Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 1908)
... Villi COt. IKK, ' HANTS PAi, OREGON AUGTST 14, 1W& r LjUIBHIWIlWIilimi' I lliMiiiiiiwi mil in ii IWTINGiriE Prong Buck BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT ICopyrlKtit. 1893, by G. P. Putnam'i font- - r, , J - - - - Iil.ll.h.i4 tin.1if nrrur.vr.mcnt with fl. Putnam's Buns, New York and London O the wide plain where the pronn buck dwells the hunter uiUBt aotne tlinoH ftirc thirst, ai well uh lire nnd frost The only tlmo I ever really suffered from thirst wil while bunting prong-buck. It was lute In tho summer. I was with the much wagon on the way to join a round-up, and aa we were out of meat I started for a day's hunt After two or three hours' ride, up winding coulles, and through the Scorched desolation of patches of Bad lAiidH, I reached the rolling prairie. The heat and drought had long burned the short grass dull brown; the bot toms of what had been pools were covered with biird, dry, cracked earth. The day was cloudless, atid the heat oppressive. There were many ante lope, but I got only one shot, breaking t buck's leg; and though I followed It for a couple of hours I could not over take It Ily this time It was late In the afternoon, and I was fur away from the river; so I pushed for a creek, In tho bed of which I bad always found pools of water, especially to wards the bead, as Is usual with plains watercourses. To my chagrin, how ever, they all proved to be dry; and though I rode up the creek bed to ward the head,. carefully searching for any sign of water, ulght closed on me before I found any. For two or three hours I stumbled on, leading my horse, In my fruitless search; then a tumble ver a cut bank In the dark warned me that I might as well stay where I was for the rest of the warm night Accordingly I unsaddled the horse, and tied him to a sage brush; after awhile he began to feed on the dewy trass. At first I was too thirsty to sleep. Finally I fell Into a aumber, and when 1 awoke at dawn I felt no thirst For aa hour or two more I continued my search for water tn the creek bed; then abandoned It and rode straight for the river. By the time we reached It my thirst had come back with redoubled force, my month was parched, and the horse was In quite as bad a plight; we rushed down to the brink, and It seemed as If we could neither of us ever drink our Oil of the tepid, rather muddy water. Of course this experience was merely un pleasant; thirst Is not a source of real danger In the plains country proper, wheress In the hideous deserts that extend from southern Idaho through Utah ami Nevada to Arizona, It ever menaces with death tho hunter and ex plorer. In tho plains the weather Is apt to bo in ektrsmes; the bent la tropical, the cold arctic, and the droughts are relieved by furious floods. These are generally mora sevcro and lusting In the spring, after (bo melting of the snow; and fierce local freshets follow the occasional cloudbursts. Tho large rivers then becomo wholly Impassa ble, and even the smaller are formi dable obstacles. It Is not easy to got cattle in roNM a swollen Btream, where the curri'tit runs like a turbid mill-race over the bed of shifting iptlcksand. Once five of us took a thousand head of trull steers across the Little Mis souri when tho river was up, and It was no light task. The muddy current was boiling past the banks covered with driftwood and foul yellow froth, and the frightened cattle shrunk from entering It. At last, by hard riding, with much loud shouting and swing ing of ropes, we got the leaders In, and the whole herd followed. After them we went In our turn, tho horses swim ming tit one moment, and the next Staggering and floundering through the qulckNHtid. I wits riding my pet cutting horse. Muley, which his the provokltjg habit of making great bounds -where the water is Just not deep enough for swimming; once he almost tfiiseated me. Some of the cat tle wrni rsugbt by the currents and foiled orj-r and over; most of these we were able, with the help of our ropes, to put on their feet again; only one wns drowned, or rather choked In a QUli ksnnd. Many swam down stream, and In conaequence struck a difficult landing, where the river ran under a cut bank: these we had to haul out wtth our ropes. Although I have often had a horse down In qtilcksnnd or tn crossing a swollen river, and hr had to work hnrd to save httu, 1 huve never myself bwt one under such circumstances. Yet once I snw the horse of one of my men drown under him directly In front of the much house, w till ho was try ing to cross the river This was In early spring, soon nftir tint Ice had broken hen making long wagon trips over the great plains, atrtclop often offer the oi.M source o' meat supply, shyc f r o. i :iilontil w liter fowl. ne