162 THE AMERICAN BISONS. 
soon have them around us in abundance.’* This locality was on the head- 
waters of the Cheyenne. Again, in speaking of the valley of the Yellow- 
stone, he says: “This valley has long been the home of countless herds of 
buffalo. . . . . When my party first reached the bluff overlooking the Yel- 
lowstone the sight was one which in a few years will have passed away for- 
ever. I estimated that about fifteen miles in length of the wide valley was 
in view. The entire tract of forty or fifty square miles was covered with 
buffalo as thickly as in former days in the West (when cattle were driven to 
an Eastern market) a pasture-field would be which was intended only to 
furnish subsistence to a large drove for a single night. I will not venture 
an estimate of their probable numbers.” T 
In 1873 I made a journey from Fort Rice, on the Missouri, to the Yellow- 
stone and Musselshell Rivers, accompanying the “ Yellowstone Expedition” 
of that year (General D. 8. Stanley commanding) as naturalist of the expe- 
dition. From my report on the collections made I quote the following: 
“Recent signs of the buffalo were first met with in the valley of the Yellow- 
stone, near the mouth of the Rosebud, — tracks of single old bulls that had 
passed down to the river for water within a period of a few weeks, Above 
this point considerable numbers seemed to have frequented the river valley 
during the early part of the season (1873), and tracks but a few days old 
were frequent for the last ten miles before reaching Pompey’s Pillar. The 
first buffalo seen was observed about twelve miles west of Pompey’s Pillar. 
Hight miles further west, on the divide between the Yellowstone and the 
Musselshell, we found large herds had grazed but a day or two before our 
arrival, and fresh tracks of cows and calves, as well as of bulls, were abun- 
dant. From this point to the Musselshell we were frequently in sight 
of large bands, and quite a number of individuals were killed. They 
moved off rapidly, however, as we approached, and at no time were more 
than a few hundred in sight at once. We found later that the valley of the 
Musselshell and its adjoiming prairies had been the recent feeding-ground of 
large herds, immense numbers having evidently spent the early part of the 
season there. They seemed not, however, to have visited the valley in 
large numbers before for many years, as all the trails and other signs had 
evidently been made within the few weeks immediately preceding our ar- 
rival. Traces of ancient trails remained, but they were few and insignificant 
* Exploration of the Yellowstone, p, 27. 
¥ Ibid, p. vi. 
