June 25, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
B09 
Gountr}^. To-day there is not a wild elk in Nebraska, 
and probably there are not 100 wild antelope or mule 
deer. Even the whitetails that were formerly so numer- 
ous along the willowy bottoms of the Platte River have 
almost altogether disappeared. 
Good sport used to be had in Nebraska in those tim',s, 
chasing elk as we 
chased buffalo. A 
good horse was need- 
ed, for a band of trot- 
ting elk, even when 
they were fat, passed 
over the ground at a 
rapid rate, and chose 
ravines and sand hills 
where there were 
blowouts and gener^ 
ally the roughest 
country that they 
could find for their 
line of flight. Unless 
circumstances were 
such that a good 
start could be had on 
them, the chase was 
likely to be a long 
one unless your horse 
was very swift; but 
if you came close 
enough to them to 
seriously frighten 
them, so that they 
would breaktheir trot 
and run, they were 
likely to be overtaken 
_soon._ It seemed as 
if their wind gave out 
when they were 
obliged to run, and 
although the run is 
swifter than the trot 
it did not last nearly 
so long. 
The mountain 
sheep, now the shyest 
and wildest of North 
American game, had 
not then lost all its 
natural silliness. Then 
too it was often 
found out on the 
prairie at some con- 
siderable distance 
from any rough and 
rocky refuge. Some- 
times it might be 
seen far from any 
hills, feeding with 
the antelope, among which the ewes would hardly be 
noticed until they began to run. They were swift crea- 
tures too, and seemed to hold their own well with the 
antelope as all fled together. Sometimes if you came 
upon them suddenly on the prairie they would stand 
and stare with the same curiosity that the mule deer used 
to show. At that 
time the mountain 
goat was hardly 
known to sportsmen. 
It had been described 
of course, but except 
for Indians and per- 
sons living in its 
range the number of, 
people who had killed 
it could have been 
counted on the fin- 
gers of one hand. 
Wild fables were cur- 
rent about its activi- 
ty, its wisdom, and 
the difficulties and 
dangers of hunting it. 
It was not then 
known that the spe- 
cies is one of the 
tamest and most eas- 
ily approached of our 
wild animals, provid-' 
ed only the hunter 
has the legs and the 
lungs to clamber up 
to the heights which 
it frequents. 
In Nebraska on the 
head of the South 
Loup there were once 
rumors of a moose 
having been seen, but 
the identification of 
the animal has always 
been doubted. It was 
said to have been 
with a band of elk, 
and great stress was 
laid on the fact that it 
was black- It is 
more probable, how- 
ever, that it was nofc 
a moose at all, but 
an elk that had been 
wallowing in black 
mud, and so had 
changed its color, as 
elk so often do. The 
mostsoutheasterly lo- . 
cality in which we 
knoAV of moose hav- 
ing been taken is 
near Fort Fetterman, on the North Platte River, 
in Wyoming. Here in 1868 Wm. Roland killed a 
bull moose. 
Besides the wild game so abundant in the West in 
those times, which we now call "early days," there were 
the wild men, who lived by the pursuit of this game. 
Those were the days of the Indian wars, which had 
begun long before, and in which heroic fighting by 
both white man and red man, and cold-blooded and un- 
provoked massacres by white and red alike, often took 
place. The possibility of meeting hostile Indians gave 
a spice of added interest to Western travel in those days, 
and taught the traveler alertness, readiness of resource 
A RELIC OF THE WEST. 
Photo by E. Hofer. 
and self-reliance. Sometimes when you were chasing 
buffalo you suddenly found that your enemies were 
chasing him too, and bullets would begin to knock up 
the dirt about you, and you no longer cared for meat 
or hide, but hurried away to some place where you 
could stand off the Indians. Sometimes, when after 
SEPULTURE OF THE PLAINS. 
Drawn from a photograph by J. W. Schiiltz. 
killing a buffalo you were skinning it, mounted men 
would ride up out of some nearby ravine, and you Avere 
forced to make up your mind quickly whether you 
would fight or run. If you were smart and your horse 
was good you usually ran. 
Too little of the history of that old West has been 
written, but happily of lat? year^ a, few of thpse who 
took part in the stirring days of twenty-five years ago 
have put down on paper some of their" memories. That 
this early history has interest and value is shown by 
the fact that a well-lcnown publishing house is now 
issuing a series of volumes under the title "The Story 
of the West." In these volumes have been and will be 
recorded many a 
memory that is worth 
preserving. 
In the early 70s a 
very great part of our 
Western country was 
scarcel}'- better known 
than it was in Bonne- 
ville's time. Every 
summer exploring 
expeditions were sent 
out by the War De- 
partment and by vari- 
ous bureaus of the In- 
terior Department in 
the effort to find out 
more and more about 
our unknown domain. 
Then indeed guides 
were needed. Each 
army post had its 
force of guides and 
scouts, who were sup- 
posed to know inti- 
mately the surround- 
ing country, and that 
which was further off 
to some extent. Of 
course these men, ac- 
customed to travel 
alone over the wide 
prairie or through the 
rugged mountains, 
acquired to a greater 
or less extent that ad- 
ditional sense of lo- 
cality and direction 
which we so often see 
in men who spend 
much of their time 
out of doors and 
alone, and which may 
be assumed to be ap- 
plied experience. 
Most of these good 
men are dead now, 
lost in winter storms, 
killed by Indians or 
whites, or dead from 
natural causes. Only 
a few are left. 
Often in those old 
times young men got lost and sometimes perished, 
either from starvation or by being picked up by Indians, 
but it was really not half so easy to get lost "then as it 
is now, when the country is cut up in all directions by a 
confusing tangle of wagon roads and a not less annoying 
maze of barbed-wire fences. Then if a man wanted 
to go to a certain 
place he went there, 
turning aside only to 
avoid mountains or to 
look for fords across 
rivers. Now he has 
to follow a road and 
really needs a guide 
to direct him which 
one to take. 
In the Dakotas, 
Nebraska, Kansas, 
and even in States 
further west, the 
young men of to- 
day carry the shotgun 
and devote them- 
selves to the killing 
of little birds. Their 
fathers used the rifle, 
and the antelope 'and 
the turkey were the 
smallest creatures 
that they shot at. 
They had a contempt 
for the "scatter gun," 
an arm which in fact 
would have been use- 
less to them in their 
work of pioneefs, 
supporters of families, 
defenders of their 
homes against attacks 
by hostile Indians. 
We all know that 
the extermination of 
wild game in the 
West put an end to 
the Indian fighting, 
Avhich for years was a 
danger to settlers, an 
expense to the Gov- 
ernment and a trou- 
ble to the army. We 
all know that the 
country which sup- 
ports a million head 
of _ domestic cat- 
-tle is more valuable 
than one which sup- 
ported a million head 
of buffalo. Domestic 
sheep bring in more , 
money than antelope 
or deer. The country is getting rich and is being de- 
veloped, and it is all very nice, but there remain a few 
aged men who wish that there were left some place where 
they could go and make a little hunt and not hear the 
hills all about them echoing with the shots of other 
hunters. Yo. 
New York Cjtv, June, 
