570 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 8, 1910. 
from below. The goats, frightened by his ap¬ 
pearance, would scamper for the south side of 
the mountain, traveling up hill. 
By daybreak I was toiling up the steep side 
of the hill through the heavy mist. 1 reached 
my lookout and secreted myself. It was yet 
early when 1 arrived and the fog was lifting 
from the summit, disclosing one scene after an¬ 
other as a painter draws the curtain away from 
a series of paintings. For hours I sat shiver¬ 
ing in my aerie, for the air was chill despite 
the fact that the sun was shining. All at once 
1 heard the rocks rattling below me. I watched 
with every nerve strained to its utmost tension. 
The sounds drew nearer. In a few minutes all 
my doubts were set at rest. A herd of goats, 
led by an old billy, came clambering up the 
rocks below. They were totally unsuspicious of 
any danger above, but kept looking back along 
the trail for the enemy below. When I first 
sighted them they were coming at a trot, but as 
soon as they struck the level they set out on a 
run. coming directly toward me. Their course 
would have taken them below me and not ten 
feet distant. I cocked my rifle and waited. 
When fifteen yards from where I sat the old 
billy winded me and leaped for the brink of the 
canon just as I fired and knocked him dead in 
his tracks. The others of the herd scattered in 
every direction. They became panic stricken and 
I could have killed them all. I stood up and 
yelled. My call -was answered by Charley, down 
the mountain. After an hour he joined me. 
swinging up the steep hill with that tireless 
tread that is at once the envy and despair of 
the white man. 
From Pot Mountain our route lay along the 
level ridge that stretches to the eastward where 
some day a railroad will run. There is a natural 
grade between the Lo Lo Pass on the east and 
the headwaters of the North Kooskia on the 
west. Down off the rocky points jutting up to 
the mountain the going was much better. We 
traveled for days through immense forests of 
white pine, some of the trees reaching one hun¬ 
dred feet, to the first limb, marvels of beauty. 
Charley had been brought up among white 
people, had associated with them all his life, 
could speak English like a white man when he 
so desired, yet still he w'as tinctured with the 
ancient beliefs and legends of his savage for¬ 
bears. This fact was forcibly impressed upon 
me one afternoon when we passed a beautiful 
little round lake set like a gem in the dark green 
forest. Luxuriant grass margined the pool and 
it seemed to me an excellent place to make camp. 
I suggested this to Charley, but he replied only 
by urging his horse into faster gait and glancing 
apprehensively at the lake over his shoulder. 
We camped some three miles further on in a 
narrow vale among the trees. After supper I 
asked, “Charley, why did you not wish to camp 
at the lake? It was a much better spot than 
this.’’ 
“That lake is Wy-ya-kim Koos,’’ (the lake of 
a spirit), was his reply. 
I scented an Indian legend. “Tell me.” 
"It happened many, many snows ago. Before 
the white man came, before the oldest man 
lived. It was soon after Coyote made the peo¬ 
ple and sent them to their homes. Then our 
people lived in the valley of the Kooskia as they 
do now. They traded with the Flatheads across 
the mountain then as they do now. One sum¬ 
mer TaSixt-sus, one of our chiefs, and his family 
went over and spent the summer with the Flat- 
heads. The old man had a young daughter 
Timps-te-te-lew, and Lat-Lat, a young man of 
the Flatheads, loved her and wished to make 
her his wife. Lat-Lat was very poor and when 
o’d Talixt-sus demanded ten dressed robes for 
Tipps-te-te-lew he could not pay them. 
“The old chief departed and returned to his 
own country. The young man also departed and 
betook himself to the country of the buffalo. 
There the Chase God smiled, for Lat-Lat killed 
twice ten buffalo, all with fine robes. He came 
back home and his mother dressed the skins 
until they were white as snow. When it was 
summer again Lat-Lat packed the robes on dogs 
and carried them across the mountain to where 
Talixt-sus lived. When he reached the tepee he 
threw down his wealth and said, 'I have brought 
you the ten robes and ten more; now give me 
Timps-te-te-lew to be my wife.’ The old chief 
replied, ‘It is well. Take her.’ So they were 
married and Talixt-sus made a great potlatch 
and all the Indians feasted many days. 
“When the moon was half devoured [a fort¬ 
night] the young people packed their dogs and 
set out upon the return journey. They did not 
travel the well known trail, for that would lead 
them into the country of the Blackfeet who were 
at war with the Flatheads, but chose the trail 
to the, north, the one over which we have just 
traveled. One night they came to the shores of 
the Wy-ya-kim Koos and made their camp. Lat- 
Lat took his bow and went forth to kill a deer, 
for they had no meat, leaving Timps-te-te-lew 
in camp. It was nearly night when Lat-Lat re¬ 
turned. He came near to the camp-fire and his 
wife was not there. He called-and she did not 
answer. Lie then went toward the lake, for she 
might have gone for water. Near the shore he 
found her water skin. Again he called and got 
no answer. Then he looked out into the water 
and saw her skin robe floating on the surface. 
