FOREST AND STREAM. 
25 
Large fine work horses are used on his ranch, and 
lighter horses for cow and driving purposes. In win- 
ter he runs a private school close to his ranch and pays 
the teacher. He has tried the mission schools, but they 
1\'ere too slow and worshipped the past. He wants his 
cliildren to progress and look to the future, ilis wife is 
a full blood Flathead. 
There were three children at home, a good-looking 
girl of about i6, who keeps books for her father and 
keeps account of all his many business transactions; a boy 
of about 12, who seemed to have his father's rustle and 
go. There was a younger boy; all could answer almost 
any kind of a business question. 
The ranch contains some 450 acres of good farming 
and grass land. It is situated on the east side of the 
valley close to the belt of timber. He has large irrigat- 
ing ditches. lie has a barn that will shelter 100 head 
of stock. AH kinds of improved harvesting and hay- 
ing machinery are carefully housed. The broad level 
prairie rolls away to the west. Here is all a western 
man wants, plenty of fine timber, water and grass. His 
house is large and commodious, suitable £oif his busi- 
ness, and he is building an addition. 
The cowboys or herders of the ranch are living about 
ten miles west, on the Pend d'Oreille River. They have a 
good ferrj^ and a good hoitse and stable. 
I talked for about four hours Avith Mr. Pablo. His 
daughter got out the books and gave me the sales, which 
are kept as references. The Allard estate will some day 
took a chew of Climax plug, drew a long breath, turned 
pale behind the ears, and climbed into the saddle. When 
the bull was turned loose it was a very tame perform- 
ance. He could not twist a saddle, and the rider raked 
him with the spurs and rode him to a finish. They can- 
not jump high or land hard. The next rider rode his 
bareback, and said it was like riding work horses; a soft 
job. 
Range of the Hefd. 
The lower Flathead Valley, or Flathead Indian Re- 
serve, is the place where the bufifalo are kept. On the 
north is the Flathead Lake; on the east the high snow- 
capped Mission Range; on the west is the Bitter Root 
Range. The valley seems to be surrounded by high 
mountains. At the eastern part of the valley, at the 
foot of the Amission Range, are large fbrests extendi^ng 
out into the level part of the valley several miles. The 
Pend d'Oreille River runs through the western part of 
the valley, and between the river and timber are from 
ten to twenty miles of the finest grazing prairie coun- 
try in the West, comparatively level, with an occaBjona,! 
hill rising abruptly and forming small round huttes. A 
wagon can be driven almbst anywhere, as there ar^ low 
passes and level ground on all sides of these hills. Sev- 
eral small creeks come down from the Mission Moihi- 
tains, and flow west across, the valley and empty into 
the Pend d'Oreille River. The valley is abotit 35 nailes- 
long atid from 10 to 20 miles wide. ■">-• 
a mile wide. The calf swam easily under the lee of itai 
mother, and landed without apparent exhaustion. The 
■same swim is a hard job for a fat strong saddle horse. 
With the herder I rode down off the butte, where we 
had lain watching the herd. There were about one hun- 
dred head close by, and they were slowly grazing away 
from the water. We approached, giving the buffalo the 
wind of us, When we were within 300 yards of them 
they threw up their heads and came for us on a gallop. 
They gathered around us, snuffing and looking, the 
yearlings bucking and playing like domestic calves. _ We 
stood still and watched them. Most of them were within 
40 to So feet of us; a few old bulls were strung out be- 
hind, and they slowly came on, in our direction. There 
was no sign o^ fear or wildness; there was no indication 
of bad temper; just good-natured curiosity and playful- 
ness. We rode off and left them standing, looking after 
us. The cows were commencing to shed. All looked 
19 good flesh and thrifty. Not so with the range cattle 
close around, most of which were po6r and had a dis- 
tressed look after being fed hay for two months. 
Habits. 
Accounts differ somewhat as to the temper of bufifalo. 
