Buffalo Land

BUFFALO LAND:

AN

Authentic Account

OF THE

Discoveries, Adventures, and Mishaps of a Scientific
and Sporting Party

IN THE WILD WEST;

WITH

GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF THE COUNTRY; THE RED MAN, SAVAGE
AND CIVILIZED; HUNTING THE BUFFALO, ANTELOPE,
ELK, AND WILD TURKEY; ETC., ETC.

REPLETE WITH INFORMATION, WIT, AND HUMOR.

The Appendix Comprising a Complete Guide for Sportsmen and Emigrants.

BY

W. E. WEBB,

OF TOPEKA, KANSAS.

Profusely Illustrated

FROM ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPHS, AND ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY HENRY WORRALL.

CINCINNATI and CHICAGO:

E HANNAFORD & COMPANY.

SAN FRANCISCO: F. DEWING & CO.
1872.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by

E. HANNAFORD & CO.,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

STEREOTYPED AT THE FRANKLIN TYPE FOUNDRY, CINCINNATI.

TO

The Primeval Man,

The Original Westerner, and First Buffalo Hunter,

This Work is Dedicated,

With Profound Regard,

BY THE AUTHOR.

BUFFALO LAND.

BY OUR TAMMANY SACHEM.

There's a wonderful land far out in the West,
Well worthy a visit, my friend;
There, Puritans thought, as the sun went to rest,
Creation itself had an end.
'T is a wild, weird spot on the continent's face,
A wound which is ghastly and red,
Where the savages write the deeds of their race
In blood that they constantly shed.
The graves of the dead the fair prairies deface,
And stamp it the kingdom of dread.

The emigrant trail is a skeleton path;
You measure its miles by the bones;
There savages struck, in their merciless wrath,
And now, after sunset, the moans,
When tempests are out, fill the shuddering air,
And ghosts flit the wagons beside,
And point to the skulls lying grinning and bare
And beg of the teamsters a ride;
Sometimes 't is a father with snow on his hair,
Again, 't is a youth and his bride.

What visions of horror each valley could tell,
If Providence gave it a tongue!
How often its Eden was changed to a hell,
In which a whole train had been flung;
How death cry and battle-shout frightened the birds,
And prayers were as thick as the leaves,
And no one to catch the poor dying one's words
But Death, as he gathered his sheaves:
You see the bones bleaching among the wild herds,
In shrouds that the field spider weaves.

That era is passing—another one comes,
The era of steam and the plow,
With clangor of commerce and factory hums,
Where only the wigwam is now.
Like mist of the morning before the bright sun,
The cloud from the land disappears;
The Spirit of Murder his circle has run
And fled from the march of the years;
The click of machine drowns the click of the gun,
And day hides the night time of tears.

PREFACE.

The purpose of this work is to make the reader better acquainted with that wild land which he has known from childhood, as the home of the Indian and the buffalo. The Rocky Mountain chain, distorted and rugged, has been aptly called the colossal vertebræ of our continent's broad back, and from thence, as a line, the plains, weird and wonderful, stretch eastward through Colorado, and embrace the entire western half of Kansas.

Fortune, not long since, threw in my way an invitation, which I gladly accepted, to join a semi-scientific party, since somewhat known to fame through various articles in the newspaper press, in a sojourn of several months on the great plains. At a meeting held with due solemnity on the eve of starting, the Professor (to whom the reader will be introduced in the proper connection) was chosen leader of the expedition, while to my lot fell the office of editor of the future record, or rather Grand Scribe of what we were pleased to call our "Log Book." The latter now lies before me, in all its glory of shabby covers and dirty pages. Its soiled face is as honorable as that of the laborer who comes from his task in a well harvested field. Out of the sheaves gathered during our journey, I shall try and take such portions as may best supply the mental cravings of the countless thousands who hunger for the life and the lore of the far West.

