224 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



ship. We saw white tail deer ahnost every day — they were 

 found all along the timbered streams and weedy ravines, and 

 often were seen traveling from one patch of timber or brush 

 to another. Antelope were never out of sight when we were 

 on high land where a distant view could be had. There were 

 numerous signs of elk in several places, but not very fresh. 

 They had been here not very long before in good big herds. 



From the time of the first settlement of Antelope coun- 

 ty in the early fall of 1868 up to the month of April 1873, 

 white tail deer and antelope were very numerous. There 

 were also frequent herds of elk, and in the rough parts of 

 the county not a few black tail deer. The April storm of 

 1873 — the most destructive storm ever known since the set- 

 tlement of Nebraska began — killed off thousands of the wild 

 animals. They were never as numerous afterward. When 

 the storm came on, I was at work in Sherman county exam- 

 ining and appraising land for the B. & M. railroad com- 

 pany. After the storm was over so I could get to work 

 again, I found one elk, and scores of antelope and white tail 

 deer that were killed by the storm. There were also many 

 birds killed, especially robins, larks, blackbirds and prairie 

 chickens. I do not believe that wild animals and birds, were 

 ever so plentiful again in Nebraska after that storm as they 

 were before. However, they multiplied to quite an extent, 

 so that by the middle of the seventies there were a great 

 many elk and deer of both kinds in the counties west and 

 southwest of Antelope county, but antelope gradually became 

 more scarce, apparently having forsaken this country as a 

 breeding ground. 



The winter of 1880 was a hard one on the wild animals. 

 It began about the middle of October, snow-storm succeed- 

 ing snow-storm throughout the winter months, and leaving 

 large drifts well into May. That winter nearly used up 

 what were left of the deer. There were almost none left in 

 Antelope county and very few farther west. I made three 



