, 1890-08-21
A Colorado Man Tells Some
Big Buffalo Stories.
THE BISON SWEPT FROM EARTH
Carcasses Stretched Side by Side
Over Hundreds of Miles of
Spreading Prairie.

many interesting reninlscences vi
lite on the plains when Denver was
II stru ggling hamlet and the noun
tains had scarcely begun to pour
their glittering treasures into the
money vaults of the nation.
Speaking of the buffalo, lie said'
"Thirty and even twenty years ago
their number was so great that IL
passed all computation. In my
trims TO and from the Missouri as u
freis hter | have seen herds so large
that IA single herd would have pro-
vided food for every man, woman
and child in the United states.
This Is no exaggeration. L have
been a passenger on the Kansas Pa
cific train when the train was
stopped for more than an hour, the
road being completely blockod up
by II great herd of buffalo moving at
numbering gallop toward the
north or south. No man can tell
which way the buffalo would move
ut any particular season, nor coiilu
he tell when they would start or
how far they would travel before
coming to u halt. Thousands OF
buffalo moving over the PLAIN ap-
peared like the waves of the sea, ana
that steady motion continued un-
broken us far rs the eye could reach.
The quadruped with his great shag-
gy head and powerful neck was
built for hardship and endurance
and there Is no pampered domestic
animal which can compare with
the monarch of the plains in these
respects.
1t is sometimes stated that the buff
alo roamed only between the Rocky
mountains and the Mississippi river.
This is mistake, as / picked up
many set of buffalo horns when a
boy, ON my fathers farm in Illinois.
A ycarling heifer was about IA nice
II tid.bit as IA hungry man could
wish to meet with. They were es-
peelully fine after the grass had
been well startcd-say in July
or August-nud many time
! have ridden twelve or fifteen
miles alongside of II herd of buffalo
in order to select first-class spec-
men before firing. am glad that |
never killed "A buffalo unless there
was some good reason for 1t. The
Platte river, where Denver now
stands, was favorite watering place
for the great animals, and a. late rs
1850 there was "a well defined trail
l.,Iin.. Inx.t, thn Ylntnan
through "a gully east of the court
house and to the river bank. The
early settlers shot many IL buffalo
on Capitol hill, and thirty years ago
this month killed us fine IA heifer
as | ever saw on the spot where the
capitol building now stands.
% "On one trip across the plains,
near the South Platte, met II
buffalo COW which was fleeing be-
fore pack of coyotes and ut the
same time defending her calf from
their attacks. The fight was an un-
even one, for in the end the COW
would have been forced to succumb
from fatigue. She made desperate
battle aud enlisted my symputhies
to such an extent that | Joined my
forces with her and together we
scattered the cowurdly nssailants.
She appeared not to fear me In the
least aud spared her life. | shall
never forget the appearance and
confidence that calf showed In its
mother. The little animal stood
crosswise In front OF her fore feet and
under the protection Of her neck
while she struck ut the coyotes with
her horns and heels.
"1'he wanton destruction of the
buffalo Is II subject that no early
frontiersman cares to dwell upon, y
continued the captain. 81 have seen
carcasses stripped of their hides, tut
lying so close together that n person
could walk 100 miles in line with
out stepping oil them. In another
part OF the country | have seen
fully as many more bodies from
which the skin had not been re-
moved, but the hind legs had been
cut OIL and carried away TO be
shipped East rs meat"
At this point a listener, who also
passed through many thrilling cX-
pericnces in days long past, volun.
tcered additional information con-
corning the now practically extinct
animal. III camped in the valley
oil the Yellowstone in 1851 said he.
"The slaughter of the buffalo that
year was dreadful, and great piles of
the river, awaiting shipment by
steamer to points on the Missouri
river. Although every effort was
made to secure boats enough to
carry away the merchandise, ii was
..x.. fD A.
immense tonnage; 1t was esti-
mated that 100000 hides were left
to decay in the spot where they had
been placed. The rapidity with
which the buffalo disappeared in
some regions was astonishing In
1870 the commandant of one of the
forts on the ARKANSAS river issued
an order prohibiting the killing of
any buffalo within half IL mile of the
fort. This was intended as II sati-
tary measure. The next year 80
swiftly was the annihilation of the
noble game carried on that not "A
buffalo could be found within 100
miles of the fort. l have seen the
carcasses of twenty or thirty buffalo
lying almost in II heap ut different
places on the plains. The explann-
ton was quite easy to one who was
familiar with the style Of hunting of
the time. A hunter had concealed
himself behind bluff or neighbor
ing swell in the prairie a. nd, singing
out the animals, had shot them as
they circled around wounded
member of their herd, attracted
by its cries. AS long as the
hunter kept himself out
of sight the game remained