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About The daily gazette-times. (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1909-1921 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1909)
HUNTING IN THE FUR NORTH Arctic Sport as Described by Nimrod John R. Bradley. HIS JOURNEY WITH DR. COOK How He and the Explorer Killed Polar Bears and 'Walrus Near Etah A Baby Walrus In a Motorboat Es kimos as Game Protectors. By JOHN R. BRADLEY. Who paid the cost of the Cook expedition. IBy courtesy of Recreation Magazine. I started some years ago to shoot in all parts of the world in order to col lect specimens of game, so 1 thought St best to begin at home, in America. 1 shot in Mexico Xpw Mot a na, the Rocky mountains and up in ; Saw about thirty walrus on a pan of I w . l ijum c. x sum 10 j niy first officer, "Go up on the ice." j We had heard how dangerous the I walrus1 were that they could easily j kick a plank out of the boat. The ! first officer was rather afraid and said. ir a wairus gets in the boat I will harpoon in the walrus they let go the float. They have a big sealskin blown up with air, a big air bag. and they let that go, and on that is a sort of sail, a four cornered thing made of sealskin, so that it will hold the wal rus back from swimming too fast. After getting the harpoon into the walrus they back away. The animal has to get up every five minutes to breathe, and it tries to get up on the ice, and the men then throw m ' ivory lance, and they keep on doing mat until tne animal bleeds to death. I watched them one day for about two hours, getting one big walrus. I was in my motorboat at the time, and l said, "I can beat that way; 1 can kill walrus quicker than the natives can harpoon them." The first officer was at the wheel and Dr. Cook at the stern, and I had the whole boat, which was about thirty feet long, to myself. I had a harpoon, but was going to try to kill them with a rifle. You must hit them in the head otherwise they will go into the water and you must kill them with a steel hullpt maneuvered through the ice until we Sins of th e father s dissolution notice By Alaska, then went to Africa and the Altai mountains of northern Mongolia and Siberia. Then came the trip to the arctic with Dr. Frederick A. Cook, the explorer. If you are goinsr un there risrht vnn GEORGE A. PARKER. Copyright, 1909, by American Press Asso ciation. From an old manuscript: I was born and reared on tho of Norway.; Until I was twenty years old I had never been in a town, and then only in a small villaere. ' iv as sociates were untutored people, and I received but tne elements of educa tion, .nevertheless thev nMmnj ii. npon me as superior to thnmuiv Whether that was because I bore the marks of having been born of snnsi-w siock or mat my name was English I oia not Know. My father died when I was ten years old. and I remomhopoH him as always with a sad look on his face, which was reflected in my moth er's. When I grew older I asked her wny my father and she had alwavs Bn. peared sad. She could not brini hw BnIP . .. . .. 11 . 1 cii iu ieu uie me reason, nni I i-o- mained in ignorance. V ben I was twenty my mother dlnri and I resolved to leave the desolate piace where I had been born and sppIt a more active field. Before going I take chances of losing it eoinsr throne-h the ice. The insurance companies will noi insure your vessel at any old price I said: "Thev can't patnv, tu, u.. i 1.U10 uuai. j Go right around and around and I will no tne rest of it." There were about In my case they said I was going too ! , Y re Were about -far north. You must tak tJnZL ! thi?y. waIrus" 1 three of them far north. You must take the chances of losing your life as well as your vessel, for you are navigating through waters that are not charted, over rocks not discovered and through fogs five days out of seven in the week. Then when you get the game you must get out on the ice or in a small boat , How Eskimos Kill Bears. W Xhe Eskimos make breeches out of bearskin, and in the winter time they must kill these bears for their clothing. ' The dogs run the bears down, and four or five dogs hold them up while the native lances and bleeds them to death. .You can do it the same way with a : gun. The dogs run your bears up. and "then you shoot them. That is one way of doing it. Another way is to go out ; in a small boat and get out on the r 1 1 'L)m- &?v&3J&Zs .WrtC- JOBM B. BRADLEY, HUNTER AND EXPL.OEEB ice and