Aug. 6, 1904.] 
FOREST AND SI REAM 
109 
working. Il being necessary to build another canoe, Pike 
again wenj off to bunt to a stream where much elk and 
buffalo sign had been seen. The day following was spent 
in hunting, but with very little result; and the account 
which Pike gives of it shows how little the explorer and 
his party knew about the game that they were pursuing, 
or the proper methods of securing it. He says : "I was 
determined, if we came on a trail of elk, to follow them 
a day or two in order to kill one. This, to a person ac- 
quainted with the nature of those animals and the extent 
of the prairie in this country, would appear— what it 
really was — a very foolish resolution. We soon struck 
where a herd of 150 had passed; pursued, and came in 
sight about eight o'clock, when they appeared, at a dis- 
tance, like an army of Indians moving along in single file; 
a large buck, of at least four feet between the horns, lead- 
ing the van, and one of equal magnitude bringing up the 
rear. We followed until near night without once being 
able to get within point-blank shot.' I once made Miller fire 
at them with his musket at about 460 yards' distance; 
it had no other effect than to make them leave us about 
five miles behind on the prairie. Passed several deer in 
the course of the day, which I think we could have killed, 
but did not fire for fear of alarming the elk. Finding that 
it was no easy matter to kill one, I shot a doe through 
the body, as I perceived by her blood where she lay down 
in the snow ; yet, not knowing how to track, we lost her. 
Shortly after saw three elk by themselves near a copse of 
woods. Approached near them and broke the shoulder 
of one, but he ran off with the other two just as I was 
about to follow. Saw a buck deer lying on the grass; 
shot him between the eyes, when he fell over. I walked 
up to him, put my foot on his horns, and examined the 
shot; immediately after which he snorted, bounced up, 
and fell five steps from me. This I considered his last 
effort; but soon after, to our utter astonishment, he 
jumped up and ran off. He stopped frequently; we pur- 
sued him, expecting him to fall every minute ; by which 
we were led from the pursuit of the wounded elk. After 
being wearied out in this unsuccessful chase, we returned 
in pursuit of the wounded elk, and when we came up to 
the party, found him missing from the flock. Shot another 
in the body, but my ball being small, he likewise escaped. 
Wounded another deer; when, hungry, cold, and fatigued, 
after having wounded three deer and two elk, we were 
obliged to encamp in a point of hemlock woods on the 
head of Clear River. The large herd of elk lay about one 
mile from us in the prairie. Our want of success I ascribe 
to the smallness of our balls, and to our inexperience in 
following' the track after wounding the game, for it is 
very seldom a deer drops on the spot you shoot it. 
"Sunday, November 3.— Rose pretty early and went in 
pursuit of the elk. Wounded one buck deer on the way. 
We made an attempt to drive them into the woods, but 
their leader broke past us, and it appeared as if the drove 
would have followed him, though they had been obliged to 
run over us. We fired at them passing, but without effect. 
Pursued them through the swamp till about ten o'clock, 
when I determined to attempt to make the river, and for 
that purpose took a due south course. Passed many 
droves of elk and buffalo, but being in the middle of an 
- immense prairie, knew it was folly to attempt to shoot them. 
Wounded several deer, but got none. In fact, I knew I 
could shoot as many deer as anybody, but neither myself 
nor company could find one in ten, whereas one expe- 
rienced hunter would get all. Near night struck a lake 
about five jniles long and two miles wide. Saw immense 
droves of elk on both banks. About sundown saw a herd 
crossing the prairie toward us. We sat down. Two 
bucks, more curious than the others, came pretty close. I 
struck one behind the fore shoulder ; he did not go more 
than twenty yards before he fell and died. This was the 
cause of much exultation, because it fulfilled my deter- 
mination; and, as we had been two days and nights with- 
out victuals, it was very acceptable. Found some scrub 
oak. In about one mile made a fire, and with much labor 
and pains got our meat to it, the wolves feasting on one 
half while we were carrying away the other. We were 
now provisioned, but were still in want of water, the snow 
being all melted. Finding my drought very excessive in 
the night, I went in search of water, and was much sur- 
prised, after having gone about a mile, to strike the Mis- 
sissippi. Filled my hat and returned to my companions. 
