An Article by George T* Masury*
Last fall Lieutenant Maertens and I, while going down the trail from .
Sunshine Hill to Hermann Greek in quest of His Hoyal Nibs, "Hootz", the J
Brown Bear, were startled to hear a long wailing cry from the woods ahead of
us* »Ve stopt and listened; again the cry exhoed wierdly, Going quietly
down the trail toward the 3ound, we came upon ah old Indian woman and man
ascending the trail. iVe stopt and spoke and continued on our way, wondering
for vfoom they were calling*. .
A couple of weeks later while hunting black bear near Klukwanj I
was startled again by hearing the' same weird cry from the brush an the side
of the mountain* Remaining quiet, I soon saw a party of women carrying bas
kets of blue berried, coming thru the brush and hurrying-toward the-road*
That evening, meeting an old Indian friend of mine, I asked him f or
the cause of this cry* Hq seated himself at the edge of the road and told
me the following tale: • • .
A long time ago, before ever the white man came to the country, a
daughter of a chief went into the mountains to pick berries* While stepping
through the brush she saw the imprint left by "HootE*1, the Brown Bear, in
the ground. Placing theimprint of her foot alongside the track and'notic
ing the difference, she started to laugh arid ridicule Hootz* Hootz, how
ever, overheard her, and being angered at her ridicule, assumed the shape of
a man and enticed her to his den, where he resumed his natural shape. He made
her then marry him and assume the shape of a bear in punishment for her ridi
culing him*
She bore many children by him, until one day, leaving her den, he
and the children went hunting and ran into a party of Chilkat Indian hunt
ers, who killed them all* Her bear husband being dead and no longer having
control over her, she was able to resume her human shape and returned home
where she toll of her adventures*
Since then, women on observing the tracks of ‘'Hootz11, at once be
gin to cry and praise him in terms of greatest honor and continue to do so
until they have returned from the woods*
This is the tale the old man told and the answers the reason for
the wierd cry we so startlingly heard in the quiet of the woods last Fall*
WHITEHORSE WINS HOCKEY G.&IE FROM "SKAGTOWN":
The long delayed hockey game between Whitehorse and Skagway occurred
last week, and Tftiitehorse won 7 to 2* At the end of the first quarter the
score was 2 to 1 in favor of Skagway; at the end of the half it was tied, 2
to 2, and at the end of the third quarter, the Yukon team had only a lead
of 3 to 2* Skagway has had practically no practice this winter, due to the
%warm winter, Tshich spoiled the ice on the rinks aroundthe Canal* As the Post
has good friends on both teams, we can only say we’re mighty glad the game
was so close and creditable to both teams*
SGT* AND MRS* HEIitfS RETURN: Sgt* and Mrs* Helms, of Skagway (where the 8gt*
is in charge of the cable office) have returned from an extended tour of
the States*
MR* AND MRS* PRIES BACK IN SKAGY/AY: Mr. Pries, of the Bank of Alaska, and
Mrs* Pries returned on yesterday's Princess from a visit in Califdmia*
*»