Ready to ride alongside a buffalo runner in a heart-stopping stampede? Buckle in as we journey across the prairie, engulfed by the thunderous vibrations of an imminent stampede and the palpable tension of survival. We'll cut through the thick, heavy air just before a storm, and give you a sense of the sheer magnitude and power of a buffalo herd on the move.
From the adrenaline rush of the chase, we transition into the grim realities of life on the frontier, capturing the brutal waste of buffalo hides left to spoil in the rain, and the shocking sight of carcasses littering the plains. We explore the hard work, danger, and rugged perseverance of these men, facing both the harsh elements and the relentless pursuit of survival. As we draw our story to a close, we join our protagonist in a saloon, contemplating his unexpected transition from buffalo runner to saloon master. It's more than just a wild ride; it's a deep dive into a forgotten era, a time of raw struggle and transformation. Don't miss this riveting episode. Be prepared to experience the frontier like never before.
On our return trip to camp, the sky began to thicken. Black clouds sprawled across the sky, billowing in from the west. The air grew heavy and stillness fell over the darkening prairie. Then out of the silence came a low cackle of thunder echoing across the hills. Then another streak of hot silver split the sky, this time closer. The boom rolled across the valley. The herd became spooked. There was an instant stampede. The herd scattered fan-like, stopping at a distance of two to three hundred yards. I looked back over my shoulder getting a glimpse of the standing herd when a bolt of lightning ripped behind a dark canvas. A luminous shock of white blinded me and in an instant the graphite sky forked with a silvery radiance, crackled to the ground, striking a bull with one brilliant light. A thunderous boom called its warning. Too late the herd began to run. The one stricken bull lay burning in the dark hole of glowing ember it was. Then I caught sight of a mass of dark objects. A second herd filled the horizon. The second herd was larger than the one standing below us.
Speaker 1:
Tom man in the big wagon three hundred yards behind us yelled out Buffaloes. Then Tom fired a warning shot and bellowed out Stampede. My brain jumped as Tom's distant, blood-curdling howl made my hair stand on end. I watched anxiously as the land behind me was slowly transforming into a lethal running ground. I've seen darkness before, but this was the kind that makes blackness in Gulf of Maine's thoughts Stretching out in front of me like a map. The mass of herd awakened my fears, my courage and my knowledge. The sky plunged into an ominous darkness and with one flash it awakened all the creatures out of their lair. The two herds grew into one. The herd rumbled and thawed like two freight trains running on the same track. These sounds were broken when Jim yelled out next to me Go, damn, you go. It was time to make a run.
Speaker 1:
I grabbed my whip, stood high in the wagon and kicked my reins high and yelled let's go, you damn mules. I did not look back, for the sound of the fast-running herd could be sensed all around me. The ground bounced underneath us. The wagon with a full load of hides was impossible to control. I could hear the wooden spokes of the wheels groan as our wagon's pace grew weaker under the strain of our load. The rain began to fall so thickly that there became an instant covering of water on the ground. Now mud holes began to form. Yet I continued to drive the wagon hard. The harsh rain obliterated the open land in front of me and turned our escape into disoriented chaos. Then, within seconds, the deafening sound of the approaching herd calmed. I pulled back on the reins. The wagon slowed to a stop. I stood up, looked back through the downpour and the herd was no longer approaching our wagon. The heavy rains encarved out a miniature canyon in their path. This was a rut about the same width of two freighter wagons and as deep as half a horse. The rut had turned to run and buffalo east. I could still see their masses. The rain slowed their run over the hills and in a distance I could see them bogging down in the river.
Speaker 1:
The next day we did not hunt. The rain had taken over the prairie, filling the wallows with water. The mud did not hinder our horses, so Jim and I decided to ride out on the prairie. This time northeast of our camp, we followed a buffalo trail. The trail would turn about every 400 yards. You notice how the trail turns and how crooked they are, said Jim. That's because the buffalo eyes are so placed in the head it's impossible for them to see forward. This is why they never pursue a straight course when migrating. They're compelled to keep one side turned as they look ahead with one eye. This motion of looking ahead with one eye and behind with the other causes them to stagger sideways for a few hundred yards as they change the view of the world from front to back.
Speaker 1:
It was about five miles out on the buffalo trail when we witnessed hundreds of hides lying in waste, hides being spoiled by the rain. Some of the hides left by hunters were torn apart by wolves, large sets of bones stretched across the plains, the white skeletal remains glistened in the sun. The birds and large numbers tore into the carcasses. Such a waste, I thought to myself. Such a waste. We hunted the area for two weeks, gathering fifty hides a day until we reached 557 and headed back to Fort Hayes. We had to make several trips with our wagons fully loaded and on each trip we had no room to spare.
Speaker 1:
When we made our final trip to Hayes City, we had delivered our contract amount of hides. We were paid a handsome sum and the hides were shipped east. I made arrangements with some of my pay to have 57 of the hides shipped to my brother in New York City. Jim left with Tom and AC Myers to hunt buffalo on the Arkansas River just south of Fort Dodge. At the end of the day, I walked alone into a saloon, sat and drank as the whiskey became the master of my thoughts. A new fate to take in a new turn. My emotions came like an unknown trail taking me somewhere different to the place I had not expected. I was now trained to be a master of the saloon. I was now trained to be the perfect killer. My destination may not be glorious, but yet I had become a buffalo runner. My brother now held in his hands my destiny as a hide man.