2 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 26, 1888. 



THE BOCK CLIMBERS. 



V.— FRUITLESS CLAMBERING. 



" Y^"ELL," said Jack, as he entered the tent one after- 

 noon, after changing the horses to fresh grass, 

 "if we're going to start at daylight fco-morrow, we've got 

 to get the boat up the Inlet to-night." 



"We may as well do it now.'* responded Yo. "It will 

 take us till near sundown as it is. Come on, Appe- 

 kunny." 



They had determined to make a trip by water to the 

 Upper Lake to try to get some goats. Yo urged this. So 

 far, although they had been in camp here two or three 

 days, nothing eatable larger than a chance duck or grouse 

 had fallen before their rifles, and they were getting hun- 

 gry for something more substantial in the way of fresh 

 meat. 



The Rhymer, it is true, had fired at a bear, but Yo did 

 not care for bear meat, and besides, this particular bear, 

 though pierced through and through by the hunter's 

 deadly ball, turned out to be only an old black stump, 

 and so was not brought into camp. The error of judg- 

 ment which led to the firing of this shot must not be 

 charged against the Rhymer. Jack was responsible for 

 it, and no one else. The two men were going through 

 thick pine timber on their way up Singleshot when they 

 came on some very fresh bear sign. They followed the 

 tracks which grew constantly more fresh, and at length 

 they smelt the animal. They went forward as quickly 

 as possible and yet with the utmost caution, and sud- 

 denly, 100yds. below them and lying down under the 

 upturned roots of a fallen tree, Jack saw the bear, as he 

 thought, and whispered to Rhymer, "There he is." 

 There was no time for investigation, a single bound would 

 take the black object out of sight, so the rifle jumped to 

 the shoulder and spoke out, but the bear never moved. 

 "Look at it through the glass," said the Rhymer in a 

 hollow voice, for dreadful doubts began to force them- 

 selves upon him. Jack did so. 



Afterward they had clambered all over the north 

 point of Singleshot, and into the "hole" behind it, 

 but had seen no game and very little fresh sign. 



Meantime the others had walked their legs nearly off 

 on Flat Top. The climb, always difficult, had been made 

 more so than usual by the wet snow, which in the timber 

 still covered the ground and made the steep hillsides, 

 clothed with the slippery soap grass, very hard to ascend. 

 Appekunny, who for two or three months had been roam- 

 ing over the mountains, was in good training, and could 

 march steadily along, but Yo, though not fat, was wofully 

 scant of breath, and after every twenty or thirty steps 

 had to stop and pant as though he were a consumptive. 

 After they had reached the foot of the rocks the climb- 

 ing became easier; not that it was less steep, but because 

 it is not so difficult to clamber up a pair of stairs as it is 

 to ascend a slippery hillside of equal steepness. In the 

 enow on the rocks they had found quite a lot of fresh sheep 

 sign, and had hunted all day, following these fresh 

 tracks, but without ever coming within sight of game. 

 In their peregrinations they had come upon a "lick," 

 where a salt spring flowed out of the mountain side, and 

 here the sheep had been not an hour before, but still they 

 kept out of sight, and at last the approach of evening had 

 forced the weary and unsuccessful hunters down the 

 mountain side toward canip. 



Grouse and ducks are capital eating, and had been 

 greatly enjoyed, as had also the great lake trout that had 

 been lured out of the depths of the lake, but the men all 

 felt that one, thing more was needed to make camp thor- 

 oughly comfortable, and that one thing was a piece of 

 fat meat hanging upon the tree that stood close by the 

 tent door. On the Upper Lake it was thought that they 

 could surely get a goat or two, and it had been decided 

 to try to secure one on the following day. 



Appekunny, Jack and Yo went down to the lake shore 

 and shoved off the boat. They had provided themselves 

 with a line sixty or seventy feet long for towing the craft 

 in the swift water of the Inlet, for the oars would be use- 

 less against its tumultuous rushing torrent. Half push- 

 ing, half poling, they forced the boat through the shal- 

 lows to where the Inlet pours into the lake, and then 

 Appekunny and Jack took the tow line ashore and Yo 

 stood in the bows, ready with an oar to keep her off the 

 bank, and a start was made. It was very hard work to 

 get the boat along. The current was very swift and the 

 thick brush on the bank made the walking laborious. 

 At frequent intervals a thick, bushy spruce growing on 

 the edge of the bank and leaning far out over the water 

 would interrupt their progress. At such places, one man 

 would hold the line, while the other went round the tree, 

 climbed out on it, took the slack which was thrown to 

 him, and drawing it tight, braced himself to hold the 

 boat until the other had passed round the tree to take 

 hold and start again. 



Every now and then the timber growing on the 

 bank became so thick as to be quite impassable, and it 

 would be necessary to cross the stream, on one side or the 

 other of which are sand or gravel bars, where the work of 

 cordelling was much easier and their progress more rapid. 

 Once or twice on the broader and seemingly still reaches 

 of the Inlet they tried to row the boat, but the cm-rent 

 <$vas too swift for much advance to be made in this way. 



