88 BOOK OF A HUNDRED BEARS 



It was said of him that he could, with a piece of 

 charcoal, draw on the skin side of a buffalo robe, a 

 complete map of the Rocky Mountains, with 

 every stream and watershed and pass. He had a 

 natural instinct for direction. He guided Sydney 

 Johnston's army in the campaign against the 

 Mormons. His trading post on the Platte was, for 

 thirty years, the outpost of ci\dlization, and his 

 stories were the delight, envy and awe of all new- 

 comers. 



For instance, one of his favorite stories of the 

 Park was the time that he sighted an elk and fired 

 at him. To his surprise, nothing happened. He 

 neither killed nor even frightened the elk. Creep- 

 ing close he fired again. Still nothing happened. 

 Time after time, still creeping closer, he fired 

 his trusty '^Old Betsy" without effect. Finally 

 he discovered that between him and the elk was a 

 cliff of glass, through which he could not only see 

 the elk three miles away, but which, by its lens-like 

 character, made the game appear within easy rifle 

 shot. As a matter of fact, there is a glass cliff 

 (obsidian — volcanic glass) in the Park, but it is far 



