USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume I > Part 27
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Rivers of ice and a sea of snow, A wilderness frigid and white.
During the season Bill killed one hundred and five deer and Mike one hundred and four, and together they killed four bears. At this time there was some local demand in Brook- ville and other towns for venison, and in this year Long sent loads of venison to Harris- burg, making a trip to the capital in seven or eight days. In 1839 Long moved into Clear- field county, and his history in Jefferson county was closed.
Number of animals killed by Long in his lifetime: Bears, four hundred; deer, three thousand, five hundred (in 1835 one white one) ; panthers. fifty ; wolves, two thousand ; elks, one hundred and twenty-five; foxes, four hundred ; wildcats, two hundred ; catamounts, five hundred ; otters, seventy-five.
In 1824 Bill Long had a thrilling adventure with a huge panther in what is now Warsaw township. In a hand-to-hand encounter he killed the animal near where Boot Jack ( Ifazen), Jefferson county, now stands.
Long used to catch fawn, mark their ears, turn them loose, and kill them when full- grown deer. Elks were easily domesticated, and sold as follows: For a living male elk one year old, fifty dollars; two years old, seventy-five dollars ; three years old, one hun- ‹Ired dollars; for a fawn three months old, twenty-five dollars. In 1835 Long had five
wolf dens that he visited annually for pups, about the first of May.
In 1834 Bill Long, his brother Mike, and Ami Sibley started on a hunt for elk near where Portland now is. At the mouth of Bear creek these three hunters came across a drove of about forty elks. Bill Long fired into the herd and broke the leg of one. This wounded elk began to squeal, and then the herd commenced to run in a circle around the injured one. Sibley's gun had the wiping-stick fastened in it, and he could not use it. Bill and Mike then loaded and fired into the drove as rapidly as they could, the elks continuing to make the circle, until each had fired about twenty-five shots, when the drove became frightened and ran away. On examination, the hunters found eight large elks killed. They then made a raft, ran the load down to where Raught's mill is now, and hauled the meat, pelts and horns to Brookville. Portland and Bear creek are now in Elk county.
In 1836 Bill Long took Henry Dull and started on a hunt for a young elk. On the third day Long saw a doe elk and fawn. He shot the mother, and his dog caught the fawn and held it without hurting it. Long removed the udder from the mother, carrying it with the "teats" uppermost, and giving the fawn inilk from it until they reached Ridgway. where a jug of milk was secured. By means of an artificial teat the fawn was nourished until Long reached his North Fork home. Dull led the little creature by a rope around its neck. Mrs. Long raised this elk with her cows, feeding it every milking-time, and when the fawn grew to be some size he would drive the cows home every evening for his supper milk. When this elk was full grown, Long and Dull led him to Buffalo, N. Y., via the pike westward to the Allegheny river, and up through Warren, and sold the animal for two hundred dollars-one hundred dollars in cash and a note for the other hundred, which was never paid.
In the fall of 1836 Long took Henry Dull with him to hunt wolves. The second even- ing Long found an old wolf with six half- grown pups. He shot two and the rest ran away. Long and Dull then climbed a lien- . lock, and Long began his wolf howl. Hearing the howl, two pups and the old wolf came back. Long then shot the mother, and after- wards got all the pups. Dull became so fright- ened that he fell head first, gun and all, through the brush, striking his shoulder. "Thanks to the human heart, by which we live," for Long nursed Dull at his home on
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the North Fork for three months. Scalps then brought twelve dollars apiece. In the same year Fred. Hetrick and Bill killed an elk at the mouth of Little Toby which weighed six hundred pounds.
