34 



THE AMERICAN MOOSE 



it used to be said that this was the last moose 

 killed in the State. But a number appear to have 

 been shot later. In i860 "Alva Dunning killed 

 several on West Canada Creek." In August, 

 1 861, however, a cow was killed at Raquette Lake 

 which was "the last known native of its race in 

 New York State." A party of four men from 

 Philadelphia, including a lawyer and a physician, 

 with two guides, were on a fishing trip, in two boats, 

 when they encountered the moose. One of the 

 sportsmen fired a charge of buckshot into her 

 shoulder at fifty yards' distance; another fired a 

 charge of No. 6 shot; the guides each added a 

 rifle ball — and the curtain was rung down on the 

 inglorious tragedy of extermination.^ 



Vain attempts have since been made to re- 

 stock the Adirondacks with moose. In 1902 seven 

 or eight specimens were obtained, chiefly from 

 Canada, and released. The following year four 

 or five more were secured. Several were "mis- 

 taken for deer" and shot; the others presumably 

 found their way northward to Canada again. The 

 experiment cost the State about ^3000, and ended 

 in failure. 



Moose occasionally stray beyond their ordinary 



3 Madison Grant, uhi supra. The Mammals of the Adirondack 

 Region, by Clinton Hart Merriam, M.D. (N. Y., 1884), pp. 141-143. 



