8^8 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
idct. 2i, 
“Two ot liers escaped .and reached Santa Fe in safety. 
The mill and Turley’s house were sacked and gutted, 
and all his hard-earned savings, .which were consid- 
erable- and concealed in gold about the house, were 
discovered, and oi' course seized up'on by the victorious 
■ Mexicans. . - 
“The Indians, however, met a tew days after with a 
severe retribution.- The troops rparched out of Santa 
Ibe,'- -attacked their ' -puebloi :and -leveled it to the ground, 
killing many hundreds of ms defenders and taking many 
prisdnersj most ot-iwfhoni-iw-ere liange'd.” 
The man Otterbees Or One bv, was a Mexican, or 
half Mexican, well Kn 0 wr 5 - in the West from 1840 to 
1850. His Cheveiiiie wire, now about eighty-six years 
old, still resides 111 Oklahoma, where also he has a son, 
a half-breed, ot good intelligence. 
At this time the tur ot the beaver had been sup- 
planted by other and cheaper materials, so that beaver 
fur, which formerly brought $8 a pound, now brought 
but $1. For this reason, many, if not most, of the 
trappers, had for the time being ceased their work, and 
many of them had settled down on farms in the moun- 
tains, where, though professing to farm, they raised 
little from the ground except corn, but subsisted almost- 
entirely on the game, which was so enormously abun- 
dant. The author has much to say about the trap- 
pers and their ways of life, and much also about the- 
Arapaho Indians, camps of whom were in the vicinity 
of the fort through much of the winter. He made many 
solitary hunting trips away from the fort, and of one 
of these, to the head of the Fontaine-qui-bouille, he 
paints a pleasing picture: 
“Never was there such a paradise for hunters as this 
lone and solitary spot. The shelving prairie, at the 
bottom of which the springs are situated, is entirely sur- 
rounded by rugged mountains, and containing perhaps 
two or three acres of excellent grass, affords a sate 
pasture to their animals, which would hardly care to 
wander from such feeding, and the salitrose rocks they 
love so well to lick. Immediately overhead Pike’s Peak, 
■at an elevation of 12,000 feet above the level of the sea, 
towers high into the clouds, - while from the fountain, 
like a granitic amphitheatre, ridge after ridge, clothed 
with pine and cedar, rises and meets the stupendous 
mass of mountains, well called ‘Rocky,’ which 
stretches far away north and southward, their gigantic 
peaks being visible above the strata of clouds rvhich 
hide their rugged bases. 
“This first day the sun shone out bright and warm, 
and not a breath of wind ruffled the evergreen foliage of 
the cedar groves. Gay-plum^ged birds were twittering 
ni the shrubs, and ravens and magpies were chattering 
overhead, attracted by the meat I had hung upon a 
tree; the. mules, having quickly filled themselves, were 
lying round the spring, basking lazily in the sun; and 
myself, seated on a pack, and pipe in mouth, with rifle 
ready at., my .side, indolently enjoyed the rays, which 
reverberated (pc) from the white reck on which I was ; 
lying, ivere deliciously warm and soothing. A piece of 
rock, detached from the mountainside and tumbling ‘ 
noisily-;.down, ’ caused me to look up in the direction" 
whence, it came. ..Half a dozen big-horns, or Rocky; 
Mountain she^,' perched on the pinnacle of a rock, 
were ga.'zing rvonderingly upon the prairie, where the ■ 
mules were rolling enveloped in clouds of dust. The 
enormous horns of the mountain sheep appeared so 
disproportioilably heavy, that I every moment ex- 
pected to see them lose their balance and topple over the 
giddy height. .My. motions frightened them, and jump- 
ing from rock to rock, they quickly disappeared up the 
steepest part of the mountain. At the same moment a 
herd of blacktail deer crossed the corner of the glade 
within rifle shot of me, but, fearing the vicinity of In- 
dians, I refrained from firing before I had recon- 
noitred the. vicinity for signs of their recent presence. 