In the winter of 1834 William Dixon went out with dogs to "rope" or catch a live elk. They soon started a drove, on the North Fork. and the dogs chased the drove over to the l.it- tle Toby, a short distance up from the mouth. The dogs separated one buck from the drove. and this elk, to protect himself from the dogs, took refuge on a ledge of rocks. Bill Long. while Mike and Dixon and the dogs attracted the attention of the elk from below, scrambled in some way to the top of the rocks and threw a rope over the elk's horns, and then cabled the elk to a small tree. This infuriated the elk. so that he jumped out over the rocks and fell on his side. Mike and Dixon now had the first rope. Bill Long then rushed on the fallen elk and threw another in a slip-noose around the elk's neck, and fastened this rope as a guy to a tree. Each rope was then fas- tened in an opposite direction to a tree, and after the buck was choked into submission his feet were tied, and he was dragged by these three men on the creek ice to where Brockwayville now is. Here they secured a yoke of oxen and sled from Ami Sibley, a mighty hunter. A small tree was then cut. the main stem being about five feet long and the two forks about three feet in length. Each prong of the tree was fastened to a horn of the buck, and the main stem was permitted to hang down in front over the buck's nose. to which it was fastened with a rope. A rope was then tied around the neck and antlers. and the loose end tied around the hind of the sled. The ropes around the feet of the elk were then cut, and the buck lit ou his feet. After the animal had made many desperate efforts and pluinges he quieted down, and no trouble was experienced until within a few miles of Brookville, when. meeting an ac- quaintance, Dixon became so much excited over their success in capturing a live elk that he ran up and hit the elk on the back, exclaim- ing. "See, we have done it!" This so scared the elk that he made a desperate jump, upset- ting the sled into a ditch over a log. The oxen took fright, and in the general melee the elk had a shoulder knocked out of place and the capture was a failure.
There grew in abundance in those days a tree called moose or leatherwood. The pioneer used the bark for ropes, which were very strong.
ELK AND VENISON JERK
This was "venison flesh cut off in a sheet or web about half an inch thick and spread on the tops of pegs driven into the ground, whilst underneath a fire was kindled. fed with chips of sassafras and other odorous woods that gradually dried it." The web would be removed and replaced until the jerk was thor- oughly dried. The old hunter used to carry a little jerk always with him to eat with his bread. This jerk was a delicious morsel. Bill Long gave me many a "cut." I think I can taste it now. Mike and Bill Long would bring it to Brookville and retail it to the people at five cents a cut.
In the forties, when Long lived above Falls Creek, he went through wastes of snow and icicled trees to find a buck that he wounded. and took his son Jack, who was but a boy. along with him. On their way the dog scented some animal that was no deer, and Long tokl him to go. The dog soon treed a panther, and when the two hunters came to him they found two more panthers on the ground. The dog seized one of the animals, and Jack stopped to shoot the one in the tree, which, after he had shot twice, fell dead. At the same time Long threw his gun in the snow, as he could not shoot for fear of killing the dog which had seized the panther. Long then ran to the dog's assistance and tomahawked the panther. Long then came up to his father and said, pointing, "There is the other one looking at us." The dogs were urged on and both took hold of this panther; Jack ran in and caught the panther by the hind legs. the dogs having him in front. Jack was anxious to take this ani- mal home alive and wanted him roped. Long got a rope from his knapsack and tied it around the hind legs. Making a noose, he put it over the panther's head and tied the rope to a sap- ling, and Jack pulled back on the other rope. thus stretching the panther full length. The front feet were tied without any danger and the panther was soon secured, but when they had him tied and ready to move home, they discovered the dogs had cut the jugular vein. and before they had the other two animals skinned, the third one was dead.
Mike and Bill, with their dogs, started for the waters of North Fork, taking a bottle of whisky with them. When near the head of this stream, the dogs took the scent of wolves and followed them under a large rock. Bill crawled under this rock and took from it eight young wolves. These scalps brought sixty-four dollars. Long went another time
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and took his son Jack, who was quite small, with him. also his dog, which he called Trim. I remember this dog well. He was most thor- oughly trained, and I have seen Long on a drunken jamboree in Smith's barroom, in Brookville, command this dog Trim to smell for wolves, when the dog would actively and carefully scent every part of the room. In man the most developed sense is touch, in birds sight, and in dogs smell. While on this trip Long crossed over to the waters of Little Toby, and at a certain point he knew from the actions of Trim that there was game somewhere near. Looking in the same direc- tion as the dog, he saw a big bear on a tree and two large wolves at the foot watch- ing the bear. Long told Jack to hokdl Trim and he would crawl up and shoot the bear. As he got within shooting distance of the bear. Trim broke loose from Jack and the bear, seeing the dog, came down the tree and ran off. The dog then took after the wolves. The slut wolf ran under a rock and the dog wolf ran in a different direction. Long and Trim pursued the dog wolf, and in a short time Trim came back yelping with the wolf at his heels. Trim had about one inch of white at the end of his tail which the wolf had bitten off. The wolf paid no attention to Long. but went straight on. At shooting dis- tance Long shot him through the head. The two, father and son, then went to the rocks. and Bill crawled under, finding there seven young wolves-six he caught, but the seventh he could not find, though he could hear it bark. Long came out and gave his gun to Jack and told him that he would howl like a wolf and the pup would come out, and then for Jack to shoot it. The pup, hearing Long howl, and thinking that he was its mother, came out and Jack shot it. The seven pups and the old male made eight wolves at this time. Bill Long took the pups of that slut every spring for five years. finding them some place between the mouth of Little Toby and Brandycamp.
