Nov. 12, 1898.] 
I thought I might get some pointers on packing by 
watching them, and this is what I saw: Two men 
worked together in packing, one on each side of the 
mule. The packs, which generally consisted of two 
pieces of equal bulk and weight, one for each side, were 
raised to their places, then for the space of about a 
quarter of a minute the air was full of pack ropes, which 
ended in a final yank of the rope and a groan from the 
mule, and it was there to stay all day. That is just as 
much as I learned about the way Uncle Sam's boys do 
their packing. To one watching them the first time it is 
wonderful. 
At 8 o'clock we were on the move. The ground in Big 
Creek Park, where we started, was bare. We started 
went with the other two Indians, while Captain 
went with me. The Captain and I, after hunting till 2 
o'clock without success, were going to camp. I was 
riding ahead and went into a bog hole, but having a 
small horse, I went through all right. The Captain was 
riding a white mule. Owing to the shape of the mule's 
feet the force of gravitation gets strong when it strikes 
a mud hole. The mule floundered and strove "niuie- 
fully" to keep on top, and the Captain did the "Rough 
Riding" act as gracefully as could be expected, but at the 
close of the first performance he was wandering around 
in the snow, hunting for his hat. He claimed that he 
"got off"; I could testify to the fact that he was off 
anyhow, and we didn't discuss his manner of getting off. 
ful feats of Bat, and as they were all going out next 
day to get in the meat, and have a final hunt. I re- 
quested that I might go along to see Bat perform. We 
all started out together on horseback. Soon we became 
separated, and the General, two of his staff. Bat and 
myself formed a party. Soon we struck a fresh trail of 
some deer. Bat took the lead; soon he dismounted and 
gave me his horse to care for, while he went ahead on 
foot. As he came on top of a rise of ground, he held 
up his hand for us to stop: then we saw him run at full 
speed until he was out of sight, then there commenced 
such a quick succession of firing as I never heard from 
one gun. Of course, we all went quickly to where he 
was, and he said it was elk — five of them. We followed 
ALASKAN HUNTING TROPHIES. 
SKULL OF MASTODON OX YUKON ISLAND. 
for the head waters of Elk River, on the western side of 
the Continental Divide. 
About the middle of the day our progress was retarded 
)y about a dozen mules getting mired in a swamp, all of 
which had to be unpacked before they could be gotten 
out. Here the packers showed the true soldier spirit: 
wading into the snow and mud up to the knees unpack- 
ing the mules, carrying the 200 and 3001b. packs several 
rods to solid footing, and repacking, was all done with- 
out a murmur. A more cheerful, jolly and manly lot of 
men would be hard to find than those coming from 
?ort D. A. Russell, Wyo. 
The snow was becoming deeper as we advanced into 
the mountains, and by the middle of the afternoon we 
were completely swamped, and yet we were three miles 
He was sure he had a hat on when it commenced, but no 
hat could be found. There was no solution to the hat 
question but one — it must have fallen off while the mvtle 
was "stepping deep" in the mire, and coming under one 
of its feet, had gone to the bottom or at least the length 
of a mule's leg. I took off my coat, rolled up my 
sleeve and reached into several of the tracks up to my 
shoulder, but failed to find it. Fortunately he happened 
to have a cap in his pocket, as a precaution against 
storms, and did not suffer any inconvenience. 
Shortly after our coming into camp the two Indians 
and their men came in. One of the Indians had killed a 
small deer, which was all they got. Darkness came on 
and the General had not appeared. About an hour 
after dark one of the officers asked a corporal to fire a 
a few rods and found one unable to run. and it was 
killed; following 100yds. further, another one was 
found, lying down badly wounded, and was killed. 
Then commenced the wonderful .part of the performance. 
Bat got on his horse and started on the trail of the re- 
maining three elk. At that place the ground was bare 
and mostly covered with sod. He rode on a trot most of 
the time, and while keeping a sharp lookout ahead for 
the game followed their trail like a bloodhound, never 
even hesitating to *see. where they had gone; while to the 
ordinary hunter it would have required careful trailing 
on foot to have followed them in most places. After 
watching him awhile, I left them and went to camp, got 
a camp outfit and packers, and went out for the two elk 
they had killed. t 
MAP SHOWING THE ALASKA HUNTING COUNTRY DESCRIBED BY MR. LEE. 
By courtesy of Mr. Thos. C. Dunn. 
from the top of the divide, and as it was sure to keep 
increasing in depth as we went on, it was wisely decided 
to turn back, retrace our steps about four miles to 
Buffalo Park, and take another route, leading to Snake 
River. 
By the hour we reached Buffalo Park, where we were 
to strike the other trail, it was time to camp. While 
we were making camp, the Indians, who had been ramb- 
ling all over the country by themselves, and who saw 
our movements when we turned, from a high peak one 
and a half miles away, came in with a deer they had 
killed. The next morning we started on our new course, 
and after going through some very rough country ar- 
rived at our intended camp at dark. 
The next morning the General and Bat took the 
course pointed out as being the best elk country — for 
it was elk they were after specially, Three of the others 
shot; he did so, and we heard a shot in reply, but a 
long distance away. In about an hour another shot was 
fired at camp, and a shot in reply was heard half a mile 
away, and about 9 o'clock the General and Bat came 
riding into camp. The General said they had a grand 
hunt; had found a band of about sixty elk, and he had 
killed three. The next morning the General, very un- 
selfishly, proposed that he should stay in camp, while 
Bat would lead the rest of the party out to find the 
band, and give them a chance. I was directed to go 
further west and locate another camo ground to be 
used if we wished to move camp. The whole party 
returned in the evening, feeling jubilant over one of the 
biggest day's hunts of their lives. They had killed eight 
elk. That was entirely satisfactory to everybody, and 
there was no thought of moving camp. 
The General had been telling me some of the wonder- 
As we came to the spot and were about to begin 
packing, we heard some one calling at a long distance; 
looking around we saw some men away on top of a 
mountain, over a mile away, who seemed to be trying 
to attract our attention, but they were so far away we 
could not tell what they were trying to tell us. We went 
up with the pack outfit, and there we found Bat and the 
others, whom I had left, with two more of the elk that 
we were after, both of which had been badly wounded 
by Bat's first onslaught. The fifth one had also been, 
wounded, but for want of time they could not follow it. 
Bat was fully 100yds. away from the bunch of elk when 
they commenced running and he commenced shooting." 
He was shooting through thick timber, and while they 
were getting out of his reach, he wounded all of them, 
mostly fatal wounds. This ended the killing, as they 
wouldn't even look for any more, That was the largest 