Mi\ Ford, who manages Mr. Conrad's herd, told me they 
Vij6re as qasily handled by an intelligent man as a bunch of 
cattle. Mr, Pablo, who drove a part of his herd t^ 
Butte foe gxliibition purposes, said that as soon as they 
-were out one or two days, they handled fully as easily as 
have to be settled. Mr. Pablo, as I understand him, is 
guardian for the smaller children. Pablo owns half, and 
the Allard estate the other half interest in the buffalo. 
There is a great danger of the herd being divided and 
scattered (or one-half scattered), as one of the Allard 
boys insists on being a Wild West showman and is rapid- 
ly getting rid of his portion of the herd. I was given 
to understand that there must be some kind of a definite 
division this season. Herein lies the greatest menace to 
the herd. 
Pablo told me of an exhibition they gave in Butte 
City some years ago. When they purchased the Buf- 
falo Jones herd, or as they call them, the Winnepeg 
buffalo, Allard, who went east to ship them out, sug- 
gested that Pablo take a bunch of Flathead buffalo, 
drive them to Butte City and meet the herd from the 
east there. They would then give a show in the fair 
grounds at Butte. The buffalo were handled easily, and 
they arrived in Butte after a drive of about 150 miles. 
There were present bronco busters that could ride any- 
thing that walked on four legs; they were to ride the 
hig bulls at the tail end of the show. The eastern herd 
came in by rail, and when they were turned loose with 
the others, there were many hard fights between the two 
herds. 
The show was a success. Broncos were ridden to a 
finish, all kind of wild west roping was done with credit; 
tlien came the riding of the buffalo. This was "a new 
one" on cowboys. Wild Texas steers had been ridden 
for July 4 celebration for generations; there was no re- 
cord of a man forking a buffalo. 
Two of the best riders were singled out for this. 
Neither of the busters was anxious for the first ride, and 
they drew cuts to see who would have to climb the hump 
of the first bull. The first man to ride was a noted 
horse rider. He would crawl on the wildest cayuse as 
though it were pastime. A large husky bull, j'^oung and 
active, was roped by Pablo and heeled by another man; 
the rope was run through a hole in a post and the Dui^ 
head was drawn up to the post. The buster complainea 
of not feeling well, when he saw the rolUng eye and 
fighting attitude of the bull. 
"Don't weaken now," said Pablo to the cowboy. "Go 
and throw in a couple of glasses of the worst whisky 
you can find; we wiU have him saddled before you get 
back." The cinch had to be lengthened to jat the bull, 
and the saddle was on before the would-be bi^alo buster 
had returned. After a look at the trembling and now thor- 
oughly aroused bull, he again complained of »ot feeling 
well. 
"Crawl him, son," said Pablo; "crawl him; see all these 
people here who have paid to see the wild son of the 
prairie ride the equally wild buffalo." The cowpuncher 
About ten miles below Flathead Lake, on the west 
side of the valley, and bordering the Pend d'Oreille River, 
is the range of the buffalo. On the bench land and about 
five miles east of the river, is the summer range. There 
are a number of lakes here wJiere the buffalo usually 
water, but in the hot summer Avhen the lakes go dry, the 
buffalo go to the river. It is an ideal spot for this last 
remnant of the greatest of American game. The range 
is rather short, but the buffalo seem to be in befter 
flesh than either horses or cattle. 
Their winter range is on the low bald mountains west 
of the Pend d'Oreille River. In December the buffjilo 
commence coming from their summer range in small 
bunches. They swim the river of their owii accOrd and 
take up their winter range on the bald hills bordering 
the west side of the river. 
The snow sometimes gets very deep in the valley, and 
all stock must be fed; not so with the buft'alo. In tke 
coldest weather they can be found bedded down in the 
snow with their h^ads to the wind, ai;.d seem to be con- 
tented. A buffalo keeps his head to the storm; all other 
stock turn tail and drift with it. Sometimes the ther- 
mometer drops to thirty degrees below zero, but the 
herder said he had never seen a buffalo which seemed 
to be cold. 
