158 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 25, 1894. 
30 thoroughly traversed as it was this winter. It was 
o overed very thoroughly in the main buffalo range, and 
partially on what might be called the alternate winter 
range of the buffalo. We had the reports of every officer, 
every soldier, every scout, every hunter and even the soli- 
tary poacher who had been in the Park, besides our 
own knowledge, I can make up no actual count even 
equalling 150 head. The winter range is so small that 
these men and ourselves would be more apt to see the 
same bunch twice than to pass by even a small bunch 
unseen. I add the 50 head only because of the latter pos- 
sibility. I know Captain Anderson in his last report 
thought the buffalo far more numerous than this, but he 
made his report on data not so thorough as those of this 
winter, and I believe even his informants of last year 
advise him in accordance with our smaller figures of this 
year. He told me that without further reports he could 
not again report over 250 head alive. I do not think he 
will put it so high as that. 
It was the chief accomplishment of our expedition to 
show how mistaken was the general idea as to the num- 
bers of the Park buffalo, and how alarming the possibility 
of their absolute extinction. Against this easy work of 
revenge or of mercenary greed let us hope the authorities 
will take especial measures, at least for the coming 
winter. 
Other Game. 
We have nothing to submit by way of figures as to other 
game. Mountain sheep were seen by others, and there 
seems to be a band or so. We saw none. We saw in all 
about twenty-five deer, all blacktail, and all near the 
Mammoth Hot Springs (two bands only). As to the bears 
we could not, of course, say. We saw one and the trail 
of another. We saw the trail of two mountain lions and 
of innumerable foxes. There seemed to be more foxes 
than coyotes, even. We saw a few lynx trails, and one 
trail of a wolverine. Some of the wild fowl I have 
already mentioned, but we saw no grouse or ptarmigan of 
consequence, two in all only, I believe. There were a few 
mountain jays — "camp robbers," some Clark's crows, and 
once in a while a raven. Kingfishers, bluebirds, water- 
ousels and wild ducks (mostly mallards) were wintering 
on the Gardiner below the Boiling River. My recollection 
is that we saw two eagles, but I have no note of more 
than one. The tracks of the pine marten, of the squirrel 
and of the "snowshoe rabbit" were common. The upper 
Park was very silent and bare of visible life, even in small 
animals. 
All Were Kind. 
The officials of the Northern Pacific road were very 
kind to Forest and Stream in every way. Capt. Ander- 
son was so Mnd that it is useless to try to thank him prop- 
erly, and Mr. Deane was very kind to let us into the 
hotels of the Park Association after they were closed, and 
Mr. Haynes was exceptionally generous and kind in allow- 
ing the use of his magnificent game pictures, the best ever 
made in the Park. Every one, it seemed, united in the 
effort to be courteous and helpful to us, and to all there as 
much as to the actual members of our party the thanks of 
the readers of this paper are due, if any be felt at all. The 
paper has already made acknowledgment of this un- 
squared account, to which acknowledgment we must add 
our personal one. 
Last Days at the Park. 
Billy and I put in our last days at the Park — or rather 
my last days, for he lives right at the edge of the Park — 
while I was waiting for the weekly train down from Cin- 
nabar, in fishing for trout in the Gardiner and Yellow- 
stone rivers. We got trout, too, though not any such 
very big ones, as it was too early. Then one morning the 
time came to go, and I said good-bye to Capt. Anderson 
and tho pleasant gentlemen around him and started for 
Cinnabar, where finally I left Lieut. Lindsley and Billy. 
Billy was tougher and browner even than when he went 
in. Every man of the party was lean and hard as though 
trained fine. The reflection from the snow, even on the 
coldest days, had burned us all to copper-color. We were 
all in perfect health and great form. No possible regimen 
or system of exercise would put a man in as splendid 
shape as a month's trip through the mountains on the 
sfcis. The beneficial effects of that trip — the greatest one 
of my life and one not likely to be again taken by myself 
— endure to-day. And even now I can see the rushing 
flood of the noble Yellowstone, and can see the great 
white mountains and the geysers at the rising of the 
winter sun. I can almost feel the shadow of the forests 
at night, and hear the rushing of the mountain streams, 
unfettered even by the general shackles of the cold. 
The white plains, the black canons, the dominant peaks, 
the brilliant lights of the varying sun, all make up a 
picture seemingly almost unreal, but bright, vivid, im- 
posing and I hope enduring. It was a journey for a life- 
time. E. Hough. 
IN THE CLEARWATER COUNTRY. 
