318 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Oct. 14, 1898. 



MY MILLION-DOLLAR BUCK. 



Auburn, Cal.— Bang! Ping! Bang! Spat! and a few 

 pine needles and bits of bark rattled down aroirnd me as 

 I stood upon the mountain side away up in the Sierra, 

 on a September day. The shooter was in a caflon away 

 to my right as I faced up the mountain spur, and I had 

 no apprehension of his bullets coming too close, except 

 by deilection, but as a buUet flying around loose in the 

 air should always be treated with respect, I stepped be- 

 hind the trunk of the big pine, in whose top the last bul- 

 let had f oimd a lodgment. As I stood there two more 

 shots rung out, awaking more echoes in. the quiet canon, 

 and the hum of the flying missiles sang in the still air. 

 The game must be coming my way, I reflected, and my 

 friend is over-shooting. I will keep a sharp lookout and 

 wipe his eye. 



And surely enough, in a moment afterward a noble 

 buck broke cover, coming out of the canon and crossing 

 the spur on which I was standing. 



"Waiting until he was about 30yds. distant, I sent a bul- 

 let into the center of his chest, and he turned a summer- 

 sault and lay dead almost at my feet. 



Standing as I did behind the tree, vsdth only my head 

 and one shoulder and arm showing, he had not seen me, 

 but had come bounding straight to his death. 



He was a magnificent fellovv, in prime condition, with 

 symmetrical antlers bearing eight points, and his coat 

 was "in the blue." A finer specimen of the beautiful 

 Columbia blacktail could not be seen in years of shooting. 



I stepped forward and bled him, and gave the agreed 

 upon signal for a "kill" to my compa,nions. 



My two companions arrived while I was still at my task 

 of dressing the game, and as John M. came up he ex- 

 claimed, "Well, you got him, didn't you? I thought you 

 ought to be where you could get a shot. I started him 

 out of the bottom of the canon, and shot at him four 

 times as he jumped over the tops of the thick brush, but 

 as I could only catch instantaneous glimpses I had little 

 hopes of stopping him, and I didn't, either," he added, by 

 way of parenthesis. 



Just then the other member of our party arrived, with 

 a pick and shovel over his shoulder, and a large gold-pan 

 swinging from them over his back. Laying these down 

 at the foot of the tree, he came forward and assisted me 

 in. cleaning the game. Just as we had completed the 

 task and were preparing to hang up the carcass on a con- 

 venient sapling, to await transportation on the back of a 

 pack horse, our attention was arrested by the exciting 

 tones of our companion, as he stood leaning on his rifle a 

 few steps away and gazing on the surroimding rocks and 

 trees. 



"Why, great gods, boys," he shouted, as he made a 

 sweeping motion of his' right arm, "this is the identical 

 spot we have been looking for! See! there is the rock, 

 above us, with the five black spots on it. There is the 

 ditch forming a half circle around this spur. And here is 

 the row of three pine trees, and this," stamping his heel 

 upon the spot where he stood, "is the very spot where we 

 must begin our work." 



In an instant our game was forgotten, and jumping to 

 our companion's side, we eagerly scanned the surround- 

 ings. Surely it was as he had said, and our search was 

 ended. We had been out three days hunting for this 

 very spot, and at last had come upon it by accident. The 

 buck had been within ten yards of it when the bullet 

 struck him. 



One day in October, about eleven months previous to 

 this occurrence, an old man of over sixty years was sit- 

 ting in the office of our hospital, of which John M. was 

 the steward, and I the surgeon. He had arrived three 

 or four days previously, and had been told that his case 

 was a hopeless one. He was sixffering "from an epithe- 

 lioma, which had appeared some two years previously, 

 and had been neglected until its inroads were so great 

 as to leave no possible hope. Upon the day in question 

 I had made my round of the wards, and had sat down 

 in the oflSLce for a few moments' chat with the stewai'd, 

 when the old man came stealing in. He closed the door 

 carefully behind him, approached to where we were 

 sitting, and in a thick voice addressed us. "Gentlemen," 

 said he, "I want to have a few moments of your attention 

 and want no listeners." 



"Take a chair. Captain M.," said the steward, "and 

 fire away." 



The old man drew a chair nearer to us with a trem- 

 bling hand, and sat down. He was beginning to waste 

 rapidly from the effects of the disease, and his face was 

 getting thin and pinched. His eyes burned in the back 

 of deep cavernous sockets, overhung by heavy gray 

 brows, and he fumbled his chin with skinny fingers all 

 the time that he was speaking. 



"You know," he began, "that old Cap, as I have al- 

 ways been called since I came to the State in '49, has been 

 an honest man, and what I say you can tie to." 