I have given the mistakes as well as triumphs of our expedition, and the members of the party will readily recognize their familiar camp names. The disguise will probably be pleasant, as few like to see their failures on public parade, preferring rather to leave these in barracks, and let their successes only appear at review.

The plains have a face, a people, and a brute creation, peculiarly their own, and to these our party devoted earnest study. The expedition presented a rare opportunity of becoming acquainted with the game of the country; and, in writing the present volume, my aim has been to make it so far a text-book for amateur hunters that they may become at once conversant with the habits of the game, and the best manner of killing it. The time is not far distant, when the plains and the Rocky Mountains will be sought by thousands annually, as a favorite field for sport and recreation.

Another and still larger class, it is hoped, will find much of interest and value in the following pages. From every state in the Union, people are constantly passing westward. We found emigrant wagons on spots from which the Indians had just removed their wigwams. Multitudes more are now on the way, with the earnest purpose of founding homes and, if possible, of finding fortunes. In order to aid this class, as well as the sportsman, I have gathered in an appendix such additional information as may be useful to both.

The scientific details of our trip will probably be published in proper form and time, by the savans interested. In regard to these, my object has been simply to chronicle such matters as made an impression upon my own mind, being content with what cream might be gathered by an amateur's skimming, while the more bulky milk should be saved in capacious scientific buckets.

Professor Cope, the well known naturalist, of the Academy of Sciences, Philadelphia, received for examination and classification the most valuable fossils we obtained, and to him I am indebted for a large amount of most interesting and valuable scientific matter, which will be found embodied in chapters twenty-third and twenty-fourth.

The illustrations of men and brutes in this work are studies from life. Whenever it was possible, we had photographs taken.

The plains, it must be said, are a tract with which Romance has had much more to do than History. Red men, brave and chivalrous, and unnatural buffalo, with the habits of lions, exist only in imagination. In these pages, my earnest endeavor, when dealing with actualities, has been to "hold the mirror up to Nature," and to describe men, manners, and things as they are in real life upon the frontiers, and beyond, to-day.

W. E. W.

Topeka, Kansas, May, 1872.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
	PAGES.
THE OBJECT OF OUR EXPEDITION—A GLIMPSE OF ALASKA THROUGH CAPTAIN
WALRUS' GLASS—WE ARE TEMPTED BY OUR RECENT PURCHASE—ALASKAN
GAME OF "OLD SLEDGE"—THE EARLY STRUGGLES OF KANSAS—THE
SMOKY HILL TRAIL—INDIAN HIGH ART—THE "BORDER-RUFFIAN,"
PAST AND PRESENT—TOPEKA—HOW IT RECEIVED ITS
NAME—WAUKARUSA AND ITS LEGEND,	25-35

CHAPTER II.

A CHAPTER OF INTRODUCTIONS—PROFESSOR PALEOZOIC—TAMMANY SACHEM—DOCTOR
PYTHAGORAS—GENUINE MUGGS—COLON AND SEMI-COLON—SHAMUS
DOBEEN—TENACIOUS GRIPE—BUGS AND PHILOSOPHY—HOW
GRIPE BECAME A REPUBLICAN,	36-54

CHAPTER III.

THE TOPEKA AUCTIONEER—MUGGS GETS A BARGAIN—CYNOCEPHALUS—INDIAN
SUMMER IN KANSAS—HUNTING PRAIRIE CHICKENS—OUR FIRST
DAY'S SPORT,	55-63

CHAPTER IV.

CHICKEN-SHOOTING CONTINUED—A SCIENTIFIC PARTY TAKE THE BIRDS ON
THE WING—EVILS OF FAST FIRING—AN OLD-FASHIONED "SLOW SHOT"—THE
HABITS OF THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN—ITS PROSPECTIVE EXTINCTION—MODE
OF HUNTING IT—THE GOPHER SCALP LAW,	64-74


CHAPTER V.

