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031 - Part III Chapter 3 The Smithsonian Expedition for Museum Specimens The Hunt continued · Extermination of the American Bison

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Speaker 1: Section thirty of the Extermination of the American Bison. This
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Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. The Extermination of the American Bison by
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Speaker 1: William T. Hornaday, The Smithsonian Expedition for Museum Specimens, Part three,
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Speaker 1: Chapter three, The Hunt, Part two. The death of these
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Speaker 1: four cows brought our number of buffaloes up to eighteen
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Speaker 1: and made us think about the possibilities of getting thirty.
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Speaker 1: As we were proceeding to the Buffalo Buttes on the
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Speaker 1: day after the kill to gather in the spoil, mister
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Speaker 1: Brown and I taking charge of the wagon, Messrs mc
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Speaker 1: nanney and Boyd went ahead in order to hunt, when
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Speaker 1: within about five miles of the buttes, we came unexpectedly
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Speaker 1: upon our companions down in a hollow, so busily engaged
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Speaker 1: in skinning another old cow which they had discovered traveling
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Speaker 1: across the bad grounds waylaid and killed. We camped that
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Speaker 1: night on our old ground at the Buffalo Buttes, and
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Speaker 1: although we all desired to remain a day or two
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Speaker 1: and hunt for more buffalo, the peculiar appearance of the
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Speaker 1: sky in the northwest, and the condition of the atmosphere
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Speaker 1: warned us that a change of weather was imminent. Accordingly,
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Speaker 1: the following morning we decided without hesitation that it was
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Speaker 1: best to get back to camp that day, and it
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Speaker 1: soon proved very fortunate for us that we so decided.
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Speaker 1: Feeling that by reason of my work on the specimens,
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Speaker 1: I had been deprived of a fair share of the chase,
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Speaker 1: I arranged for mister Boyd to accompany the wagon on
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Speaker 1: the return trip, that I might hunt through the bad
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Speaker 1: lands west of the Buffalo Buttes, which I felt must
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Speaker 1: contain some buffalo. Mister Russell went northeast and mister mc
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Speaker 1: naney accompanied me. About four miles from our late camp,
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Speaker 1: we came suddenly upon a fine, old solitary bull feeding
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Speaker 1: in a hollow between two high and precipitous ridges. After
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Speaker 1: a short but sharp chase, I succeeded in getting a
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Speaker 1: fair shot at him and killed him with a ball
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Speaker 1: which broke his left humorous and passed into his lungs.
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Speaker 1: He was the only large bull killed on the entire
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Speaker 1: trip by a single shot. He proved to be a
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Speaker 1: very fine specimen, measuring five feet six inches in height
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Speaker 1: at the shoulders. The wagon was overtaken and called back
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Speaker 1: to get the skin, and while it was coming I
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Speaker 1: took a complete series of measurements and sketches of him
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Speaker 1: as he lay. Although we removed the skin very quickly
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Speaker 1: and lost no time in again starting the wagon to
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Speaker 1: our permanent camp. The delay occasioned by the death of
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Speaker 1: our twentieth buffalo, which occurred on November twentieth, precisely two
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Speaker 1: months from the date of our leaving Washington to collect
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Speaker 1: twenty buffalo if possible, caused us all to be caught
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Speaker 1: in a snow storm which burst upon us from the northwest.
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Speaker 1: The wagon had to be abandoned about twelve miles from
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Speaker 1: camp in the bad lands. Mister Brown packed the bedding
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Speaker 1: on one of his horses and rode the other. He
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Speaker 1: and Boyd reaching camp at about nine o'clock that night
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Speaker 1: in a blinding snow storm. Of course, the skins in
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Speaker 1: the wagon were treated with preservatives and covered up. It
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Speaker 1: proved to be over a week at the wagon and
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Speaker 1: its load had to remain thus abandoned before it was
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Speaker 1: possible to get to it and bring it to camp.
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Speaker 1: And even then the task was one of great difficulty.
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Speaker 1: In this connection, I cannot refrain from recording the fact
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Speaker 1: at the services rendered by mister W. Harvey Brown on
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Speaker 1: all such trying occasions as the above were invaluable. He
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Speaker 1: displayed the utmost zeal And intelligence, not only in the
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Speaker 1: more agreeable kinds of work and sport incident to the hunt,
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Speaker 1: but also in the disagree agreeable drudgery such as team
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Speaker 1: driving and working on half frozen specimens in bitter cold weather.
