Of the Northern Pacific Railway, in 1883,
a band of sixty buffaloes were heard of, far to the southward
of Bismarck, and a party was organized to hunt them.
The BOLD hunters afterwards boasted that they killed every one
of this little band of survivors of their race.
The men were now (in the middle of May) greatly troubled with boils,
abscesses, and inflamed eyes, caused by the poison of the alkali
that covered much of the ground and corrupted the water.
Here is an entry in the journal of May 11: -
"About five in the afternoon one of our men [Bratton], who had been
afflicted with boils and suffered to walk on shore, came running to
the boats with loud cries, and every symptom of terror and distress.
For some time after we had taken him on board he was so much out
of breath as to be unable to describe the cause of his anxiety;
but he at length told us that about a mile and a half below he had
shot a brown bear, which immediately turned and was in close pursuit
of him; but the bear being badly wounded could not overtake him.
Captain Lewis, with seven men, immediately went in search of him;
having found his track they followed him by the blood for a mile,
found him concealed in some thick brushwood, and shot him with two
balls through the skull. Though somewhat smaller than that killed
a few days ago, he was a monstrous animal, and a most terrible enemy.
Our man had shot him through the centre of the lungs; yet he had pursued
him furiously for half a mile, then returned more than twice that distance,
and with his talons prepared himself a bed in the earth two feet
deep and five feet long; he was perfectly alive when they found him,
which was at least two hours after he had received the wound.
The wonderful power of life which these animals possess renders
them dreadful; their very track in the mud or sand, which we have
sometimes found eleven inches long and seven and one-fourth wide,
exclusive of the talons, is alarming; and we had rather encounter
two Indians than meet a single brown bear. There is no chance of
killing them by a single shot unless the ball goes through the brain,
and this is very difficult on account of two large muscles which cover
the side of the forehead and the sharp projection of the centre
of the frontal bone, which is also thick.
"Our camp was on the south, at the distance of sixteen miles from that of
last night. The fleece and skin of the bear were a heavy burden for two men,
and the oil amounted to eight gallons."
The name of the badly-scared Bratton was bestowed upon a creek
which discharges into the Missouri near the scene of this encounter.
Game continued to be very abundant.
