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Told by the Pioneers - Washington Secretary of State

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<strong>Told</strong><br />

<strong>by</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Pioneers</strong><br />

around a spruce thicket one way aud I <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r. 'Ye met on <strong>the</strong> far<br />

side. At a distance <strong>of</strong> twenty yards <strong>the</strong> foremost elk stopped and<br />

turned broadside as he looked me over. ""llen I raised my gun to<br />

shoot I could not get a head sight, so turned my gun all his shoulder<br />

and fired. The elk dropped. I reloaded my gun and walked to <strong>the</strong> elk<br />

and sat down on it. The elk struggled and thre,,' me about six feet.<br />

I landed running and headed for a big snag about thirty feet away.<br />

As I went around <strong>the</strong> snag I looked back and saw <strong>the</strong> elk was down,<br />

I thought it had jumped to its feet when it flounced. I turned and shot<br />

him in <strong>the</strong> head to make sure <strong>of</strong> him this time, <strong>the</strong>n loaded my gun,<br />

went back and sat down on him again.<br />

By this time <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r elk had surrounded me and began to show<br />

signs <strong>of</strong> fight, stamping <strong>the</strong>ir feet, setting <strong>the</strong>ir hair up <strong>the</strong> wrong<br />

way, shaking <strong>the</strong>ir heads and snorting. They came so close, I stood<br />

up and swnng my gun around me. I could feel <strong>the</strong>ir breath strike me<br />

when <strong>the</strong>y snorted. They would come up within six or eight feet <strong>of</strong><br />

me, shake <strong>the</strong>ir heads and snort, <strong>the</strong>n back <strong>of</strong>f a few steps, <strong>the</strong>n come<br />

up again. They kept this up for several minutes, and I think that at<br />

times <strong>the</strong>re were ten or twelve elk within ten feet <strong>of</strong> me, with <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

heads toward me. You may think I will sav I wasn't scared. I will<br />

• •<br />

not, for I aim this to be a true story all <strong>the</strong> way through. As I remember<br />

it to this day, I was scared and would have ginn all I had at that<br />

time to ha,-e been safe on <strong>the</strong> outside <strong>of</strong> that ring <strong>of</strong> elk; but <strong>the</strong>y did<br />

not jump on me, but began to back up far<strong>the</strong>r and far<strong>the</strong>r, so I went to<br />

work and and removed <strong>the</strong> intestines, which took me about twenty minutes.<br />

The elk were still within gunshot.<br />

I went back to <strong>the</strong> beach to get help to pack out my elk meat. When<br />

I got back to <strong>the</strong> beach my partner had come up from our lower cabin<br />

and found me gone, so he had started out to hunt me. He had just<br />

passed <strong>the</strong> mouth <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> trail that I came out on. I saw his track and<br />

knew it, so I looked back up <strong>the</strong> beach about half a mile and saw him.<br />

I fired my gun and he heard it and came back. When I told ~im<br />

where I had been he gave me a hard scolding for going out alone WIthout<br />

telling anybody I was going. As good luck comes m~- way, an Indian<br />

came alono' g'oing down <strong>the</strong> beach so I sent word to two o<strong>the</strong>r<br />

0' ,<br />

hunters to come up early next morning and get some elk meat and<br />

help pack it out. Close to my cabin was a little prairie and two In-<br />

•<br />

dian ponies were staying <strong>the</strong>re, so we took <strong>the</strong> two ponies out to where<br />

I had killed <strong>the</strong> elk, quartered it, cut wide strips <strong>of</strong> elk hide, tied two<br />

quarters toge<strong>the</strong>r and hung <strong>the</strong>m across <strong>the</strong> ponies' backs and packed<br />

our elk in to my cabin and <strong>the</strong>re cut it up, and took care <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> meat.<br />

We gave <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hunters a quarter apiece for helping get it out <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> woods. 'Ye had elk meat to last us a year.<br />

105

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