The Wichita daily eagle., 1904-05-15
The Great Buffalo Hunt

Last sunday was a great day in the
history of Ponca Indians, of the Iudar
NIerratory- 1t witnessed the installation
- Chief Horse to succeed Chief White
Eagle. and the choosing of the advisory
ceuncil buffalo hunt was one Of the
1nitiatory steps,
Il was a typical wild west scene and
vas suggestive of days gone by. when the
Aed men held sway. The cowboy with
his bucking bronco. vas there, too. Kirt
Renolds broke the worlds record for
roping and tying q steer. performing the
feat in twenty-five and one-fourth sec
onds. The previous record was twenty
six seconds.
The greatest attraction of the day was
the buffalo hunt, in which about sixty
Indians participated 1T was the first
event of the kind held in the west for
twenty-five years, and there viii prob-
ably never be another. The puffaloes
were brought from the Goodnight ranch,
In the western part of Texas. and were
range buffaloes The hunt was held at
the ''101' ranch, which is situated in the
Indian reservation. J. c. Miller who is
proprietor of the ranch, provided the buff
faloes, and was master of ceremonies.
station of Bliss q pece of ground one
tourtn of a mile length by two-thirds
as wide. had been enclosed with a woven
wire fence six feet high. The exhibit
lions took place within this enclosure.
Along one side of the corral were ten
small enclosures, and at each one were
stationed six Indians Following the Gus
toms of their forefathers, a single In
frantic gestures. that the bufaloes were
In signt. a shot was fred as signal,
and away went the sixty Indians
The buffaloes were quietly feeding near
one end Of the enclosures when they
were startled by the savage yelIs of the
Indians, who swept down on them from
MI sides. For years these bufaloes had
roamed over their prairie home in Texas
In undisturbed peace. and the sight OF
these fierce looking apparitions in paint
and feathers filed their hearts with ter
ror. Away they swept around the arena.
and with the wild yels and wilder ap-
pearance of the Indians. the plunging
horses and the galloping buffaloes, urged
TO still greater speed by shots from the
revolvers, the scene presented was in
deed wild one. The chase was seemingly !
without point or object but q close OBJ !
server would notice that each party Of
Six Indians were erdeavoring to drive /
the buffaloes into their respective pens /
The party accomplishing this great feat |
would demonstrate their superiority as |
hunters. ard would gain the coveted place /
on the advisory council. But no sooner |
would the buffaloes be headed towards a |
pen than an opposition band of Indians /
would sweep 3cross in front of them /
and head them in another direction. Fin |
ally, at the end of half an hours run. I
one of the bands succeeded in getting the |
animals driven into their pen and plac- |
ing themselves at the opening, resisted /
the efforts of their competitors to STAN
pede their quarry.
The victorious Indians celebrated their
proweSs by riding in a circle and emitting
exultant yells. After showing off sufii-
ciently and receiving the congratulate tons
of the members of their own tribe and
the visiting Indians from other reserva-
tions, they all repaired to the place Sc
lected for the barbecue, near the center
OF the enclosure. After 4 hard fight for
life the largest buffalo of tine bunch was