The Bison - Part Five

By Dan R. Conway

(Originally printed in the Hysham Echo on March 3, 1927)

(Cont. from last week)

Holding Up the Steamers

In the territory now defined as Montana and the Dakotas, the bison were very numerous, the grazing grounds being one of the best in the entire west. It has been stated that even after the Missouri river was being navigated by steamboats, the herds were so vast that, in times of low water, the great mass of animals would tie up boats for days, because it was impossible to proceed while they forded the stream. In his book, “The Conquest of the Missouri River, “James Mills Hanson tells of an experience of the “Ida Stockdale” on a trip to Fort Benton in 1866. Mr. Hanson says:

“As the Stockdale approached Elk Horn Prairie (in Dakotah), the buffalo increased rapidly in number on either bank. Vast herds extending away to the horizon line of the northward bluffs, were moving slowly toward the river, grazing as they came. On arriving at the river’s brink, they hesitated and then, snorting and bellowing, plunged into the swift current and swam to the opposite shore.

“When the Stockdale reached a point nearly opposite the Elk Horn grove, excitement rose to a high pitch on board, for the buffalo became so thick in the river that the boat could not move, and the engine had to be stopped. In front, the channel was blocked by their huge, shaggy bodies, and in their struggles, they beat against the sides and stern, blowing and pawing. Many became entangled in the wheel, which for a time, could not be revolved without breaking the buckets. As they swept towards the precipitous bank of the north shore and plunged over into the stream, clouds of dust arose from the crumbling earth while the air trembled with their bellowings and the roar of their myriad hoofs. The south bank was turned to a liquid mass of mud by the water streaming from their sides as they scrambled out and thundered across the prairie. *** No one on board cared to shoot at them, for the sight was too awe-inspiring a demonstration of the physical might of untamed brute creation. Several hours elapsed before the Stockdale was able to break through the migrating herds and resume her journey, and they were still crossing when at last she passed beyond view.”

Carried Away With the Ice

In the spring of the year, when the ice was going out, great numbers of the animals were drowned in the Missouri river while trying to cross. In some years, their bodies floated down the stream in such numbers as to render the air almost unendurable to boat crews and passengers on their way up the river. It is said by some that Indians liked this kind of buffalo meat very much and would tow the carcasses ashore to be cut up.

John MacDonnell, a Hudson Bay factor, tells of the stampede of a monster herd across the ice of the Qu’Appelle valley early last century. The ice broke under their weight. In the spring, when the thaw came, a continuous line of drowned buffalo drifted past the fur post for three days. MacDonnell counted over 7,000 when his patience gave out. The drowned buffalo were, of course, a very small fraction of the herd.

The Naturalists and Scientists

Among the early travelers in the Rocky Mountain region were a number of noted men from many climes who came to America’s Far West to study natural conditions, nature and the buffalo and other game. Among these were Michaux, Lewis and Clark, Captain Long, Bradbury, Brackenridge, Wyeth, Prince Maxmilian of Wied, Artist Catlin, Audubon and others. The first of these was Prince Maxmilian of Wied, who reached Fort Union in June of 1833 and spent the greater part of a year in the Upper Missouri river region. His book, “Travels in North America,” which is an account of his experiences in the Missouri river valley, forms one of the most valuable contributions to the literature of the old west.

The “Game Hogs”

John James Audubon, the celebrated naturalist, undertook a trip to the upper Missouri in 1843, and found the country so prolific of interesting specimens of animals and bird life, that he regretted the necessity of making an early return to the east.
In contrast to such men as these, were the “game hogs” who followed in later years, and through the mere lust to kill, or for paltry gain accomplished the virtual extinction of the bison. One writer, describing a trip across the plains in the fifties, says:
“Several hunting parties of white men crossed our trail at different times, recently, going from the hunting grounds into the lands at the north to Colorado and on into New Mexico. There were usually from 10 to 12 men in each party, mostly Englishmen, all well armed and mounted, and having a dozen or more mules packed with stores and camp equipage. The number of men and the good firearms no doubt had much to do with preventing Indian attacks. They boasted of having had good sport in killing buffalo, placing the number they had slaughtered at 1,000. They had slain in pure wantonness, just ‘for the fun of the thing.’”

There were the monomaniacs of slaughter, the “game hogs,” whose kind flourished in the west from the time when the white man first invaded the wilderness where the red native killed wild creatures only to provide themselves with food and the other necessities of life.

Sir George Gore

Back in 1854, great excitement and indignation was aroused in the northwestern territories, including what is now Montana, among the scattering white population of trappers and traders by the coming to the plains and Rocky Mountain region of the prize-winning “game-hog” of all history whose exploits still form a tradition among the Crow Indians. He was a titled Irishman, Sir George Gore, an eccentric and rather picturesque character who spent three years in the Rocky Mountain region merely because he had a love for adventure and a lust to slay game.

The expedition of Sir George Gore was the most pretentious ever taken into the far west by individual enterprise or merely for pleasure. The retinue of this flighty Irishman consisted of 43 men, 112 horses, 12 yoke of cattle, six wagons, 21 carts, and 14 dogs. The guide was the famous Jim Bridger, known in history as “the Daniel Boone of the Rocky Mountains.” Of this expedition, Lieutenant J. H. Bradley, soldier and historian, says:

“Following up the valleys of the main and North Platte river, hunting as he went, he finally crossed to the mouth of the Tongue river, where he built a fort for the protection of his men and remained for nine months, trading with the Indians and pursuing his hunting projects. The destruction of game by his party was so great that the indignation of the Crow Indians was excited and they sent a remonstrance to the Indian department. They said they objected to wholesale slaughter for so-called sport, the carcasses being left to rot on the prairie. From a letter of Col. A. J. Vaughn, then Indian agent on the Upper Missouri, to the superintendent of Indian affairs at St. Louis, Mo, dated in July, 1856, it appears that 105 bear, upward of 2,000 buffalo and innumerable elk, antelope and deer had already fallen victims to the first real game hog of the west. At last, in retaliation, the Indians drove off about half of his horses in one raid and the following winter, while he was wintering between Fort Union and Fort Berthold, made a clean sweep of the remainder.”

At Fort Union

Sir George was not received with much warmth at Fort Union by Major Culbertson, who was not favorably impressed with the reports he had heard of the nobleman. However, the factor agreed to have two flat-bottomed boats built for the hunter, who wished to descend the Missouri in them to St. Louis. The American Fur company also agreed to buy Sir George’s wagons and equipment at some stipulated price. When the boats were finished, there was a misunderstanding as to the terms of the bargain, and the Irishman fancied that, because of his remoteness, the company was trying to take advantage of his necessities. He seems to have been mercurial, reckless and easily stirred to passion, and heedless of the consequences, he would not accept the terms offered. He accordingly burned his wagons and all the Indian goods and the supplies not needed, in front of the fort, guarding the fire from whites and Indians who might have salvaged some of the articles. He even waited till the irons of the wagons and carts cooled, and then threw them into the river. His cattle and what horses he had left he sold or gave away to vagabond hangers-on at the post. Print this post