The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-09-16
A Days SPORT.
Hunting on the Summit Of the Rockies
in 1865.

in 1865.
EDIToE NATIONAL TRIBUNE: It was
near the middle of October, 1864, that /
crossed the summit of the Rockies as pas
senger with an empty wagon-train that had
freighted for mercantile firm of Salt Lake
City, Utah, their supplies from st. Joseph,
Mo-, for the Winter OF 1865. We pulled up
and out of the long and not very steep hill,
down which ran a small and very crooked
stream filed with beaver dams at the most
convenient distances that animal instinct
seemed to devise for their own benefit
We had travelled short distance on the
old Goat trail when we came upon large
herd of antelope. Some of the men took q
| random shot at the herd. This frightened
them so that they scattered all over the level
plateau. There were IA passengers with the
train, mainly discharged soldiers from Camp
Douglass, Utah.
The antelope seemed to be curious, rs they
would run off quite q distance and circle
back BY this time the party had com
menced to lombard the herd on all sides, as
| they were gathered in punches, and seemed
To be bewildered. procured carbine from
a wagon, and stepped aside about four or five
rods III easy range of five or six looking at
me with unmistakable curiosity.
The buck OF the bunch looked ut me and
| shook his head, seeming to understand that
| was no good as a hunter. This bunch
could not have been more than 800 yards
away. | took deliberate aim at the saucy
buck. The ball went wide of its mark. and
the buck never moved. | showed another
cartridge to its place, and deliberately. and
rs | thought, took sure aim square between
the eyes; pulled The trigger and the ball
struck a hummock about 60 yards beyond
The buck still looked at me and saucily
shook his head.
BY this time / was somewhat ratified and
almost discouraged. In n very determined
manner | fired again, and the ball must have
come nearer, for some of the bunch started
to move about, but the buck shook his head
and boldly defined me. | swung the gun
under my arm, and stood stock still for a
minute; SO did the buck and for this space
l communed with Nature in language, if
audible, would have been more expressive
than elegant. The old fusee of a carbne
came in for its share of this inaudible de-
nunclatlon.
| went to the wagon and 'caded my
pockets with cartridges. sailed forth in the
direction that the bunch had taken. and found
them feeding off To the north. The firing
was SOiLS OL an us, anu the TabtIluN
OF firearms sounded like firing OH skir-
mish-line.
This bunch led me wild goose chase for
perhaps three miles, then all at once seemed
To become frightened, and away they went.
The antelope had left me in low depces-
sion or swale, scooped out of the earth BY
some cOnvulslon of nature thousands OF
years before, as The face of the country evil
denced its volcanic character. On the south
west side OF this low depression or SCOOP
out was an easy grade to get on top of the
mountain by, that had detached itself from
the main crag, towering above where | stood
and had slid TO the side of the hollow or
swale, leaving on its southeast side Il per-
pendicular face of about 40 feet.
heard the snort of some animal at nv
left, and saw seven or eight fine specimens
OF mountain sheep. ! was about thousand
yards distant. ] crept closer. but just, sew
eral times, as | was ready to fire they would
move out of range.
! followed them unit. they stopped on the
edge OF the precipice, oropl up to within 600
yards of the flock, aud took position behind