When out on the ridge in Elk county, near where Bootjack now is, Long saw signs of a panther. He had two dogs with him, and soon came on the panther. The dogs were barking at the animal as it sat on a rock. Long fired at the panther and wounded it. The dogs rushed upon the panther. but soon let go. though not before one of them was badly crippled. Long at that time had a double- barreled rifle. Ile then ran upon the panther. and, putting the muzzle of the gun to its head, killed it on the spot. In this adventure he had not only the skin of the panther to carry
home, but the crippled dog also, which was too badly wounded to walk.
About the year 1845 Bill Long and two of the Kahle boys, John and Jacob, caught eight young wolves in a den. This den was on Mill creek, which empties into Clarion about three or four miles from where Sigel now is. John Kahle, on going in the ninth time, as he had done eight times before, armed with a torch, a stick four or five feet long, with a hook on it to fasten into the wolves, and a rope tied to his foot, to pull him out by, caught the old one. Long and Kahle thought she was not in. When young Kahle saw the wolf he pulled the rope and Long pulled Kahle out. but Kahle was not able to bring the wolf with him. When he told his story, Long tried to hire him for ten dollars to go in again, but Kahle would not go. Long then tried to hire his brother, and he would not go in. Then Long whetted his knife, fixed his gun, and started in, but the way being too narrow for him, he came back before getting out of sight. After the fourth trial by Long, he came out and said he had seen the wolf, but could not shoot her.
As I remember Long, he was about five feet four inches high, chubby, strong built, active. athletic and a great dancer-danced what he called the "chippers" and the "crack," was cheerful, lively, and good-natured. He car- ried a heavy single-barreled, muzzle-loading rifle. Ilis belief was that he could shoot bet- ter with a heavy rifle than with a light one. Although there were dozens of professional hunters in this wilderness, this man was the king. He had an enduring frame, a catlike step, a steady nerve, keen eyesight, and a ripe knowledge of all the laws governing "still hunts for deer and bears." To reach the great skill he attained in mature life required natu- ral talents, perseverance, sagacity and habits of thought, as well as complete self-poise, self- control and quickness of execution.
In these woods Long had great opportunities for perfecting himself in all that pertained to proficiency in a great hunter. Of the other hunters that approached him, I only recall his brothers, the Knapps, the three Vastbinders. the Lucases, the Bells, the Nolfs, Sibley, Fred Hetrick, Indian Russell and George Smith.
The professional hunter was created by the law of 1705 under the dynasty of William Penn. The law reads as follows :
"AN ACT FOR THE KILLING OF WOLVES-FOR PREVENTING THE DESTRUCTION OF SHEEP AND CATTLE BY WOLVES .-- Section 1. That if any person within this province shall kill a dog-
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wolf, he shall have ten shillings, and if a bitchwolf, fifteen shillings, to be paid out of the county stock. Provided, such person brings the wolf's head to one of the justices of the peace of that county, who is to cause the cars and tongue of said wolf to be cut off. And that the Indians, as well as others, shall be paid for killing wolves accordingly.
"Section 2. That all and every person or persons who are willing to make it their busi- ness to kill wolves, and shall enter into recog- nizance before two or more justices of the peace of the respective counties where he or they dwell, with sufficient security in the sum of five pounds, that he or they shall and will make it his or their business, at least three days in every week, to catch wolves, shall have twenty-five shillings for every wolf, dog or bitch, that he or they shall so catch and kill within the time mentioned in the said recognizance, to be paid out of the county levies where the wolves are taken as afore- said."
This act was repealed by the acts of 1782 and 1819.