A TRIAL BY JUDGE LYNCH—HUNG FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT—QUAIL
SHOOTING—HABITS OF THE BIRDS, AND MODE OF KILLING THEM—A
RING OF QUAILS—THE EFFECTS OF A SEVERE WINTER—THE SNOW
GOOSE,	75-83

CHAPTER VI.

OFF FOR BUFFALO LAND—THE NAVIGATION OF THE KAW—FORT RILEY—THE
CENTER-POST OF THE UNITED STATES—OUR PURCHASE OF HORSES—"LO"
AS A SAVAGE AND AS A CITIZEN—GRIPE UNFOLDS THE INDIAN
QUESTION—A BALLAD BY SACHEM, PRESENTING ANOTHER VIEW,	84-98

CHAPTER VII.

GRIPE'S VIEWS OF INDIAN CHARACTER—THE DELAWARES, THE ISHMAELITES
OF THE PLAINS—THE TERRITORY OF THE "LONG HORNS"—TEXANS
AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS—MUSHROOM ROCK—A VALUABLE DISCOVERY—FOOTPRINTS
IN THE ROCK—THE PRIMEVAL PAUL AND
VIRGINIA,	99-111


CHAPTER VIII.

THE "GREAT AMERICAN DESERT"—ITS FOSSIL WEALTH—AN ILLUSION DISPELLED—FIRES
ACCORDING TO NOVELS AND ACCORDING TO FACT—SENSATIONAL
HEROES AND HEROINES—PRAIRIE DOGS AND THEIR HABITS—HAWK
AND DOG, AND HAWK AND CAT,	112-123

CHAPTER IX.

WE SEE BUFFALO—ARRIVAL AT HAYS—GENERAL SHERIDAN AT THE FORT—INDIAN
MURDERS—BLOOD-CHRISTENING OF THE PACIFIC RAILROAD—SURPRISED
BY A BUFFALO HERD—A BUFFALO BULL IN A QUANDARY—GENTLE
ZEPHYRS—HOW A CIRCUS WENT OFF—BOLOGNA TO LEAN ON—A
CALL UPON SHERIDAN,	124-141


CHAPTER X.

HAYS CITY BY LAMP-LIGHT—THE SANTA FE TRADE—BULL-WHACKERS—MEXICANS—SABBATH
ON THE PLAINS—THE DARK AGES—WILD BILL
AND BUFFALO BILL—OFF FOR THE SALINE—DOBEEN'S GHOST-STORY—AN
ADVENTURE WITH INDIANS—MEXICAN CANNONADE—A RUNAWAY,	142-160

CHAPTER XI.

WHITE WOLF, THE CHEYENNE CHIEF—HUNGRY INDIANS—RETURN TO HAYS—A
CHEYENNE WAR PARTY—THE PIPE OF PEACE—THE COUNCIL
CHAMBER—WHITE WOLF'S SPEECH, AS RENDERED BY SACHEM—THE
WHITE MAN'S WIGWAM,	161-176

CHAPTER XII.

ARMS OF A WAR PARTY—A DONKEY PRESENT—EATING POWERS OF THE
NOMADS—SATANTA, HIS CRIMES AND PUNISHMENT—RUNNING OFF
WITH A GOVERNMENT HERD—DAUB, OUR ARTIST—ANTELOPE CHASE
BY A GREYHOUND,	177-191

CHAPTER XIII.

CHARACTER OF THE PLAINS—BUFFALO BILL AND HIS HORSE BRIGHAM—THE
GUIDE AND SCOUT OF ROMANCE—CAYOTE VERSUS JACKASS-RABBIT—A
LAWYER-LIKE RESCUE—OUR CAMP ON SILVER CREEK—UNCLE
SAM'S BUFFALO HERDS—TURKEY-SHOOTING—OUR FIRST MEAL ON THE
PLAINS—A GAME SUPPER,	192-208

CHAPTER XIV.

A CAMP-FIRE SCENE—VAGABONDIZING—THE BLACK PACER OF THE PLAINS—SOME
ADVICE FROM BUFFALO BILL ABOUT INDIAN FIGHTING—LO'S
ABHORRENCE OF LONG RANGE—HIS DREAD OF CANNON—AN IRISH
GOBLIN,	209-219


CHAPTER XV.

