S DEATH STRUGGLE I
I WITH A GRILZZY j
The following narrative is a
true account of the adventures
and experiences of the author,
J. M. Christie, whilst prospect- •
ing in the Yukon district, and
the injuries received by him in
his struggle with a grizzly bear
are in no respect exaggerated.
The marks of the encounter are
plainly visible on his head, face,
arm, body and leg. Although
two years since the accident, he
is still suffering from the after
effects.
Had it not been for the united
efforts of his partner, Mr. Chris
field and Mr. and Mrs. Ferrell,
who nursed the victim for
months, until able to proceed to
where medical aid could be ob
tained, he* would undoubtedly
have succumbed to his injuries.
Alter naving spent a none mu pium
able summer placer mining, I con
eluded to put in the approachin;
winter trapping some one hundred am
fifty miles up the Stewart river abov<
where I was then mining. Accordingl
I procured the necessary outfit for ai
eight months’ sojourn in the wilder
ness, and, falling in with George Chis
field (another miner who was on
similar trip), we agreed to trap ii
partnership, and proceeded to ou
trapping grounds. Before reachim
our destination, however, we wer
frozen in. This necessitated packini
our outfit the last fifty miles acros
country instead of finishing the tri;
by small boat, as we had intended.
On reaching our destination our firs
task was to procure meat enough fo
ourselves and our dogs for the wintei
Game, where we were, was fairly pel
tiful, but, owing to the condition o
the weather—snow having fallen earl;
that season, followed by intense colt
which caused the snow to crust, w
found it almost impossible to get witl:
in range of a moose on account of th
noise made by one's snows’aoes on th
surface of the crusted snow. #
After diligent and hard work w
secured throe head of moose, whic
was enough to keep us going until w
could get our traps strung out. Hav
ing only one team of husky dogs,
left my partner to haul our game t
camp while I went off on an explorin
trip about the end of October to lool
up the trapping prospects of the dis
trict, as it was then time to start tak
ing fur.
On taking leave of my partner
could not say definitely when I shouli
return, but expected not to be awa;
more than three days. On the firs
day after leaving our camp I located i
bunch of fur, and the tracks of thi
animals were numerous enough t(
warrant our moving camp and com
mencing trapping operations. Witl
this end in view, after camping ou
over night about twelve miles fron
our home camp, I decided to circh
back to that camp the next morninf
and prepare to move. On my waj
thither, and about ffve miles fron
where I had slept the previous night,
I came to a place where we had killed
and cached a moose a few days before.
As neither of us has visited the cache
since, I thought I would look at it
when passing to see that everything
was O. K. ,
In carrying out this resolve my
•roubles began. When approaching
our game cache I ran into a band of'
wolves, and immediately knew that
if was “all off” with our meat. After
taking a shot at the nearest wolf and
missing It, although not more than
fifty yards distant, I examined my
gifle to find that the rear sight had be
come disarranged, thereby causing
me to overshoot the wolf. I immedi
ately adjusted the sight and, luckily
so, for on approaching the cache 1
found that the moose, which was cut
into quarters, had been bodily carried
off very recently by a huge grizzly
whose tracks could be seen plainly on
‘ the snow, and which apparently had
■ been made within the hour. Needless
’ to say, by this time I Telt considerably
' chagrined at the loss of our moose
* and, knowing the habits of bruin, was
s certain that he would be camped nol
f more than a few hundred yards off
1 and very likely have my moose in his
■ possession. Slipping off my pack
■ sack and snowshoes I started on
1 bruin’s trail, which led directly across
1 an open gravel bar across Rogue
river, which at this point is not more
» than fifty yards wide, and which was
3 frozen over. The grizzly had appar
> ently carried all the moose over the
i river, as there were numerous tracks
’ of his going and coming.