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Speaker 1: The storm which set in on the twentieth soon developed
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Speaker 1: into a regular blizzard. A fierce and bitter cold wind
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Speaker 1: swept down from the northwest, driving the snow before it
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Speaker 1: in blinding gusts. Had our camp in poorly sheltered, we
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Speaker 1: would have suffered, but as it was, we were fairly comfortable.
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Speaker 1: Having thus completed our task of getting twenty buffaloes. We
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Speaker 1: were anxious to get out of that fearful country before
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Speaker 1: we should get caught in serious difficulties with the weather,
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Speaker 1: and it was arranged that Priva C. S. West should
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Speaker 1: ride the Fort Kio as soon as possible with a
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Speaker 1: request for transportation. By the third day, November twenty third,
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Speaker 1: the storm had obeyed it sufficiently. A private West declared
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Speaker 1: his willingness to start. It was a little risky, but
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Speaker 1: as he was to make only ten miles the first
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Speaker 1: day and stop at the inn Bar camp on Sand Creek,
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Speaker 1: it was thought safe to let him go. He dressed
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Speaker 1: himself warmly, took my revolver in order not to be
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Speaker 1: hampered with a rifle, and set out. The next day
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Speaker 1: was clear and fine, and we remarked it as an
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Speaker 1: assurance of mister West's safety during his ride from Sand
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Speaker 1: Creek to the Elu Bar Ranch, his second stopping place.
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Speaker 1: The distance was about twenty five miles, through bad lands
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Speaker 1: all the way, and it was the only portion of
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Speaker 1: the route which caused me anxiety for our courier's safety.
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Speaker 1: The snow on the levels was less than six inches deep,
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Speaker 1: the most of it having been blown into drifts and hollows,
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Speaker 1: but although the coolies were all filled level to the top,
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Speaker 1: our courier was a man of experience and would know
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Speaker 1: how to avoid them. The twenty fifth day of November
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Speaker 1: was the most severe day of the storm, the mercury
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Speaker 1: in our sheltered canyon sinking to minus sixteen degrees. We
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Speaker 1: had hoped to kill at least five more buffaloes by
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Speaker 1: the time Private West should arrive with the wagons. But
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Speaker 1: when at the end of the week the storm had
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Speaker 1: spent itself, the snow was so deep that hunting was
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Speaker 1: totally impossible, save in the vicinity of camp, where there
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Speaker 1: was nothing to kill. We expected the wagons by the
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Speaker 1: third of December, but they did not come that day
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Speaker 1: nor within the next three. By the sixth the snow
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Speaker 1: had melted off sufficiently, but a buffalo hunt was once
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Speaker 1: more possible, and mister mcnanney and I decided to make
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Speaker 1: a final trip to the Buffalo Buttes. The state of
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Speaker 1: the ground made it impossible for us to go there
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Speaker 1: and return the same day, so we took a pack
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Speaker 1: horse and the range to camp out. When a little
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Speaker 1: over half way to our old rendezvous, we came upon
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Speaker 1: three buffaloes in the bad grounds, one of which was
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Speaker 1: an enormous old bull, the next largest was in adult cow,
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Speaker 1: and the third a two year old heifer. Mister mcnaanney
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Speaker 1: promptly knocked down the old cow while I devoted my
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Speaker 1: attention to the bull, but she presently got up and
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Speaker 1: made off unnoticed. At the precise moment mister mc naney
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Speaker 1: was absorbed in watching my efforts to bring down the
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Speaker 1: old bull. After a short chase, my horse carried me
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Speaker 1: alongside the buffalo, and as he turned toward me, I
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Speaker 1: gave him a shot through the shoulder, breaking the fore
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Speaker 1: leg and bringing him promptly to the ground. I then
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Speaker 1: turned immediately to pursue the young cow, but by that
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Speaker 1: time she had got on the farther side of a
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Speaker 1: deep gully which was filled with snow, and by the
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Speaker 1: time I got my horse safely across, she had distanced
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Speaker 1: me and then rode back to the old bull. When
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Speaker 1: he saw me coming, he got upon his feet and
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Speaker 1: ran a short distance, but was easily overtaken. He then
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Speaker 1: stood at bay and halting within thirty yards of him.
