G. O. Shields

“ An iron railroad bridge, that of the great Northern Pacific, spans the stream near its mouth, over which roll trains of palace coaches at short intervals, while commercial freights en route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or vice versa, pass over it almost every hour. From the mouth of the stream to the foot-hills of the mountain range, amid whose snow-capped peaks it rises, is now a well-beaten road over which supplies for the various ranches in the valley are carried, and over which the gallant knights of the plains—the cowboys—dash to and fro in the performance of their various duties. ”

“ As the tourist goes west, the first view of the range is obtained at the Dalles of the Columbia river, from whence old Mount Hood, thirty-five miles distant, rears its majestic head high into the ethereal vault of heaven, and neighboring peaks, of lesser magnitude, unfold themselves to the enraptured vision. As the train whirls down the broad Columbia river, every curve, around which we swing with dazzling speed, reveals to our bewildered gaze new forms of beauty and new objects of wonder. ”

“ There are very few horses owned in any of the coast tribes, and these are rarely ridden. When a Siwash attempts to ride a horse he climbs onto it kicking and grunting with the effort, much as an Alabama negro mounts his mule, and sits him about as gracefully. But let the Siwash step into his canoe, and he fears no rapid, whirlpool, nor stormy billow. He faces the most perilous water and sends [91] his frail cedar shell into it with a skill and a consciousness of mastery that would put to the blush any of the prize winners in our Eastern canoe-club regattas. ”

“ In ten minutes from the time I commenced shooting all the clerks in the dock office, all the freight hustlers in the warehouse, all the railroad section men, the ticket-agent and baggage-master, numbering at least twenty men in the aggregate, were clustered around me, and their comments on my rifle and shooting were extremely amusing. Not a man in the party had ever before seen a Winchester express, and the racket it made, the way in which the balls plowed up the water, and the way the birds, when hit, vanished into thin air and a few feathers, were mysteries far beyond their power to solve. ”

“ The long hours until daylight drag slowly by, and at last, as the sun tips the distant mountain tops with golden light, we start on our perilous and painful journey to the Indian village and to the steamboat landing. The two red men have rigged a litter from poles and blankets, on which they carry me safely to their homes, and thence in a canoe to the landing below. How the long, tedious journey thence, by steamer and rail, to my own home is accomplished; how the weary days and nights of suffering and delirium which I endure en route were passed, are subjects too painful to dwell upon. ”

“ At one point it is choked into a narrow gorge ten feet wide and twice as deep, with a fall of ten feet in a distance of thirty. Through this notch the stream surges and swirls with the wild fury, the fearful power, and the awe-inspiring grandeur of a tornado. At another place it runs more placidly for a few yards, as if to gather strength and courage for a wild leap over a sheer wall of frowning rock into a foaming pool thirty, forty, or fifty feet below. ”

“ Their hearts, though encased in blue flannel or water-proof canvas, are as light as the air they breathe; their minds as pure and clear as the mountain brooks from which they love to drink; their whole natures as generous and liberal as the boundless meadows upon which their herds graze, and their hospitality only limited by the supply of food and other comforts they have with which to entertain a visitor. ”

“ But the young man who is willing to engage in the occupation of "rustling cattle" [306] on the plains, who is willing to assume the title of "cowboy," must be he who, although he may love all these luxuries, and may perhaps have been accustomed to enjoy them, has in his nature enough of romance, enough love for outdoor life, enough love of sport, excitement, and adventure, enough enthusiasm for the wild freedom of the frontier, to be willing to deny himself all these luxuries and to allow such pleasures as the ranch and range can afford, to compensate for them. ”

“ You face the game, and support your rifle at your shoulder by resting your elbows on the ground. The sun is now shining brightly, and you take careful aim at that old buck that stands out there at the left. At the report of your rifle a cloud of dust rises from a point about a hundred yards this side of him, and a little to the left, showing that you have underestimated both the distance and the force of the wind—things that even an old hunter is liable to do occasionally.
We both lie close, and the animals have not yet seen us. They make a few jumps, and stop all in a bunch. ”

