150 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 14, 183». 



tartsnfm amourist 



"Sam Lovel's Camps" By E. E. Robinson.. Price $2, 



A MONTH IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 



IConcluded from page 130.} 



OUR camp was well situated as regards comfort and con- 

 venience of wood and water. We were in a narrow, 

 well-woodod valley, well protected from the wind, and 

 it seemed to be as good hunting near camp as anywhere, 

 and the most of the game killed was within three miles. 

 One morning an elk track was discovered within two 

 hundred yards. There were plenty of trout in the Little 

 Sandy and in another stream a mile west of us, the name 

 of which we did not know. We always had trout when- 

 ever we wanted them or would take the trouble, to catch 

 them. We were, moreover, always supplied with venison 

 and elk, the latter the finest meat in the world in my 

 opinion. Camp life in this cold climate gives one an 

 enormous appetite and great endurance. I became as 

 tough as an Indian and nearly the same color from ex- 

 posure to the sun and wind. I always did my share of 

 the camp work, cooking, getting wood, etc., and although 

 coming in very tired at night after an all day's tramp I 

 would feel no effects of it the next morning. We had as 

 yet found no necessity for putting up our tent, preferring 

 to sleep in the open air, but coming in early one afternoon, 

 and a storm threatening, I made a temporary shelter by 

 hanging our tent canvas over a polo supported by forked 

 stakes, held out at the bottom by poles leaned against the 

 center one. This answered a good enough purpose as 

 protection against one or two little showers. Our bed 

 under this was a pile of pine boughs covered with a 

 buffalo robe. 



The two hunters whom we had found here on our 

 arrival remained with us during our stay on Sandy River. 

 Our camps were only a few rods apart, and in the even- 

 ingwe would build a routing fire at one of the camps and 

 relate our adventures and discoveries during the day. 

 There was considerable diplomacy manifested in these 

 camp-fire meetings, and I imagined I noticed el : ght indi- 

 cations of jealousy between my guide and the rival hunters. 

 I observed that when they would discover any new indi- 

 cations promising good chances for the next day's hunt, 

 they would say nothing about it until the succeeding 

 evening after they had been there and scared up the 

 game, and that when I, in my innocence and enthusiasm, 

 reported a locality abounding in fresh signs, they would 

 generally manage to go around in that vicinity early the 

 next morning. They had better luck than we, killing 

 two or three deer and one elk during our stav besides the 

 three elk on the day before our arrival. My guide had 

 the singular fortune to kill two deer at one shot— a doe 

 and her fawn. His good luck was purely accidental. 

 Seeing the doe about fifty yards away, he fired, intend- 

 ing to strike her just back of the shoulder. Going to the 

 spot he found instead of the doe a little fawn shot 

 through the head. Knowing that he had aimed at a full 

 grown deer, he searched a few yards further and found 

 the doe, lying dead. The fawn was standing on the other 

 side of its mother and the bullet went through both. 



One of our hunters was a man of great experience, and 

 thorough knowledge of the habits of game. He seemed 

 to know just about what a deer or elk would do under 

 any circumstances. He lived on a ranch some sixty or 

 seventy miles south, and for years had supplied his own 

 family and neighbors with meat killed in this vicinity. 

 He would make periodical visits of a week or more; and 

 usually carried off a wagon load of venison, elk and bear 

 meat. I drew a good deal of information from him, but 

 many of his stories of adventure I regarded as gross ex- 

 aggerations. There is one rather comical experience 

 which this man related as having occurred to one of his 

 neighbors. I have a faint recollection of having read a 

 similar account somewhere, but this one is vouched for 

 by credible people as having occurred in this vicinity, 

 and names might be given if necessary. 



A hunter was in pursuit of a flock of bighorns. He dis- 

 covered the animals standing near the top of a steep 

 mountain, and in order to make sure of them he resolved 

 to go around and approach them f torn the opposite side. 

 It was in winter, a fearfully cold day, and the snow was 

 deep, so that he was compelled to travel on snowshoes. 

 After much labor he finally reached the top, and peering 

 over saw the game directly below, standing solemnly, 

 their tails to the wind, and wholly unaware of the hunt- 

 er's presence. In his anxiety to get a near shot, the man 

 climbed down the &teep side, and just as he was about 

 getting ready to fire the clumsy snowshoes caused him 

 to lose his footing, and down lie went at full speed, elid- 

 ing on the snow in the direction of the game. Losing all 

 presence of mind in his novel situation, and even forget- 

 mg that he had a gun, he shouted out at the top of his 

 voice, "Get out of the way there. Here we come." The 

 old bighorns stood watching the hunter as he passed 

 within a few feet of them, evidently considering the 

 whole performance gotten up for their special entertain- 

 ment. 