"November 4.— Repaired my moccasins, using a piece of 
elk's bone as an awl. We both- went to the Mississippi 
and found we were a great distance from the camp. I left 
Miller to guard the meat, and marched for camp. Ftaving 
strained my ankles in the swamps, they were extremely 
sore, and the strings of my moccasins cut them and made 
them swell considerably. Before I had gone far I dis- 
covered a herd of ten elk; approached within fifty yards, 
and shot one through the body. He fell on the spot, but 
rose again and ran off. I pursued him at least five miles, 
expecting every minute to see him drop. I then gave 
him up. When I arrived at' Clear River, a deer was stand- 
ing on the other bank. I killed him on the spot, and while 
1 was taking out the entrails another came up. I shot him 
also. This was my last ball, and then only could I kill ! 
Left pari of my clothes at this place to scare the wolves. 
' Arrived at my camp at dusk, to the great joy of our men, 
who had been to our little garrison to inquire for me, and 
receiving no intelligence, had concluded we were killed by 
the Indians, having heard them fire on the opposite bank. 
The same night we saw fires on the opposite shore in the 
prairie; this was likewise seen in the fort, when all the 
men moved into the works." 
It was now the middle of November, and the river was 
closing up. Pike was obliged to hunt practically all the 
time, and was impatient, of the slavish life led by the 
hunter, and the necessity of working all the time to sup- 
port his party. Under such conditions the pursuit of 
game becomes work, and not play. 
After the winter had finally set in, Indians began to be 
seen ; some of them Sioux, Yanktons, and Sissetons, as 
well as some Menominees. 
A considerable part of the month of December was 
spent at various camps along the Mississippi River, below 
the mouth of theCrowwing River, and the time was de- 
voted to killing game and making preparations for the 
northward journey. About the middle of. the month Pike 
started with sleds, sometimes hauled by men across the 
prairies, and sometimes along' the ice on the river, wher- 
ever it was heavy enough to bear the load. The way 
was hard, and sometimes but short trips could be made 
with the sleds. As there was little or no snow, the men 
were obliged to double up, hauling a sled for a short dis- 
tance, and then leaving it to go back and haul the next 
tine along. One of the sleds broke through the ice, and 
everything it contained was wetted, including a consider- 
able "portion of the powder. Pike found his various duties 
laborious, for he was at once "hunter, spy, guide, com- 
manding officer, etc." 
In January he met a Mr. Grant, an English trader, by 
whom he was hospitably received and well treated. About 
the middle of the month, finding that his sleds were too 
heavy to be hauled through the snow, he manufactured 
toboggans, which would be more easily hauled, even if 
they carried smaller loads. 
On the first of February he reached Lake La Sang Sue, 
now known as Leech Lake. This Pike believed to be the 
main source of the Mississippi. The lake crossed, he 
stopped at a trading post of the Northwest Fur Company, 
where his men arrived five days later. Here he hoisted 
the American flag in place of the English flag which he 
had found still flying; and after a few days went north 
to Upper Red Cedar Lake, which we now know as Cass 
Lake, Minnesota. This was a country passed over in 
1798 by David Thompson, a great explorer, whose jour- 
neyings not long ago were edited, together with those of 
Alexander Henry, the younger, by Dr. Elliott Coues. 
Pike was now in the country of the Chippewas, whom 
he knew by their other name, Sauteurs, and on July 
16 held a council with them, notifying them that_ the 
country was no longer in the possession of the British, 
advising them to make peace with the Sioux, and asking 
some of their chiefs to go with him to St. Louis, where 
they should see General Wilkinson. His talk with the 
Indians was pleasantly received, and they made no diffi- 
culty about giving up their flags and medals, which were 
to be replaced by flags and medals of the Americans. Two 
well known young men of the Sauteurs, living hereabout, 
expressed their willingness to accompany the explorer to 
St. Louis, and a day or two later Pike struck out in a 
southerly and southeasterly direction, to return to his fort 
on the Mississippi. He reached that river about March I, 
and found all his people well. 
Pike was now prepared to start south as soon as the 
river broke up, and to report success in all directions ; 
a success due entirely to his own astonishing energy and 
industry, for he alone had made the expedition what it 
was. Something of what he felt he expressed when he 
wrote : 
"Ascended the mountain which borders the prairie. On 
the point of it I found a stone on which the Indians had 
sharpened their knives, and a war-club half finished. 