"I came to this place in the spring of '50, went up to 

 Iowa City in '51 and into the mountains about that place 

 in '53, and have lived there ever since. In fact," turning 

 to. the steward, "you knew me there thirty years ago, to 

 your sorrow, as I got into your debt when you kept store 

 at the Forks House and have never been able to pay you." 



He paused a moment, as though arranging his thoughts, 

 and then continued: "I was an only son, of English 

 parents, without other relatives in America, and they 

 both dying near the same time left me free to come 

 West. I have no kith or kin in the world to my know- 

 ledge, and as I have a great fortune to leave behind me I 

 have chosen you two as my heirs." 



Now this sounded well, but as he was a charity inmate 

 of the hospital we did not become deeply enthused. 



"I do this," he continued, "because I owe you," nod- 

 ding to the steward, "money which I have never been 

 able to pay and because I want to enlist your interest," 

 turning co me, "and want you to do all you can to make 

 my last days easy and comfortable." 



I turned to wink at the steward, but the latter had 

 become interested and nodded to Cap to proceed. 



''I've been a mountaineer and a prospector for over 

 thirty years, and have just contrived to live, and no 

 more. Sometimes I would strike a good prospect a;nd 

 think I had the world by the seat of the -breeches, but It 

 would soon peter out and disappoint me as before. And 

 now, just to see how luck is against me, just as I am dy- 

 ing, I have tmcovered a fortune." 



With these words he thrust his hand into his bosom 

 and pulled out m old red handkerchief filled with broken 



quartz and laid them open on my knee. The specimens 

 were very handsome and we viewed them admiringly. 



Presently I remarked, "But these are all surface speci- 

 mens (some thousands of dollars sunk in mining had 

 taught me this much). How do you know that there is 

 any quantit}'' of such rock?" 



"Oh, no," said he, "those are not surface specimens; 

 those came from a great depth, and I have prospected the 

 ledge for himdreds of feet, and it is all equally rich. I tell 

 you there is a million apiece in it for you." 



"Then," said I, "if it is so rich why did you not take 

 out a few hundred doUars^^rth of ore, and make your- 

 self comfortable with the proceeds?" 



"Oh," he answered," it is just a part of my old luck. 

 Just as I had fairly made sure of my find, and was pre- 

 pared to benefit by it, the snow came on, over a foot deep, 

 and I was getting so weak that I could not work, and I 

 would not let any one else into the secret. So I just cov- 

 ered up my prospect, and came down for the winter, ex- 

 pecting to get cured and return in the spring. And now 

 I've got to die and leave it all, without ever knowing how 

 rich I might be," and he glared at us with burning eyes. 



In a moment he went on, ' 'I'm not going to tell you 

 now where my mine is, but if there is surely no hope for 

 me, I want you to tell me just when I am going to die, a 

 few days before the end, while I am still able to talk, and 

 I will tell you how to find it. In the meantime do aU you 

 can for me." 



This ended the communication at that time, and on 

 comparing notes, I found that John had taken stock in 

 the account, while I was skeptical, beheving that the old 

 man had concocted the story in order to obtain favors. 



However, the winter wore away and summer came 

 again, and its heat hastened old Cap's end. One day the 

 steward told me, on my arrival at the hospital, that Cap 

 was very low, and we had better try him and see if he 

 still maintained the truth of his story. Accordingly, on 

 my rotmds I stopped at his bed and examined him care- 

 fully, and then informed him that he had but a few days, 

 or perhaps hours, to live, as the disease had reached the 

 arteries in his neck and he was liable to die at any mo- 

 ment. "And now," added John, "if you stated the truth 

 about that mine, and want us to have it, you had better 

 give us directions how to find it." 



He lay for many moinents in silence, and his words could 

 not be understood when he attempted speech. Many 

 times he tried it, but without avail, and at last he motioned 

 to be propped up and made signs for writing material. 

 These were furnished him, and after many attempts he 

 made the following memorandum, and after its comple- 

 tion lay back exhausted upon his pillow: 



Volcano CaHon — ^Point — ^where ditch makes half circle. Up on point 

 is big granite boulder, with five black spots on it set thus * • * , made 

 with black paint. Forty steps below three pine trees in row, vwo yel- 

 low and one sugar pine— 45 steps north of sugar pine — dig! 



Three days afterward old Cap was dead, without ever 

 giving another sign of consciousness to his surroundings. 

 So died this man of good education and stea.dy habits, one 

 of thousands of other moimtain miners, who have spent 

 their lives and fortunes in vain search of the yellow 

 metal. 



This solemn dying declaration seemed like business, and 

 in about another month a third friend was taken into the 

 scheme, as there was wealth for us all, and the expedition 

 which resulted in the kflling of our million-dollar buck 

 was organized. 



