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Post by sixshot on Jan 21, 2019 20:59:51 GMT -5
Good point Rey. If any of you have had the pleasure of reading the book, Journal of a Trapper by Osborne Russel there's a page in there where he talks about walking across the desert, heading back to Fort Hall after losing all his gear to the Indians in a fight, & he saw a huge cloud of dust, it was Buffalo. Soon they were being chased by lots of Indians but not the same band of Indians that had taken Russel's gear in the earlier fight. He hid in the brush for a couple of hours as the Indians killed & killed hundreds of Buffalo (bison) later one of the Indians rode close enough to him that he recognized the Indian & showed himself & the Indian approached on his horse. Osborne Russel said he though there were at least 1,000 dead buffalo & not a single shot had been fired! All had been killed with bow & arrow! The Indian told Russel the camp would be coming along soon & he could join them. I had 2 copies but gave one to Larry Rogers this last summer, it's a great read & much of it took place right here around Soda Springs. Lots of wild sheep only 3 miles from my house at that time, right where Contender, James from Jersey, Sal, Russell Cottle & many others of you shot along the Bear River. Also buffalo & antelope were everywhere.
Dick
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WARDOG
.30 Stingray
Retired.....mostly.
Posts: 199
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Post by WARDOG on Jan 21, 2019 23:50:23 GMT -5
Impressive collection, especially if gathered in one region. I'll share an experience from summer 2018. My sister, brother in law, one of my sons, and I backpack and fish the Ansel Adams National Park every year (south of Yosemite). Every year we backpack in about 10 miles from a trailhead and camp, fish, and explore the area for about 2 weeks. We typically see some historical native American activity, even up to 10,200 ft. elevation. We always leave what we find. Usually it is pestles, mortars, and a few arrowheads. This last summer we were on a new trail about 5 hours from a remote trailhead. We set up a temporary camp for the night to continue our journey the next morning. We camped where two creeks merged, and there were monolithic granite rocks running the shore. Higher on the shore was a flat, sandy area with more large granite boulders of all sizes, many were perfect stools and tables for a campsite. We were at 8,200 ft. elevation. While fishing for Brook trout that evening we saw several areas along the stream that had grinding rock mortars. While cooking that nights dinner we all started noticing shards of obsidian in the sand. I had a headlamp that emitted a green light. When I turned it on it made all the obsidian shards contrast with the lighter sand and we realized just how many shards were all around our camp. The next morning after breakfast and some ibuprofen, we were all digging in the sand. We hadn't even scratched the surface the night before. We found several obsidian tools in different stages of completion, and discarded attempts at arrowheads. We found enough shards and pieces that we could have filled a gallon bucket in a few hours. Obviously we were not the first travellers to see that spot as a good camp site. We all compared our discoveries and put everything back, covering it with sand. If we didn't have another 6 hours of hiking we would have explored even more. The nearest obsidian geologic area was 38 miles away in Mammoth Pools. A few days later we were fishing a high lake at 10,200 ft. and found a few shards at a high lake where we were fishing. It was an exciting experience.
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Post by wasatchjack on Jan 23, 2019 21:50:44 GMT -5
That is an amazing collection ! Ive lived in Beaver Utah ,about 30 miles from Milford where Dick's family had a farm and I've dreamt of finding a collection even a fraction that size . I feel lucky finding a few perfect examples in a year . Highly impressive .
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