1858
Henry Youle Hind
The Buffalo Hunt in the Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Territory
***
... The ranges of the buffalo in the north-western prairies
are still maintained with great exactness, and old hunters, if
the plains have not been burnt, can generally tell the direction
in which herds will be found at certain seasons of the year. If
the plains have been extensively burnt in the autumn, the search
for the main herds during the following spring must depend on
the course the fires have taken. Red River hunters recognized
two grand divisions of buffalo, those of the Grand Coteau and
Red River, and those of the Saskatchewan. Other ranges of
immense herds exist beyond the Missouri towards the south, as
far as Texas and Mexico. The north-western buffalo ranges are as
follow. The bands belonging to the Red River Range winter on the
Little Souris, and south- easterly towards and beyond Devil's
Lake, and thence on to Red River and the Shayenne. Here too,
they are found in the spring. Their course then lies west
towards the Grand Coteau de Missouri, until the month of June,
when they turn north, and revisit the Little Souris from the
west winding round the west flank of Turtle Mountain to Devil's
Lake, and by the main river (Red River), to the Shayenne again.
In the memory of many Red River hunters, the buffalo were
accustomed to visit the prairies of the Assinniboine as far
north as Lake Manitobah, where in fact their skulls and bones
are now to be seen; their skulls are also seen on the east side
of the Red River of the north, in Minnesota, but the living
animal is very rarely to be met with. A few years ago they were
accustomed to pass on the east side of Turtle Mountain through
the Blue Hills of the Souris, but of late years their wanderings
in this direction have ceased; experience teaching them that
their enemies, the half-breeds, have approached too near their
haunts in that direction. The country about the west side of
Turtle Mountain in June 1858 was scored with their tracks at one
of the crossing places on the Little Souris, as if deep parallel
ruts had been artificially cut down the hill-sides. These ruts,
often one foot deep and sixteen inches broad, would converge
from the prairie for many miles to a favourite crossing or
drinking place; and they are often seen in regions in which the
buffalo is no longer a visitor. The great western herds winter
between the south and north branches of the Saskatchewan, south
of the Touchwood Hills, and beyond the north Saskatchewan in the
valley of the Athabaska; they cross the South Branch in June and
July, visit the prairies on the south side of the Touchwood Hill
range, and cross the Qu'appelle valley anywhere between the
Elbow of the South Branch and a few miles west of Fort Ellice on
the Assinniboine. They then strike for the Grand Coteau de
Missouri, and their eastern flank often approaches the Red River
herds coming north from the Grand Coteau. They then proceed
across the Missouri up the Yellow Stone, and return to the
Saskatchewan and Athabaska as winter approaches, by the flanks
of the Rocky Mountains. We saw many small herds, belonging to
the western bands, cross the Qu'appelle valley, and proceed in
single file towards the Grand Coteau in July 1858. The eastern
bands, which we had expected to find on the Little Souris, were
on the main river (Red River is so termed by the half-breeds
hunting in this quarter). They had proceeded early thither, far
to the south of their usual track, in consequence of the
devastating fires which swept the plains from the Rocky
Mountains to Red River in the autumn of 1857. We met bulls all
moving south, when approaching Fort Ellice; they had come from
their winter quarters near the Touchwood Hill range. As a
general rule the Saskatchewan bands of buffalo go north during
the autumn, and south during the summer. The Little Souris and
main river bands, go north-west in summer and south-east in
autumn. It is almost needless to remark again that fires
interfere with this systematic migration, but there are no
impediments which will divert the buffalo from their course. The
half-breeds state that no slaughter by large parties of hunters
or Indians can turn large herds from the general direction they
have taken when on the march; want of food is alone able to make
them deviate from the course they have taken. The approach of
numerous herds can be recognised by a low rumbling sound they
occasion, if the weather be calm, fully twenty miles before they
arrive, this warning is best perceived by applying the ear to a
badger hole. During the rutting season they can be heard
bellowing for a great distance on a still night. When we arrived
at the Sandy Hills on the South Branch, the Crees, on being
asked if the buffalo were numerous near at hand, answered,
'listen to- night and you will hear them.' The summer and fall
buffalo hunts are the grand events of the year to the Red River
settlers, in fact the chief dependence for a livelihood of the
greater part of the population. The start is usually made from
the settlements about the 15th of June for the summer hunt, the
hunters remaining in the prairie until the 20th August or 1st of
September. One division (the White Horse Plain) goes by the
Assinniboine River to the 'rapids crossing place,' and then
proceed in a south-westerly direction. The other, or Red River
division, pass on to Pembina, and then take a southerly
direction. The two divisions sometimes meet, but not
intentionally. Mr. Flett in 1849 took a census of the White
Horse Plain division near the Chiefs' Mountain, not far from the
Shayenne River, Dacotah Territory, and enumerated 603 carts, 700
half-breeds, 200 Indians, 600 horses, 200 oxen, 400 dogs and one
cat.
