Buffalo huntA Closer LookHunting trips were one of Alexander Faribault's favorite pastimes and times of great adventure. Here are some hunting stories related by Alexander's friends. Henry Sibley "Being myself passionately fond of field sports, [Alexander] was my hunting companion for nearly twenty years, and together we encountered many perils from hostile Indians and from wild beast. We accompanied the Sioux on their winter hunts, on two or three occasions spending months many hundreds of miles from white settlement, and passing the time in the chase of the buffalo, the elk, the bear, the deer, and other animals which at that time abounded. Little Crow...was with us, as was most of his band, on these excursions." According to historian E.D. Neill in the 1882 History of Rice County, Alexander Faribault hunted with Henry Mower Rice in 1844. ..."they soon spotted a fine animal and at once gave chase. A shot wounded him, and he became furious at once reversed the order of things, the pursuers becoming the pursued. Mr. Rice was thrown from his horse, and began to realize how rapidly his earthly career was drawing to a close, when Mr. Faribault, who was a most remarkable marksman, brought down the infuriated brute."
"Hal — A Dacotah" was a frequent and popular author of articles about the frontier in an early magazine. "Hal" was really Henry Sibley. In one 1846 article, he wrote: "In the month of October, 1842, I took with me eight horses and carts, in charge of five Canadians and one American, and with my old hunting companions, Alex F. and Jack Frazer, wended my way toward the buffalo region. We expected to find these animals at or about the Minday Wecoche Wakkon, or Lake of the Spirit Land, a distance of a hundred and fifty miles. The first few days we amused ourselves with shooting grouse, ducks, and geese, of which there were a great abundance. One of the party knocked over twenty ducks at a single shot, nineteen of which were secured." |
