As preparations to leave St. Louis for Washington City near completion, explorer Zebulon Pike is separated from his enlisted men in central Kansas. His small group “feasts sumptuously” on the marrow bones of four buffalo similar to York while descending the Yellowstone.
Marrow Bone
Derived from the original photo by WikiCommons user Aerous. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Feasting on Marrow Bones
Early on horseback; proceeded up the creek some distance in search of our party, but at twelve o’clock crossed to our two buffaloes; found a great many wolves at them, notwithstanding the precaution taken to keep them off. Cooked some marrow bones and again mounted our horses, and proceeded down the creek to their junction. Finding nothing of the party, I began to be seriously alarmed for their safety. Killed two more buffalo, made our encampment and feasted sumptuously on the marrow-bones. Rain in the night.
—Zebulon Pike[1]Donald Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), 1:335–336.
Pike’s small group crossed present Cheyenne Bottoms in the center of Kansas. The area is now a wildlife refuge managed by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.
York’s Yellowstone Kill
The previous July while descending the Yellowstone River, York killed a buffalo for its marrow bones:
I landed on the Lard Side walked out into the bottom and Killd the fatest Buck I every Saw, Shields killed a deer and my man York killed a Buffalow Bull, as he informed me for his tongue and marrow bones . . . . [F]or me to mention or give an estimate of the differant Spcies of wild animals on this river particularly Buffalow, Elk Antelopes [pronghorns] & Wolves would be increditable. I shall therefore be silent on the Subject further.
—William Clark
Clark’s group were making canoes near present Laurel west of Billings, Montana.
Notes
| ↑1 | Donald Jackson, The Journals of Zebulon Montgomery Pike (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), 1:335–336. |
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- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
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