126 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 8, 1887. 



Bears -will not travel and hunt for meat in the fall as in 

 the spring, as there are plenty of pine nuts. These the 

 squirrels have laid away for winter use, but they hardly 

 ever consume them, as the bears raise their caches about 

 as fast as they are put down. This plundered provender 

 furnishes all necessary food for them, and by the time 

 they hole are as fat as it is possible for anything to get. 



Silver Tip. 



[The "gazelle deer" are probably small-sized individuals 

 of the white tail species. There is great diversity of size 

 among the whitetails in the Rocky Mountains; we have 

 seen killed on the same day a large whitetail deer, which 

 two men could with difficulty lift on to the horse, and an 

 adult buck so light that one man could lift it with ease. 

 It is not uncommon to find antelope in the timber; we 

 have killed them in timber from the North Park of 

 Colorado to the northern boundary of Wyoming. There 

 are but two species of bears in the United States, the 

 black and the grizzly. "Cinnamon" (of authors), "brown" 

 and black are the same; "cinnamon" (of Eocky Mountain 

 hunters), "bald-faced grizzly," "silver tip" and grizzly 

 are the same. In our bears color is of little or no value 

 in the determination of species.] 



JERRY GREENING'S. 



HOW the years fly ! Luckily there is no mirror 

 handy to enforce the lesson by ocular demonstra- 

 tion and so confound the vanity that still believes itself 

 capable of breasting the ridges and fording the swamps 

 between Milford and the Rattlesnake. Still in my ashes 

 live the wonted fires, and it is not always safe to trust too 

 much to gray hairs. Fenum habet in eomuvras a Roman 

 adage— not green grass, mark you, but hay— and this 

 reminds me of my first visit to Jerry Greening's. 



I had heard of him at Milford, at the Sportsman's 

 Retreat, where after a hard day's tramp our host, the 

 famous "Bub" Wells, used to while away the evening 

 with stories of the "characters" of old Pike. I had heard 

 also of the feud that had arisen between the houses of 

 McCarthy and Greening; and it was with a slight sensa- 

 tion of disloyalty to the former that we organized a party 

 for a deer hunt at Greening's. To desert McCarthy's was 

 bad, while to go to Greening's was to turn your back 

 on McCarthy and the delights of story telling by the 

 stove in his not over clean barroom. Would I ever for- 

 get the politics that raged there, and how, in default of a 

 genuine Black Republican, "Bub" Wells assumed the 

 character, and fought me valiantly until we turned in 

 together. 



A bright, balmy day, with just enough of November in 

 it to give the air a "tang," saw our party climbing the 

 Blopes — not on foot, however, but behind two good horses 

 with Dutch Jake to drive. I am not going to inflict any 

 descriptions of scenery on you — and with this city ther- 

 mometer looking down on the eighties, I am not going to 

 tantalize myself with cool and pleasant memories. In- 

 deed, I only mention the balmmess of the day for a 

 reason, and have only one incident of our ride to recall. 

 This was the meeting on the turn off by the "Rattle- 

 snake" of the cause of war between the houses of Green- 

 ing and McCarthy , in the shape of the schoolmarm — and 

 her charms we will leave to imagination. 



All roads — even pleasant ones — have an end, and ours 

 was found at Jerry's unpainted farmhouse and sheds. To 

 say we were hospitably received is to waste time and 

 paper. The old man, his old woman, boys and girls — not 

 to forget a pack of nondescript dogs — so received us that 

 we took to them at once. Jerry, Sr. , however, was not 

 in his usual condition, and his left arm and hand were in 

 a sling. Balling hogs he had cut his hand, and in conse- 

 quence had nearly lost his life; but his wonderful vitality 

 was expelling the poison that would have been fatal to 

 another. To him it was but a trifle, and his only regret 

 was that he could not hold his rifle — a heavy muzzle- 

 loader— steadily. 



Night comes quickly in the hills in November, and men 

 who rise before daybreak go«arly to bed, and we were no 

 exceptions. Sleep, however, was broken; Jerry's big 

 bear or something lit on the roof and I waked to hear the 

 rain poivring in a deluge. By morning, however, the 

 clouds had passed away and we were ready for breakfast 

 and our tramp for our respective runways. Before we 

 got off, however, my broker friend, whom I had a second 

 time dragged from the city, came to me and told me that 

 young Jerry was anxious about me— thought perhaps 

 that as the woods would be so wet the "old gentleman" 

 might not like to go. Respect for gray hairs is all very 

 well, but as I had not come to Greening's for deference I 

 took young Jerry for my guide and am happy to know 

 changed his opinion in the day. Of course we got no 

 venison, but then we had a glorious day. The dogs puz- 

 zled out a scent and the music of their baying echoed all 

 around us, until it died away at last beyond the "Farms" 

 and we turned our faces homeward. 



