Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 1).djvu/112

108 tumble were taken in a matter-of-fact way and seemed scarcely to retard the progress of the herd. If a ravine intersected its trail, the herd dashed down the vertical, rocky sides and on up the opposite slope, resuming its onward rush as if no obstacle had appeared.

The extensive courses of the buffaloes necessitated the crossing of large streams. This often caused a loss of many of the old and young members of the herds, especially if the stream was swift or swollen. Often, after having successfully battled their way entirely across the stream, a bluff or a miry landing-place beyond proved disastrous. Buffalo herds boldly crossed rivers on the ice. Large numbers have been known to be drowned, when crowding too closely together, by the breaking of the ice beneath their weight. Herds have even been known to cross upon floating ice, when they fell an easy prey to the Indians, and many were drowned.

The following incident is related by Colonel Dodge: "Late in the summer of 1867 a herd of probably four thousand buffaloes attempted to cross the South Platte near