Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-23
BUFFALOEs FORD A RIVER.
Sight Witnessed by TOu
lists ON Missouri Liner.

Wonderful Sight Witnessed by Tour
lists ON a Missouri Liner.
From the Anaconda Standard.
In the seventies we boarded the steamer
Far West at Bismarck for Fort Benson.
The first week of our journey being In
Dakota, incidents would be irrelevant here.
but will mention a tornado as we follow
ed its track up through eastern Montana
as 1t came down from Manitoba The Mis-
souri, here runs through wide plain with
a dense wood a few hundred yards wide on
either side, and we were In q bend and did
not see the storm approach till 1t was
upon US.
II was perhaps the middle of the after
noon. but suddenly grew SO dark we could
scarcely see the crew flashing the boat to
the trees on the lee bank. Three great wire
cables were strained to keep US from fol-
lowing In the wake OF the wrecked pilot
house. Men were seeking their own safe
ty, women shedding nervous tears. The
captains wife and (she was an old sailor
sat the lee deck. she with fear born Of
wisdom, / ignorantly amused at the weak
nesses of my fellow-travelers and really
enjoying the grand panorama Great black
and white clouds seethed, boiled and rolled
together, torn by the wind and pierced by
trees carried along like fea thers-a perfect
hurricane. 1t would moan and roar like
living thing tortured into agony, then lull
to sob like a hurt child going to sleep
We would think the worst past, it's fury
spent, when the trees would begin to bend
as If In supplicatton, then all the furies
would seemingly break loose. The boat
would rock and creak and pull on the ca
bles, beaten as well by the missiles In the
air To add to the confusion the colored
crew began to pray and humble that weird
incarnation handed down from generati ton
IN Dlna IN h frov -
erland of ignorance and superstition; the
captains staff to swear and give orders
that could only be obeyed by the light Of
the great sheets of lightning that seemeu
to encompass the whole plain.
1t lasted about four hours. The water
around the boat was so full Of dirt 1t took
all the next day to clear 1t away, refit the
pilot house and get back in the channel
Before We got fairly well started the dead
and wounded buffaloes were floating by
The captain. who had been on the river for
years, said he expected they were crossing
the river when the storm struck them 90
ing from their winter range on the Yellow
stone to summer pastures in the British
possessions; that they emigrated every
year and we might run into the whole
herd To our delight just as we rounded
the great bend into Montana the river was
so full OF them we had to stop the boat
On either side, as far as the eve could
reach the earth was black with the noble
animals.
We anchored till perhaps In the after
noon, when they stopped to feed and rest
Ihey cared nothing for the boat When
they came to the water they marched in
ike soldiers looking neither to the right
nor left They made path perhaps fifty
yards wide, as smooth as street and moi
an animal went In or came out above or
below: swan across and out with military
precision. We had read of them tramn-
ing trains of wagons to dust on the old
overland route with a grain of allowance.
out we doubted no more Here again we
came to heavy timber. The storm had
torn the great giant cottonwoods up by the
roots, some only left holes in the ground.
others lay beaten in splinters. For miles
here 1t was yeritable cyclone but had
spent part of its fury before reaching us.
and If we had been three days earlier we
would have been in the midst Of It,