Year: 1873


| Hack whom / interrogated upon many


points in the practice of this art
Nearly all the tracks L saw, either old
| or new us novice in the art, Ques-
toned him about. In going to the
Niobrara River we crossed the track
of an Indian pony. Ny guide follow
ed the track few miles and then said 4:
at is a stray, black horse, with long
bushy tail, nearly starved to death,
has split hOof of the left fore foot,
and goes very lame, and he passed
here early this morning" Aston
ished and incredulous, / asked him the
reason for knowing these particulars
by the tracks of the animal, when he
replied: at was q stray horse, be-
cause it did not 60 in direct line !;
his tail was long; for he dragged it
over the snow; in brushing against a
bush he'left some of his hair, which
shows its color He was very hungry,
for in going along he has nipped at
those high dry weeds, which horses
seldom eat. The fissure of the left fore
foot, left also its track, and the depth
of the indention shows the degree of
his lameness; and his tracks shows he
was here this morning, when the snow
was hard with frost.


Atanother place, we came across an
Indian track, and he said: ut is an
old YanktOn, who came to look at his
traps. In coming over he carried in
his right hand trap, and in his left
lasso to catch pony he had lost. He
returned without finding the hosre,
but had caught in trap he had out
prairie wolf, which he carried home
on his back, and bundle of kinikinic
wood in his right hand.n Then he
gave his reasons; 81 know he is old
by the impression his gait has made,
and 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 man
ner as when he came, shows that he
did not find his pony. a drCp fblood
in the centre of his tracks shows that
he carried the wolf on his hack, and
the bundle of kinikinic wood he used
as a staff for support, and catching
wolf shows that he had traps
but" | asked, chow do you know
it's a wolf? why not fox or even a
deer?n Said he: "If it had been a
fox. or coyote, or any other kind of
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
bv traps but ifit had been a 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
construction uponi He's an upper
Indiana rrowling horse thief-car-
ried double shot gun, and is a rascal
that killed some white man lately, and
passed here one week ago, for" said
he. "a lone Indian in these parts is on
mischief, and generally on the lookout
for horses. He had on the shoes Of a
white man whom he had i'll all prOba
bility killed, but his steps are those of
an Indian. Going through the Tavine
the end of his gun hit the deep snow.
A week ago we had very warm day,
and the snow being soft he made these
deep tracks" l suggested that per
haps he bought those shoes. ''Indians
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
sumption last Summer. | have spo-
ken of him in a former letter. AT one
time | roGe with him, and trailing
was naturally the subject OF our CONVEX
sation. l begged to trail with him an
old track over the prairie in order to
learn its history. | hardly made the
proposition when he drew up his horse
which was at 4 ravine, and said =
"Well here is an old elk track. Let
us get off our horses and follow it,
We followed it but few rods when
he said it was exactly a month old,
and made at 2o'clock in the afternoon.
This he knew, as then we had our last
rain, and at the hour named the ground
was softer than any other time. The
track before us was then made. He
broke up here and there clusters of
grapes 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 circumstances that astonished
me. We follwed the trail over a mile,
now and then we saw that a wolf,
fox and other animals had praCticed
their trailing instincts on the elk's
tracks. Here and there ne would show
me where snake, a rat and a prairie
dog had crossed the track. Nothing
had followed or crossed the track
that the quick eye of the Da-
loria did not detect. He gave an ac-
count of the habits of all the animals
that had left their footprints OH the
track, also of the state of the weather
since the elk passed, the effects of sun
shine, wind, aridity, sand storms,
and other influences that had a bear
ing OF these tracks.


The old man, like all other trailers,
was reticent, but on this occasion see
ing that I was interested, became es-
pecially communicative.