March, 1921 
FOREST AND STREAM 
107 
We killed numbers of them in, the corn 
fields after this, big, strong November 
birds, and at no time did we consider 
them difficult to bag, when within range 
and besides, we were shooting without 
dogs, which was a great handicap. 
Resuming our journey, we were awed 
and inspired by the vastness of the 
apparently limitless prairie. How 
much more imposing it must have been 
before it was defaced by the hand of 
man. I could, in imagination, see the 
ground covered with the carpet of lush 
grass and beautiful flowers of summer, 
and in autumn see the great herds of 
buffalo go thundering across the plains, 
pursued by the Indian hunters on their 
wiry ponies, while great bands of fleet- 
footed antelope circled out on either 
hand. What a country it must have 
been in those days of adventure! As 
it lay before us in the sere brown col- 
ors of autumn, we were constantly re- 
minded of the great salt meadows of 
the eastern seaboard. 
A FTER riding several more miles, 
Aleck again pointed his whip and 
said: “There’s Old Man Scott’s 
where we are heading for; the sloughs 
are just beyond.” Then we could see 
in the distance, a slight elevation in 
the prairie, with a small house on it 
and a wind-break of cotton-wood trees 
about twenty feet high on the north 
and west sides. Soon after this we 
reached our distinaton and met the pro- 
prietor. 
We found Mr. John Scott or “Old 
Man Scott,” as he was generally called, 
to be a canny Scotch-Canadian. He 
had been a lumberman in his youth, 
and having received a grievous physical 
injury, had given up his vocation and 
immigrated from Canada to Kansas in 
the early sixties, with his wife (whose 
dark, wavy hair and witty tongue be- 
trayed the blood of Erin) and little 
ones. Being among the first settlers, 
with great good judgment, he chose 
this elevation facing the sloughs as his 
home, and built his regulation shack. 
Here he took up all the land allowed 
him by law, and as his children reached 
the proper age, had them file on land 
also, until in time he had title to a large 
acreage of the choicest land in that vi- 
cinity. Here he and his good wife 
reared their numerous family; here 
they struggled through the long years 
of the grasshopper plague, the chinch 
bug visitations, and the devastating hot 
southwest winds that boiled their wheat 
crops in their own milk. Under great 
privations, the strictest economy, and 
by heavily mortgaging their land, they 
came through. 
On our arrival they were about finish- 
ing the harvesting of their second good 
crop of wheat and corn, the mortgage 
had been paid in full, and they were 
celebrating the event by building a 
lean-to on three sides of the shack (the 
masons were just finishing the plaster- 
ing on our arrival). Mr. Scott had 
also just installed for his wife their 
first coal stove, and an Estey organ built 
at Washington, N. J. (near my own 
home) as a present for his two unmar- 
ried daughters, who, with one son, a 
youth of sixteen years, were still home. 
The story of those years of privation 
filled me with admiration for Mrs. 
Scott, whose resourcefulness and steady 
courage had so much to do with their 
success. You housekeepers of this day 
of steam heaters, electricity, gasoline 
and blue-flame oil stoves, try and im- 
agine doing your cooking and keeping 
your house warm with a sheet iron 
stove, and buffalo chips and twisted 
marsh grass for fuel. This was all she 
had the first year; after that corn cobs 
and sometimes corn on the ear were 
used. Think of this with the deep 
snows and zero weather so often preva- 
lent on the Kansas prairies in winter. 
Under these conditions she reared a 
family of nine robust, healthy children, 
and for many years her nearest neigh- 
bor was ten miles away. 
To our great disappointment Mr. 
Scott informed us that he could not 
provide for us as he had promised 
George, owing to the unsettled condi- 
tion of his domestic affairs with build- 
ing, etc., going on, but I asked for an 
audience with his better-half, and after 
promising to sleep in their straw stack, 
if necessary, if she would only give us 
our meals, she at last consented to our 
staying. Mr. Scott had no barns on his 
property. A small narrow building 
was his granary and harness room. 
For a stable he had a large hovel built 
of cedar poles that he had hauled over 
one hundred miles across the prairies. 
This hovel was covered deeply with a 
wheat straw stack from the threshing, 
and made a warm retreat for his stock 
in winter. 
Between the granary and hovel was a 
great pyramid of corn on the ear just 
as it had been piled up after husking, 
and brought in from his great corn 
fields near by. This vast heap of corn 
was open to all his stock, cattle, horses, 
turkeys, chickens, etc. The only thing 
fenced were his hogs, of which he had 
a fine herd of Berkshires. The waste 
was enormous, and seemed almost crim- 
inal to us from the economical east, but 
Mr. Scott only laughed when we men- 
tioned it to him; said he had more corn 
than he could ever get to market, and 
a little more or less would not matter. 
A T last we were ready for the 
ducks, and as we stepped around 
the great straw stack, and faced 
the sloughs, we were confronted with 
a picture that will remain with me while 
life lasts. 
Mr. Scott’s house was built facing the 
south. At a distance of perhaps half 
a mile, began the sloughs. I can close 
my eyes and see them yet. First was 
a shallow lake or pond of about one 
hundred acres, partly clear water, and 
partly over-grown with rushes. From 
this shallow lake in a southerly direc ■ 
tion ran an open water course or creek 
to another shallow pond, and so on in 
succession as far as the eye could see. 
This great expanse of lake and marsh 
was from a half mile to a mile in width. 
On the open water of the nearest pond 
sat scattered flocks of ducks, while 
from these were constantly passing other 
flocks to other portions of the lake trad- 
ing. Front a distance they looked like 
swarms of mosquitos. The conditions 
were ideal; never have I seen anything 
like it, a veritable duck paradise. 
As we passed down the gentle in- 
cline to the lake, as far as we could 
see to the south, ducks were in sight in 
the air, coming and going, a constant 
flight. It was almost a virgin field; 
for we saw but one other party of 
shooters in the several trips we made 
to this Eden. 
There was a thick fringe of rushes 
along the shore when we reached the 
lake, and from these sprang a flock of 
mallards within easy range. We gave 
them one full broadside of eight load* 
and gathered six beauties for a starter. 
This was a new country, and strange 
shooting for us, but we soon learned 
that the best spots to get shots were 
along the open water-ways, or creeks 
between the ponds; these were fly- ways. 
U NCLE BILLY was a practical gen- 
ius and soon devised a splendid 
seat for this style of shooting. He 
took a two-by-four joist, and cut a sec- 
tion about three feet long, sharpened 
one end a little, nailed a ten-by-ten-inch 
piece of board on the other end, and he 
had a seat that could be carried under 
his arm, and thrust into the mud when 
he reached his chosen stand. This in- 
vention was quickly adopted by all of 
us, and used during our entire stay. 
It was about eleven o’clock in the 
morning when we began our shooting. 
We each chose a position according to 
our individual views, and for a time 
had good sport, but as the day drew on 
the ducks quit flying. I had noticed 
a number of flocks circling over the 
marsh and lighting a mile or so south 
of me, and determined to go on a little 
voyage of discovery, so I started in that 
direction. The water in the marsh va- 
ried somewhat in depth; in some places 
it would be knee deep, in others six 
inches or less, and in some places there 
would be little islands of dry land. On 
these the grass was generally thicker 
and taller. 
As we explored the marsh in our 
hunting, we found from time to time 
scattered skeletons of buffalo, some of 
them of very large animals. As I made 
my way south, I came to one of these 
dry islands, and here I canqe upon a 
large group of buffalo skeletons that 
had been overlooked by the bone har- 
vesters. They lay in a compact circle 
some twenty or more. Here, beyond 
doubt, was the evidence of some grim 
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