Buffalo 269 



the prairie grass, lying a foot deep even on the highest ridges. 

 Wide ravines, 20 feet deep, were full to the top, and these 

 held much snow as late as the following May. 



"Cattle belonging to various settlers had drifted away 

 during the storm, and, in spite of the fact that it was early in 

 the season and the cattle in good condition, many were lost. 

 For example, a pair of heavy, strong work oxen had passed 

 over the brow of a hill and were standing on their feet in the 

 drift, dead. Their backs were on a level with the surface of 

 the snow, their noses elevated in an effort to prevent smother- 

 ing, the large horns disclosing their location. 



"In such a blizzard, no escape was possible for even the 

 hardy Buffalo. They would have been buried in the sheltering 

 hollows where they sought repose and would there have shared 

 the fate of the old oxen. Large clusters of bones found in such 

 spots indicate that this had indeed happened, that their dead- 

 liest enemy was the snow. 



"To repeat, the great herds that went north in 1 870-1 

 never returned. There is no evidence that any large numbers 

 of them were killed by hunters, red or white, and there is, 

 therefore, but one reasonable explanation of their disappear- 

 ance. They were exterminated by the blizzards of 1872. 



" Further, I believe that, at all times, the Dakota blizzard 

 has taken heavier toll of the Buffalo than even the Dakota 

 Indian did." 



No one who has seen the Northern blizzard will question 

 its terrible power. I have lived through several and agree with 

 Bunn that a winter with a long succession of these snow- 

 siroccos might in certain circumstances destroy every Bison on 

 the range before spring. But blizzards did not happen every 

 winter^ and they were restricted to a certain limited treeless 

 area lying far north and of heavy snow-fall. So that I doubt 

 whether, upon the whole, the destruction by blizzards was com- 

 parable with that of other agencies which were of more regular 

 occurrence and covered a large part, or all, of the Buffalo 

 range. 



