Notwithstanding the fact that the recent attempt to round up the balance of the great Pablo buffalo here, which was purchased by the Canadian government, ended in discouraging failure, every hoof of bison on the Flathead range will eventually be corralled and safely delivered in Canada is the assuring news which Alexander Ayotte, immigration officer at Missoula, Montana, brings almost direct from the exciting scenes in the round-up.
Mr. Ayotte is the gentleman who has been largely instrumental in carrying this remarkable enterprise to practically an assured and successful conclusion from the very inception of the negotiations; and none but he and those associated with him in the undertaking have any conception of the difficulties which had to be overcome.
Michel Pablo, who is the soul of honor, is detemined to fulfil his contract with the Canadian government, no matter what it may cost him to do so. He has already expended thousands of dollars in his efforts to do so, and is prepared to spend forty thousand more if necessary. Piqued by the treatment accorded him by the government of the United States in their negotiations to buy the herd prior to the time when the Canadian officials sprung their little coup, and the subsequent determination of the congress to throw open the Flathead reserve wherein his range was located, he vowed that every buffalo except those he desired to retain for his personal ownership should cross the line, and now that vow he is going to respect. Reverses seem but to increase his determination in this respect, and all that money can do to corral the animals will be done.
The buffalo have been chased so much they are now extremely wild and scatter to the timber on the mountain sides at even the sight of a horseman. Then, too, they have escaped so repeatedly from the cordons thrown around them that they gained confidence in the ability to defy the cowboys, while they are fierce and dangerous when forced to close quarters.
Experience has demonstrated to the Canadian officials, Messrs. Douglas and Ayotte, and to Michel Pablo and his cowpunchers the futility of attempting to drive the buffalo off their range as had been done in previous shipments. It was therefore decided to corral them by ruse right out of their own range and feed them there for a time and get them used to horsemen and to handling before starting to drive them into the scene of loading at Ravalli, a distance of 35 miles from the point where the corral was built.
The site for this corral was in the big bend of the Pend d’Oreille river directly opposite a favorite feed ground of the buffalo. The river there almost forms a horseshoe enclosing an area of about 800 acres. Across from the corral a big "draw" or ravine ran away into the mountains and the pasture grounds of the herds, lending special advantages for extending the wings of the corral so as to effectually trap the wily animals should they attempt to flee towards the river when the drive began.
An immense amount of labor was involved in the construction of this corral which required about eight miles of fence, exclusive of the wings and booms which were thrown across the river at both sides of the opening of the corral. The one wing ran along the top of the ravine referred to previously for eight miles and the other for six miles. All the fences were 12 feet high and had to be very strong to withstand the stampede of the buffalo.
Posts twelve inches in diameter were sunk four feet in the ground at short intervals and when it was stated that all these posts had to be hauled through a country which had been ravaged by floods earlier in the season, the tremendous task undertaken by Michel Pablo will be appreciated. It well illustrates the cool determination of the hardy old rancher to accomplish whatever he undertakes. He and Mr. Ayotte personally superintended the work, and for weeks camped out in the hills.
Construction on the fence began in August, and it was well on towards the end of October before it was finished. At several points on one side of the corral where great cut banks rose almost perpendicularly for a hundred and twenty five feet like a wall of solid clay, it was deemed unnecessary to build fences, as it was thought no animal could possibly climb them. But this was where the fatal mistake was made.
The entry of the buffalo into the corral came nearly being accompanied by a regrettable fatality. Mr. Forsythe, an enterprising photographer from Butte, Montana, being anxious to get some photos of the animals in the water, had stationed himself at a point of vantage amidst a clump of trees close to one of the booms in the river where he judged he would be out of the path of the oncoming herd. However they chose to take the bank directly below where he was standing, and before he could reach safety they were upon him in a mad, irresistible stampede.
How he escaped being trampled to death is a miracle which even he cannot realize. He has a recollection of the herd rushing upon him and of having in some way clutched a passing calf which he clung to until it passed under a tree. He then managed to grasp a branch and although he was unable to keep himself up out of danger he was able to keep himself from under the feet of the plunging herd.
