1 December 1993
2
3 Buffalo Migrations and the Buffalo Hunt in the
4 Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Territory
5
6 ===========================
7
8 Extract from the Assinniboine and
9 Saskatchewan Exploring Expedition of 1858.
10
11 The ranges of the buffalo in the north-western prairies are
12 still maintained with great exactness, and old hunters, if the
13 plains have not been burnt, can generally tell the direction in
14 which herds will be found at certain seasons of the year. If the
15 plains have been extensively burnt in the autumn, the search for
16 the main herds during the following spring must depend on the
17 course the fires have taken.
18 Red River hunters recognized two grand divisions of buffalo,
19 those of the Grand Coteau and Red River, and those of the
20 Saskatchewan. Other ranges of immense herds exist beyond the
21 Missouri towards the south, as far as Texas and Mexico. The
22 north-western buffalo ranges are as follow. The bands belonging
23 to the Red River Range winter on the Little Souris, and south-
24 easterly towards and beyond Devil's Lake, and thence on to Red
25 River and the Shayenne. Here too, they are found in the spring.
26 Their course then lies west towards the Grand Coteau de Missouri,
27 until the month of June, when they turn north, and revisit the
28 Little Souris from the west winding round the west flank of
29 Turtle Mountain to Devil's Lake, and by the main river (Red
30 River), to the Shayenne again. In the memory of many Red River
31 hunters, the buffalo were accustomed to visit the prairies of the
32 Assinniboine as far north as Lake Manitobah, where in fact their
33 skulls and bones are now to be seen; their skulls are also seen
34 on the east side of the Red River of the north, in Minnesota, but
35 the living animal is very rarely to be met with. A few years ago
36 they were accustomed to pass on the east side of Turtle Mountain
37 through the Blue Hills of the Souris, but of late years their
38 wanderings in this direction have ceased; experience teaching
39 them that their enemies, the half-breeds, have approached too
40 near their haunts in that direction.
41 The country about the west side of Turtle Mountain in June
42 1858 was scored with their tracks at one of the crossing places
43 on the Little Souris, as if deep parallel ruts had been
44 artificially cut down the hill-sides. These ruts, often one foot
45 deep and sixteen inches broad, would converge from the prairie
46 for many miles to a favourite crossing or drinking place; and
47 they are often seen in regions in which the buffalo is no longer
48 a visitor.
49 The great western herds winter between the south and north
50 branches of the Saskatchewan, south of the Touchwood Hills, and
51 beyond the north Saskatchewan in the valley of the Athabaska;
52 they cross the South Branch in June and July, visit the prairies
53 on the south side of the Touchwood Hill range, and cross the
54 Qu'appelle valley anywhere between the Elbow of the South Branch
55 and a few miles west of Fort Ellice on the Assinniboine. They
56 then strike for the Grand Coteau de Missouri, and their eastern
57 flank often approaches the Red River herds coming north from the
58 Grand Coteau. They then proceed across the Missouri up the Yellow
59 Stone, and return to the Saskatchewan and Athabaska as winter
60 approaches, by the flanks of the Rocky Mountains. We saw many
61 small herds, belonging to the western bands, cross the Qu'appelle
62 valley, and proceed in single file towards the Grand Coteau in
63 July 1858. The eastern bands, which we had expected to find on
64 the Little Souris, were on the main river (Red River is so termed
65 by the half-breeds hunting in this quarter). They had proceeded
66 early thither, far to the south of their usual track, in
67 consequence of the devastating fires which swept the plains from
68 the Rocky Mountains to Red River in the autumn of 1857. We met
69 bulls all moving south, when approaching Fort Ellice; they had
70 come from their winter quarters near the Touchwood Hill range.
71 As a general rule the Saskatchewan bands of buffalo go north
72 during the autumn, and south during the summer. The Little Souris
73 and main river bands, go north-west in summer and south-east in
74 autumn. It is almost needless to remark again that fires
75 interfere with this systematic migration, but there are no
76 impediments which will divert the buffalo from their course. The
77 half-breeds state that no slaughter by large parties of hunters
78 or Indians can turn large herds from the general direction they
79 have taken when on the march; want of food is alone able to make
80 them deviate from the course they have taken. The approach of
81 numerous herds can be recognised by a low rumbling sound they
82 occasion, if the weather be calm, fully twenty miles before they
83 arrive, this warning is best perceived by applying the ear to a
84 badger hole. During the rutting season they can be heard
85 bellowing for a great distance on a still night. When we arrived
86 at the Sandy Hills on the South Branch, the Crees, on being asked
87 if the buffalo were numerous near at hand, answered, 'listen to-
88 night and you will hear them.'
