Reaching the South Platte, it took us all day to ford the sandy stream, as we had first to sound out a good crossing by wading through ourselves, and when we started our teams across we dare not stop a moment for fear the wagons would sink deep into the quicksands.  We had no mishaps in crossing, and when well camped on the other side a solitary buffalo made his appearance about 200 yards away and all hands started after him, some on foot.  The horsemen soon got ahead of him, but he did not seem inclined to get out of their way, so they opened fire on him.  He still kept his feet and they went nearer, Mr. Rogers, being on a horse with a blind bridle, getting near enough to fire his Colt’s revolver at him, when he turned, and the horse, being unable to see the animal quick enough to get out of the way, suffered the force of a sudden attack of the old fellow’s horns, and came out with a gash in his thigh six inches long, while Rogers went on a flying expedition over the horse’s head, and did some lively scrambling when he reached the ground.  The rest of them worried him along for about half a mile, and finally, after about forty shots he lay down but held his head up defiantly, receiving shot after shot with an angry shake, till a side shot laid him out.  This game gave us plenty of meat, which though tough, was a pleasant change from bacon.  I took no part in this battle except as an observer.  On examination it was found that the balls had been many of them stopped by the matted hair about the old fellow’s head and none of them had reached the skull.

A few days after this we were stopped entirely by a herd of buffaloes crossing our road.  They came up from the river and were moving south.  The smaller animals seemed to be in the lead, and the rear was brought up by the old cows and the shaggy, burly bulls.  All were moving at a smart trot, with tongues hanging out, and seemed to take no notice of us, though we stood within a hundred yards of them.  We had to stand by our teams and stock to prevent a stampede, for they all seemed to have a great wonder, and somewhat of fear at their relatives of the plains.  After this we often saw large droves of them in the distance.  Sometimes we could see what in the distance seemed a great patch of brush, but by watching closely we could see it was a great drove of these animals.  Those who had leisure to go up to the bluffs often reported large droves in sight.  Antelopes were also seen, but these occupied the higher ground, and it was very hard to get near enough to them to shoot successfully.  Still we managed to get a good deal of game which was very acceptable as food.

One prominent land mark along the route was what they called Court House Rock, standing to the south from the trail and much resembled an immense square building, standing high above surrounding country.  The farther we went on the more plentiful became the large game, and also wolves and prairie dogs, the first of which seemed to follow the buffaloes closely.