The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1923-07-27
A PLEA FOR OUR
VANISHING FRIENDS
OF HORN AND CLAW
BY r. r. Kilroy

falo horns, the kind one saw so fire.
quently in and around Montana's In
dian agencies a quarter of century
ago. The sight of it simultaneously
recalled memories of scenes and in
cidents that to Russ, as well as to me,
were vivid, picturesque and some
what romantic. There were the great
mounds of buffalo bones piled by the
Indians and sold to the post-trader
for shipment to fertilizing plants. In
every pile we're scores of buffalo
skulls such as Russ now uses as the
insignia of his craft. In many of
them a ragged hole told the tale of
the hunters accuracy. Occasionally
one found skull with outer horns
remarkably preserved, black as
ebony, shiny and pointed. These
were worth carrying off and from
them the Indians made the quaint
chairs.
A head-and-tail robe was even
then rarity, but plain buffalo robes
were found on every ranch. Russell
and l both came to Montana just be-
hind the buffalo and a little ahead
of the sheep, but both enjoyed the
acquaintance of many an old-timer
VIM SN OhS q q un On Tic Dt6 nCl QC
that used to hold up navigation on
the Missouri as they swarmed across
its muddy current back of the Bear
Paws and the Little Rockies.
From buffalo the conversation |
drifted to the other game that has |
become wholly or partially extinct. |
In the days when the old levee at |
Fort Benton was piled high with |
pelts awaiting shipment on steamers |
to st. Louis, there were large bands |
of antelope in Montana. Hundreds
in bunch, they drifted south from
Canada in the winter and shared |
with the buffalo the succulent bunch
grass of the prairie. Essentially a
plains animal. the antelope was driv-
en- out by the encroaching tide of
squatters and homesteaders on the
public domain. Unlike the deer, the
elk and the moose, the antelope does
not take to the shelter of the forest
or the recesses of the mountain. Gu
rious, shy and proverbially swift, he
soon passes out of the landscape I'M
til today when men see an antelope
they talk of it as one might talk of
seeing a ghost.
The caribou is also almost extinct ,
and not longer than 80 years ago,
great herds of them ranged back and
forth across the Canadian line. The
moose is another of our first Amer
leans who has fled from the eviden- :
ces of civilization. Not far from
where the Anaconda Country club ,
now lies was once a favorite rendez- !
Vous for this king of all graminivor-
ous animals. True, he is, like the
antelope, the caribou and the elk, I
protected, but his days are numbered
Ind the next generation will proba- '
'ly know him only in the corridors of /
he museum.
The lynx, that big striped and !,
ported wild cat with tassels on his =
'ars and snow shoes fitted to his =
egs, is also getting scarce. The de- =
nand by milady for lynx fur has 81
lelped to decimate the breed. Mon
ana was also once the habitat for =
he red fox and his smaller, speedier y
rother, the swife. Now both are p
cen only in the remotest regions and u
hen very rarely. Fashion has help =
d to make speedy his exit, too.
=
Among the other predatory ami y, "
lals, the grizzly bear, the wolverine, 70
nd the otter are fast disappearing.
he marten and the mink are still n,
ound, the former in the depths of q,
ne forest reserves and the latter ;s
long secluded streams. The wolf Nv
nd the coyote hold their own pretty ~
ell, as does the black and brown a.
ear, both being of the same family
he white or cotton-tail deer is also oe
'und in abundance, but the black of
Ill, who frequents the more open ~
,untry of the foothills and forest ce
arks is also become extremely rare. hY
Fleet of foot and fortunate in in n;
abiting the high areas of the noun
in ranges, the sheep and goat are CHI
i'll fairly numerous in their own III
abitats. -,
But it is not the quadrupeds alone 90
at are leaving us. 1 remember tu
hen fleets of great white swans or
uld be seen 1azily drifting on a of
miner day on Flathead, Macdonald ey
Pend d'Oreille lake. What a
autiful picture they madei How 70,
aJestically they moved on the mir 40,
red surface of the water. -,
THE swan on still St. Mary's lake N
Floats double, swan and shadow" OF
They are gone. The gasoline boat, -
g pump-gun and the ruthless game th,
nave maoe tnem almost extlnct. fes
lily few years ago I saw on the the
0rpS 0f Pond d,Oroi11o +bo rouooinc -