Brief Biography of William Henry
Holmes 511
younger son, William Heberling Holmes,
having a wife
and three daughters, is in business in
Detroit.
BEAR HUNT IN YELLOWSTONE PARK -- 1872
BY W. H. HOLMES
I had a curious little bear hunt
experience in the
Gallatin Range when I was with the
first Hayden ex-
pedition. We started out to climb one
of the mountains,
one party going in one direction, and
the other, with the
outfit, in another direction. As we
went along, we saw
much small game and frequently tracks
of mountain
lion, bear, deer and elk. I was forging
along alone on
my tired little pony, when suddenly I
saw a large black
object just ahead. I thought at first
it was a horse, but
finally made it out to be a large black
bear rooting in
the snow. I was armed with a pistol
only, and, deciding
that discretion was the better part of
valor, turned about
and beat a hasty and perhaps
undignified retreat. Se-
curing reinforcements later, I returned
to seek his bear-
ship, but he had disappeared. Then I
found by exam-
ination of his tracks in the snow that
at the very mo-
ment I had started in one direction the
bear had started
in the other, and with such remarkable
impetuosity as
to clear 12 feet at a jump. My chances
of escape would
have been very slight if he had decided
to come my way.
We followed his trail and came upon him
in a deep ra-
vine, where he was finally killed.
A GRIZZLY BEAR ADVENTURE -- 1874
BY W. H. HOLMES
Mr. George B. Chittenden, of
Connecticut, who was
a member of the Hayden Survey of the
Territories in