FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 17, 1897. 
SHEEP AND SNOWSHOES— IV. 
A Winter Hunt on the Summit of the Rockies. 
Investljratlnar the Bear Den. 
Our second da^ in camp proved, for a wonder, to be fair 
and warm, diflfenng in this respect from almost every other 
day on the whole trip. Had we known then what we 
found out later, we would all have gone sheep hunting that 
day; but we felt that as we were now well into our hunt- 
ing country, and were practically sure of getting game, we 
could afford to take our time to it. It was decided to let 
O-to-ko-mi go out on the mountain where we expected to 
find our sheep and make a little prospecting trip, Schultz 
telling him to kill a sheep for meat if he was able to do so. 
Schultz and McChesney concluded to stay in camp that 
day, the latter being somewhat tired from his hard work 
of the day before, they announcing their intention of try- 
ing to catch a mess of fish through the ice. That bear den 
Ein the mountains was still troubling me a great deal, so 
inter Powell, Billy Jackson and myself concluded to go 
up and exterminate the grizzly. 
When we three started up the mountain side through 
the timber we had the benefit of the trail broken by our 
party the day before, but found it a steep and wearying 
climb none the less. Along toward noon we came to the 
country where Powell had located the suspicious-looking 
hole in the snow, and finally he stopped and pointed out 
the spot to us. We then stopped talking, and were as 
quiet as we could be while making our investigations. 
Billy looked curiously at the hole and announced that, so 
far as he could see, it was a mighty good prospect for a 
bear den. The snow all around was 6 to 8ft. deep; yet here 
was this round hole, some 6in. across, leading down into a 
black and cavernous interior, from which oame a faint 
mist of steam as of some warm body down below. 
Billy told us to loosen the strap* of our snowshoes and 
get ready to shin up a tree if anything sudden happened 
before we were ready. Then, aj-rogating to himself the 
post of danger, he cut a long pole and prepared to poke 
oat his majesty, if he happened to be at home. There 
was a sharp little depression in the snow which fell ofi" 
into the head of a deep coulee, and the whole of the sup- 
posed den was about half-way up the bank of snow which 
lined this depression. Across the hollow, a distance of 
some 6 or Syds., there rose a high drift of snow. Powell 
and I stood on this drift, with our rifles ready for action, 
and Billy stuck his rifle in the snow, where he could 
grasp it at once, in case there should be need. Our plan 
of campaign was that as soon as anything was heard from 
inside the den, Billy was to grab his rifle and throw him- 
self down the snow-bank into the hollow, rolling clear of 
the bear if it came out. Hunter and I were to open fire on 
sight, and it certainly seemed as though with two .45-70s 
we could blow the head ofi" of any bear before it could 
much more than get out of the snow. If we did not suc- 
ceed in doing this, and if the bear charged us, Billy was to 
open on the flank of the bear as soon as he oould get up 
out of the snow far enough to shoot. I don't think there 
was a great deal of danger in this plan, unless it might 
have been for Billy, who might have been caught before 
he could get away from in front of the hole, in case the 
bear had charged very-rapidly out of the den. 
What actually happened, however, was that the bear 
did not charge rapidly, and, in fact, did not charge at all. 
And indeed I shall have to admit that there was no bear 
at all. Billy prodded in the snow for a time with his long 
pole, and finally stuck his face down to the hole in the 
snow and called, "Come out of here, you hibernating son- 
of-a-gun!" There was no response. Then he proceeded to 
dig down the sides of the big cave which we found existed 
under the whole of the snowdrift at that point. We found 
that the snow was melted clear to the ground over a space 
some feet im extent, and when we cut down the front of 
this cavern we could see a black hole running in under a 
fallen treetop. It was a most likely looking place for a 
bear, but we were finally forced to conclude that the snow 
must have been melted by warm steam or gases coming up 
from a piece of hot ground on the mountain side. No one 
has ever heard of any geysers or hot ground formation in 
this part of the mountains so far as I know, but we cer- 
tainly discovered some such thing in our hunt for our 
grizzly. I was keenly disappointed at this, for we had all 
felt pretty certain th*t a genuine bear den had been dis- 
coverjed. Had there been a grizzly actually sleeping there 
in*he snow, there might have been a good story for some 
one or other to tell. 
When we started down from the mountain side we could 
see Schultz and McChesney far out on the lake, looking 
like lititle dots. By the time we got down to the camp 
they ajso had come in, and we .got a bite to eat. The 
fishermen had succeeded in taking eighteen trout, some of 
them regular beauties, so we were promised an addition to 
our bill of fare for the evening. The Two Medicine Lake 
is simply alive with trout in the summer time, and prettier 
trout water one never saw than this lake and the stream 
that runs into it. 