fowl, I pvil tlilvle fowl tVe slwp-tul'ed priilrle fowl, lie ( uu, lei 'Stood 'Hil ls tlie i'harn torl-fle itrv -e f t i f i .. '''.' Towards the end of the summer of, 02 I found It necessary to travel from my ranch to the Black HlUe. some two hundred miles. souths Th ranch wag on went with me, driven by an all round plainsman, a man of Iron nerves and varied past, the sheriff of our county. lie was an old friend of mine; at one time I bad served as deputy-sheriff for the northern end of the county. In the wagon we carried our food and camp kit, and our three rolls of bedding, each wrapped In a thick, nearly waterproof canvas sheet: we bad a tent, but we never needed It The load being light, the wagon was drawn by but a span of horses, a pair of wild runaways, tough, and good travellers. My foreman and I rode beside the wagon on our wiry, un kempt, unshod cattle-ponies. They car ried us all day at a rack, pace, single foot or slow lope, varied by rapid gal loping when we mudo long circles aft er game; the trot, the favorite gait with eastern park-riders, Is disliked by all peoples who have to do much of their life-work In tho saddle. Tho first day's ride was not attrac tive. The heat was Intense and the dust stifling, as we bad to drive aorae loose horses for the first few ' miles, and afterwards to ride up and down the sandy river bed, where the cattle had gathered, to look over some young steers we bad put on the range the preceding spring. When we did camp It was by a pool of stagnant water, In a creek bottom, and the mosquitoes were a torment Nevertheless, as evening fell. It was pleasant to climb a little knoll nearby and gaze at the rows of strangely colored buttos, grass clad, or of bare earth and scoria, their oft reds and purples showing as through a hase, and their Irregular out lines gradually losing their sharpness In the fading twilight My foreman and I usually rode far off to one side of the wagon, looking out for antelope. Of these we at first aw few, but they grew more plentiful as w Journeyed onward, approaching a big, scantily wooded creek, where I had found the prong-horn abundant In previous seasons. They were very wary and watchful whether going sin gly or In small parties, and the lay of the land made It exceedingly difficult to get within range. The last time I had hunted In this neighborhood was In the fall, at the height of the rutting season. Prong-bucks, even more than other ganio, seem fairly maddened by erotic excitement. At the time of my former hunt they were In ceaseless motion; each master buck being Inces santly occupied In herding bis harem, and fighting would-be rivals, while sin gle bucks chased single does as gray hounds chase hares, or else, If no does were in sight, from sheer excitement ran to and fro aa If crazy, racing at full speed In one direction, then halt ing, wheeling, and tearing back again Just as hard as they could go. At this time, however, the rut was still some weeks off, nnd all tho bucks hud to do was to feed and keep a look out for enemies. Try my ls.'st, I could not get within less than four or five hundred yards, and though I took a number of shots at these, or even longer distances, I missed. If a man Is out merely for a day's hunt, and hits as prong-horns; but no others are so whimsical and odd in their behavior at times, or so gubpect to fits of the most stupid curiosity and panic. Late In the afteiuiMin, on topping a rise I saw two good bBi'ks racing off about three hundred yards to one side: I prang to the ground, and fired thsee shots at them In tain, as they ran like quarter-horses until they disappeared ever u slight swell. In a minute, how ever, back they came, suddenly ap pearing over the crest of the same swell, immediately In front of me. and, as 1 afterwards found by pacing, some three hundred and thirty yards away. They stood side by side facing me. and remained motionless, unheed ing the crack of the Winchester; I aimed at the right-hand one, but a front shot of the kind, at such a dis tance. Is rather difficult, and It was not until I fired for the fourth time that he sank back out of sight I could not tell whether I had killed him, and took two shots at his mate, as the latter went off. but without effect Running forward. I found the first one dead, the bullet having gone through him lengthwise; the other did not seem satisfied even yet, and kept hanging round In the distance for some minutes, looking at us. I had thus bagged one prong-buck, as the net outcome of the expenditure of fourteen cartridges. This was cer tainly not good shooting; but neither was It as bad as It would seem to the man Inexperienced in antelope bunting. p!e, vigorous body with Its markings of sharply contrasted brown nnd white. I pulled trigger, and away he went; but I could see that his race was nearly run. and he fell after going a few hundred yards. ir t't tht Itoiti-it in and the uhole herd folJoiiYiL all the time ho wishes, he wl'.I not scare tho game and waste cartridges by shooting at such long ranges, pre ferring to spend half a day or more In patient waiting nn.l cnieful stalking; but If he N traveling, and Is therefore cramped for time, lie must take liis chances, even at the cost of liuruiiig a good deal of p-.w,:.T. 1 was liua .v I c; . 