Travel Journal
Entries from the
of William Buman
June 29, 1920 - October 24, 1920
The Hunt
Tuesday,
August 3, 1920
Wednesday,
August 4, 1920
Thursday,
August 5, 1920
Friday,
August 6, 1920
Saturday,
August 7, 1920
Sunday,
August 8, 1920
Monday,
August 9, 1920
Tuesday,
August 10, 1920
Wednesday,
August 11, 1920
Thursday,
August 12, 1920
Friday,
August 13, 1920
"Up at 3:20 - Start at 10:15. Trouble galore. Cernick still out after 2 lost horses. Pinkie gets stuck in swamp. We see two bears. Camp at 5:20 on 0’Conner River. See sheep on Mountain across river after supper. We left John at Bear Creek to help Cernick."
"Left at 10:30. Packed Pig 8 times. Followed 0’Conner River and camped on it. Made camp at 4:40."
"We 4 try to get some camp meat. Start at 9:30. Get to camp at 6:00. (Cernick and John get in at 1 P.M. with the 2 horses lost at Bear Creek.) The men move camp while we 4 are out. They cross river and some of our shells get wet."
"Caraway sees goat and he and Roy go after it and get it. Baxter, John, Graham, Pat and I cross river at 8 A.M. to look for goat. See them at 2 P.M. and start after them. We cross large canyon and Pat gets (?) mountain sickness. We get to the goats at 6 P.m. Graham got 2, Pat got 1 and I got one. We start back and are afraid to cross a canyon so we go down to the mouth to cross it. On way back we eat some squaw berries. When we reach the first trees we, or John, roasts a goat rib and shoulder which is fine. We start to climb at 8 P.M. Baxter takes a shortcut for horses. He takes my rifle and I take the goat he has been carrying back on him. Poor Pat! Graham and I help him and take his load. Graham and Pat give up and camp. John and I continue to climb to the top. We reached the top at 12 but cannot find Baxter. We call but do not get an answer so we find some scrub willow and we camp until 5 next morning."
"
"Graham and Pat join John and me and we start out. We see Baxter who meets us on a horse. We pack the meat and heads on the horse and Baxter and I walk to camp. The rest go to the horses and ride in. We get in at 7 A.M. We fill up on hot cakes spuds, cake, etc. I clean my gun. We have goat meat for dinner. I sleep 2 hours in afternoon."
"Roy and Caraway hunt all day and get nothing. Graham John and I hunt bear in afternoon. See 3 coyotes. Shoot at 2 but miss. Camp-fire at night."
"Moved camp and crossed Slims Glacier and camp on Canada Creek."
"Caraway and Roy hunt and get a goat. Pat, John and I start out at 8 after some sheep. We get in some running shots at 300 yards at 1:45. Pat cripples 1 which gets away. I got one which is the first sheep we got on trip. We reach camp at 5:15."
"We moved camp to Kluane Lake. We cached my sheep head in Bone's cache."
"Moved camp. Still on Kluane Lake. We met Louie Jacquott and an Indian with a bunch of horses going out after a hunting party. We went around Profanity Inlet where we had to go 1 mile to get 150 yards."
"Moved camp. Went through Burwash Landing and cached my sheep cape there. Camped in large blueberry patch."
Saturday,
August 14, 1920
"Moved camp to Donjeck River."
Sunday,
August 15, 1920
Monday,
August 16, 1920
Tuesday,
August 17, 1920
Wednesday,
August 18, 1920
Thursday,
August 19, 1920
Friday,
August 20, 1920
Saturday,
August 21, 1920
Sunday,
August 22, 1920
Monday,
August 23, 1920
Tuesday,
August 24, 1920
Wednesday,
August 25, 1920
Thursday,
August 26, 1920
Friday,
August 27, 1920
Saturday,
August 28, 1920
Sunday,
August 29, 1920
Monday,
August 30, 1920
Tuesday,
August 31, 1920
Wednesday,
September 1, 1920
Thursday,
September 2, 1920
Friday,
September 3, 1920
Saturday,
September 4, 1920
Sunday,
September 5, 1920
Monday,
September 6, 1920
Tuesday,
September 7, 1920
Wednesday,
September 8, 1920
Thursday,
September 9, 1920
Friday,
September 10, 1920
Saturday,
September 11, 1920
"Stayed in camp on the Donjeck River. Roy and I hunt bear in the afternoon. See tracks. Baxter catches 50 grayling and we clean them after supper."
