USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume I > Part 25
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THE NEW YORK
LILA
A TO, L NCX
JIM JACOBS
He shot what was thought to be the last elk in Pennsylvania in November, 1567, though Capt. John D. Decker, of Centre County, claims to have shot one in September, 1877.
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he had killed before being himself vanquished. "In the winter time the elks would gather in large herds and their range would be ex- ceedingly limited. Sometimes they would migrate to other regions, and would not be seen for months in their haunts, but suddenly they would return and be as plentiful as ever. They had their regular paths or runways through the woods, and these invariably led to saltlicks, of which there were many natural ones in our woods. One of the most fre- quented of these elk paths started in a dense forest, where the town of Ridgway, the county seat of Elk county, now stands, led to the great lick on the Sinnemahoning portage, and thence through the forest to another big lick, which to-day is covered by Washington Park, in the city of Bradford. Hundreds of elks were killed annually at the licks or while traveling to and from them, along their well- marked runways." (See also Habits of Our Wild Animals.)
The last elk killed in this State was found near St. Marys, Elk county, on Elk creek. He was pursued for three days by Jim Jacobs, a fullblooded Seneca Indian chief, who lived near Bradford, Pa., on the Seneca Reserva- tion. The elk in despair sought his "rock" and was there shot in November, 1867. This elk was too old and tough for food. Jacobs was a mighty hunter. He was born about 1800, on the Reservation, and lived to be eighty years old, and might have gone on living for many years more had he not met with death in a tragic manner. The old man was walk- ing home to Red House, N. Y., on the Buffalo, New York & Philadelphia railroad (now the Pennsylvania ), when he was struck and killed instantly by a train. It was on a stormy winter's night in February, 1880. Old Jim was muffled to the ears. He had gone to Bradford to get some provisions, and as it was very cold Mr. Frank Webster gave him a warm cap to pull down over his ears. The intended kindness may have been the cause of his death, for he was walking home on the track of the Pennsylvania railroad between Red House and Cold Spring when a train struck and killed him. The snow was blow- ing thickly about his head, he did not hear the approaching train, and the engineer could not see him.
The last elk taken alive in Pennsylvania was caught on the Sinnemahoning in 1860.
Elks are polygamous. The chief is a tyrant, and rules the herd like a czar. The does all fear him. Does breed at the age of two years, having but one fawn, but when older often
two or three at a time, and these young follow their mother all summer, or from the date of birth in May or June to fall. A full-grown elk never forgets an injury.
In 1834 Mike, William and John Long and Andrew Vastbinder captured a full-grown live elk. Their dogs chased the animal on his high rock, and while there the hunters lassoed him. Sam Vastbinder, of Brookville, killed the last elk in Jefferson county and sold the horns for ten dollars. I knew Sam well. Bill Long often sold to peddlers fifty deer pelts at a single sale. A deerskin sold in the old days for seventy-five to ninety cents.
OTHER ANIMALS
Of the original wild animals still remaining in northwestern Pennsylvania. there are the fox, raccoon, porcupine, muskrat, marten, otter, mink, skunk, opossum, woodchuck, rab- bit, squirrel, mole and mouse. Fifty years ago the woods were full of porcupines. On the defensive is the only way the porcupine ever fights. When the enemy approaches he rolls up into a little wad, sharp quills out, and he is not worried about how many are in the besieging party. One prick of his quill will satisfy any assailant.
In fact, when a porcupine curls himself up into the shape of a ball he is safe from the attack of almost any animal, for his quills are long enough to prevent his enemy from getting near enough to bite him. When he sings his blood-curdling song, it is interpreted as a sign of rain. His food is almost entirely vegetable, consisting of the inner bark of trees, tender roots and twigs. He is fond, however, of the insects and worms found in the bark of pines and hemlocks. Provided with powerful jaws and long, sharp teeth, the porcupine gnaws with great speed, stripping the bark from an old tree as though he were provided with weapons of steel. Often he seems to tear in a spirit of sheer destructiveness, with- out pausing to eat the bark or to search for insects. This is true with the old males.
The porcupine is not a wily beast. He estab- lishes paths or runways through the forest. and from these he never deviates if he can help it. What is more, he is exceedingly greedy, and stops to investigate every morsel in his way. A trap set in the middle of a run- way and baited with turnip rarely fails to catch him. The hunter liked porcupines cooked, especially baked in mud.
