GRIZZLY BEAR. Ursus henshawi Merriam

The history of the Grizzly Bear in the Yosemite region and indeed throughout California is evidently a closed chapter in the book of nature. In the "days of '49" numbers of the big fellows roamed over the hills and valleys of California, and the Yosemite region doubtless had its full quota of them. But the presence of the Grizzlies was incompatible with the interests of the white man, and so they were killed off rapidly, until now it seems likely that they are entirely gone. So sudden was their extermination that no complete specimens were secured to be preserved in our museums. And reliable accounts, published or in manuscript, of the California grizzlies are meager at best.

The word Yosemite³ is derived from a word in the tribal dialect of the southern Miwok Indians who inhabited the Valley when it was discovered by white men. This word, Uzumati, or Uzhumati, means grizzly bear, a full-grown animal rather than a cub. The use of this name in association with the Valley might be taken as an indication that Grizzly Bears originally inhabited the Yosemite Valley. But we have no precise evidence to show that such was the case. Early visitors to the Yosemite often mention and "bears" in their narratives, but with an ambiguity that leaves the reader uncertain as to whether a veritable Grizzly was encountered anywhere in the Valley proper.

The names Bear Valley, Bear Creek, Big Grizzly Flat, and Little Grizzly attest the former wide occurrence of Grizzly Bears in the foothill district of the region.

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³For the circumstances surrounding the choice of the name consult L. H. Bunnell, Discovery of the Yosemite; for discussion of the meaning of the word see paper by A. L. Kroeber, California Place Names of Indian Origin (Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. Ethn., vol. 12 [1916], p. 68).

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The Grizzly Bears as a group (including several species and races) are quite distinct from the Black Bears. The size of adults was generally much larger, though the species which occurred in the Yosemite region was one of the smaller of the grizzlies. No weights or detailed measurements of locally captured grizzles are preserved. The "nose to tail" measurement of "nearly 10 feet" given by its captor for the Wellman specimen referred to below, applied to a skin as pegged out fresh. It is well known that considerable stretching results from such procedure, and that when the skin is relaxed and tanned it shrinks somewhat. The length of the Wellman grizzly skin is now 7-1/2 feet and its width at the middle is 5 feet. Judging from the dimensions of bears before skinning, in known cases, as compared with those of the tanned skins measured subsequently, the Wellman bear in the flesh probably measured between 6-1/2 and 7 feet in length, tip of nose to tip of tail. The Washburn skin mentioned later measures 6 feet 7 inches in length, somewhat smaller; and the living animal was therefore probably close to 6 feet long.

The foreclaws of the Grizzly are much less sharply curved and somewhat longer than those of the Black Bear; this is an absolutely distinctive character. The longest claws on the Wellman skin are 3 inches (measuring the chord of the claw from tip to upper base), while the middle foreclaw of a large California-taken Black Bear is only 2 inches in the same dimension. The track of an old Grizzly, either front or hind foot, was much larger than that of a Black Bear. Wellman's figures, 10 by 13 inches, and McLean's, 9 by 17 inches (even allowing for considerable sliding of the foot, especially in the latter case) are 50 per cent larger in each dimension than the track of a good-sized Black Bear. These measurements of course refer to the hind foot, which is decidedly longer than the forefoot. The latter (if the 'wrist' does not touch) leaves an imprint that is more nearly square in outline. In coloration the Grizzly was dark brown, and some individuals had grayish or whitish ends to the longer guard-hairs on the back, which gave rise to the name "silver-tip."

The Grizzly differed from the Black Bear in habits as well as in structure. It was, particularly in the case of the Henshaw Grizzly, a frequenter of chaparral (and hence essentially an inhabitant of the foothill districts), and it never (or rarely) climbed trees. Its food, as with the Black Bear, was quite varied, including berries, fruits, and insects, as well as flesh; but the Grizzly worked much more havoc among large game, and in later years, stock, than does its smaller relative.

