The mouth of the Sur river and the adjacent surroundings for several miles each way is adapted to stock raising and dairing, being one of the best all year round ranches on the coast. Many young stock roam the range while the cows are supplying the milk for three cheese factories, famous now for the celebrated Monterey cheese.
One afternoon l was out for awalk up the river to look in our curious little men, the Japs. The road ran bordering on the river bank under and through groves of beautiful redwoods, curving and winding in and out many times, within the distance of a mile making a most delightful exhilarating stroll. I was bent on no particular mission, in fact was idling away an afternoon, thoroughly enjoying the many strange trees, shrubs and flowers which grew here abundantly, thinking of the calmness that can prevail among such giants as those redwoods are, it really seems impossible the silence which one finds among the forest when it is silent.
I was just rounding a sharp turn in the road almost a half circle which would bring me out from the deep shade into the bright sunlight for possibly 20 yds before the road again ran into the shadows of another clump of dark trees.
When I was attacked by an unusual roar which seemed to be coming in my direction, but l could not make out whether, the sound was coming by the road or out of the timber paralleling the road it being so crooked at this point. The roar came suddently [suddenly] and with such rapidity that I had no time to decide upon any coarse of action except the thought I wonder what is God’s name it could be.
If I had been in Central Africa I would have at once prepared to mill [see ?] a herd of elephants, but in a fairly civilized community and to be confronted with such a roar and smashing it was bewildering. Thinking did not lesson the uproar, it must be action with me, at that quick, perceiving a small tree about 10 feet from the road I made haste to put my self many feet up it out of harm’s way, and luckly l did and when l did, for l had no more that sprang for its lower branches than a dark brownish mass swung into road coming through a heavy redwood picket fence from out of the timber on the mountain side of the road. Before l could get securely settled I was smothered in a cloud of dust and the forest fairly trembled with the force of the rushing herd. I had been treed by a stampede of buffalo.
After l could here [hear] no more of my roaring herd and it appeared safe to descend I immediately crossed the river at this point and climbing up a steep mountain through a thick tangle of under-brush l made camp nearly in an opposite direction from which l started.
The buffalo I had seen was a domestic herd running on the range with the common cattle having been brought down from the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco several years previous as an experiment for breeding purposes. They had so far given very little trouble but on this occasion they were lead by a very large and vicious bull buffalo, who had been confined in a high and strong log corral as he was too unruly to run the range, his influence would put the rest in an uncontrollable temper, consequently he was never let out, but this day the cowboy whose duty it it was to water and feed him lost control of him and he had broken out and started for the range at a full gallop bellowing and roaring only as a buffalo can and it was he who had stampeded the younger herd where I finally found them. Later the cowboys succeeded in roping the bull and after several, hours of exciting and dangerous work landed him back at the corral securely tied with a log chain.
Big Sur…NEXT