When the Carlin party was lost in the Clearwater 
Mountains, that event brought that country quite prom- 
inently before the public. It was my good fortune to 
spend many happy days and a few disagreeable nights in 
the twenty years I passed in that country. 
In 1865 a party of four of us mined on the South Fork 
of the Clearwater. It received its name from being so 
very clear. The Indians called it "Koos Koosky," signi- 
fying ' 'clear water this." But where we worked it was 
somewhat like the Missouri during the June rise, only a 
little more so. It was entirely too thick to drink, and not 
quite thick enough to walk on. This condition was caused 
by the numerous hydraulic mines which dumped their 
debris into it above our claim. We managed to get along, 
however, for we were like the majority of miners, we 
thought that water was a success for mining, navigation 
and irrigation, but that as a beverage it was a flat failure. 
We had worked hard all summer, and when the water 
failed on us in the fall, we concluded that we would 
spend a few weeks prospecting up in a range of moun- 
tains between the Clearwater and the Salmon rivers. 
There was a mineral belt extending through the whole 
chain from South Boise in South Idaho, to Kootenia, in 
British Columbia. So like all miners we were full of 
confidence and hope that we would strike a new camp. 
Oar outfit for each person consisted of ,751bs. self-raising 
flour, 301bs. beans, 15lbs. sugar, 151bs. bacon, 51bs. salt, 
lOlbs. dried fruit, 5lbs. coffee, ilb. tea, a pick, two shovels, 
an axe, hatchet, 2lbs. small nails, a rocker iron, pair of 
blankets, .one 'change of clothes, navy revolver and am- 
munition! As I was thejsmallest I had the lightest pack, 
which weighed 671bs. when ready to put on. My brother 
and Jack, very large and powerful men, had 901bs. each, 
while Gilbert had 75lbs. Bright and early we were on 
the trail, we had to go down on the north side of Clear- 
water opposite where a mountain stream called Twenty- 
Mile puts in to the main stream. 
As soon as we left our cabin I struck out ahead and 
Jack kept close up, but as my brother and Gilbert were 
never known to hurry, they were nearly an hour longer 
reaching the mouth of the Twenty-Mile. 
As soon as Jack and I got to the crossing we dumped 
our packs and took a survey of the situation. The Clear- 
water here is 75yds. wide and from 3 to 4ft. deep. The 
bottom is covered with round-washed gravel, which in 
turn is covered with a slimy sediment. After resting a 
few minutes to cool off gradually, I sat down and began 
pulling off my boots and clothes. At first Jack said he 
would wade with his boots and clothes on; but I told him 
he would feel much better after he once got across by 
pulling off his clothes, and if I could stand it then he could 
try. Having everything in readiness I started in. I had 
a good stout walking stick to lean and balance on. Put- 
ting my foot down, it would come on to a smooth boulder 
covered with slime, slip off, and sometimes wedge down 
in between two stones, which would be so close that 
would have to feel for another place. I soon got across 
all right, but it was a terrible dose. When I reached the 
bank my limbs were about as red as a boiled lobster. We 
had no thermometer to tell how cold the water was, but 
from the contortions of Jack's face it must have been at 
least 50° below zero. I soon had my clothes on and felt 
the reaction. There was plenty of good dry wood handy, 
and I soon had a roaring fire. Jack got across affright, 
but said it was "the bitterest pill he ever took." 
We stood around the fire for a few minutes, when I 
proposed we cut some poles and try Twenty-Mile for trout. 
I started up the stream to some big boulders. I soon 
found a place I thought would be a favorite haunt for 
some big fellows. There was a great eddy, and a lot of 
foam was making its regular revolutions. I took a grass- 
hopper from the tin box, threw it near to the foam, and 
in an instant there was a silvery flash, with a red tint to 
it; then a splash, splash, splash; and I could not tell how 
many big trout had made a grab for that hopper. But 
the first one missed it. I threw my hook out near the 
foam, when it barely touched the water before it was 
grabbed, and *rom the way that line sung I was sure I 
had hooked a 3 or 41bg. trout. I soon threw him out, and 
a beauty he was. I had no scales, so had to guess at the 
weight, which I put at ljlbs. Soon I had another. This 
I kept up until I had 18, and started to camp. Jack had 
caught 12, which varied little from mine. We had dinner 
well under way when my brother and Gilbert put in an 
appearance on the opposite side. 
