The King of the Plains 15 



the west, said in his picturesque language 

 that the country was one buffalo robe, from 

 East to West, from North to South. 



Even as late as the early seventies, an 

 army officer in riding through the Dakotas 

 and Montana traveled for six weeks without 

 losing sight of buffalo. No matter whether 

 it was morning, midday, or evening, upon 

 the crest of a swell, or in a coulee, the vast 

 rolling plains were always dotted with 

 buffalo. Buffalo standing up and lying 

 down, some eating grass and others content- 

 edly chewing their cuds, but always buffalo. 

 Another army officer tells of his experience 

 farther south, in Arkansas, where he en- 

 countered a portion of the southern herd. 

 This herd was fairly compact and moving 

 rapidly, and as near as he could estimate, 

 was seventy miles long, and thirty miles 

 wide. For three days the bison galloped by, 

 while a squad of puny American soldiers 

 cowered in a sheltering ravine, not daring 



