Camping and Hunting in the Shoshone 



from year's end to year's end, are not only 

 not encouraged to make themselves ac- 

 qainted with the intricacies of the vast 

 mountain regions lying near them, but are 

 so hampered by a cheese-paring policy 

 that even a hunting-trip of a few weeks is 

 almost an impossibility. 



Now, an Indian outbreak may not be 

 likely to occur in the future, but it is still 

 far from impossible that it should occur. 

 Were the Crows (who still have the best 

 horses in the West, and claim perhaps 

 three thousand warriors) to go on the war- 

 path, there is no military force in that 

 region that could prevent them reaching 

 the mountains. Once there, for some 

 months at least, they could subsist on scat- 

 tered bands of cattle and game. Such an 

 outbreak would be followed by terrible 

 loss of life ; for all the country is now 

 studded with isolated ranches and small 

 settlements, and to dislodge them from 

 perhaps the most difficult natural fortress 

 imaginable, with United States infantry, 

 only accustomed to barrack-square tactics, 

 and such cavalry as might be attainable, 

 would be a costly task. 



No smarter officers, no keener sports- 

 men, are to be found anywhere than can 

 be found at our frontier posts, but, look 



63 