“Immediately over me, on the left bank of the stream, 
and high above the springs, was a small plateau, one of 
many which are seen on the mountainsides. Three 
buffalo bulls were here quietly feeding, and remained 
the whole afternoon undisturbed. I saw from the sign 
that they had very recently drunk at the springs, and 
that the little prairie where my animals were feeding 
v-as a frequent resort of solitary bulls.” 
In pleasant discursive fashion, the author tells of 
buffalo and bears, and mountain sheep; and mentions 
among other things, concerning this species, that sev- 
eral attempts have been made to secure the young of 
mountain sheep and transport them to the States. None 
of these, however, have been successful. Old Bill Wil-, 
liams even took with him into the mountains a troop 
of milch goats, by which to bring up the young sheep, 
but, though capturing a number of lambs, he did not 
.succeed in reaching the frontier with a single one. 
He reports also the superstition of the Canadian 
trappers concerning the carcagieu, which we know as 
the wolverine, and tells of a reported battle which an 
old Canadian trapper said that he had had with one of 
these animals, and which lasted upward of two hours, 
during which he fired a pouchful of balls into the ani- 
mal’s body, which spat them out as fast as they were 
shot in. Two days later, in company with the same 
man, the author, in looking over a ridge, saw a wolver- 
ine, and shot at it, as it was running off, without effe; 
For this'he was derided by the Canadian, who declar 
that if he had shot fifty balls at the carcagieu it wot] 
not have cared at all. 
One night, when camped on the Platte, the auth 
woke hp; and looking out of his blanket, saw sittii 
before the fire a huge gray wolf, his eyes closed a 
his jhead nodding in sheer drowsiness. 
The last day of April, Ruxton set out to cross, t 
plains , for Fort Leavenworth, intending to return ^ 
England. 'Soon afterward they reached Bent’s Fort, a 
a little later were joined by a number of Fremon 
men, and by Kit Carson, who were returning . frd 
California. I hey passed a Cheyenne camp, and befo 
very long were well out on the plains, and in the buffa 
country. Concerning the abundance of these anima! 
Ruxton tells the same extraordinary stories that 
old-timers relate. He hunted buffalo both by “approachin; 
and by running; and tried many experiments with tliej 
great beasts. One night the camp ' was almost r 
down by a vast herd of buffalo, but all hands bei; 
aroused, they managed by firing their guns and maki: 
all the noise they could, to split the herd, so that ti 
two branches passed around instead of over them. .1 
At length the party approached Council Crove, ai 
the more humid country, where the eastern timber w| 
found, which, to Ruxton, and to the Missourians of t| 
party, looked like old friends. : 
Some little time was spent at Fort Leavenwort 
where the change from the free life of prairie and mou 
tain was found by Ruxton to be very unpleasant. 
he suffered still more when he reached St. Louis, a' 
was obliged to assume the confining garb of civilizatic 
and above all, to put his feet into shoes. -i 
Ruxton’s journey from St. Louis to New York wi 
uneventful, and in July he left for England, which 
reached in the middle of August, 1847. i 
It was after this that he wrote a series of sketcln 
entitled “Life in the Far West,” which were afterwa 
published in Blackwood’s Magazine, and finally 
book form in England and America. These sketch 
purport to give the adventures of a trapper. La Bon;! 
during fifteen years’ wandering in the mountains, al 
set forth trapper and mountain life of the day. Th 
show throughout the greatest familiarity with the ol 
time life. The author’s effort to imitate the diale 
spoken by the trappers, makes the conversation n 
always easy to read; but they are most interesting : 
faithful pictures of life in the mountains between 18 
and 1840 — at the end of the days of the beaver. 
Ceo'rge Bird Grinnell. 
The Biography of a Bear. — V, 
Notwithstanding many disadvantages, California and 
the Pacific States are being socially and politically organ- 
ized. Here and there, as my friend Enochs might have 
asserted, there are unmisiakable indications of civiliza- 
tion — but these symptoms are somewhat promiscuous and 
intangible. While the word “civilized” is in itself some- 
what overladen with incongruity, in its application to the 
Far West it is considerably -strained. . 
