Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-04-11

Close to the mountains, or along
streams where there is much timber,
these scratching places are scarcely
noticeable, because each one was used
by only g few animals and at long in
tervals. and the evidences of their
rubbing have been removed by the
weather. But in some sections OF
the treeless Northwest over which
in glacial times the great ice sheet
passed, there will be found boulders
dropped by the ice, sometimes very
large, and at others projecting only
| a few feet above the level of the soil,
which in ancient times the buffalo
used as rubbing stones. If in travel
ing over the prairie on foot or on
| horseback, the traveller happens to
see such a lonely erratic, 1t is worth
his while to go to it and examine it
closely. He will find it polished on
all sides by the friction of the tough
hides of buffalo, and If he passes his
hands over it's round smoothed sur
faces he can still feel there the grease
which has accumulated from the use
to which the stone was put. All
around it, and close to it, he will find
worn deep trench in which are
boulders, stones and gravel, but
where there is no vegetation, for
there is no soil to nourish it. This
| trench has been made by the buffalo
| as they walked about the stone and
comfortably scratched their sides
against it. Their ponderous hoofs
have cut and torn up the soil and
! reduced it to fine powder which the
winds have then carried away. leav-
ing only the heavy stones at the bot
| tom of the trench.
or all the memorials which the
buffalo have left on the wide plains
| where once they were SO abundant,
the rubbing stono is by far the most
permanent. These huge erratics,
brought thither by the ice of glacial
times, and dropped seemingly hap
hazard here and there on The prairie,
will endure for long time. They
will last until a day shall come, II /!
ever does come, when the vandal
white man, having cultivated all thu
rest of the earth, will use on them
some high explosive, break them II
atoms and bury the fragments.
Several years ago there was print
ed in the Forest and Stream men,
tion of one of these rubbing stones,
which quote here. 1t is as follows:
From a high hill which gives q
wide outlook may be seen, far off,
on the verge of the horizon, where
the sky bends down to meet the
earth, tiny speck. At first it seems
a haystack, then cabin, then a
wagon, at last a buffalo; but it is
| none of these.
Still riding on over the yellow
| rolling plains, where the short stems
| of the prairie grass culver with a
| constant motion, where little ground
| SQUIRRELS flash across the horses path
and hide behind tufts of grass, and
shore larks with sweet, soft notes
rise and swing away with undulating
flight, where dainty antelope slowly
walk to the top of the hills, on either
side and look about with curious
eyes, the object draws nearer. Some
| times from the crest of hill 1t seems
close at hand, again, descending into
a little valley, 1t is lost to view behind
a swell of the prairie. At length 1t Is
close by and it's nature can be seen.
"In those ancient days when the
vast ice sheet was melting, a great
mass of stone was fioated from the
distant mountains. Carried on some
huge berg, parted from the glacier
which gave 1t birth, this rock jour-
neyed from the west, end at length,
falling from its longtime resting
place, sank to the earth, and when
the waters disappeared, remained
there, a landmark on the prairie.
Though it has travelled far on
ice the boulder shows little wear. Its
knobs and roughness are still sharp,
but each protuberance and angle Is
polished with bright brown gloss
like the corners of fence posts in
barn yard, against which cattle nave
rubbed their sides.
"For ages this great erratic mas
been the buffalo's scratching past.
Here in passing. the Clark herds have
turned aside and halted, and mighty
bull. sleek :'oung COW, and playful
yearling have sidled up to this mas
sive rock, and with grunts of content
ment. have pushed their rounded
bodies against it, and been jostled
and crowded and struck by the horns
of others, eager to take their turn.
About this stone they have walked to
and fro and cut up the soil with their
hoofs and made it fine dust, which
the unceasing wind has carried away
and scattered far over the prairie.
So, after the lapse of centuries OF
time and the passing away OF many
generations of buffalo, deep trench
has been worn about the erratic, and
it stands on a pillar of soil, the top
of which is level with the prairie.
"Never again will the boulder wit
ness the sights th; 1t has beheld In
the past. 1t stands in its old place
as firm and steadfast as of yore, but
the friends that used to visit 1t have
passed and are passing away, In
these latter days no Indian croucnes
behind it for shelter from the storm,
nor do buffalo crowd about it. No
graceful antelope sweep by in rapid
flight, seldom does wolf approach
it, or an eagle from its top look with
unblenching eye toward the sun.
"The life of the old prairie has
passed away."-G. B. G., in Forest
and Stream.
With Russian caviare concealed In