Along late in the afternoon Schultz and McChesney con- 
cluded to take a walk through the woods beyond the head 
of the lake, in the direction taken by O-to-ko-mi that 
morning. Schultz told me that he had seen a marten trail 
a few hundred yards above the camp, so I decided to put 
out a deadfall and see what I could do about getting a 
little fur, I built my trap by cutting a hole in the side of 
a big pine tree, thus making a little house for the bait, so 
that the snow would not drift and cover up the bait. 
Below the bait house I cut a notch in the tree trunk on 
which I rested my bed log, and adjusted the fall log so 
that it covered up all the bait house, excepting a hole big 
enough for a marten to go in. I spent a great deal of 
time on the architecture of this trap, and. was very proud 
»f it, but I may say that nothing ever came near it ex- 
cepting some big-footed rabbits, who seemed to have 
looked at it with considerable curiosity. 
Prospect for Meat. 
While I was working at my marten trap I heard three 
shots fired over in the direction which had been taken by 
Schultz and McChesney. I supposed that they were firing 
at grouse, as the shots did not seem to be more than a mile 
away. After awhile they came back down the trail and I 
ask«d if they had been shooting. "No, sir," aaid Schultz, 
"that was Charlie Eose, hammering sheep!" At this we all 
felt very exultamt, for we knew that O-to-ko-mi would not 
shoot at anything but big game, and we felt morally sure 
that we would have meat in camp that night. We waited 
with impatience for his return, meantime all repairing to 
the lodge and getting ready for a big supper, for which we 
had acquired very competent appetites. 
When O-to-ko-mi came into camp no one said anything 
to him nor expressed any interest in his success. He came 
in and sat down by the fire, and after a wait of some min- 
utes, in which due gravity had been shown by all, he at 
length told in fragments the story of his day. 
"Oo-o-?na7t,",said he, "there," pointing to the mountains 
from which he had just descended, "plenty sh'ip." 
"How many?" asked Schultz. And Charlie replied that 
he had seen several bands of sheep, and had counted 
seventy-three sheep in all! This, provided that he really 
understood English numerals, was certainly a most extra- 
ordinary showing. Such a quantity of mountain sheep as 
that is rarely seen by all the hunters on the longest hunt 
in any part of the country. At that moment each of us in 
his heart felt that he would certainly kill a sheep, and 
that without any difficulty. It being contrary to etiquette 
to manifest any curiosity as to the number of sheep O-to- 
ko-mi himself had killed, it was some time before the fact 
transpired that he had not killed any at all! This he ad- 
mitted with a very crestfallen air, and Schultz told us not 
to guy him about it, as he was feeling very badly over his 
poor marksman shij). In the morning Billy Jackson had 
counted him out thirteen cartridges. "Here, Charlie," he 
said, "I'll give you a lucky number, and I want you to kill 
thirteen sheep, at least." O-to-ko-mi had to admit that he 
had fired away all his cartridges, and had only come home 
because he had nothing more to shoot with. 
"Mat akd nama/'^ said O-to-ko-mi with emphasis, mean- 
ing thereby that his gun was no good. Now, it happened 
that on this hunt I had given O-to-ko-mi my ,30-30 Win- 
chester, reserving for myself the .45-70, which I thought 
would be better for affairs at the bear den in case we 
found a bear. This .30-30, as I have earlier stated, had a 
Lyman rear sight on the tang, and this sight was perhaps 
elevated when the gun was given to Charlie, or else he 
thought that he would be obliged to use it. At any rate, 
he seems not to have known how to turn it back so that 
he could use the open sights which would then be left on 
the rifle. O-to-ko-mi had never before used a Lyman 
sight, and from what he said, it is likely that he had got 
the aperture of the sight full of snow, or else was trying to 
sight over the top of it. He said that he could not see 
through that kind of a sight, and expressed his contempt 
in general for that sort of an outfit. He expressed by signs 
his convictions that if he had had along "0 muk-sijn-nama" 
(the big gun), meaning my .45-70, he would have killed 
"plenty sh'ip." As we all knew him to be a good shot and 
a good hunter, we understood that the fault had been 
simply his lack of familiarity with the little rifle, and we 
did not poke any fun at him, since he felt so sore over the 
matter. He told us that on the next day he would take 
us to the sheep, and that we could probably get all we 
wanted without any trouble. When we asked him how 
far he had gone, he replied vaguely that he had "been 
far," and rubbed his legs significantly. , We learned after- 
ward tha,t he had traveled clear across the top of the 
mountain and down on the Cut Bank side. By this he 
must have gone a distance of fifteen miles or more across 
country. 