He threw aside his own robe and plunged in. 
When he had all but reached the robe a great 
monster, part' beast, part bird, part fish, reared 
its head high above the water on the other side 
of the lake and came swimming toward him. 
Lat-Lat was a powerful swimmer. He seized 
the robe and turned toward the shore. The great 
creature gained upon him very rapidly and as 
he staggered up the bank seized the robe of 
Timps-te-te-lew and tore it into shreds. The 
monster could not travel on land, but swam 
back and forth uttering loud cries and lashing 
the water into foam with its tail. The young 
man sat all night on a rocky cliff and called to 
his wife, but she never came. 
“Lat-Lat hastened back to the Kooskia and 
with great grief told Talixt-sus of his loss. Our 
people would not believe him, but said he had 
kil’ed her. Then Lat-Lat offered to lead them 
to the spot. In four days they reached it. but 
there was no monster in sight. They stood 
about the lake and called to him to appear, but 
he would not Finally Talixt-sus was very 
angry. He ordered his young men to seize Lat- 
Lat and bind him to a tree. They were going 
to kill him. ‘Wait, my brothers,’ said he; ‘if 
I must die, let me seek death where Timps-te- 
te-lew found it. Release me and T will swim in 
the lake until the monster drags me down to his 
home be’ow. - They released him and he plunged 
into the water. He swam until near the middle. 
when the watchers saw a great swell coming as 
from the bottom. Soon a monster head and long 
neck appeared. The creature, looked all about 
until it saw Lat-Lat swimming, then darted its 
head downward and Lat-Lat was no more. The 
others hastened away from the enchanted place, 
and now no Indian will tarry ■ about the lake. 
On still nights you may hear the great beast cry¬ 
ing. I have heard it.” 
We sat still. Charley smoked and looked into 
the fire, his mind dwelling upon the legends of 
his people. Suddenly the silence was broken by 
a long chilling sound that came floating down 
the still air from the direction of the lake. Si¬ 
lence for a time, then once more it came. Char¬ 
ley stirred and said in a half whisper, “It is the 
wy-ya-kim.” It was as no other sound I ever 
heard. If one cou'd combine the night cry of 
a gray wolf, the moaning of a lost child and 
the bellow of an'angry bull into one, he might 
form some conception of what it was like. I 
am not credulous, but at the same time I should 
like to know what sort of a creature produced 
that sound. 
Next morning Charley was very anxious to 
leave the place. While I prepared breakfast he 
caught up and saddled the horses, and by sun¬ 
rise we were on the trail. The poor fellow 
heaved a huge sigh of relief when we topped 
the divide and turned down a branch of the 
North Kooskia. Our objective point for the 
night was one of the salmon fisheries of the 
North Kooskia that had been used by the In¬ 
dians for ages. 
There are two principal runs of salmon in the 
Kooskia waters. The first run generally arrives 
in April and the fish can be taken with hook and 
line. In the later—called by the Indians the 
June—run the salmon refuses the hook and the 
savages must repair to points where the fish may 
he taken with spears or gaffs. 
We reached the fishery in the afternoon and 
went into camp. A few Indians were still there, 
but the run was nearly over and most of the 
people had gone. There were still enough sal¬ 
mon in the waters, however, to give an idea of 
the vast multitude of fish that come to these 
regions to spawn. It was nearing night when 
I walked down to the shore. At this point the 
river is some thirty yards wide, not deep, and 
clear as crystal, with a white sand bottom. The 
fish lay in the calm waters between the rapids 
crowded so close together that it is no exag¬ 
geration to say that had they remained still, one 
could have walked from shore to shore'and trod 
on nothing but salmon. The female fish were 
depositing their spawn and it was never my 
fortune to witness a more interesting sight than 
the spawning process. With her body she seems 
to plow a shallow trench in the sand, and 
then moving slowly onward up the stream she 
deposits her eggs much as a man might sow 
peas in a drill. The male salmon comes along 
later and fertilizes the eggs. The female slightly 
covers her deposit with sand by gently waving 
her tail over the trench. Each female is con¬ 
voyed by several small charr, or trout, that feed 
upon the eggs that fail to lodge in the sand and 
float down with the current. It seems as though 
she recognized these smaller fish as pirates, for 
often she ceased her work and dashed after 
them. They being swifter, eluded her, and as 
soon as she returned to her task they crept back. 
The male salmon are very pugnacious, and a 