His dangling legs were bruised and cut by their horns and his clothes were torn to shreds, but still he clung to the limb for life. Twice the herd passed under him as they circled back in an attempt to escape, but fortunately before he became exhausted they rushed into the corral.
The Canadian Pacific officials and the riders who knew the location chosen by Forsythe shuddered when they saw the animals rush in there and expected to find his body trampled out of semblance in the clay. Consequently they rejoiced to find the luckless photographer slightly disfigured, but still hugging his friend the tree in his dishevelled wardrobe. His two costly cameras were trampled into pieces and his opinion of his predicament was summed up in the simple words, "I have had enough buffalo."
As soon as the buffalo realized that they were enclosed they began an investigation of their surroundings, and the great cut banks were selected as the only place offering an avenue of escape. That night the herd had kept pounding at the ascent until a path was beaten into the wall over which they made their escape. So precipitous was the wall that there were innumerable trails left where the animals and sections of the herd had slipped and actually fallen back, but they had persevered until a track was finally made.
When morning came the officials and cowboys were dumbfounded to find the corral empty save for one buffalo which had its leg fractured. The men when investigating the way of escape could scarcely follow where the buffalo had gone, and it was only by going on their hands and knees that they were able to ascend the wall.
Such is the correct explanation of the escape and the report that the corral fence had been broken by some parties maliciously disposed is absolutely without foundation of any kind. Both Mr. Ayotte and Mr. Douglas are unanimous in an emphatic contradiction of this charge, which was based on an article published in a Calgary paper and sent out by Associated Press from Winnipeg.
The mischievous part of this report which has antagonized the residents of that section of Montana, and has even attracted the attention of the governor of the state, lies in the fact that it was credited to Mr. Douglas, who was recognized as the representative of the Canadian government. It has created a great deal of resentment and newspaper comment throughout the state, and demands are being made to compel Mr. Douglas to give an official retraction.
The free press has assurances that Mr. Douglas never made such a charge and never thought of such a thing as the actual facts of the case were familiar to him.
After the escape of the herd another attempt was made to corral them, but they escaped into the mountains, and as the winter season was opeing, it was decided to abandon the round-up for this year.
Already preparations for this have begun, and everything possible will be done to make certain capture of the animals. The wings of the corral which were found to be too short, will be extended back twelve or fourteen miles into the mountain, thus making an escape of sections of the herd almost impossible once the drive has begun. Inside the corrals the weak spots will be strengthened, sections will be built wherein the animals after being driven in can be handled and fed, thus taming them down slightly. This will require the erection of twelve miles of new fence within the corral proper.
The idea of driving the animals to the loading corrals on the railway at Ravalli has also been abandoned, and the animals will loaded into crated vans out on the range and driven to the town 35 miles away where they will be unloaded directly into the cars. Eighty teams have been engaged for this great contract alone.
A more difficult or dangerous task it would be hard to imagine—in fact it will be as dangerous as it will be unique. The shipment will be made in early June, the majority of the buffalo still on the range are cows and young animals, the very class of stock the Canadian government wants for breeding purposes.
The vast amount of work will necessitate an expenditure of about $40,000, all of which is borne by Michel Pablo, as the terms of his contract require him to deliver the buffalo at Wainwright, Alberta. The only thing he asks is that the Canadian government pay him for the natural increase of the herd since the sale was first concluded.
In view of the vast expenditure and the trouble he has incurred this looks like a reasonable request indeed, on which could not very well be denied since Michel Pablo has been obliged to pasture the animals ever since. It will no doubt be agreed to at least in part.
So determined is Pablo to clear the range that he says he will invite some of his friends to a real old time buffalo hunt on the range when any outlaw animal which cannot be corralled will be shot. The Flathead reservation is being thrown open to settlement next spring, consequently Pablo’s range will pass out of existence.
The same is true of the Blackfoot reservation where he has his vast ranching interests, and now his attention is turned towards Canada. When he comes up with the shipment of buffalo next summer he will look over the land with a view to securing ranges for his great herds of cattle and horses, and it is not improbable that shortly the remarkable old half-breed millionaire will be a citizen of the Canadian west, bringing with him his immense capital.
—Winnipeg Free Press