A FIRE SCENE—A GLIMPSE OF THE SOUTH—'COON HUNTING IN MISSISSIPPI—VOICES
IN THE SOLITUDE—FRIENDS OR FOES—A STARTLING
SERENADE—PANIC IN CAMP—CAYOTES AND THEIR HABITS—WORRYING
A BUFFALO BULL—THE SECOND DAY—DAUB, OUR ARTIST—HE
MAKES HIS MARK,	220-235

CHAPTER XVI.

BISON MEAT—A STRANGE ARRIVAL—THE SYDNEY FAMILY—THE HOME
IN THE VALLEY—THE SOLOMON MASSACRE—THE MURDER OF THE
FATHER AND THE CHILD—THE SETTLERS' FLIGHT—INCIDENTS—OUR
QUEEN OF THE PLAINS—THE PROFESSOR INTERESTED—IRISH MARY—DOBEEN
HAPPY—THE HEROINE OF ROMANCE—SACHEM'S BATH BY
MOONLIGHT—THE BEAVER COLONY,	236-249

CHAPTER XVII.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE—THE VALLEY OF THE SALINE—QUEER
'COONS—A BISON'S GAME OF BLUFF—IN PURSUIT—ALONGSIDE THE
GAME—FIRING FROM THE SADDLE—A CHARGE AND A PANIC—FALSE
HISTORY AGAIN—GOING FOR AMMUNITION—THE PROFESSOR'S LETTER—DISROBING
THE VICTIM,	250-263

CHAPTER XVIII.

STILL HUNTING—DARK OBJECTS AGAINST THE HORIZON—THE RED MAN
AGAIN—RETREAT TO CAMP—PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENSE—SHAKING
HANDS WITH DEATH—MR. COLON'S BUGS—THE EMBASSADORS—A NEW
ALARM—MORE INDIANS—TERRIFIC BATTLE BETWEEN PAWNEES AND
CHEYENNES—THEIR MODE OF FIGHTING—GOOD HORSEMANSHIP—A
SCIENTIFIC PARTY AS SEXTONS—DITTO AS SURGEONS—CAMPS OF THE
COMBATANTS—STEALING AWAY—AN APPARITION,	264-279

CHAPTER XIX.

STALKING THE BISON—BUFFALO AS OXEN—EXPENSIVE POWER—A BUFFALO
AT A LUNATIC ASYLUM—THE GATEWAY TO THE HERDS—INFERNAL
GRAPE-SHOT—NATURE'S BOMB-SHELLS—CRAWLING BEDOUINS—"THAR
THEY HUMP"—THE SLAUGHTER BEGUN—AN INEFFECTUAL
CHARGE—"KETCHING THE CRITTER"—RETURN TO CAMP—CALVES'
HEAD ON THE STOMACH—AN UNPLEASANT EPISODE—WOLF BAITING,
AND HOW IT IS DONE,	280-291

CHAPTER XX.

THE CAYOTES' STRYCHNINE FEAST—CAPTURING A TIMBER WOLF—A FEW
CORDS OF VICTIMS—WHAT THE LAW CONSIDERS "INDIAN TAN"—"FINISHING"
THE NEW YORK MARKET—A NEW YORK FARMER'S
OPINION OF OUR GRAY WOLF—WESTWARD AGAIN—EPISODES IN OUR
JOURNEY—THE WILD HUNTRESS OF THE PLAINS—WAS OUR GUIDE A
MURDERER?—THE READER JOINS US IN A BUFFALO CHASE—THE
DYING AGONIES,	292-305

CHAPTER XXI.

