FOREST AND STREAM 



winter night, has wrestled for his life with the storm god 

 of the northern plains, needs no telling. Even the horses 

 now began to show a degree of fear, as strange as it was 

 new to uf. Haley i ode right behind me, and his horse, 

 paying no attention to its rider, now insisted upon touch- 

 ing my left shoulder with hi? nose continually. Like all 

 trappers on the frontier, we were shod with moccasin? — an 

 absolute necessity in a winter clima te where a pair of boots 

 worn upon the feet meant frozen feet inevitably — and as 

 the horoe was sharp shod, the dread that the toe-calks of 

 his shoes would sever the tendons of my legs became 

 overpowering, and I shouted back: "Haley, keep your 

 horse off of me! I'm afraid he'll step on my feet with 

 his sharp shoes and cripple me." 



"Why, I can't see you, Belknap: how the blank can 1 

 keep the horse off of you?" cried Haley. 



There was really no help for it, although I wondered 

 then and do until this day, how it was possible for that 

 frightened animal to touch my shoulder a hundred times 

 during that fearful journey without once interfering with 

 my feet. Soon the darkness became so deep that the 

 needle of the compass could no longer be seen, and clos- 

 ing it I returned it to my pocket, and the journey was 

 continued guided by the wind winch appeared to blow 

 steadily from the northwest, almost directly in our backs. 



We were really wrong in our direction, as was after- 

 ward found, our course being a point or two too far 

 north, but in my anxiety to find the 6loughs or lakes on 

 which the camp was located 1 turned to the right each 

 time we reached a depression, where, although the 

 prairie grass had been swept clean by the autumn fires 

 as over the rest of the plain, still the standing stubs of 

 the larger weeds, which had grown on the lower ground, 

 and which now projected above the surface of the snow, 

 indicated the possible edge of a slough; and as I knew 

 that any sloughs found on our route within miles of our 

 present position were hound to be the right ones, I kept 

 hoping each time I blundered into similar weeds that I 

 had now found the edge of the slough of our anxious 

 search, and only turned back to the old direction when 

 the rising ground proved the supposition a mistaken one. 



This was repeated several times, and carried us just 

 far enough to the south to enable us to hit the extreme 

 north end of the most northern slough. 



Stumbling along through the rapidly forming drifts, I 

 suddenly pitched neadlong over something nearly waist 

 high, plowing my way headformost into the snow. 

 Screaming back to Haley, in a voice which rose above 

 the roar of the tempest, to pull up his horse instantly, I 

 turned and crept back on hands and knees to examine 

 the object which had overturned me, and never did the 

 face ot dearest friend seem more welcome than did the 

 glimpse of the humble rat house which had brought the 

 hurried march to so abrupt a pause. 



I knew that rat houses were built only on sloughs or 

 lakes, and that there were none other sloughs within a 

 radius of miles from the right one, and furthermore that 

 the length of time traveled indicated to a certain extent 

 that we were right at last. 



It was easy to follow the edge of the ice by its smooth- 

 ness, and soon a strange roaring sound indicated the 

 proximity of timber, when our course grew plain to my 

 mind, and after a short distance had been traveled along 

 the shore of the lake, sparks of fire rising from out the 

 earth in our front, gave friendly notice of the near 

 presence of Old Jim, comfortably housed in the warm 

 dug vut cabin, and of warmth, comfort and life for us at 

 last. 



Jim r s amazement at our sudden advent was ludicrous 

 to observe; the horses were sheltered under the bank, and, 

 wrapped in quilts, stood the night's exposure very well, 

 and me half cord of oak wood piled in the back end of 

 the cabin kept the old fire-place roaring all that bitter 

 night, while the cold grew so intense that no one of us 

 lay down to sleep, but sat up and dozed in front of the 

 fire alt night. The blizzard at daylight sank to rest, 

 leaving the snow hammered hard into drifts, and with a 

 degree, of coid which, I am confident, would have frozen 

 mercury. 



The night of that 10th of December, 1864, will not be 

 soon forgotten by the trappers who yet remain alive of 

 the old fraternity. 



A brother of the writer, camped some twenty miles dis- 

 tant, was belated while gathering in his traps and over- 

 taken by the blast while within nail a mile of the timber 

 which surrounded his cabin, and was guided to shelter 

 only by the roaring of the wind through the treetops, 

 which m his bewilderment he had already nearly passed 

 by. 



A friend named George Palmer, lost in the storm, 

 reached the house of a triendly Norwegian late in the 

 night, where he was taken in and cared tor by the good 

 Samaritan Norseman, and escaped from the blizzard with 

 the loss of all his toes save two. 