Long's carly dress was a coonskin cap, moc- casin shoes, a hunting shirt, and generally buckskin breeches. The hunting shirt was worn by all these early hunters, and sometimes in militia drill. It was a kind of frock. reached down to the thighs, had large sleeves. was open before, and lapped over a foot or so when belted. This shirt was made of linsey. coarse linen, or dressed buckskin. The deer- skin shirt was cold and uncomfortable in wet and cold rain. The bosom of the shirt served as a receptacle for rye bread, wheat cakes, tow for cleaning the rifle, jerk, punk, flint and knocker to strike fire with, etc. ( matches were first made in 1829. but were not used here for many years after that ). The belt was tied behind ; it usually held the mittens, bullet bag. tomahawk, and scalping knife in its long buck- skin sheath. The moccasin in cold weather was sometimes stuffed with feathers, wool and dry leaves. There were about forty-five bul lets to a pound of lead for the heavy carly rifles.
The hand-to-hand conflicts of this noted hunter with panthers, bears, catamounts, wolves, elks and bucks, both on the land and in the streams, if written out in full would make a large volume. Elk and deer frequently took to the creek, and a battle royal with knife and horns would have to be fought in the water. Long was seven times mistaken while in a thicket for a wild animal, and careless hunters shot at him. Once his check was rubbed with
a ball. Dozens of Indians and palefaced men hunted in this wilderness as well as he, and the table giving an exhibit of the aggregate number of animals killed by Long during his life as a hunter only goes to show what a great zoological garden of wild animals this wilder- ness must have been.
William Long died in Hickory Kingdom. Clearfield Co., Pa., in May, 1880, and was buried in the Conway cemetery, leaving two sons, "Jack," a mighty hunter, and a younger son, Willian1.
Peace to his ashes. In the haunts of this wilderness, scorched by the summer sun, pinched by the winds of winter wailing their voices like woe, separated for weeks at a time in his lonely cabins from the society of men and women, and then, too, awakened in the dark and dreary nights by the howl of the wolf, the panther's scream and the owl's to- hoo! to-hoo! Long steadily, year in and year out, for sixty years pursued this wild, romantic life.
GEORGE SMITH, son of James and Mary Smith, was born in King's county, Nova Scotia. Canada, in 1827. When he was but a lad his parents migrated to Westmoreland county, Pa. Not satisfied there, in 1842 his father and mother migrated into this wilderness and set- tled in what was then Snyder (now Washing- ton ) township. Jefferson county. James Smith was a powerful man physically, and while at a frolic in 1845 he was struck over the head with a handspike. It occurred at the home of Hamilton Moody, in Washington township. A dispute arose between Thomas Brown and James Smith. Brown struck Smith vah a handspike, which caused his death in twenty- four hours. Too much whisky was the cause of the dispute and blow. Brown was tried at Brookville, convicted, and sentenced to the penitentiary for six years, but was afterwards pardoned.
Left an orphan by the murder of his father, George Smith adopted the profession of hunter, which he followed until 1900. In 1850 he married Susan Williams and com- menced housekeeping on his father's old homestead. in Washington township, where to them were born five children, three boys and two girls. From this old homestead he made frequent trips into the deeper forests after all kinds of large game.
Jefferson county becoming too civilized for him. in 1862 he moved his family into the "Warren Woods," or more properly into what was then and is now called Highland township.
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Elk Co., Pa. While his children were growing up he maintained two homes, one for them in civilization, Jefferson county, and a cabin for himself where "the shades of the forest were heavy the whole day through.'
As a hunter he kept a record of all the game killed by himself. In 1863, his first year in Elk county, he killed one hundred and fifty deer, thirteen bears and thirteen wolves. His name all through the woods of Elk, Forest and Jefferson could in those days be seen on blazed trees, like the tree in the picture, and with a record frequently of having "Killed one B'ar," wolf or deer as the case might be. He erected through the woods several cabins as a neces- sity and refuge. The latchstring of these was always out to strangers, fishermen and sports- men. The camp in this picture was located on the headwaters of Pigeon run, nine miles in a straight line from Beech Bottom, on the Clarion river, and was approached only by a path. This residence was built out of round logs, twelve by fifteen feet, chunked and daubed. clapboards and weightpoles formed the roof, and doors took the place of windows, with no glass. On this particular cabin he had a sign displayed, "Everyone who stops here will please register."
