George Edward Lewis

“ Most all old trappers and hunters get into trouble of their own, sooner or later because of carelessness. I never cover up a trap with my hand. I found a trapper starved to death, caught in his own bear trap by both hands; because he was in the habit of covering up his traps by hand. I always school the lads to cover every trap with a stick. It is better because the animal can smell hand marks readily.
After the accident of my gun explosion in camp I went out to look at A trap I had set for a wolverine. ”

“ Now I have fought buffalo flies in Michigan, Bed Bugs in Wisconsin, Lice in Wyoming, Rattlesnakes in Colorado, Coyotes in North Dakota, Rats in Australia, Spiders in South America,—But [Pg 56] Glaciers are of all places I ever attempted the most exciting and difficult to get a little sleep.
The Glacier is moved forward by the compressed air which gets into the crevices behind the glaciers when it is split open by frost—then it freezes again and explodes which moves the great mountain into the river. The Glaciers not only furnish the water supply for the world—but also keep it fresh. ”

“ Joe Whitecup schooled me in Mink except his bait. Shopnegon taught me the crafts of Camping and sleeping without catching cold, how to travel without a compass by the stars; and when it was dark and cloudy how to keep from circling around. he taught me how to skin all kinds of game, and how to make sinew for thred, and awls to sew with and explained roots for indigestion; and leaves for constipation. Long Knife taught me how to trap skunks, and weasels, and above all he put me next to rat so I never need ask any other man the nature of that animal. ”

“ The Mountain Lion is very shy he can be poisoned the best of any way of taking his life. to trap a Lion you must set all bait traps and deadfalls horse back and be sure your horse has no shoes nor horse nails in their hoofs, if they have the Lion will steer clear of the trap they are very clever in every way. One time I was delayed from Camp it grew dark and I had an awful time to pick my way home I soon discovered that I had more than the dark and difficult roads to battle, For I was being followed by a Lioness five whelps and an old Dog Lion. ”

“ It might be well to say briefly that I had considerable exprience during my time with mining, and was no green horn, The Kidd was a natural miner, he would stick his pick, spade or knife into every bit of mother earth to ascertain if there was any color, we not only knew fur, beasts and birds, reptiles, fish, insects, but we knew the earth over which we walked, on which we slept and so contineud for sixteen years. ”

“ Here for the first time in my life I realized I was indeed a very reckless man. Often the boys would get cold and sleepy and I would have to make them march at the point of old glory—my Gun—they would swear and blame every bit of hard luck to me. ”

“ Black Beaver knows what animals think. Can tell just what maneuver a dog, wolf deer, or even a fish will go through on almost every occasion.
The Eskimos at Point Barrow—think the Aurora Borealis is caused by the Great Icebergs toppling over into the water, and the water is so much warmer than the great lump of ice covered with frost that an explosion takes place—caused by the coming together of these two substances so different in temperature. Then the ice splits and the explosion causes light ans makes a noise which is always heard in the Arctics. ”

“ Where mink are thick not over sixteen should be set per mile. Where coon are thick about twenty per mile. Where beaver are thick about forty per mile and where otter are thick about ten traps per mile. The Muskrat—is the most interesting of all animals that live in water. The beaver Black, Blue, Brown, White, Gray not excepted.
The Rat lives on flags and water mussels. He never kills small ducks as has been stated by some folks who never saw one. The Rat builds his house out of rushes from five to six feet broad sometimes much broader, and about three feet high. ”

“ Black Beaver is a natural tarveler in cold regions because; he is always feeling of himself to see if he is freezing. which is the only way one can tell in extreme cold.
An excciting place to sleep—on a Glacier which moves about ten feet a day—it is cracking, bursting exploding, trembling, groaning and together with the Glacier Bears and howling dogs, and Siberian wolves, and rolling around to keep from freezing is very soothing. ”