Two trappers, C. and B,, from Spirit Lake, Iowa, were 

 returning from their camp, some fifty miles distant, to 

 their village home, and overtaken by the storm w r andered 

 until late m the night, when reaching the foot of a shel- 

 tering bluff which rose abruptly from the plain and 

 afforded partial protection from the piercing wind, as 

 they were in entire ignorance of their whereabouts, agreed 

 to stay where they were and battle for their lives against 

 the cold until the morning light, keeping watch over each 

 each other chat neither be allowed to go to sleep. Through 

 all that weary night the struggle for life went on, while 

 their dog froze stiff and dead by their sides; and B. after- 

 ward declared that 0. prayed audibly, as Charles Reade 

 says, "as men pray only for their bodies," and made the 

 most solemn pkdges of reformation if permitted to live 

 until morning. As the blizzard at daylight died away, 

 and the rays of the coming sun illuminated the landscape, 

 they saw that they were on the north shore of Lake Oka- 

 bena, while at the east end of the lake stood a grove of 

 timber in which a trapper's deserted shanty stood, which 

 was in plain sight of me scene of their suffering, and that 

 now C. began swearing like a pirate at their ill success in 

 not reaching the cimp the evening before. Poor B. w r as 

 himself again lost in a blizzard during the succeeding 

 winter, and not even were his bones ever found. 



As the morning dawned bright and ciear after the ter- 

 rible storm a council was held, in the cabin, and as the 

 two Bellows brothers were determined to return to the 

 settlement and remain until spring, and Jim Morehead 

 wished to return to his family for the winter, and as he 

 wished to trap with the writer over the old ground dur- 

 ing the following spring, it was agreed that all the rest 

 return to the settlements while I remained to winter 



alone in the cabin and hold the trapping ground secure 

 from intrusion until the following spring. 



The broken wagon could not be removed until spring, 

 but we planned for the driver and one other to return 

 immediately with the f-led aod secure the wagon load of 

 provisions, bedding and traps, which was done withm a 

 couple of weeks. 



VVlien the broken wagon was abandoned a cm- belong- 

 ing to the writer stopped behind to guard the load, un- 

 known to any * I the p my, and was not missed until too 

 far distant fen po a<bl» recovery, when she was abandoned 

 to her fate. A I! :gr. <>d that it was utterly impossible for 

 anything- to live tlir0tl2h the night and poor Daisy was 

 supposed to be dead. As Jim had no good moccasins 

 with which to rnttko the home trip, and was also minus 

 an overcoat, I loaned h ; .tn mine, which he was to return 

 with the team when il came for the load of supplies on 

 the broken wagon. Left alone I began pondering cn the 

 fate of my faithful do>f, and nothing but the absence of 

 overcoat and moccasins prevented me from returning to 

 the wagon to learn hwr fate. As the days passed and 

 the team did not appear my impatience grew, untd, on 

 the morning of the eighth day after the blizzard, I 

 fashioned some moccasins of cloth and wrapping a blanket 

 around me set out to recover her if alive. 



Reaching the wagon a low feeble yelp greeted me and 

 the poor creature crawled feebly forth from under the 

 wagon to mett me. While snowdrifts were piled 10ft. 

 high just beyond the wagon, singularly enough a depth 

 of only 8in. was found under the wagon, and here the 

 poor creature had, by the warmth of her body, melted a 

 round hole through the snosv to the ground, while all 

 that she had eaten was a small corner of a frozen shoulder 

 of pork and a handful of frozen beans, which she had 

 gnawed out of a pot. I could have held in my two 

 hands all she had eaten for eight days. 



Feeding her carefully with small pieces of meat chop- 

 ped fine, 1 got her back to the cabin, where she fully re- 

 covered, only to get hold of a lost poison bait prepared 

 for a wolf, which proved more potent for evil than even 

 the blizzard itself and ended her career at last. 



Orin Belknap. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



C CHICAGO, Tils., Aug. 25.— The explosion in the new 

 J works of the Standard Cartridge Co., at Blue 

 Island, imperfect mention of which was made last week, 

 was a most unfortunate and serious affair, although if 

 we may weigh matters at all in such times of death and 

 disaster, it may be said that the accident might have 

 been much worse. Two men were killed, and eighteen 

 more or less seriously hurt. Only about SOlbs, of powder 

 exploded, it being estimated that that was the amount in 

 the four machines then running. The building was not 

 much injured except in the breaking of the glass, but 

 the machines in the place were ruined. It is thought 

 that the accident was caused by a workman who was 

 cutting in the head of a tin powder-can with a hatchet or 

 chisel, instead of unscrewing the cap over the opening. 

 The explosion of this can caused the others. Charlie 

 Willard, who is known all over the trap-shooting world, 

 is superintendent of the works. He escaped the danger 

 of the wreck in a singular manner. He happened to miss 

 the morning train out to the works which he usually 

 takes, and by the time he got out that day the accident 

 had happened. Charlie has been doing all he possibly 

 can personally among the victims of the accident, and 

 this work, with the strain attendant, has nearly made 

 a nervous wreck of him already, and he shook all over 

 when talking about it. It is a most deplorable affair. 