"CREASING" WILD HORSES—MUGGS DISAPPOINTED—A FEAT FOR FICTION—HORSE
AND MONKEY—HOOF WISDOM FOR TURFMEN—PROSPECTIVE
CLIMATIC CHANGES ON THE PLAINS—THE QUESTION OF
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION—WANTON SLAUGHTER OF BUFFALO—AMOUNT
OF ROBES AND MEAT ANNUALLY WASTED—A STRANGE
HABIT OF THE BISON—NUMEROUS BILLS—THE "SNEAK THIEF" OF
THE PLAINS,	306-317

CHAPTER XXII.

A LIVE TOWN AND ITS GRAVE-YARD—HONEST ROMBEAUX IN TROUBLE—JUDGE
LYNCH HOLDS COURT—MARIE AND THE VINE-COVERED COTTAGE—THE
TERRIBLE FLOODS—DEATH IN CAMP AND IN THE DUGOUT—WAS
IT THE WATER WHICH DID IT?—DISCOVERY OF A HUGE
FOSSIL—THE MOSASAURUS OF THE CRETACEOUS SEA—A GLIMPSE
OF THE REPTILIAN AGE—REMINISCENCES OF ALLIGATOR-SHOOTING—THEY
SUGGEST A THEORY,	318-329


CHAPTER XXIII.

FROM SHERIDAN TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS—THE COLORADO PORTION OF
THE PLAINS—THE GIANT PINES—ATTEMPT TO PHOTOGRAPH A BUFFALO—THINGS
GET MIXED—THE LEVIATHAN AT HOME—A CHAT
WITH PROFESSOR COPE—TWENTY-SIX-INCH OYSTERS—REPTILES AND
FISHES OF THE CRETACEOUS SEA,	330-350

CHAPTER XXIV.

CONTINUED BY COPE—THE GIANTS OF THE SEAS—TAKING OUT FOSSILS
IN A GALE—INTERESTING DISCOVERIES—THE GEOLOGY OF THE
PLAINS,	351-365

CHAPTER XXV.

A SAVAGE OUTBREAK—THE BATTLE OF THE FORTY SCOUTS—THE SURPRISE—PACK-MULES
STAMPEDED—DEATH ON THE ARICKEREE—THE
MEDICINE MAN—A DISMAL NIGHT—MESSENGERS SENT TO WALLACE—MORNING
ATTACK—WHOSE FUNERAL?—RELIEF AT LAST—THE OLD
SCOUT'S DEVOTION TO THE BLUE,	366-376

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE STAGE DRIVERS OF THE PLAINS—"OLD BOB"—JAMAICA AND GINGER—AN
OLD ACQUAINTANCE—BEADS OF THE PAST—ROBBING THE
DEAD—A LEAP FROM THE LOST HISTORY OF THE MOUND BUILDERS—INDIAN
TRADITIONS—SPECULATIONS—ADOBE HOUSES IN A RAIN—CHEAP
LIVING—WATCH TOWERS,	377-386

CHAPTER XXVII.

OUR PROGRAMME CONCLUDED—FROM SHERIDAN TO THE SOLOMON—FIERCE
WINDS—A TERRIFIC STORM—SHAMUS' BLOODY APPARITION AND
INDIAN WITCH—A RECONNOISSANCE—AN INDIAN BURIAL GROVE—A
CONTRACTOR'S DARING AND ITS PENALTY—MORE VAGABONDIZING—JOSE
AT THE LONG BOW—THE "WILD HUNTRESS'" COUNTERPART—SHAMUS
TREATS US TO "CHILE"—THE RESULT,	387-395

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE BLOCK-HOUSE ON THE SOLOMON—HOW THE OLD MAN DIED—WACONDA
DA—LEGEND OF WA-BOG-AHA AND HEWGAW—SABBATH MORNING—SACHEM'S
POETICAL EPITAPH—AN ALARM—BATTLE BETWEEN AN
EMIGRANT AND THE INDIANS—WAS IT THE SYDNEYS?—TO THE
RESCUE—AN ELK HUNT—ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP—NOVEL MODE
OF HUNTING TURKEYS—IN CAMP ON THE SOLOMON—A WARM WELCOME,	396-415

CHAPTER XXIX.