For about fiftj^ years — or, say, since the An^lo-Saxon 
began to abolish the Spanish padres and the natives of 
the Pacific slope — the coast, and particularly the territory 
comprising California, has been a sort of hunting ground 
for vandals of all degrees of enlightenment and depravity. 
Adventurers surged into this region from all parts of the 
world, when the discovery of gold was announced, and 
they came with about every ambition and desire but those 
most laudable in human endeavor. 
There have been tomes of sentimental prevarication 
written, printed and believed in by the unsophisticated, 
about the noble pioneer, ih.e heroic fighters of, Indians, the 
honest miners and the giants of the 'West I sifi cribe to 
hardy , pioneers, Indian killers, ayaiic ous 1 uners— and 
here and there to a .Western gianf who- .strove against 
overwhelming circumstances and disadvantages — but I 
balk there. Material evidences and immaterial traditions 
do not amalgamate. The world knows it, and California 
cannot afford to waste time deceiving herself-r-cannot 
afford 'to be antagonistic to her real resources'. She has 
lauded herself by singing her own praises, pitched to false 
tunes, until she is hoarse-- her song is only , sweet to the 
singer. > 
The plain truth is that California is becoming civilized 
in spite of a vandal population. In spite of the hordes 
of transient, uncouth, greedy and avaricious ruffians that 
have left her ravaged and scarred and betrayed, to the 
extent of their abilities. Her real history is imperishably 
recorded and there is blood and crime enough upon the 
pages. Her conquest , is not a theme for heroic eulogism 
and unadulterated glorification. She should be content to 
speak softly, and tread lightly the path to reformation 
and reclamation. She is not. 
From a thousand commanding summits of the Sierras 
one may scan the wondrous panorama comprehending a 
vast portion of- California and^ the coast. Mountains, 
mountains — great prolific valleys and uplands, a maze of 
water courses, torrents, streams and rivers and lakes — 
all as clear and pure as any in the world, wherever they 
remain undisturbed and uncontaminated by the most de- 
structive operations known — lumbering and mining opera- 
tions. Let anvone, who has traveled over the regions he 
surveys from the sumpiits of the Sierras, ponder upon 
these things. Let him consider what there is and what 
there might have been — what there doubtless will be. Let 
him tell us what there is in these regions that is sufficient 
apology for the white man’s intrusion upon and occupa- 
tion of .them. Aside from two or three unavoidably com- 
mercial cehtdrs there is, in a terse and popular expression 
of the penod, nit. 
The principal achievements of the white man in this 
Pacific realm comprise wagon roads, railroads, a few 
hundred towns and two or three cities. Many of the 
wagon roads have been killing horses, mules, men and 
other burdened beasts, prematurely, for fifty years. These 
roads are not as well kept in their way as were the trails 
formrl}- used by the Indians. The road fund of every 
county government is a large item in the distribution of 
public money, but it is a problem beyond solution why so 
little is accomplished with it. The roads, in the main, 
are as badly laid off, as rocky and dusty, and as un- 
molested by real improvement as cattle trails. ' ■ If some 
of the old horses of California and Nevada should come 
upon a good stretch of road they would either collapse 
ivith ecstacy or drop dead with apprehension and dis- 
trust. 
The railroads of the coast — properly the railroad — is 
not an unmitigated nuisance, as has been frequently as- 
serted. Although it brings with it many undesirable 
things it takes them sometimes away again, possibly be- 
cause it has a way of collecting everything it can reach. 
It charges all the “traffic will bear,” or a little more, by 
way of apology for not keeping itself in a decent or safe 
state of repair. It argues , that its rates are so high it 
cannot get enough business to keep itself in' order, and 
that if its rates are reduced it would not be able to handle 
the increased, traffic. Its minor employes live in hope, 
having in the main no other apparent object in doing it; 
while its higher officials and manipulators prosper accord- 
ing to the fluctuations of products from the mines, lum- 
ber, live stock, harvests, etc., whatever there is they take 
.with picturesque avidity. The roads were built, operated, 
financed and scuttled with a science that is historically 
unique. The most pathetic thing in connection with their 
manipulation has been, and is, the complacency and 
pusillanimity with which a fully cognizant people submit 
to the tyranny of brigands. 
