Survey, $1,500 was pledged by the National Associa- 
tion of Audubon Societies, making a total fund of 
$2,070 for immediate use in constructing a fence about 
a small area, so that the herd could be moved for the 
relief of Mr. Gilbert. Therefore the pasture as it now 
stands has an area of about two hundred aeres, and it 
has been planned with a view to its use as a permanent 
exhibition pasture for a selected number of game 
animals. The large pasture will join on the east side, 
and the buffalo or other game animals can be shifted 
from one enclosure to the other. 
It was not difficult work transferring the buffalo 
from the Gilbert farm near Friend to Valentine and 
the reservation. What complecated the task was the 
fact that we had to handle three classes of animals of 
diverse natures and requiring different methods of cap- 
ture and treatment. The gift comprised seventeen elk, 
several deer and the six buffalo. It became necessary 
to divide the shipment and make two trips. A fourteen- 
mile haul by wagon to the railroad was necessary at 
Friend, with a four-mile haul at this end. The buffalo 
were in the crates about 44 hours, and I turned them 
into the pasture on January 21 without loss or accident. 
The bluffs across the river and the rolling table- 
lands beyond make a perfect background for our little 
buffalo group of 5 cows and heifers, one young bull and 
one little calf a month old. I know that the animals 
are happy in their new home. They have shed the 
restraint of an eighty acre pasture from their sides 
together with last winter’s coat of long hair, and almost 
daily enjoy the excitement of a genuine stampede. It 
is to be regretted that we do not have a hundred or more 
to dot and typify the landscape. 
FRED M. DILUE. 
Niobrara Reservation, 
May 25, 1913 
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