View of Bull Creek Valley

boots of all who walked there. The whole place had a foul smell, faintly of ripe huckleberries. "The squabs grew fast and soon filled their nests. The parent pigeons fed their young by regurgitation. After feeding, the pair would sit close together near the nest and 'Coo' to each other. "When the squabs grew and fattened to squatty, half-feathered creatures, pigeon hunters came by the hundreds with sacks, pack horses or wagons. With long poles the young birds were knocked from the nests, often breaking their legs or necks when they hit the ground. Another blow on the head with a short club killed them, and they were put into sacks and hauled away to towns where they were sold for a half dollar a dozen. Young squabs were delicious eating. "The white man learned how to hunt pigeons from the Indians, but the Indians took only what they needed for food. The commercial aspect appealed to die white man, and that was the beginning of the end of the wild pigeons. By the time the young squabs could have grown wing feathers to fly, there were none left to fly away with the parent birds. "Pigeon nesting grounds were ravaged in that manner until there were no young to carry on the species. The parent birds grew old and died. "Unlike their cousins, the doves, who nested in pairs and have survived, the wild pigeons nested collectively, and were unable to conceal their nesting grounds. "The wild pigeons gave more food to mankind than they took. Balds like that of the Porter Settlement were rare, and widely scattered. It happened there only once." VIEW OF BULL CREEK VALLEY Joe Rice shot the last buffalo here in 1799. The commemoration doesn't say oY Joe shot in self-defense, or the winter was hard and he had to feed his family, or that he just wanted the honor. It just says he shot it and the elevation is 3483. Some folks don't even know there were buffalo in the Blue Ridge. —Ken Chamlee Ken Chamlee is a young North Carolinian now living in Fort Collins, Colorado. 29 Weaving at Quicksand Crafts, Vest, Ky. 30 ...