From this spot you may extend the eye over vast prairies 
with scarcely any interruption but clumps of trees, which 
at a distance appear like mountains, from two or three of 
which the smoke rising in the air denoted the habitation 
of the wandering savage, and too often marked them out 
as victims to their enemies, from whose cruelty I have 
had the pleasure in the course of the winter and through 
a wilderness of immense extent to relieve them, as_ peace 
has reigned through my mediation from the prairie Des 
Chiens to the lower Red River. If a subaltern with but 
twenty men at so great a distance from the seat of his 
Government could effect so important a change in the 
minds of these savages, what might not a great and inde- 
pendent power effect, if, instead of blowing up the flames 
of discord, they exerted their influence in the sacred cause 
of peace?" 
He was frequently seeing Indians, and he was treated 
with great respect and hospitality by all of them. He was 
especially impressed by his neighbors, the Menominees, 
in whom he recognized many good qualities. 
On the morning of April 7, 1806, the party started on 
the return journey, and made good time down the river, 
reaching the Falls of St. Anthony, where Minneapolis 
now stands, on the morning of April 10. Below here, on 
the following day, at the mouth of St. Peter's River, was 
found a camp of Sioux, including several bands, and Pike 
had a talk with them. The council-house was capable of 
containing 300 men, and there were forty chiefs present, 
and forty pipes set against the poles. At the council all 
these Sioux smoked the Chippewa pipes, excepting three, 
who were still mourning for their relations killed during 
the winter. Within the next two or three days he met 
important Sioux chiefs, Little Crow and Red Wing, who 
were extremely cordial, . and emphatic in expressing their 
wish to carry out the instructions which Pike had given 
them. 
From here down the river the journey was interrupted 
only by occasional talks with Indians, until Prairie Des 
Chiens was reached, where there were many white peo- 
ple, and Pike received the first news of the outside world 
he had had for many months. He saw here a great game of 
la crosse on the prairie between Sioux on one side and Win- 
nebagoes and Foxes on the other. Councils were held 
here with various bands of Sioux, and with the Winne- 
bagoes. On April 23 they once more started down the 
river, but were delayed by a head wind. Two days later 
Captain Many, of the U. S. Army, was met on his way 
up the river in search of some Osage prisoners among the 
Sacs and Foxes. At some of the Indian camps passed, all 
the people were drunk — sure sign of the proximity of the 
white men. 
This practically completes Pike's voyage, for he reached 
St. Louis April 30, after an absence of eight months and 
twenty-two days. After this expedition followed the 
journey to the head of the Arkansas, and the subsequent 
passage through New and Old Mexico. 
Geo. Bird Grinnell. 
[te be concluded.] 
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The Rocky Mountains Park. 
Rocky Mountains Park of Canada, Banff. — Editor 
Forest and Stream: I send you a description of a very 
few of the many points of interest to be found in the 
National Park of Canada. To give a detailed description 
of the entire reservation would, I am sure, try your kind 
offer of space in the Forest and Stream, for such a 
write-up would fill a very large book. 
It was in 1886, during the construction of the Canadian 
Pacific Railway, that the Canadian National Park, a large 
reservation in the very heart of the Rocky Mountains, was 
chosen by the Dominion Government for its beauty, sub- 
limity, and healthfulness, as the great breathing place of 
the nation. 
At that time the area of the park was 260 square miles. 
The topographical survey of the Rocky Mountains was 
begun by the Department of the Interior in 1887, and 
continued until 1892. J. J. McCarthur, D.L.S., and W. S. 
Drewery, D.L.S., were in charge. In the performance of 
their work these gentlemen, to use a Western expression, 
climbed more peaks than you could shake a stick at. Since 
then such well known explorers and mountaineers as Ed- 
ward Whymper, A.C. ; Dr. J. N. Collie, F.R.S., and Rev. 
Jas. Outram, as well as W. D.- Wilcox, F.R.G.S., Pro- 
fessor Fay, A.M.C., and others from across the southern 
boundary have spent several years in exploring and climb- 
ing to the summits of our highest peaks. 
Within the last few years the influx of mountaineers, 
artists, photographers, hunters, and general lovers of 
nature in its wildest forms, seemed to necessitate the en- 
largement of the original reservation. In the spring of 
1902, therefore, a bill was introduced in the Dominion 
Parliament by the Hon. Clifford Sifton, Minister of the 
Interior, providing for its extension on a very large scale. 
