Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-07-10

/
and great grandchildren would proba-
bly, be accorded the same privilege that
was offered to their parental ancestor.
''Lo, THE POOR INDIAN!"
From Potter we drove over the prairie
three miles, and soon found ourselves at
the rancho of Duncan, Redington s. Co.
| These gentlemen - General Duncan,
| Henry V. Redington of New York State.
and General Perry, at present Quarter
| Master General Department of the
| Platte-became impressed with the i'm
| portance and profit of the cattle business
two years ago, and at present own herd
| of five thousand cattle Hon. T. Wilson,
from New York State, has also one
| thousand cattle with these gentlemen.
Their range, or grazing ground, is about
| forty miles north of Potter, situated in
a beautiful valley, undisturbed by every
thing, except the Indians; and right
| here word about the latter. Is the
opinion of the Western men and from
| tiersmen the correct one, or that of Vim
cent Colyer, Gen. Howard, and the
Eastern men generally, who know about
as much of the noble red man as they do
| of the inhabitants of the mOOn-prOvid-
ed it is inhabited-I strongly incline to
| the opinion of the formor. Not that !
would deny but that the Indians are fire.
| quently and continually abused, defraud-
ed, and especially by the agents
| of the government, in the distribution of
| their supplies, ratiOns, etc. but |
would, and do most strongly assert, that
! the red men will lie, steal, murder and
commit the most frightful depredatiOns,
| provided they can commit the same un
| discovered by the government. Nothing
| but fear of the government retains them
] from grOsSer and more open Outrages
than they are continually committing.
| The herdsmen throughout this region
are obliged to keep armed from one
hour to anotherw with revOlvers and rifles.
| do wish some of these eastern gentle
tlemcn, editors, ministers, and others.
who, seated in their comfortable eastern
| homes, are continually crying out, ''LO
the poor Indian i say | do wish some
| of them could experience life on the
plains, for awhile. in the vicinity of
some friendly (?) tribe. Methinks
the columns of the eastern papers would
abound for a year with pathetic and
/ graphic accounts of how these mOraliZ-
/ ing philosophers fled from the sayagos
as the beloved of the Lord fled from the
ancient cities of the plain, However, it
/ is not my intention to write an Indian
/ letter so enough on this subject.
BrFFALoEs! s'DEArH, sRLooD.
After remaining for a few DAYS near
/ Potter, we started on horseback with the
proprietor for his other rancho. forty
/ miles north While on the way we cN-
/ pcrienced that which men from all parts
/ Of the world come here to experience,
viz: a buffalo hunt. We had been on
! the road but an hour, when the huffalOeS
came in sight. We each SINGLED out
! buffalo and event for him After
/ chase of three miles |, recklcssly for a
novice, came up alongside, within six
/ feet of the huge animal. and alas, fired.
| | will not say that VAS frightened-oh
no,-yet | felt uneasy at the proximity
| of the huge beast my digestion was Sc
! riously impaired for the time being. /
cannot affirm to taking aim, but fired.
| and unluckily hit the animal. At once
! he turned and charged upon me; and at
! once my horse turned and ran, thereby
/ partly unseating me in the saddle. At
| this critical junCture my rifle dropped.
| Some audaCious wretch might say | flung
/ it away. 'Tis false-it dropped, and
1 clung to the saddle Looking over my
/ shoulder bcheld the terrible animal but
/ ten feet bohind with head down and
! tail up. There was lump in my throat,
and felt sea-sick, as | fumbled for my
"Smith & Wesson small-sized re
volver, which would have been as ef-
| fectual as a first-class pea-shooter; but |
| drove the spurs into my horse, and we
.'went we did not stand upon the or
! der of our going, but we went, and soon
! distanced the wounded, snOrting animal.
| ! rode back and after a series Of scientific
| fishing maneuyers l regained my rifle,
and at conveniently safe distance COM
menced a series of circular movements,
with the buffalo as the center of attrac-
! ton, and bombarded the enemy, till he
slowly sank to the earth--dead. | felt
! happy; | felt hilarious; but for some
! strange reason Gas | am naturally very
| bravel, the sea-sickness still continued,
and | mentally resolved to fight all flu
ture buffal0es at conveniently safe dis
| tance from the scene of attack. Buff
falo-hunting is glorious sport, but woe
to the hunter who rides so poorly as to
be unseated from his saddlein the face of
a wounded buffalo. -...-... ..-.... ... f..
TIE CATTLE-THEIR RANGE. ....
After our buffalo pastime, we jour
neyed on for several hours till we APP
nr0ached Larrens Forks, where is stu
| ated the northern rancho of Duncan,
| RedingtOn & Co. and here we beheld
hundreds of cattle, grazing in fine val
lev. watered by a pure stream which
rms through its centre The cattle
| range over a country twenty by thirty
miles in extent. They seek the river
bottoms at midday, for the purpose Of
water, returning to the high grounds in
the afternoon, where abounds the rich
bunch and nutritious gramma grasses.
They form most interesting sight, in
deed, in their daily tramp to and from
the water and grazing grounds, as they
| always travel in families and in little
herds, in single file, forming deep paths
| and trails like the buffalo. A most
| pleasing and solemn sight is it also, to
| watch herd of cattle through the still
| hours of the night, when they have been
''rounded up" and are guarded by the
herdsmen The lowing of some hardy
old steer is varied every now and then
by the bowling of hungry wolf,
| wandering down from the bluffs in
search of prey. And then, again, the
the musical yo-oh oh of a herdsman re-
sounds upon the still air of the night
Sometimes the shrill, terrible shouts of
marauding band of Indians interrupt
the quiet of the scene, as they dash for
ward in their efforts to stampede the
stock-impressing one with the idea
that hell has broken loose. | could fill
pages and pages with statistics and facts
proving the great profit resulting from
investments in cattle, but time viii not
allow me.
CATTLE RANcHE-INDIAN FIGHT.
Life on cattle rancho is, for a time
at least, novel and interesting, Plenty
of out. door exercise, horseback riding,
hunting, fishing, ETC., etc, impart to
new conner a most extraordinary ap-
petite. do not only judge from my
own experience, but more especially
from my association with "Jack. |
never saw a person develop, SO suddenly,