1 to i.;,ess hv " t.-r.i fie )! They ttood title by tide facing me, and remaitud tnotUmUa. When fresh meat Is urgently needed, and when time is too short, the hunter who is after antelope in an open flat tlsh country must risk many long shots. In no other kind of hunting is there so much long distance shooting. Throwing the buck Into the wagon we continued our Journey across the prairie, uo longer following any road, and before sunset Jolted down towards the big creek for which we had been heading. There were many water holes therein, and timber of considera ble size; box alder and ash grew here and there iu clumps and frluges, be side the serpentine curves of the near ly dry torreut bed, the growth being thickest under the shelter of the occa sional low bluffs. We drove down to a heavily grassed bottom, near a deep, uarrow pool, with, ut oue end, that rarest of luxuries In the plains coun try, a bubbling spring of pure, cold water. With plently of wood, delicious water, nmple feed for tho horses, and fresh meat we had every comfort and luxury Incident to camp life iu good weather. The bedding was tossed out on a smooth spot beside the wagon; the horses were watered and tethered to picket pins where tho feed was best; water was fetched from the spring; a deep hole was dug for the Are, and the grass roundabout care fully burned otf; and lu a few mo ments the bread was baking In the Dutch oven, the potatoes were boiling, antelope steak were sizzling In the frying-pan, and the kettle was ready for tho tea. After supper, eaten with the relish known well to every hard working and successful hunter, we sat for half an hour or so round the Are, and then turned In under the blankets and listened to the walling of the coyotes until we fell sound asleep. We determined to stay in this camp all day, so as to try and kill another prong-buck, as we would soon be past the good hunting grounds. I did not have to go far for my game next morn ing, for soon after breakfast, whllo sitting on my canvas bag cleaning my rifle, the sheriff suddenly called to me tlist a buuch of autelope were coming towards ua. Sure enough there they were, four la number, rather over half a mile off, on the first bench of the prairie, two or three hundred yards back of the creek, leisurely feeding In our direction. In a minute or two they were out of sight, and 1 Instantly ran along the creek towards them for a quarter of a mile, and then crawled up a short shallow coullo, close to the head of which they seemed likely to pass. When nearly at the end I cau tiously raised my hatlcs head, peered through some struggling weeds, and nt once saw the horns of the buck. He w as a big fellow, about a hundred and twenty yards off; the others, a d v and two kids, were !:i front As I lift ed r.r se'.f on ivy e"-ows l.c ! 'i, ,l an 1 MARK TWAIN'S JOKE, This One Has a Moral Which Does Not Require a Label. AND IT SUGGESTS A SERMON. The Txt Is Advertising, and the Talk It on How to Catch and Hold Home Trad and Build Up th Builneit and the Burg Togethsr. Mark Twain is an Inveterate Joker, ns most people have discovered, but very often there Is a distinct moral to one of bis Jokes which does not re quire to be labeled; It can be seen with the naked eye. Many years ago the now famous humorist was editor of the Enterprise, a newspaper pub lished at Virginia City, New One day he received a letter from a subscriber who appeared to be a bit superstitious. The subscriber explained that he had found in his copy of the Enterprise that week a live spider, and he wanted to know whether that meant good luck or bad luck. Editor Mark, who was plain Sam Clemens at that period, sat himself down and wrote a brief reply in hla "Answers to Correspondents" column. "That spider," he said, "was merely looking over the columns of the Enterprise to find out what merchant doesn't advertise In bis home paper. The spider wants to go and spin Its web across the door of that man's place of business, so that It may have a long life of undisturbed serenity." This Is the age of advertising. If you doubt It, Just take note of the fact that up to a few mouths ago the circu lation of the leading mail order month lies of the United States aggregated 25,000,000 copies. Why? The "litera ture" contained In most of such publi cations Is not