As they went on the bank became more and more diffi- 

 cult. On one side the bluff was ten feet high and over- 

 grown with willows, through which it was almost im- 

 possible to force one's way, while on the other, though it 

 was lower, it was cut up by sloughs too wide to jump, 

 and filled with mud. Then Jack's patience gave way, 

 and with two or three forcible expletives he sprang into 

 the ice cold water close to the shore, where it was up to 

 his knees, and began to wade. 



The length of the Inlet is only about three-quarters of 

 a mile, but it took an hour and a half to bring the boat 

 up to the wide beach on the west side of the Upper Lake. 

 Here it was securely fastened. Then the boatmen re- 

 turned to camp. 



Long before daylight nest morning the camp was astir, 

 and the first gray streaks were just appearing in the 

 eastern sky when the four men, carrying only their rifles 

 and the photographic camera, started for the boat. The 

 morning was perfectly still, a fortunate condition, since, 

 if the usual west wind had been blowing, it would have 

 been hopeless with their heavy boat to attempt the seven, 

 mile row which must be accomplished to bring them to 

 the ground on which they proposed to hunt. 



Before the sun had risen they had pushed off from the 

 shore, and the boat was swiftly passing over the quiet 

 waters. It was cold, and the ice which had formed dur- 

 ing the night in the boat showed no signs of melting. At 

 length the sun rose, flooding the scene with genial light 

 and heat, and raising the spirits of the shivering men. 

 The row up the lake was beautiful. On either hand were 

 the mountains, which, as they advanced, came closer and 

 closer together, till at length the boat passed through the 

 narrow gap where the long steep ledge of rocks running 

 down from Otu Komi almost reaches the mountains on 

 the opposite side of the lake. Then the upper end of the 

 lake came into view with its wonderful setting of snow- 

 clad mountains, and jagged peaks scarred from base to 

 summit with blood red gashes. Life was not wanting to 

 make complete the lovely picture. Now and then a wild 

 duck would be seen mirrored in the still water on which 

 it floated, or the glassy surface of the lake would be dim- 

 pled by the touch of a gull's wing, or broken by the rise 

 of a trout. Once the round head of an otter appeared 

 near the boat, and for a few moments the rowing ceased 

 while they watched the cautious animal as it dived and 

 reappeared and dived again. A little later a mink made 

 Ms appearance on the shore, prowling along in search of 

 his morning meal, and afterward a flock of Bohemian 

 chatterers flew close over the boat, uttering a curious 

 sibilant whistle, which explained to the ornithologist the 

 origin of the name of these usually silent birds. 



After passing through the narrow gap the mountains 

 rose almost vertically. Goat Mountain on the right and 

 Red Eagle on the left, though equally steep and stern, 

 were yet utterly different in appearance. The first, f ac- 

 ing the south, was bathed in the bright sunlight, and with 

 the reds, grays, browns and greens of its rocks and trees, 

 presented a fine mass of warm and varied coloring. The 

 last, looking northward, was in the shadow and white, 

 except on the steepest rock faces where the snow could 

 not cling, and these seemed black and gloomy by con- 

 trast with the snow. On the one side all was bright and 

 cheerful, while on the other seemed to rest the shadow 

 of some awful crime. It had been arranged that Appe- 

 kunny and Yo should hunt on Red Eagle, while the 

 Rhymer and Jack, after leaving them , should cross the 

 lake and hunt in Monroe Basin, a locality famous for the 

 numbers of goats which frequent its rough sides, and 

 equally renowned for the difficulties of ascending those 

 sides. The boat touched the shore and two of the hunters 

 disembarked, and, after setting up the camera and taking 

 two or three views of the lake, they started to climb the 

 mountainside. Their prospects for success did not seem 

 good, for in cold and snowy weather the north slope of a 

 mountain is not the place to look for game. In the sum- 

 mer this would have been a capital ground for sheep or 

 goats, but not so in the month of October. 



Up, up they went, first through thick spruces and firs, 

 where the undergrowth was thick and the branches grew 

 low, so that it was necessary either to push them aside or 

 to creep under them, then for a short distance over a 

 comparatively open stretch of mountainside, where the 

 ground was covered with great masses of rock, among 

 which grew thickly the twisted stems of the mountain 

 alder; then plunging down the almost vertical side of a 

 gorge, at the bottom of which trickled a tiny ice-bordered 

 stream, and up the other steep side over slippery, sliding 

 shale, that started on a rapid journey downward as soon 

 as the foot pressed it. It was hard and exhausting work, 

 and the two breathless men, when they reached the top 

 of the little canon, were glad to throw themselves upon 

 the ground and rest for a few moments while they 

 regained their wind. The real climb was now before 

 them, but it was over open ground and rocks, which 

 promised hard work, but nothing near so bad as the labor 

 of breaking their way through the undergrowth. 



