The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1890-01-03
STAMPEDES.
An Exciting Experience with a
Herd OF Buffalo.

81 shall never forget that canyon.
not if L live a century," said a 'front.'
iersman, as the train was slowly creep
ing along over a deep, narrow abyss,
common in the Western country.
''Whye" / asked
because" was the reply, al
dropped into it once, or rather, was
thrown IN, and had the narrowest es-
cape of my life. 1 was what is termed
a COW puncher' in those days, and
did little of every thing. The yearI
have in mind WAS guide for party
of prospectors and engineers, and
under contract to supply them with
beef Beef meant buffalo, and there
was plenty Of it-too much, as you
will see, in those days, though they
are all gone now
Il generally worked ahead of the
party IN hour or so, to be on the look
out for the Indians and game, and one
day. having sighted a big herd of
buffalo, started OF with one of the
party to kill some, and have them
dressed by the time the main party
came up Ny companion was new TO
the business, but had no idea that he
would put me into the scrape he did.
We were about four miles from this
canyon, which is simply big wash, a
cut, the sides almost up and down
and a thousand feet wide. A horse
can jump from the edge at some
points and fall fifteen hundred feet
without striking; that's the kind Of
place it is In crossing in the cars
you do not see the steepest part OF IT.
I'VE started OF in high spirits. II
was a beautiful morning. and there
was something in the air that slim
ulated me, something that is difficult
to explain, but exists nevertheless
The country to the south and east was
as level as the sea; but to the west
rose the Rockies, blue and pink, and
here and there isolated buttes. Away
TO the northwest rose a cloud of dust
which hung over the ground for hun
dreds OF acres That dust meant buff
faloes. and for It we headed,
II intended riding slowly, and when
We got near TO put on speed and
charge them But all at once my
mans horse went into a hole, and
broke the cinch. rode on and left
him to mend it, thinking, of course,
that he would follow. l had gone two
miles, when it occurred to me to stop
and wait for him. The buffaloes were
just ahead, and 1 wanted to give him
a fair chance. For half an hour l
waited, and then suddenly noticed a
movement in the herd, which was ap-
parently coming in every direction.
The dust seemed to cover the entire
horizon. rising in the air like a cloud,
and spreading to each side.
In a moment 1 was in the saddle
and riding out toward it to see which
direction it was taking, still not want
ing to leave my companion. just then
i began to hear q roaring sound like
thunder. Every instant it grew loud
er, and finally l began to realize that
l was being surrounded, and then ii
flashed across my mind that it was a
stampede In a second l was about
and away in the direction of the
party; but / had been standing in
depression, and as l came up l saw
that / was in the center of a half-moon
of dust Thousands of buffaloeS were
dashing down on me, like an ava
lanche, and their fankers reaching
out as II to hem me in l didn't waste
much time, and was soon on q dead
run II you have ever seen a man or
a horse run down a track before an en-
gine, animals leaping along before a
prairie fire, or to escape a cyclone, you
can imagine the feelings which i'm
PEELED me- 1t was merely matter of
getting around the herd. but they
were closing in on me. and a fall, an
accident of any kind, meant being
trampled to death. / soon saw that it
was useless to attempt getting around
the herd; it was too big and the start
was too great, and so l simply ran for
it, ran for life
You never saw stampede?
Well, imagine eight or ten thousand
cattle, perhaps more, impelied by
fear or terror. dashing along, crowd
ing together. A living glacier; 1t is
irresistible; nothing can stop it; a
surging. solid mass, rushing blindly
forward, with roar and noise which
shakes the very earth. Imagine
something like this, and you can re-
alize something, perhaps. of the
features of a stampede 1t is merely
the wild rush of terrified cattle or
buffaloes.
81 ran before them twenty minutes,
and of course gained, and. seeing
some buttes at distance of a mile or
more, / thought l could make them,
and would consequently be safe.
But life is uncertain. and so is riding
in this country. as, without any warn
ing. l came upon this canyon. took
in the whole situation at a glance.
IL L went down, the animals would
fall upon me. II | stayed on the edge,
they would trample me to death.
There was but one chance-that /
could turn back the herd, and l took
it | ran at them, firing my rifle,
bowling them over. yelling and