OUR LAST NIGHT TOGETHER—THE REMARKABLE SHED-TAIL DOG—HE
RESCUES HIS MISTRESS, AND BREAKS UP A MEETING—A SKETCH OF
TERRITORIAL TIMES BY GRIPE—MONTGOMERY'S EXPEDITION FOR THE
RESCUE OF JOHN BROWN'S COMPANIONS—SCALPED, AND CARVING HIS
OWN EPITAPH—AN IRISH JACOB—"SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST"—SACHEM'S
POETICAL LETTER—POPPING THE QUESTION ON THE RUN—THE
PROFESSOR'S LETTER,	416-428

CONTENTS OF APPENDIX.

	PAGES.
PRELIMINARY TO THE APPENDIX,	431, 432

CHAPTER FIRST.

COME TO THE GREAT WEST—SHOULD THERE NOT BE COMPULSORY EMIGRATION—"GET
A GOOD READY"—HOMESTEAD LAWS AND REGULATIONS—THE
STATE OF KANSAS—THE COST OF A FARM—A FEW MORE
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS,	433-450

CHAPTER SECOND.

HUNTING THE BUFFALO—ANTELOPE HUNTING—ELK HUNTING—TURKEY
HUNTING—GENERAL REMARKS—WHAT TO DO IF LOST ON THE PLAINS—THE
NEW FIELD FOR SPORTSMEN,	451-463

CHAPTER THIRD.

"BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES"—THE GREAT WEST—FALL
OF THE RIVERS—THE PRINCIPAL RIVERS AND VALLEYS OF
BUFFALO LAND—THE VALLEY OF THE PLATTE—THE SOLOMON AND
SMOKY HILL RIVERS—THE ARKANSAS RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES—STOCK
RAISING IN THE GREAT WEST—THE CATTLE HIVE OF NORTH
AMERICA—THE CLIMATE OF THE PLAINS—CLIMATIC CHANGES ON THE
PLAINS—THE TREES AND FUTURE FORESTS OF THE PLAINS—THE
SUPPLY OF FUEL—DISTRICTS CONTIGUOUS TO THE PLAINS—THE VALLEYS
OF THE WHITE EARTH AND NIOBRARA—NEW MEXICO: ITS
SOIL, CLIMATE, RESOURCES, ETC.—THE DISAPPEARING BISON—THE
FISH WITH LEGS—THE MOUNTAIN SUPPLY OF LUMBER FOR THE
PLAINS,	465-503

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

From Original Drawings by Henry Worrall, and Actual Photographs.
The Engraving by the Bureau of Illustration, Buffalo, N. Y.

	PAGE
Frontispiece,	Facing Title Page
Alaskan Lovers—Sealing the Contract,	27
Alaskan Game of Old Sledge,	27
"Waukarusa,"	33
"Toasts his Moccasined Feet by the Fire,"	33
The Professor—a Remarkable Stone,	39
Tammany Sachem—Prospective and Retrospective,	39
Colon and Semi-colon,	43
David Pythagoras, M. D.,	43
One of the Muggses,	47
Shamus Dobeen—His Card,	53
Hon. T. Gripe (Beatified),	53
"Sperit, Gentlemen!"	57
Our First Bird-Shooting,	67
Judge Lynch—His Court,	77
Unnaturalized,	91
Naturalized,	91
"You've Riled That Brook"—An Old Fable Modernized,	96
Dog Town—The Happy Family,	96
Indian Rock—From a Photograph,	105
Mushroom Rock—From a Photograph,	105
Fire on the Plains, according to Novels,	115
Fire on the Plains, as it is,	115
"And Erin's Son Christens those Far-off Points of the Pacific Railroad with his Blood,"	127
Gentle Zephyrs—Going off without a Drawback,	133
"Looked like the End of a Tail,"	137
The Rare Old Plainsman of the Novels,	137
Wild Bill—From a Photograph,	147
Buffalo Bill—From a Photograph,	147
Our Horses Run Away with Us,	157
The Pipe of Peace—The Professor's Dilemma,	167
White Wolf at Home,	172
The Wild Denizens of the Plains,	197
Smashing a Cheyenne Black-Kettle,	219
Midnight Serenade on the Plains,	227
Going after Ammunition,	259
Battle between Cheyennes and Pawnees,	271
One of our Specimens—Photographed by J. Lee Knight, Topeka,	301
Wanton Destruction of Buffalo, Embracing:
Daily, for Fun,	315
300 a Day for Pleasure,	315
For Excitement,	315
100,000 for Tongues,	315
2,000,000 for Robes, to get Whisky,	315
Dug Out,	329
Taking and Being Taken,	335
Developing—One of the First Families,	348
The Sea which once Covered the Plains,	357
Waconda Da—Great Spirit Salt Spring,	399