chase them up. They are not as dangerous as people think they are. The polar bear, for instance, doesn't eem ( to charge as the grizzly bear does. The polar bear has to swim to vou, seated in your boat, and I killed one of them once when 1 was in by pajamas. I was lying, one morning in the schooner in which we were cruis ing, reading a book, when the man at the helm hollered out "Polar hear.'" r came out on deck and saw one on the ice putting on my clothes. There were two men out in a dory, all excited. I said. "Don't get excited; row up to the bear." ' The bear weighed eight or nine hun dred pounds, and hp was on a cake of ice about three or four acres square and four or five hundred yards from the vessel. As we rowed up 'to the Tear he jumped off the ice and came toward us. Now and then he would rise partly out of the water to see what we were doing. At about seventy-five yards I hit him low in the shoulder, and he then swam to a lit tle piece of ice. I hit him again, and 3ie swam back to the big piece of ice. 3 old the men to get up closer, but fhey were afraid the bear would upset sthe boat I said, "Row up alongside ofihim," and finally we got on the ice. where I killed him. Then I put a rope around him and towed him to the ship, and we yanked him up on the vessel. The dogs on the' vessel vere sitting there waiting until we -ould cut him up to get some to eat. Harpooning the Walrus. 'The most, exciting sport is harpoon ring walrus, and this is the best sport - in the arctic. Thev weierh hetwpon j and the others charged the boat, but as we went around they could not catch us. We secured the wounded walrus, cut them up and put them in the dory. We cached the meat for Dr Cook's expedition. Baby Walrus In a Boat., The natives stack it up the same as , """ "u neeze it. i chased up a j herd or females once the males are generally together and the females are together with their young I chased this bunch of eisht or nine fpmni i I didn't know they were females until after I had killed some of them. We got up pretty close and circled arnnnrl and as we did so I wounded some of tnem, among others pne youngster. Then the whole bunch stood round the .youngster, which weighed about 200 pounds. The mother was around this youngster, holding it up, and that gave me the chance to kill the old ones. Those in the dory began putting the harpoons in the old ones so they would not sink. I just wounded this young ster, which could not swim. Dr. Cook and I pulled him in the launch, and it almost upset the boat he was about five or six Wnths old and all at once he began to flap and set up his fins. I was sitting on him, and he threw me off. I had. to hit him over the head with an ax and kill him or he would have upset the boat. The natives all laughed. They thought it was such great fun getting this live walrus In a boat. We were about eight or ten miles from the vessel, so we tied those we had killed and pulled them up on the shore, eight In all. I went out the next day and killed five in the same place. I finally killed all there were In the herd. This was about eight miles from Etah, about 78.18 north lat itude. . . Then I used to go out and get arc tic hares, which are really big rabbits. Thenatives make boots out of the sealskin and use the hares for their socks. Their underclothes consist, of a shirt, for which they use auk. That is what they wear during the winter time, and Dr. Cook and ail of his men wore the same. Sometimes there would be a school of walrus of one or two hundred, all together, very close to the vessel. They would come up to Dreatne, and I used to have a lot or fun harpooning them. We would tie them to the boat after harpooning rnem. ana tney'd give us a good ride 1 got my gun without thinking of 1 tuey were quite liable to pull our no- nn mv nlAtl,.. T'l ; DOat OV'OP. Dr. Cook and the Musk Ox. The natives kill all this game with narpoons, for they have no other way, though in late years some of them have had Winchester rifles that Peary gave them. They are very curious and try to take the rifle apart to see how it is made, and then the rifles get out of commission. I left Dr. Cook fifteen rifles and plenty of ammunition; which he " lent to the natives, with four or five cartridges each; and when they went out shooting they must bring in game for it. and then the rifles were taken away from them until they went out again. There are plenty of musk oxen up in EUesmere Land, which Dr. Cook