BEDFORD Oct 18, 2017—The Buffalo Trace Working Group with the Hoosier National Forest received the 2017 Indiana History Outstanding Event and Project Award from the Indiana Historical Society. The group was recognized as instrumental in uncovering the history of the Buffalo Trace and mapping its route through southern Indiana.

Bison east of the Mississippi have mostly disappeared from American memory. Yet, up until the Revolutionary War, buffalo could be found from New York to Florida and from the Mississippi River to the tide-water lands of the east coast. They left their mark in Indiana and Kentucky in deep, hard-packed trails—called Buffalo Traces. Various trails also converged around the major salt licks, probably near present-day Lick Fork and French Lick in Indiana. The mineral springs of the valley, now famous for their high sulfur content, also contained high natural levels of salt. As the spring water spread over the rocks and ground surrounding them, the water evaporated and left the salt behind. An Englishman first reported bison near the Potomac River in 1612. Until they were hunted to extinction by white settlers, buffalo were widespread and in places regionally abundant, leaving lasting impressions on the eastern landscape. When the French and British colonists first came into what is now...

Emerson Hough (1857–1923) was an American author best known for writing western stories and historical novels. He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1880 from the University of Iowa, then studied law and was admitted to the bar. He and a friend, the artist J.A. Ricker, arrived in Garden City Kansas just as Buffalo Jones prepared for his 2nd expedition to capture buffalo calves in remote desert regions of Texas and the southwest. The young men had been told that a wild herd of buffalo was within 200 miles to the south. “We had supposed that the last buffalo had been killed. . . The event of a lifetime to see them! “It was our last chance!” wrote Hough. They met with Buffalo Jones—who first refused them as he had “50 less determined beggars.” But apparently, he could not resist the willingness of the eager writer and artist to record his trip. “He smiled amusedly, looked us over, made us promise not to grumble if the bread was burned, and finally said, ‘Gentlemen if you will...