to Cooke City 

 in place of two trips. It is carried on stages. 



Considerable quantities of freight have been commg in 

 for the soldiers' station here. "Hay is shipped in from 

 Fort Ellis, M. T. The soldiers will soon have everything 

 a,t the camp required to make them comfortable and keep 

 them and their horses until spring. They moved into 

 their new quarters some two weeks ago. In addition to 

 the buildings mentioned in my last, a' small hospital has 

 been commenced, Avork on which was stopped for the 

 want of funds. 



Last week the scout found a hunters camp on HeUroar- 

 ing Creek. The soldiers arrested the hunter. William 

 Whitworth, for hunting in the Pai'k. This is the second 

 time Whitworth has been arrested, once imder Major 

 Conger, when he w^as fined mider the Wyoming law. For 

 the last offense nothing was done, as there was no evi- 

 dence against him. There is but one party of soldiers out 

 from the main camp; they are stationed at Soda Butte, the 

 others ha ving all been called in. 



On Sunday night, Nov. 7, about 11 P. M,, there was a 

 local disturbance of the earth's crust in the Park at Norris 

 Geyser Basin, the shock of wliich broke dishes, cracked 

 plastering and shook up the inmates of the hotel at that 

 place. It was plainly felt at the Grand Canon and Fire- 

 hall. Some claim to have felt the shock at the Mammoth 

 Hot Springs; others who were awake at the time did not. 

 Parties at Non-is describe the shock as blows being struck 

 —similar to the shocks felt when the Giantess Geyser be- 

 gins to erupt, only much more violent. Two men sleeping 

 in their loaded freight wagons at Canon Creek, eight 

 miles from the Basin, say their wagons were shook from 

 side to side the full play of the wheels, as though on a 

 rough road. 



It will be quite an additional attraction to tlie Park if 

 we can have a small earthquake now and then to add to 

 the wonders here. It is to be regretted that some of the 

 U. S. Geological Siu-vey were not here to have observed 

 the disturbance and reported it intelligently, as almost 

 every one exaggerates all accounts of such tilings. There 

 is no doubt that from some cause there was a disturbance, 

 but not as violent as has been reported. 



A party of tourist hunters came in last week from 

 Buffalo Fork of Snake River via Lewis's and Shoshone 

 Lakes to Yellowstone Lake, thence down the Yellowstone 

 to Yanses. They report the snow as ftdly three feet deep 

 on the divide. You will hear from them, as one of them 

 is a writer for the Forest and Stream. He says he has 

 had a very good season in the mountains around the Park. 

 A paxty saw several bands of elk close in to the Main Hot 

 Springs — one of thirty-two — within two miles air line of 

 hotel. Elk liave been seen within a mile of the Hot 

 Springs. 



The scout, BaiTOnett, found the dressed carcass of a 

 blacktail deer, which he repoiled to Capt. Harris. Soldiers 

 were sent out after the parties who killed it. They found 

 no hunters, but brought the deer in. If Congress will 

 only pass proper laws for the government of the Park, all 

 hunting could be stopped. 



Cooke City, as a mining camp, is rather dull now. I 

 hear of contracts being let for charcoal and freighting 

 in of coke. This means there will be more activity in the 

 mines. The friends of the Cooke City and CinnalDar 

 Railroad are very quiet. They are waiting for Congress 

 to assemble before commencing to push their schemes. 

 They will try to make a "still-hunt" tlu-ough Congress 

 with then- bill. As this affects the Pai-k, they must be 

 watched very closely. ' X. 



BEARHEAD AND THE BEAR. 



OUTSIDE the snow drifted and piled against the door; 

 the wind howled and shrieked around the eaves, 

 and old Boreas covered the window panes with a furry 

 coat of frost. But httle cared I for that. I only piled up 

 the logs the higher, and smoked and read and enjoyed 

 myself as well as any one can, cooped in a house. How- 

 ever, if you will go at it right, cabin life during the cold 

 months can be made very pleasant. In the first place I 

 had a boat to build, for "Yo" and I had vowed to make 

 another trip to the Walled-in Lakes, and the old scow we 

 had left there was whoUy unfit in rough water. It was 

 with great difficulty that I collected the materials to build 

 my craft. The sidmg came from Minnesota, the copper 

 nads from St. Louis, and the ribs I made of old wagon 

 bows— bows wliich for years had sheltered with their 

 sheet the bales of robes and furs and merchandise in 

 ti-ansit over hundreds of miles of prairie; but alas! 

 those days are gone forever, and now the old wagons 

 stand uselessly around, and the rust is deep upon 

 their thimbles. It was no task, rather a labor of lo\'e. 

