WAIT FOR MOOSE]

But--a hundred years ago and more--the dominant features in the
fauna of the Middle West was the bison. Between the Athabaska and
Saskatchewan Rivers on the north, the Rocky Mountains on the west, and
Lake Superior on the east the bison passed backwards and forwards over
the great plains and prairies in millions, when white explorers first
penetrated these lands. They moved in herds which concealed the ground
from sight for miles. Here are some word pictures selected from the
writings of the pioneers between 1770 and 1810:

"The buffaloes chiefly delight in wide open plains, which in those
parts produce very long coarse grass, or rather a kind of small flags
and rushes, upon which they feed; but when pursued they always take to
the woods. They are of such an amazing strength, that when they fly
through the woods from a pursuer, they frequently brush down trees as
thick as a man's arm; and be the snow ever so deep, such is their
strength and agility, that they are enabled to plunge through it
faster than the swiftest Indian can run in snowshoes. To this I have
been an eyewitness many times, and once had the vanity to think that I
could have kept pace with them; but though I was at that time
celebrated for being particularly fleet of foot in snowshoes, I soon
found that I was no match for the buffaloes, notwithstanding they were
then plunging through such deep snow, that their bellies made a
trench in it as large as if many sacks had been hauled through it. Of
all the large beasts in those parts the buffalo is easiest to kill,
and the moose are the most difficult; neither are the (red) deer very
easy to come at, except in windy weather: indeed it requires much
practice and a great deal of patience to slay any of them, as they
will by no means suffer a direct approach, unless the hunter be
entirely sheltered by woods or willows.

"The flesh of the buffalo is exceedingly good eating, and so entirely
free from any disagreeable smell or taste, that it resembles beef as
nearly as possible."

"The spots of wood along the Park River are ravaged by buffaloes
(bison); none but the large trees are standing, the bark of which is
rubbed perfectly smooth, and heaps of hair and wool lie at the bottom
of the trees ... and even the grass is not permitted to grow.... The
ground is trampled more by these cattle than about the gate of a
farmyard."

"The Kris informed me they had seen a calf as white as snow in a herd