89 The summer and fall buffalo hunts are the grand events of
90 the year to the Red River settlers, in fact the chief dependence
91 for a livelihood of the greater part of the population. The start
92 is usually made from the settlements about the 15th of June for
93 the summer hunt, the hunters remaining in the prairie until the
94 20th August or 1st of September. One division (the White Horse
95 Plain) goes by the Assinniboine River to the 'rapids crossing
96 place,' and then proceed in a south-westerly direction. The
97 other, or Red River division, pass on to Pembina, and then take a
98 southerly direction. The two divisions sometimes meet, but not
99 intentionally. Mr. Flett in 1849 took a census of the White Horse
100 Plain division near the Chiefs' Mountain, not far from the
101 Shayenne River, Dacotah Territory, and enumerated 603 carts, 700
102 half-breeds, 200 Indians, 600 horses, 200 oxen, 400 dogs and one
103 cat.
104 Mr. Ross* gives the following census of the number of carts
105 assembled in camp for the buffalo hunt at five different
106 periods:--
107
108 In 1820. Number of carts assembled for the first trip 540
109 In 1825 " " " 680
110 In 1830 " " " 820
111 In 1835 " " " 970
112 In 1840 " " " 1210
113
114 After the start from the settlement has been well made, and
115 all stragglers or tardy hunters have arrived, a great council is
116 held, and a president elected. A number of captains are nominated
117 by the president and people jointly. The captains then proceed to
118 appoint their own policemen, the number assigned to each not
119 exceeding ten. Their duty is to see that the laws of the hunt are
120 strictly carried out. In 1849, if a man ran a buffalo without
121 permission before the general hunt began, his saddle and bridle
122 were cut to pieces, for the first offence; for the second offence
123 of the same description his clothes were cut off his back. At the
124 present day these punishments are changed to a fine of twenty
125 shillings for the first offence. No gun is permitted to be fired
126 when in the buffalo country before the 'race' begins. A priest
127 sometimes goes with the hunt, and mass is then celebrated in the
128 open prairies. At night the carts are placed in the form of a
129 circle with the horses and cattle inside the ring, and it is the
130 duty of the captains and their policemen to see that this is
131 rightly done. All camping orders are given by signal, a flag
132 being carried by the guides, who are appointed by election. Each
133 guide has his turn of one day, and no man can pass a guide on
134 duty without subjecting himself to a fine of five shillings. No
135 hunter can leave the camp to return home without permission, and
136 no one is permitted to stir until any animal or property of
137 value, supposed to be lost, is recovered. The policemen, at the
138 order of the captains, can seize any cart at night-fall and place
139 it where they choose for the public safety, but on the following
140 morning they are compelled to bring it back to the spot from
141 which they moved it the evening previous. This power is very
142 necessary in order that the horses may not be stampeded by night
143 attacks of the Sioux or other Indian tribes at war with the half-
144 breeds. A heavy fine is imposed in case of neglect in
145 extinguishing fires when the camp is broken up in the morning.
146 In sight of buffalo, all the hunters are drawn up in line, the
147 president, captains, and police being a few yards in advance,
148 restraining the impatient hunters. Not yet, not yet, is the
149 subdued whisper of the president; the approach to the herd is
150 cautiously made. Now! the president exclaims, and as the word
151 leaves his lips the charge is made, and in a few minutes the
152 excited half-breeds are among the bewildered buffalo.
153 Blind buffalo are frequently found accompanying herds, and
154 sometimes they are met with alone. Their eyes have been
155 destroyed by prairie fires; but their quickening sense of hearing
156 and smell, and their increased alertness enable them to guard
157 against danger, and makes it more difficult to approach them in
158 quiet weather than those possessing sight. The hunters think
159 that blind buffalo frequently give the alarm when they are
160 stealthily approaching a herd in an undulating country. When
161 galloping over stony ground blind buffalo frequently fall, but
162 when quietly feeding they avoid the stones and boulders with
163 wonderful skill. ...
164
165 *. London: 1856.
167
168 Source:
169
170 Henry Youle Hind, Vol. II
173 (London: 1860), Chapter XXVIII.
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