The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-06-27

take Greeley's advice and go
West" 1t required some little
.orve for n young man raised on
@srr, In New York State TO leave his
Ironds and make a break alone into
,be then almost unknown West. There
,yos "frontier" then; now there is
a none.
won't TO Junction City, Kan. and
Il ,ben on foot south to the Santa te
n poilroad. which was then just being
hrIt and finally stopped where the
ci,v of Wichita now is. At that time
II was a military post. ! could stand
4 there then, and looking southwest
across the Arkansas River, see the
1 whole country speckled with buffalo
4 os far as the eye could reach. stayed
s tbere n few days, and then went OH
I'm the river to what is now Hutchin-
SON Here / met man who told me
obout the Medicine River country,
which was about 125 miles further
southwest. He represented 1t as being
well timbered country, with quite
high bluffs along the streams, and as
all the country where l was then had
scarcely any timber. it looked very
dreary to me; besides, | had an idea
Of going into the cattle business, so |
decided 10 90 and look at the Medicine
River country.
bought a pony and we started. We
had heard of n camp of hunters. at
the junction of the Medicine and Tur-
key Creek, who had wagon trail into
wichita. We went south, so as to
strike the wagon trail and follow 1t to
their camp. / proposed taking along
some provisions, but my new friends
said there was no use buying or carry
ing supplies. as we could get all the
game we wanted; so we went without
any provisions.
Well, we started out, and there
teemed to be q break in the buffalo,
as there were none in sight, and we
went on all the first day without a
chance to kill anything; and slept that
night oil the ground by "chip" fire,
with nothing to eat and no timber in
sight. We were on what / afterward
learned was the north fork of the MIN
isquaw River. The following day we
Travelled all day and killed nothing
until night, when we stopped on the
south fork of the Ninisquaw, and l
killed bird about as large as a robin,
which we roasted and divided between
us.
The following day we began to see
buffalo, and about noon came to tim
ctr m "a N
had killed big turkey; and 1 think
that / never tasted any other turkey
quite so good as that was. We camped
there in the timber. No one knows
just what luxury timber is to camp
in for fuel until they have camped
on the bare prairie and burned chips.
That afternoon my friend killed a
buffalo. was greatly surprised at the
size of the animal. l had seen the
buffalo robes that we used in the East,
and which at that time could be bought
for from So TO $40, but they were small,
and / learned that the large ones were
never made into robes. as their great
thickness called for too much work
to dress them. White men never
dressed robes; the Indians did that, as
their time was worth nothing. A
squaw would work month or two
tanning hide; then her lord and mas
ter would trade it to a white man for
a.piug of tobacco or pint of firewater
We went on the next day and reached
the hunters camp, which was owned
by Captain Griffin, formerly of Dutch
ess County, New York. The following
fall Captain Griffin was killed by the
Indians about thirteen miles from his
camp on the head of Mule Creek. He
was fine shot, and although he had
wooden leg below the knee, he was
one of the best horsemen l ever saw
1t was by means of the wooden leg
that we were able to identify his bones
when we found his remains. He had &
needle gun, and in the buffalo wallow
where his bones were, we found abou
100 empty shells, which showed tha
they had fought there for some time
There was man from Pennsylvania
by the name of Van Buren, with Cap
tain Griffin at that time. We burie(
their bones together.
The Medicine River country was al
ideal one for game. The bottoms wer,
well timbered, and there were plent!
of red deer and turkeys in the timber
the prairies We're alive with buffal,
aud antelope. Sometimes the buffal'
would mass together and form vas
herd, and when once started to run
would go for no one could know hov
long. l have seen mass of them, sa.
half mile wide and perhaps two mile
long, all on the run in a solid body
They would come to stream and e
roaring over the bluff and through tn
water, and come in sight OH the othe
side, and the great black river of liy
ing animals would go pouring on acros
the prairie. If something alarme
those in front they would wheel like
body of cavalry by the flank, and o.
they would go in another direction
While this great mass of animal
would be sweeping past, others woul
be grazing or lying down, and woul
not appear to pay any attention to til
galloping herd, unless in front of 4
and then they usually Joined the her
and went with it. The numbers wer
so great that 1t simply went past tn
power OF enumeration, and one Nigh
as well attempt to count the sands o
the seashore. | saw them once In Jun
so thick that they nearly drank tn
small streams dry, and poisoned tn
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