More of our Specimens (Photographed by J. Lee Knight), Embracing:
Prairie Chickens,	413
Head of an Elk,	413
Wild Turkey,	413
Beaver,	413

BUFFALO LAND.

CHAPTER I.

THE OBJECT OF OUR EXPEDITION—A GLIMPSE OF ALASKA THROUGH CAPTAIN WALRUS' GLASS—WE ARE TEMPTED BY OUR RECENT PURCHASE—ALASKAN GAME OF "OLD SLEDGE"—THE EARLY STRUGGLES OF KANSAS—THE SMOKY HILL TRAIL—INDIAN HIGH ART—THE "BORDER-RUFFIAN," PAST AND PRESENT—TOPEKA—HOW IT RECEIVED ITS NAME—WAUKARUSA AND ITS LEGEND.

The great plains—the region of country in which our expedition sojourned for so many months—is wilder, and by far more interesting, than those solitudes over which the Egyptian Sphynx looks out. The latter are barren and desolate, while the former teem with their savage races and scarcely more savage beasts. The very soil which these tread is written all over with a history of the past, even its surface giving to science wonderful and countless fossils of those ages when the world was young and man not yet born.

At first, it was rather unsettled which way the steps of our party would turn; between unexplored territory and that newly acquired, there were several fields open which promised much of interest. Originally, our company numbered a dozen; but Alaska tempted a portion of our savans, and to the fishy and frigid maiden they yielded, drawn by a strange predilection for train-oil and seal meat toward the land of furs. For the remainder of our party, however, life under the Alaskan's tent-pole had no charms. Our decision may have been influenced somewhat by the seafaring man with whom our friends were to sail. The real name of this son of Neptune was Samuels, but our party called him, as it savored more of salt water, Captain Walrus, of the bark Harpoon. This worthy, according to his own statement, had been born on a whaler, weaned among the Esquimeaux, and, moreover, had frozen off eight toes "trying to winter it at our recent purchase." He evidently disliked to have scientific men aboard, intent on studying eclipses and seals. "A heathenish and strange people are the Alaskans," Walrus was wont to say. "What is not Indian is Russian, and a compound of the latter and aboriginal is a mixture most villainous. One portion of the partnership anatomy takes to brandy, while the other absorbs train-oil, and so a half-breed Alaskan heathen is always prepared for spontaneous combustion, and if rubbed the wrong way, flames up instantly. He is always hot for murder, and if you throw cold water on his designs, his oily nature sheds it."

And many a yarn did the captain spin concerning their strange customs. Sealing a marriage contract consisted in the warrior leaving a fat seal at the hole of the hut, where his intended crawled in to her home privileges of smoke and fish. Their favorite game was "old sledge," played with prisoners to shorten their captivity.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Buffalo Land

BUFFALO LAND:

IN THE WILD WEST;

BY

W. E. WEBB,

BUFFALO LAND.

PREFACE.

CONTENTS.

CONTENTS OF APPENDIX.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

BUFFALO LAND.

CHAPTER I.