TOE SUNDAY OREGONIAJf. PORTLAND. MARCH 15, 1914
Catching
To Round up Herd of
Yellowstone Park.
by Professional Animal Catcher
Animals in Wilds of
jj.i ft. it t r.
mix
i
J iV. ,Jt- fiti
C
i in
for- tS7i?'jom en.
IN the pens and paddocks at Wash
ington Park zoo, where the beasts
of all climes, from the frigid North
to the tropical South, mingle as one
. family, six big vild elk are now to b'e
seen frisking about apparently very
nervous and frightened at the signs of
civilization about them.
A month ago this happy family was
- part of the vast herds that roam the
wilds of the Yellowstone National Park.
They were then back in the snow and
lea of the mountains where man or
civilization are not known at this time
of the year. Three weeks ago they' ven
tured down to the lowlands near Gard
iner, Mont, where feed "was more plen
ftiul, and they got Into a trao set 'for
them by a professional animal catcher.
Now they are in Portland's roe, ti
where they will spend the rest of their !,nto th vu!,rl nd bastns out Gar.
days as objects of curiosity and amuse- 1'"er and other parU the
ment for the crowds that throng the St0n8 country wnere tha nw "
park during the Spring and Summer 68i anK4, Whera there enBr"r " con-
months.
These elk met the same fate at Gard
iner that hundreds of others meet each
year. They were tracped by J. H. An
derson, a mountaineer, who holds the
record for animal catching.' It is said
of Mr. Anderson that he knows as mudh
about elk habits as do the elks them
selves and that he is able, by means of
clever traps, to beat them at their own
Same.
siderable coarse grass and other, feed.
It is while they are down In this lower
country that Mr. Anderson gets In bis
work with his traps and reaps his har
vest of ioo elk.
Considerable distance from where lie
lives he has constructed a large corral
or trap. It consists of a high fence
around an inclosure US feet long by
120 feet in width. Within the inclosure
are three small pens with sliding gates
v and a chute leadinar urt to a. nUtfnrm
He has stocked the zoological gar- where the elk, when captured, are
dens of most of the cities of the coun- loaded into wagons.
try with elk within the last few years On one side of the corral Is a large
and Is filling other orders as rapidly as gate which slides open and shut on
cities can get permission from the Fed- rollers attached to a beam extending
eral Government to catch the animals, completely over the gate opening. To
In the Winters of 1912 and 191S he cap- one e!nd of this is fastened a rope
tured and delivered for zoo purposes in which extends along the ground a dis
varlous parts of the country a totalof tance of 200 feet to a haystack. By
898 head of the Yellowstone elk. pulling the string the gate will close.
-Animal catching with Mr. Anderson When it Is time for the elk to come
has come to be a routine business. He down from the snowclad mountains In
has gotten things down to such a fine the middle of Winter Mr. Anderson
point that he knews exactly when and places several stacks of hay within the
how to proceed with his catching, and large corral, places another large stack
he generally can tell in advance what directly in front of the open gate, scat
his success for a season Is going to be. ters hay between the stack and then
During the Summer months the Yel- acatters a continuous string of hay for
lowstone elk, which number in the several hundred yards from his eorral
thousands, have plenty of range and back into the hills.
are very seldom seen excepting at a The elk find it hard at times to rus
distance or when a person comes upon tie enough to eat in the lowlands dur
a herd of them far back in the hills. ing certain times and when they oome
They do not get into the lowlands as a across the string of hay in the hills
rule "opting in a few parts of the they foUow u eat, ft
park where they are, almost domestl- They finally end up in a bunch about
cated by reason of the tourist traffic. the stack of hay in front of the gate.
Gradually they work back into the It generally is not long before a bunch
hills durmg the Summer until Fall, of the old cows and the bucks begin to
when they are found generally in the fight among themselves. and after this
highest places. As the Winter sets in it Is lmp08aIb,6 for the youser
the snow falls deepest in the higher al- to get anywhere near the -tee
tltudes and gradually the an.mals are Gradually these yoUBg elk ,
forced down to lower country as the and 8neak into the corral Bto the hj
grass up above becomes covered They stacks tnere Thfl older J
forage in the lower country until the wlser ot venture ,
snow there becomes so deep that they apparenty eQBpectlng a trap. e
have to go still lower. young ones are fearful at first and
In duo course of time they get down will crane their necks and try In every
way to reach the hay without stepping
inside. Gradually, spurred on by an
appetite, they go Inside. The least
Uttle noise and the whole bunch stain
pedes to get out. Oftentimes the rush
Is so great that one or two of them are
hurt. After th first fright they go
back into the corral and begin eating
again. Suddenly one of the number
will hear something and again the
whole bunch win go flying out.
. After doing this a few times they
get more courage and part of them
will not run when some frivolous mem
ber of the party tries to start a scare.
In this way the number gradually in
creases inside the corral. Mr. Ander
son says he has seen as many as 80 in
the corral at one time.
It probably would seem to the novice
at the animal-catching business that
while tha animals are Inside the corral
feasting and are not participating in
the occasional dashes to the outside,
Mr. Anderson ought to pull the rope
and close the gate. But Mr. Anderson
says he is not oven on hand to pull the
rope at this time because he knows
from experience that a better time is
coming.
