Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1885-08-22
THE WHITE BUFFALO.
An Exciting Chase on the Plains 0.
Montana---Iniian Superstition.
tA.L O., in The Northwest Magazine.

fA.L.O in The Northwest Nagazine.l
The color of the buffalo, or Ameri-
can bison, is uniform throughout the
herds-dark brown to almost black
and any specimen varying markedly
from that color may be considered an
accidental freakof nature, like a black
fox or a white crow, and [ have seen
several Of the fine silk robes, as they
are called from the peculiar soft and
silky character Of the hair, and other
curious pelts, but in manyyears Of ex-
perience as a plainsman [ saw but
one white buffalo. Nor from the lips
of the many white and Indian hunt
ers whom [ have met did | ever hear
Of any other that deserved the name.
Once a yellowish or very light brown
buffalo was killed in the Yellowstone
region and it is sometimes erroneous
" recalled as having been white. I
also hear Of a white buffalo among
the display Of taxidermists' articles in
the Dakota department at the New
Orleans Exposition, but those who
have seen the specimen say it is far
from a pure white. It is therefore
safe to say that the only white buffalo
deserving the name, of which there is
any authentic account, is the one [
am about to describe.
It was in September, 1875. Three
other hunters and hide buyers and
myself were following a camp of
about two hundred lodges of Teton
Sioux under old Medicine Bear. DR..
, agency physician at old Fort
Peck, (since swept away by the en-
croaching Missouri,) was in our party
for the purpose Of seeing a great buff
falo hunt. We were on Frenchman's
creek, a tributary Of Milk river, which
flows from the north into the Missouri.
The exact location must have been
seventy-five to eighty miles north Of
"the Muddy" and twenty miles, on
~thereabout, north Of the Canadian
boundary.
The country was full Of buffalo.
That morning the main herd had
passed our camp, occupying hours IN
the movement, and as we advanced
toward the Indian lodges we could
look in any direction ove the rolling
prairie and see lone or clustered black
forms-the unshapely bodies Of feed
ing buffaloes. When we reached the
Indian encampment the bucks Of the
party, the soldier band, had broken
into the main herd, and in every di-
r~ection, were riding down stragglar5,
detaching small bands from the rush
ing mass, Whooping, shooting and
spearing. ASH their custom on C
slons Of such a grand hunt, the bucks
were gaily painted and feathered and,
as they rushed to and fro on their
fleet ponies, carrying on the work Of
%bntchery, a scene was presented such
might well be commemorated in
American classics-the arena. the
llmitless prairie; the game, countless
numbers of the noblest Of the bovine
species; the hunters, the widest rep
resentatives Of the nntamable native
races Of the northwest. The buffaloes
are gone, the Indians are going; such
a pageant will never be witnessed
again.
My companions and [ were watch
ing the scene with intense interest,
though to all but the doctor (who was
wild with delight it was no novelty,
when an exclamation from a sqlaw,
who was SHINING a buffalo near us,
called our attention to the "white buf-
falo." When [ first looked at this
beautiful creature, as her course turn
ed around a low hillock half a mile
away, I thought she was one Of the
not uncommon silk buffaloes. and
that the Ill shining upon her glisten-
ing broadside gave her, to my eyes,
the peculiar color. But in a moment
her direction changed, SO hat I knew
it was no trick Of the sunlight that
made her look dazzlingly white. She
was, as I afterward found, a COW about
four years old and Of unusually deli
cate and symmetrical form as well as
of q milky white color. Even her
hoofs and horns were white. I had
heard from the Indians gossip Of this
wonderful animal, but from the mar
velous character of the stories told
had given little attention to them,
and concluded that the "white buffa-
10" was only n Of the mythical mar
rations in which Indian folklore
abounds. They told Of her unnatural
color; that she was always surround
cd by other buffaloes who protected
her from the hunters; that she was