Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1914 — THE PASSING OF THE “WILD WEST” [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE PASSING OF THE “WILD WEST”

HE march of civilization has so rap(J— idly overrun the face of our globe PtJ EbS that during recent years many of gafl ■■ these places which were formerly MM little known, except to savages or PSb wandering white hunters, are today becoming thickly populated, while the native savage and wild game alike have, disappeared forv 4 1 ever from their ancient haunts. In few countries is this more marked than in the famous Wild West of America. The hardy frontiersmen or backwoodsmen of a few decades past would marvel indeed cpuld they now see what ©nee were the great rolling prairies' or dense forests of Wyoming and Montana. Gone for ever aressthe vast herds of buffalo, antelope and wapiti which roamed the boundless plains, gone also are the huge virgin forests, while the sorry remnants of the Red Indian tribes whose ancestors hunted and fought in these fair lands remain confined in restricted areas, where the vices, diseases and strong drinks of the white man are rapidly thinning their numbers. Across the prairies, in all directions, now run miles upon miles of railway lines, bringing with them their usual accom- <^ v pan intent of settlers; and over all the plains fUfflOT HP the hand of man is marked by means of numerous inartistic wooden dwellings, wire fences or . \ irrigation ditches, stretching far as the eye /fl can see on either side. nfl -«p In the forests, too, huge ■ burnt areas, or desolate- IHf ■ 'H/&4' looking tree stumps, de- lllljßi note where fires and axes have wrought their havoc. Even the farfamed cowpuncher, resplendent in his pictur- 1 esque costume, with las- ~ ~ /&JL\ | soes hanging on his sad- ► •lie and six-shooters pro- P^iSHpl frpm belt or flockets, is a thing of the past, although here and CUT ypyy, there one encounters a rplendid youth, who smokes cigarettes while he apes the manners and costume of his predecessors, but who is often too idle to throw a rope, or totally incapable of riding a bad bukjumper or of using effectively the revolver which he proudly displays. In fact, if moßt of these modern cowboys attempted to draw his gun at an old-fash-ioned saloon gathering in a “wide-open” town of th& west, before he could touch the trigger he would have been as full of lead as a plum pudding is full of raisins. For, alas! the glory and glamour of the wild wdst has departed forever. First came the lumbering ox. wagons, with their hardy owners, emigrants and hunters, a race of men, scarred and weather-beaten, fighting their way grimly, Inch by inch, to open the new Eldorado. Foot by foot they drove the Indians and game before them, and for years barely held their own in these unknown lands. Then came that mighty factor, steam, and the steel roads with their high-powered locomotives, today conveying the settlers or tourists in a few hours across those once desolate prairies, to traverse which once took the old pioneer as many weeks to accomplish. In consequence, he who today sets out in quest of sport through such a country as Wyoming must be prepared for a series of rude shocks If he hopes to find anything approaching the state of affairs there about which he has read In the books of his youth. s The splendid buffalo is extinct; but a. few decayed bones or relics of a skull, the laAt traces of an animal which roamed in countless thousands over the prairies, and were wantonly exterminated partly by hunters for their hides, and partly by settlers to make way for their cattle. The curious prong-horn antelope also has almost been wiped out in these district. But the saddest of all, perhaps, Is to see the present state to which the finest deer on earth, the American wapiti, has been reduced. This noble beast, which was formerly a denizen of the open country, has been driven to seek refuge in the densest forests. Here it is hard indeed for any number of them to obtain sufficient food, and in consequence the typo and size of their antlers shows a marked depreciation in modern years. As every one knows, a harbor of refuge has been found for them b$ the United States government in the Yellowstone park, and here the tourist may see, face to face, grazing in bands, the semi-tame remnants of the once vast herds of wapiti. Outside this sanctuary, on every side, as soon as the season opens, each valley or pass which leads from the Yellowstone to the surrounding country Is peopled with socalled sportmen, or meat-hunters, all camped and waiting for those unwary animals which may roam beyond the confines of their reservation. In these outlying districts, where a few cunning bands of wapiti still survive, they have entirely changed their habits during the early part of the season. Formerly the herds would be found grazing, or roaming through the low-lying, open parks, while throughout the day and night the forests would echo to that melodious whistling call of the bulls. But today, if a hunter seeks the so-called American “elk” he must perforce look In different places to those 4 frequented by the oldtime hunters. Far up, on the very edge of the timber-line, feeding and climbing almost like a mountain sheep among Bteep crags, and on the verge of snow-line, we now find the few survivors of the splendid animals. And so terrified are they by the constant presence of their natural enemy man, with his Innumerable camp fires and attendant noises, that the bulls seldom dare give utterance to their challenging calls. So true is thiß that the writer after spending many weeks during the flast season in the wilds of Wyoming only heard a wapiti whistling on two occasions, and, moreover, throughout this period only saw one head worth shooting at. says C. E. Radclyffe in Country Life. It is true this was a noble head, and one of the finest brought out of that country for Borne time past, but the capture of this head entailed many weeks of hard work, many scores of miles traveling, and many thousands of feet hard climbing, in a eountry which a few years ago was teeming with good beads. In the same way the bears and big-horn sheep of the Rocky mountains have almost become a thing of the past Even the very numerous mule

