The Henson Journals

[86]

2nd Sunday after Trinity, June 20th, 1909.

A wet day. My suspicions of overnight were justified this morning when the Manager appeared, & explained that the 'General Office' felt that it wd be impossible to arrange suitably for a service &c, &c.

Major Benson came in at 9.45 a.m. to fetch me in order that he might show me over the buildings of the cantonment. Everything seems as completely & comfortably provided as possible. The health of the men is excellent here, for while the climate is more than commonly good, the temptations to disorderly courses are unusually few.

Then Mrs Benson took us for a drive. The rain marred our pleasure, but we had the satisfaction of seeing a fine black bear breakfasting by the side of the Gardiner River a few hundred feet off the road. The driver interested me, by his intelligent conversation, & evident fondness for animals. He had been educated at the Iowa Agricultural College, but been forced by the weakness of his lungs to seek the open air in a higher latitude. Hence his presence in the Yellowstone. He told me that a few days since, he had been driving a load of meat for the commissariat, when no fewer than five bears, allured by the smell of the flesh, pursued his waggon; & made repeated efforts to get at the food even after it had been deposited [87] in a small shed. The soldiers had to come to the rescue of their provisions.

We had tea with the Bensons. The Major was again full of information. He said that the Park swarmed with cayotes, of which he had himself shot no less than 15 during the last year. I asked whether such shooting did not alarm the rest of the beasts, and he answered that it did not. The antelope would come down to drink within a stone's throw of the soldiers practicing at the Park ranges. He observed that the antelope, unlike other deer, went to drink, not at sunrise & sunset, but at noon. I asked how many buffalo were in the Park, & he said 76 and 15 calves, making 91 in all. He was not sure whether the size of the buffalo was diminishing when they bred in semi–captivity, but he admitted that they had one wild bull in the Park which far exceeded any that had been bred there. One buffalo calf had been brought up by a milch cow, and manifested the utmost affection for its foster–mother. This year it had a calf of its own, & had transferred its affections thereto. The Swiss Government has recently sent over some chamois, which had originally been destined for the Park: but the delicacy of this animal, when transplanted from its native hills, is such that special arrangements are requisite for its well–being, which cannot be provided in the Park. [88] It had therefore been decided, much to Major Benson's relief, to retain the chamois in the Zoological Gardens at Washington. Some buffalo are to be brought down to this end of the Park, and will arrive tomorrow night, just too late for us to see them.

A soldier has been convicted of shooting a badger. The offence is thought to have been deliberate, designed to secure banishment from an abhorred situation. But this object would not in any case be gained.

The scouts here are residents acquainted with the Park, who are supposed to teach the troopers their routes, & generally assist the Intelligence Department. They receive 75 dollars monthly, and a house, with forage for one beast.

The Major took me to the Engineer's Quarters where is a collection of grasses from the Park. Outside the door is a portion of a fossil tree, very astonishing – the exterior semblance of a large pine, the consistency of flint.

I wrote to Knox, & Ker.

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