When the snow goes in the spring and the ice goe's 
out of the river, the buffalo come to the stream and swim 
to their summer range. Sometimes a small bunch will 
be slow in coming, but the herder will give them a, start 
toward the river, and they will keep on until they ffeach 
the summer range. They are handled about the same 
as range cattle; the so-called herder is merely a range 
rider, although everybody here called him the buft'alo 
herder. 
Tame Buffalo at Home. 
The herder, Jimmy Michel, is a very intelligent mixed 
blood, and took me out to see the buft'alo. To him I 
am indebted for much information. We were ridij:ig fOr 
several hours, and he gave me a chance to see about twq 
hundred buft'alo. From a high butte a hunrber Qf ^iiajl 
bands could be seen, while close to us, stringing- c$it iff 
single file and coming to water, was a herd of about o5ie 
hundred. The day was calm and warm, and we lay in 
the sun on the butte and watched the buffalo ccrnle b\ 
to water. Sometimes a cloud of dust would rise front- 
around a water hole, and an old bull would be seen horn- 
ing the gi'ound and throwing up the dust in the air. 
Jimmy told me of a cow and calf which stayed oTi the 
winter range until late. One morning she tame to the 
river with a calf not over twenty-four hours old. They 
took the water without any hesitation. The river at this 
time is high; it runs like a millrace, and is a quarter of 
domestic cattle. They were bedded down at night on the 
open prairie, and were a great deal easier to night-herd 
'than ordmary stock. A buffalo would rise in the night, 
feed .close to where he had been lying, and again lie down. 
Domestic cattle will attempt to graze away from the 
herd. 
In the ruttitlg season the bulls fight, and then all agree 
that it is best to leave them alone. I failed to get any 
story of any one being hurt by a buft'alo. Sometimes a 
bull is seriously hijured in a fight. At this season domes- 
tic bulls_ leave them alone. The buffalo usually wins a 
battle with a domestic bull very easily when weights are 
even. During the rut the bulls are self-willed and°hard to 
manage, but every one seems to believe that at other sea- 
sons they are no more dangerous than a band of range 
stock. I stood in the Conrad inclosure, and two old 
bulls fed up £0 within forty feet of me. They had the 
wind of me. One young bull took some notice 
of me, but .the others merely turned somewhat from 
their course and grazed past. No buffalo of either the 
Pablo-Allard or Conrad herd are branded. 
Pablo told me of a buffalo bull which fought for three 
days with a large muley polled angus bull. They would 
fight until tired out, then rest and renew the conflict; the 
buft'alo finally won the battle. 
The herder told me of one cow which — when her calf 
was very young— always came out and chased him and his 
horse for several hundred yards. Sometimes she gave 
bun a hard run to get away. After a few days, she was 
all right again. 
The bulls fight much as do domestic cattle. The herder 
told me that when one bull got the advantage, and the 
other turned to run, the stronger bull would lunge vicious- 
ly, and often tore the other in the flank and hindquarters 
When, the Buffalo Jones herd and the Pablo herd met iii 
Butte^ there was plenty of fighting, but no serious re- 
gult!^.. I dfd not learn at what season this meeting took 
place. Pablo and the herder said the bulls— in season- 
were Continually fighting. 
Mr. I'ord. of Ccnrad's herd, maintained there was no 
fighting at rutting season. A bull would cut a cow out 
o£ the, herd and driTe her off to some other part of the 
plisture. 
M|. Ford said that a cow in calving gave no sign, as 
usually shown by domestic cows. She would be uneasy 
£tnd restless? then she would leave the herd, and in two 
•^^^t f '^ome back with a calf by her side. 
The Conrad herd are kept in confinement. There are 
double the number of cows to bulls, which may account 
for the atrsence of fighting at the rutting season. They 
W(?ro changed from their range, where they were as free 
^ M possible to be in these days, to the Conrad in- 
clDSiire. This was ail done, and the actions of the herd 