“ The keen mountain air at this low temperature, and the grand scenery with which we were surrounded, combined to sharpen our appetites, and our breakfast beside a rousing camp-fire was enjoyed as only a meal can be enjoyed amid such surroundings. As soon as the sun had risen high enough to banish the frost and warm the air slightly, the grass all about us was set in motion by thousands of grasshoppers who gamboled playfully, in order, apparently, to warm up their benumbed limbs and get an appetite for breakfast. ”

“ During all this time the valiant rider sits in his saddle, loose-jointed and limp as a piece of buckskin, his body swaying to and fro with the motions of his struggling steed like a leaf that is fanned by the summer breeze. He holds a tight rein, keeping his horse's head as high as possible, and plunges the rowels into his flanks, first on one side and then on the other, until frequently the ground is copiously sprinkled with the blood of the fiery steed. ”

“ The skin of the grizzly is one of the most valuable trophies a sportsman can obtain on any field, and its rarity, and the danger and excitement attending the taking of it, the courage it bespeaks on the part of the hunter, render it a prize of which the winner may justly feel proud for a lifetime.
The best localities in which to hunt the grizzly bear—that is, those most accessible and in which he is now most numerous—are the Big Horn, Shoshone, Wind River, Bear Tooth, Belt, and Crazy Mountains, in Wyoming and Montana, all of which may be easily reached by way of the Northern Pacific road. ”

“ From here no less than nine different waterfalls, varying in height from 500 to 1,500 feet, are visible; and visitors are sometimes thrilled with the magnificent spectacle of an avalanche of thousands of tons of overhanging ice falling with an overwhelming crash into the cañon, roaring and reverberating in a way that almost makes the great mountain tremble. Fed by the lake, torrents pour over the edge of the cliff, and the foaming waters, forming a perpetual veil of seemingly silver lace, [34] fall with a fearful leap into the arms of the surging waves below. ”

“ Pease is a genial, kind-hearted old man, in whose humble quarters the true sportsman is always welcome. Reared in these woods, and bred in the pure atmosphere that abounds here, a hunter by trade and from necessity, he is a simple, honest child of nature. ”

“ Parties of ladies frequently go out from the towns or cities to see the roundup, not knowing or thinking of the painful features of it. They enjoy the ride across the prairies and through the valleys. The beautiful scenery, the grotesque "Bad Lands," the red, scoria-capped hills, the beautiful green meadows, and the fringes of green trees that mark the meanderings of the streams, all delight and interest them; they enjoy the displays of horsemanship given by the valorous cowboys as they wheel and cavort hither and thither in pursuit of scurrying bands of cattle ”

“ But, fortunately for the poor cowboys, there are many of these ponies who are not vicious, and let us do full honor to the genuine, noble cow-horse who is so sure and fleet of foot that he will speedily put his rider within roping distance of the wildest, swiftest, longest-horned Texan on the range. Such a horse always knows when the riata falls right for head or heels, and if it does not will never slacken his speed, but keep right on until his rider can recover and throw again. ”

“ I have not counted on the heavy covering of frost that has been deposited on the log since dark, and stepping out upon the barkless part of the trunk, my moccasins slip, and with a shriek and a wild but unsuccessful grasp at an overhanging limb I fall twenty feet and land on the mass of broken and jagged granite beneath! The Indians, alarmed by my cries, spring to my relief, carry me to the fire, give me stimulants, bind up my broken arm, and do all in their power to alleviate my sufferings. ”

“ I claim that the constant communion with Nature, the study of her broad, pure domains, the days and nights of lonely cruising and camping on the prairie, the uninterrupted communion with and study of self which this occupation affords, tends to make young men honest and noble—much more so than the same men would be if deprived of these opportunities, confined to the limits of our boasted "civilization," and compelled to constantly breathe the air of adroitness, of strategy, of competition, of suspicion and crime. ”

“ The horse, on his second upward trip would meet the man coming down on his first; the man would see whole constellations—whole milkyways of stars; the horse would meander off over the prairie free and untrameled, and as we would gather up the deformed and disfigured remains of the pilgrim and dig the alkali dirt out of his mouth, ears, and eyes, he would tell us, as soon as he recovered sufficiently to be able to speak, that in future he "had rather walk than ride." ”