"I met Tom Dixon and party (Dr Care and Mr. Muller of Penn) who were camped about 600 yards from our camp. We cross the Donjeck River and made camp on Wolverine Creek. We see our first caribou."
"Moved camp to Harris Creek. Pat fell off his horse in the mud - some leaves are turning color. Roy and John try to get camp meat in evening but fail."
"We cross Harris Creek. Saint Clair Creek and Generc River and camp on it. Mike Knowles, a guide, joined us here. We all like Mike."
"We move camp to moose horn camp. Caraway, John and I ride ahead to get some camp meat but do not see anything. The boys get a caribou on the way in. We pick a lot of blueberries after supper."
"Baxter, Roy, Pat and I go out. We see 80 sheep and 66 caribou. We see 37 caribou in one herd. Graham and Mike go out and Graham gets his 1st sheep, our second on trip. They get in at 10 P.m. Caraway and John cross boundary to Alaska."
"We move camp to Bible Creek. Mike and Graham go after their sheep meat. They get in at 7 P.M.. Graham got his second sheep."
"Graham and Mike stay in camp. Caraway and Roy get a sheep. Jno and I hunt and I shot 11 times but do not connect. Pat and Baxter hunt and Pat fired 19 shots with no hits."
"John and I hunt sheep. I get two sheep. One rolls down and breaks a horn. The other rolls down and falls down in a canyon We sure have a hard trip getting in with our heads and meat. We come down a bad cliff. Our horses got loose and we had to walk back to camp. We get in at 8 P.M. Caraway and Roy get a sheep Pat and Baxter hunt but Pat does not connect. We moved camp in morning from Bible Creek to Sheep Camp. We packed wood along."
"I help Caraway and Roy bring in two sheep for meat. Pat and Mike hunt and get two sheep. Pat borrows my kodak to carry. Pat spends evening and the next morning writing his diary and taking pictures. Baxter and Graham hunt bear but did not see any."
"Baxter decides its too stormy to move camp so Caraway and I walk all day. We climb the highest peak around there. We see 84 sheep and do a lot of climbing and see beautiful mountain range covered with ice. I enjoyed this trip very much."
"We moved camp over summit in forenoon to Blind Man’s camp. Roy, Mike, Caraway and I go up along side of large glacier. See no sheep as its all ice. So we cross the glacier and go down on other side. It was foggy all afternoon and turned to snow so we started for camp. Graham, Pat, John and Baxter each got a sheep."
"16 inches of snow by 9 A.M. and it snowed all day. We see a ram 150 yards from camp and Pat shoots at it but does not connect."
"We draw straws to see who gets 1st shot today as we all went out together. Graham gets 1st, Pat is 2nd, Caraway 3rd, and I got 4th. Caraway, Graham and I each got a sheep We walked 10 miles in 2 1/2 feet of snow. Pat gets sore at supper."
"We are out of grub except meat and are almost out of wood. Pete is roasting the sheep and saving the bones for fuel. We send Roy back to sheep camp after the horses and Cernick. Mike and I cross the glacier. Leave camp 6:30 A.M. get back 8 P.M. We have a very tough trip. We are on the glacier from 7 A.M. to 11 A. M. Baxter told us it was only a mile and there were 3 creeks on it. We found 8 creeks. We get the only sheep we saw, but it saw us first and starts for the top. We follow and I take a long shot at it and am lucky and got it with my second shot. We start home and we both go snowblind. We finally find our trail across the glacier and followed it to find our camp. Caraway, Pat, Baxter and John hunt. Pat goes snowblind. Caraway got two sheep."
"Cernick came over at 10 A.M. with no horses as Roy went snowblind yesterday. Baxter and John go back with Cernick after the horses and get back at 6 P.M.. We left Blind Man’s Camp at 7:30 and reached Sheep Camp at 11:00 P.M. Supper at 12. No bread."
"Still blind. Move camp to Generc - 20 miles. It was a tough trip."
"I stay in bed all day. Eyes bad. Breakfast in bed."
"Eyes get better. I shave and get my hair cut. Baxter and Caraway got a 60 3/8 inch spread moose."
"The eyes are better. They all hunt but I stayed in camp. They did not see anything. It rained all afternoon. I saw the most beautiful rainbow this evening that I have ever seen."
