The Bear on the Hoquiam Trail
A hunting party encounters a formidable bear while tracking game, resulting in a fierce struggle and the eventual demise of the animal.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Friday morning F. L. Thornton, Lem Willey, R. W. Reinboth, Marshall, and Bails went out after bear, down the Hoquiam trail. When opposite the Hoquiam addition the dogs ran one out near Thornton, who shot and wounded the game. A lively fight ensued, in which the dogs received some ugly scratches. Finally, the bear was killed and proved to be an old male, weighing about 250 or 300 pounds. Experienced parties say that had he been in fairly good condition he would have easily tipped the beams at 400 pounds.
“A lively fight ensued, in which the dogs received some ugly scratches.”
Bear encounters remain a staple of rural Washington news, serving as a reminder of the proximity of the wilderness that surrounded these early settlement towns.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.