AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



25 



divide the train to overcome the heavy grade. When we reached Omaha 

 at 9 a. M. of the 22nd, the train was nearly three days overdue. It was 

 also the last train that made the run over the Union Pacific Railroad that 

 winter, owing to a snow-blockade which lasted for several months. 



As I had already made an arrangement by letter with Clarkson of Hays 

 City for a winter buffalo hunt, we left Omaha for Kansas City at 4 p. m. 

 of the same day, reaching Kansas City at 4 a. m. of the 23rd. Here I ob- 

 tained free passes to Ellis and return for Mr. Bennett and myself, and 

 transportation for our specimens on the return trip to Kansas City at half 

 rates, and thence east to Boston by the Merchant's Union Express Company 

 on the same terms. At 10.45 p. m. we were again on a train bound west 

 over the Kansas Pacific. At 11 a. m. the next day we were stalled in a snow 

 drift near Bunkerhill. At Bunkerhill we found five freight trains, eleven 

 engines and a snowplow stalled in the snow. At 3 p. m. orders were received 

 for all trains to remain here till the storm abated. At 8.30 a. m. the next day 

 (December 25) our train, equipped with a snowplow, started on its journey 

 (temperature 12° F. below zero), but in an hour we were again stuck fast in 

 the snow in a cut, but were finally pushed through by two freight engines 

 attached to the rear end of the train. A delay of an hour at Fossil, for 

 switching, gave the passengers, at 11a. m., an opportunity to procure a 

 luncheon of crackers and cheese, — our Christmas dinner and the first food 

 we had had since the previous evening. 



We reached Hays, thirty miles west of Fossil, that evening. Within 

 sight of the station were five stalled trains, each with two locomotives. 

 Behind us were two freight trains with 'double-headers/ and two snowplows, 

 one propelled by three engines and the other by four. During the following 

 night the wind refilled the cuts behind us between Walker and Bunkerhill, 

 causing another blockade. 



On the 26th I went to Clarkson's ranch and found he was at Coyote, 

 fifty miles further west; but there was no train west till the evening of the 

 28th, when we reached Coyote, at 9.30 p. m. Fortunately the weather had 

 now moderated, and on the 29th we went to Clarkson's camp and made 

 arrangements with him for another buffalo hunt. At this time we were in 

 quest of skins for mounting; our summer hunt, as already stated, w T as 

 primarily for skeletons. Two weeks earlier buffalo had been abundant as 

 far east as Coyote, but they had been so relentlessly persecuted by hunters 

 that they had moved west and were now massed chiefly between Sheridan 

 and Wallace, about one hundred miles to the westward. Between one 

 hundred and one hundred and fifty hunters were said to be in constant 

 pursuit of them. It was roughly estimated that at least 15,000 buffalo had 

 been killed along the Kansas Pacific Railroad during the year (1871). 