I told the boys that it was not bad crossing, a little cold, 
but nothing as it was when mush ice was running. I 
assured them that they would feel fine when once across; 
and as a stimulus to hurry them up, I held out a string of 
dressed trout. They got across, and as they were tough, 
made no complaint; but as soon as they were ready we 
sat down to a square meal, and when the inventory was 
taken after the last one was through it was found that 
we were sixteen trout short. Gilbert being the only one 
that used tobacco, filled his pipe, and soon filled the air 
with his poisoned fumes, which he termed solid comfort. 
After a hearty rest we concluded we would catch a few 
more trout, for we would leave the river the next morn- 
ing. My brother soon had a rig; and he was a much bet- 
ter fisherman than either of us. I never met any one 
who has the patience he has. When I fish a minute or 
two in a nice pool, if the fish do not bite, I move. But 
here it required no patience and but little skill. We re- 
turned to camp in less than an hour with fifty-seven nice 
trout. Two of us took care of the fish, while the others 
set about making camp comfortable for the night. The 
boys cut down a fir tree, broke off the fine browse, spread 
them down even to the depth of a foot, then put down a 
couple of gun pouches, then our blankets; and we had a 
splendid bed. After a good trout "supper, with a huge log 
fire, which threw its genial warmth and cheerful light in 
to the tent, we had a cheerful home, such as is seldom 
enjoyed by sportsmen or miners. 
We were awakened quite early by the chattering of 
pine squirrels. They are nice little fellows, and are about 
the size of a half -grown gray squirrel in the States, but I 
think their flesh is better. When they are alarmed they 
make a noise something like that of the kingfisher. After 
breakfast Gilbert and I added the surplus trout to our 
packs, and we were soon on the road. This was as far as 
any of us had been in these mountains, and all before us 
was a vast wilderness. The mountain was so steep that 
we had to go down about half a mile before we found a 
place we could get up at all. Finally we came to an old 
elk trail, and this we decided to follow, thinking that we 
could manage to get up where those monarchs of the 
forest could come down. But we found it quite a task. 
We would go for 15 or 20yds., when we would have to 
sit down against the mountain and rest a few minutes, 
then try again. By noon we had reached the top of the 
first bench. While we were resting my brother went 
down into a small canon and got a kettle of water, and 
soon we cooked our dinner. We cleaned up the surplus 
trout out of my pack, which made quite a difference in 
the feeling of my load. Resting an hour after dinner we 
packed up and started. For the first mile we had very 
fair traveling; then we struck a pine thicket. The timber 
had been burned a few years before. The young pines 
had come up nearly as thick as wheat; the old pines had 
rotted off at the ground, and had been blown down in 
every direction. In many places a man could go several 
hundred yards without getting on to the ground. But 
with heavy packs such as we had, it was impossible, so we 
had to go down the mountain until we could pass around 
the windfall. This took us until late in the afternoon, 
when we got back on to our ridge. We followed this up 
until at 4 o'clock we struck a spring, and we went into 
camp. A short distance above camp we saw a number of 
fresh elk tracks. 
In the night I was awakened by an elk whistling; he 
had probably scented our camp. I awoke the boys and 
as it was the first whistling they had ever heard at first 
they did not believe an elk could make such a noise. 
Judging from the sound he could not have been more 
than a couple of hundred yards off. The next morning 
we were up early, had a good breakfast of the remainder 
of our trout and we started on up the divide. We had 
not gone more than a mile when we saw seven elk ? 
among them being one with the largest pair of antlers I 
had seen in this country. They were not much alarmed, 
but trotted off a short distance and all faced about and 
took a good look at us. As we had all the load we could 
carry and plenty of grub we did not molest them. 
When we first saw them I could have killed one without 
any difficulty with my navy revolver. 
This day we had good traveling and must have made 
twelve miles. We could tell we were getting quite high 
from the tamarac and small black pine. About 3 o'clock 
we struck what we thought was the summit of the divide 
we had been following up. We turned down to our right 
and soon came out into a beautiful meadow of a few hun- 
dred acres, with a small stream running through it. Here 
we camped. When we would approach the stream we 
could see quite a number of little mountain trout as they 
would dart from one bank to the other, but it was too late 
to fish any that day. The grass in the meadow was over 
a foot high and there were a great many elk beds scattered 
over it. Along in the night we heard another elk 
whistling, and he was answered from across the creek. 
They kept Up their bantering nearly all night. Early in 
the morning we could see them in the lower part of the 
meadow; one was quite large and had a fine pair of 
antlers; the other was a spike, yet was nearly as large as 
the older one. But he seemed, to be afraid to fight, for 
the large one kept driving him around from place to 
place. 
