Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1892-05-20
MEDICINE BLUFF.

| Unknown, perhaps, to the reader
IN the very heart of the Wichita range
In Indian territory there is an i'm
mense hill. which, by triangulation,
effected during the winter campaign
OF lS6o-69 by the engineer officer at.
tached to General Sheridan's head
| quarters is $40 feet high. At its
base there is "A clear running river or
| properly brook for it is only about
| 20 feet wide. The shape which the
stream assumes at the Immediate foot
OF the mountain is that of crescent
forming quite Il large pool or basin.
Medicine bluff has of course. lost
much of its prestige among the In
dians, for the reason that since the ex-
tinction Of the buffalo and other larpe
game the tribes have been scattered,
being generally pretty closely con-
fined 10 the reservations and the SUI
perstltionS or at least many of them,
having passed gradually out OF the re-
membrance of the new generations
known only to the few old warriors
left.
The savage like the white man, in
his disappointments and miseries
sometimes resorts to suicide as a cure
all for and end-all of life's burdens
Among the powerful Comanches Med
lclne Bluff was. for an unknown per-
iod, one OF their famous places, like
the Nendome Column in Paris. from
which to terminate an unsatisfactory
and miserable existence The Bluff
was also a rendezvous for the youn o.
warriors, who were to go for the first
time in battle with the tried soldiers
OF the tribe to propitiate the Great
Spirit.
The sun in that nation as in the old
tribe of NatcheA symboized their god.
For three consecutive mornings the
youthful aspirant for military honors
was obliged to go to the highest point
OF the great hill, where. armed with
his buffalo hide and alone he was
with the utmost reverence to present
the front OF his shield TO the rising
sun as Its rays gilded the rocky crags
OF the mountain, assuming the attl-
tude OF u warrior in the heat of battle.
The stream which flows so pictures
quely at the base OF the isolated
mountain is called by the Indians
Medicine Bluff Creek; the hill above
It, Medicine Bluff. From the time
whom the memory of the various tribes
'runneth not to the contrary" Medi-
cine Bluff has been a prominent and
sacred spot in the traditions and
legitimate history of tho many nations
OF savages but especially in that of
the Comanches and Wichitas. II was
a sort of Our Lady of Lourdes" place.
where the sick were cured in the most
miraculous manner after they had
been given up by the celebrated
doctors OF the tribe. If the party
afflicted had never seriously grieved
the Great Spirit the cure was as sud
den as marvellous; if the sick who
were carried to the top of the bluff by
their friends had at any time offended
the Great Spirit they died at once. the
wolves devoured their flesh, and their
bones were transported TO the Land
OF Terrors. Sometimes when the
individual taken up to invoke the aid
of the Indian god had lived an
exemplary life. instead of being cured
OF his fleshly ills he or she was trans
lated. like Elisha of old to the happy
grounds.
The Comanches declared that a
night the Great Spirit frequently rested
on the top of the mountain and when
that occurred the whole region to the
verge of the horizon was lighted up
with strange glow, resembling that
from an immense prairie
fire reflected upon the clouds. The
Indians also claimed that no dew or
rain ever fell upon the extreme sum-
NIT OF the blur. where the sick were
to lie and wait for the manifestation
OF the Manitou; nor did the wind blow
there SO that 1t was calm spot. COM
prislng all the essentials TO a speedy !
recovery.
A story told TO many OF us during
The campaign referred to, by one of |
The oldest of the Comanches. the old.
est Indian | have ever seen, Little
Beaver " OF the Osages is very inter
osting. showing to what an art the de.
'pised savage of thirty years ago re.
1uced storytelling. The dried.up old
warrior prefaced his tale bv stating
hat he was SO aged that he was
brother of the highest peak OF the
Wichita mountains = at the foot of
which we were camped on IL cold De.
'ember night in 1868, Here is the
story:
SO many years ago that it seemed
Ike dream even to the narrator the
Jomanches were the greatest tribe on
'arth. Their warriors were as numer-
'us as herd of buffalo on the Arkan-
as in the fall. They were more Gun.
ling than the coyote. Their herd of
'onies contained 20 many animals-all
Inc and fat-that no man could count |.