The porcupine has been called the "Lost Man's Friend" because in its sluggish habits
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it does not flee from mankind, and is easily killed with a stick. It has furnished the sole means of sustenance for persons lost in wild woods. They copulate in this wise: Two climb a tree, opposite each other on a small limb, and bring their abdomens together.
The mink is an expert at swimming and diving, and able to remain long under water, where it pursues and catches fish, which it frequently destroys in large numbers. The mink does much damage to poultry, especially chickens and ducks. Various kinds of wild birds, particularly ground-nesting species, crayfish, frogs and reptiles are included in the dietary of the mink; and it is also learned from testimony of different writers and ob- servers that the eggs of domestic fowls are often taken by these nocturnal plunderers. The average weight of an adult mink is about two pounds, and for an animal so small it is astonishing to observe its great strength.
The wildcat, or bobcat, inhabits forests, rocky ledges and briery thickets, but its favor- ite place is in old slashings and bark peelings. where in the impenetrable and tangled recesses it is comparatively safe from pursuit, and is also able to prey upon many varieties of ani- mals which have a permanent or temporary residence in such unfrequented wilds.
Wild cats were numerous; occasionally a cat is killed in the county yet, even within the borough limits.
The wildcat subsists entirely on a flesh diet. and the damage this species does in destroy- ing poultry, lambs and young pigs of farmers who reside in the sparsely settled mountain- ous regions is not in any degree compensated by the destruction of other small wild animals which molest the farmer's crops or his poul- try. Wildcats hunt both by day and by night. A whole family of them will hunt and run clown a deer, especially on crusted snow. The wildcat usually makes its domicile or nest in a hollow tree or log. The nest will be well lined with leaves, moss and lichens, called com- monly "hair moss." The nest is also some- times found in rocky ledges and caves. From two to four constitute a litter. The young are brought forth in the middle of May.
The catamount or bey lynx is larger than the wildcat. Species have been killed in our county six to seven feet long from tip of nose to end of tail. They have tufts on their ears, and are often mistaken for and called panth- ers. They are mean-tempered brutes, and even yet occasionally one is killed in our county. The Canada lynx is extinct here.
The river otter was about four feet long, as
I recollect him, very heavy and strong ; usually weighed about twenty-three pounds, was web- footed. a fisher by occupation, and could whip or kill any dog. On land he had his beaten paths. Big fish eat little fish, little fish eat shrimps, and shrimps eat mud. Otters ate all kinds of fish, but preferred the speckled trout. Like other animals, otters had their plays and playgrounds. They were fond of strength contests, two or more pulling at the end of a stick sometimes like our "square pull." They made slides, and frolicked by plunging into the water, then running up a hill and letting the water drip from them to freeze on the slide. They lived in excavations on the creek or river bank close to the water. They were hunted and trapped by men for their pelts. John Long, a noted hunter, told me that the most terrific contest he ever had with a wild animal was with an otter near Brookville. A feud existed between the otter and beaver. Otters, male and female, will join in a fierce fight for their young.
In pioneer times we had in this wilderness the gray, the cross and the red fox. The gray is now extinct in the northwest, as he can only live in solitude or in a forest. The red fox still lingers in our civilization. Six varieties of foxes are said to be found in the United States, and it is claimed they are all cousins of the wolf. But notwithstanding this rela- tionship, the wolf used to hunt and eat all the foxes he could catch. The wolf's persistence in hunting, and endurance in the race, enabled him at times to overcome the fleetness of the fox. The gray and red fox were about three and a half feet long. The red fox is most daring, cunning and intellectual of all the varieties. You cannot tame him. The term "foxy" originated in connection with him. The red fox has from four to eight puppies in April, and these, like little dogs, are born blind. The red fox has the astounding faculty of creating deeplaid schemes to deceive and thwart his enemies. IIe is the only animal that will match his intelligence against man, and the only way man can best him is by poison. It is not unusual for the red fox to back-track in such a way while racing for his life as to follow the hunter, and turn the tables from being hunted to being the hunter. He would even feign death-allow himself to be kicked or handled, only waiting and watching for an opportunity to escape. His tricks to outwit man were many and would fill a volume. The fox was very fond of groundhog cating. Like the bear he would dig one out. His presence in a groundhog
FOX Pennsylvania had the gray, cross and red fox
PENNSYLVANIA BEAR Pennsylvania had two kinds of bears, red and black
TORK
1
A
٠٫٠ X
LA IONS
٠
OPOSSUM
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neighborhood created great consternation. All animals have a cry of alarm-danger, and if a fox were observed by any groundhog the latter always gave this cry for his neighbors. If there is one animal, aside from the reptiles, that seems to sleep longer than any other, it is the red fox, but one fox is always awake, acting as a sentinel.
