Prairie or Gray wolves are still occasionally seen in North Dakota, descendants of those who once roamed the plains in large packs following the enormous herds of buffalo on their annual migration. Alexander Henry Jr., traveling on the plains near Park River in October of 1800, stated that the wolves were in large droves and kept up a terrible howling day and night. Among his cache of furs that winter were 204 wolf skins. But the advancement of settlement marked the end of the both the buffalo and the wolves.

Since crops could not be raised under the hoofs of migrating buffalo and cattle could not be raised with large packs of wolves running wild to destroy them, both the buffalo and the wolf were hunted to near extinction, victims of progress. By the mid 1870's both had basically disappeared however packs of wolves managed to hang on in the more remote parts of the state and bounties were paid for their scalps and ears. In 1889 the bounty was already placed at $3.00 per scalp, a goodly sum in those days and it stayed between $2.50 and $5.00 up until the 1950's. There were even significant efforts by the North Dakota Experimental Station in 1923 to totally eliminate wolves using various methods including poisoning.

In the valley of the Little Missouri, along Moccasin Creek, a pack of wolves continued to survive despite the pressure. Dressed in a robe of pure white with a grayish collar, White Wolf ruled the prairies in northern Dunn County for a number of years. Feared and hated, he ran at the head of the pack but on this day in 1923 he existed no more. His reign of terror over the stockmen in the area had caused a large bounty to be placed on his head. After killing a cow and a calf near the home of Charley Burr on the Fort Berthold Reservation, he remained too long and Adlai Stevenson, another resident of the area, managed to draw a bead on him and he paid the penalty.

The Halliday Promoter published the following epitaph: “White Wolf is no more. He has gone down beneath the skyline. His last kill had been made. No more will the hills, the valleys, the coolies re-echo his roar. The night cry of his lonesome mate as it pours forth from some favorite den on Moccasin Creek will be reverberated back to its sender; there will be no answer.”

White Wolf was like so many things in the West, once he became larger than life, he became part of Western legends.

Written by: Jim Davis

Sources:
The Halliday Promoter April 13, 1923
Collection of the State Historical Society of North Dakota Volume III 1910.

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