167 A STEP BACKWARD. 
fed to them and the fact was advertised so extensively 
that many stockmen quit entirely putting up hay or just 
enough for an emergency storm, believing, as many of 
them did, that this section of the country was as safe 
for unsheltered stock as southeastern Colorado or New 
Mexico. Z 
In the spring round-up of the ‘‘bunches,” an esti- 
mate would be made of the missing cattle by their own- 
ers and the loss by freezing and starvation during the 
winter would be calculated coldly as so much per cent, 
ranging all the way from twelve to sixty. 
In the per cent calculation no cognizance was taken 
of the suffering of the stock by the bitter cold, or of 
the weak and tasteless grass, bleached and frosted by 
alternate rains and frosts of early autumn. At other 
times great stretches of prairies were burned over and 
upon this black and cheerless waste the cattle drifted 
from an artic storm, and upon which the poor starved 
and bewildered beasts sought in vain for even a mouth- 
ful of grass. 
During the winter of 1886-7 and 1887-8 some of the 
most distressing scenes were witnessed from the car 
windows by travelers over the Northern Pacific railroad 
west of the Missouri River. This was especially true 
during the first named winter. The snow during January 
and February was over 18 inches on the level but had 
drifted badly in places, but a heavy crust of frozen ice 
baffled the attempts of the cattle to reach it. Along the 
railroad the prairies were burned, and here during the 
worst storms the cattle had drifted. The poor creatures 
stood for days huddled under culverts and bridges, and 
looking up with glassy eyes tothe fast appearing and- 
