Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-05-09

in aboriginal style, with many hero
glyphics of the red men. Eastern tour
lists would pay from $50 to 500 for a
fine, painted robe. These cost the
traders perhaps so cents.
AS early as 1868 the trade in buffalo
robes with the Indians was enormous,
hundreds of thousands of the animals
being killed annually along the Platte.
and the hides became a staple article
of commerce. Every plainsman had
one or more robes and thousands were
made into oVercoats. Every freighter
and mule or OK skinner also had buff
ialo overshoes, made with the hair
inside.
Plains White With Bones
During the immense overland travel
in the early sixties, portions of the
plains were fairly white with the bones
of buffalo. No one then seeing the ap-
saS and Colorado, as well as farther
north, ever thought that any use could
be made of them, but after the COM
pletion of the Union Pacific railroad
and its branches across the plains, a
new industry was inaugurated in the
collection and shipping of bones. The
trade carried on in that line is as
tonishing to contemplate. In 10 years
time sales of bones aggregated $1,000
In 1874 alone there were shipped east
over the Kansas-Pacific and Santa Fe
roads 100000 pounds OF bones. more
than 1,2500OO buffalo hides, and Co.,
900 pounds of meat. The bones were
ground up into fertilizer and the horns
were polished and sold largely for
dwelling and office ornaments.
Disaster to Indians
The passing of the buffalo spelled
disaster to the plains Indians. for this
animal furnished everything practical
ly, that the Indian needed to live
The hide was dressed in a variety of
ways, each special treatment having
its particular use. The lodge of the
Indian, his bed and covering when
sleeping, his clothes, his weapons of
war. his shield in battle. kettles for
his food, boats on the rivers, leather
for his saddle and halter, strings for
his whip and bow, hair for dress orna-
ment-all these and many other ar
ticles were made from the buffalo robe.
His bones, also, from the short, curved,
strong horns to the hoofs were manu-
featured into an endless variety Of
articles that entered into every part
of the domestic life of the Indian.
The methods of capture of the buf-
falo by the Indians and whites were
various. With the Indians, wholesale
obstruction was commonly reSorteG to
by driving a big herd at full gallop
to the brink of a precipice or into the
mouth of an artificial enclosure. The
force of the mass behind crowded those
i'll advance ahead until they fell on
each other at the foot of the cliff or
in the enclosure, and thus they were
slaughtered by hundreds. A great deal
OF skill, as well as faVoring condition
of the wind, made the success of this
maneuver complete. These hunts were
matters of great ceremony with the
Indians. Days and weeks were devoted
to the preparation, with the most rigid
laws against individual hunting or
frightening of the herds. and there was
due observance of the established re-
ligious rites of the tribes.
Hunter Picturesque Type
The true sportsman-like attack was
by direct onslaught on horseback,
known as the surround 1t was man.
aged with the same ceremoniouS pre-
liminaries that were observed in all
great buffalo hunts by the Indians
The attack was made in careful order,
under strict discipline. directly upon
the herd until the latter had fully
scented the danger, when the hunters
where he chose, chasing and Staying
amid the thunder of hoofs, the below
ing of the beasts and the clouds of
dust raised in the mad rush of so many
animals. So completely panic-stricken
would these mighty herds become, and
so little sensible of where to flee, that
most of them fell victims to their pur-
suers and the ground would soon be |
strewn with dead bodies. Then for days
the women would be busy gathering /
the meat. hides and other fruits of the |
few hours hunt.
One of the picturesque types of the
early days on the plains was the white |
buffalo hunter. At first these men used |
to hunt buffalo on horseback, much |
after the manner of the Indians, US
ing, however. long-barreled. muzzle-
loading guns and carrying in their