Birmingham age-herald., 1894-11-11
HERDS OF BUFFALO.
BUTCHERED AND WIPED OUT OF Ex-
 lSTENCE IN A FEW MONTHS.

Hundreds of Thousands Slaughtered In
 Couple of Years After the Hunting Be-
 came General-story of the Chase and
 Battle In tho Gorge.
 Before the Northern Pacific railroad had crossed the continent west of the Missouri river tho section of the country bounded by that river on the east and the Rockies on the west and stretching from the Platte, in Nebraska, northward to tho British line, was the greatest stamping ground for buffaloes in the whole north west The country was more or less hos tile in those days, and the Indians, who had been the best guardians of the bison until white pot hunters came among them, soon gained the civilized idea of slaughter, al.d from that time the doom of the repre- sentative American game animal was posi- lively assured, but the greatest blow dealt tho bison herds of tho northwest was the completion of the Northern Pacific track west from Bismarck to the Rocky noun tains The road practically divided the herds (for the bison will never, unless forced, cross the iron of a railroad track), and those to the south were soon swal- lowed up in the general slaughter waged by Indians pot, hide and tongue hunters, foreign sportsmen and others who were out to kill anything they saw on sight
 This was during the winter of 1SS2-3. The buffaloes to the north were in many scattered bands, but there was one great herd of not less than 75, 900 head, which had found a temporary refuge in tho tri- anglo formed by the Musselshell, Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in Montana, and 4l.ox, bod ,Af hno tc,,1nl la1 NIJtt by either red or white hunters, but they were as surely doomed as though already killed, for the railroad iron cut them off from their southern range, and the h. dians of the Canadian northwest as we'll as those of our own country barred their retreat into the far north, and so they were hemmed in between the two with no pos c sibility of escape in either direction.
 1. To illustrate in a few words the remark able destruction of that section alone it 2 will only be necessary to say that this last great herd was completely wiped out of existence in less than four months, and before the close of the year there were but , a few singles and pairs left as fugitives in that vast country, where, but a year or two before, they could have been counted almost by tho hundreds of thousands. The shipping figures from two points on the Yellowstone at the end of the season, Glen dive and Miles City, show 500, 900 buffalo hides sent from the former and 1855, 250 skins of elk, antelope and deer from the latter place.
 It chanced, at the time mentioned, that the writer, with a small detachment of soldiers, was passing from the Missouri river country to the Yellowstone, and we came across, almost daily, numerous bands of Gros Ventre, Piegan, Blackfeet and other Indians, all hurrying to the sIaugh- ter of the noble animals on the Mussel- shell. Our scout, or guide, was Crow Indian named Two Moons, and one day while threading our way through Bad Lands, painted buttes and broken coulies small herd Of about 600 bison came rush. ing into view around bluff not more than 200 yards distant, and with heads down and paintbrush tails erect they came plunging on directly toward us in the widest sort of confusion. genuine stampede was probably in full operation, and the soldiers not waiting for orders, lost no time in placing safe and reasona- ble distance between themselves and the threatened danger They quickly shied off to the right, and felt it my duty at this impending crisis" to keep as close to tho heels of my fleeing comrades as the speed of my horse would permit
 In few minutes the last of the fleeing bison were we'll to the rear, and they soon disappeared beyond a neighboring knoll with the speed of an express train While watching them and debating whether chase would be worth the trouble, from be- hind the bluff where the buffaloes had first appeared now came second band of bison, about 60 in all, with dozen well mounted Cheyenne bucks in hot pursuit. As before tho animals came direct toward us. but our shoutings and hallooings turned them aside, and they shied off to the left, entering the jaws of rough, broken ravine, which was precisely what their rod pursuers wanted The ravine was a sort of rift in the Bad Lands which practically led nowhere but which we aft. erward discovered narrowed and closed in until it ended in steep, impossible pock. ct, with no outlet except by the original way of entry.
 The Indians shouted to us as they rushed by, and, rather interested in the outcome, as I suspected the nature of the ravine, ] left the sergeant with the detachment, and, taking the guido with me- followed swiftly on the heels of the flying Chey- ennes.
 Game and hunters soon disappeared in the twinings and intertwinings of the gorge, and as it was an exceedingly rocky and difficult trail we took our time and practically "made haste slowly" How the red men ahead of us ever got over the ground so quickly was an unsolved mys. tery. Narrower and narrower became the gorge, and at last we paused to listen. There was scarcely sound in the air, but this intense stiffness became suddenly i. broken by a series of rapid shots and wild !, yells, accompanied by laundering, rum , bling noise which was almost deafening The tumult rapidly grew louder, and then, just in front of us, from out the depths of the canyon came the buffalo herd like the wind, directly toward us. Some were bleeding, many were wounded, and others were li1oping badly. It never seemed pos r. sible that living brutes could travel over