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Speaker 1: I enjoyed the rare opportunity of studying a live bull
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Speaker 1: buffalo of the largest size on foot on his native heath.
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Speaker 1: I even made an outline sketch of him in my
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Speaker 1: note book. Having studied his form and outlines as much
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Speaker 1: as was really necessary, I gave him a final shot
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Speaker 1: through the lungs, which soon ended his career. Now this
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Speaker 1: was a truly magnificent specimen in every respect. He was
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Speaker 1: a stub hornbull about eleven years old, much larger every
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Speaker 1: way than any of the others we collected. His height
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Speaker 1: at the shoulder was five feet eight inches perpendicular, or
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Speaker 1: two inches more than the next largest of our collection.
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Speaker 1: His hair was in remarkably fine condition, being long, fine, thick,
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Speaker 1: and well colored. The hair in his front lit is
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Speaker 1: sixteen inches in length, and the thick coat of shaggy
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Speaker 1: straw colored tufts which covered his neck and shoulders measured
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Speaker 1: four inches. His girth behind the fore leg was eight
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Speaker 1: feet four inches, and his weight was estimated at sixteen
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Speaker 1: hundred pounds. I was delighted with our remarkably good fortune
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Speaker 1: in securing such a prize. For owing to the rapidity
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Speaker 1: with which the large buffaloes of being found and killed
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Speaker 1: off these days, I had not hoped to capture a
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Speaker 1: really old individual. Nearly every adult bull we took carried
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Speaker 1: old bullets in his body, and from this one we
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Speaker 1: took four of various sizes that had been fired into
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Speaker 1: him on various occasions. One was found sticking fast in
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Speaker 1: one of the lumbar vertebrae. After a chase of several miles,
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Speaker 1: mister mc naney finally overhauled his cow and killed her,
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Speaker 1: which brought the number of buffaloes taken on the fall
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Speaker 1: hunt up to twenty two. We spent the night at
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Speaker 1: the Buffalo Buttes and returned to camp the next day.
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Speaker 1: Neither on that day nor the one following did the
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Speaker 1: wagons arrive, and on the evening of the eighth we
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Speaker 1: learned from the cowboys of the Enbar camp on Sand
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Speaker 1: Creek that our courier, Private West, had not been seen
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Speaker 1: or heard from since he left their camp on November
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Speaker 1: twenty fourth, and evidently had got lost and frozen to
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Speaker 1: death in the bad lands. The next day we started
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Speaker 1: out to search for Private West or news of him,
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Speaker 1: and spent the night with Messrs Broadhurst and Andrews at
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Speaker 1: their camp on Sand Creek. On the tenth mister mcnaney
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Speaker 1: and I hunted through the bad lands over the course
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Speaker 1: our courier should have taken, while Messrs Russell and Broadhurst
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Speaker 1: looked through the country around the head of the Little Dry.
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Speaker 1: When mcnaney and I reached the El eu Bar ranch
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Speaker 1: that night, we were greatly rejoiced at finding that West
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Speaker 1: was alive, although badly frostbitten, and in Fort Keo. It
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Speaker 1: appears that instead of riding due east to the elue
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Speaker 1: Bar Ranch. He lost his way in the bad lands,
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Speaker 1: where the buttes all look alike when covered with snow,
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Speaker 1: and rode southwest. It is at all times an easy
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Speaker 1: matter for even a cowboy to get lost in Montana.
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Speaker 1: If the country is new to him, and when there
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Speaker 1: is snow on the ground, the difficulty of finding one's
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Speaker 1: way is increased tenfold. There is not only the danger
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Speaker 1: of losing one's way, but the still greater danger of
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Speaker 1: getting engulfed in a deep coolie full of loose snow,
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Speaker 1: which may easily cause both horse and rider to perish miserably.