During our work in the western part of the Yosemite section we questioned numerous old residents concerning the former occurrence of Grizzly Bears, but rarely obtained definite information. Mr. J. B. Varain, of Pleasant Valley (= Varain), told us that there were no Grizzlies there when he arrived in 1867, but that they were then still to be found in the territory to the east. The various gold rushes to Tioga and Mammoth, together with the running of sheep and other stock in the region, served to clear the Yosemite country of its Grizzlies at a relatively early date. The occurrence of the one taken in 1887, by Wellman, was by that year considered an unusual event.

We were unable to get track of even a fragment of a specimen of the Grizzly in the narrow section which we worked across the Sierras; but since our field work was completed, there have come to light two skins of Grizzlies killed elsewhere within the present boundaries of Yosemite National Park. Both of these skins are now in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology of the University of California. One of these bears (obtained from Mrs. John S. Washburn) is the last known to have been killed in the region. It was shot "about 1895" at Crescent Lake, which lies some ten miles air-line east of Wawona at an altitude of 8500 feet.

It is possible that a few individuals persisted in the same region until a considerably later date. This surmise is strengthened by the following account. Mr. John L. McLean and his son Donald have told us that during the fall and winter months from 1908 until 1911 a very large bear lived on Bullion Mountain. The tracks, which were examined on two or more occasions in two successive years, "were 9 by 17 inches (or a little more) by actual measurement." The animal had long claws, as shown by the tracks. The bear had five separate trails leading up the side of the mountain from the heavy chaparral (composed of Adenostoma and scrub or "vine" oak) on the lower slopes, to the black and blue oaks on the top. The dung indicated that the bear was living principally upon acorns. There were wild hogs on the mountain and these may have been an attraction to the big bear. The smaller (Black) bears seemingly had little or nothing to do with the big fellow, avoiding his trails and staying off in another cañon. A trap was once set for the big bear, and caught him; but he pulled loose "at one jump." Finally a party of men with dogs got after the big bear and it "left the country," without being injured, and was not seen again. Small bears are still present in the region.

The circumstances surrounding the killing of the "Wellman bear" have been set down at considerable length in a letter written by one of the principals, Mr. Robert S. Wellman, under date of April 20, 1918. This letter is now on file at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and from it we take the following.

Mr. Wellman's headquarters were, at that time, at Buck Camp, some 16 miles east of Wawona, near the South Fork of the Merced River. On the evening of October 17, 1887, at the head of a small valley about a mile away from the camp, he discovered the carcass of a cow on which bears had already commenced to feed. A search of the vicinity disclosed the presence of a female Black Bear and three cubs.

The next morning Mr. Wellman visited the place again and found that during the night a larger bear had come and dragged the carcass several yards from where it first lay. Being certain that this new arrival was a veritable Grizzly he rode over to the camp of his friend Jim Duncan,⁴ now long deceased, and got him to come over to help in the hunt. The two men built a scaffold, or platform, 10 feet above the ground and some 60 feet from the dead cow. And on this platform watch was kept for the succeeding three nights. One or more black bears and a coyote came to feed, but it was not until the third night that the big bear put in its appearance again. When it did, it happened that three small bears were at the carcass; but these quickly quit the vicinity when the large bear appeared. Finally, the Grizzly caught sight of the scaffold, and made toward it. The two men fired simultaneously and the bear fell to earth with a series of 'bawls,' evidently wounded. The men did not come down until daylight, when the animal was found in some bushes and killed by a shot behind the ear.

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⁴This is in all probability the same Duncan mentioned by John Muir in the chapter on "The Animals of the Yosemite" in his book, Our National Parks (see Bibliography, p. 667). Muir relates that Duncan, who had quite a reputation locally as a bear hunter, had a cabin on the shore of Crescent Lake. In nine years he had killed no less than 49 bears [probably both Black and Grizzly]. He kept count of his killings by "notches cut on one of the timbers of his cabin." Crescent Lake is but a short distance from Buck Camp, and Duncan was doubtless living there in 1887 when Wellman went to get his assistance.

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The skin of this bear was sold by Mr. Wellman to the artist, Thomas Hill, and, through the latter's son-in-law, was procured in 1918 for the University of California.