orrible bear." When Lewis and Clark traveled through the area in 1807, they reportedly killed 7 grizzly bears. The movement west of large cattle herds after the Civil War resulted in private efforts to eliminate the grizzly along with other predators in the area. Significant population decline began around the early 1900's. A man named Wright wrote in 1909 of killing dozens of grizzly bears in the Bitterroot Mountains. Settlers, sheepherders, trappers, and hunters that moved to the area around that time are directly responsible for the elimination of the grizzly bear from the Bitterroot ecosystem. It is estimated that du
             ...