Grizzlies Were Thick

 San Jose Mercury News, July 15, 1892, p3. 

Excerpt from: Treed By Grizzlies – A Pioneer Tells a Strange Story of Early Mountain Adventure.

"The thing happened in the early 50tys when big grizzlies were a great deal thicker in the Santa Cruz mountains than coyotes were before the scalp bounty law went into effect. Myself and a partner of mine, who came with me to this country from Missouri, made up our minds in San Francisco that there might be gold in the mountains and gulches near this city …"

Killed a Bear Cub.

"The adventure happened on the first day that we left our wagon with a teamster that we had hired in San Francisco, and started out on foot to prospect through the mountains, intending to be gone four or five days. Our blankets, provisions and water we had strapped around us so as to be as easy to carry as possible. We had been trudging about four hours when my partner saw a grizzly bear cub, unconscious of our approach, within easy range of a heavy single barrel pistol that I carried. Without considering what might be the consequences I leveled and fired and the cub dropped over dead. At the same instant I heard a growl and some crashing sounds through the underbrush and we knew that we did not have much time to lose in climbing a tree. Luckily we did not take time to throw off any of our traps, and the only thing that I dropped was the pistol."

A Sorrowing She Grizzly.

"We both climbed the same tree as it was the only one near enough at hand for the purpose. We did not reach the limbs any too soon for in an instant the immense she bear was standing on her hind legs and reaching up for us as far as she could with her front paws. The next moment she was on the ground. I then heard a cracking sound and I knew that in her rage she was crunching the pistol in her powerful teeth. Then she ran to the dead cub and licked its dead body.... I could see that bear shed tears. They rolled from her cheeks like marbles and she gazed sorrowfully at the dead body of her cub …"

Different Kinds of Bears.

"… the bear suddenly began a terrible bellowing growl which startled me so that I almost let go the limb I was straddling when I would have fallen at her feet. In a second we were made aware that the growl was the signal for a bear rally, and they began coming from far and near. As far as we could see there were bears bobbing up and down over the ridges and coming toward the clearing where we were. It did not seem to be more than five minutes before the whole space around the tree was full of bears of all sizes and ages. Most of them were grizzlies, but there was also a good sprinkling of little, brown cinnamon bears and another species that I have never seen or heard tell of before or since. There were only two or three of them and they were larger even than the grizzlies and almost black in color. They had hunches on their backs like camels, and I suppose that it was a species of bear that was almost extinct even in those early days. …"

Camping in a Tree.

"It was soon very evident what was the intention of the bears. After a good deal of pow-wowing they began to go away, and soon as the coast was clear with the exception of one big grizzly who settled himself comfortably at the bottom of the tree as if he intended to camp there a while. Fortunately, however, we were prepared to withstand a siege of a few days at least. With our blankets, provisions and water we were soon as comfortable in the big tree as Robinson Crusoe on his desolate island. By tying the corners of a big double blanket to opposite limbs with ropes we soon had a hammock that was as comfortable a bed as anyone could wish."

A Night Guard.

"…The hammock that we had fixed up with the blankets was rather narrow, and we were afraid turn in for fear that in our sleep we might roll out and make bear meat out of ourselves before we knew it. At last I thought of an arrangement that would make everything secure."

Precautions During Sleep.

"I tied a good, stout rope by the center to a large limb beside the bunk. Then we fastened each of the loose ends to one of our feet at the ankle, so that if one of us dropped out the other could haul him up again. With this precaution we were soon sleeping as soundly as if there was no big bear at the bottom of the tree ready to snap us up in the instant that he could get us into his clutches. My partner rolled around in the blankets considerable, however, and sure enough about 2 o'clock he fell out. The thing happened so sudden as it surprised him so to find himself dangling from a tree at the end of a rope by one foot that for a minute he did not know what it was all about, and he let out some oaths, and a yell that scared me so that I fell out too."

A Surprised Bruin.

"When in my descent I came to the end of the rope and bumped up against my partner I got wild myself, and we came near having a scrapping match together like two cats tied by the tails and thrown over a clothes line. I think for a minute that my yells were louder than those of my partner for I was not only frightened by the accident but also by some terrible crashing sounds that I heard in the timber down below me. As soon as we came to our senses we knew that the bear on guard had been frightened away by our oaths and yelling. Of course a bear did not have much experience that would be surprised to hear Missourians swear, especially in those days, but anyhow the bear was not there any more and from the crashing sounds that he made through the timber he must have gone ten miles, at least before he stopped to take a breath. As soon as we could we got down out of that tree and skinned out, and we never went prospecting in a grizzly country again."