The Legend of the Lone, Gray Buffalo (Bison)
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Saturday, May 3, 2008
By LEON R. SEIFERT
Guest commentary
As the long-ago natives of our land are to have said many, many, many long-agoes, a lone, gray buffalo wandered into our area of the Wasatch Front.
Then, the waters of the big, big lake rose up to where they made the beaches along the shoreline. Some call the big lake "Bonneville."
The buffalo was forced to go higher on the mountain. And then it got trapped, high on the rounding slop of one mountain ridge, near the horizon. The ridge is a little ways north of the peak called Mt. Ogden.
Just like the ancestors of the buffalo, when they were on the Great Plains, it used the faint, steady star of the north as a guide. And so, our buffalo is always looking toward that steady star.
For a number of moons now, the buffalo has been hiding in the thick stand of snow-draped pine trees along the slopping ridge. The snows have been a cover hiding the buffalo.
But now, as the snows are disapating and the days are warmer, it can be seen in the afternoon sun. The buffalo is still looking northward to catch the steady star.
Some say that what we see is the spirit of the buffalo. Some say it looks like the shadow figure that a native painted on the side of a teepee.
Should you want to see this friendly buffalo, when the sun is high and dipping to the west, go to somewhere between 24th and 30th streets on Monroe Boulevard. Then, look at our Mt. Ogden peak.
There is a soft, rounding, sloping ridge with a strong stand of pines on it.
Northward, about halfway down the ridgeline, just above the thickest part of the pines, our buffalo is still there.
It likes the summer sun; it keeps looking northward.
Can you find this "ghost figure" of the long-ago past?
A few who have seen our buffalo have tried to climb to touch it. But, when someone comes too close, it hides away in the broken gray boulders.
Seifert lives in Ogden.
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