southtillamookcounty.com
History
"Short History of the Little Nestucca River Valley and Its Early Pioneers" written about South Tillamook County, Oregon
The page below was written by Mrs. Hardy Rock (Alexandria LEY Rock) and published in 1949. NVMS students have retyped her history so that many may read it. Although some punctuation errors have been corrected the text remains as written by Mrs. Rock.
Note that Alexandria LEY Rock's "Short History of the Little Nestucca River Valley and Its Early Pioneers" has been republished in book form as of January 2007 and is now being offered for sale by the Tillamook County Historical Society!
p. 8 Animals continued
(This page was typed by Dean Bones.)
In the early days, deer, bear, courgars and wildcats were abundant. Indians killed many bear using the flesh for food and the hides for tents and mocassins. Later a few white settlers ate bear meat claiming it was good after the bear had fed on sheep for some time.
After entry of the whites, prearranged bear hunts provided excellent sport for the men. With hounds and horns from cattle the hunters could be located for miles pursuing a bear over the high ridges. Some of the guns used were muzzle loaders with each man carrying his own pouch of powder and shot wich was tamped down the gun barrel separated by round cotton wads. Only 2 shots could be fired without reloading. These bear hunts were abandoned when farmers began the dairy business.
Bears were also trapped in large, strong, steel traps baited with fresh mutton. For some years they became scarce but in later years increased rapidly. Cougars sometimes killed sheep and young calves.
On January 20, 1927, Fred Affolter killed a female cougar at the head of Prospect Creek and captured her two cubs. These cubs were kept at his home for pets until they became dangerous. One died, and the other was given to the Portland, Oregon Zoo.
In the spring of 1947 a cougar attacked a cow belonging to John Rock and partly devoured alive a newborn calf. The cougar retreated to a distance when Mr. Rock came upon the scene while in the timber hunting a cow. The legs of the calf were broken, and parts of both hips were eaten. The breast of the cow was ripped and bleeding evidently inflicted while fighting for her calf. No effort was made to hunt this cougar because there were no hounds in the community, and the dairymen were too busy.
In the spring of 1948 Jack Kinman of Neskowin saw and overtook a cougar in the timber on the Hellenbrand farm, but he had no gun with him.
Deer have been and still are plentiful as many as 15 being seen lately together although for some years they were scarce. Aomost every man gets his deer each year, and occasionally a woman brings down her venison. In pioneer days, venison was jerked or smoked. Later it was canned in glass fruit jars as was fruit or beef. Now it is kept frozen in lockers.
There were and still are wildcats, skunks, weasles, mink, civit cats and mountain beaver.
The so-called mountain beaver is a marmot. They burrow into hillsides throwing out loosened dirt into huge piles outside the entrances to their habitations.
Continue to page 10 of "Short History of the Little Nestucca River Valley and Its Early Pioneers!"