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Show One of America's great authorsTeflects on a giant of the wild 3 the great white bear and, by the moun- - tain men of the 1830s, as Old Ephraim. Once grizzly numbers were many. 1 Once his domain was not exclusively 1 the mountains but the high plains and prairies. He was known even east of the Mississippi, where he fingered out along the streams. But west of the Missouri and over the mountains to the Pacific was his real empire. At the beginning of the 18th century, there were 50,000 grizzlies west of the Mississippi. The men of the Lewis and Clark expedition killed 13 at the great falls of the Missouri in present-da- y Montana. They killed for sport, not meat, and a kind of sport muzzle-loader- s it was, for their single-shwere hardly sure killers, and the dangerous encounters left the riflemen with the sweetened memories of terror. One hundred and eighty years have passed, and the grizzly has beenzlriven to the last refuge of the mountains. How many remain? The numbers are subject to estimate. In his refuge in the West, the total has dwindled to 600 or perhaps 1200, and these are not prospering. The figures are those of Dr. Charles Jonkel, staff member of the University of Montana and director of the Border Grizzly Project. He says that the figures are loose and may be off at either end of the scale. Of these survivors, 80 percent are to be found in Montana, the rest in T IS NIGHT IN THE HIGH COUNTRY, and three of us are sitting around a Wyoming, Idaho and Washington. There are from 165 to 350 in Yellowstone Nacampfire, ready to cook buffalo meat. On the edge of light, indistinct at first, tional Park, and maybe 200 in Glacier rears a grizzly bear, standing higher than National Park. Not a one is left in Calid a horse, and 1 am awed and fornia, Colorado or the Southwest. I live in grizzly bear country, along and wholly admiring. We dont raise our rifles. There he is, the tips of his the front range of the Rocky Mountains coat lightened by the flare of the fire, a in north-centrMontana. Five miles creature of dream and myth, made real from my home, straight line, lies Pine now and instinct with the life of the Butte Swamp, now owned by the Nawild. He lets himself down on all fours ture Conservancy. Every spring, grizzlies and vanishes into the dark, and the hand come to it, venturing out on the high that 1 have on my gun lifts and gestures plains. In the swamp grows the green in thanks for the gift of his appearance. stuff that their hungry systems need. The scene is imaginary, bom of nights Green stuff in the spring. But the in the open along the headwaters of grizzly is not particular about his diet. Rocky Mountain streams, of long talks He will eat insects, berries, tubers and with of a lifelong interest in meat, fresh or stale, as well as greens. the ways and fortunes of the fur hunters Ten to 20 bears visit the swamp annuwho lived long before me. But if the ally, some spending the summers there, scene is fiction, it is fact in the experione perhaps staying the year round. Of ences of older men, most of them now the 100 or so bears that Dr. Jonkel and dead. his staff have trapped in Montana and The grizzly is a living, snorting incarequipped with radio devices so as to nation of the wildness and grandeur of keep track of their wanderings, five have America. He has been known, both in been located in the swamp. esteem and in dread, as the silvertip. On the way from the mountains to the swamp, the bears travel two courses from the canyons of the Teton River and those of Willow Creek to destination. My home rests on or close to the Teton route. I know they come, I know theyve been near, but I dont see them, for these are unspoiled mountain bears. They travel by dark or in the cover of draws, wanting no trouble. When I go out at night, careful only to make enough noise to announce my coming, I walk without fear. I wont startle a bear if hes there or be at all likely to come between mother and cub. The animals m ot The great white bear measures9 feet tall, weighs up to 600 pounds and has a hug to crush ribs. half-scare- al s, By A.B. Guthrie Jr. .he grizzly a living incarnation of the grandeur ofAmerica is in grave danger reputation for savagery has been heightened by tragedies in Yellowstone and Glacier parks. In the summer of 1980, three people were killed by grizzlies in Glacier, and a woman was killed there in 1976. At Yellowstone in 1972, a man was killed by a grizzly. But in the majority of cases not all the human victims have acted in ignorance or rash heedlessness. All the same, the grizzly is a fierce and awesome adversary. An adult male will weigh from 400 to 600 pounds, a female from 300 to 400. Standing at a stretch, a big bear will measure 9 feet tall. Thats not all. As a horse trainer would say, the grizzly has a lot of early foot. His bursts of speed are short but fast. He has been clocked at 40 miles an hour, more than enough to run down a deer. And he has big claws, a big mouth and teeth and a hug to crush ribs. Along the front range of the Rockies, in the 150 miles of country I know best, I recall just one man-beencounter outside of those incidents that occurred in Yellowstone and Glacier. A sheepman awakened one night to the sounds ar PAGE 10 JULY 24, 1983 PARADE MAGAZINE |
