The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-12-13


and Hays from 8 o'clock in the morn
ing until in the afternoon in conse-
Quence of the passage OF an immense
herd of buffalos across the track. On
each side Of us and to the west as lar
as we could see, our vision was only
limited by the extended horizon of the
fiat prairie, and the whole vast area
was black with the surging mass of
affrighted buffalos as they rushed on
ward to the SOUTH
Sometimes a hunter would be caught
in a blizzard, precluding the POSSIBLE
ity of finding shelter. To keep from
freezing from cold the hunter would
disembowel a buffalo and creep into
the cavity, the animal heat keeping
him warm until the storm abated.
Early in March, 1867, the author
relates, "a party of my friends, all old
buffalo hunters, were camped in Para
disc valley, then a famous rendezvous
OF the animals they were after. One
day when out on the range stalking,
and widely separated from each other,
a terrible blizzard came on. Three OF
the hunters reached their camp with
out much difficulty. but he who was
farthest away was fairly caught in it,
and, night overtaking him, he was COM
PEELED to resort to the method de-
scribed in the preceding paragraph.
Luckily, he soon came I'D with su-
perannuated bull that had been aban-
doned by the herd; so he killed him,
took out his viscera and craWled in
side the empty carcass, where he lay
comparatively comfortable until morn
ing broke, when the storm had passed
over and the sun shone brightly. But
When he attempted to get out he found
himself prisoner, the immense ribs
of the creature having frozen together
and locked him up as tightly as if he
were in a cell. Fortunately, his COM
panions, who were searching for him,
and firing their rifles from time to
time, heard him yell in response to
the discharge of their pieces, and thus
discovered and released him from the
peculiar predicament into which he
had fallen"
Kit Carson once killed five buffalos
during a, single race, and used but four
balls, having dismounted and cut the
bullet from the wound of the fourth,
and thus continued the chase. Buffalo
Bill" in less than Is months, in 1878,
killed nearly 5000 buffaloes, to be used
as meat for the builders Of the Kan
sas Pacific railroad. During one of
F'remont's expeditions stampeded
herd charged upon a horse and mule
heavily loaded, and neither the horse
nor mule, nor anything connected
with the animals, could be found after
the herd had passed.
"A great herd of buffaloes on the
plains in the early days, when one
could approach near enough without
disturbing it to quietly watch its or
ganiZation and the apparent discipline
which its leaders seemed to exact, was
q, very curious sight, the author says.
Among the striking features of the
spectacle was the apparently uniform
manner in which the immense shaggy
animals moved; there was constancy
of action indicating q. degree of intel
ligence to be found only in the most
intelligent of the brute creation. FIRE.
quently the single herd was broken up
! into many smaller ones, that travelled
relatively close together, each led by an
independent master Perhaps a few
rods only marked the dividing line be-
tween them, but it was always unmis-
takably plain, and each moved syn
enormously in the direction in which all
were going. The leadership of a herd
was attained only by hard struggles
for the place; once reached, however,
the victor was Immediately recognized,
and kept his authority until some new
aspirant overcame him, or he became
superannuated and was driven out of
the herd to meet his inevitable fate, a
prey to those ghouls of the desert, the
gray wolves.
Like an army, q herd of buffaloes
put out vindettes to give the alarm in
case anything beyond the ordinary oc-
CURED. These sentinels We're always
to be seen in groups of four, five or
even six. at some distance from the
main body. When they perceived
something approaching that the herd
should beware of or get away from
they started on a run directly for the
center of the great mass of their peace
fully grazing congeners. Meanwhile,
the young bulls were on duty as senti-
nels on the edge of the main herd
watched the vindettes; the moment the
latter made for the center, the former
raised their heads and, in the peculiar
manner of their species, gazed all
around and shifted the air as if they
could smell both the direction and
source Of the impending danger. Should
there be something which their instinct
told them to guard against, the leader
took his position in front, the COWS and
! calves crowded in the center, while the
rest of the males gathered on the tanks
and in the rear, indicating a gallantry
that might be enulated at times by
the genus homo"
The author declares that the buffalo
bull who has outliYed his usefulness is
one of the most pitiable objects in the
whole range Of natural history. Driven
IN his old age from the herd to some
place of solitude, he seems to have
completely lost his courage. He be-
4 comes the very incarnation of nervous
ness and suspicion. Nobody ever heard
of one of these miserable, helplessly
forlorn creatures dying .. natural death
This pathetic picture of a noble beasts
Z ignoble end is drawn:
Riding suddenly to the top of the di-
: vide once with a party of friends il
! 1866, we saw standing below us in the
4 valley an old buffalo bull. the very
picture of despair. Surrounding him
/ were seven gray wolves in the act OF
/ challenging him in mortal combat The
I poor beast, undoubtedly realizing the
utter hopelessness of his situation, had
/ determined to die game. His great
shaggy head. filed with burrs, was
/ lowered to the ground and he con
! fronted his would-be executioners; his
! tongue. black and parched, lolled out
of his mouth, and he gave utterance
! at intervals to a suppressed roar. The
! wolves were sitting on their launches
! in a Senli-circle Immediately in front
of the tortured beast, and every time
] that the fear-stricken buffalo would
/ give vent to his hoarsely modulate6
/ groan the wolves howled in concert il
most mournful cadence.
! After contemplating his antagonists
/ for q few moments, the bull made g
dash at the nearest wolf, tumbling
/ him bowling over the silent. prairie,
! but While this diversion was going or
! in front, the remainder of the pack
! started fer his hind legs, to hamstring
/ him. Upon this the poor brute turned