122 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 11, 1886. 



RAILROAD ROUTES FROM BILLINGS TO COOKE CITY. 



gradients and curvatures will be light. The average cost 

 per mile should not be more than $5,000. There is only one 

 point at which there will be any heavy work. This is at the 

 canon, forty-one miles from the mouth of the river, where 

 there will be a rock cutting of perhaps four thousand cubic 

 yards. From the mouth of the river up to this point there 

 will be only light work, and while, for the remaining fifteen 

 miles, there will be some little rock work, there will be noth- 

 ing which can fairly be called heavy work. 



For the first forty-one miles, that is from Stillwater up to 

 the mouth of the canon, the grade will not exceed eighty feet 

 to the mile. From the canon to the Forks, it will not be over one 

 hundred feet to the mile, while from the Forks to Henderson 

 Mountain it will somewhat exceed this. This last grade may 

 be in a measure avoided, however, by lengthening the 

 road a little, and first running up the East Fork a short 

 distance, and then doubling back and running up the West 

 Fork. 



An important point in favor of this route is that the topog- 

 raphy of the valley is such that at all of the points along the 

 route, where the snow drifts, the road can at very small cost 

 be kept above ground, thus avoiding all danger of snow 

 blockades. There being no divide to cross, the grade will 

 all be one way, and therefore all the road's heavy freight- 

 its carloads of ore— will be hauled down hill— a great saving. 



The Clark's Fork route is, as we have remarked, longer, 

 and there are one or two places where the grades are heavy. 

 The route keeps well back from the canon, however, and 

 except at the point between Dead Indian and Iron Water 

 Creek there appear to be no very serious obstacles to be over, 

 come. We print a sketch map of the region under consider- 

 ation, in which the three routes named are roughly delineated. 

 The Clark's Fork route follows pretty closely the wagon 

 road; the Rocky Fork route follows the U. 8. Mail route to 

 Red Lodge and then follows the dotted pack trail, while the 

 Stillwater route follows up the valley of that river to Hender- 

 son Mountain. Some one of these three should be chosen, 

 for no railroad should ever be allowed to penetrate the Yel- 

 lowstone Park. 



The projectors of railroads cannot plead any reasonable 

 necessity of invading the Park, and endangering its forest 

 preserves. 



Dr. W. H. Winslow, of Pittsburgh, Pa., whose "Cruise 

 of the Pilgrim" has furnished such acceptable reading in our 

 Yachting columns for several weeks past, is the author of a 

 book which is a story of the late war, entitled "Cruising and 

 Blockading." It is a book for "boys both young and old." 



TO THE WALLED-IN LAKES. 



XIV.— A BEAR PIPE DANCE. 



I HAD not forgotten that I had a vow to pay. Once the 

 Sun had been kind to me, and though I bore him but 

 slight good will, I felt that I must give the Bear Pipe a dance, 

 as I had promised. 



The morning after our arrival at the Agency, therefore, 

 we sent over to old Red Eagle, the most potent of the medi- 

 cine men of the Pegunny, to ask him if he would unwrap 

 the Bear Pipe for us. Red Eagle is a relative of Appekunny, 

 and for this reason it was hoped that his reply would be 

 favorable. We were not disappointed. Word came back 

 from the old man that three hours before sunset he would be 

 ready for us. We therefore sent to bis lodge some tea, bread 

 and tobacco, together with a large bag of dried sarvice ber- 

 ries, these last being in some way "medicine" and an indis- 

 pensable accompaniment of this ceremony. Then toward 3 

 o'clock Mr. Kipp, Appekunny and I drove over to Two Medi- 

 cine, where Red Eagle's camp was. As we passed down into 

 the bottom and pulled up near the lodges, a pack of about 

 forty dogs of all sizes, colors and ages, dashed out from the 

 brush and the lodges, and with furious barkings, snappings 

 and snarlings, rushed upon us like a whirlwind; but their 

 bark was far worse than their bite, if, indeed, they had this 

 last at all, and when they got within a few feet of us, all 

 their clamor changed to welcoming tail wags, and they 

 seemed very glad to' see us. 



We found that Red Eagle's preparations were not com- 

 pleted, and while waiting we strolled over to the spot 

 near the camp, where in ancient days the Pegunny used to 

 jump the buffalo off the cliff. This is a high sandstone bluff, 

 which was once a vertical cliff rising fifty feet above the val- 

 ley, but it has now weathered down so that there are two 

 benches, each one about twenty-five feet high with a very 

 steep slope beneath each. The ground at the base of the 

 bluff is liberally sprinkled with minute fragments of the 

 bones and teeth of buffalo, but parts which are still recog 

 nizable are rare. Occasionally a badly-decayed vertebra may 

 be seen, or rib, or fragment of a leg bone which had been 

 covered up by the soil and so preserved from the general de- 

 cay. To the Indians the place is still sacred, and to mark 

 it they have built up and keep in repair a pyramid of buffalo 

 horns. This memorial is about three feet in diameter and a 

 foot or two high. It was once much larger, for the soil 

 about its base seems entirely composed of fragments of de- 

 cayed horns. All those which now compose the pile are very 

 old and rotten, but the Indians still give the heap attention, 



piling it up whenever it is blown down or knocked over by 

 the horses, which like to feed at the base of this cliff, where 

 the grass, nourished by the decay of thousands of buffalo 

 carcasses, is luxuriantly thick and green. 