of high class, and there Is no such enormous demand for that class of journals merely for reading purposes. Their circulation bad been pushed by various methods, In many cases the papers being practically giv en away to carry the advertising of big city establishments and smaller catchpenny schemes to the town and country districts. These papers with their enormous circulation were sup ported by advertising. The advertis ing even paid for the white paper and the expense of mailing. Advertisers paid a stiff rate because they were satisfied of the wide circulation of the sheets. They knew a good thing when they saw it and they were willing to pay for It It Is estimated that since the recent ruling of the postottlce department re garding subscription lists and sample copies no less than 18,(100,000 of this enormous circulation has been cut off compulsortly. Many of the journals j with the biggest circulation have sus pended altogether. The local merchant may congratulate ' himself upon this fact, but there nre many reasons why he should not sit down placidly and expect to get back such patrouage as the mall order peo ple have taken away from him. The biggest concerns In the cities, which thrive on trade from country districts, by mail orders, print gigantic cata logues and distribute tbem with a gen erous hand. These catalogues curry price lists and pictures aud descrip tions of goods which could not be printed In mall order journals because, of tho high cost of space and the lack I of enough space to accommodate the prluted matter. The catalogues are in nowise affected by the postal rulings. Now that the mall order advertising j avenues are fewer than they were the j catalogue houses are sure to Increase their output of catalogues. They will , buy up the names and addresses of the defunct subscription and sample copy lists and flood the country with cata logues. As remarked, this Is an advertising age. The home merchant If he holds his trade or hones to Increase It, must be awake and active. Unless he takes measures to keep his business and his bargains liefore the eyes of the peo ple dwelling In his trade radius he rsnnot expect prosperity. The home newspaper Is the one medium for dis seminating publicity to the people. Men, women and children In town and country have acquired the habit of readlug advertising matter to find what they want. If they do not dis cover Iu the home newspaper any hlnta as to bargains which may be seen In town wtth the naked eye, they are Inclined to take their chances on purchasing by mail from the cata logue hints. It may be taken for granted that most people prefer to spend their mon ey lu the home town If they can get what they want at reasonable rates. They are always on the lookout for bargains. The catalogue people are very well aware of this fact and they act accordingly. To combat mall trade the local merchant must realize this fact ami g-t hi 'Hie wlfj the spirit of ,::'' " '' ' "- tVat he most sd- Special Colonist Rates "in effect from Sept. 1, to October 31, 1908 SEE LOCAL AGENT TO GRANTS PASS, ORE. on any Railroad, from Kausis City, St Joseph Omaha, St. Paul, Minneapolis; $35 SO from St. Louis; $38 00 from Chicago; $ 40 15 from Indian apolis; $44.75 from Cleveland; $47 00 from Pitts burg; $47.15 from Briminsham; $55.00 from New York City. Proportionate rates from every city in the United States. For imformation about Grants Pass, address Grants Pass Commercial Club H. L. Andrews, Secy. run I The School BUSINESS COLLEGE WASHINGTON AND TENTH STREETS PORTLAND, OREGON WRITE FOR CATALOG Places You in a Good Position that A live business training school. Endorsed by business men. The school whose graduates seonre positions and hold them. Living expenses lor School in continuous session. Send for catalogue. SALEM, OREGON W. I. STALEY, Principal f'THE SCHOOL OF QUALITY Tenth and Morrison, Portland, Oregon A. P. Armstrong;, LL.B., Principal C.We occupy two floors 65 by 100 feet, have a $20,000 equipment, employ a large faculty, give individual instruction, receive more calls for office help than we can meet Our school admittedly leads ill others in quality of instruction. It pays to attend such an institutioa CSald a Business Man : " Keep hammering away everlastingly on thorough work. It will win out In the end." Said an Educator: "The quality of instruo tion given in your school makes it the standard of its kind in the Northwest" COpen all the year. Students admitted at any time. Catalogue fret References: Any bank, any newspaper, any business man in Portland IRRIGATED Best, irrigated small farm in Jackson County for $2500. 40 acres in tract. 30 acres under ditch. 20 acres under cultivation. Come and see for yourself., BEN A. LOWELL HOODVILLE. OREGON Courier and OregoniM &2.0O i 1 i.4 fc. .