Year: 1859




!. e Greeley on the Buffalo.


We have never had as vivid an ides
of the number of Buffaloes roaming
the plains, as we gain from Mr.. Gree
ley's letter, dated at Resinger's Creek
not quite half way from Leavenwortt
to Denver. Of the Buffalo, Mr.. G.
says that these immense herds blindly
follow their leader, when alarmed, and
thus very often pass across the travel
er's path, but few rods distant, and
in point blank shot. He says:


All day yesterday they darkened the
!, earth around us, often seeming to be
drawn up like an army in battle array
on the ridges and adown their slopes
mile or SO south of .us-often on the
north as well. They are rather shy o.
the little screens of struggling timber
on the creek bOttoms-doubtless from
their sore experience of Indians lurk.
ing therein to discharge arrows at them
as they went down to drink. If they
feed in the grass of the narrow valleys
and ravines, they are careful to have a
part of the herd on the ridges which
overlook them, and with them the sur
rounding country for miles. And when
an alarm is given, they all rush furious
ly off in the direction which the lead
ers presume that of safety.


What strikes the stranger with most
amazement is their immense numbers.
know million is great many, but
l am confident we saw that number
yesterday. Certainly, all we saw cod
not have stood on ten square miles of
ground. Often the country for miles
on either hand, seemed quite black
with them. The soil is rich and well
matted with their favorite grass. Yet
it is all Except very little on the
creek bottoms near to timber) eaten
down like an overtaxed sheep-pasture
in a dry August. Consider that we
have traversed more than one hundred
miles in width since we first struck
them, and that for most of this dis
tance the buffalo have been constantly
in sight, and that they continue for
some twenty miles further on
this being the breadth of their present
range, which has length of perhaps
a thousand miles, and you have some
approach to an idea of their countless
millions. / doubt whether the do
mesticated horned cattle of the United
States equal the numbers, while they
must fall considerably short in weight
of these wild ones.


4
| l shall pass lightly over the hunting
exploits of our party. A good many
shots have been fired-of course not
by me; even were / in the habit of
making war on wild Natures children.
| would as soon think of shooting my
neighbor's oxen as those great, clumsy,
harmless creatures. If they were
scarce, | might comprehend the idea
of hunting them for sport; here they
are so abundant that you might as
well hunt your neighbor's geese. And,
while there have been several shots
fired by our party at point blank dis
tances, l have reason for my hope that
no buffalo has experienced any per-
sonal inconvenience therefrom. For
this impunity, the foulness of the rife
has had to answer in part; the green
ness of the sportsmen is perhaps equal
ly answerable for it. But then we
have had no horse or mule out of our
regular teams, and the candid will ad-
NIT that coach -and-four is not pre-
cisely the fittest turnout for hunting
party. Ig~


Some personal items of Mr.. G.. we
get from the Boston Journal, which
paper has a correspondent in company
with Mr.. G. That letter-writer says:


An admirable travelling companion
| is Mr.. Greeley, with an inexhaustible
| fund of humorous experience and
mirthful anecdote, philosophy that
neither frets or grumbles at annoy
ances, and an always benignant coun-
tenance; radiant with clear con-
science, a sound digestion and abund-
ance of the milk of human kindness.
Occasionally, when crossing rivers on
foot, he sinks into the mire to the
knees, but maintains his serenity un-
disturbed. In amusing the marvellous
little sIda," he shames her mother al
together in the use of "baby talk"
and other seductive arts to captivate
infant affections. To-day we met a
party of returning Ohio emigrants,
who had mired their wagon in slough,
from which their weary cattle were
unable to extricate it. He gave a few
common-sense directions about using
the spade, and then took hold of the
lever and pried at the wheel with a
vast deal of vim. Meanwhile, one of
the emigrants having learned some
thing of his profession, asked.


"What New York paper are you
connected with, sir 90


"The Tribune"


"Oh, yes; you're with Greeley, are
you?"


eyes, sir" was the dry reply, the
editor meanwhile tugging away like
an Irish laborer. just as the wheel
was extricated, some one came along
who recognized the old white coat, and
made its owner known to the crowd.
think never see men more amazed.