Here in land locked Grande Prairie we don’t have fantastic shark stories that we can share for Shark Week. With a look through the newspaper index in 1940 we were able to find a dramatic story about one of the predators that live in our region.
Indian of Pipestone Creek Has Narrow Escape from Death, Attack By Bear
…I fired from a 30-30 rifle and broke the bear’s lower jaw. This was lucky for me, I fired again, but missed. The bear was coming towards me, I reached into my coat pocket for a shell and reloaded, but the gun misfired. By this time the bear, which was very mad, was close to me. I struck it in the face with my rifle and knocked it down. It was up in a second and threw me down and gashed my head and face and torn nearly all the clothes off me. The bear thinking I was dead stopped clawing me for a minute…
If you would like to read the rest of the story about what happened to Sam Baptiste Wilson click his name. There is also a follow up story in the next issue of The Herald-Tribune.
Do you know have any stories about animals or people in the South Peace? We would love to hear them!
*Bear photo is taken from the Debolt & District Pioneer Museum fonds and is unrelated to this story.
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The Herald Tribune – Jan 31, 1946