Grizzlies often explore afar and become acquainted with the unclaimed
territory round them, and it is possible that this mother grizzly knew
the character of the new home territory before emigrating. There was
an abundance of food in the old home territory, but it is possible
that she had lost former cubs there and it is certain that she had
been shot at a number of times. However, the change may have been
simply due to that wanderlust which sometimes takes possession of the
ever-adventurous grizzly. In the eventful years which followed she
showed tireless energy and skill. Though badly crippled, she still
maintained those qualities which mean success for the survival of the
species--the ability to make a living, the postponing of death, and
the production of offspring.
The Echo Mountain grizzly had individuality and an adventurous career.
This heroic grizzly mother might be called an emigrant or an exile, or
even a refugee. Though crippled, she dared to become a pioneer. All
that men learned of her eventful life was a story of struggles and
triumphs--the material for the biography of a character.
The next July a camper in following the track of a snowslide came upon
a three-legged mother grizzly and two cubs. They were eating the
carcass of a deer that was just thawing from the snow and débris
brought down by the snowslide. The grizzly was nearly white, one cub
was brown, and the other dark gray.
As the camper went on with his burro he noticed the bear watching him
from among trees across a little glacier meadow. He camped that night
on a small stream at the foot of an enormous moraine a few miles from
the place where he had seen the bear. Returning from picketing the
burro he chanced to glance at the skyline summit of the moraine. Upon
it the three-legged bear stood watching him. She was looking down with
curious interest at his tent, his campfire, and the burro. Surely this
crippled grizzly was living up to the reputation of the species for
curiosity. A moment later she disappeared behind a boulder. With his
field glasses he could still see her shadow. This showed her standing
behind the boulder with her one forepaw resting against it and peeping
from behind it.
That autumn a trapper out for pine martens saw the Echo Mountain
grizzly and her cubs. He reported her a great traveller; said that she
ranged all over her large and rugged Rocky Mountain territory. Her
tracks were seen on the summit of the range and she occasionally
visited the other side of the divide. Perhaps she felt that an
intimate knowledge of the region was necessary for a crippled bear in
meeting emergencies. This knowledge certainly would be valuable to her
in making her living and a marked advantage if pursued.