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This hand-forged iron Bear Trap, #F-8, is one of the
first items donated to the Healdsburg Museum. Currently on display
upstairs in the Museum in the “Rancho-era” Section of the gallery,
it is one of the few items that people are permitted to touch. This
particular bear trap was made in 1859 by early Alexander Valley
settler Ed Hicklin, a farmer and blacksmith, for another Valley
pioneer, Clarence Hall. Cyrus Alexander’s nephew, Julius Myron
Alexander, was given this relic in the early 1900s by Lieuallen J.
Hall. J.M. Alexander presented the item to the City of Healdsburg
archives years before there was a museum. |
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The hand-crafted iron trap
weighs close to 150 lbs and measures 27” x 27.”
In the 1850s, Grizzly bears were numerous enough to
be a serious threat to the early settlers,
especially for those at the edges of Alexander and
Dry Creek valleys. The newspapers of the 1860s and
1870s described bear attacks and the pioneer
attempts to deal with them. Edward Hicklin seemed to
have more involvement with bears that most. In May
1869, the Russian River Flag reported the
following account of Mr. Hicklin under the headline
“Another Bear Story:”
For some time recently bears have
been giving some alarm and considerable annoyance to
the people living on the road to the Geysers. They
have made several raids on the ranchers’ stock and
some efforts have been made to thin the destructive
beasts out. Mr. Edward Hicklin lately built a heavy
log trap and succeeded last week in
catching—himself. He went into the trap to adjust
the bait, and in doing so sprung the trigger, when
down came the heavy door. Here was a predicament.
Penned up in a close log prison with only room
enough to kneel down in, and apparently with nothing
else for him to do in this world but say his
prayers. He was in a secluded spot and far from any
house. No prospect of deliverance except the chance
visit of some hunter. Like a man of energy though,
he determined to make an effort to release himself
from his dungeon. Groping about he found a piece of
a wooden pin. On close examination he discovered a
knot hole in the door into which he put the pin, and
by exerting all his strength succeeded in raising it
enough to get his foot under it; then by infinite
straining and lifting he gradually worked himself
out under the ponderous door. This, Mr. Hicklin
thinks, will be a lesson to him to put a secure prop
under the door hereafter when he goes into a bear
trap. |
