PLSO The Oregon Surveor September/October 2021

18 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 44, No. 5 and headed east about eight miles to the foot of Mt. Jefferson. At this point, there is a gigantic rock formation between White- water and Russell Creeks. It is 1,000 feet high and has cliffs all around it, which Mohler and Hicks called, “a great over- hanging rock and a sheer drop of 700 feet” about a mile from Jefferson Park, which they called, “a mountain park which has lost none of its primeval beauty.” In 1903, Mohler had taken a “flagstaff” to Mt. Jefferson’s summit pinnacle. When he and Hicks were there in 1906, they found the small flagstaff left by Mohler three years before, which was a “stout green stick, splintered to the base, presumably by lightning.” They then “planted securely in the rocks a flagstaff 12 feet long with their names and the date engraved at its base.” They returned to their camp in Jef- ferson Park by about 5 o’clock. The next day, it was decided to return to Oregon City by the “crest-line trail” which had been located by Adolf Aschoff (an early member of the Mazamas) who was the former supervisor of the forest rangers. It ran fromMt. Hood to Mt. Jefferson and Mohler and Hicks found it to be “almost as level as a floor for nearly 50 miles.” After about 42 miles, they reached “Clack- amas Lake” (which I could not find on any map) and then went down the Salmon River to the Sandy River and eventually back to Oregon City. After crossing the Salmon River, “they ran against a black bear. Mr. Hicks gave chase and it climbed a tree, growling down at Mr. Hicks from a distance of fifty feet above him. He shot it through the head and it dropped dead at his feet. But just at this moment, an awful crash was heard in the brush and the mother of the cub came on to the at- tack, pounding like an elephant. But the stream that separated them was very deep and turbulent. ‘Here’s your bear, up the tree,’ shouted Mr. Mohler. Sure enough, up the same tree was a bear, three bears in as many minutes, and only two men to deal with them. So Mr. Hicks shot at the treed bear just as it turned its head to look at him from behind the tree. The bear dropped. Mr. Hicks approached it and saw that it was a three-fourths grown bear, not the other one (a cub) restored to life. As it lay on the ground it was turning its head from side to side, merely stunned by the fall, as it had been shot through the nose. Rising to its full height, it made a lunge for Mr. Mohler, who happened to be on higher ground; the only thing he could do was give the bear an ugly kick under the chin. This made both go toppling over backward. By this time a dog belonging to the party became an excited and important partic- ipator in the fracas. The bear rose with a savage grunt, but was attacked and fi - nally treed by the dog, whereupon it was quickly shot and killed by Mr. Hicks, who thus had two bears by way of trophy for five minutes work.” continued T Route from the North Santiam River to Jefferson Park and Mt. Jefferson. Featured Article