124 THE AMERICAN BISONS. 
the narrative, “having chased off the buffalo before the snow had become 
deep, immense herds now came trooping over the mountains; forming dark 
masses on their sides, from which their deep-mouthed bellowing sounded 
like the peals and mutterings from a gathering thunder-cloud. In effect, 
the cloud broke, and down came the torrent into the valley. It is utterly 
impossible, according to Captain Bonneville, to convey an idea of the effect 
produced by the sight of such countless throngs of animals of such bulk and 
spirit, all rushing forward as if swept on by a whirlwind.”* In the autumn 
of 1835 Parker met with great herds on the east fork of the Salmon River. 
and on other tributaries of the Snake River.t 
Dr. J. S. Newberry, writing in 1855, says: “The range of the buffalo does 
not now extend beyond the Rocky Mountains, but there are many Indian 
hunters who have killed them in great numbers to the west of the moun- 
tains, on the head-waters of the Salmon River, one of the tributaries of the 
Columbia. While I was at the Dalles, the party of Lieutenant Day, U.S. A, 
came in from an expedition to the Upper Salmon River, and I was assured 
by the officers that they had not only seen Indians who claimed to have 
killed buffalo there, but that, in many places, great numbers of buffalo skulls 
were still lying on the prairie.” $ 
Dr. Suckley, writing under date of December, 1853, also says: “Buffalo 
were formerly in great numbers in this valley [the valley of the Bitter Root, 
or St. Mary’s River, one of the sources of Clarke’s Fork of the Columbia], as 
attested by the number of skulls seen and by the reports of the inhabitants. 
For a number of years past, none had been seen west of the mountains; but, 
singular to relate, a buffalo bull was killed at the mouth of the Pend d’Oreille 
River, on the day I passed it. The Indians were in great joy at this, sup- 
posing that the buffalo were coming back to them.”§ Just east of the 
mountains separating the sources of the Jefferson and Salmon Rivers, bufta- 
loes still existed in immense numbers. Lieutenant Mullan reports meeting, 
on December 4, 1853, with several bands of the Nez Percés Indians return- 
ing from their hunt east of the mountains, with many animals loaded with 
* Irving’s Rocky Mountains, pp. 208, 211. 
+ Parker (Samuel), Journal of an Exploring Tour beyond the Rocky Mountains, pp. 88, 107, 108. 
t Newberry’s Zodlogical Report of Lieutenant Abbot’s Report of Explorations for a Railroad Route 
from the Sacramento Valley to the Colorado River. Pacific R. R. Explor. and Surv., Vol. VI, Zodlogical 
Report, p. 72. 
§ Suckley (Dr. George), Canoe Voyage from Fort Owen to Fort Vancouver. Pacific R. R. Explor. and 
Surv., Vol. I, Governor Stevens’s Report, p. 297. 