We looked in vain for arrow points or stone implements of 

 any kind. For many years, sand and stones have been wash- 

 ing down from the bluff in the rain and the wind, and any 

 articles that were once lost here have long since been cov- 

 ered up. 



Returning to Red Eagle's lodge, we found that the prepa- 

 rations for the ceremony were not yet completed. I sat 

 down on a log near the lodge and began to make friends with 

 the small children, who were nearly as numerous as the dogs. 

 There was one little fellow about two years old who quite 

 won my heart by his genial smile and general air of cordial- 

 ity. His clothing consisted of several strings of beads, a 

 buckskin thong about the neck to which was attached a 

 medicine stone, and an extremely abbreviated shirt, which 

 came down just to his lower ribs. The rest of his person 

 was covered only by a thick coating of mud. He had evi- 

 dently been playing in some half dried up puddle. This 

 young savage marched up to me in the most confiding way, 

 and after shaking hands in a matter-of-course fashion, quite 

 as if we had been equals, he clambered up on my knee, and, 

 havirjg inspected my watch and chain and notebook until 

 satisfied, sat there blandly watching the antics of his seniors. 

 It appeared to be a favorite amusement of these children, 

 from five to ten years of age, to surprise the unhappy dogs 

 when asleep by the lodges or playing near them, and beat 

 them with long twigs and pieces of brush vood until the 

 wretched curs took refuge in the brush with most melancholy 

 howlings, while the young Indians screamed with delight. 

 I found that my tiny friend was very much such a child as 

 a white infant of the same age would have been, and was 

 amused at the same things; but he was far better able to 

 take care of himself than a white child of three times his 

 years. 



At length Appekunny called me, and with him I entered 

 the lodge, in which were already seated a number of Indians. 

 Red Eagle sat at the back, with the fire between himself and 

 the door, and at his left was a space, where— in the place of 

 honor— we seated ourselves. The lodge was quite full. 

 Several of the women had their babies, either on their backs 

 or between their knees. On the right of the Bear Man was 

 his wife, the Bear Woman. 



Red Eagle was a large, fine looking man of majestic 

 presence. His massive face, which had a kindly benignant 

 expression, was framed in his long gray hair which hung 

 down over his broad shoulders. He is one of the oldest men 

 in the tribe, and is now quite blind. 



When all were seated there was a little pause, and then 

 the Bear Woman took up a dried willow branch, which had 

 two parallel twigs close together, to answer for a pair of 

 tongs, and lifted from the fire a live coal, which she placed 

 on the ground before the Bear Man. The latter then began 

 to sing a low monotonous chant in a minor key, in which, 

 after a few moments, all the other Indians joined. The song 

 was very plaintive and melancholy. While singirjg Red 

 Eagle interrupted himself every now and then to exclaim, 

 Nl-ai', my shelter or robe, the other Indians continuing to 

 siDg. After a few moments he reached his hand under the 

 blanket on which he was sitting, and drew forth a small 

 pouch, which he passed to the Bear Woman. She slowly 

 untied it and took from it a pinch of the dried needles of 

 the sweet pine, which she held over the coal. Then the 

 Bear Man sang four times, and as the music would rise and 

 fall the Bear Woman's hand would rise and fall over the 

 coal. At the end of the fourth song the Man stretched out 

 his hand and made a downward gesture, as if placing on, 

 and the Bear Woman let fall the incense on the coal. Im- 

 mediately the fragrant perfume of the burning leaves filled 

 the lodge. The singing continued a little longer, but at; 

 length there was a pause. Then, both Bear Man and Woman 

 stretched out their hands over the smoke of the burning 

 sweet pine, and rubbed them together. Then they took 

 smoke in their hands and rubbed it over their wrists and 

 forearms, and afterward, taking more, passed it over their 

 heads, shoulders and upper arms. They also took handfuls 

 of tke smoke and seemed to eat it, so that they might purify 

 themselves without and within. 



Then raising his face toward the Sun, the Bear Man 

 prayed, saying: 



"Hear, Above People, hear, Thunder, those animals [i. e., 

 his secret helpers or medicine animals] hear too. Kim-o-tit, 

 Kim-o-iit, Kim-o-lit. Pity us, pity us, pity us. Let us live, 

 let us live. Give us full life. Let us [become] old. Listen. 

 Appekunny, let him survive. In his wandering about, let no 

 danger befall him from bad beasts, or dangers that are on the 

 trail. Let his wife and boy that child with hair like the sun, 

 live to be very old, and have plenty of everything. Joe, let 

 him live. Keep him when he is traveling. Protect him 

 from all dangers, from perils from animals, and from all 

 dangers on the trail. Let his wife and child live and have 

 abundance. And their young brother, let him survive. Care 

 for him and keep him safe from danger, everywhere he may 

 be. 



' All people let live. Oh, Creator, have pity on the people, 

 so that they may live well, free from danger. Oh [pipe] tell 

 them [u e. ail Above People] have pity on us. May all 

 people have full life. Give everybody heavy bodies. Let 

 ' the young people grow; increase their flesh. Let all men, 