A glance at the physiognomy of the weasels would suffice to betray their character; the teeth are almost of the highest known raptorial character ; the jaws are worked by enormous masses of muscles covering all the sides of the skull; the forehead is low and the nose is sharp; the eyes are small, penetrating, cun- ning, and glitter with an angry green light. There is something peculiar, moreover, in the way that this fierce face surmounts a body extraordinarily wiry, lithe and muscular. It ends a remarkably long and slender neck in such a way that it may be held at right angles with the axis of the latter. When the animal is glaneing around with the neck stretched up and the flat triangle head , bent forward and swaying from one side to the other, we catch the likeness in a moment-it is the image of a serpent. His coat changes with the season and while in winter we find it white tinted with , sulphur yellow, in summer it is in upper parts of a dark brown not unlike the coloring of a mink ; on its under parts it is "white almost invariably tinged with sulphury yellow" (Coues). The tail partakes of the color of the upper parts, except the bushy end, which, in summer and winter alike, is black. The legs are short, with slender feet, and are covered all over with fur in winter, but in summer the pads are generally visible.
Both sexes have the power to emit a fluid nearly as powerful as that of the polecat. Their homes are frequently to be found in a decayed tree stump and under rocks. They can climb trees with ease. The poultry yard is frequently visited by weasels, and the ap- parently insatiable desire for rapine is almost clearly shown while on these visits. One chicken will satisfy a weasel's appetite, but after that is gratified he does not leave; he kills and slays without mercy all the remainder of the poor frightened chickens, until there are none left, and not until then does he leave the scene of carnage. He sucks the eggs also. leaving in some instances the unlucky farmer who has unwillingly and unwittingly been his host completely routed as regards his efforts in the poultry line. He also feeds on rats and mice.
The opossum is an American animal, about
the size of a very large cat, eight or ten pounds in weight, twenty inches long, with a prehen- sile tail, in addition, of fifteen inches. There are said to be three varieties, viz., the Mexi- can, Florida and Virginia. The last variety is the one found in northwestern Pennsyl- vania. These animals are very prolific, having three litters a year, in March, May and July, of twelve to sixteen at a time. At birth they are naked, blind and about half an inch long, the mother depositing each one with her hands in a pouch or pocket in her abdomen, and there the little creature sueks the mother and sleeps for about eight weeks. When full grown they are good tree climbers, making great use of the tail in swinging from tree to tree and for other purposes. The opossum is a dull crea- ture, easily domesticated, and the only intel- ligence he exhibits is when, like the spider and potato bug, he feigns death. At this he is truly adept, suffering great abuse waiting for a chance to bite or run. All carnivorous ani- mals eat smaller ones, so the opossum's enemies are numerous, and he in turn is omniv- orous and carnivorous, eating everything he can catch that is smaller than himself. Opos- sums are yet found in Knox township.
The wild carnivorous animals are found in all parts of the world except Australia, the Dingo dog being imported there.
The intelligence of some animals is amaz- ing. Many of them seem to study us as we study them. The squirrel knew that man was his most dangerous enemy, and that man killed him and his race for food. In pioneer times we had several varieties. The principal ones were the black, twenty-two inches long; the gray, eighteen inches long; the little red, or Hudson Bay, about eight inches long, a bold little beast, who liked to be close to man, full of vice and few virtues, industrious in season and out. The black and gray were lazy. The red or Hudson Bay squirrel was the king of all the squirrels in this forest. Although not more than eight inches long, he was the com- plete master of all the squirrels. The black and gray were afraid of him as death. With an intellect surprising, he would chase and capture the black and gray and castrate them, then, in exultation, scold or chickaree to his heart's content.
