Local History: The Story of Bear Howard

This bad ass with the bears and dogs called the San Francisco Peaks home and left behind a legend bigger than the mountains themselves. Bear Howards was a frontiersman, scout, and mountain man who roamed the high country of Northern Arizona in the mid 1800’s. Many accounts say he first lived in California during the gold rush years, and was a known hunter and trapper in the Sierra Nevada’s. How he came to Arizona is somewhat of a mystery, most of the stories suggest that he was forced out of California after conflicts with settlers or lawmen, and he “disappeared” into the wilds of Northern Arizona where fewer people would bother him. He was a restless mountain man who sought wilderness, and the forests around Flagstaff gave him exactly the rugged life he wanted. 

Legend says that Howard earned his nickname after he was attacked by a grizzly bear while hunting in Oak Creek Canyon. In an attempt to fend off the bear, his rifle either jammed or misfired, and in the ensuing chaos, he wrestled the animal while stabbing it repeatedly with his hunting knife until it fell. He staggered away bloody, but alive. Other stories say the encounter occurred on the slopes of the San Francisco Peaks, and the fight with bear happened as he was checking trap lines. Regardless of where the encounter occurred, the story spread throughout the territory, thus cementing his reputation as “bear” howard. While grizzly bears are no longer present in the Flagstaff area, they were common in the mid 1800’s, so the story is at least plausible.

It is said that he was respected in several Native communities. Stories say that he traveled freely among Hopi and Navajo villages, trading, guiding, and sometimes warning them of incoming US calvary patrols. Although these stories have never been fully verified, it adds to his mystique.

Early settlers in the area remembered him as living in and around the San Francisco Peaks, where he trapped animals and guided travelers. It was said that he knew every canyon, spring, and meadow by heart. Stories recount that when lost pioneers would come through, he would often appear seemingly out of nowhere and guide them to safety. 

In the 1870’s the rumor goes that he was shot and killed in a dispute near Flagstaff. Others claim that he simply vanished into the wilderness and was never seen again. His true fate remains somewhat murky, which only helps fuel his legend. 

Bear Howards life emobided the fronter myth: part mountain man, part outlaw, part protector. He’s remembered in Northern Arizona as one of those larger than life figures who blurred the line between reality and folklore.