Jonnie West and I were out hunting one day for deer when we discovered two cougars in the grass, and we could not make out what it meant.  Finally one made a spring, and it seemed to us that he jumped at least twenty feet, and he landed on a deer, and for a minute or two there was a tussle.  While this was going on Jonnie and I were getting closer to them, and when they had the deer killed we were within gunshot of them, and they didn’t eat much before we killed them both.  We skinned the deer, and also the cougars, and took them to camp, and when we went to Bent’s Fort the next spring we got twenty dollars apiece for them, for they were extra large cougars, or mountain lions as they are sometimes called, and their hides are very valuable.

It seems wonderful to me when I think of the amount of game I saw through the country at that time, of all descriptions, some of which in their wild state are now extinct, especially the buffalo and the bison, and all other game that was so plentiful at that time is very scarce all over the west.  I believe a man could have seen a thousand antelope any day in the year within five miles of where the city of Denver now stands.

We had splendid success this winter in trapping beaver.  It was late in the spring when we left our trapping ground.  Just before we pulled out Jim Bridger said, “Boys, I saw a pretty sight this evening out at the point of rocks,” which was about a quarter of a mile from our cabin.  Jonnie West said, “What did you see, Jim?”

“I saw an old Cinnamon bear and two cubs.”  Jonnie said, “Why didn’t you kill her?”

“I didn’t have anything to kill with,” Jim replied.  “I left my gun in the cabin, but we will all go out in the morning and see if we can find them.”

We were all up early in the morning and ready for the bear hunt.  Jim told us what route each should take.  He said, “Now boys, be careful, for she is an old whale, and if you get in to a fight with her some one will get hurt, or there will be some running done.”

I had not gone far when I looked up on a ridge ahead of me and saw what I took to be Mrs. Bruin; I crawled up within gun shot and fired and broke the bear’s neck.  I rushed up to her expecting to see the cubs.  Imagine my surprise when I found only a small bear.  In a few moments the boys were there; Jonnie laughed and asked Jim if that bear was the whale he set out to kill.  Jim stood and looked at the bear quite a bit before answering.  Then he said, “That is a Cinnamon Bear, but where are the cubs?” Jonnie said, “I will bet my hat you didn’t see any cubs, Jim, you dreamed it.”  Jim grinned and answered, “Well, boys I guess you have the drop on me this time.”

From then on, all the spring Jim’s cubs was a standing joke.  In a few days, we pulled out for Bent’s Fort; we were late in getting to the Fort with our furs this spring.  Mr. Bent asked us why we were so late in getting in.  Jonnie replied that Jim kept us hunting for Cub bears all the spring, and as we couldn’t find any, it took all our time.  Of course they all wanted to know the joke, and when Jonnie told it in his droll way, it made a laugh on Jim.  “If you will only quit talking about the cubs,” Jim said, “I’ll treat all around,” which cost him about ten dollars.