 to build the boat; and as I fashioned a strip of siding, or 

 clinched a nail, I thought of the pleasant day B to come 

 when "Yo" and I shotdd explore the unknown shores of 

 the upper lake. Thus I passed the days, working a little, 

 but for the most part sitting by the broad fire-place, smok- 

 ing, reading, dozing, and getting fat and lazy. One day 

 the clear familiar honk! honk! of the wild geese awakened 

 me from my winter's lethargy and I wr.s glad. Spring 

 was at hand, the boat finished, and one that any man 

 might be proud to own. She is 14ft. long, a double-ender, 

 budt like those of Adirondack fame, and in honor of my 

 friend it bears on bow and stern in large white letters the 

 inscription, Yo, 



Who that loves the lakes and woods and the great 

 mountains but longs to be among them as summer comes? 

 So it is with me, at least; and having no business cares, 

 lord of my own sweet will, I determined to take the boat 

 to the lakes and stay until the flies shoidd drive me out. 

 One bi-ight morning I carefully lashed the Yo on top the 



wagon, stowed the tent, stove and camp duffle under it, 

 and accompanied by Bearhead, an Indian, and our 

 retriever, set out on the journey. Now, as we passed a 

 prairie lake by the side of the road, what should we see 

 but a "bob-cat" peering out at us from a bunch of rye 

 grass. Bearhead immediately jumped out, picked up 

 some rocks, and accompanied by the retriever, 

 cautiously approached the animal. When witliin ten or 

 fifteen feet of the btmch of grass the animal sprang out 

 and ran as fast as he could. But like all others of the cat 

 family, these "bob-cats'' have but little endurance, and 

 after a quarter of a mile run, perhaps less, the dog brought 

 him to bay and Bearhead ended his life by crushing his 

 skull with a rock. Coming up alongside I quickly 

 removed the entrails, tlu'ew the carcass in the wagon, and 

 we resumed our journey. Perhaps you want to know 

 what we did with the carcass. Well, we ate the hams 

 fried for supper, and the next evening had the ribs, plain 

 boiled. I have never tasted the domestic cat, but I have 

 eaten fat panther, lynx and bob-cat, and very good meat 

 it is. One winter, way back in "York State," I killed a 

 very fat panther, and cutting out the largest steaks, sent 

 sonie to my mother and some to a friend, marked very 

 plainly, ' 'Venison. " Sometime after, when I had retm-ned 

 home, I asked them how they liked the deer meat. 

 "Splendid," they said, "delicious, best we ever had,"' 

 " Ah,'' said I, "it wasn't venison; it was panther steak." 

 Tableau. 



Near sundown we amved at Indian John's place on 

 Cutbank, where we stopped for the night. I saw that 

 John hadn't been idle during the winter, for since our last 

 visit he had built over two miles of fence, which now 

 inclosed a fine field of grain and vegetables. Of a busi- 

 ness nature,' and aided b.y Mr. Kipii, the post trader, John 

 now has a fine rancli ancl a number of horses and cattle. 

 But there is not anotlier Indian in tlie tribe so fortunate 

 as he. After supper John took us out to see his pet 

 beavers. He had two, about six weeks old. We took 

 them down to the creek and gave them a swim, but they 

 did not seem to care for the "water and came back to lis 

 immediately, whimpering and shivering, and seemed glad 

 to get back to their nests. The beaver ^x ill soon have fol- 

 lowed the buffalo. In this part of tlie country, probably 

 the wildest portion of Montana, they are being thinned 

 out rapidly. Every fall the Kootnai and Stony Indians, 

 who belong in the Province of Alberta, come' over here 

 and trap along the streams belonging to the Piegans. If 

 they merely trapped, it would not he so bad ; but they cut 

 the dams, pull down the houses and knock every beaver 

 on the head. Not one escapes. How little we know of 

 the habits of this wonderful animal. We see the great 

 trees he has felled, his dams and houses; but we do not 

 know how the work was done. It seems as if some of 

 our great naturalists should be interested enough to make 

 a thorough study of the beaver, Ms metliod of building, 

 etc. , and he who will do so should be at work at once, for 

 in a short time the creature will have passed away for- 

 ever. 



The next inoming we were on the road till sunrise, and 

 arrived at Milk River about 10 o'clock. Hero we turned 

 out the horses to rest and graze and refreshed ourselves 

 with a bath and a "bite to eat." About 2 o'clock we 

 hitched up agtun and drove along up the North Fork of 

 the South Fork. A much better route than the one "Yo" 

 and I took last fall and a shorter one by at least fifteen 

 miles. We had not traveled over an hour before a thmi- 

 der shower came, and we had lively time to get the tent up 

 when the rain came down hard and fast. We boiled the 

 bobcat ribs, ate our supyier, and the rain still coming 

 down we soon rolled up in our blankets and went to sleep. 