“ Now we were told by a trapper that there was a bad war on in Montana So we intended to go—for we loved an excuse to hunt the cunning game—Indians. But when we reached Mont. the war was in British Columbia. So we sailed up into the cold region and settled at Silver Creek Canada. We began about October the first setting our traps on spruce river. The Tahoo and Blackfeet indians inhabit these parts, they are a very jealous class of indians. owing to the great number of half-breeds. the half breed indian is the smartest, most troublesome of all indians. ”

“ Once I could have named every individual I met—but now as I walked up the hill from the depot I was an entire stranger—Twenty years makes a great change, Many were my meditations as I walked over the little marsh where I had so often passed when a mere child. ”

“ In color they are dark brown and some are almost black, they feed upon grouse and mice and never go near the water, they inhabit the cold regions and breed but once a year. They resemble the house cat in features but have long body like a mink. We took that winter seven hundred, the largest catch ever known to have been taken by any one gang in the world. The weather was exceedingly cold for we were only three hundred miles from the Arctic Circle. Spring came we broke camp and moved down to Dawson, sold our fur and drifted down the Yukon river to the mouth of forty mile creek. ”

“ Our dogs stood the trip well we fed them once a day gave them a single fish each evening after the days work was done, it is always best to feed in the evening the Husky or Malimouth is a very ferocious dog and if you do not keep them hungry they get lazy and will not mind but will defy you. many a dog-teamseer has accidently fallen down near his team while breaking trail and been eaten up. if you fall down they will jump on you like a lion. ”

“ Black Beaver has traveled as no other man ever traveled in Alaska, four times in as many years he crossed the entire country by dog-team in a diagonal way from Dawson to Point Barrow and from Gnome to The mouth of the Mackinzie river. Being able to speak several indian dialects, he was able converse with Siwash, Mucklock, Malimouth and other types getting the most valuable kind of information. You have never read a book written by a trapper. ”

“ I have used many kinds of baits, and on many occasions, [Pg 23] but after years of testing, and a dozen of different mixtures, I can recommend but one Animal Bait—and that is Manufactured by Funsten Bros, and Co, In their large Fur House at St. Louis Mo. It is also sold exclusively by them. Not as a money maker but to aid their many trappers to succeed; because their success depends upon the trapper.
This compound is the best mixed because Funsten Bros & Co, secured every recipe from old and experienced trappers, paying a large price for each kind. ”

“ Good Baits always serve the double purpose. While the trap without bait, arouses the animal's suspicion and makes it cautious, The trap with the bait arouses the animal's passion and draws it to the trap. Certain odors causes the male to think that a female has frequented the place, and he gets careless and is caught. ”

“ The first day of our descent the weather lost controll of its furious temper, and how things did hum, Cyclones in Iowa and Colorado, Blizzards in Newbraska and the Dakotas, all which have raged for a thousand years melted into one could not furnish the momentum nor terror of this storm for a second. ”

“ Our catch this winter was Wolverine, Lynx, Marten, Ermine, a few Beaver and Otter. but my Marten were of all more valuable.
I was engaged the next summer in Colorado by a ranchman to trap Mountain Lion. The Mountain Lion is a specie of the Eastern Panther they weigh from 80 to 150 lbs. Their color in winter is a steel grey and in summer is a greyish brown. Their food is rabbit and grouse. Their haunts are the Rocky mountains. Their hides are used for rugs and robes and worth from 5-to 15 dollars. They also feed on calves and colts. are very hard on a Horse Ranch-Man. ”

“ He is the hardest specie to hunt. When a hunter is on his trail he invariably is next to it, and will climb upon all the high roots, and logs and peep back on his track to discern the hunter. It is hard to get a shot at him unless the wind is blowing so you may circle him and shoot from the windward side. He will stuff a bullet hole with moss to prevent the flow of blood and many other cute sagacious tricks. ”

“ I cannot go into all the details of this trip into the unknown it was up and down glaciers, following often in the path where just recently a great snowslide traveled, carrying hundreds of tons of snow and ice and breaking and crashing like a ruined world. The snow slide is the greatest of all dangers in this region, I have seen as many as five all at one time, some are known as annuals or old faithfulls, others are known as untimely, and treacherous. many an Alaskan lies burried in valleys hundreds of feet below the surface in mountains of snow. ”

