Upper Michigan.

It is remarkable how long and well one can live on one hundred pounds
of flour, twenty-five pounds lard, ten pounds salt and some bacon,
(tea and coffee if one thinks he can't get along without it), in a
good game and fish country with a good gun and fishing tackle.

We started on our return trip down the river on the second day of
June. There had not been a man to our camp during this time. We were
well satisfied with our catch with one exception, that being bear, as
we only got four and they were all rather small. We had a splendid
journey on our return trip down the river. We would see deer at
almost every turn and once we saw a bear swimming the river. We
caught lots of fish, all we could use, with hardly an effort.

CHAPTER XIII.

Hunting and Trapping in Cameron County, Pa., in 1869.

In my last letter on hunting and trapping in Cameron County, I
promised to give Bill Earl's and my own experience in hunting in that
county the next season. Well the story is not long, as we had our
camp already built, we concluded not to go out into the woods until
it was time to begin hunting and to put out bear traps. Accordingly
on the last day of October we took a man with a team to take our
traps, camp outfit and the grub stake to camp.

Going by the way of Emporium in that county, we were compelled to
stay there over night, the distance being too far to reach camp the
first day. At Emporium we purchased what more necessaries we needed,
that we had not brought from home. We reached camp the second day
about 10 o'clock. When we came in sight of the camp, Bill was walking
ahead of the team with an axe cutting out brush here and there as
needed. All of a sudden Bill stopped, set down the axe and looked in
the direction of the shanty. When I was close enough so Bill could
speak to me, he said, "I be-dog-on if the wicky is not occupied." I
asked, "What with, porcupines?" Bill's reply was that he had known
porkies to do some dog-on mean work, but he had never known them to
build fires.

I could now see the shack, and sure enough there was a little smoke
curling up from the chimney. Bill said that he hoped that there was
no one there that wanted to tarry long, for he was dog-on sorry if
that wicky was large enough for two families.

We found the shanty occupied alright. There was a sack of crackers
set on the table and a pot of tea set in the chimney and a couple of
blankets lay on the bunk. After Bill ha