We rose at daylight and were soon traveling, and by 9 

 o'clock reached the top of the hill. The day was very 

 warm, not a breath of wind was stu-ring and the flies 

 were very bad; so we hurried down to the foot of the lake, 

 built a number of smudges for the liorees, and spent the 

 rest of the day making a stable for them. We built it of 

 quaking asp poles, and filled in the chinks with grass and 

 moss, which excluded the light. The sun was down by 

 the time we had finished the little building and we were 

 so tired that we took a cold bite and turned in. 



The next morning we placed the Yo in the water and 

 stai'ted out for a fish. The boat did not leak a drop and 

 proved to be very fast and easily rowed. As we pulled 

 away from the shore with long, quick strokes, the bow 

 fairly hissed through the water, and Bearhead was sur- 

 prised. "Oh-ho-hi!'' said he, "You don't pull hard, yet 

 we are going as fast as a horse rims." Reaching deep 

 water I threw the troll overboard and let out about fifty 

 yards of line. I soon had a strike, and unceremoniously 

 hauled the fish up alongside and gaffed him into the lx)at. 

 It was a lake trout (Salmo namaycnsh), and weighed 

 about 81bs. Once again Bearhead was astonished: he had 

 never seen such a large fish. I then handed bim the 

 trolling line and he caught several much larger. The sun 

 was now well up and the flies attacked us furiously. 

 Black flies there were and plenty of them; then there 

 were several other kinds which I do not know by name, 

 but their bite was stinging and poisonous. We were 

 about to return to camp when the wind rose, relieving us 

 of our tormentors, so we continued fishing. Having no 

 rod, it was but little pleasure for me to fish, and I let 

 Bearliead handle the line. Every time a fish struck he 

 would grin from ear to ear, and if he lost one he would 

 look so sad I couldn't help laughing. Cutting open 

 se-s'eral of the fish, I found that tbeir stomachs were full 

 of flies. I think that one could have good sport with the 

 fly-rod here at this season of the year, although I never 

 heard of these lake trout taking the flj'. However, if one 

 should fail to get these fish with the fly, there are other 

 species of trout wliich afford great sport. We caught 

 dm-ing the day at least SOOlbs. of fish. They were not 

 wasted, for we salted and dried them. 



The flies were so bad that we could not stay away from 

 the smudge long. I concluded to take the boat to the 

 foot of the upper Jake and cache it, where it would be 

 handy when "Yo" and I should make our trip m the fall. 

 With tliis end in view we started out eany the next 

 morning. Dming the night the weather had changed, 

 the wind was now in the north and quite cold, and the 

 sky overcast with dark clouds, which threatened snow. 

 We had reached the head of the lower lake, when Bear- 

 head suddenly exclaimed: "See the bear!" I saw on the 

 edge of a little praii-ie right near- the pines a big sun- 

 bxu-ned grizzly industriously digging. His hair was ex- 

 actly the color of a buffalo bull's at tlus season. 



We hastily rowed ashore, and taking the gun I started 

 off, followed by Bearhead.. who had no gun, leading the 



retriever. Favored by a coulee and a small clump of 

 quaking asps, I was just getting in fair range of the ani- 

 mal when he walked leisiu-ely into the thick pines, which 

 grew in clumps 4 or 5ft. high and very dense. I waited 

 some time, hoping the bear would come out again, but as 

 he did not I concluded that he had gone off up the moun- 

 tain; so I walked leisurely up to where we had last seen 

 him and waited a while, ' I did not dare go into the thick 

 pines and was about to give up the hmit when he came 

 out on the edge of another clump of pines some BOyds. to 

 the right. I fired and he fell, roared and got up and stood 

 on his hindfeet, looking around. I again shot him and he 

 went through the same performance and then started for 

 the pines, but I managed to hit him again before he had 

 got out of sight. Bearhead now let go the retriever, which 

 ran into the edge of the pines and stood there barking, so 

 we knew that he could see the bear, or at least snieU him 

 very plainly. Near by was a large dead pure tree. After 

 some talk we decided to climb this, thinking that from 

 the top of it we might get a good shot at the animal. 

 Now the tree was only about 4()ft. from where the dog 

 was barking, and we approached it verv cautiously. We 

 reached the base, and handing the rifle to Bearhead, I 

 turned to climb, when the bear rushed out, open-mouthed. 