There are a great many hedgehogs in the woods here, 

 and all hunters have a deadly hatred of them, and always 

 kill them whenever found, under the idea that they oth- 

 erwise will not have good luck in hunting. They do 

 great damage to the timber by gird ling the trees in winter 

 as they feed upon the bark. There are acres of pine trees 

 in some places where scarcely a tree has escaped them, a 

 great many being girdled all around and killed. The ani- 

 mal sits on the snow, it is said, when gnawing trees, so 

 that these girdled places show the depth of the snow. I 

 saw some work of hedgehogs, however, where they had 

 barked the tree forty feet from the ground in places 

 where the snow could hardly have been so deep. I only 

 came across one in my wanderings, a big shaggy beast, 

 too lazy to get out of the way. I did not want to shoot 

 it for fear of frightening the game in the neighborhood, 

 and so contented myself with pelting him with rocks, 

 whereupon he ran and tried to hide under a fallen tree, 

 where I left him. One night about midnight I was 

 awakened by a loud thumping and pounding just outside 

 the tent, and on going out found one of the hunters in 

 his night clothes belaboring a hedgehog with a club. He 

 was taking his revenge on the animal for falling out of a 

 tree and waking him up. At each blow he would exclaim: 

 "There;, d— n you! take that," 



An interesting feature about camp was the number 

 of birds and squirrels that came around after pieces 

 of meat and bits of provisions that we would leave about. 

 There is a beautiful bird of white and black plumage, 

 known to hunters as the camp jay or meat stealer. If 

 not frightened away they will become so familiar after a 

 few days' acquaintance as to come up readily and take a 

 piece of meat held out to them on the end of a ramrod. 

 The little chattering wrens are always present, hopping 

 up and down the smooth bark of the cottonwod trees 

 without ever a misstep. A chipmunk got a little too 

 familiar with our pot of baked bean?, and one day as he 

 sat cocked up on the end of a log I put an end to him with 

 my Mail in rifle. A wren could have flown off with the 

 remains. 



One day an Indian visited the camp of our neighbor 

 hunters. He had been unsuccessful in hunting and evi- 

 dently came for the sole purpose of getting something to 

 eat. He was a tall, raw-boned old savage, and had the 

 most repulsive countenance 1 ever saw on a human being. 

 His face was very broad and almost flat, his jaws wide 

 apart, and his mouth extending almost literally from ear 

 to ear. He sat cross legged on the ground for an hour 

 without saying a word. A dirty blanket hung over his 

 shoulders, and on his head an old wool hat, a conical- 

 shaped affair, the rim sloping down and the top running 

 up to a peak, in the end of which were stuck two eagle's 

 feathers, which looked like a ridiculous attempt at orna- 

 ment. He refused to answer any questions as to where 

 he came from, what tribe he belonged to, how many 

 squaws he had at home, etc., and pretended he could not 

 understand. When asked if he used tobacco, he com- 

 prehended the meaning at once and held out his hand. 

 The hunters, miners and old settlers have the greatest 

 hatred and contempt for the Indians, regarding them as 

 without any feelings of honor or pride, and many of them 

 would have no more feeling about killing an Indian than 

 they would about killing a bear. One of our hunters 

 openly declared that if he should meet the old savage out 

 in the woods he would put a bullet through him, merely 

 to get rid of what he considered an intolerable nuisance. 

 I was so convinced that he might carry out his threat that 

 I felt called upon to persuade him against any such rash- 

 ness lest it might get our party into trouble. The Indian 

 in this section is one of the greatest obstacles in the way 

 of preserving the game. They are given full liberty to 

 kill as many as they please, and at any season, while the 

 law prohibits the whites except at certain seasons. The 

 Indians have nothing to do but hunt, and they pay no 

 regard to the season, a doe with fawn being the object of 

 their greatest efforts. They will butcher without mercy 

 the last one of a herd of elk or deer whenever they can 

 Surround them in the winter when the deep snowdrifts 

 render the animals almost helpless. There is no one who 

 so deeply regrets the disappearance of the large game as 

 the old Rocky Mountain hunter and ranchman, and when 

 asked the best means for its protection he will advise first 

 to kill off the Indians. It is true that the Indians are at 

 present the greatest destroyers of game. It has become 

 so scarce as to render hunting unprofitable to a white 

 man. The ranchman along the frontier will only kill 

 enough for his own needs, the skins being of little value, 

 and he is very careful not to kill the females in the breed- 

 ing season. Next to the Indians are foreigners, mostly 

 English, in the wantonness with which they kill, regard- 

 less of law or anything else. Foreign snobs who have 

 inherited money enough to pay their way to this hunting 

 ground and back again will disregard all laws and every 

 other consideration in their efforts to obtain a few heads 

 and horns to carry back as trophies to boast of at home, 

 everything necessary being a guide to point out the game 

 to them. When the Government and the Territories will 

 make and enforce such laws as will stop these two sources 

 of wanton destruction, we may look for an increase of 

 the scattering herds that are yet left to us, but which are 

 now rapidly disappearing under our very eyes. 



