Buffalo Hunter pic

[vancelw]

My apologies to rangerider7, but thanks to his posts, I couldn't resist this one.

Buffalo Hunter.jpg

Whatcha think?

[C. Cash]

That is super cool....thanks for sharing. Bet that old boy had some stories for sure.

[kimwcook]

Really neat picture. Don't think he's a poser, except for the picture.

[SJPrice]

pretty hard to fake a look of confidence like that. looks like the real deal.

[vancelw]

Pretty sure he's the real deal. I think he was a hunter in his younger days and posed for this later.
The guy lived out his life in Rosebud County Montana and I saw his pic in a history book I have.
Knowing his name (Nathaniel Hayden) I googled him and found this:

NH.JPG

looks like a colorized print.
Here is a picture of him and the missus.

Mr n Mrs.jpg

Here's them at the home place.

House.jpg

paraphrased. . .
Nathaniel Hayden was born Jan 13, 1852 in Springfield, OH. When a small child moved with his family to Boulder CO.
Cordelia Clough was born July 24, 1855 (not 1885 ) in Council Bluffs, IA. Later Cordelia Clough Hays and her 5-year old daughter, Maggie May, moved to Boulder. The following year the couple were married and moved by covered wagon to the Black Hills where they lived until 1880. Hayden freighted and hunted on the Belle Fourche River.
They moved again settling on the Rosebud Creek on the ranch known as the Charley Davis place. they were the 2nd family in that locality. Later they lived on the Little Porcupine (Creek) before moving to Forsyth (MT.)
Hayden hunted buffalo with Col Wm. Cody in Wyoming but what he enjoyed most was horse racing and he always took part in the county fairs, showing and racing his horses. Cordelia died Oct. 20, 1927 in Forsyth and Hayden dies 6 months later.
- They Came and They Stayed

FYI- the Little Porcupine creek is where the Matthew Quigley Buffalo Rifle match is held each year. Rosebud Creek is the route the Cheyenne and Sioux (and Custer) took on their way to the Little Big Horn (Greasy Grass River.)
When I am up there hunting I can't help but think of the buffalo and have found skulls and entire skeletons before.

[Sixgun]

Interesting story. Real people who made do with what they had.---------Sixgun

[kimwcook]

Cool story, Vance.

[gunner69]

Being from South Dakota, and having lived in Montana, I really enjoyed your post.

[RIHMFIRE]

Great story and pic...
and you can see "the real west" in his face....

[vancelw]

The book i got this from consists mostly of local articles, written for the Forsyth paper and compiled into one volume.
I enjoy reading it because most of the article are written by descendants who still live in the area. It helps me understand why certain places have the names they do.
This one was stuck in the back, sort of uncategorized. The story does not seem to be written by family, but it's nice that someone wrote their tale down. I was surprised to find no other information about them online other than the photo I already had.
Lots of these old homestead houses were there when I moved to MT in the late 60s. They are still there, but many have decayed to an unrecognizable point. I can remember seeing piles of old wagon parts that are hard to find now after decades of cattle trodding through them, sagebrush and greasewood grown up around. It's pretty interesting to find the old "trash ditch" and dig through it, finding old bottles and kids toys.

[stickfred]

Thanks for sharing the photo and history with us. Its good to learn the local history and better when an individual's, like Nathaniel, story can be passed on to others. I appreciate your time and trouble.

[rangerider7]

Enjoyed your post very much. Keep it up.

[Birdman]

Good pic and story. American history is great. Thanks

[Ysabel Kid]

Cool!

[Boreman]

Thanks for sharing. A really great story of the American West about real people !!!!!!!

[71fan]

Cool pics and story. If those dates are correct, that's the oldest looking 20 year old I've ever seen. And he married his wife before she was born

I couldn't resist...I'm a nick-pickin' engineer...it's in my blood.

I do enjoy these stories though. I have the buffalo hunters encyclopedia (volume 1), and several other related books, and have spent countless hours studying folks like these.

[jd45]

Forgive me for being skeptical, but, as the Title of this thread is Buffalo Hunter, I have to say anyone who would attempt to kill a buffalo with the power available in an 1873 is suicidal. Now IF it were an 1876, that might be another matter. I just don't think a .44-40 packs enough punch to do the trick. Just my 2 cents, jd45

[FWiedner]

Native-Americans routinely killed Bison with sticks and stones.

You really don't think it might be possible to kill one with a 200gr bullet moving at 1200fps?

[vancelw]

Cool pics and story. If those dates are correct, that's the oldest looking 20 year old I've ever seen. And he married his wife before she was born

I couldn't resist...I'm a nick-pickin' engineer...it's in my blood.

I do enjoy these stories though. I have the buffalo hunters encyclopedia (volume 1), and several other related books, and have spent countless hours studying folks like these.

You passed the test
No, as I was typing in that date I thought, "Wow, he was 32 years older than her." but dismissed it since (in researching genealogy) I have found several instances where a man outlived his first wife (after she bore him 7 or 9 kids) and married another, much younger one (who gave him 7 or 10 more.) I corrected the date to 1855.

I doubt the 1872 date under the couples portrait is correct. Would be more likely to believe 1927, but that would be the year of their death when they were both in their 70s. Somebody made a mistake there.

I found another picture of Hayden taken in 1916-but it's too small to see him and judge his appearance. At age 64 the picture was of him riding a pinto in front of the old grandstands on the racetrack at the Rosebud County Fairgrounds.

Forgive me for being skeptical, but, as the Title of this thread is Buffalo Hunter, I have to say anyone who would attempt to kill a buffalo with the power available in an 1873 is suicidal. Now IF it were an 1876, that might be another matter. I just don't think a .44-40 packs enough punch to do the trick. Just my 2 cents, jd45

I doubt that was his buffalo gun. His buffalo hunting days would have been long gone before that pic was taken. I bet he had long since parted with his buffalo rifle if he had no further use of it.

[Malamute]

There were account of guys killing buffalo with 73's (and Colt's Dragoon pistols for that matter), and they felt them up to the job, but I believe the ones I've read were running them, meaning riding up next to them and shooting from very close. In any event, the rifle is a 76.