Vintage illustration of a Black Bear, this of the more common 4-legged variety.

This edition shares three short articles that appeared in the August 25, 1899, copy of the PHILLIPS PHONOGRAPH newspaper. We hope you enjoy it.

(Contemporary commentary found in italics).

They Saw an Indian Devil (Mountain Lion)

Fortunately for the hunter the Indian devil does not frequent the Maine woods. If he did, few would dare venture into the afflicted sections. Andrew Douglass saw one, but it was years ago when his son, Will, was but a lad. After a day’s tramp through the woods, they built a fire preparatory to eating a lunch. Then Mr. Douglass had touched a match to a dead birch tree standing nearby, to see the flames shoot up along the sides. As the flames ran up the tree an animal seemed to leap out of the earth almost at their feet, and with one spring went twenty feet into another tree. There he eyed the two fiercely. While Douglass and Will were wondering what the creature could be, Will said, “I believe I have seen a picture like that in one of my books. It looks like an Indian devil. I believe that is what it is,” said Andrew, “I have heard tell of those fellows and I guess that is what this is, sure as you live. Pick up the axe and rifle and back up the hill and I’ll follow. But when you reach the summit, you run like the devil.”

Will followed directions to the letter and both reached home safely. Andrew says he hunted all through that country afterward but never saw anything more of the creature.

(Running “like the devil” to escape an “Indian Devil” undoubtably would prove unsuccessful should the animal pursue. Also quite interestingly, it was a frequent practice in winter or if the woods were damp, for a woodsman to ignite the bark of an entire birch tree for the purpose of illuminating a campsite. And the term eating “a lunch,” back in the day, could mean preparing any meal regardless of the time of day).

Bear With Three Feet – Leads Hunters Up Saddleback and Then Leaves Them.

When Nick Oglevie gets after game, he doesn’t like to give it up, but sometimes he has to do so. Over on Hewey Hill by Sandy River Ponds, he and Frank Haley started a bear. They chased him until night and then decided to leave him till morning and take a dog to help them. In the morning, they took the dog and with Dave Haines, Walter Twombly and others went after the bear. The dog didn’t come up to what they expected of him, but as the bear had been caught in a trap and had lost a part of one foot it was comparatively an easy thing to keep his track. They followed him well up on Saddleback and they decided to give up the chase and return home, bear-less.

(Even a three-legged bear could fetch $35 in 1899 or about $1385.00 in today’s money. Bears had become scarce in the late 19th century and were highly prized for making bearskin hats, coats and mittens. The body fat, which when rendered produced a fine oil used for lubricating 19th century machinery).

Pleasant Island Camps

The fishing is good and no one who is “fish hungry” need go without while there Many fish have been taken in Toothaker cove on a fly, some of them weighing two pounds. Billy Soule (proprietor) has already sold six licenses and sent them away to sportsmen who want to kill a deer the first of September. They want the licenses with them when they come in order that there shall be no delay. Billy says it is hard work to get through the woods, the deer are so plenty.

(Truth in advertising may not have come to the fore in this report. Despite Maine offering a special early season on deer at the time, whitetails were becoming exceedingly scarce even in remote Cupsuptic. Today, U.S. Fish and Wildlife estimates that by 1900 whitetail deer populations nationally, might have hit an all time low of just 500,000! This despite there being far more agricultural land than we have today. Unregulated as well as commercial hunting had done their worst. Thousands of deer, moose and caribou were shipped via the railroads to markets in Boston and New York. The whitetail’s recovery has been one of the most amazing wildlife restoration successes in history with the current national population estimated at thirty-six million. Ironically, The Pittman-Robertson Act, which is an excise tax on firearms and ammo paid by the manufacturer, secured the necessary funding for this and many other wildlife recovery and preservation success stories. These are “the good old days,” thanks to conservation driven regulations, the visionary Pittman Robertson Act funding and sound wildlife management practices.

Have a wonderful week and be sure to sally forth to make some GREAT Western Maine history of your own).