The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-11-19
Tourists Trapped by Blizzard
Saved by Large Herd of Elk

In the fall of 1870 a party Of three
men was sightseeing and hunting in
Yellowstone. park. Having prolonged
their stay until late in October they
we're %overtaken by a terrible snow
liberated all trails, and filled the
gulches, canyons and eoulees to such a
them at all. The men had lain in
camp three days waiting for the storm
to abate, but it continued to grow in
violence and severity. AS the snow
grew deeper their condition: became
hourly more alarming.
Their stock of provisions grew lower
and lower. They had no shelter to with
stand the rigors of winter at that high
altitude; it was fast becoming with
them a question as to whether they
could ever be able to escape beyond
those snow-clad crags and peaks and
those snow-filled gulches and canyons
by which they were hemmed in.
Their Only Hope
Their. only hope Of escape, they fin
ally concluded, was to abandon their
horses and to construct themselves
SnowShoeS which might keep them
above the snow; but in this Use they
would not be able to carry enough food
and bedding to serve their wants of
help and shelter-the nearest ranch
house.
The trip, they we're sure, would re-
quire several days. The chances for
killing game along the way were pre-
cariouS after the extremely cold
weather that had settled down upon
them.
They set to work to make snowshoes
from the skin of an elk they had saved.
They had already. completed n pair
when the storm abated, so n of the
party was sent out on the new equip
ment to look over the surrounding
country, with a view to determine the
most feasible route back to civilization
and also to shoot any game that might
be sighted.
This man had gone to the northwest
of the camp, a distance of a mile, when
he came upon the fresh trail of a large
band of elk that we're travelling toward
the east. He followed them and in a
short time overlook them.
Elk Broke Trail
They were travelling single file, led
by a powerful old bull who wallowed
through the snow, above which his
with all the patience and perseverance
of a faithful old oX. The others followed
him, the stronger ones in the front
and the weaker one bringing up the
rea There were 81 elk in the band.
BY the time they had all walked in
the same line through the heaped snow
they had left a well-defined, hard
beaten open trail.
The hunter approached within a few
yards of them. They were at first great
ly alarmed when they saw him and
made a few bounds in various direc-
lions; but, seeing their struggles were
useless, they meekly submitted to what
seemed to them their impending fate
and fell back in line behind their
leader.
This would have been a golden op-
portunity for a pelt hunter who could
have shot them all down from a single
Standard who would have done so.
But such vas not the mission of this
man. He Immediately saw in this noble.
struggling band a chance for deliver
ance for himself and his comrades,
from what threatened to be a wintry
grave. He did not fire a single shot
and was careful not to create in any
way unnecessary alarm among the
band but hurried back to camp and
reported what he had seen to his
friends.
1t Meant Rescue
In a moment the camp was in a
ferment of excitement. Tent, bedding,
provisions, everything that was regard
ed as absolutely necessary to their