Hunting American Big Game 



in the extreme, and men and animals are 

 sure to suffer for want of good water ; for 

 after leaving Sage Creek on the other side 

 of the Gap, there is no water to be had 

 until Stinking Water River * is reached. 

 But all things must have an end ; and at 

 last, late in the evening, we find ourselves 

 encamped on the banks of that stream, 

 beautiful despite its unfortunate name. 



Fording the river the next morning, not 

 a very terrifying operation in its present 

 low stage, we climb the steep bank, and 

 soon begin our long ascent of the divide 

 that separates us from our ranch and Grey- 

 bull River. Accompanied by an immense 

 amount of expletives and very bad lan- 

 guage, the mules are finally induced to 

 gain the summit. Here even the most 

 casual observer could not fail to be im- 

 pressed with the magnificent and appar- 

 ently indefinite expanse of mountain sce- 

 nery that, turn which way he will, meets 

 his view. However, we have no time to 

 linger ; and picking our way among the 

 countless buffalo wallows which indent the 

 level surface of the summit, the wagon, 



* Bancroft, in his account of the early explorations of Wyoming, 

 refers to this river as follows : " It is a slander to use this non- 

 descriptive name for an inoffensive stream. The early trappers 

 took it from the Indians, who, in their peculiar fashion, called it 

 ' the river that ran by the stinking water,' referring to bad-smelling 

 hot springs on its banks." 