Mr. Ross* gives the following census of the number of carts
assembled in camp for the buffalo hunt at five different
periods:--
In 1820. Number of carts assembled for the first trip 540 In
1825 " " " 680 In 1830 " " " 820 In 1835 " " " 970 In 1840 " " "
1210
After the start from the settlement has been well made, and
all stragglers or tardy hunters have arrived, a great council is
held, and a president elected. A number of captains are
nominated by the president and people jointly. The captains then
proceed to appoint their own policemen, the number assigned to
each not exceeding ten. Their duty is to see that the laws of
the hunt are strictly carried out. In 1849, if a man ran a
buffalo without permission before the general hunt began, his
saddle and bridle were cut to pieces, for the first offence; for
the second offence of the same description his clothes were cut
off his back. At the present day these punishments are changed
to a fine of twenty shillings for the first offence. No gun is
permitted to be fired when in the buffalo country before the
'race' begins. A priest sometimes goes with the hunt, and mass
is then celebrated in the open prairies. At night the carts are
placed in the form of a circle with the horses and cattle inside
the ring, and it is the duty of the captains and their policemen
to see that this is rightly done. All camping orders are given
by signal, a flag being carried by the guides, who are appointed
by election. Each guide has his turn of one day, and no man can
pass a guide on duty without subjecting himself to a fine of
five shillings. No hunter can leave the camp to return home
without permission, and no one is permitted to stir until any
animal or property of value, supposed to be lost, is recovered.
The policemen, at the order of the captains, can seize any cart
at night-fall and place it where they choose for the public
safety, but on the following morning they are compelled to bring
it back to the spot from which they moved it the evening
previous. This power is very necessary in order that the horses
may not be stampeded by night attacks of the Sioux or other
Indian tribes at war with the half- breeds. A heavy fine is
imposed in case of neglect in extinguishing fires when the camp
is broken up in the morning. In sight of buffalo, all the
hunters are drawn up in line, the president, captains, and
police being a few yards in advance, restraining the impatient
hunters. Not yet, not yet, is the subdued whisper of the
president; the approach to the herd is cautiously made. Now! the
president exclaims, and as the word leaves his lips the charge
is made, and in a few minutes the excited half-breeds are among
the bewildered buffalo. Blind buffalo are frequently found
accompanying herds, and sometimes they are met with alone. Their
eyes have been destroyed by prairie fires; but their quickening
sense of hearing and smell, and their increased alertness enable
them to guard against danger, and makes it more difficult to
approach them in quiet weather than those possessing sight. The
hunters think that blind buffalo frequently give the alarm when
they are stealthily approaching a herd in an undulating country.
When galloping over stony ground blind buffalo frequently fall,
but when quietly feeding they avoid the stones and boulders with
wonderful skill. ...
***
Source: Henry Youle Hind, Narrative of the Canadian Red River
Exploring Expedition of 1857 and of the Assinniboine and
Saskatchewan Exploring Expedition of 1858 Vol. II (London:
1860), Chapter XXVIII.
