THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS 6g 



originated. The Yellowstone River is again rising fast, 

 and Mr. Kipp will have tough times before he reaches 

 Fort Alexander, which was built by Mr. Alexander Cul- 

 bertson, our present host, and the Company had it hon- 

 ored by his name. When a herd of Buffaloes is chased, 

 although the bulls themselves run very swiftly off, their 

 speed is not to be compared to that of the cows and year- 

 lings ; for these latter are seen in a few minutes to leave 

 the bulls behind them, and as cows and young Buffaloes 

 are preferable to the old males, when the hunters are well 

 mounted they pursue the cows and young ones invariably. 

 Last winter Buffaloes were extremely abundant close to 

 this fort, so much so that while the people were engaged 

 in bringing hay in carts, the Buffaloes during the night 

 came close in, and picked up every wisp that was dropped. 

 An attempt to secure them alive was made by strewing 

 hay in such a manner as to render the bait more and more 

 plentiful near the old fort, which is distant about two 

 hundred yards, and which was once the property of Mr. 

 Sublette and Co. ; but as the hogs and common cattle 

 belonging to the fort are put up there regularly at sunset, 

 the Buffaloes ate the hay to the very gates, but would not 

 enter the enclosure, probably on account of the different 

 smells issuing therefrom. At this period large herds slept 

 in front of the fort, but just before dawn would remove 

 across the hills about one mile distant, and return towards 

 night. An attempt was made to shoot them with a can- 

 non — a four-pounder ; three were killed and several 

 wounded. Still the Buffaloes came to their sleeping 

 ground at evening, and many were killed during the 

 season. I saw the head of one Mr. Culbertson shot, 

 and the animal must have been of unusual size. 



J^ulf 1, Saturday. It was still raining when I got up, 

 but a few minutes later the sun was shining through one 

 of our windows, and the wind being at northwest we an- 

 ticipated a fine day. The ground was extremely wet and 