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Speaker 1: Even the most experienced riders sometimes ride into coolies which
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Speaker 1: are level, full of snow and hidden from sight. Private
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Speaker 1: West's experience was a terrible one and also a wonderful
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Speaker 1: case of self preservation. It shows what a man with
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Speaker 1: a cool head and plenty of grit can go through
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Speaker 1: and live. When he left us, he wore two on
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Speaker 1: the shirts, a heavy blanket shirt, a soldier's blouse and overcoat,
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Speaker 1: two pairs of drawers, a pair of soldier's woolen trousers,
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Speaker 1: and a pair of overalls. On his feet, he wore
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Speaker 1: three pairs of socks, a pair of low shoes with
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Speaker 1: canvas leggings, and he started with his feet tied up
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Speaker 1: in burlaps. His head and hands were also well protected.
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Speaker 1: He carried a thirty at caliber revolver, but by a
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Speaker 1: great oversight, only six matches. When he left the Innbar camp,
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Speaker 1: instead of going due east toward the l u Bar ranch,
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Speaker 1: he swung round and went southwest clear around the head
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Speaker 1: of the little dry and finally struck the porcupine south
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Speaker 1: of our camp. The first night out, he made a
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Speaker 1: fire with sage brush and kept it going all night.
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Speaker 1: The second night he also had a fire, but it
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Speaker 1: took his last match to make it. During the first
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Speaker 1: three days he had no food, but on the fourth
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Speaker 1: he shot a sagecock with his revolver and ate it raw.
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Speaker 1: This effort, however, cost him his last cartridge. Through hard
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Speaker 1: work and lack of food, his pony presently gave out
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Speaker 1: and necessitated long and frequent stops for rest. West's feet
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Speaker 1: threatened to freeze, and he cut off the skirts of
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Speaker 1: his overcoat to wrap them with in place of the
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Speaker 1: gunny sacking that had been worn two rags. Being afraid
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Speaker 1: to go to sleep at night, he slept by snatches
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Speaker 1: in the warmest part of the day while resting his horse.
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Speaker 1: On the fifth day, he began to despair of succor,
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Speaker 1: although he still toiled southward through the bad lands toward
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Speaker 1: the yellow Stone where people lived. On the envelopes which
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Speaker 1: contained my letters, he kept the diary of his wanderings,
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Speaker 1: which could tell his story when the cowboys would find
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Speaker 1: his body. On the spring round up. On the afternoon
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Speaker 1: of the sixth day, he found a trail and followed
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Speaker 1: it until nearly night, when he came to Cree's sheep
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Speaker 1: ranch and found the solitary ranchman at home. The warm
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Speaker 1: hearted frontiersman gave the starving wanderers, man and horse such
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Speaker 1: a welcome as they stood in need of. West solemnly
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Speaker 1: declares that in twenty four hours he ate a whole sheep.
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Speaker 1: After two or three days of rest and feeding, both
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Speaker 1: horse and rider were able to go on, and in
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Speaker 1: course of time reached Fort Kio without the loss of
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Speaker 1: a single day. Colonel Gibson started three teams and an
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Speaker 1: escort up to us, and notwithstanding his terrible experience, West
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Speaker 1: had the pluck to accompany them as guide. His arrival
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Speaker 1: among us, once more was like the dead coming to
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Speaker 1: life again. The train reached our camp on the thirteenth,
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Speaker 1: and on the fifteenth we pulled out a Mile City
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Speaker 1: loaded to the wagon bows with specimens forage and camp plunder.
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Speaker 1: From our camp down to the h V Ranch at
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Speaker 1: the mouth of Sand Creek, the trail was in a
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Speaker 1: terrible condition. Thanks to the skill and judgment of the
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Speaker 1: train master, mister ed Haskins and his two drivers, who
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Speaker 1: also knew their business well, we got safely and in
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Speaker 1: good time over the dangerous part of our road. Whenever
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Speaker 1: our own tired and overloaded team got stuck in the
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Speaker 1: mud or gave out, there was always a pair of
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Speaker 1: mules ready to hitch on and help us out. As
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Speaker 1: a train master, mister Haskins was a perfect model, skillful pushing,
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Speaker 1: good tempered, and very obliging. From the h V Ranch
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Speaker 1: to Miles City, the trail was in fine condition and
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Speaker 1: we went as rapidly as possible, fearing to be caught
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Speaker 1: in the snow storm which threatened us all the way in.