1 don't think Jerry Senior has ever read "Clarissa Har- 

 lowe;" I even doubt whether he ever tried to model his 

 speech on the lines of the "Common Prayer" book, that 

 well of English undefiled. but there was a certain raciness 

 of style and vigor of invective in his address to his sons, 

 which were not without effect. He remarked to me that 

 "they did not know nothing about deer hunting and the 

 next day he would go with me himself and get a deer," 

 and then the agency mvoked was so powerful that none 

 but a heretic or Col. Ingersol could have had any doubts. 



Supper over and pipes lit, the yarning began. I heard 

 how old and young Jerry, hunting timber for shingles 

 on the snow, had one of them tapped with his axe a dead 



f)ine, while the other looked up to its top, only to have 

 lis calculations disturbed by a blow from the paw of a 

 bear that had chosen its hollow for abode. "They had it 

 hot and tight, I tell ye, till I got in a crack with the axe 

 on her blasted head and laid her out." She weighed etc., 

 etc. Then too I heard the legend of the haymaking, and 

 how the "old woman" screamed when she raked up a 

 couple of lively August rattlesnakes, which her liege lord 

 stamped to death with his bare feet. "Women are so 

 skeery," was his comment, not. ungarmshed with idio- 

 matic expressions. That I believed all I heard will pass 

 without saying, but if there had been any doubt in 

 my mind, my next day's proof of Jerry's insensibility to 

 pain would have removed it. Sitting in the front door I 

 saw him sharpening a coarse single-bladed jack-knife on 

 the flat sandstone that served as doorstep. Next, remov- 

 ing the bandages from his hand, he buried the blade in 

 the ball of his thumb till he reached the bone. This bit 

 of surgery performed without wincing, he informed me 



that as soon as it stopped running he would be ready to 

 go — and go he did — and during all that day made no al- 

 lusion to his pain. 



It was not fated, however, that our first visit to Green- 

 ing's should be crowned with success in hunting. Just 

 before starting, I remarked of a little whitish lap-dog 

 playing with the hounds, that if they did not shut her up 

 she would follow them and get lost. " Lost," exclaimed 

 Jerry, "why the little bitch is the sharpest deer hound in 

 Pike county, if she gets out, she will start the deer be- 

 fore we get to our stands." Caught she was, and locked 

 up in a room with a window I believe, and we started. 

 On our way we passed plenty of deer sign . In one muddy 

 spot were the plain tracks of a big buck and two smaller 

 deer, and before we had gone two miles, I had begun to 

 indulge a pleasant hope of being able to show Jerry that 

 even a gray-haired man can shoot straight on occasion. 

 A short half mile and I should be on the best stand in 

 Pike county, when I seemed to hear a sharp yelp. Now I 

 don't know whether foxes bark or yelp, but I thought the 

 sound I heard would fitly come from the body of a very 

 small fox, and so I asked Jerry if there were many in 

 that country. "Lots," he said, "but why ! I didn't hear 

 the dogs running one, did I?" "No, but— there it is 

 again," said I as the yelp w T as repeated, this time more 



distinctly. " Run Mr. , run your hardest. That 



cussed little bitch has got off by herself and started 

 the deer." 



Well, I was running and I continued to run, but nearer 

 and nearer came that confounded yelp, and I knew the 

 deer was far ahead of me and gone. This conviction was 

 brought home to me forcibly when, on reaching the open 

 path leading down to the brook, I saw in the soft earth 

 the fresh prints wherever the dewclaws had struck. Of 

 course, it was the biggest buck that had ever wandered 

 up into old Pike from the far-off Alleghenies; but equally, 

 of course, he was well on his way back again, and when 

 the same little whitish lap-dog that I had seen at the 

 house came up shortly after, I could only paraphrase Sir 

 Isaac Newton. What were Jerry's exact remarks I dis- 

 remember. I don't think he quoted from any of Rich- 

 ardson's works: and yet they had a comforting sound. I 

 saw very plainly that it was my disappointment that 

 moved him, and so in turn I comforted him. 



Was it that, I wonder, that took off the edge then, and 

 always since has secured me the kindliest treatment from 

 him and his! I do not know; but this I do know, that 

 rough as he was, dangerous as he was said to be, from no 

 one could I get warmer greeting than always met me on 

 sight of Jerry Greening. If, therefore, I did not bring 

 back branching antlers from my first hunt with him, I 

 brought and have kept a pleasant memory. H. B. 



NOTES FROM THE PARK. 



THUS far this season the Park has fortunately escaped 

 damage by fires, the frequent showers putting out 

 any fire before it made much progress. Only one fire has 

 burned over any extent of country, that on Pelican Creek, 

 caused undoubtedly by lightning; this fire received a 

 check if it was not stopped by a storm on the 23d inst. 

