The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-09
NEBRASKA BUFFALOES
LAST HUNT IN WHICH THE HERD
 WAS DIFFERENTIATED.
1t Took Place in 1875 and the Twelve Buffaloes tn the Herd Were All SIaughtered-Eeemors Af-
 ter the Killing.

Hx-
 A well known sportsman in this city who, although not too old to cast a fly or draw bead. is still counted among the gray haired veterans of the frater- nifty. was recounting the other day some of his early exploits and told among other things of his first and last buffalo hunt. In that hunt the last herd of buffaloes in Nebraska and one of the last in the United States was wiped out. etf S41f =~f
 The collaboration of the slaughter was immense. but this man has felt remorse ever since; and although somebody would probably have to hold him if the same opportunity were offered again under the same circumstances, still, he would. he declares, greatly enjoy being kicked soundly by an able bodied man with large boots if he repeated his part in the killing.
 g Tt was my good or i'll fortune. take 1t any way you please" said he, "to find myself located in the year 1875 in the small hamlet of Melrose. Harlan CoHn- ty. Southwest Nebraska For two or three years that section of the countfy had been devasted by grasshoppers; i'm . migration had entirely ceased, the trend being east instead of west. and the few
  hard time of 1t. being supported chiefly by the Government on corn meal. beans and salt pork, and for fresh meat de- pending altogether on their rifles.
 'Tt was these circumstances which af- forded me, a tenderfoot, the opportuni- ty to join with two veterans on a hunt for buffalo meat and pelts when news reached the place that herd-the first that had appeared in several months in A T. N.-fxe Melrose. At that time there were only few of the animals left in Nebraska and not many in other States. and we knew that the settlers would soon have the pelts of all of them In their wagons. The great slaughter occurred in 1ST2- '3-4, and, although Nebraska prohibited the transportation of hides through the state in 1873. and Kansas did so a year later, the precautions were taken too late.
 Tt was early in the morning of day in August when Newell. Bill and myself started out in the direction where the We knew at the time that the herd was the last in the country.
 At Melrose the Republican River Is joined by the Sappa and the Beaver, and while the Republican trends nearly due west, the Sappa west and south and the Beaver still further south and west, they all flow nearly parallel, being only thirty or forty miles apart at their headwaters. They are joined by many tributaries, and in the day of the buff faIo the region was one of the great est pasture grounds In the country for them. It was to this section that the Pawnees, Comanches and Southern Sioux sought permission from the Gov ernment to come from their reserva- tions for their annual meat supply, and 1t was in one of the draws between the Republican and Sappa Rivers that the Pawnees were nearly exterminated by the Sious in 1874.
 Our equipment when, we started con sisted of two Sharps's sporting rifles and a small carbine-this for the ten derfoot; two good horses, a spring wagon. three barrels of provisions. plenty of, ammunition, and finally a large yellow cur related distantly to the mastin.
 "Fording the Republican and Sappa Rivers, we took the north bank of the Beaver and at nightfall found ourselves at Beaver City, which consisted of a postoffice, general store and hotel all in one, and one dwelling house. It was the last settlement west of Melrose.
 At daybreak the next morning we aRaIn took the road. sO-calIed, stiIl following the Beaver, and .passed a ranch or two where thousands of cattle