Lodge-fire Cookery. 
We had no sheep meat for supper that night, but reallj^, 
we did not need it. Billy Jackson took hold of the posi- 
tion of cheftor: that evemng and proceeded to cook a meal 
big enough for about twice our number, had that number 
not included trencher talent of so pronounced a type. 
Billy Jackson would be. lost in camp without a Dutch oven, 
but once provided with one of those comfortable utensils 
he can do all sorts of wonderful things around a lodge-fire. 
Billy's theory seems to be that it makes no difference what 
you put into one of these cast-iron pots, it is boundi to be 
good when it comes out. In the bottom of the pot he laid, 
this time, a structure of crackers, over which he put two 
or three layers of fresh trout. Then he built on top of this 
a superstructure of beans, pork, tomatoes, beef, macaroni, 
and everything else he could get his hands on, throwing 
in a little salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, etc., for luck, 
as he went along. Billy was busy talking all the time he 
was constructing this imposing dish, and he never seemed 
to give any thought about the amount of salt, pepper or 
anything else he was throwing into the pot, but there must 
have been method in his madness, for out of the charmed 
Dutch oven arose nothing but the most savory odors and 
proceeded nothing but the most toothsome morsels. 
While the bie stew was simmering the coffee-pot was. like- 
wise at work upon another corner of the fire. Presently 
they both were taken off the fire, and with some curiosity 
I interviewed Billy's pot pourn, more especially as to the 
trout, whicih I was confident most be ruined by the sum- 
mary process which had been served upon them. Yet, to 
my sitrprise, the trout were not spoiled at all, but, on the 
contrary, were excellent. They were not baked, nor 
boiled, not fried trout, but steamed trout, and anyone who 
thinks they were not good must be one who was not there 
to help dispose of them. They came out of the p)Ot very 
little disfigured, but cooked thoroughly and ready to fall 
apart at the touch. We ate them all up, and ate up every- 
thing there was in the pot, and drank an unconscionable 
lot of coffee, as hunters in camp will do, and then lay back 
happy around the lodge-fire, nearly all the party hunting 
for pipe and tobacco. 
O-to-ko-mi became more communicative after a time 
and told us of his hunt. Then we began to tell each other 
about others of our hunts, and so the evening sped away. 
Billy Jackson was, as usual, called upon to tell a story of 
his early days, and described to us how he was once enter- 
tained at an Arickaree village when he was returning to 
Lincoln after the disastrous defeat of Custer at the field 
which bears his name. Schultz gave us still further 
descriptions of Indian life and Indian lore, and we were 
well on toward midnight before we realized how late it 
was. Then there was a hurried scramble into the bags, 
for we had concluded that we must make an early start on 
the morrow, which was to be the first day of our general 
sheep hunt. There was a very comfortable feeung in 
camp that we were over the worst of our experiences and 
now upon the point of success in the quest upon which we 
had come so far. E. Hough. 
ia06 BotCE Building, Cnicago. 
A TRIP TO EASTPORT AND THE 
MAINE WOODS. 
We had talked about it, read about it, and dreamed about 
it, but where to spend our summer vacation we did not 
know. Maps too numerous to mention were carefully stud- 
ied and laid aside. Of summer resorts we found" many, and 
the picturesque mountain regions were not overlooked by 
any means. 
Ned , who was to be my companion, was an en- 
thusiastic sportsman. He had made many trips to the Maine 
woods, where so many stories about marvelous catches of 
fish and prodigious bags of game have originated. It was 
through his influence that I consented to go East. We had 
another week before vacation, and during that time we were 
kept busy getting things in readiness for the trip. Our fish- 
ing rods were once more taken from the attic andfreed from 
their dusty coats. The guns, which had-been laid away for 
many months, were disturbed from their quiet resting-place 
and given a general cleaning up. Two cameras, with seve- 
ral dozen plates, completed our outfit. 
On the morning of Aug. 4, two sleepy fellows could have 
been seen at the railroad station anxiously waiting for the 
incoming train. We lost no lime here, as the train arrived 
on scheduled time, and less than two hours after leaving 
Newburyport we arrived in Boston. We made quick time 
across the city to Commercial wharf, where we boarded the 
commodious steamer Cumberland. 
After waiting patiently for neaily Iwo hours we felt re- , 
lieved when the captain came to the forward deds and cried 
out: "All ashore that's going a-horel" Five minutes later 
the ponderous engines began their fifly-two hours of contin- 
uous labor, and the boat moved slowly out of the dock. 
