Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-03-20
A BUFFALO STAMPEDE.
rhe Living Wavo That Was as Terrible as
Water or Fire.

Water or Fire.
It was high noon on the great plains
of Central Nebraska. An emigrant
party composed OF a dozen wagons and
as many families, has halted on the
Platte river to cook dinner and rest
their animals. II is midsummer and
the creek has almost disappeared.
Here and there a few barrels of water
are left in a deep hole. and again the
bed of the creek is dry for a hundred
rods. The suns of July and August
beat down on the great plains with
terrible effect Greeks run dry, rivers
sink into insigniiicance, the grass
is killed to its roots, and great
cracks open in the baked earth to give
convenient shelter to insects and rep
tiles Then woe to the man or beast
who is far from water. Thirst will
craze him in few hours.
There is water here for the emigrant,
snch as it is, but the quantity is re-
duced one-half before the thirsty horses
have had their FILL The men look up
and down the bed of the creek. but as
far as the eve can see in either direction
there is no more water Last May this
Loup Fork would have tloated a ship
in its channel but the mountain SHOWS
have melted and no rain has fallen for
weeks.
As the camp fires are lighted and the
dinner made ready, let us fly north
dozen miles. A hundred miles away is
the Niobrara River, rising in the
mountains far to the west, flowing in
the same eccentric manner, aud its bed
also Just as dry at this season of the
year. Five or six days ago a herd of
bulaloes numbering thousands drank
their lill ut the Niohrara as they crossed
it, working to the south in fear of the
Indian buffalo hunters who were abroad
on the Dakota line, and in hopes to find
richer pasturage along the forks of the
Platte.
Here and there as they have pro-
crossed water has been found in small
quantities, but for thirty-hours past not
an animal has had a drop. The grass
| is scorched and dead, the ground hot
to the feet, and the almost solid mass,
covering acre after acre, are almost
quiet at this MONDAY hour. Here and
there one losses his head in anger as
thirst torments him, and the others
give utterance to their suffcrings by
long drawn signs and means.
Every animal has a listless look, and
you would say that it would require
something beyond the ordinary to
cause a single one of them to break in
to run. The sun glares like a ball Of
fire. The stirring OF 20 many feet has
! filled the air with the tine dust 10 add
still another torment to the situation.
| The OK or the horse would long ago
have fallen to the earth to die.
See, Near the ceutee OF the herd a
great bull suddenly throws up his
head and scents the air. He is
magnificent speeimen-one of the kings
OF the herd Does his keen scent bring
/ the presence OF water over the dozen
Imies of scorched plain? Is there
something to- make him afraid? He
wheels around and around, he utters
( hoarsc bellows which excite the ami
FINALS around him, and ia two minutes
[ half the herd is in a state of agitation.
1 OF sudden, with massive head held
( low as If TO attack, with ewes blazing,
with clots of foam flying from tie
corners of his mouth with terceuess
of demeanor which clears path for
him, he heads to the west and charges
/ through the herd, lie is followed by
4 10, 80, 1000, by every animal which can
move, and now begins a stampede. 4
/ mighty living mass rolls over the plain.
! A body more TO he dreaded than tidal
Iwave sweeping Ina from the sea. Move
meut iucites to new energy, a rivalry
I lo reach the front a sort of madness
(which knows no fear or obstruction.
! The emigrants are at their dinner
land their horses are feeding about
them, when am alarm is sounded. One
llt the horses raises his head, looks
iixedly 20 the east. and utters a shu.l
i1eigh of anxiety. The men look up.
| The sky is clear, and there are mo- signs
I5f Indians about. They make light Of
he warming and SIT down but "a mo-
uent later half a dozen horses are pull
Ing at their lariats, there is q trem-
bling of the earth, and a man whose
face is pa!er than d,ath leaps up to
| shout:
IA buffalo stampede! Take to the
wagons"
There is room for all and time for
| ALL but as the men look to the east and
see that great living wave, two or three
miles long and a mile wide, bearing
down upon the camp they shout in dis
may and cry out in despair.
r-uearer-coming straight on
-maddened by their thirst and terri
J fed by their own conduet-and there is
chorus Of shrieks and shouts-the re-