The Dominion now has two parks at the backbone of the 
Rockies. They are the Rocky Mountains Park with Banff 
as its center, and the Yoho Park, with Field as. its chief 
point. The two parks adjoin, and so for all practical pur- 
poses they constitute one park. The area of the Rocky 
Mountains Park now is 4,900 square miles, or 3,136,000 
acres. Yoho is 832 square miles in extent; so the entire 
park area is 5,732 square miles, or 3,668,480 acres. 
The addition to the Rocky Mountains Park is in the 
form of a huge right-angled triangle, with the backbone 
of the Rockies — the boundary line between the Northwest 
Territories and British Columbia— as its longest side; all 
the land is thus in the Territories. Yoho Park is in the 
railway belt on the British Columbia side of the 
mountains. 
By the setting aside of the two park areas the Dominion 
has assumed control of the grandest accessible scenery in 
the whole Rocky Mountain area. Yet, though Banff has 
become a household word in Canada, the United States, 
and even in Britain, though every visitor to the park is en- 
thralled by what he sees, though it is freely admitted that 
Switzerland takes a second place when compared with 
Canada's sea of mountains, there is, after all, very little 
known of Canada's great park. Every day new beauty 
spots are being revealed, and celebrated mountain climbers 
and topographers are constantly visiting and exploring 
this park. This is particularly the case with scientific men 
from Europe. There is no particular incentive for scien- 
tific men to go to Switzerland, a country that has been 
thoroughly explored, while in the Canadian park there are 
any number of mountains that have never been climbed, 
and valleys, gorges, and lakes that have never been visited. 
Every visitor carries a camera, and the many new scenes 
of grandeur that are revealed after each trip do much to 
spread the fame of Canada's great park. 
Yoho Park Extension. 
Yoho derives its name from the Indian expression indi- 
cative of great astonishment, and well is it named; what 
grander sight can be . imagined than -a volume of water 
200 yards wide taking this mighty leap of over 1,400 feet. 
If the stoical Indian utters expressions of surprise and 
wonder when he enters the Yoho Valley, how much more 
does the white traveler. Shortly after entering the valley, 
there comes to the ears a noise like that of a sob, and 
further in the sobbing grows until there finally breaks to 
view the great Takakkaw Falls, almost ten times higher 
than Niagara, dropping over the face of the_ mountain. 
This mighty stream flows the year around, giving forth 
the strange pulsations and sobbing sounds, until every 
nerve in the body seems to wait to catch a new sensation. 
Newcomers stand , spellbound and seem never to tire of 
watching this wonderful work of nature. Three distinct 
sobs are heard of different volume; one starts low and 
indistinct, the second is very apparent, and the third is so 
loud that it fairly takes your breath; then every few 
seconds this is repeated over and over again. The noise 
and roar usual in waterfalls is lacking here, for before 
the stream has completed its drop of 1,400 feet, the water 
has become clouds of spray and opaque in color, falling 
more like so much rain. Mr. Whymper, the celebrated 
mountain climber, declared that it is "Unparalleled by 
anything I have seen in the Alps, Himalayas, or the 
Andes." 
■ Yoho is characterized by large waterfalls, great glaciers, 
huge peaks, and it has so much wonderful and beautiful 
scenery that it is eminently adapted for the purpose of a 
public park. The mountains in the Yoho are very largely 
peaks, while in the Rocky Mountains Park the general 
tendency is toward huge parallel ranges, though of course 
there are many fine peaks, too. 
The Canadian Pacific. Railway Company has such faith 
in the Yoho and its attractions, that last year they spent 
over $100,000 there in the erection of hotels. During the 
past year about twenty-five miles of good driving roads 
have been built in this portion of the reservation, as well 
as many miles of bridle paths leading to various points of 
interest. , • ■ • .,".) t • ■ 
One purpose intended to be effected by the enlargement 
of the park area, is the protection of game. In its former 
size the park was too small to afford adequate protection; 
but the area is now so great that it is expected that all 
kinds of game will be found in it practically for all time 
to come. Already there are bear, moose, elk, antelope, 
red deer, mule deer, mountain sheep, mountain goats, 
wolves, coyotes, and minor fur-bearing animals, .while in 
the many rivers and lakes there are grayling, mountain 
trout, salmon trout, rainbow trout, and other fish. The 
park area is now so large that even if there is a little 