The flying squirrel is not often seen because it is mostly nocturnal in its habits. It gener- ally lives in holes of woodpeckers in dead trees, stumps and logs.
Of the true squirrels, we have in Pennsyl- vania the red squirrel, the gray squirrel and the Southern fox squirrel, besides a variety
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of the gray squirrel, which is sometimes called the black squirrel.
In pioneer times, every seven or eight years, at irregular intervals in summer, a great army of black, pine and gray squirrels invaded this wilderness from the northwest, a host that no man could number. They were traveling east in search of food. Hundreds of them were killed daily by other animals and by man. . At first they would be fat and good for food, but toward the close would be sickly and wormy.
In pioneer times crows and squirrels were such a menace to the crops of the farmer in western Pennsylvania that an act was passed by the Legislature to encourage the killing of squirrels in certain parts of this Common- wealth. The pioneer act was passed March 4. 1807, giving a bounty of three cents for each crow scalp and a cent and a half for each squirrel scalp; these scalps to be received in lieu of money for taxes, if delivered to the county treasurer before the first day of No- vember of each year. The first act covered Bedford. Washington, Westmoreland, Arni- strong. Indiana, Fayette and Greene counties. This law was extended in 18ir, on the 13th of February, to Butler, Franklin, Mercer. Venango, Somerset, Lycoming. Crawford and Erie counties. The State one year paid forty thousand dollars in said bounties.
Whenever a squirrel wanted to cross a creek or river, and did not want to swim, he sailed over on a piece of bark or wood, using his bushy tail as a sail and to steer by. The skunk did likewise. A single pair of squirrels would inhabit the same tree for years. They had three or four young at a litter.
One of the cutest things that the red squir- rel did was to tap sugartrees for the sap. He would chisel with his teeth a trough on the top of a limb, and as fast as the trough would fill with the water he would return and drink it.
In the fall of the year a squirrel would hide acorns and nuts outside of his nest, where others of his kind could not easily find the fruit. Then in midwinter, when he became hungry, he would leave his cozy nest and go a long distance through the snow to the identi- cal spot where he had buried his fruit, dig it up, and enjoy his meal.
The mouse came with the Puritans and is a native of Asia.
NATURAL LIFE OF SOME OF OUR WILD AND
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
Years
Elk
50
Beaver
50
Years
Panther
25
Catamount
25
Buffalo
20
Cow
30
Horse
40
Bear
25
Deer
20
Hog
20
Wolf
15
Cat
25
Fox
15
Dog
15
Sheep
15
Goat
15
Squirrel
7
Rahbit
10
Man matures at twenty-four and should therefore live two hundred years, or eight times as long as it takes him to mature.
Manlike apes are four in number, the gib- bon, orang, chimpanzee and gorilla, Anatomi- cally, they are but little different from man. The most striking difference is the shape of the skull. An ape's brain usually weighs twenty ounces, a man's, thirty-two. Professor Garner claims to have learned twenty words of the apes' language.
SPEED OF ANIMALS
"Fast as a horse," "fleet as a deer." "slow as an ox," are all familiar terms. But few know just how fast or fleet or slow these ani- mals are. A riding horse covers forty inches a second while walking, while at a jog trot he covers eleven feet in a second. The two- minute-a-mile horse covers forty-four feet in a second. The leisurely ox moves over only two feet a second when hitched to a wagon. and about twenty inches when attached to a plough. The deer are all quite speedy, but in certain localities they can travel much more rapidly than in others. \ roebuck has been known to cover seventy-four feet a second when pursued by dogs. Tests differ greatly as to the speed of the hare. Some claim it can travel at the rate of sixty feet a second. while others claim it cannot travel more than half that distance.
HABITS OF OUR WILD ANIMALS
Our bears cubbed in February, had two cubs at a birth, and these cubs were about the size of a brown rat, weighing about nine ounces, without hair, and blind for nine days. They were suckled by the mother for about three months, when they reached the size of a cat ; then the mother took them out and taught
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JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
them to eat nuts, berries, bugs, little animals, green corn, vegetables, hogs, sheep and some- times cattle. A full-grown bear would weigh four hundred pounds and was exceedingly strong. He could carry a heavy burden and walk on his hind legs for a long distance. He was a good tree climber and was not quarrel- some, but if other animals trespassed on his rights he became furious and vindictive. He frequently gnawed himself out of hunters' pens, and when caught in steel traps would gnaw the leg off and carry the stump as in- jured away. He was a bold, intelligent beast. His meat was considered a delicacy by the hunters.