 The company is doing all it can for the sufferers. Work 

 will be duly continued at the factory, Mr. Rice, the man- 

 ager, says, with the machines which were not yet in 

 place at the time of the accident, of which there were a 

 number. The factory was just finished, and as soon as it 

 was in perfect running order the management intended 

 to have a little reception as was stated earlier. It is not 

 the business loss in this casualty that affects the manage- 

 ment, but the loss of life and limb. This should weigh 

 the less heavily when the gentlemen in charge are able 

 to reflect that the accident occurred through no fault or 

 carelessness of their own. 



Aug. 26. — Messrs. Ben Dicks and Lee Hamline are ab- 

 sent in the Indian Territory, chicken hunting. It is not 

 pleasant to chronicle any such a fact. It is not probable 

 that the men who will go from here to the Nations to 

 shoot chickens will be content with killing enough to eat. 

 If they kill more they must leave them rotting in the 

 grass, as thousands of shooters have done and are doing, 

 unless they happen to be in the chicken shipping busi- 

 ness, which is not a very good business anyhow. There 

 are drawbacks to these long trips into good game 

 countries, as our friends, Dicks and Hamline, wdl learn 

 if they hit the shooting at its best. They will have to de- 

 cide at once what to do with their birds, of which, in the 

 grass shooting of that country, it is easy to kill from 50 

 to 100 a day, or was two or three years a^o. 



Last week ( here were large numbers ot ducks on Mak- 

 saw-ba marsh. These are the local ducks that were bred 

 there this summer. It is about time for them to make 

 the regular migration to the north which is the invari- 

 able course with the Kankakee and Illinois ducks, 



Messrs. Alex. T. Loyd, R. R. Donnely, M. T. Hart, of 

 Crown Point, and perhaps another will leave here Aug. 

 30 for Iowa after chickens. They go to northwest Iowa, 

 but have not definitely chosen their field. 



Mr. Joseph Hawley and his friend, Mr. Jones, both 

 well known in insurance circles here, left on the 20th for 

 Minnesota on their annual chicken hunt. They go to 

 Ortonville first, but will locate later and be gone two or 

 three weeks. 



Messis. C. S. Burton, Hank Smith, and two other 

 friends, wdl start soon for Otter Tail county, Minn., for 

 three weeks or more of their annual unadulterated hap- 

 piness with small-mouth bass, prairie chicken and ducks. 

 They go to their old stamping grounds. 



Mr. W. P. Mussey seems to have inaugurated at Mak- 

 saw-ba club house the new sport of shooting woodcock on 

 a fly way. There is a point right at the railway crossing 

 where two or three dozen of these birds cross every night 

 just about dark. Two or three birds, before the "flight" 

 is over, is about all that can be expected to the gun, but 

 it is interesting fun in the dim light. 



It is not known with any accuracy yet just what has 

 been the extent of the lawless shooting of chickenB in 

 this State, but it is probable that the opening of the legal 

 season, more than two weeks from now, will see the 



birds pretty much all thinned out over the open grounds. 

 An insurance man, who offices near where I do, tells me 

 that a friend of his, whose name with difficulty I sup- 

 press, brought in fourteen chickens two weeks ago from 

 a little hunt not far from town. And so it goes. What 

 good fun these early shooters spoil. If they would only 

 wait till October, anel shoot these birds over the corn, 

 they would have grand sport. To shoot the "flappers" 

 out of grass or stubble is boy's business. 



Aug. 39. — Messrs. Ben Dicks and Lee Hamline are back 

 from their Western trip. It seems that they changed 

 their plans and did not go to the Indian Territory at all, 

 but to Council Grove, Kansas. I wish these people would 

 be more careful and go where they intend to go. It 

 would save trouble in writing them up. I am afraiel that 

 the burning words that I have penned concerning the 

 possible misdeeds of these gentlemen must go for naught, 

 which is very annoying. The fact is, their Kansas 

 chicken trip was not so very devastating, owing mainly 

 to the fact that they lost both their dogs, a setter and a 

 pointer, which belonged to Mr. Hamline, one by a rat tle- 

 snake bite and the other by distemper. Where was Ben 

 Dicks with the medicines when that dog was snakebit? 

 That's what Lee Hamline want6 to know. 



Mr. J. E. Pumphrey, of Columbus, O., well known in 

 trap-shooting circles, is in town to-day and will shoot 

 with the boys at Burnside. Mr. Pumphrey is on bis way 

 East, and has been as far West as Minneapolis, where the 

 boys took him out on his first chicken hunt. Mr. Pum- 

 phrey says their party got 98 birds, and he did not find it 

 hard to stop the nopperB, E. HoUGH. 



