Wyoming state Sen. George B. McClellan, standing 6 feet, 6 inches tall, was known throughout the Cowboy State as “The Bear.” He would regale his audiences both on the Senate floor and off with stories of how he had earned his nickname.
In one bear story, McClellan tells of training a grizzly to carry him on its back. He once mistook a wild grizzly for his personal mount and didn’t discover his error until, after a terrific wrestling match, he had ridden the wild bear home.
For 30 years, Wyoming’s politicians had a “never-failing source of entertainment”, according to the June 8, 1930, Casper Tribune as “The Bear” shared his bear stories that grew with each telling. Beginning in 1904, McClellan served Big Horn County as first a state representative and then was elected for the majority of his career as a state senator until his death in 1934.
In another story, according to authors of the “Ten Sleep, The Area and The People,” McClellan related how he came upon two grizzlies and roped one. While holding the first silvertip, McClellan was then able to shoot the other.
In a story from 1885, McClellan shared that he was with his friend, Billie Glass, when they killed seven grizzlies in less than an hour at the head of Otter Creek.
As a result of these bear stories, McClellan was a popular storyteller who found an appreciative audience wherever he went.
Heart As Big As a Washtub
McClellan was described as one of the most colorful men in Wyoming by his friend and neighbor Paul Frison. In a tribute written Oct. 19, 1934, for the Wyoming State Tribune, Frison said McClellan had a powerful physique, dynamic personality, and was dominating yet lovable.
Ten Sleep historians said McClellan was born in Simcoe, Ontario, Canada, Oct. 18, 1862. He was a toddler when his family migrated to Kansas. By his early teens, McClellan headed to Texas to work with an outfit trailing cattle to Wyoming Territory.
He ended up in Lance Creek with the drive, then stayed in the Fort Laramie region until 1881, when the copper excitement at Hartville caught his attention. After a stint with mining, McClellan went to Pass Creek, Montana, and contracted to supply wild meat to Fort Custer for three years.
He hunted bear, buffalo and elk in the Big Horn Mountains with a Crow Indian companion, according to Frison. By 1886, Bear George was breaking horses for future Wyoming Gov. W. A. Richards (1895–1899) on the Red Bank Ranch and continued to hunt, especially bears.
McClellan earned a reputation as “the ideal type of westerner.”
“Bear George has a heart as big as a wash tub and as sympathetic as a woman’s when anyone’s in trouble,” a columnist wrote in the Wyoming Tribune, Dec. 1, 1908. “He is straightforward and absolutely square, plain and outspoken, yet as firm as a rock when his mind’s made up.”
Pet Bear
McClellan shared some of his stories in his own words and said that in the fall of 1885, he adopted two cubs when he first began hunting bear in the Big Horn Mountains. He had killed an old sow and took the cubs to camp.
“When they got to be about a year old I had a set to with one of them, and he came out dead,” McClellan said. “When it was reduced to just one bear, he was a good deal more tractable, and better to get along with.”
By the time the bear was 2 years old, McClellan said he could ride him to hunt bear. One evening when he was riding, the silvertip got uneasy. McClellan slid off and his bear took off after another bear.
“When I got to the top of the hill, here was my bear, foregathered with a couple other big old silvertips out on a big sagebrush flat,” McClellan said. “It was getting late and I wanted to hurry as much as possible and I shot the two bears as soon as I possibly could.”
By the time McClellan skinned the two bears, it was quite late. He said he went to put the hides on his bear to take them to camp, but his pet was absolutely unmanageable. McClellan wrestled his bear into obedience and put the hides on him.
However, he had another row when they got into camp.
“There was no such thing as doing anything with him, and we just had another set-to and by the time I got him into the mind of going in to camp I was nearly worn out,” McClellan said.
McClellan remembered how he had hit his bear with a Dutch oven lid during a “set-to” and busted off part of his bear’s tooth.
“I got to thinking about the way the bear had got so blame mean,” McClellan said. “I just went up to him and raised his lip and looked.”
McClellan was startled to see that this bear had a perfect set of teeth. It was then he realized he had shot his pet bear and rode back to camp on a wild bear.
Wyoming Reputation
Gov. Richards oldest daughter, Alice, shared in a 1948 Annals of Wyoming article that Bear George was self-educated.
“He kept a well-stocked library and always traveled with an extra packhorse loaded with books,” Richards said. “He read all the classic literature and, with his quick mind and wonderful memory, achieved a remarkable vocabulary.”
This education gave McClellan the right words to express himself. Richards said he was famous across the country for his gift of storytelling.
“Being a great bear hunter, many of his stories were bear-hunting tales, which is how the B in his name came to stand for Bear,” Richards said.
Richards also said McClellan’s years as a hunter had made him the best shot in the region. This skill came in handy when Harvey Ray, a former cowboy for her family, had turned to rustling and stole horses from the ranch. McClellan took off after Ray and his gang early in the morning.
“When George got out in the badlands on Harvey’s trail, Harvey saw him coming as fast as he could ride, his gun in hand,” Richards said. “When Harvey saw him, he turned to his gang and said, ‘Here comes the Bear. Let’s get out of here.’ They left the horses and fled.”
Modern Ride
After an early career of riding bears, it was only appropriate that McClellan would be first in the Big Horn County to own an automobile. He had an old Stanley Steamer and quickly gained a reputation as a dangerous driver.
"Mr. Bonnie” recounted, according to the “Ten Sleep” book, how all McClellan’s friends avoided riding with McClellan as much as possible because he was so reckless.
“The roads at the time were narrow, winding and exceedingly rough, not made for such a vehicle,” Bonnie said. “Half the time it would be jolting out over the sagebrush, cutting corners, straightening out the curves.”
Bonnie recalled riding with McClellan to the Red Ranch and being bounced around while trying to hold on for “dear life.”
“We tore over the rocks and ruts at what seemed breakneck speed to our horse and buggy-accustomed rate of travel, though probably not over 25 or 30 miles an hour,” Bonnie said.
George “Bear” McClellan’s colorful life of riding the fastest rides came to an end Oct. 18, 1934.
“His campfires now are cold,” Frison wrote of McClellan. “They no longer radiate that warmth, nor glow, but in the memory of his fellow men he will live. He has carved his niche in the hearts of the people.”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
