26 Sport and Life. 



which I never experienced in all the winters I have spent in 

 different parts of the West, some of them in regions a good deal 

 further north, I could have delighted many more sportsmen's hearts 

 with trophies such as are now unobtainable, and made my own 

 collection a more ample one. But of course in those days one had 

 no idea that the extermination of big game would take place with 

 such appalling rapidity. Tens of thousands were butchered for the 

 sake of a few shillings obtained for the skin. The end to our good 

 time came with a heavy fall of snow and the commencement of the 

 cold spell, to which reference has already been made. Shooting 

 became practically impossible, and for days raging blizzards 

 prevented one leaving the " dug out " at all. When our stock of 

 flour, tea, and sugar began to wane, we thought it about time 

 to make a break for the fort. It was decidedly the unpleasantest 

 journey I had ever taken. What the extremest cold was I had 

 no opportunity to ascertain, for the quicksilver in my thermometer 

 congealed, but at the fort spirit instruments marked, we were told, 

 52 Fahrenheit below zero, or 84 of frost, during the week we were 

 on the journey down from the Sierra Soshone. For a couple of 

 days we were travelling over a bare, steppe-like tableland, which 

 looked on those December days, without exception, the most dreary 

 spot man ever set eyes on. The wind there was so fierce that 

 it was impossible to put up the tent or find any other shelter. 

 From Fort Washakie there were still 155 miles to Green River 

 City (the nearest railway station), and two passes, one of io,oooft. 

 above the sea, had to be crossed. And yet would not one 

 willingly undergo the same passing hardships were sport such as 

 then rewarded one's efforts still obtainable ? But railways, 

 ranchemen, and miners have taken possession of what was once 

 the sportsman's paradise. Many parts of Montana, Wyoming, 

 and Idaho are still worth visiting for the sake of sport, but the old 

 glory of those States is gone never to return. 