At one time his wife visited him at this cabin. George had been away all day, and as he was coming home in the evening Mrs. Smith went to the door to meet him, when, lo and behold, she espied a panther that was trail- ing George. She immediately sprang for a rifle and shot the panther. She and the two girls were excellent "marksmen." Smith would shoot at mark with them all day long and never give up until his oldest daughter would make some stray shot. The Winchester repeating rifle you see on his knee in the picture was presented to him by Maurice Schultz. a great tannery man of Wilcox, Elk county. This rifle cost seventy dollars, which was given Smith for finding Schultz when lost in the woods.
.A complete story of Smith's combats with panthers, bears, wolves and elk would be inter- esting in the extreme. Although I was a boy- hood companion, and afterwards his physician, I never could get him to relate his adventures in full. He was kind, modest, unassuming and not given to extolling his experiences. never used tobacco in any form nor much liquor, or was ever known to utter an oath.
In addition to being a professional hunter, George Smith was a character, a child of na- ture whose life was spent in the pursuit of large game, a rude log cabin his home and the
hemlock boughs his bed. Although he lived in the wilds of Elk he occasionally hunted also in Michigan, Maine, Manitoba and through Canada, where he killed many moose and other large game.
As I recall George Smith he was about five feet, ten inches high, a little stooped in appear- ance, active, athletic, with an enduring frame, a catlike step, a steady nerve, and a ripe knowl- edge of all the law governing still hunts for deer, elk and bear. He had keen eyesight until June, 1876, when by an accident in the woods he came near losing both eyes. By daily care and attention for two weeks I succeeded in saving his left eye for him.
To reach the great skill he attained in ma- ture life required natural talent, perseverance, sagacity and habits of thought as well as com- plete self-possession, self-control and quickness of execution. He never hunted with dogs or a dog. In these woods, the paradise of hunt- ers, George Smith had great opportunities for perfecting himself in all the art of a great hunter, and he surely was a king. He died in the wilds of Elk county. Smith killed in this. wilderness fourteen panthers, five hundred bears, thirty elks, three thousand deer, five hundred catamounts, five hundred wolves and six hundred wildeats. He killed seven deer in a day, and as many as five bears in a day. He killed two wolves in Elk county in 1874, the last wolves he ever slew. Most of these ani- mals were killed in what was originally Jeffer- son county.
ANDREW JACKSON LONG, a son of William and Nancy Bartlett ( Mason) Long, was born in Jefferson county, Pa., in 1829, on what is known as and now called the Horn farm. He moved with his father to the neighborhood of Falls Creek, in Clearfield county, when he was about twelve years old. I knew him from boy- hood, and visited with him in his home for two days in 1899, when he gave me the following facts in regard to his hunting career :
"I have killed six deer in a day. often four or five. I have killed four panthers in a day. and twenty during my life. The last panther I killed was in 1872. It was the largest one, and measured eleven feet from tip of nose to end of tail. I have killed about three hundred and fifty bears. In 1898 I killed nine hears. I have killed about fifteen hundred deer. I have killed about one hundred and fifty wolves. The last wolves-two in number-I killed in 1881. I have killed foxes, wildcats. cata- mount, ete., without number. I caught in traps twenty otters and one black fox.
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"When hungry, wolves and bears will eat one another. A bear will fight for its cubs even to death; a panther will not. Wolves make some fight for their young, but not a close one. A large bear will kill a panther in a fight. Bears have wallows, and have paths for miles to and from their dens. These paths are usually blazed on hemlock trees. Each bear, big or little, traveling the same path, will bite the blazed trees. Wolves have their paths, too. Wolves will kill a deer for their young, cut it up, and bury it along their paths. Panthers usually have from two to three cubs in September of each year. . \ pan- ther will eat only fresh meat.
"I have trained panthers until they were about two years old, when they became vicious and had to be killed. I have trained wolves and used them for the same purposes as a dog. They would follow me as dogs, and hunted with me, but at the age of two years I gener- ally had to kill them. For beartraps, I used venison, groundhog and beef for bait. A bear will patiently dig a whole day for a groundhog. I have found many deer horns in the woods, that were locked by combat, each deer having died from this fight. In 1833 my father and 1 killed five grown panthers on Medix run. In March of the same year Peter Smith and Erasmus Morey killed six full-grown panthers in the same neighborhood, making eleven in all."
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