 Very little smoke has obscured the views here, showing 

 that there are fewer fires in the country west of us than 

 there usually are at this time of the year. 



The Union Pacific engineers are very active in the 

 country west of the Park and its immediate vicinity, 

 locating several routes from the Utah Northern Railroad 

 with every indication of making the Park near the Lower 

 Geyser Basin their object point. Lines have been sur- 

 veyed up the Madison and other routes determined, one 

 of them over some of the same ground located by the 

 Northern Pacific in 1882. It will be much to the advan- 

 tage of the public to have two lines of railroad to the 

 Park now. There is now over a hundred miles staging 

 before getting to the Park line from Beaver Canon. Many 

 prefer this, as it is through a delightful country with fine 

 scenery, grand mountains and great rivers, abounding in 

 fish and game. 



While on a trip among the mountains in the north- 

 western part of the Park, in the latter part of July, we 

 saw a great many elk, one band of nine large bulls which 

 we alarmed by their getting our wind while in the timber. 

 We came in sight of them as they left the timber to take 

 a high trail around the top of Mt. Holmes. This was on 

 a very steep part of the mountain and only some 800yds. 

 distant at first. They were in sight for over half a mile 

 as they made their w-ay for the top of a pass. The nature 

 of the ground was such that they could not go out of a 

 walk and had to go in single file as they picked their way 

 over the "slide rock." We dismounted in a little park 

 and watched them with glasses. The leader was a king, 

 crowned with a pair of seven-point antlers. None of them 

 had less than five points. Occasionally they stopped and 

 looked at us and our horses. Their horns were about full 

 grown but covered with velvet, the points soft and tender, 

 as shown by the care the elk used in passing trees. When 

 they reached the pass they all collected to have a last 

 look, their red coats glistening in the sun, the outlines of 

 their forms brought out against a white cloud, Soon the 

 leader disappeared and the others followed him, plunging 

 down through a snow drift. We followed over the pass 

 but saw no more of them; but several other elk cows and 

 calves were seen. 



Another day we ran on to a band of over twenty cows 

 and calves in a little park at the head of Grayling Creek. 

 Riding into the park we were within twenty yards of the 

 nearest one before she saw us. We stopped to look at 

 them, they in turn staring for a moment at us. Some of 

 them went on eating, as our hor.es were doing, all un- 

 concerned. Some could be see a with their calves lying 

 down in the timber. We noticed that the calves were 

 losing their spots. When we moved on toward them 

 they trotted off, right and left into the timber, the calves 

 showing more alarm than the older ones. All the elk we 

 saw in the mountains visited on this trip were not so 

 wild as half the range cattle are when they see a person 

 afoot. 



We visited the summits of the Dame, Echo, Bannock 

 and Joseph peaks, Quadrant Mountain, Antler Peak and 

 many lesser points. As a rule the weather was fine and 

 the air quite clear. On August 2, while on top of cne of 

 the mountains we were favored with a hail storm and 

 a snow storm which lasted about an hour, leaving the 

 tops of the peaks white with snow a little over half an 

 inch deep. It was a something of a change to come from 

 the heated valleys in the morning to be in a snow Btorm 

 at four o'clock and walking through new snow and over 



fields of old snow twenty feet deep, to camp where ice 

 made that night a quarter of an inch thick in our kettles, 

 and to see in the morning daffodils and hundreds of other 

 spring flowers. We could but tnink of the people suffer- 

 ing with heat in the cities while we required two pair of 

 blankets over us to keep us comfortable. 



The scenery from some of the rocks was too grand for 

 description— mountain ranges and peaks in all directions, 

 deep canon and valley, the whole National Park at our 

 feet, the Yellowstone Lake under us like a blue valley, 

 Mt. Washburn so much below us that it looked like a 

 foothill, hundreds of little lakes, dark green and blue, 

 all kinds of beautiful mountain flowers in great abund- 

 ance, immense snow drifts with ice-cold streams mnning 

 froni them, cool rivers and freedom from insects. To the 

 west could be seen the great Madison Basin, partially 

 covered with timber, a large portion of it fire-killed. The 

 Basin is well-watered by the Madison River and its tribu- 

 taries, which abound in trout, grayling and whitefish. 

 While in the Basin we had seen considerable game 

 (although this is out of the Park), mostly antelope. These 

 are found in the timber; if in an open country they will 

 more often make for the timber than anywhere else. I 

 believe this is the only section of the country where ante- 

 lope, contrary to their usual habits, frequent the timber. 

