Volume 1

174 THOUSANDS OF BUFFALO DROWNED.
I killed two cows ;
they have an ugly appearance, as their
long winter hair is falling in large patches. 28th. A snowstorm
caused the wild fowl to return southward. jotJi. Rain
broke up the ice ;
it drifted in large masses, making a great
noise by crushing, tumbling, and tossing in every direction,
driven by a strong current.
mud are carried down on the ice.
Many trunks of trees and much
It continued to drift on
the 31st, bearing great numbers of dead buffalo from above,
which must have been drowned in attempting to cross while
the ice was weak. My four men returned from Portage la
Prairie. The water is falling fast, leaving us an ugly, dirty
bank, covered with nearly a foot of slime and mud ; had it
risen two feet more, we should have had it in our houses.
A heavy fall of snow.
Wednesday, Apr. ist. The river clear of ice, but drowned
buffalo continue to drift by entire herds. Several are
lodged on the banks near the fort. The women cut up
some of the fattest for their own use ; the flesh appeared to
be fresh and good. It is really astonishing what vast numbers
have perished ; they formed one continuous line in the
current for two days and nights.^* One of my men found
a herd that had fallen through the ice in Park river and all
been drowned ; they were sticking in the ice, which had not
yet moved in that part. The Avomen had excellent sport in
raising the back fat and tongues. On the 5th, the plains
having been clear of snow and dry, we had two feet of snow,
and the river nearly froze over again. We brought our
baggage into the fort. jth. One of my men brought in
^'This account is not exaggerated. John McDonnell's Journal of May i8th,
1795, when he was descending Qu'Appelle r. , states: "Observing a good
many carcasses of buffaloes in the river and along its banks, I was taken up the
whole day with counting them, and, to my surprise, found I had numbered
when we put up at night, 7,360, drowned and mired along the river and in it.
It is true, in one or two places, I went on shore and walked from one carcass
to the other, where they lay from three to five files deep" (Masson, I. 1889, p.
294). It is probable that the total number of buffalo killed by man in those
days was insignificant in comparison with the destruction wrought by the warring
of nature's elements against the poor brutes.