We prospected here for four days, then we moved up 
the creek about six miles, near to Buffalo Hump, a very 
high mountain on the divide between the Salmon and 
Clearwater rivers. Here we prospected for a week and 
found a few fine colors; that was all, yet it satisfied us 
that we were near the gold belt. We began to notice 
that when we would move camp our packs were eonsid* 
erably lighter. 
One afternoon brother said he would go across the 
divide and take a look at some gulches in what he 
thought was a basin near the base of Buffalp Hump. The 
rest of us finished prospecting the craek we were camped 
on. Supper time came and my brother had not put in 
appearance. Before going to bediweshot off our revol- 
vers but did not hear any answer. I felt a little anxious, 
but tried to believe he would be in every few minutes. 
But when morning came and we sat down to breakfast, 
there was an empty place. As soon as I got through 
breakfast I huckled on my revolver and told the boys I 
would go upon to the divide that my brother bad said he 
was going to cross and if he should come in while I was 
out they should fire their revolvers. I left camp and 
walked very fast for about an hour, when I Came on to 
the divide where I could see the basin. I fifed my re* 
volver, and the echo had hardly died away, when to my 
joy I heard an answering shot from the basin. I started 
on a trot in the direction of the shot. After going about 
a mile I fired again. This time the answer came a great 
deal nearer. Then we were in calling distance; and we 
soon met. He was perfectly cool, while I was all excited. 
"Well," said he, "did you think I was lost?" I replied, 
"I knew you were lost, and was afraid we would not be 
able to find you." As we went back to camp he told me 
how he had come to stay out. He had gone further than 
he intended, and it was nearly dark before he started to 
return. Just before dark he shot a rabbit. Then he 
struck a gulch that had very thick brush in it, and in 
crossing he fell into what he thought was a hole made by 
the upturning of a tree, he fell over astUmp that had been 
cut with an axe. He then built a fire and could see that 
work had been done there; and concluded that as he had 
plenty of game he would camp there and take a look 
ai-ound in the morning before returning to camp. In the 
morning he found that considerable work had been done 
in the gulch. They had sluiced out a place about 20ft. 
wide and 100ft. long, about 2ft. deep. The work had been 
done some three or four years before. 
We reached camp a little while before noon, and after 
dinner packed up and moved over to the deserted claim. 
The next morning early we were Up and went to pros*- 
pecting; we could get some good prospects but the ground 
was spotted. We made a rocker as there was not water- 
enough for us to sluice. Two of us went to rocking, the 
others trying to trace the pay streak. We rocked for two 
days, when we cleared up, and thought from the bulk of 
the dust that we had an ounce or a little more; but when 
we reached our cabin and put it in the scales, it was like 
the big'fish, and deer and bear that are guessed at; it 
weighed just $9, or half an ounce and one-sixteenth. We 
could not locate the pay streak. The men who had 
worked there before worked out all of the streak they 
could find. 
Our provisions began to get low; we were out of the 
trout range, and were too busy to hunt for pheasants. 
One morning early I went up toward the upper part of 
the Basin hunting. I had not got more than a mile from 
camp, when I saw a cow and calf elk. They had seen me 
first and had trotted up on to a small ridge and stopped 
broadside. I shot at the calf and killed it; the cow stood 
there looking at me, and waited until I got within 20yds. 
of her before she left the calf. Then she trotted off a 
short distance and stopped. I had all the meat I wanted. 
After breakfast we dressed the calf and packed it into 
camp. 
That day we finished prospecting there, and went down 
about half a mile on to another gulch. Here we struck a 
fair prospect, but we could not find the main chanel or 
streak. 
We were through our breakfast and ready to travel by 
the time it was fight enough. Although the going was 
heavy we made very fair time, and by noon were on the 
summit of the last bench above Clearwater and not far 
from our first camp at the mouth of the Twenty-mile. 
When we got down to the river I did not stop, but went 
right across, as I thought the muddy water could not 
make me any wetter than I had been for the last few 
miles. But I found out that it was a deal colder. When 
I got out, I rustled around for dry wood to make a fire. 
I had thoroughly dried my matches and put them in my 
Eack, and had no trouble in starting the blaze. The boys 
elped and we had another big fire. As soon as we had 
shoveled away the snow and had our tent set, ve changed 
clothes and had our dinner. Then some of the boys 
wanted to go up to the cabin. I told them they couid go*, 
but that I should remain in camp for the night; so all con- 
cluded to remain. The next morning early we started 
and reached our cabin, all feeling well and not very badly 
exhausted, but perfectly satisfied with our prosp cting trip 
in the Clearwater Mountains. Ls\y Wujuiot, 
