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170 



THE AMEEICA]^ BISONS. 



animal is very rarely to be met with. A few years ago they were accus- 

 tomed to pass on the east side of Tm^tle Mountain^ through the Blue Hills 

 of the Souris^ but of late years their w^anderings in this direction have 

 ceased; experience teaching them that their enemies, the half-breeds, have 

 approached too near their haunts in that direction. , 



"The country about the west side of Turtle Mountain, in June, 1858, was 

 scored with their tracks at one of the crossing places on the Little Souris, as 

 if deep parallel ruts had been artificially cut down the hill-sides. These ruts, 



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often one foot deep and sixteen inches broad, w^ould converge from the 

 prairie for many miles to a favorite crossing or drinking place ; and they are 

 often seen in regions in which the buffalo is no longer a visitor. 



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" The great western herds winter between the south and north branches 

 of the Saskatchewan, south of the Touchwood Hills, and beyond the north 

 Saskatchewan in the valley of the Athabaska ; they cross the South Branch 



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in June and July, visit the prairies on the south side of the Touchwood Hill 

 range, and cross the Qu'appelle valley anywhere between the Elbow of the 

 South Branch and a few miles west of Fort EUice, on the Assinniboine. 



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They then strike for the Grand Coteau de Missouri, and their eastern flank 

 often approaches the Red Eiver herds coming north from the Grand Coteau. 

 They then proceed across the Missouri up the Yellow Stone, and return to 

 the Saskatchewan and Athabaska as winter approaches, by the flanks of the 

 Eocky Mountains. We saw many small herds, belonging to the w^estern. 

 bands, cross the Qu'appelle valley and proceed in single file towards the 

 Grand Coteau de Missouri in July 1858. The eastern bands, which we had 

 expected to find on the Little Souris, were on the main river (Red River is so 

 termed by the halfbreeds hunting in this quarter). They had proceeded 

 early thither, far to the south of their usual track, in consequence of the 



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devastating fires which swept the plains from the Rocky Mountains to Red 

 River in the autumn of 1857. We met bulls all moving south, when ap- 

 proaching Fort EUice ; they had come from their winter quarters near the 



As a o:eneral rule the Saskatchewan bands of buf- 



Touchwood Hill range, 

 falo go north durhig the autumn and south 

 Souris and main river bands go north-west 

 tunm." ^ Hind also states that the 

 flank of the Rocky Mountains.! 



during the summer. The Little 

 in summer and south-east in au- 



ts still frequented the eastern 



* Hind (J. IL), JSTarrativG o£ the Canadian Red River Expedition of 1857, and of the Assinniboine and 



Saskatehewan Exploring Expeditions of 1858, Vol. II, pp. 107-109. See also Vol. I, pp. 295; 306, 336, 

 342, 356. 



t Ibid., Vol. II, p. 106. 



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