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Big Buff the Buffalo LbNA #17727

Owner:Doublesaj & Old Blue
Plant date:Aug 28, 2005
Location:
City:???
County:Mystery
State:Wyoming
Boxes:1
Found by: ???
Last found:Oct 18, 2021
Status:FF
Last edited:Aug 28, 2005
In the 1880’s Mo Dinsmore, along with his dog Faithful, prospected for gold all over the west. He never had much luck, in fact the only success they ever had was with the help of one very unusual buffalo. It all started one spring afternoon when an arctic storm blew in and it started snowing hard. Mo could see no shelter and was fearing for their lives. Then thru the driving snow he saw a large black rock ahead so he and Faithful made their way to it and hunkered down behind it, out of the wind and piercing cold. They should have known something was wrong by how fast they warmed up, but Mo figured it was all the long black moss on the rock. Then the “rock” took a deep breath! This was no rock – it was a BIG BUFFALO! Mo figured they better get out of there, but leaving this warm shelter would be sure death and the buffalo seemed to like the warmth they brought to him.

Before long the buffalo was beginning to stir, so Mo reached up under his chin and began to scratch it. Sure enough it did the trick, that it let out a moan of contentment and went back to sleep. By morning the storm had passed and the sun was up, so Mo and Faithful tried to sneak off. But that buffalo would have none of it and he followed the prospector and his dog. Turns out that this beast really liked having his chin scratched.

At sunset a few days later, Big Buff was digging with his hoof at the edge of a river (as buffalo like to do) and, as the dirt flew up, Mo spied a yellow shining speck amongst the flying debris. Sure enough it was gold!… and a lot of it too. It turns out that everywhere Big Buff dug, he found gold. This odd threesome roamed about the west for quite a while, Mo scratching chins, Big Buff finding treasure and Faithful being, well... faithful. Mo often hid their found treasure along the way. He would write notes to himself so he could come back and find it later if need be.

One morning Mo noticed that Big Buff did not look well; he had trouble getting to his feet, and when he did, he had trouble keeping up with Mo’s lumbering pace. A few days later, while camping by a very large mountain lake, Big Buff could not get up at all and Mo was desperate. He had heard of the Blackfoot medicine man – Buffalo Wet (in Blackfoot pronounced “Vet”) who had performed miracles with wild animals. But how could Mo get Big Buff to the Buffalo Wet in time??

All of a sudden the prospector had an idea. The day before at the big lodge, Mo had watched it in amazement, the circus was setting up. The elephants lifted heavy loads with ease. That was it, he would hire an elephant to carried Big Buff to Buffalo Wet. Mo retrieved a few hidden treasures and headed with Faithful to the big lodge. He hired 2 elephants and their trainer to carry Big Buff, but good Old Faithful was afraid of the elephants and would not follow. Mo told Old Faithful to stay by the Lodge. From the Lodge the prospector traveled back to the very large mountain lake.

At the lake the larger elephant was able to lift Big Buff onto the other elephant’s back. From there Mo and his buffalo, traveling on elephant back, trail-ed up the mountain headed for the medicine man.

As they approached the trailhead to the mountain, Mo’s head began a spinnin’; he was seeing things that he did not believe. First was a “No Bikes” sign, but Mo did not know what it could mean. Then he had to “Sign In”, but for what? The trail continued up a short hill, then electricity was in the air, not a dozen yards overhead. Now ahead of them was a double stump, right there in the middle of the trail. The group moved on until they found what only could be balance beams set up for grizzly bears. Twenty-five steps beyond the beams was a gnarly face on the right side of the trail. Was this the great medicine man or a demon of the mountain? Mo, on this Elephant Back Trail, stopped and stared at the face for several minutes and finally spoke. “I’ve come to save my buffalo’s life, he is very sick. I’ve brought much treasure.” Mo held out a container of his treasure to show the Medicine Man. His face at first frowned, but then soften a bit when he looked at the buffalo on elephant back. The face said “place the treasure 3 steps behind me beneath those logs”. Mo did as instructed.

Mo turned around and saw next to the trail a pretty female buffalo with big brown eyes. Big Buff saw her too and instantly was energized. The big buffalo jumped off the elephant’s back and trotted to his bison beauty. As he reached her side, Big Buff lifted his enormous head to stretch his stiff neck. With his head in the air she put her head under his chin and rubbed back and forth. HE WAS HEAD OVER HOOFS IN LOVE!

Mo knew this would be the last time he would see Big Buff. Mo’s head was still spinning so he laid down where he was and fell into a deep sleep. When he awoke he was alone, but he heard a calling so he continued up the trail. At the top of the mountain he saw the very large mountain lake from 800 ft above. It was a strenuous hike but the view was worth it. He decided to stay there for a long while and ponder the meaning of life. As for Old Faithful back at the lodge? He’d also fallen in love with a hot little dazzler who blew off steam every now and then. Old Faithful remained faithful… to his new love.