For generations at that point, the bear had been a shorthand for all the danger that people were encountering on the frontier, and the federal government was actually systematically exterminating bears and lots of other predators too, like coyotes and wolves.
Por gerações, naquele momento, os ursos simbolizavam todo o perigo que as pessoas encontravam na fronteira, e o governo federal estava realmente exterminando os ursos sistematicamente, e muitos outros predadores também, como coiotes e lobos.