Bears lived in "homes," holes, or dens, and sometimes in a rocky place there would be a "community." They, like deer, follow their own paths. The bear entered his den about Christmas time, according as the weather was cold or warm, to hibernate, and remained there until about the first of May, when he would come out, eat weeds and grass to purge himself, and after that would eat anything. The bear was and is a wanderer, here to-day and away to-morrow.
Rowe, of Clearfield, says of the hunter Dan Turner: "Once, when going out to a 'bear wallow,' his attention was attracted by a pan- ther acting in a strange manner. He soon saw a large bear approaching it. With hair erect and eyes glaring, the panther gnashed his teeth, and, waiting until bruin came up, sprang upon him. A mortal struggle ensued. Turner watched with much interest the fight. which lasted some ten minutes or more. At last the growls of the fierce combatants be- came faint, and the struggle ceased. The panther slowly disengaged himself from his thead enemy and took position upon the carcass. It was now Turner's time, and, raising his rifle, he shot the panther in the head. After examining it, he was of the opinion that it could have lived but a few minutes longer. Nearly every bone in his body was broken, and its flesh was almost reduced to a pulp by the blows and hugs of the bear."
Our panther was fully as strong as the bear, but rather cowardly, and especially fearful of logs. A single blow from one forefoot or a bite from a panther would kill a dog. As a precaution the panther hunter always had a trained dog with him, for a single bark from a dog would often scare a panther up a tree. The panther, as a rule, sought and sprang upon his victim in the dark. He could throw a buck, hog or cow without a struggle. Pan- thers attained sometimes a length of ten feet
from nose to end of tail. They lived in dens and had two cubs at a time. Like the wolves, they were fierce and shy.
Our wolves always had their dens in the wildest, most hidden part of the wilderness. They always managed to get under the rocks or ground to shelter themselves and young from all storms. The male fed the female when the "pups" were small. Hle would travel a great distance in search of food, and if what he found was too heavy to carry home he would gorge himself with it and go home and vomit it up for the family. 'The wolf and fox were very chary and hard to trap. But Long and other hunters knew their habits so well that they could always outwit them.
A wolf could carry a sheep for miles by seizing it by the throat and throwing it over or on his back. Wolves hunted the deer in packs; they all hunted together until they were tired; then one wolf would keep up the chase at full speed, while the balance of the pack watched, and when the deer turned a circle, fresh and rested wolves struck in and pursued ; thus the deer was pursued alternately by fresh wolves and soon tired out, and would then fly to some stream ; the wolves would fol- low, and while the deer would remain in the stream the wolves would separate, a part of the pack forming in line on each side of the stream, when the deer would become an easy prey to these ravenous creatures.
Wolves reared in the same pack lived friendly, but strange males always fought.
The most dangerous animal or reptile was the rattlesnake. Millions of them inhabited these woods. To escape this danger, each pioneer kept a large herd of hogs, who would kill and eat snakes with impunity. Dogs, too, were faithful in this direction. But how did the woodman and hunter escape? Well, he wore woolen stockings, moccasins with anklets. and buckskin breeches. A snake could not bite through these, and at night he usually laid his head on the body of his dog to protect his upper extremities.
Deer killed the rattler in this way : humping themselves together, and jumping sideways on the snake with all four feet, the hoofs of the deer would cut the snake in pieces. Elk travel in families or herds; the does lead ard the bucks bring up the rear. They browse in winter and paw the snow for moss or wild grass.
The deer, when frightened, circled round and round, but never left his haunt. The elk would start on a trot, and never stop under ten or fifteen miles.
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When it is remembered that the American elk ofttimes attains a weight of one thousand pounds, a height of sixteen hands, and has spiked antlers of five feet in length and four feet spread, some idea of the offensive capaci- ties of one of these rearing, prancing, snorting creatures may be conceived. It must also be remembered that an elk fights with his sharply pointed front hoofs, as well as with his antlers, rearing on his hind legs and delivering swift. terrific lunges right out from the shoulders.
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