After tlie elk have fed for an hour or
so they will leave to spend from one to
two hours chewing their cuds. After
", J I '
the entire herd, injecting new and fresh
blood. In the Spring the Portland zoo
will receive two more elk but not from
the Yellowstone traps. They will bo
baby elks born to two of the females in
the herd just received.
this they return for more bay. It Is
when they return that Mr. Anderson,
wrapped In his furs, is in hiding in the
haystack near the corral ready to pull
tha rope to shut the gate.
doos not take long to accomplish this
task and the rest of the work Is com
paratively easy. Mr. Anderson has his
orders, for elk of certain kinds and sex
for certain cities, arranged in order and
he begins to pick out the animals soon
after a catch. As they are selected they
are driven off into the small pens in the
oorral and kept there until they are
ready to ship.
Generally, before they are ready to
Having had success in their first feed 8trt on he,r Jo"6 to ,cl,'ilizai!on'
inside the corral the elk will go back lney la,r,jr w'u "'
Inside on the run and will coax with 7m drlnk ,rora a troueb wb!le a man
them many new ones that had not yen- Is "tanling near-by and will eat while
tured In before. The second feed Is a man around. When they are ready
about midnight and the animals are to ba "hipped they are drlyen from the
very much more" quiet and restful than 8ma11 pen" ,nto a stlU 'mUa-' Plaoe
during the earlier hours of the day or wlth a chuU at on end- Tney go lnto
evening. Gradually the corral fills up th,s chute and walk dlrectly lnt0 a
with elk as those on the outside see ca ""ted uPn a wagon. When
those inside enjoying the bay without "ne eet """ "
any apparent danger.
When the corral gets well filled Mr.
Anderson quiciciy gives his rope a
is dropped and they are ready to be
hauled to the depot, which is a half
mile from Mr. Anderson's catching
strong pull and the sliding gate clanks Place
shut and the colony of elk go dashing A the depot the wagon Is backed up
about the eorral wildly looking for a t aear and the animals are driven out
plaoe to escape. Those fortunate enough Mr. Anderson says they are very easy
to be on the outside dash for the hills. to handle if the persons handling them
Kr. Anderson then hurries over to his understand their business. It is neces
bome and retires, leaving the animals ary to stand very close to them and
to spend the night getting used to their Bt to let them get where they can
cage. raise up onto their hind legs. If they
The next morning he and his helpers ot an opportunity they will rear up
are on hand bright and early and the and d'S their feet into a person, In
task of getting the animals tamed is flictlng a painful wound. At times Mr.
commenced. The men stand about and Anderson says he has been black and
let thfl elk get used to seeing them, li blue with bruises from feet to hips, due
to not standing close enough to tha
animals while transferring them from
the wagons' to the cars.- Either get
close to them or far away, is his ad
vice. They will not fight In close quar
ters, he saya
Mr. Anderson says the success of the
animal business depends very largely
upon the condition of the animals when
they are shipped and the treatment ac
corded them en route. They should not
be run before being loaded and should
not be overheated or hungry or tired.
Mr. Anderson says he puts all his ani
mals in a corral all night with plenty
of hay and water before attempting to
ship them. En route they should be
side-tracked, watered and fed at least
evory 24 hours and should be given a
rest of from six to 13 hours while the
train Is not In motion.
In 1912 and 1913 Mr. Anderson
shipped 398 head of elk to various parts
of the country. Among the shipments
were 80 head to King County, Wash
ington; SO to Redding, Cal.; 50 to Yak
ima County, Washington; 80 to Ari
zona; 25 to Hot Springs, Wash.; SO to
Utah; 25 to Walla Walla, Wash.; 85 to,
Stephens County, Washington; 2 to
Fort Worth, Tex., and 2 to South Da
kota. It Is not the easiest thing In the
world to get elk from the Yellowstone
country. It is necessary to get permis
sion from the Federal Government and
that permission is granted to cities
only when the animals are wanted for
some good purpose and assurance is
given that they will be properly cared
for. When the permission is given it is
merely necessary to notify Mr. Ander
son and he will catch and deliver safely
any kind or age elk desired.
The elk in the Portland zoo are to be
mixed with elk which have been there
for many years past The different
breeds will be mixed so as to improve
Man's Two Minds
EXPOUNDING a theory that man has
two minds, or a double conscious
ness objective and subjective Mgr.
Benson has compared the two activi
ties to an upper and a lower room sep
arated by a trapdoor. Dreams are due
to the subjective consciousness work
ing without check from the objective
consciousness.
The man who usually claims to have
an evenly balanced mind is the one
who has to shut tha trapdoor and re
main in the upper room, and those
who have closed the trapdoor and re
main in the lower rooms are commonly
found in lunatic asylums. The man
of really even balance either remains
between the two rooms or keeps the
trapdoors well oiled.
Napoleon, in the lower room, con
ceived ideas for ruling Europe ajrd in
the upper room put his ideas into prac
tice; Raphael created combinations of
colors and then expressed them on
canvas, and Beethoven in the lower
room composed his sonatas and In tlie
upper room reproduced the notes on
paper.
The events of childhood are remark
ably clear in the recollection of very
old people, thcush present happenint'S
are forgotten. This may be explained
by the decay of the objective con
sciousness, and it Is curious that as
this decays the subjective consciousness
becomes more acute.
The Milk Tree.
Travelers assert that in South Amer
ica there is a most convenient milk
producing tree which the natives tae
advantage of for the feeding of tbsir
children. By boring a hole in its trunk
a clear, sweet stream of milk emerges
which is both healthful and delicious;