So sure was I that bruin was not
t far away, I advanced cautiously with
p my rifle ready, expecting at any min
• ute to get a sight of him. I had just
' climbed the river bank and had ad
f vanced through the underbrush, which
r was thick, only a few yards when 1
’ was suddenly startled by the angry
3 snort of the grizzly, which during
' this time had, undoubtedly, been
3 watching me. Upon my looking up,
3 the reader can imagine my feelings to
see an enormous grizzly charging
3 straight toward me at express speed
i and not more than thirty feet distant,
3 Luckily I did not get excited noi
- scared, but before he had made many
1 jumps 1 had shot him full in the chest
) with a .303 soft nosed bullet from a
; Ross rifle. The shot, however, did not
; check his charge and, although fatal^1
- hit and with the blood streaming from
- his mouth, he came at me as though
he had not been touched. Before I
; could get in another shot, bruin was
1 within f^ur feet of me, when I fired
r the second shot point blank in his
; face. At the crack of the gun I tried
i to dodge him but was too late. The
■ rifle was knocked out of my hand and
i the bear was on the top of me in an
- instant. Immediately he took my head
i in his mouth and began to crush it
between his jaws, causing me inde
scribable agony. More from instinct
than from design I pushed my right
arm into his mouth and while I
. pulled my head from his mouth he
put his teeth through my wriaL, crush
ing the joint as easily as an eggshell.
By this time I thought I was “all in,”
as I felt quite sure my skull was
pierced and about every bone in my
face broken. As I rolled there in the
snow, hugged by the bear in a death
like grip, with his huge teeth almost
penetrating my skull and blinded with
blood, realizing that to summon aid
was impossible (no one being within
miles of the spot)—there was nothing
left for me but to inateh my enfeebled
endurance with my powerful antagon
ist in mute silence. It was veritable
death struggle. The hot breath of
the Infuriated grizzly, maddened with
his wounds, suffused my face—now
streaming with blood—and almost
blinded me. Just then the bear
grabbed me with his teeth in the
thigh and dropped dead alongside me.
It all happened in only a few seconds,
but It seemed an eternity to me. It is
impossible to convey an adequate idea
of that terrible struggle.
Had he lasted another second I
could not possibly have survived and,
as it was, I expected death at any
moment would relieve me from my
agonies. Providentially, however, 1
never lost consciousness and after re
alizing that the’ fight was over I be
gan to size up the damage. On feel
ing my head I found I was almost
scalped as well as having my skull
crushed. I was blind in one eye and
almost blind in the other. My jaws
were broken on both sides and dislo
cated on one side. My lips and cheeks
were gashed through and my chin was
hanging down on my breast. Of
course at the time I was not aware of
all those details, but my prospects of
ever reaching camp alive seemed
slender.
Whilst not particularly dreading to
die, I did not relish the prospect of
having my bones picked by wolves
without putting up a struggle. After
collecting my somewhat crazed senses
I remembered that ther# was a desert
ed prospector’s cabin a short distance
off, and on the way to our camp—the
latter being seven miles distant. I
made up my mind to try and drag my
self to this cabin if unable to go far
ther, to die there, in the hope at least
that I would not be devoured by the
ravenous wolves. In staggering to
my feet I managed to get my Jacket
off and to wrap it around my head
and by twisting the sleeves under my
chin, was thus enabled to support
my broken jaws and at the same time
cover my bare skull. Thinking that
my partner would visit the deserted
cabin in the event of my not turning
up, I wrote a painful left-hai^jid note
' with the bullet end of a Airimge.
The note, although smeared tvith
blood, was still legible, and its con
tents were as follows:
“Dear George,
“I am ‘all in,’ but will try to reach
camp—will keep to the rivfer.
“You will find a dead grizzly at our
cache. s
“Good-bye,
“JIM.”
Leaving this roughly scrawled note
which was written on a board of the
discarded table which had been left
in the deserted cabin, I again struck
out for our camp, with only slight
hope of ever reaching it alive. There
was also the danger that in my en
feebled condition and being minus my
gun, I might fall an easy prey to ma
rauding bands of wolves that frequent
that locality.
A more desolate region it would
be hard to imagine—it being a narrow
valley of the Rogue river, hemmed in
by bleak barren snow-clad mountains
that raised their towering peaks
against the sky. I knew that my only
chance was to keep to the river, which
had just frozen over, making good
walking, although, on account of the
swift current, it was very unsafe. Yet
I knew the river, such as it was, was
my only hope, and it passed through
my mind that if I did break through
the ice my troubles would soon end.