 Instead of making for the dog, as any sensible bear would 

 have done, he came directly for us . Bearhead rtused the 

 rifle to his hip, he had not time to do more, and fired, and 

 the shaggy old beast fell almost at our feet, the ball 

 having passed through his bram. I have hunted a good 

 many years, and in my experience that was the luckiest 

 and most timely shot I have ever seen. I must confess 

 that when it w^as all over, and I saw how nearly one or 

 the other of us had come to being mauled and perhaps 

 killed, my nerves were a little shaky. It was some satis- 

 faction to get the knife into the old fellow and rip off his 

 liide. He was s ery poor. In his stomach we foimd ant 

 eggs, roots, strawbeiTies and a gopher. Having noAv 

 enough exercise and glory for one day, we packed the 

 hide down to the boat a'nd returned home. Bearhead 

 was hajipy, he had on his broadest grin, his eyes sparkled 

 and he sung his little war song all the way to camp, and 

 even after we had turned in for tlie niglit. 



The next day tlie weather was still cold, and we again 

 started for the upper lake. We did not see any more 

 bears, but saw the track of one, fresh, just as we entered 

 the uilet. The water here was so swift that I made Beai- 

 liead walk, and it took me at least an hour to pull the 

 mile between the lakes. As we pulled out into the deep 

 water, I was more than ever imxiressed with the beauty 

 of this lake; and was not a little g:ratified as I thought 

 that the Yo was the first boat that had ever rested on its 

 bosom. As I gazed at the great glacier-clad mountains 

 toward its head, I longed for the time to come when"Yo" 

 and I should camp among them and explore the great 

 cafions and timbered valleys where no man had as yet set 

 foot. Not far from the outlet we found a suitable place 

 to leave the boat, and having cached it so securely that 

 one could not see it unless iie stumbled on it. we took the 

 trail for camp and reached there just^it dusk. Tlie next 

 day was very warm, but by noon we had got so far away 

 from the mountains that the flies were not troublesome, 

 and at dusk we arrived at Indian John's place on Cutbank. 



Appekujjny. 



AcWress all cnmmum'cations to the Forest and Stream Puh. Co. 



SHORE BIRD NOMENCLATURE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am glad to see that my note in your issue of Nov. 4 

 has called out other communications on this subject, 

 namely those of "X. Y. Z." in the issue of Nov, 18, and 

 Mr. Cahoon in the paper of Nov. 25. 



Mr. Cahoon evidently knows what he is talking about, 

 and I am Yery glad to get hold of his list of local names, 

 which will, however, be much more valuable if he will 

 have the kindness to specify exactly in what locahty he 

 has actually known these names to be used. It is quite 

 important for the sort of study of these names that I am 

 inclined to undertake that we should know if ix)S8ible 

 just how far the use of eacli name extends. The matter 

 is not so trivial as it may ajipear at first sight to many 

 readers, for many of these names contain much that is 

 interesting in the way of folk-lore and popiilai- philology. 

 And now for a few A\'ords in regard to Mr. Cahoon's criti- 

 cisms. If he will permit me to say so, I may not be as 

 much mistaken as he beUeves, while he may be perfectly 

 right himself in the use of the names. Most of my shore 

 bird nomenclature for Cape Cod was learned in the town 

 of Orleans in the seasons of lS69-'72. and chiefly from the 

 older generation of gunners. The names even at that 

 very locality may easily have changod since then, and I 

 should be very glad to learn positively whether they have 

 or not. In those days the golden plover was quite as 

 often called "toadhead" as "green plover," and though 

 the old gunners talked of "winter yellowlegs,'" they said 

 "little yellowlegs" or "yellowlegs" for the other sjiecies. 

 I was perhaps too sweeping in including Chatham in 

 what I had to say about "thorougldircd giiuners," though 

 I had the impression at the time of writing that the same 

 names were used there as at Orleans, I am glad, how- 

 ever, to be corrected. The name "winter oxeye" for a 

 bird described as coming in immense flocks late in 

 autumn, and evidently the young red-backed sandpiper, 

 was heard from a very old man ut Suuth Oi'leans in 1869. 



I should like to ask Mr. Cahoon how generally he has 

 found the name "bumble-bee jjeep" used for the least 

 sandpiper (Tringa mimdilla) by native gunners on Cape 

 Cod. The name sounds as if it were meant to be jocular, 

 and is almost the only instance I have ever heard of gun- 

 ners making any distinction between this sjiecies and the 

 semi-palmated sandpiper {Ereunetes pusilhts). I hope we 

 shall hear more from Mr. Cahoon, "X. Y. Z." and others 

 of your readers. John Murdoch. 



U. S. Natiojjal Museum, Wasliington, Nov. 29. 



Editor Forest and Stream.: 



Yom- columns of late showing much interest in the 

 above, lead me to say that if your correspondents, if they 

 are old subscribers, will look up the Forest and Stream 

 for Nov. 9 and 23, 1876, they will find a neai-ly complete 

 list of local names at Plymouth, Mass., which I made a 

 specialty of obtaining during a g-unning season spent at 

 that place. F. C. Browne. 



Framingham, Mass. 



