/^OREST A.Mt) STREAM. 
tAPEIL 1$, 1899. 
Winning Alaska Trophies.— I. 
I AM receiving numerous letters from all parts of the 
country wishing to know more about my hunting trip 
of 1S98 in Alaska, and as it is impossible to answer all of 
them, I know of no better way than to just give you a 
short detailed account of it. 
I left Chicago about May 5 and visited friends in near- 
ly every State between there and the Coast, arriving at 
Seattle June 10. I expected to get a boat at once for 
Cook's Inlet,, but was disappointed, as the mail steamer 
only leaves once a month for that part of Alaska. I met 
my friend, Mr. Dall De Neese, of Cation City,. Colo., at 
Salt Lake, and found him a most enjoyable companion 
all the way up to Alaska. While waiting for our boat 
to leave we enjoyed ourselves in going up to Cedar Lake, 
Wash., and had sotne fine sport with speckled trout. We 
also visited a number of places of interest around Seattle 
and Tacoma. 
Our steamer left Seattle June 28. and we had a most 
delightful trip all the way up. We stopped at Fort 
Wrangell, Juneau, Skaguay, Sitka and other points of m- 
terest. It was quite an interesting study to watch the 
miners and prospectors at each of the steamboat land- 
ings, and note the expression on each face. Some were 
returning after months of toil and hardship w'ithout a 
penny in their pocket nor the slightest prospect for the 
tuture. Others were just starting out, their faces all 
aglow and radiant with hope and confidence. It is sur- 
prising to see how many people go up to Alaska and how 
few there are who know the resources of that wonderf-.il 
countVy. Thousands of people go over the trail or 
around by the Yukon to Dawson City, and hardly one 
of them ever "attempts to penetrate the interior. "l had 
sdiAc of the latest Government maps along with me, and 
was^stonishcd to find that not one of them was correct. 
I made some special inquiries into this matter, and found 
that most of the maps were made from supposition, and 
others from descriptions given by Indians, but none from 
real observation, forno one had yet i)enetratfd that coun- 
try. Every little town along die Coast was crowded with 
prospectors. And such prospectors! Nine-tenths of them 
acted more like children at a seaside watering place with 
their little pick and shovel, digging in the chy sand; 
each one of course expected to find miggets ill every 
shovelful of sand; but as they did not find the yellovv 
metal as expected they would get together and discu?*, 
the situation and then blame the whole country. Tllere 
are a few iTien in that country who are not afraid to stem 
the fierce tides or cross the rugged mountains, and those 
are the men who will succeed. 
The Indiaiis along the Cook's Inlet cotmtr.v are quite 
diiterent from those in the eastern part of '.Alaska. I 
found the eastern Indians between Seattle and Sitka a 
very lazy, slovenly class, while those further west were 
much brighter and possessed far more intelligence. Near- 
ly all haA^e neat, comfortable little homes; all spoke tlit 
Russian language, and nearly all belong to the Russian 
Greek Church. I never found a more honest class of 
people in any part of the country than those western 
Alaskan Indians. They never think of touching any- 
thing that does not belong to them. I left my camp for 
weeks at a time Avhere Indians passed every lay, and not 
one article w?as ever molested. 
Our first, landing place in western Alaska was at 
Homer, a large mining camp on Kachemmack Bay. 
From there we took a small steamer which carries mail 
and passengers itp Cook's Inlet. We stopped off at Kui,.- 
si]of,;and through the courtesy of Capt. Weatherby were 
made very comfortable. At this point is located one of 
the largest salmon canneries on the western coast. Capt. 
Weatherby is in charge of it, and is a most worthy gen- 
tleman in every respect. From this point we took a small 
sail"boat and visited all of the towns along the coast on 
both sides of the inlet. It required about ten days to 
make the trip, as the boat was small and the water very 
rough. On our return to Kussilof I parted company 
with Mr. De Neese. He went up the Kussilof River on a 
prospecting trip, while I returned to Homer, where I 
made my permanent headqtiarters. Homer is situated on 
what is known as the Spit, a peninsula running out in 
the Kachemmach Bay. about five miles long and only 
half a mile wide. It is the only place in Alaska which 
I found entirety free from mosquitoes and insects of all 
kinds during the summer months. The shores are teem- 
ing with waterfowl of every description. The eider duck 
especially are very numerous, and a great number of 
other varieties that I had never seen nor heard of before. 