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Speaker 1: We reached Miles City on December twentieth with our collection
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Speaker 1: complete and in fine condition, and the next day a
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Speaker 1: snow storm set in which lasted until the twenty fifth
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Speaker 1: and resulted in over a foot of snow. The ice
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Speaker 1: running in the yellow Stone stopped all the ferry boats,
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Speaker 1: and it was with good reason that we congratulated ourselves
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Speaker 1: on the successful termination of our hunt at that particular time,
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Speaker 1: without loss of time, mister Brown and I packed our collection,
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Speaker 1: which filled twenty one large cases, turned in our equippage
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Speaker 1: at Fort Keyole, sold our horses, and started on our
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Speaker 1: homeward journey. In due course of time, the collection reached
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Speaker 1: the museum in good condition, and a series of the
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Speaker 1: best specimens it contains has already been mounted. At this point,
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Speaker 1: it is proper to acknowledge our great indebtedness to the
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Speaker 1: Secretary of War for the timely co operation of the
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Speaker 1: War Department, which rendered the expedition possible. Our thanks are
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Speaker 1: due to the officers who were successively in command at
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Speaker 1: Fort Keio during our work, Colonel John D. Wilkins, Colonel
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Speaker 1: George M. Gibson, and Lieutenant Colonel M. A. Cochrane, and
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Speaker 1: their various staff officers, particularly Lieutenant C. B. Thompson quarter
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Speaker 1: Master and Lieutenant H. K. Bailey Adjutant. It is due
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Speaker 1: to these officers to state that everything we asked for,
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Speaker 1: was cheerfully granted with a degree of promptness, which contributed
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Speaker 1: very greatly to the success of the hunt and lightened
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Speaker 1: its laborers very materially. I have already acknowledged our indebtedness
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Speaker 1: to the officers of the Pennsylvania, the Chicago, Milwaukee and
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Speaker 1: Saint Paul and Northern Pacific Railways, or the courtesies so
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Speaker 1: liberally extended in our emergency. I take pleasure in adding
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Speaker 1: that all the officers and employees of the Northern Pacific Railway,
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Speaker 1: with whom we had any relations, particularly mister c SV,
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Speaker 1: General Passenger and ticket Agent, treated our party with the
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Speaker 1: utmost kindness and liberality throughout the trip. We are, in
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Speaker 1: like manner, indebted to the offices of the Chicago, Milwaukee
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Speaker 1: and Saint Paul Railway for valuable privileges granted with the
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Speaker 1: utmost cordiality. Our thanks are also due to doctor J. C.
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Speaker 1: Merrill and to mister Henry R. Phillips of the Phillips
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Speaker 1: Land and Cattle Company on Little Dry Creek for valuable
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Speaker 1: information at a critical moment, and due to the latter,
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Speaker 1: for hospitality and assistance in various ways at times when
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Speaker 1: both were keenly appreciated. Counting the specimens taken in the spring,
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Speaker 1: our total catch of buffalo amounted to twenty five head
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Speaker 1: and constituted as complete and fine a series as could
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Speaker 1: be wished for. I am inclined to believe that in
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Speaker 1: size and general quality of poliege, the adult bull and
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Speaker 1: cow selected and mounted for our museum group are not
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Speaker 1: to be surpassed, even if they are ever equalled by
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Speaker 1: others of their kind. The different ages and sexes were
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Speaker 1: thus represented in our collection ten old bulls, one young bull,
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Speaker 1: seven old cows, four young cows, two yearling calves, one
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Speaker 1: three month calf total twenty five specimens. Our total collection
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Speaker 1: of specimens of Bison Americanus, including everything taken, contained the
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Speaker 1: following twenty four fresh skins, one head skin, eight fresh skeletons,
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Speaker 1: eight dry skeletons, fifty one dry skulls, two fetal young
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Speaker 1: total ninety four specimens. Our collection as a whole also
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Speaker 1: included a fine series of skins and skeletons of antelope
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Speaker 1: deer of two species coyotes, jack rabbits, sage grouse, of
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Speaker 1: which we prepared twenty four rough skeletons for the Department
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Speaker 1: of Comparative anatomy sharp tailed grouse, and specimens of all
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Speaker 1: the other species of birds and small mammals to be
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Speaker 1: found in that region at that season. From this material
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Speaker 1: we now have on exhibition besides the group of buffaloes,
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Speaker 1: a family group of antelope, another of coyotes, and another
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Speaker 1: of prairie dogs, all with natural surroundings. End of Section
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Speaker 1: thirty