deer have disappeared from their former haunts, and in much-hunted localities are only to be found on the highest points where timber grows. Late in the season, when heavy snow falls, bands of wapiti and mule deer are driven frpm their refuge in the Yellowstone park and move down to lower grounds in such places as Jackson’s Hole or the valley of, the Soshone river. Woe betide these luckless wanderers if the open season is still in force, for %t the head of every pass leading out of the game reserve are armed bodies of meat-hunters, who shoot on sight old or young, male or female, regardless of age, or sex, every deer that is seen. More shame is it to the authorities who still permit the sale of deer meat in the surrounding towns. Vast herds of deer congregate in the low grounds during severe winters, and many hundreds of them perish for want of tood. It Is no uncommon event for kind-hearted farmers to feed numbers of wapiti from their stores of hay. But the expense of thiß is more than these hard-work-ing individuals can stand, and something surely should be done by the United Stateß authorities to provide for the needs of these fine animals, which have been driven from their winter feedinggrounds by the settlers and their cattle. The modus operand! of making a trip after wapiti is too well known to need description. If undertaken early in the season by a sportsman who is well equipped with men and pack-horßeß, the expedition is rather in the nature of a pleasant picnic. The climatic conditions in September and early October are generally perfect, while the absence of mosquitoes and other biting files make these regions appear a Paradise to one who has done much big-game hunting further mfrthwest in the real wilds of North America, which are only now to be found in northern British Columbia and Alaska. But if a sportsman delays his trip until late In the fall, and then camps, as the writer has done, at an altitude of over ten thousand feet, he will find the early frosts and snow make life In a tent even in Wyoming, rather colder than is necessary for personal comfort The way in which an American pack-horse can thread its way through dense timber, or follow a narrow, snake-like trail across dangerous rock slides, is little short of marvelous. It is an Interesting sight to see a long line of these sure-footed animals threading their way in single file along the face of a dangerous precipice, often treading in loose, rolling rocks, In places where one false step means a sheer drop of two thousand or three thousand feet Into empty space. Yet it is seldom that one falls 6ff the trail. If this L does happen, the owner may bid goodby to his horse and all, that he carries, since rarely anything but fragments are found afterwards on searching the valley below. Strange to say, although the Wyoming wapiti have developed unwonted cunning In seeking their living and feeding grounds, the are still comparatively stupid animals to staler. Especially so is this the case with treveling bulls when they are running in search of cows. Then, by means of whistling in a very poor imitative style of the bull’s challenge, a solitary bull can often be called HP to within a few yards of the hunter. The writer and his guide have thus been enabled to follow a bull for two miles through the forest answering his repeated call at intervals, until finally they have come face to face a few yards

apart, in a forest glade. The bull, under such conditions, undoubtedly thinks he is being followed by a hated rival, but how any wild animal which has such a highly trained ear that it can distinguish between a twig broken by the human foot and the ordinary noises of a forest can yet be misled into thinking the whistling of a human being is the call of another bull is a mystery which is beyond the understanding of man. *Doubtless, before it is yet too late, the authorities in charge of the United States game departments will awake to the danger of extinction which today threatens the game of those world-renowned Rocky mountain districts. But with a curious inconsistency they have long ago passed a law prohibiting the sale of game, etc., in their most distant territory of Alaska, where often it is impossible for a resident to obtain any other form of fresh meat And yet in a land nearer home, where flocks and herds of domestic Bheep and cat--1 tie abound, we see the sale of game still allowed, and a consequent number of professional meathunters working destruction among the noblest specimens of the deer tribe now left in the face of the earth.