Wild geese are also very plentiful. Most of the ducks 
which are raised in this part of the country winter on the 
west shore of Japan instead of in the United States. The 
waters are alive with nearly every variety of fish. The 
silver salmon is the gamiest fish I saw in that part of the 
country. I have seen those great shining beauties of 10, 
15 and 2olbs. rise to a fly, and maybe you think_I did 
not have fun landing them. 
'While enjoying these sports along the coast of the 
K'achemmach, I would gaze away off in the distance to 
th« far off snowy range of mountains, and with my mind's 
eye could see the great white-fleeced bighorn sheep I 
had heard so much about, but according to the miners 
and prospectors and even the Indians, no human being 
could ever ascend the rugged peaks or cross the deadly 
glaciers. I had come several thousand miles for this 
purpose, however, and to see the promised land and not 
get there was hardly my style of doing things. I tried to 
engage some Indians, but they all said, "Water too 
plenty; mountains no good walk"; or in other words, 
th.e rivers were too rapid and the mountains too hard to 
climb; and none of them cared to endanger their precious 
life, for as a rule they never like to take any risk unle^is it 
is , absolutely necessary. While debating what was the 
best plan to pursue, I met with some gentlemen who 
were anxious to take a little pleasure trip up the bay, and 
four of us started for the mouth of Sheep River. I 
thought that 'if I got up so far as that I would try the 
ascent of the mountains alone and risk all dangers in 
order to get one of the much coveted sheep. 
Our party consisted of Mr. L. M. Morgan, of Illinois: 
M". Harry Gunning, of Brooklyn. N. Y-; A. J. Hill, of 
Paterson,..N. J,, and myself. Our craft was a whaleboat 
rigged with sails and having a cabin large enough for 
four to sleep comfortably in. We reached our destina- 
tion in three days and found a very pleasant place to 
camp, which I named Windy Pointy 'as the wind caused 
from the action of the glaciers blows there contiually. 
You may think it strange for me t<o call this a pleasant 
place to camp; but if you knew how much more pleas- 
ant it is to endure a little wind, even if it is off a glacier, 
than to be eaten alive with mosquitoes and sand flies, 
you would agree with me that it was ctijoyable. Mr. 
Morgan and Mn Hill were both anxious to s'ee a moun- 
tain sheep, and decided to accompany me on my moun- 
tain climb. We baked bread sufficient for a four days* 
trip, and with very scant outfit started. Our route was 
through a deep swamp, and at every step we went over 
our knees and very often to our hips in mud ami water. 
This continued for miles and miles, until we thought 
we could never reach firm footing again, nor even a 
spot where we could rest for a moment; however, wc 
toiled on until we reached the foot of thf, UJioUjitaifli aii'i 
here our hardships begun in earnest. 
I have hunted through the dense forests in Upper Can- 
ada, the Cumberland Mountains in Pennsyhrania, the 
Ozark Mountains in Arkansas, the Rocky Mountains in 
Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, the swamps and cane- 
brakes of Mississippi and Louisiana, and the hummoclcs 
and Everglades of Florida, but in all my experience I 
never undertook anything half so bad as this was. My 
two companions decided to give up and return to camp, 
as it seemed impossible to go one step further. The Un- 
derbrush was so dense atrd matted and the "devil's staft" 
so plentiful that a rabbit could hardly crawl through. 
The "devil's staff" is a growth of underbrush averaging 
about tin. in diameter and about .3 or 4ft. high, and it is 
ten times wttrse than briers, for the thorns arc long and 
.sharp as a sword and very poisonous. Then the rocks 
were so perpendicular that we had to climb up on eacli 
others' shoulders to get over them. I finally persuaded 
my compani<ms to keep going, and we \\>ou!d get to til,? 
One ot the specimens secured by Mr, Lte-. 
lop some time, and by 10 o'clock that night we reached 
timber line. Here we made a shelter of spruce boughs 
and rested for the night. 