en countered on the dash to the pole". When the natives kill these animals they freeze them and use every bit of them and pile them up for the dogs and the . natives. They make caches at different points In crossing the Is land. Hunting musk oxen in EUesmere Land is not at all like hunting-them in the far north of Canada.' Away up there in EUesmere they-are not near ly so active L and are , more stunid. -sixteen and seventeen hundred pounds, ' There is less sport in shooting them. "with irood bis ivorv tnsUs Tho na tives kill them for meat for themselves and their dogs. Two go in a kayak of course, but Dr. Cook was concerned only in getting food. , , - : The casual reader may have formed mu gei ciose up on a Duncn- or wai- j the conclusion that we did a lot of .us. -geueiiui, uu me ice sunning unnecessary Dromlscnous killinir rm themselves. They get ud to the wai tus and maneuver around, setting up sl piece of skin on the boat so that the animals can't see them. When . they get in strikingdistance, at least twenty-five feet, they harpoon them. Harpoons are made of wood for the handle driftwood, probably some huu - dreds of 'years old, which has been : handed down from one generation to the other. J The. lances are made of ivory or cariboo horn. The line they "use' to tie-the. harpoon on to the float 3s of walrus hide. After they get the the contrary, we shot nothing which we did not need. There is nothing to be had for food and for making cloth ing in the far north but wild animals and fish. The -most successful men, in s that part of the world are the. best hunters.' . These primitive people, with all their low mentality, have much better ideas of game protection than the average American. And it is well, indeed, for their whole existence de pends upon the fauna of that unhos- . pitabie region. Needless to say, they are all good hunters. made inquiries of a neighbor concern ing my parents' sojourn In those na rta and was told that they had come there several years before my birth and had for a time lived as gentle folk, hut snh. sequently they dwelt as did their neignDors. My father had from his coming appeared to have a cloud on his mind. My mother had told me be fore her death that a sum of money had been put in a bank for me at the nearest town, and, going there. I claimed ft and took passage for Eng land. . . . uu my arrival in London I went about looking for work. Going Into the office of a merchant for the pur pose, ne asked me mv name. When t told him he looked up at me in sur prise. "Where were you born?" he asked. I told him all I knew about mvself He regarded me with compassion and gave me employment. jii lutei-vius wnen introduced to a person I was regarded with a certain interest or curiosity I could not tell which. '1 noticed that such persons were always of superior education. No illiterate person even, manifested any especial interest in me. "Some times these people who did would turn away from me with apparent' disgust, while, others regarded me compassion ately. One day I asked my employer for an explanation of the mystery that hung over me. After thinking some time he told me that it would be bet ter for me not to know It He advised me to change my name. 1 tried to' be contented to remain in Ignorance, but the secret weighed upon me, and 1 longed, yet dreaded, to know it. Finally I decided to try another country, thinking that whatever it was hung over me would not be known there. America seemed the most in viting ground, and 1 went to New York, reaching there shortly before the breaking out of the second war with England. Registering at a hotel, the clerk looked up from my name to ma in astonishment. ' " "Well," 1 exclaimed. Irritated, "what Is it?' What is it? Why, nothing, will you go to your room, sir?" I found In America that more Deonle showed that dreaded interest in m v name than in England, and a different interest. On being introduced to me uiusi persons snowea . a rennlsion though many strove to conceal it. burned with a desire to know what it all 'meant; but. remembering the advice of my London employer, 1 refrained from asking, and no one offered to en lighten mei To occupy my mind I went to a library to read. There I stumbled on the secret. The wisdom of the advice given me by my former employer was now ap parent. Under an assumed name I enlisted in the American army to fight against England. I knew now that, though ! had been born abroad, Amer ica was my