Year: 1869

uncomfortable manner that he looked a!
if he might slip from it at any moment


But when this uncouth person came tt
transact his business with the General ht
turned out to be a man of no ordinary
abilities. His description of a route 81


guide and trailer for the Ogallahs in bring


ing them from the Platte to this place wal
minute, and to me exceedingly interesting
Every war party that for the season hae
crossed his trail, he described with minute


ness as to their number, the kind of armi
they had, and stated the tribes they be
longed to. In these strange revelations
tilat he made there was neither imposition
nor supposition, for he gave satisfactory
reasons for every assertion he made.


I have ridden several hundred miles
with an experienced guide and trailer
Hack, whom I Intercepted on many


points in the practise of this art. Nearly
all the tracks I saw, eitherpld or new, al
q novice in the art, questioned hin
about, In going to the Niobrara river we
crossed the track of an Indian pony. MY
guide followed the track few miles ane
then said, cit is stray, black horse, witt
a long, bushy tail, nearly starved to death
has split hoof of the left fore foot, an6
goes very lame, and he passed here early
this morning" Astsnished and incredu
lous, asked him the reasons for knowing
these particulars by the tracks of the ami
NAL. when he replied:


"It was stray horse, because it did moi


go in direct line; his tail was long, fol


he dragged it over the snow; in brushing
against bush he left some Of his hair
which shows its color. He was very bun
cry, for, in going along, he has nipped al
those high, dry weeds, which horses sci.
dom eat. The fissure of the left fore foot
left, also, its track, and the depth of the
indentation shows the degree of his lame.
ness and his tracks show he was here
this morning, when the snow was hard
with Frost" e &


At another place we came across an In.
dian track, and he said, !" It is an old Yank-
ton, who came across the Missouri last
evening to look at his traps. In coming
over he carried in his right hand trap,
and in his left lasso to catch pony with
he had lost. He returned without finding
the horse but had caught in the trap
he had out prairie wolf which he car
ried home on his back and bundle OF
kinikinic wood in bis right hand" Then,
he gave his reasons, az know he is
old by the impression his gait has made,
and a Yankton by that of his moccasin.
He is from the other side of the river, as
there are no Yanktons on this side. The
trap he carried struck the snow now and
then, and in the same manner as when he
came, shows that he did not find his pony.
A drop of blood in the centre of his tracks
shows that he carried the wolf on his back,
and the bundle of kinikinic wood he used
for staff for support, and, catching a
wolf, shows that he had traps out. +" "But, /"
asked, chow do you know it is wolf,
why not fox, or coyote, or even deer?"
Said he, I" If it had been fox, or coyote,
or anv other small game, he would have,
slipped the head of the animal in his
waist belt, and SO carried it by his side,
and not on his shoulders. Deer are not
caught by traps, but if it had been deer,
he would not have crossed this high hill,
but would have gone back by way of the
ravine, and the load would have made his
steps still more tottering."


Another Indian track we saw twenty
miles west of this he put this serious con.
struction upon: "He is an upper
Indian "a prowling horse. thief car
ried double shot gun. and is a rascal that
killed some white man latelv, and passed
here one week ago; for" said he, ga lone
Indian in these parts is on mischief, and
generally on the look out for horses. He
had on the shoes of white man whom
be had in all probability killed, but his
steps are those of an Indian. Going
through the ravine, the end of his gun hit
into the deep snow. A week ago we had
q very warm day, and the snow being soft,
he made these deep tracks; ever since it
has been intensely cold weather, which
makes very shallow tracks," I sugge'ted
that perhaps he bought those shoes In
dians don't buy shoes, and if they did
they would not buy them as large as
these were, for Indians have very small
feet" The most noted trailer of this
country was Paul Daloria, a half breed,
who died under my hands, of Indian con-
last summer. At one time
rode with him, and trailing was naturally
the subject of our conversation. l begged
to trail with him an old track over the
prairie in order to learn its his
tory. I had hardly made the
when he drew up his
horse, which was at ravine, and said,
Well, here is an old elk track. Let us
get off our horses and follow it." We fol-
lowed it but few rods, when he said it
was exactly month old, and made at two
o'clock in the afternoon This he knew, as
then we had our last rain, and at the hour
named the ground was softer than at any
other time. The track before US was then
made. He broke up here and there clus-
ters of grass that lay in the path Of the
track, and showed me the dry ends of some,
the stumps Of others, and by numerous
other similar items, accounted for many
that astonished me. We
the trail over a mile. Now and
then we saw that wolf, a fox, and other
animals had practised their trailing in
stincts on the slk's tracks. Here and there
he would show nae where snake, rat,
and prairie dog had crossed the track.
Nothing had followed or crossed the track
that the quick eye Of Daloria did not de-
tect. He gave an account OF the habits
of all the animals that had left their foot
prints on the track, also of the state of
the weather since the elk passed, and the
effect of sunshine, winds, aridity, sand,
storms and other influences that had q
bearing on these tracks.


The old man, like all trailers, was reti-
cent, but on this occasion, seeing that /
was interested, became especially COM
DIR. HACHENBERG.


FIeas--by Josh Billings.