Capt. W. F. Drannan, Chief of Scouts, As Pilot to Emigrant and Government Trains, Across the Plains of the Wild West of Fifty Years AgoDrannan, William F.
History
Capt. W. F. Drannan, Chief of Scouts, As Pilot to Emigrant and Government Trains, Across the Plains of the Wild West of Fifty Years Ago
Drannan, William F.
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.)
We had gone perhaps five or six miles when I heard a signal from the
south. I got to it as quickly as possible, and as pretty a sight awaited
me as I ever saw in the way of game. Down in a little valley just below
the man that had signaled to the rest of us were about fifty Elk cows
feeding, and there were also a few calves running and jumping around
their mothers. As soon as all the men got there, I began to plan how we
could get to them and kill some of them before they saw us. They were
feeding towards the road, and they were not more than a quarter of a
mile from it when I first saw them. A little ways from us there was
a little ravine which was covered with brush, and it led down to the
valley where the Elk were feeding. I told the men that we would hitch
our horses and then crawl down the ravine, and I thought we could get
a few of them before they could get away from us. All the men were as
anxious to get the game as I was. I took the lead, and when we got down
to the valley the Elk were only a short distance from us. I said, "Now
wait until they feed opposite us, and then they will not be over fifty
yards from us, and as I am to the right I will take the leader and each
man in rotation as they come to him. In doing this way we will be sure
to each get an Elk as not two of us will fire at the same animal, and if
they are not too far from us after we have fired our rifles, let us pull
our pistols and try to get some more."
When the Elk had got near enough to us, I gave the word to fire, and
down came twelve Elk cows, and then we went for them with our pistols,
and we got five calves, and so we knew we had plenty of meat to supply
the camp for a day or two.
I sent one of the men back to meet the train and to tell Jim what we had
done, and told him to send all the help he could so we could get the
meat to the train as quickly as possible, and the rest of us commenced
to skin the animals. In a short time there were forty or fifty men
there, and it did not take long to finish the job, and we had the
meat on the way to the wagons. About the time we had got the meat all
dressed, several ladies came with sacks in their hands. I asked them
what part of the animal they wanted. They said they wanted the livers
and the hearts. This was a new idea to me. I asked them what they were
going to do with them. One of the women said, "We want you and Mr.
Bridger to take supper with us tonight, and we will show you what we
have done with them then."
In a short time we had the meat to the train and each family had their
share. Jim said he did not think he had lost over twenty-five minutes
time in waiting for that meat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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