A great deal has been accomplished by the establish- 

 ment of the National Park. The trouble is that the ter- 

 ritory inclosed is not near large enough. From the Gov- 

 ernment's wide domain it could well spare one-fourth the 

 Territory of Wyoming to be devoted to a grand game 

 preserve, where the buffalo, the elk, deer in all its variety 

 of species, the bighorn and the beaver and other fur- 

 bearing animals, the moose and caribou and others, could 

 remain for a number of years undisturbed. This section 

 of our country contains all the requisites of mountain, 

 forest and stream for such a purpose, and is certainly ill 

 adapted to anything else. 



But to return to our experience with the Indians. After- 

 ward, when on our return, we came upon a small band 

 of women and children, They were preparing for the 

 night's camp in a little clump of bushes a short distance 

 off the road; they seemed very shy and inclined to 

 dodge behind the trees and keep out of sight. Some small 

 children were out among the ponies, and on my trying 

 to get npar them they jumped on to the ponies and gal- 

 loped off. Where we stopped for the night there was a 

 band of seventy-five or one hundred Shoshones, also en- 

 camped for the night. They had been to Rawlins for 

 Government supplies, and were returning to their reser- 

 vation in the northern part of the Territory. The women 

 did all the work, and the men, a good-natured, easy- 

 going lot of loafers, were lounging about the camp taking 

 no interest whatever in its affairs. I attracted their 

 attention by taking out my spy glass, and soon had a 

 crowd around me. They would look through it by turns 

 and then expressed their great astonishment and delight. 

 When asked any question they did not want to answer, 

 they pretended not to understand. The women were shy 

 and would not come near. I wanted to buy a pair of 

 moccasins, and was taken by one of the men around to 

 the different camps. Both men and women had their 

 faces painted with the paint stone taken from the cliffs 

 near Rawlins. About the eyes and cheeks was colored 

 a bright red, and around the mouth a pale yellow color. 

 The women were mostly fearfully homely, even repulsive. 

 A few of the younger squaws were quite good-looking. 

 One whom we visited to obtain the moccasins was quite 

 handsome after the Indian style of beauty. She was 

 well dressed and neat looking, her hair, carefully braided 

 in large folds, came below her waist, a shapely intelligent 

 face and eyes that fairly sparkled with blackness. As 

 she chatted with my Indian guide or listened to his jab- 

 berings in return, her countenance would change from 

 alternate seriousness to animated sm'les, and I wondered 

 what there was so interesting about the purchase of a 

 pair of moccasins, and regretted that from my earlier 



acquirements had been omitted a knowledge of the 

 Shoshone language. 



There was supposed to be a lake somewhere in the 

 vicinity, called Barret's Lake, after the discoverer. One 

 of our hunters had heard of it as being on the headwaters 

 of Little Sandy River and the river was described as run- 

 ning through it. We had found a number of lakes and 

 ponds, but none of them answered to the description in 

 this particular. The lake was supposed to be stocked 

 with the largest trout, and several efforts were made to 

 find it, but were unsuccessful. Feeling pretty sure that 

 the lake must be on Little Sandy above us, and being 

 anxiou3 to see the canon where the stream breaks through 

 the mountains, I took an early start one day to find it. 

 Taking my rifle and knapsack containing the little 

 camera, a few biscuits and a piece of elk meat, I pro- 

 ceeded across the ridge and up the valley of the river. I 

 had no fear of getting lost so long as I kept the i-iver near 

 me. I followed up the bank of the stream, cutting 

 across the bends or going further inland whenever the 

 brush and willows became too thick along the banks. It 

 was a wild romantic road, diversified with alternate rocky 

 cliffs, deep sunless woods and pretty open parks, like 

 orchards, with the-r grass and white-barked aspen trees< 

 As I get higher up the mountains the stream is a succession 

 of waterfalls, hemmed in in places by rocks so that you 

 can step across it and almost covered over with the thick 

 growing balsam and spruce, whose lower limbs spread 

 out along the ground to about the length the tree is in 

 height. At places it is impossible to keep along the 

 the stream, and I am compelled to make detours of a mile 

 or so. Where the stream breaks through the cross ridges 

 I have to climb over and down again, frequently letting 

 my gun and knapsack drop down and then climbing 

 down after them. Way up at the base of the main moun- 

 tain I find the lake. It is just below where the stream 

 breaks through, forming the canon of the Little Sandy. 

