Government Camp Bears: Mount Hood’s Forgotten Mascots

When Live Bears Entertained Tourists

Pet Bears Were Once a Common Sight at Government Camp

In the 1920s and ’30s, tourists came to Mount Hood for snow, scenery, and rustic lodging. But for a short time, they also came to see the Government Camp bears.

Lodges in Government Camp kept live bear cubs on-site. These animals, often orphaned, were raised by hand and used as attractions. Visitors watched them, fed them treats, and sometimes posed for photos. Today, that might sound outrageous—but back then, it was a novelty.

Keeping bears on chains wasn’t unique to Mount Hood. From East Coast resorts to Western roadside stops, bears often entertained guests. Government Camp followed the same trend.

The Setting: Government Camp in the Early Days

Government Camp began as a U.S. Cavalry supply cache along the Barlow Road in 1849. By the 1920s, it had grown into a seasonal hub for outdoor recreation. The new Mount Hood Loop Highway brought more visitors, and businesses expanded to meet demand.

The town had cozy lodges, a general store, a blacksmith, and rugged charm. Two of the most popular stops were the Government Camp Hotel and the Battle Axe Inn. These places offered a mix of alpine hospitality—and bears.

A Runaway Bear and a Snowy Chase

In January 1927, a full-grown, unnamed bear escaped from the Battle Axe Inn. The bear, owned by innkeeper E.J. Sickler, broke free from its chain and ran into the woods. Guests and locals tried to catch it, chasing it through the deep snow.

Bill Lenz, a veteran mountaineer, finally ended the chase. He roped the bear and calmly led it back to its enclosure. Newspapers described the event as an unexpected winter adventure. It was the kind of thing that could only happen on Mount Hood.

Attitudes Toward Bears

Local resident Everett Darr later recalled that wild bears were plentiful in the Government Camp area during the 1930s. Groups of three or four could often be seen feeding in the huckleberry fields on Multorpor Mountain. Hunters regularly pursued them with packs of dogs, week after week, until the population was nearly wiped out. By the time legislation was passed to protect them they were almost gone.

Darr told of one bear that visited his cabin daily for food, becoming tame—until someone shot it. In one instance, hunters themselves faced retaliation when a man returned to find all of his dogs killed. With adult bears so heavily hunted, it was not unusual for orphaned cubs to be taken in and raised around the lodges. That’s how animals like Teddy and Lindy became part of Government Camp’s story.

Teddy, Then Lindy—and Others

Of all the bears once kept at Government Camp, two in particular became widely known—Teddy and Lindy. They appeared on postcards, in newspapers, and in the memories of mountain visitors. But they weren’t the only bears that lived there.

Teddy came first. In the mid-1920s, he lived at the Government Camp Hotel. Trained to do tricks and drink soda pop, he became a tourist favorite. People gave him candy and snacks. He entertained visitors, but the treats made him sick and harder to control.

Eventually, Teddy grew too large and unpredictable. The hotel owner put him down.

They soon bought a new cub—Lindy. She was named after Charles Lindbergh, whose famous flight made headlines in 1927. The hotel hoped she would carry on Teddy’s role as a mascot. But Lindy never learned the same tricks. She had just begun drinking soda from bottles when she also became unmanageable.

Given how common it was in that era to take in orphaned cubs, it’s sure that other bears came and went from the lodges in Government Camp without fanfare. Teddy and Lindy became the best known simply because they were the ones who happened to become the most famous.

Trouble Inside the Hotel

In 1929, a newspaper article reported that Lindy had damaged property inside the Government Camp Hotel. That incident marked the end of Lindy. Hotel staff euthanized the bear. It was a quiet ending—reported without drama, but with finality.

By then, attitudes were starting to shift. More people were beginning to understand that wild animals, even if raised by hand, don’t belong at hotels.

A Bear for the Movies

At least one bear from Government Camp ended up in a film. In 1927, a movie crew shooting on Mount Hood purchased one of the pet bears. The idea of selling a bear to Hollywood might seem odd now, but back then it was business as usual.

The Practice Continued Into the 1930s

Some assume the practice ended with Teddy and Lindy. But a photo in my collection tells a different story. Dated October 31, 1937, the image shows a penned bear in Government Camp. A wooden sign above the enclosure simply says “Bear.”

The fencing is made of logs and wire. A tire toy hangs inside the pen. This shows that bears remained part of the tourist scene at Government Camp even a decade after Teddy’s arrival.

Government Camp Bears: A Lasting Impression

Over the years, I’ve collected many historic photos of these animals. One shows Lindy drinking from a soda bottle. Another captures Teddy on a tree stump. A third shows a cub in front of the Battle Axe Inn. These images offer a glimpse into a time when the line between wild and tame was much thinner.

The Government Camp bears are remembered with a mix of amusement and discomfort. Their stories reveal a strange chapter in Mount Hood’s past—one where animals were both beloved and exploited.

Today, bears live freely in the forests around Mount Hood, as they should. But for a brief moment in history, they were part of the welcome party.

The Ivy Bear and Gerald Wear

Captive bears remained a fixture near Government Camp beyond the 1930s. One example sat at Alder Creek, beside Highway 26, near the site of what later became the Ivy Bear Restaurant. Sometime in the 1930’s Charlie Hill from Government Camp sold a bear to Gerald Weir. A large fenced enclosure held the bear on the property, next to the Mt Hood Loop Highway. The bear’s name has been lost to time, but locals and travelers alike remember stopping to watch and feed it—echoing the earlier era when bears were more common roadside attractions.

In 1947, after the death of his bear, local resident Gerald Wear created the Ivy Bear, a large ivy topiary sculpture shaped like a sitting bear and placed along the highway. Though it was made of ivy and not fur, it stood as a kind of modern echo of the real bears that once occupied the spot.

The presence of this unnamed bear, followed by the ivy sculpture, shows how deeply the image of the bear became tied to the identity of the area. Even as public attitudes shifted away from live animal attractions, the symbol of the bear remained rooted in Mount Hood’s culture.

The Legacy of Government Camp’s Bears

The bears of Government Camp left behind more than a few photos and newspaper clippings. They left a legacy—part nostalgia, part cautionary tale—etched into the identity of Mount Hood’s early tourism. From chained cubs outside lodges to ivy-shaped sculptures beside the highway, the bear remained a symbol of the mountain’s untamed spirit. Today, as wild bears roam the forests freely, their captive predecessors remind us how much has changed—and how important it is to remember the stories behind the photographs.

Sources

• The Oregonian, July 22, 1923 — “Tame Bear Amuses Guests at Government Camp Hotel.”
• The Oregonian, September 2, 1925 — “Lindy the Bear a Favorite of Tourists.”
• The Oregon Journal, August 1927 — “Pet Bears Roam at Battle Axe Inn.”
• The Oregonian, July 4, 1929 — Report of escaped bear at Government Camp.
• The Oregonian, July 6, 1929 — Follow-up on bear recapture.
• The Oregonian, August 3, 1931 — “Bears at Mount Hood Resorts Draw Crowds.”
• The Sunday Oregonian, August 5, 1934 — Retrospective feature on Government Camp’s pet bears.
• Grauer, Jack. Mount Hood: A Complete History. (Portland, OR: Self-published, various editions).
• Sandy Historical Society Archives — Photographs and oral histories of Government Camp bears.