“ It is a kind of exercise that in turn brings into use almost every muscle in the body, those of the legs being of course taxed most severely, but those of the back do their full share of the work, while the arms are called into action almost constantly, as the climber grasps bushes or rocks by which to aid himself in the ascent. The lungs expand and contract like bellows as they inhale and exhale the rarified atmosphere, and the heart beats like a trip-hammer as it pumps the invigorated blood through the system. ”

“ On Whidby Island, one of the largest in the Sound, there was, up to a few years ago, a herd of wild cattle, to which no one made claim of ownership, and which were, consequently, considered legitimate game for anyone who cared to hunt them. They were wary and cunning in the extreme. The elk or deer, native and to the manor born, could not be more so. But, alas, these cattle were not to be the prey of true, conscientious sportsmen; for the greed of the market hunter and the skin hunter exceeded the natural cunning of the noble animals, and they have been nearly exterminated ”

“ R. George T. Pease lives in a log shanty, in the heart of the great Wisconsin pine woods, five miles west of Wausaukee station, on the Milwaukee & Northern Railroad. A beautiful little lake stretches out in front of his door, in which numerous black bass make their home, and several brooks meander through the wilderness not far away, all of which abound in the sprightly, sparkling brook trout. Deer roam over the hills far and near, and when the first "tracking snow" comes, in the van of icy winter, their hoof-prints may be found within a hundred yards of the cabin any morning. ”

“ Up to a few years ago its valley and adjacent table-lands were peopled only by roving bands of Sioux, Cheyenne, Pegan, or Crow Indians, while vast herds of buffaloes and antelopes grazed upon its nutritious grasses. The lordly elk and the timid, agile deer roamed at will through the groves of cottonwood and box-elder that fringe its banks, and the howl of the coyote [329] made night musical to the ear of the savage in his wigwam. ”

“ His habitat being the high, open plains, he may be hunted on horseback, and with a much greater degree of comfort than may the deer, elk, bear, and other species which inhabit the wooded or mountainous districts. His keen eyesight, his fine sense of smell, his intense fear of his natural enemy, man, however, render him the most difficult of all game animals to approach, and he must indeed be a skillful hunter who can get within easy rifle range of the antelope, unless he happens to have the circumstances of wind and lie of ground peculiarly in his favor. ”

“ Yet it is one of the most beautiful and interesting of all our American quadrupeds, and probably no sportsman or naturalist has ever yet mustered courage and hardihood enough to go where he could kill a Rocky Mountain goat without feeling amply repaid for all the labor and hardship encountered by being able to behold this mystic creature in his lofty mountain home. ”

“ Nothing can surpass the beauty of these waters and their safety. Not a shoal exists within the Sound, the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Bay, Hood's Canal, or the Straits of Georgia, that would in any way interrupt their navigation by a seventy-four-gun ship. There is no country in the world that possesses waters equal to these. The shores of all the inlets and bays are remarkably bold, so much so that a ship's side would touch the shore before her keel would touch the ground. ”

“ The valleys of some of its tributaries are also good farming districts, and grain, fruits, and vegetables of various kinds grow in abundance. At the mouth of the Chilukweyuk I saw fine peaches that had grown in the valley, within ten miles of perpetual snow. The river became very crooked as we neared the mountains, and finally we entered the gorge, or cañon, where the rocky-faced mountains rise, sheer from the water's edge, to heights of many hundreds of feet, and just back of them tower great peaks, clad in eternal snows. ”

“ Let him stand, for instance, on the summit of Mount Hood, Mount Tacoma, or Mount Baker, thousands of feet above all surrounding peaks, hills, and valleys, where he may gaze into space hundreds of miles in every direction, with naught to obstruct his view, face to face with his Creator, and if he have aught of the love of nature in his soul, or of appreciation of the sublime in his mental composition, he will be moved to exclaim with the Apostle, "What is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visitest him?" ”

“ The vanguard of the herd was yet more than a mile away, but the dark line stretched to right and left almost as far as the eye could reach, and our hunters saw that instant and precipitate flight was necessary in order to save their lives. They specially chose the northward as offering the shortest and best direction by which to escape the coming avalanche, and sinking the spurs deep into their terror-stricken beasts, they flew with the velocity of an arrow across the wild prairie. ”