Presently they started, zig-zagging slowly up over the 

 steep shale, which was moderately firm under the foot, 

 but was slippery with tufts of soap grass. Before long 

 they reached the snow, and after about an hour came to 

 | the foot of the rocks, which rose like the steps of a giant's 



stairway far, far above them. Each step was from twenty 

 to sixty feet in height and the vertical face of the preci- 

 pice offered no means of ascent. To proceed toward the 

 summit it was necessary to follow along the foot of each 

 wall until some little crevice was found where the water 

 had cut its way through the rock, and to make their way 

 up this. Sometimes after advancing half way up such a 

 crevice it would be found that the way was barred by a 

 vertical step ten or twelve feet high, on which there was 

 no more chance for foot or hand hold than there would 

 be on the wall of a room. Then they would be obliged 

 to retrace their steps and look for another path. It was 

 cold, slow and difficult work, and now and then a little 

 dangerous. Everywhere tiny springs trickled out of the 

 ledges, and freezing as they flowed, coated the rocks 

 with a thin sheet of glare ice. Soft, wet green moss, yield- 

 ing and treacherous to tread on, grew on the edges of the 

 rocks, and sometimes the slate points, which offered an 

 inviting place on which to rest the foot, broke down as 

 soon as a few pounds weight was rested on them. The 

 men moved along independently, and if the one behind 

 did not like the looks of the path chosen by his prede- 

 cessor, he would pass on and look for one that seemed to 

 him easier. 



After an hour of this climbing, during which neither 

 game nor sign of game was seen, they cams to a sheep 

 and goat trail which passed along the side of the moun- 

 tain, and as this promised easier going, they followed it. 

 Although the snow had fallen three days before, there 

 was not a track in this trail, and there seemed no likeli- 

 hood that they would meet with anything on this cold, 

 snowy side of the mountain. They followed this trail 

 westward, constantly ascending, until they came to a 

 deep gorge, down which, far below them, they could hear 

 the rush of a mountain torrent. From the sides of the 

 abyss the mountain rose on either side in a rough shoulder, 

 and in the same steplike series of precipices, but guttered 

 here by numerous rapines and chasms, through which the 

 waters from the melting snows flow down in spring and 

 summer to the stream below. Here they rested for a 

 while, ate their lunch, and lamented the lack of game. 

 The trail now divided, one branch going up the shoulder 

 of rocks and the other plunging down into the gorge. 

 They followed the former , and spent two hours more, 

 constantly going higher, but without seeing game. 



Meantime the boat had crossed the lake and landed in 

 a little cove, where the Rhymer and Jack had left it, and 

 made their way into Monroe's Basin. The climbing was 

 rough and steep, chiefly over hills of sliding shale, though 

 there were not wanting precipices to lend variety to the 

 climb. The two followed up the basin for several miles, 

 but saw no goats, although there was some fresh sign. 

 But they did not get high enough up for the goats. At 

 length, turning their steps toward the shore, they took to 

 the oars, and by three o'clock were sitting about afire that 

 they had kindled on the beach where they had left their 

 comrades in the morning. They shouted in the hope of 

 hurrying them, for there was a long row before them, and 

 the sun was lowering toward the mountain tops. At 

 length their calls were faintly replied to, and presently 

 the others, wet with perspiration and with trembling 

 knees, came out of the timber and gladly drew near the 

 fire. 



Jack, who had been examining Goat Mountain with a 

 glass, had detected a number of goats on it, and a care- 

 ful inspection revealed eight or ten of these animals 

 moving about and feeding over its sides, while a number 

 of other objects looked like goats, but might be snow or 

 white stones or weathered tree trunks. Here at last was 

 something definite and positive, and the hopes of the 

 hunters rose high. 



Then presently all hands tumbled into the boat and the 

 return journey began. A bitter wind blew from the 

 west, and helped them on their way, but it was very 

 cold. The row occupied but two hours, and by the time 

 the landing was reached two or three of the party were 

 so stiff with cold that they could hardly get out of the 

 boat. Yo, 



On Wednesday, Jan. 18, Mr. Pays, the County Clerk of 

 Yellowstone county, Montana, filed for record a mort- 

 gage on the franchise of the Billings, Clark's Fork and 

 Cook City Railroad to the Farmers' Loan and Trust Com- 

 pany of New York amounting to $2,000,000. Charles F. 

 Roberts of New York is President. The route is from 

 Billings, on the Northern Pacific, up Clark's Fork to Cook 

 City and the new mining district, with a branch to Red 

 Lodge coal fields. This promises a second railroad route 

 to Cook City, and will also if continued develop an im- 

 portant oil and cattle country in northern Wyoming Ter- 

 ritory. 



A club of Wilkesbarre, Pa., has undertaken to destroy 

 vermin in the surrounding mountains by putting out 

 numbers of dead English sparrows prepared with poison 

 as bait for foxes and other creature.s. The laudable pur- 

 pose is to kill off the animals and birds that prey on 

 game. The result of such poison is disastrous to woods 

 life; the destruction is .more extensive than is generally 

 j appreciated and certainly more than can be defended as 

 wise. 