That I did not break through the ice
was a mystery, as I crossed places
that, at any other time, I would not
have dreamed of crossing. For the
first five miles I got along fairly well,
although I had a hard time to keep a
grip of myself. All kinds of thoughts
were rambling through my brain and
I feared I might go crazy from the ex
cruciating poin in my head and being
weak from loss of blood.
To make the last mile from our
camp called for the supreme test o{
endurance. I was then almost blind
and staggered like a drunken person,
and, to make matters worse, my legs
at this stage were seized with cramp
and I had to constantly rub them to
keep up the circulation. To rest I
knew would mean to be lost, and I
struggled against the desire to lie
down on the river in the snow end
end my suffering.
When within sight of camp—less
than half a mile off—I ran into open
water in a canyon having perpendicu
lar walls fifty feet or more in height.
As it was impossible for me to keep ;
to the river any longer the only al
ternative was to climb around the
bluff which, in my exhausted ptate,
seemed beyond my waning powers.
After struggling against what seemed
impossible odds and after many pain
ful falls through my moccasins (satur
_ x _ .1 ...til. kl„„,l» .1 r.n f VtUIWMl'
I finally got over the rocky bluff and
back to the river. Traveling after
this was better, although it probably
took me an hour to crawl and stagger
the last mile. At the end of a strug
gle I would not again undergo for nine
lives, I finally reached camp. Luck
ily my partner had left kindling wood
and this enabled me to start a fire.
Had this not been the case I would
in all likelihood have frozen to death,
as my clothes were saturated with
blood and the temperature was below
zero.
Having started the fire my next
move was to try and drink some whis
key, for, although a temperate man, I
always, when in the woods, kept a
bottle for emergency, and. front that
time until now, whenever I see a bot
tle labeled “John Dewar" it vividly
brings the experience back to me.
After emptying some of the whiskey
into a cup I tried to drink it, but was
unable to do so on account of my
broken ja\ys. However, I finally hit
upon the plan of putting the liquor in
a shallow basin, mixed with cold tea,
and on putting my face in the basin, I
was able to swallow some. This re
vived me somewhat and I wfls able to
crawl into my bed of spruce boughs,
lying down as I was—a sorry spec
tacle. Here I rolled myself jji a fur
robe and lay for hours in great agony
awaiting the return of my partner.
When at last he did arrive—five hours
later—the reader can imagine how
glad I was to hear the tinkle of his
dog bells as he came through the
woods, with a load of moose. Upon his
entering the cabin I tried to speak
to him, but he did not recognize my
voice and took me for an Indian. I
at length gave him to understand that
I desired him to take a stimulant be
fore lighting up and looking at me, as
I was afraid the sight might have dis
concerted him too much. He took the
drink, and then- lit a candle. On his
pulling the robe from my head, I will
never forget his exclamation, “Oh,
my God, Jim”—repeated several times
as he raised my disfigured head from
my rough couch. The shock almost
knocked him out, although he is as
nervy a man as I ever met.
I instructed George to look me over
carefully, to see whether 1 was worth
saving. I was afraid my brain was
affected, and, if that were the case, did
not desire to live. After he examined
me as well as possible by the dim
light of the candle, he told me that,
so far as he could see, although the
bear’s teeth marks were plainly to be
seen on my skull, yet he did not think
the brain had been pierced. Aft^r
fixing me up as well as he could, with
the crude material at hand, we came
to the conclusion that my only chance
was to get me to Lansing—fifty miles
distant—where we had left our sup
plies. A personal friend of ours, Mr.
Ferrell with his wife, kept an Indian
trading post at that place. He had a
good supply of antiseptics, and al30 a
good home.
After resting a short time, my part
ner struck out about midnight, going
to an Indian camp about eight miles
distant for help. He returned before
daylight with two Indians and dog
teams. After rigging one toboggan
into a cariole, I was loaded up and
wrapped well in robes, and then start
ed on a trip of excruciating torture,
so far as I wras concerned.
(Continued tomorrow)
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