 All through the mountains we saw a great many grouse, 

 old and young. The young were about the size of quail 

 on the first of August. On July 27 we saw one brood 

 just hatched out; we caught a few of them and let them 

 go again, and they soon disappeared in the grass. We 

 saw a number of porcupines. They are only to be seen 

 now at high altitudes. The tracks of a great many snow 

 slides were noticed, one over 300yds. wide had swept 

 down the mountain for fully half a mile, uprooting hun- 

 dreds of trees, filling them in a confused mass across the 

 gulch. The creek was yet hidden under masses of ice 

 and snow, and this covered with sticks, stones, logs and 

 dirt. Everything shewed the past winter had been un- 

 usually severe. 



Tourist travel to the Park is a little less this year than 

 last. Several hunting parties have outfitted at Gardiner 

 and gone east and south of the Park to hunt. A great 

 many camping parties, families with wagons from Mon- 

 tana, Idaho and Wyoming, are in the Park; occasionally 

 parties come from Kansas, Colorado, Oregon, Utah and 

 California. Even the gipseys are strolling through the 

 Park, mostly traveling by wagons, all hundreds and 

 some over a thousand miles. It reminds one of the "good 

 old times," when there was not a railroad in this country, 

 game was plenty and wire fences had not taken posses- 

 sion of the land. 



The Yellowstone Park Association have replaced their 

 burnt hotel at Norris wuth a temporary structure, and 

 have put up tents at the Yellowstone Lake. 



Road Superintendent Lamartine is pushing work on 

 the wagon roads as fast as $2,000 per month can do it. 

 When the Transportation Company's coaches are late so 

 that they are out after dark between Cinnabar and the 

 springs, they are escorted by soldiers. The other teams 

 engaged in transporting tourists are without escort; they 

 drive ahead of the others. The road agents who held the 

 coach up on July 4 have not been found yet, but many 

 innocent parties have been suspected. H. 



Yellowstone National Park, Aug. 27. 



Washington, Sept. 2. — Capt. Moses Harris, acting 

 superintendent of the Yellowstone National Park, in his 

 annual report to the Secretary of the Interior, says: The 

 extent of traveled wagon roads is now about 177 miles. 

 During the year travel has fallen off considerably, which 

 fact, the report says, is in a great measure due to recent 

 railroad legislation rather than to any loss of popular in- 

 terest in "the wonder-land of the world." The report 

 calls attention to the fact that toll is, and for a long time 

 has been, exacted by private individuals of passengers 

 crossing the bridge over the Yellowstone at the entrance 

 to the Park, and also to the location of a liquor saloon 

 within what is believed to be the Park limits. The hotel 

 and transportation facilities within the Park, the report 

 says, are excellent in character, and sufficient for the 

 demands of travel. 



The enforcement of the regulation which forbids any 

 person to engage in business in the Park without permis- 

 sion in writing from the Department of the Interior, has 

 had the effect of ridding the Park of a large number of 

 irresponsible persons who, during the summer months, 

 come in to prey upon the tourists. The rules for protect- 

 ion of game in the Park have been generally observed 

 and respected. Immense herds of elk have passed the 

 winter along the traveled road from Gardiner to Cook 

 City with the same safety which herds of domestic range 

 cattle enjoy in other localities, and several thousand of 

 them wintered in the Lamar River Valley. The number 

 of buffaloes in the Park is estimated at about one hundred. 

 Antelope are found in large numbers, A herd of 200 

 passed the winter within a mile of Gardiner. Mountain 

 sheep are found in all of the mountain ranges within the 

 Park. 



Capt. Harris asks for an additional company of infantry 

 to assist in policing the Park. The estimates for the com- 

 ing year are: For construction of roads and bridges, 

 $130,000; for care and preservation of game $3,000; for 

 surveying and making boundaries of Park, $10,000; for 

 purchase of toll bridge, $2,000; total $145,000. 



The Kind of a City Attorney He Is.— Hudson, 

 Wis., Aug. 27. — I inclose a clipping from the True Re- 

 publican, our local paper, to show how we sometimes 

 bag violators of our game laws: "A rumor reached this 

 city Monday afternoon that parties from Stillwater were 

 hunting prairie chickens in the town of St. Joseph, and 

 deputy sheriffs Jas. Baldwin and Will Jones went up to 

 investigate. They first encountered a youngster in regu- 

 lation hunting costume with a Texas sombrero rakishly 

 drawn down over his left eyebrow, who proved to be Bun 

 Hersey, of Stillwater. They bagged him and shortly 

 after found City Attorney Gregory and Postmaster Mc- 

 Cartey, of Stillwater. They came to Hudson without a 

 murmur. Hersey had one bird and paid $5.75, which he 

 put up like a man. Gregory had only one chicken, but 

 he was fined $20.25 and McCarty was let go, on the sup- 

 position that he was acting merely as pointer for Gregory, 

 we suppose. Constable Duming, of St. Joe, captured a 

 young man named Thelan shooting chickens, and he was 

 fined $20.25. The open season commences Sept, 1." — 

 Beautiful, 



