Page:Looters of the Public Domain.djvu/22

 meat was an unknown quantity to the Puter family during- those days, except at such times as I might trap a quail or snare a cottontail rabbit, of which there was plenty to be found.

I had the good fortune, shortly after we returned to the farm, to kill a fine buck elk, that probably weighed upwards of 700 pounds. It had frequently shown himself at the edge of the timber, near the prairie where we lived and within a quarter of a mile from our shack. Our sole firearm consisted of an old Springfield musket, of the pattern used during the rebellion, and as I was only nine years old, my mother hesitated to allow me to try my luck, fearing that, should I only wound the big buck, he might turn and kill me. It was just at a time, however, when the smaller game had not been particularly plentiful and we felt that we must secure that meat— at least, that was my way of viewing the matter. Besides, I wanted to show the folks that I wasn't quite such a boy as they imagined, and the killing of that elk, in my mind, would place me on a par with the position I sought to occupy in my father's absence—that of being looked upon as "the man of the house." As his elkship was even now in sight, I pleaded so hard and convincingly regarding my ability to bring him down at first shot, that mother finally consented to my shouldering the old musket, and I was off.

Taking a circuitous route, I emerged from the timber in the rear of the point where I had last noticed the elk feeding, and crawled through the grass and weeds to within fifty paces of where he was standing, and where there was a mound of earth on which to rest the musket. No doubt it was placed there through providential kindness, as my arm was too short to reach around the stock of the gun and pull the trigger with my finger, so it became necessary for me to find a rest for the heavy musket before I could proceed with the work of execution. Having placed my gun in position. I took aim and fired, the ball striking the animal in the shoulder and killing him instantly. I did not move from my position until the smoke had commenced to clear away, and not observing the elk, I rushed to the spot where he was last standing, where I found him kicking on the ground and noted, happily, that my work had been complete.

My mother and sisters, who had been anxiously awaiting developments, and watching the elk from the shack, could see him fall at the crack of the gun, and, needless to state, they lost no time in coming to where I was standing, alongside that vanquished "king of the forest."

The excitement and joy that took possession of the Puter family for the time being was without limit. We all knew, of course, that there was meat enough in sight for many months to come, and incidentally, it might be said, mother patted her boy and complimented him for his prowess, for now, indeed,, he was a real man. The question then arose as to how we should get our prize to the shack, so we decided to quarter him first, but found, because of the great weight, that the combined strength of the entire family was not sufficient to drag a single quarter, say nothing about lifting it; so we were obliged to cut the meat up into smaller pieces, after which our nearest neighbor, who lived four miles distant, was notified of our good fortune, and he proceeded to Arcata for sufficient salt to cure the meat.

My first experience with the public domain occurred during the summer of 1875, at which time I was engaged as an axman by Deputy United States Surveyor Forman, who had a contract to subdivide several townships of timber land in the vicinity of our Humboldt county ranch. I became so proficient in my duties that after blazing the lines and marking the witness trees for a few months, I was placed in charge of a crew and manipulated the compass.

As soon as the survey of the township had been approved by the United States Surveyor-General, there was a rush for timber claims. By reason of my field work on the survey, I gained a knowledge of all the desirable claims in the tract, and located a number of applicants, charging them $25 each, at the same time taking a contract to build them a cabin on their claims for $25 additional. The cabins so constructed consisted of a shack made out of shakes or split boards, Page 16