The wharves then appeared to twist and turn and move 
rapidly away. The people who but a moment ago were 
closely gatheied around their friends, appeared now like ' 
mere dots as they wended their way homeward. As we 
moved out to sea, the high buildings of the big city disap- . 
peared from view one by one, until nothing could be seen i 
save the gilded dome of the State House as it flashed back • 
the rays of the morning sun. 
We were due at Eastport at 12:30 next day, and promptly ^ 
at that time the lines from our boat were cast ashore at this 
famous seaport. 
As the steamer moves slowly along coming up the bay 
it gives one an excellent opportunity to view the water front, 
lined with its fleet of vessels. The first thing that impresses 
a stranger, via nostrils, is the herring and sardine industries, 
whose packing houses line the liver front for nearly a mile. 
As we neared the wharf many types of humanity could be' 
seen, which were interesting to look upon, to say the least; 
and as the gangplank was lowered into position they formed 
a line on either side and watched the crowd with keen inter- 
est as they moved slowly ashore. 
Wandering up from the wharf through the main street the 
evidence of the great fire of 1887 is omnipresent in the new 
structures bearing that date, the last one erected being the 
handsome new Government building, built entirfcly of gran- 
ite at a cost of $135,000. 
Throughout the town many quaint old homesteads remain 
to keep alive the memory of the past. Brick sidewalks and 
edgestonea are something unknown to the people of East- 
port. Go where you wish, you will find nothing but plank- 
walks, which in many places are elevated high above the i 
street. The street life here resembles that of any other sea . 
port, where the old fishermen, with rounded backs, gather on 
the street corners and discuss the catches of the past and 
present. 
As one walks around admiring the fine buildings they 
hardly realize that they are on an island; but if they take the 
pains to climb to the top of the hill back of the town, they 
will soon discover that they are surrounded by water, and 
from this place all the matchless beauties of the quaddy 
region unfold themselves as at no other point. Looking north- 
ward, the St. Croix River and Chamcock Mountains are seen 
far below. Eastward, the fair bosom of Quoddy.Uay set with 
its hundred isles. Southward across to Oampobeilo and old 
oce m, and still further to Grand Manan, that lifts its purple 
walls along the horizon until blended out of view. 
Boarding the stanch little steamer that plies between East- 
port and Lubec, we were soon on our way across to North 
Lubec, which lies but three miles away. This quaint and. 
picturesque village is also given up to fish and fishing, and 
hore is situated the summer camp grounds of the New Eng- 
land Y. M. C. A. 
After climbing a long flight of slippery stairs, which had) 
been left uncovered by the receding tide, we found ourselves 
on a high wharf overlooking Chamcock Bay. A few min- 
utes' walk brought us to the top of the hill, and from Iher^ 
all the beauties of the surroundjng country could be seen tof 
advantage. In every direction hills and wooded knolls reaii 
their heads above the forest. Miniature lakes and rivers 
flash back the light of the sun, and stone walls appear like 
strings of beads in their winding course over the hill tops. 
If there ever was a place especially designed to enrapture 
the artist and lovers of nature, it surely must be North 
Lubec. It is possible that nature, when laying out her do- 
mains here below, may have made a more beautiful spot, 
but it is doubtful. The air, far sweeter than any we hat 
ever breathed before, fifled the lungs with a morning brace 
that makes one wish it could be bottled for future use 
Nearly every morning a dense fog bank hangs over the baj 
which lasts nearly all the forenoon; the air being damp and 
heavy, it, of course, makes the surroundings look anything 
but cheerful, ljut when it clears away the view is very strik. 
ing. As the sun creeps up, the heavy mist, which hangs 
like a bridal veil, moves, ghost-like, among the thickly cov 
ered banks and islands, rising higher and higher, in obedi 
ence to the warm rays, till lost to view in the upper ether. 
Time passed very rapidly here in gunning, fishing and 
boating. Plenty of game birds could ba seen at any time ic 
their flight to the numerous islands in the lower bay. Trou^ 
were found quite plentiful, but a trifle small. The brook; 
were very low, and the muddy shores made it almost impos: 
sible to get near the edges. For miles around the shore> 
were cut up with deer tracks, and in many places it was evi.. 
dent that they had no little difficulty in freeing themselvei, 
from the treacherous mud while trying to quench theii 
thirst. Four days had now passed since our arrival a 
Lubec, and for a change we decided to go further dowi 
stream and visit the Passamaquoddy tribe of Indians anc 
learn something about the larger game. Next morning w 
were up bright and early and on our way down stream be 
fore sunrise. 
The tide was flowing at a rapid rate, and it required bu! 
little labor at the oars to carry us along by tbe thicklj 
wooded shores with startling rapidity. We arrived at thf 
