The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-30
CAMP ON THE PLAINS
DR.. COues' Account of His Trip Over
the Lewis and Clarke Trail.
BUFFALO IN EARLY DAYS
The Adage. "The Workm an Is
Known BY His Chips" Is Lit
orally Realized I'm the
Present Instance.

Missoula, May 29.-Missoula people
will recall the visit to this city of the
eminent scientist, DIR. Elliott Coues.
and his interesting account in the
Standard of his trip over the old Lewis
and Clarke trail Those who were for
tunate enough to meet the doctor will
also remember that he was deeply in
terested in all that appertained to the
buffalo, past and present. With a
Standard reporter the doctor visited
the room of Charles Emsley, the taxi
dermist. and with him he discussed for
long time the bisons history in this
country. In the current number of
Field and Stream, a sportsman's mag
azine, there is an article by Or. Coues
that will be interesting.to all who are
in any degree familiar with the buffalo
as he was in early days The article
is illustrated by a cut of the excellent
photograph that Mr.. Emsley took of
the Allard herd of buffalo and there is
also a sketch of the buffalo chip" to
which reference Is made in the text of
the article. The doctor wrote this
production in 1876. but IL has lost none
of its interest. The article is as fol-
lows:
The adage, "the workman is known
the present instance. The accompany
ing illustration is perhaps a trife too
symmetrical and fundamentally reg
ular to be considered a pre- Raphaelite
representation of the original, but IL
nevertheless gives a good idea of one
of the striking features of the scenery
in many parts of the West, where the
landscape consists chiefly of gopher
holes and buffalo chip. If the reader
is still In doubt about the picture let
him repair to the nearest pasture i'm
New England or elsewhere, and ponder
the aspects of nature there displayed
The domestic variety of the article is
a well-known promoter of agriculture;
the manifold uses of the wild chip are
not so fully understood. Circumstances
alter cases. Dirt Is only a necessary
article in the wrong place, for instance
The buffalo chip, as simply such, is not
an object of absorbing interest, nor one
likely to excite thrilling emotions. II
is not even an adjunct of husbandry.
Rightly interpreted. IL assumes, how
ever. vast consequences. AS an agent
i'm the progress of civilization. the spirit
OF which Is expressed i'm the remark
that westward the course of empire
takes its way, the bunalo chip rises to
the plane of the steam engine and the
electric telegraph. and acquires all the
dignity which is supposed to enshroud
questions of national importance, or
matters of political economy. / am not
sure, indeed, that II is not entitled to
still higher rank, for IL is certain, at
any rate, that we move in some parts
of the West without either steam or
electricity (mules replacing both), where |
Ii would be as impossible TO live with |
out buffalo chips as to exist without |
-four. coffee and tobacco.
Leaving. however the political and /
financial aspects of the case to the care |
of congress. supposed to be charged |
with the national welfare, we may pro-
coed to consider the chip in some other |
of Its many kinds of exoellencies, more
especial and more practical. Mythol-
ogy. palaeontology, physiology, and
other sciences, as well as the culinary
art. are more or less concerned In such
matters. The homely human prototype
of the buffalo chip has exercised the
erudition of scholars the logic of phil
osophers, and the wit of poets. Ster-
corarius was a Roman god who presid-
ed in this frequent urgent connection.
The temples of Cloacina, in classic |
times, were no doubt more elegant and
artistic than the modern edifices of SIM
liar character. Some of the wisdom and
good taste of the ancients seems to
have been lost TO late degenerate ma
tons, though Rabelais, with the ia
nous goose's neck. to which Southey
so feelingly alludes In THE Doctor"
has shown us that a proper apprecia-
don of certain delicacies OF life sur
vived at least to his day. They do I
things better in France"
Looking further back than the days
of the Roman empire. we find the pre-
historic chip which. under the learned
name of coprolite. has exercised the |
faculties of palaeontol-
ogists. Cuvier restored his beasts from
a tooth or a bone More modern science, |
upon the digestive secrets of animals | ,
dead these thousand years-determines
the carnivore or herbivore. and recon-
structs the neither portions of its ALI
canal History seeks her ma
terial in strange places, sometimes; the
most thoughtless acts of Eozoic ami
mails are emblamed in her pages.
however. cannot too closely
scrutinize matter subjected to her de-
cisions. Coprolites OF apparent an
tiuuity may prove of more recent
origin. as in the case of the Alaskan
specimen. apparently a petrifaction,
lately submitted by some wicked wags
IF the International Telegraph COM
oany to the California Academy OF
science. which the learned body dis
covered, only just in time. to date no
'urther back than the period of the
present inhabitants of the country. it's
size and solidity being both explicable
lpon chronological and geological con-
,
I think IL is in Virgil that a fine line
occurs, describing a cavalry charge I,
perhaps. or some similar theme. Col
eye boys usually intone IL thus. divid-
ng of the dactyls into feet
Quadrupe dantepu tremeoni tuquatit
ungula campum."
The most literal. and at the same
ime poetic. translation Of which !
uns- ,
Shaking the Wondering plain with ,
the laundering tramp Of the horse
hOofs" =
This line naturally comes TO mind ,
hen the buffalo legions thunder by. !
nd little change Is needed 10 fit IL 10 ,
he new scene. The herd passes Z
.eaving on limitless prairie the print \
Of the buffalo's cleft hoof.
lille to one Of a practical turn OF \