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CHAPTER IX
THE GRIZZLY BEAR

Ir would be an evil day for British Columbia if ever the
grizzly (Ursus horribilis) bear became extinct; half the
charm and romance of the mountains would be lost.
To the majority of those who go for a trip into the wilds
the thought that they may see, possibly even shoot, one
of those savage monsters gives a special spice of adven-
ture to their outing. What stories and books have not
been written, what tales told of this ferocious beast!
Go where you will, if there are, or ever were, grizzlies in
that neighbourhood, you will hear yarns narrated of these
animals that, if you believe them, will make you shudder
and doubt the advisability of venturing anywhere where
one of them may be encountered. In almost every
district there is a monster grizzly that nobody can kill;
his footprints are eighteen inches long and nearly a foot
wide (they have always been carefully measured to a
fraction of an inch); he stands nearly as high as an ox
and weighs a ton or two. Your informant will tell you
with bated breath how he was chased for over a mile,
and only escaped by spending a night in a tree or by
swimming a river. You will also be told stories of how
a wounded grizzly advanced on his hind legs towards
some intrepid hunter, roaring defiance and gnashing
his teeth in rage. Occasionally—very occasionally—you
will hear true accounts of how somebody was killed or
badly injured in a bout with an ill-tempered bear. It is
a fact that eases do occur where a grizzly—and once in
a while a black bear, too—has given somebody a severe
mauling (I will tell you of one or two later on), but

they are the exception, not the rule. During my long
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