Buffalo 295 



came back to the bunch. Another bull then started from the 

 bunch and tried to lead off. He ran about loo yards, but none 

 followed him at all, so he also returned to the bunch. Then 

 one in the bunch that seemed a third larger than any other there 

 led out and all following him, strung out in a semicircle. Norris 

 tried to cut across to the middle of it; but instead of running 

 right away, part of them hung back and it seemed as if they 

 were going to surround him. He thought it wiser then to fall 

 back and get out of the ring. Then they strung off after the 

 big leader. Norris galloped behind trying to rope a calf, but 

 the mother turned on him. He had no gun, and his horse was 

 tired, so he gave it up. He noticed that in running they "pawed'* 

 with one side low, and after a while changed to the other. After 

 they went off he rode on fifteen miles south-east to camp. A. N. 

 Cranmer was in charge of the camp, which was by a small lake. 

 He said : " This is the only water in this region and they w^ll be 

 certain to come in here before three days." So the men waited 

 and on the second day, the whole herd appeared. Now they had 

 a good chance to count them. There were i86. They drank 

 very heavily and then played about like calves. A number 

 of them amused themselves by jumping off a bluff into the 

 water, four feet below them, then running around up a low 

 place to jump off again. As soon as they had seen all they 

 wished the men fired, killing a cow and a bull. They then set 

 about roping some calves. Norris caught one and Cranmer 

 caught two. They had to kill the mother of the last, as she 

 showed fight. The herd went off and these men saw no more of 

 it. One of the calves died and Norris gave his to Cranmer's 

 little boy, who sold it to Goodnight, and the other was traded 

 to a passing stranger from Kansas for a span of colts. In 

 the November of the same year, on the same trail, Norris saw 

 12 head of Buffalo, but has never seen one since. 



The very last individuals that I have knowledge of were 

 found in 1889. The account of them I got from W. Allen, 

 cowboy, also of Clayton, New Mexico, four years after the 

 event. I give it in full. 