“ Their huts never get warmer than the freezing point. they undress when they sleep. and use fish to cook their food, when they cannot get driftwood.
A great deal of driftwood floats in around the river mouth which is carried to the Arctic Ocean by the Great Mackinzie river and is distribuated all allong the shore and picked up in the summer and used in the winter. This wood providentialy sent is certainly a blessing to the Eskimos of this region.
As I passed from hut to hut trading, I chanced to run across some indians from Candle Creek where I first learned to talk Eskimo. ”

“ The Eskimos are great Pot-latchers That means givers to each other. they are very free hearted They seldom own anything very long at one time it is given from one to another constantly. We were planning to go on toward the Mouth of Gold river but the Chief told me his daughter was to be married in two moons: we stayed to attend the wedding. So I had a privelege to ascertain how the Eskimos make love and are married. If a girl is in love with an Eskimo she sends for him and combs his hair with her fingers. If he loves her he returns again if not he does not. ”

“ No traveler in that cold barren region should ever under any circumstances lie down upon the naked earth. Tom and we were all used to lying on the earth and thought nothing of. ignorance and eagerness caused his death, as it has the untimely death of many a mother's boy.
We took up our march sorrowfully and silently till we rached the Horalinqua River. Here he halted and searched for Gold. May I add that the craze for gold lead us into this region of ice and snow. ”

“ On the last day of October we reached our destination; bought a load of chuck hired two Indians to take us to the Lake London. There we built one headquarter camp, and three off-sets. The third off-set reaching to Indian creek. We found plenty of wolves, bear, lynx, sable mink, otter and beaver. Here Whitecup taught me more than I had ever dreamed about catching mink. I found out that he used a compound and that he got it by mail ”

“ Black Beaver—knows how to live outdoors better than we know how to live indoors. He never catches cold, he positively knows every time just where to sleep, he never sleeps on his back if the ground is cold or damp—always upon his stomache. ”

“ Now I was used to all kind of bear except—the Polar which I am free and frank to confess is the worst man eater on earth, not one beast of any country excepted. The Polar averages to weigh about seven hundred pounds his build is different from any other bear, he is long and lanky having giant legs, his color is pure white. ”

“ But when you look for strength long life endurance or inteligence in the Eskimo you seek in vain. They all have sore matterated eyes, one fifth of them are deformed. one in ten has the consumption. and the average life of the Eskimo is about 30 years. They [Pg 50] average to weigh about 90 pounds and stand about four feet and six inches high.
They are perfectly friendly even if they never saw a white man. They wrap up the dead in skins and hang them up, they freeze still and so remin till eaten by some wild beast. ”

“ For a trapper today to try to extract his bait from the animal would be sheer folly. only the unsuccessful ever resort to such a process. Let every man who catches fur bearing animals for a living learn among the earliest lessons, that he must resort to some kind of bait ”

“ In various parts of Alaska Black Beaver had treasures which he was now intent upon gathering to fit up an outfit to be known as "The Arctic Alaskan Educational Exhibition" Perhaps no other man in this country can tell such amusing and beneficial stories about travels, fatigue and furs As the Author of this book. ”

“ It is spectacular to see us feed them we remove the muzzle and harness take our gun in one hand unlock the fish box and call the dogs by name one by one at the same time throwing a fish at the one we mention, they will catch their fish like old Cy Young would a league ball even if it goes much higher than you [Pg 47] intended they will climb the sky for fish. The Work dog is a great asset to the travelers in that region. a good team will travel over a broken trail seventy five miles a day. it is a very pretty sight to see a well trained team travel. ”

“ If we go we shall brave all-together the severe hardships, if we loose like many others, our funerels will be tearless, and inexpensive, If we win then each shall share a like in the spoils. We had an elegent supply of foods. ”