In the matter of towns California is a wonder. About 
80 per cent, of her population lives or abides in the towns. 
These towns are fairly well equipped, according to popu- 
lar sentiment. In the State’s capital, where about 30,000 
people sojourn quietly, and where about to.ooo more go 
and sta}' until run in— or run out — by the police, there 
were, in 1891, 444 saloons and places of business where 
whisky and beer could be purchased in any quantity, 
besides some stores that dealt jn other staples. There 
were many churches, places of entertainment and amuse- 
ment, but there was no clash between them and the 
former industries. Sacramento is a comparatively placid 
town. 
San Francisco is a still more important western center, 
of which the world hears more or less misrepresentation. 
It is what might be designated an impetuous city in sev- 
eral of its tendencies. In its city hall I heard one of its 
former mayors declare it (the hall) the “dearest” spot 
in the world — and no one protested of a very large audi- 
ence. The city hall of San Francisco is a monument to 
commemorate lack of political integrity and predominant 
corporate Iscariotism. Its very foundations were stuffed 
with rubbish and its turrets crumble in dusty tribute to 
rotten contracts. Several of the principal streets a 
densely populated and paved considerably with cobb) 
stones. A large portion of its inhabitants are engagi 
in traveling upon ferryboats between the city proper a; 
Oakland, Shelf Mound, Alameda and the races ; or 
rail and trolley to the parks, the ocean, Ingleside a.’ 
the Chutes. The Chutes is a kind of zoological infer? 
for caged animals, incubator babes and other unfortuna 
tourists. These adjuncts are tributary to the railroac 
which are owned more or less in common by several pe. 
so,ns. During the late war in the Philippines the cf 
transacted considerable business with the Federal Goi 
ernment, with about the average, amount of harmle; 
necessary scandal. Newspapers are among its expor. 
and some of them are notably versatile and adaptive. 
in all, the city is a culminating point for 'Western ente 
prise. 
Many of these developments may be seen or conjecture 
from the elevations of the coast, but the contemplati; 
observ^er wonders why the interior of California is n! 
more dispersedly occupied. Some of the ranches ha^ 
many square miles of territory under fence, and the sd 
is cultivated here and there by the less influential of t! 
people. There are some farm and country houses; b; 
the better class and more pretentious dwellings cluster ; 
a few points, whence no especial advantages ensue. Tl 
rocky coves on the southern coast, cactus wates in soutl 
ern California, and the sand hills about Bodega Bay, ai 
infested with most of the population. They are addict! 
to high architecture, steeples and roof gardens, or subte. 
ranean excavation — preferring perpendicular methods t 
lateral expansion. ' i 
A fortuitous earthquake may some time shake up son 
of these central meccas and disseminate them promise? 
ously. This could occur only at some expense, but ■ 
would be quite generally advantageous. California is e:; 
pansive enough to accommodate a disintegrated town c 
two. 
The mines and mineral products of the State 'have bet 
and are a detriment to local utility and value, and hand 
cap more rational development. The energy, blood an 
treasure that have been expended in excavations and i 
digging holes in the rock, which are in the main of r! 
possible value, not even as a feature of “improvemenj 
or development, might have embellished the State wii 
marble palaces. Millions of money and armies of me 
have been used in exploring California mines. Tl' 
product seems chiefly to have gone glimmering, or bac 
to China. The State has little to show. ^ 
At the present time primitive methods of destruction :! 
mining have been partially suspended, and the princip 
operators of that industry are now smelting such poisoii 
ous matter as they dig out. The smelter, as a means (j 
destruction, is the climax of supernatural ingenuity. 5 
general use it would devastate the world in about tl, 
same space of time that an universal conflagration woul 
and cause much more suffering and nausea. "With coi‘ 
siderable government encouragement two or three co; 
porations are reducing northern California, at the preset 
time, to a few tons of copper and by-products The coj 
