Whiskers and Whiskey…and Wild Animals!

I don’t even know where to start with this article! It was printed in The Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine) on March 2, 1933, but it describes military orders issued to soldiers at Fort Riley, Kansas in 1842. The fort was actually known as Camp Center in 1842 due to its central location and wouldn’t be named Fort Riley until 1853. It was just a small, military outpost along the Oregon Trail at the time…I love these little insights into history, especially when they’re being recalled by a newspaper’s staff reporter nearly 100 years ago about something that took place nearly a century before that!

First of all, “hirsute adornment?” That’s not something you hear every day! (Hirsute means hairy, btw!) The soldiers at Fort Riley in 1842 were not only ordered to “wear beards”, but also ordered to stop ROPING AND RIDING BUFFALO! I mean, come on, Kansas!

At least the winning buffalo rider was rewarded properly- when we set aside the deviant behavior and the fact that American bison are extremely dangerous animals and not easily trained to accept riders.* The size of the barrel of rye whiskey that served as the reward was not specified, though the average size of a barrel was between 30 and 40 gallons at the time. I’m sure the victorious jockey and his fellow reckless soldiers drank well, at least for a while, after the contest. It’s amazing to think that the only thing the fort’s commanding officers had to say about the arbitrary shooting and harassment of bison was “don’t shoot toward post headquarters.” I suppose the officers realized that bored young men stationed in the “Wild West” needed their diversions…. What a crazy snippet of American whiskey history! (By the way, the fort is still famous for its history in cavalry tactics and training.)

*As a weird sidenote, from the mid 1980s until 1991, a American bison named Harvey Wallbanger famously raced horses- at professional racetracks! An American bison will beat most horses in a sprint. They may seem too big and bulky, but their lungs and hearts are larger, and they carry a great deal of momemtum! Harvey won 79 out of 93 starts during his “racing career”! Knowing that, one can imagine those soldiers at Fort Riley really racing! The Harvey Wallbanger, for those old enough to remember that cocktail from the 1970s and ‘80s, was NOT named after the bison. His trainer, Collin “TC” Thorstenson explained, “I named him Harvey Wallbanger because he was always banging his body against the wall in the stall.” The drink, made from vodka, OJ and Galliano, came first.