native land. I burned to do some important work for her. to die ior ner on the field of battle. . There were no important engagements except that at New Orleans, which was lougnt alter peace was declared. As I had entered th army, a private, I came out a . private. Under my as sumed Darne l went into business and prospered. then I fell In love. I had vowed that i would never bring a child into the world to suffer the blight under which I suffered, and 1 strove to crush the natural longing that had taken pos session or me. My sufferings were tenfold what they had been before. Meanwhile it was evident that I had woa the heart of the girl I loved. It was essential that I should exnl.nin m conduct toward her. I told her mv secret. She loved me all the more, 'from pity, that I suffered from another's fault She reminded me that each successive decade would carry me and mine fur ther from the original transgression and that my successors would feel it less than those of my own -generation. Persuaded by this view. I asked her to marry me. I continued to live for a time under my assumed name, but When 1 joined the tide tion settling westward I resumed my own. . . This is my secret In the Revolution ary war an officer of great merit and prominence on the natriot side tnrnori traitor, attempted to deliver to the British an important strategic nositinn and fled to the enemy. Living In Eng land, iwhere he was -desniserl ho brought up a family. My father, one of his descendants, shrinking from the stain, went where he would be un known. He must have been an espe cially sensitive man, and I doubtless The partnership of Johnson and John son, owners of the Toggery, Corvallis, Oregon has been this day dissolved, K. U Herron having acquired the in terests of J. C. Johnson and B W Johnson in the business, Which will" be hereafter conducted bv r. v Ti.i. and R C. Herron, under the firm name ot Johnson & TW m.. firm assumes and the liabilities of the business. Johnson & Johnson. ; ' Johnson & Hereon Corvallis, Ore., Sept, 1, 1909 9.3.10t Sister's Academy Upens Sept. 7th The Academy of Our T.nw t rerpetual Help will re-nhpn nn September 7th: . By means of the new additioifand the Twnri; of the buildin g the school is equipped with all modern im provements, and with a corns of competent teachers may be de pended upon to do thorough work both in the grades and hip school course. For particulars annlv Superior, 225 West Ninth St" All AiDany, Uregon. 8-19 to 9-19. Homes Newport Property. Sixty choice lots more or lesa in port, Oregon, (one of the most health ful and popular summer and winOI. sorts) for sale or will exchange for oth er good property. Property near Cor vallis preferred. Will supply funds to buyers of these lots to thereon. Address M. S. Wnnnrnrv Corvallis, Oregon. " thurs. tf GEO. W. DENMAN Attorney at Law CORVALLIS. ORRRON . Office in Fischer building over Graham - & Wortham drug store The Daily Gazette-Times By carrier or mail, 50e per mo Let us send jt to you BEST---ROIff----HECnPEBATE At the Seashore NEWPORT Is a delightful resort and a happy combination of pleas ure ground possibilities. VAn ideal climate-diversion of recreation-perfect bathing-boating-fishing-riding-driv-ing, and exploring, make Newport a most charming and popular play ground. . ' Southern Pacific Co. HAS A Special Summer Excursion Rate to Newport of $3.75 From CORVALLIS, OREGON Ask for our booklet "Outings in Oregon." R. C. LINVILLE, Agent, CORVALLIS, ORE. WM. M'MURRAY, General Passenger Agent Portland, Oregon "THE srrrnnT. ni? cw tat ttv f Tenth aad Mornson, Port W, Oregon 3 S A. P. Armstrong, LL.B., Principal Old id years new in methods, admittedly the high-standard commercial school of the Northwest. Open all the year. More calls for help than we can meet-position certain. Class and individual instruction. Bookkeeping from written forms and by office practice. Shorthand that excels in every respect. Special penmanship department. Write for illustrated catalogue. Gazette-Titties j - RJorcrcf and' R..1 D . 1 iirn . .. - - . v.y I 00 v,ojici mme wuiamette Valley .Oregon; I irair SALEM Forty-eighth Annual Exhibition Will Be Greater Than Ever $35ooo in Premiums and Purses ' 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 1909 ptember Grand Showing of Live Stock Racing Program Complete iced Rates On All Railroads COME AND BRING YOUR FRIENDS W. F. MATLOCK, , President. F. A. WELCH, ' Secretary. have inherited his disposition. ' '