But no man had ever crossed or explored that part of the continent which the United States had just acquired; a part far better fitted to be the home of our stock than the regions to the north or south.

It was the explorations of Lewis and Clark, and not those of Mackenzie on the north or of the Spaniards in the south, which were to bear fruit, because they pointed the way to the tens of thousands of settlers who were to come after them, and who were to build thriving commonwealths in the lonely wilderness which they had traversed.
Wonderful Hunting Grounds.
From the Little Missouri on to the head of the Missouri proper the explorers passed through a region where they saw few traces of Indians.
It literally swarmed with game, for it was one of the finest hunting grounds in all the world.

[Footnote: It so continued for three quarters of a century.

Until after 1880 the region around the Little Missouri was essentially unchanged from what is was in the days of Lewis and Clark; game swarmed, and the few white hunters and trappers who followed the buffalo, the elk, and the beaver, were still at times in conflict with hunting parties from various Indian tribes.

While ranching in this region I myself killed every kind of game encountered by Lewis and Clark.] There were great numbers of sage fowl, sharp-tailed prairie fowl, and ducks of all kinds; and swans, and tall white cranes; and geese, which nested in the tops of the cottonwood trees.