The Buzby Family -- An Alaska Pioneer Family
Early Days in Montana - page 5As soon as Monty saw how things were situated he hurried over to my stand and secured his horse. I did likewise, then we began firing as fast as was possible as the buffalo passed us. The Indians flying their blankets to frighten the animals passed about 200 yards In front of us. Monty said they were Yankton Sioux from the Poplar Greek Agency on the Big Missouri River. They had been sent out to stampede the great herd toward the Yellowstone flats toward Ft. Buffalo. The real hunting party was, no doubt, waiting 30 or 40 miles northeast of our camp to take the Buffalo after they were well run down - then a grand killing would ensue and the whole tribe live fat for the balance of the winter. Such was the Indians way - a big medicine dance - a big drive and then a big killing - heap big feed and a big sleep. It was a grand sight to witness flying, silent, wild animals pursued by the just as wild a Indians - all a part of a wild country. I have never forgotten a single detail of those days. I was probably not as much disappointed as Monty was at the sudden termination of what appeared to be our big killing - he looked at it as so much money lost which was no doubt the right way after all. After dinner I started skinning while Monty rode to the N.W. to see if all the buffalo had indeed quit the country. I had learned the butchers trade before coming to the plains and was at home with a spinning knife - altho’ skinning a buffalo bull that weighed close onto a ton was no child's play. Monty reported no Buffalo in sight on his return in the evening. After finishing skinning the few we had killed he said we would take two or three weeks grub and pull out for the herd on Cedar Creek, thirty miles N. W. The next day was cold and snow a little. We hauled the hides into camp where we stacked them for future disposition. The cold snap over we started on our proposed trip. That first afternoon we again sighted buffalo - seven being in one bunch and thirteen in another. We camped in a grove of cottonwood in the lee of a hill where a good running spring issued from its base. The next day beginning blustery and cold ended in a blizzard so that we were forced to stay in camp. By keeping our sheet iron stove red hot we managed to be comfortable - but our horses pawed the snow and shivered, their backs humped to the wind. The cold was intense the following day; the wind slacked off so that on the third day there was a great change. A chinook began blowing from the west and the snow thawed rapidly. We took a look around as soon as it became light and were pleased to see several small bunches of buffalo. We got busy at once and by night had several hides rolled up to our credit. We remained at this camp until a few days before Xmas and had piled up between 350 and 400 hides. We drove to the main winter camp and from there to Fallon where we spent our Xmas holiday together with a few other hunters and freighters. |