Hunting at High Altitudes 



were commonly on points or bottoms where there was 

 a good growth of cottonwood timber, and their estab- 

 lishment by woodchoppers was speculative. In winter 

 or early spring two or three men would go to this 

 place, chop many cords of wood and pile it at a con- 

 venient landing place, in the hope of selling it to the 

 steamboats at a good price during the following sum- 

 mer. The men who engaged in this business were 

 commonly known as "wood-hawks." They led lives 

 of adventure and often of considerable danger. Hos- 

 tile Indians and in those days all Indians were hos- 

 tile were likely at any time to discover the location 

 of these "wood-hawks" and to try to kill them. On 

 the other hand, the "wood-hawks" were aware of 

 their danger and kept a sharp lookout for Indian 

 sign. Often they were provided with field glasses, 

 and often they made a business of proceeding each 

 day by some safe route to a high lookout point from 

 which the neighboring country might be viewed. 

 Still, these men were occasionally killed, and an 

 occasion is recalled when six men, who had started 

 out to do this work, were not heard of again until 

 some traveler along the river found their dead bodies 

 and their half burned cabin. 



10. Fort Buford was a military post at the site of 

 old Fort Union at the mouth of the Yellowstone River. 

 It was established June 13, 1866. Fort Union, accord- 

 ing to Maximilian, was begun in 1829. It was a large 

 post, said by Chittenden to have been 240 x 220 feet, 

 the shorter side facing the river, and was surrounded 

 by a palisade of squared logs about a foot thick and 



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