The next morning we found that wc were only about 
half way up the mountain. Each of us had a repeating 
rifle. Mr. Morgan had a .45-90 Winchester, Mr. Hifl 
had my .30-40 Winchester, and I staked my faitlt on my 
little .30-30 Savage. At an early hour we started for tbi 
summit of the mountains, and about noon reached the 
top. We saw several signs of sheep along the ledge, but 
the animals themselves were nowhere to be seen. At 
last we looked away across a deep ravine, and saw on a 
distant mountain four little white specks; We hardly knew 
whether they were sheep or snow; but finally we couli 
discern that the objects moved, and we were satisfied 
that they were the long-expected animals we were hunt- 
ing. Now for the wings of an eagle or some other bird 
to waft us over that dreadful deep ravine. We looked 
down and saw the bottom about 3.000ft. below, and the 
rocky cliff on each side almost perpendicular. There was 
no alternative, however; down the rocky ledge we had 
to go, and inch by inch crawled up the other side. One 
unguarded step would mark our destiny forever. Finally 
we reached the opposite mountain and saw the sheep 
about a mile above us. We were almost exhausted, as 
we had had nothing to eat from early morn, and the light 
atmosphere was anything but reviving. It was, indeed, 
almost impossible to breathe. 
Now was the time for the hunter to exert his skill as 
well as his strength. The mountain sheep are considered 
wiliest of all animals to get within range, and especially 
at this season of the year, when everything is in their 
favor. Their great large eyes are always on the lookout 
and their keen ears are ever on the alert for the slightest 
soimd; their nose is in the air most of the time, and so 
acute is their sense of smell that it is said they can easily 
scent danger a mile away; and from my own experience 
I am satisfied that the statement is correct. I also found 
that hunting the Alaskan sheep was quite a different 
proposition from that with those found in the Rocky 
Mountains. The Rocky Mountain sheep are used to see- 
ing numerous animals, such as deer, elk and antelope, 
around them every day, which has a tendency to make 
them less suspicious. The Alaskan sheep sees nothing on 
those bare mountains but animals which they are in con- 
stant dread of, such as bear, wolves and mountain lions. 
It is therefore reasonable to suppose that they are more 
watchful and more apprehensive of all moving objects. 
Our first care was to see from which point the wind was 
blowing; our next was to keep out of sight, and last, 
but not least, to be very cautious not to make the sliglit- 
est noise. Neither of the men along with me seemed to 
realize how important all of these precautions were, and 
T had hard work to keep them from making some serious 
blunders. 
The first difficulty was to get above the sheep. To do 
this we had to make a detour of about three miles. The 
sheep were (Jjsporting themsdves in a little v^Hey 
kctfed ttiofe like ktabkins than, the great, old full-gi-owtl 
fiiales that they were. The females were carefully eon- 
eealed along the deep ledges of the pteCipit^e, guarding 
their little ones» while theif lords and masters were out 
enjoying the sUhShinc, and all the pleasures of their 
mountain life. 
We now separated, Mf. Morgan going to a ledge of 
rock almost over the sheep; Mr, Hill was to go arotmd 
the hill and cut off their retreat, while I femained tiehinff 
some rocks about fiobyds. frotn the sheefl. As soon as. 
Mr. Morgan reached the point of rock, which was about 
Ssyds. from the gamcj he immediately began firing at 
thetn-. Naturally., of course, the sheep were surprised, 
and instead of running direct to the ledges they bunched 
and lofeked in every ditectibn to see where all tile hbjsd 
Was coining from. FinoJly, after MJ-. Morgan ilad'dio- 
Chai-ged aboUt eight sh'ot§ WithbUt tolifchin^ a haii- He 
raised h.is head and the sheep bolted aroiind the hill and 
t'.ahie within 400yds. of the rocks where I was concealed. 
1 kiiew It was a long shot and a hard one, as scathed sHeep 
dt) not give a vei-y easy mark, even at close fitnge, biit it 
was thy only ehf)ncE, and with well-directed aim I drew 
down on the neck of the foremost one, and the ball went 
crashing through the shoulder. The animal fell at the 
report of the gun and the others ran around to when- 
Mr. Hill was standing. He shot seven times, but withoul 
effect. Mr. Morgan ran down the hill and saw the slieeii 
as it fell, and as he did not see either of us shoot, he sup- 
posed he. had killed the sheep, and that it had run that 
far and fallen. I enjoyed his zest and 6ntHUsiashl for 
some time. I never saw a mah fefel so elated in hly life; 
He danced around and threw up his hat and acted like 
a hoy When he catches his first fish. I was so pleased 
at his intense pleasure that I decided not to mention thr.t 
I had killed the animal, for I knew I could easily get an- 
other next day. But when he and Mr. Ilill began to 
examine the bullet hole, they discovered that it wa.s n 
small bullet that had done the Woi'k. and as Mi-. Mbrgafi 
was using a .45-00 the faet began to dawn Upon tiiem that 
ttie shbt must liave cbme from soihe other gun. tie 
looked at me and. asked if I had shbt at the sheep fi-om 
.^uch a distance. I, said I had taken a i-andom shot; but 
he was so close he certainly must have hit some of 
them. No more was said on this matter, and Mr. Mor- 
gan skinned the prize and took the head as a royal 
trophy. We took the meat and set out to our mountain 
camp, which was about seven miles ffom wiiere the 
sheep was killed; 
W*e reached camp. ^ little before dark, tired, wet anJ.. 