 I should judge this body of water, which covers perhaps 

 twenty acres, to be about 10.000ft. above the sea. It is 

 clear and cold and well stocked with trout. One side of 

 the lake comes squarely up against the base of the moun- 

 tain. On the other side the water is held by a rocky ridge, 

 from the top of which one can see down the valley of the 

 Study to the plain where our trail crossed the river. 

 Standing at the lower edge of the lake, and looking up 

 through the canon, the scene is one of matchless beauty. 

 The mountain on the right rises directly from the water's 

 edge and slopes upward to a height of about 4,000ft. 

 above the lake. About half this distance is covered 

 with a thin, stunted growth of pine, the balance is 

 a bare mass of gray rock. At the upper end of the lake, 

 where the cafion first spreads out, there is a heavy 

 growth of tall pines, banked with a fringe of wil- 

 lows at the water's edge, and above the tops of 

 the pines, from our point of view, appears a 

 bare peak seemingly higher than any other in the neigh- 

 borhood and prominent by a streak of white, the re- 

 mains of last winter's snow. The atmosphere is crys- 

 tal in its purity. I look almost straight up at the lofty 

 peak on my right, and imagine it is close by, yet I know 

 it is a long way off. That "indescribable ' feeling of 

 awe," that we read about, is no myth. Nature has 

 arranged her works here on such an imposing scale, that 

 you feel like taking off your hat in her presence. You 

 look out across the quiet lake, and up above the swing- 

 ing pine tops beyond, and you cannot but feel an impres- 

 sion of reverence and humility. There is the quiet un- 

 disturbed appearance of the primeval forest, the absence 

 of anything artificial, the evidence that nothing has ever 

 disturbed the full sway of nature. Everything remains 

 as it was in the beginning — untouched by the hand of 

 man. For centuries the scene has been unchanged. The 

 spotted trout leaps up to catch the struggling grasshop- 

 per, the wildfowl bathe on the surface of tne lake, the 

 bear comes down to drink, and the elk and deer feed 

 upon the margin as they did before Columbus was born. 



Near the upper end of the lake where the shore slopes 

 off gradually, is the enormous track of the bear, the long 

 claws are very plain, and the great elbow-like foot. 

 Further up in the canon the scenery is wild beyond des- 

 cription; mountains of rocks in every conceivable shape, 

 piled upon each other in confused masses. From a high 

 point overlooking the lake I eat my biscuit and elk meat 

 and prepare to return. 



There are unusual indications of a storm brewing and 

 this hastens our desire to get out of the mountains. The 

 next morning we gather up our camp equipage, the 

 hides and antlers of the elk and deer, ana some other 

 specimens and trophies, together with a good stock of 

 jerked venison and elk, and reach that night our old 

 camping ground on Lander Creek. C. L. S. 



Chattanooga, Tenn. 



MORE ABOUT THE OTTER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In Foeest and Stueam of Feb. 14, "J. G. R." gives an 

 interesting article on "Habits of the Otter," and says, 

 "they can live a long time under water, and when under 

 the ice, occasionally put their nose against the ice to 

 get breath." 



As we all know there is no air space between the water 

 and the ice, and the otter cannot draw the air through 

 the ice from above, and does not put his nose up there to 

 cool it. Then what is the explanation? It is this, and 

 a very interesting and scientific process not generally 

 known. The otter presses his nose against the ice, then 

 exhales the air from his lungs, which forms a flat air 

 bubble around his nose, and between the ice and water; 

 the air is allowed to remain there a few seconds, and 

 thus by its contact with the ice and water is cooled, 

 purified and re-oxigenated, then the same is inhaled into 

 the lungs, and the otter is ready for a new start; this 

 may be repeated a number of times, until the loss and 

 wastage of air requires a new supply. You will at once 

 see the beauty and usefulness of the process. The 

 beaver and some other animals do the same, to enable 

 them to "live under the ice a long time, without taking 

 breath." 



The otter slide is made and used for the same reason 

 that boys build a toboggan slide, a place where they can 

 play and have fun. The otters will play for a long time, 

 sliding dowja and scrambling back, with as much appa* 