We had surely foimd the place indicated. There was 

 the ditch, for'-ning the half-circle around the point; there 

 was the gi-eat boulder, with the quincunx painted upon it 

 in black paint. Here was the row of three pines — two 

 yellow and one sugar pine, and 45 paces north of the 

 latter lay a ledge that was good for a million apiece for each 

 member of the pgirty. 



To be sure the ledge was not in sight, but everything 

 else was according to programme, and we had nothing to 

 do but to dig in order to lay that bare. The spot indi- 

 cated looked very unpromising, and bore no traces of ever 

 having been distiu-bed, but Ave had no doubts whatever, 

 and formed as happy a trio of millionaires as ever fore- 

 gathered. 



We carefully measiu'ed off the distance, and John and 

 Charlie began to dig. From 6 to 15in. of loose rock, 

 mold and pine needles covered the ground, and under- 

 neath this was hard, sohd, virgin rock. We began to get 

 anxious and to work further and further away from the 

 spot, but without meeting with even a bit of loose float 

 rock to encourage us. Night came on and found us still 

 digging, but with flagging sj)irits. At last John threw 

 down his shovel in disgust, and exclaimed: "Confound 

 his worthless old carcass! He died as he lived— a bilk!" 



No words were needed to describe whom he had in his 

 mind. We aU understood, and felt in the same way. 

 Then Charlie spoke up and said, "Well, here we are, five 

 miles from camp, without grub, without blankets, and 

 without a million apiece; but by the Holy Poker, we've 

 got a fine buck, so hurrah for ovi million-dollar buck," 

 and we hm-rahed tiU the canons rang again. 



Since that night my companions have gone over to the 

 great majority, so that buck has become rny sole property, 

 and is no longer "our," but "my" miUion-doUar buck. 

 Has any other reader of Forest and Stream as equally 

 expensive a private zoological collection as that, consist- 

 ing of such scanty varieties? If so, tell us about it. 



We built a good fire near by, roasted a portion of this 

 very expensive buck, and spent the night alternately 

 warming our backs and then our fronts, and munching 

 steaks and liver. In the morning we resumed labor, and 

 did not desist imtU thoroughly satisfied that there never 

 had been a quartz ledge within a mile of the spot. 



As the years roll by I discuss the question with myself, 

 Was the old man deliberately lying, or had solitude and 

 ill-luck unhinged his mind, and did he fancy he had 

 spoken the truth? Arefar. 



Send in Your "Shooting Postals." 



Matlock, la. — Editor Forest and Stream: Now that 

 the shooting season is at hand, why not start a series of 

 hunting and shooting postals, after the style of the iishing 

 postals which, have been running in. the Forest and 

 Stream during the summer? 



I would also be pleased to hear from some of the con- 

 tributors of the Forest and Stream in regard to the loads 

 used in game shooting and the results, whether satisfac- 

 tory or not. In some futm-e number I wiU try and give 

 some of my experiences, and hope that others will f oflow 

 suit. Longfellow, 



IN THE ROCKIES OF COLORADO. 



Howard Fuguet and I started from New Castle, Col. , 

 on the Denver & Eio Grande R. R., on Aug. 31, boimd for 

 the Marvene club house, on the Marvene Creek (a tribu- 

 tary of the North Fork of White River), a distance of 

 fifty-five miles, over a fair mountain road across the 

 White River plateau. The club house is kept by Messrs. 

 Wells & Patterson (address Meeker, Colorado), guides and 

 outfitters. We arrived there on Sept. 1 and started the 

 next morning with pack train of twelve horses and four 

 bear dogs. Our guides were Wm. Wells and Byron Fen- 

 ner, and Wm. Strebb, cook. 



Our route lay up Lost Park Creek and across the Lost 

 Park to the headwaters of Williams Fork, a tributary of 

 the Bear River. Here we camped and hunted a little. 

 We found deer very plentiful and lots of elk and bear 

 sign. We ran a silver tip on the second day, and although 

 the dogs stopped him we could not get in quick enough 

 and he broke away and was lost. 



Our next journey was down the Williams Fork and 

 through the canon to the forks of the Williams Creek. 

 This Lost Park and Williams Creek country is in the Dan- 

 forth Hills. From here we crossed to Bear River and 

 to Oreig, and thence up Fortification Creek and across to 

 the Elk Head Creek, two days' journey on the plains. 

 Ten miles from Creigh we began to get in among the 

 antelope, and in California Park in the Elk Head Moim- 

 tains we saw thousands of them. From California Park 

 we went over the summit of the Elk Heads and on the 

 other slope in Slader Basin, near the Snake River. Here 

 we made our principal camp and did most of our hunting. 



