Слике страница
PDF
ePub
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[merged small][graphic][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Y

San Francisco, August, 1919

No. 2

[graphic][subsumed]
[blocks in formation]

natural home of wild animal life. It is the largest and most successful preserve in the world. It covers 3,300 square miles of mountains and valleys and is nearly as nature made it. The 200 miles of roads, the five enormous hotels, with a big Wylie Camp near each, the two lunch stations, all this is as nothing in this vast wilderness. No tree has been cut, save for road, trail or camp. No firearms are allowed, excepting for the official destroyer of some predatory beast. Visitors keep so closely to the beaten track that the animals have learned in all these years, that the strangers mean them no harm.

People filling the long trains of stages from point to point during the season, seldom see any of the animals, but the quiet watcher on the trails may see deer, bear, elk and antelope to his heart's content, and he may see sheep, moose and bison by journeying on foot or horseback into their retreats. The

deer, especially, gather in large numbers around the hotels almost as soon as the season is closed and the noisy life is over.

One interesting lesson is taught, i. e.Wild animals are fearful and dangerous only when men treat them as game or enemies. Even the grizzlies will make every effort to get away; if this fails, he becomes very dangerous, indeed.

This wild animal farm, using the figures authorized by Uncle Sam, contains 30,000 elk, several thousand moose, innumerable deer, many antelope and a large and increasing herd of buffalo.

It is also a wonderful bird preserve. More than 150 species, living natural and undisturbed lives. Eagles are numerous among the crags. Wild geese and ducks are plentiful. Many thousands of large white pelicans help to create a scene of picturesqueness in the Yellowstone Lake.

My first acquaintance with this wild life began when we came out into the valley through which the Yellowstone River winds and flows, seeing what at

[graphic]

A Mule Train on the Last Swing Into Yellowstone Park

that distance looked like droves of cattle feeding. On getting closer we found they were large herds of elk, deer and mountain sheep feeding on the abundance of rich pasturage on the slopes and widening out valleys. Their number were hard to estimate with any degree of accuracy, as some were so far away on the sloping hillsides that they were only specks, but there were many close enough to get a good look at. There were hundreds upon hundreds of them. None of our party estimated them at less than a thousand and some at two, while no one could even conjesture how many were back behind the lines of the travel. They did not court close inspection, but our driver assured us that later in the season much of their shyness dis

appeared. However, we were close enough to many to see, judge and voice our sincere admiration of them.

From now on animal life spread out before us along the valley and banks of the blue winding Yellowstone River, all the way to the big lake at its head. It was here that we saw elk and deer in abundance. The huge horns of the male elk and deer made them look not unlike a herd of the old time Texas steers, although the elk were much larger. The deer were in small groups of seven to twelve. Calves and fawns were numerous. The fawns, full of grace and beauty, capered around as if they enjoyed every minute of life and were glad of a chance to show that they did. During the season, which lasted three months, I rode

[graphic][merged small]
« ПретходнаНастави »