Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1906-07-23

COW elk, we had shot that afternoon,
'of a mysterious canyon on the
Moreau river, avoided by the Indians
and said to be the scene of mighty
queer goings on?"
L had heard of the place, but only
in hazy fashion, since conversation
about it was practically tabooed among
the Indians and the locality was fully
hundred miles from Standing Rock,
and nearly fifty from where we were
then camped. Kislingburg went On:
81 have found out from my scouts
that there is such a canyon and Use
SUPP there has confessed that he
knows where it is. What makes it un-
'canny in the eyes of the reds or what
goes on in its depths he cannot or will
not tell me. We can make it in
couple OF days easy-the trail is said
to be good-are you game for visit?"
Trekking Across the Plains.
And so it, was, at daybreak next
morning, we broke camp and trekked
ssouthwestward over the rolling, sad
'co1ored plains where the esc,llent
buffalo grass grew grayer and grayer
as; it cured from tip.to roots, where
water was scare article, and a scum
covered pond, a boon to horse. mule
and man; where the sentinel buttes
looked so near and were so YEARLY
far away; where the owl or the rattle
snake evicted the prairie dog, and the
merry little ex-tenant barked at
shadows while he dug himself a new
dwelling A fascinating land, the
secret of whose spell no man has ever
yet defined, but one to which memory
and longing turn after years of alb
sence.
EARLY in the afternoon of the second
day out from Grand river we reached
the iMoreau (known on some maps as
the OWL, and, as was to be expected,
found deal of channel but scarcity
of water. AS we drew nearerfo the
fringe of kinnikinnick Willows that
marked by broken patches the course,
OF the stream, U-su-su-pL jovial sort
of warrior for a Sioux, ceased his
barbaric and. tuneless ballads, became
silent, not to say gloomy, and after a
short cogitation said to Kislingburg:
/ "Chief, the bad. place. Makes U-su-
SUPP feel sorry. No can sing. We go
away. Ell? Plenty good hunting over
there@ -pointing to the east and NUT
tering something about ''ota talo,"
which he wished us to accept as
statement that. many bison would he
found in, the direction he Indicated.
Kislingbury talked kindly to him,
sought unsuccessfully to gather why
the place was bad, tried even to
laugh or shame him into a. more COM
placent frame. of mind, but all pleas
amt means. failing, he dropped the tone
Of the fellow-hunter and took that. of
the officer, saying: .7- r
"You told me you knew where this
bad medicine canyon is, and promised.
to guide us there, Do it, and do it to-
night, or the blue soldiers will put you
i'm irons. You need not go into the.
canyon, or even to the mouth, but
must go far enough to show us, the
place where the bad medicine is.''
U-su-su-pi stood thoughtful for a
space, finally ,saluted, said briefly.
after eat ! 60 show you.'' and busted
himself in helping the soldiers set UP
the camp. ~
- s., down Canyon Wind. 81.
The sun went down before our sup
Eper--anteiope collops, breasts Of teal,
potatoes baked in, ashes, bareback.
coffee was finished, but twilight ling
Eers long in. that latitude and atmos.
phere, and when we started to get our.
horses U-su-su-pi said mo use; not
far so all hands hut one, who was
left as guard, footed it. WITHIN less
than mile Of our camp, round a
sharp bend Of the stream, III whose
stony bed, where shimmered scattered
pools, we were walking, We came upon
the entrance Of the canyon. U-su-s,r-
[pi did not speak simply touched
Kisiingburg on the shouider ana
pointed. The canyon was exceedingly
abrupt, and the entrance not more.
than hundred feet iii width. There
we're the usual broken masses OF rock
Fat the bottom Of the huge cieft, ana
here and there on the sides chung
.scraggy conifers Of gnaried scrub
cakes.
AS We entered aii Of us but the
scout. who. as soon as he had pointed
out the entrance, turned abruptly and
|hastened back to campit was noted
that the canyon widened and the walls
grew more sheer. we Judged the
depth to be between four and i've hun-
8dred feet and later measurements
proved this judgment nearly rfrhf