In Slader Basin the antelope are more numerous than 

 in California Park. Here one can get shot after shot at 

 deer, antelope and elk. It is safe to say that on this trip 

 we saw more than 5,000 a.ntelope and several thousand 

 deer and more than 200 elk. We or ly hunted the latter 

 three or four days and got all we wanted. 



In the Lost Park and Williams Fork country one can 

 get elk, but they are harder to get than in the Elk Head 

 Mountains. Deer are more plentiful, but there are no 

 antelope. At the club house on Marvine Creek one has a 

 chance for an elk and is sure of deer not far from the 

 house, and can get fine fishing. By going a day's jour- 

 ney his chances are fairly good for elk. I can honestly 

 recommend Wells and Patterson as good guides and reli- 

 able. Byron Tenner proved himself to be an excellent 

 hunter. 



I am prompted to write this purely for the benefit of 

 my fellow sportsmen, and I can assure them I have no 

 ax to grind. I honestly fchiok this is the grandest game 

 coimtry on the continent to-day. If one takes the trip we 

 took he need have no fear of killing all of the three kmds 

 of game mentioned and as many as he can possibly wish. 

 Joe Peltrei (address New Castle, Col.) will do the trans- 



Sortation from New Castle to the club house in good shape, 

 ine should allow himself thirty days for this trip. We 

 sta.yed in camp twenty-four. 



In conclusion. I hope this may enable some sportsmen 

 to enjoy the same sport as we enjoyed, but that they will 

 not abuse the same, H. W. Hamt.yn. 



MINNESOTA MOOSE AND INDIANS. 



The Legislatm-e of Minnesota h.is passed a law prohibit- 

 ing the kSling of moose, caribou and elk for a period of 

 five years. This would be a good law if it could be en- 

 forced against all hunters, but it cannot be. The Red 

 .Lake Indian reservation, which lies in northern Minne- 

 sota, is 70 miles wide from east to west and 100 miles long 

 from north to south. It includes within its boundaries 

 the Red Lakes and the Lake of the Woods, and is in the 

 very heart of the best moose, elk and caribou range in the 

 Northwest. In fact, there is probably no other place on 

 the continent where these three species can be found 

 ranging on the same ground. They are all here in goodly 

 numbers. Your red Indian cares about as much for a 

 game law as he does for a g^mdrop; and when he wants 

 game he goes out, kills it and then sends his squaw to 

 butcher and bring it in. 



I have long had my eye on this moose pasture and three 

 years ago was in it. Now I am in it again. Meantime I 

 have been in close touch with at least two good hunters 

 who live in it, and they have kept me posted. One of 

 these is Burton Harris, of Pelan, Kittson county, Minn., 

 with whom I am now staying, and what he does not know 

 about moose and moose hunting wouldn't make even a 

 primer. A New Yorker, college bred, then bookkeeper 

 in a manufacturing house, his health failed and he came 

 West. Being fond of the woods and of the rifle he fell in 

 with the half-breeds in the Lake of the Woods region, 

 lived with them three years, himting and fishing for the 

 market. During the winter of '89 and '90 he killed 15 

 moose. During the following winter he killed 18 moose, 

 3 elk, 1 caribou and many deer. In the following spring; 

 he caught 16 moose calves and 2 elk calves. These he sold 

 and traded to merchants and others in the nearest towns 

 at ridiculously low prices, because he was not prepared to 

 hold them. 



As stated above, a law, now in effect, makes it a mis- 

 demeanor to kill moose, elk and caribou for five years; 

 yet an Indian reservation covers the bulk of the best 

 range of these animals in Minnesota. Twice a year— in 

 June and September — the chief of the Red Lake outfit 

 sends out a band of runners selected from his best young 

 hunters with orders to start a cordon of fires around the 

 whole reservation and as much outside country as is good 

 game range. At these seasons the prevailing winds are 

 from west and south. The Indians form a skirmish fine 

 along the foot of the Lake of the Woods and Rainy River. 

 Within a few days the fires have traveled north and east 

 and th.e game is driven out to this death line in herds and 

 slaughtered like so many beef cattle. So much of the 

 meat as can be saved is, but thousands of pounds of it 

 rot, and from many a carcass only the skin is taken. 



Even now, while I write, I can look across to the east 

 and see three of these fires burning, which were . fit two 

 days ago. At night they throw a red glare against the 

 clouds, suggestive of the blood that will flow a week 

 hence when all these fires have united ajid driven the 

 poor beasts into the death trap. 



Your loyal white himter, who would MU one, or two, 

 or three moose, or eUi, or caribou, for sport, for heads, for 

 skins, for meat, is forbidden. 



It is all well enough to talk of the Indian being amen- 

 able to the game lawa» but how will you ever enforce a 

 law against these red wretches? Who would make a com- 

 plaint and work up a case against one of them? Ceriainly 