"We all hunt and I get a caribou , a nice small head. This was our 1st caribou on trip. I see 2 bull moose and one cow. I cripple a bull but do not get it. We see bear rubbing posts and I see my first porcupine on our way back to camp."
"Pat, Caraway, Mike and Roy go to Holmes Creek to siwash. Baxter and I hunt. We meet Dr. Care and Adolph Muller of Morristown, Pa. with Tom Dixon and an Indian for guides on the St Clair bar. We beg eats."
"John and I hunt. We leave camp 9 A.M. Return at 7 P.M. I get my first moose - a 27 point head."
"It rains in forenoon so we go out after dinner. John and I go out on the moraine. We watch a bull moose for about 1/2 hour."
"I hunt all day and see 3 bull and 5 cow moose. I meet Tom Dixon and Muller. Their horses run away and I caught them. They tell about bear after moose. Graham and Baxter get a bear and their horse gets away on way in. Caraway comes home after some rope and some eats."
"I go out on moraine to hunt and get 3 bear. I got one at 12:45 - it has an 11 inch foot. My second at 1:15 - has a 10 inch foot. My third at 5— it has a 9 inch foot. My rifle jammed on me. Graham got his first moose."
"Cernick, Baxter and I brought in two of the bear we killed yesterday. Graham and John brought in their moose. Roy comes home for food."
"We clean skins all day -- 4 bear skins and one moose cape."
Sunday,
September 12, 1920
"I hunt all day."
Monday,
September 13, 1920
Baxter and I go out on moraine but see nothing. My horse gets loose and I walk to camp. Mike and Caraway come after food. They bring in 3 moose and 1 caribou.
Tuesday,
September 14, 1920
"I hunt all day."
Wednesday,
September 15, 1920
Thursday,
September 16, 1920
Friday,
September 17, 1920
Saturday,
September 18, 1920
Sunday,
September 19, 1920
Monday,
September 20, 1920
Tuesday,
September 21, 1920
Wednesday,
September 22, 1920
Thursday,
September 23, 1920
Friday,
September 24, 1920
"Baxter, John, Graham and I go to siwash on our way. Graham gets a bear. I also got a caribou on our way. A nice large head. Graham got two small caribou heads. We make camp in a scrub willow patch on Edith Creek. While we are gone Pete and Cernick go get all food Bones can spare."
"We get our caribou heads and meat and move camp. We make camp at 3 P.M. and go hunting but see nothing. Graham fried steak for supper which was good except being tough and"
"I hunted with Baxter today but do not get anything. We start home at 1:30 and get there 4:30."
"Baxter, Graham and I go out together and we see a bull moose which Baxter says is a good head so I shoot it. It measures 44½ inch spread with 13 points. Roy comes in looking for their horses which got away."
"Baxter and I go after the moose I killed yesterday. We see some caribou over south of us so we go over. Baxter picks out the best head so I go after it and get it. It has a very poor top on one side with only two points. We left the caribou at 5 p.m. and left the moose at 6:05. Crossed Count Creek at 6:50 and got home at 8:30. Very cold and dark."
"I stayed in camp and cleaned scalps. The siwashers got in at 6:30 with 2 sheep and 2 caribou. We are to start for home tomorrow."
"We find Pete is out of bread because Baxter did not let him know we were going to move so we had to stay over two more days. Cernick and I go out and look at my 3 bear carcasses. Baxter and Pat hunt. Caraway and John hunt and Graham and Mike go out. Nobody sees anything."
"We all stay in camp. We take pictures and pack in forenoon. Weather looked stormy all day."
"Caraway, Graham and John start out to hunt while we move. Roy gets thrown off Baxter's horse and also gets stepped on. Baxter says he will ride the horse tomorrow. Pat and Baxter go hunting which leaves we 4 men and 1 cripple to move the whole outfit. Turk, who Baxter had packed, had his pack turn under him before we had him untied. One horse threw his pack and ran away. Knowles and Cernick go to look for it which leaves Roy, Pete and I to cross St. Clair and Harris Creeks and go through heavy timber. We have heaps of trouble. We make camp on Harris Creek at 8 P.M. Very dark and quite cool. Graham got 2 caribou and Caraway got 1 Caribou while we were moving camp."
"Moved camp to Wolverine Creek. Start at 10:20, get in at 5:00. Horses all went nice as we had more help. Looked stormy at night. Baxter had one horse packed with his winter's supply of bear fat so we were one horse short and one man walked all the way in."