nungiry, but sooh a big fire of spruce logs was cracking 
and roaring. Water was brought from the stream a 
few rods distant, and some coffee was put on. Long 
green sticks were cut with three prongs on each one, and 
the choicest part of the fine mutton was broiled, while 
the spare-ribs were put on stfohg skewets to bfoili for 
later use. It vnade a great feast, t am stlre We ate iot 
three hours,. and when We rolled. in oh our spruce boughs 
for the night we felt as thoUgh we Were just as neai" 
cbnten^: as it was possible for mortal man to get. Wfi 
were hunting mountain sheep all night in our dteanis 
and saw some wonderfully fine, spedmcns: 
Next morning, w.aking t)rig'ht and early, we decided 
that Mi-. Morgan should take his trophy and the two 
^ H\nd-qltartefs and go down to our lower camp, which 
Vvas about twenty miles down the mountain, while Mr, 
Hill and I should return to the summit and go up on 
some very high peaks, where I was satisfied there weie 
some monster old rams. 
ft is an easy matter to talk about it, or read about it, 
but when it comes to climbing along the edge of preci- 
pices thousands of feet deep, where every movement 
of hand or foot means life or death, and crossing over 
snowslides, glaciers and peaks perpetually crowned with 
snow, it is quite a different thing. And it is especially 
hard when the thermometer is doWn, down— well, I don t 
want to say how far down it does go on those nloun- 
tains; but it got so intensely cold and dangerous that my 
man could not endure it any longer and had to return to 
camp; yet he had been raised on the borders of northern 
Russia and was a fine specimen of sturdy manhood. He 
tried to prevail on me to return, as he said it was impos- 
.sible for any one to cross a large glacier which was in 
front of us and which must be crossed to get to the 
mountain that I saw in the distance. This glacier was 
about three miles wide, with chasms and fissures all 
through it hundreds of feet deep, and so narrow and 
perpendicular that they could not be seen until one came 
within a few feet of them. T crossed one which was. 
about 2ft. wide. I could not see the bottom of it, but 
could hear the water roaring down some thousands of 
feet below. I was afraid to step across this death hole 
with my boots' on, as the soles were getting very slip- 
pery, and a slip of even tin. meant sure death. So I sat 
down and pulled off my boots and put on an extra pair 
of heavy stockings, which T carried in my pocket, and 
digging a rough place in the ice, with the butt of my rifle 
1 had a firm place to step from; but the other side was 
like a sea of glass, and if I .should fall I would have 
nothing to hold on to, and where I should stop it was 
impossible to tell. Finally I made the spring and lande-.l 
safely and squarely on both feet; I jammed the butt of 
the little rifle into the ice to steady myself, I now ha I 
about two miles to go in my stocking feet, but strange 
to say mv feet did not get cold. 
When I was within 6ooyds. of the opposite side I heard 
a terrible roaring, but could not Jocate Vk'here the noh^\ 
came from. I knew it was the noise of falling water, 
but there was no place visible for such a roaring torrent". 
At times the sound seemed to come from above, the:i 
from one side, and then from another. I then though.!; 
that the glacier was splitting open, but as I proceeded I 
came to the conclusion that it was a river running under- 
the ice. I could not tell how close it was to the sur 
face, and I had to be very careful where I stepped, foT 
it very frequently happens that the ice over those rivers 
is only a few inches thick, and once the ice is broken it 
means a plunge of hundreds and perhaps thousands of 
feet into a watery grave. I continued cautiously until 
the rough shore was reached, and although it looked 
rough and uninviting, it was the happiest moment of 
my life when I felt my feet touch the solid rocks. I sat 
down for a while to rest, and how I wished I %vas back 
across that sea of ice; but my time was limited to a few 
lipurs, and I had to make good use o| evefy moment znA 