COLORADO NOTES. 



MONUMENT is a small village about sixty miles south 

 of Denver, and twenty miles north of Colorado 

 Springs. It is located on the main lines of four or five 

 railroads running from this city to Denver. The adjacent 

 country is called "The Divide," and is devoted mainly to 

 the raising of very fine potatoes, wheat, oats, barley, etc. 

 West of the village the country is mountainous, gener- 

 ally well timbered, and at the proper season of the year 

 blackberries, raspberries, and choke cherries abound in 

 luxuriant profusion. Of these fruits bears are very fond, 

 and during this season are reported unusually plentiful 

 in the immediate neighborhood of these fruit patches, 

 retiring when pursued to the rocky fastnesses in the 

 direction of Pike's Peak. 



A short time ago a fresh and callow youth from this 

 city, in company with a friend, was climbing the moun- 

 tain a few miles west of the village on their way to 

 Young's tie camp. The wagon was some distance be- 

 hind, they having walked on ahead enjoying the bracing 

 mountain air. But the road was rough and steep, and as 

 they neared the top of the ascent the young man from 

 the city was nearly winded. He was toiling painfully 

 along with hat in hand and coat over his arm when a 

 sudden stir in the leaves and a startled "Woof!" caused 

 the young men to halt abruptly and gaze fearfully 

 around. There, within ten paces, was (to them) an 

 enormous cinnamon bear just rising from his disturbed 

 morning nap under a pine tree. For an instant fear and 

 astonishment paralyzed all parties at the unexpected 

 meeting. Then the bear said "Woof!" which is probably 

 bear language for "Gootl morning, gentlemen," and 

 gazed at his visitors with glad surprise. The youths 

 returned the compliment by saying "Bear!" But they 

 did not prefix it by "Morning, bear," nor say it in a quiet, 

 gentlemanly tone, such as is usually employed when 

 meeting a stranger or a casual acquaintance in an out of 

 the way place. They vociferated the ursine inhabitant's 

 name with all the strength of their lungs, and then 

 turned and took a beeline for the Atlantic coast down 

 the mountain side, shedding coats, hats, and terrific yells 

 at every jump. It was astonishing how suddenly their 

 weariness vanished, and how rapidly the bracing moun- 

 tain air had invigorated their frames and imparted speed 

 to their footsteps. The bear, looking somewhat disgusted 

 at this unceremonious departure of his visitors, ambled 

 quietly off, and was seen shortly afterward as he disap- 

 peared over the mountain top half a mile off, in the 

 direction of his rocky retreat. 



A few days after this some of the men employed at the 

 tie camp organized a bear hunt and proceeded to these 

 rocks and caverns, where they succeeded in rounding up 

 and killing a large cinnamon — possibly the same one en- 

 countered by the boy^. 



A few days after these occurrences a resident of the 

 village, wife and child were out on the mountain picking 

 berries. As a precaution the man took his gun along. 

 The child, a little girl, strayed a short distance from its 

 parents, and came suddenly upon a large bear, feeding 

 upon the fruit. The child was paralyzed with terror and 

 could neither move nor scream. The bear seemed anxious 

 for a closer acquaintance and had advanced quite close 

 to the child, when up rose the father from a patch of 

 bushes with his gun in hand and blood in his eye. The 

 skin of that bear is now drying upon the fence surround- 

 ing the family mansion. 



The bears seen are all what is known as the cinnamon 

 bear. They are not especially ferocious, though they 

 make an ugly "scrap" when crowded. 



Trout fishing is fair in this region, though no large 

 ones have been reported this season. 



Reports from the region of Meeker state that that sec- 

 tion is overrun by tourists, who are slaughtering deer 

 and elk out of season from mere wantonness. At this 

 rate the large game of Colorado will soon be extermin- 

 ated. If they want sport (with a spice of danger( let 

 them go to Monument and try the bears. 



Numerous fishing parties from this city have made ex- 

 cursions to Wagon Wheel Gap and vicinity, where the 

 gamy trout are abundant and grow to a large size. 



If quail could be protected for several years tbey would 

 soon grow abundant in this State. In several localities 

 on the Arkansas River east of here I have heard of there 

 being quite a number of coveys. They are moving west- 

 ward, and if not relentlessly slaughtered will, in a few 

 years, he abundant in our mountains and valleys. 



An antelope was killed the other day in this county by 

 H. M. Morse, a crack hunter of this city. The shot which 

 procured the game was fired at a distance of 500yds., 

 breaking two of the animal's legs. 



Colorado ought to be the greatest State in the Union 

 for outing parties in the mountains. No snakes, no nox- 

 ious insects, and beautiful weather about nine months in 

 the year. Tenderfoot. 

 Pubbio. Colo., Axis. 32. 



