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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17748-8.txt b/17748-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..050a306 --- /dev/null +++ b/17748-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10351 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Extermination of the American Bison, by +William T. Hornaday + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States +and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it +under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this +eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not +located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this ebook. + + +Title: The Extermination of the American Bison + +Author: William T. Hornaday + +Release Date: February 10, 2006 [EBook #17748] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXTERMINATION OF THE *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Tony Browne and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: (Inscription) Mr. Theodore Roosevelt. Author of "Hunting +Trips of a Ranchman," With the compliments of The Author, W.T. Hornaday.] + +SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. + +UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. + + * * * * * + +THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. + +BY + +WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, + +_Superintendent of the National Zoological Park._ + + * * * * * + +From the Report of the National Museum, 1886-'87, pages 369-548, and +plates I-XXII. + + * * * * * + +WASHINGTON + +GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. + +1889. + +[Illustration: GROUP OF AMERICAN BISONS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. +Collected and mounted by W. T. Hornaday.] + + + + +CONTENTS. + +PREFATORY NOTE + +PART I.--THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE BISON + + I. Discovery of the species + II. Geographical distribution + III. Abundance + IV. Character of the species + 1. The buffalo's rank amongst ruminants + 2. Change of form in captivity + 3. Mounted specimens in museums + 4. The calf + 5. The yearling + 6. The spike bull + 7. The adult bull + 8. The cow in the third year + 9. The adult cow + 10. The "Wood" or "Mountain Buffalo" + 11. The shedding of the winter pelage + V. Habits of the buffalo + VI. The food of the buffalo + VII. Mental capacity and disposition of the buffalo + VIII. Value to mankind + IX. Economic value of the bison to Western + cattle-growers + 1. The bison in captivity and domestication + 2. Need of an improvement in range cattle + 3. Character of the buffalo-domestic hybrid + 4. The bison as a beast of burden + 5. List of bison herds and individuals + in captivity + +PART II.--THE EXTERMINATION + + I. Causes of the extermination + II. Methods of slaughter + 1. The "still hunt" + 2. The chase on horseback + 3. Impounding + 4. The surround + 5. Decoying and driving + 6. Hunting on snow-shoes + III. Progress of the extermination + A. The period of desultory destruction + B. The period of systematic slaughter + 1. The Red River half-breeds + 2. The country of the Sioux + 3. Western railways, and their part + in the extermination of the buffalo + 4. The division of the universal herd + 5. The destruction of the southern herd + 6. Statistics of the slaughter + 7. The destruction of the northern herd + IV. Legislation to prevent useless slaughter + V. Completeness of the wild buffalo's extirpation + VI. Effects of the disappearance of the bison + VII. Preservation of the species from absolute extinction + +PART III.--THE SMITHSONIAN EXPEDITION FOR SPECIMENS + + I. The exploration for specimens + II. The hunt + III. The mounted group in the National Museum + +INDEX + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + +Group of buffaloes in the National Museum +Head of bull buffalo +Slaughter of buffalo on Kansas Pacific Railroad +Buffalo cow, calf, and yearling +Spike bull +Bull buffalo +Bull buffalo, rear view +The development of the buffalo's horns +A dead bull +Buffalo skinners at work +Five minutes' work +Scene on the northern buffalo range +Half-breed calf +Half-breed buffalo (domestic) cow +Young half-breed bull +The still-hunt +The chase on horseback +Cree Indians impounding buffalo +The surround +Indians on snow-shoes hunting buffaloes +Where the millions have gone +Trophies of the hunt + +MAPS. + +Sketch map of the hunt for buffalo +Map illustrating the extermination of the American bison + + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE. + +It is hoped that the following historical account of the discovery, +partial utilization, and almost complete extermination of the great +American bison may serve to cause the public to fully realize the folly +of allowing all our most valuable and interesting American mammals to be +wantonly destroyed in the same manner. The wild buffalo is practically +gone forever, and in a few more years, when the whitened bones of the +last bleaching skeleton shall have been picked up and shipped East for +commercial uses, nothing will remain of him save his old, well-worn +trails along the water-courses, a few museum specimens, and regret for +his fate. If his untimely end fails even to point a moral that shall +benefit the surviving species of mammals _which are now being +slaughtered in like manner_, it will be sad indeed. + +Although _Bison americanus_ is a true bison, according to scientific +classification, and not a buffalo, the fact that more than sixty +millions of people in this country unite in calling him a "buffalo," and +know him by no other name, renders it quite unnecessary for me to +apologize for following, in part, a harmless custom which has now become +so universal that all the naturalists in the world could not change it +if they would. + +W. T. H. + +THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON, + +By WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, + +_Superintendent of the National Zoological Park._ + + + + +PART I.--LIFE HISTORY OF THE BISON. + + + + +I. DISCOVERY OF THE SPECIES. + + +The discovery of the American bison, as first made by Europeans, +occurred in the menagerie of a heathen king. + +In the year 1521, when Cortez reached Anahuac, the American bison was +seen for the first time by civilized Europeans, if we may be permitted +to thus characterize the horde of blood thirsty plunder seekers who +fought their way to the Aztec capital. With a degree of enterprise that +marked him as an enlightened monarch, Montezuma maintained, for the +instruction of his people, a well-appointed menagerie, of which the +historian De Solis wrote as follows (1724): + +"In the second Square of the same House were the Wild Beasts, which were +either presents to Montezuma, or taken by his Hunters, in strong Cages +of Timber, rang'd in good Order, and under Cover: Lions, Tygers, Bears, +and all others of the savage Kind which New-Spain produced; among which +the greatest Rarity was the Mexican Bull; a wonderful composition of +divers Animals. It has crooked Shoulders, with a Bunch on its Back like +a Camel; its Flanks dry, its Tail large, and its Neck cover'd with Hair +like a Lion. It is cloven footed, its Head armed like that of a Bull, +which it resembles in Fierceness, with no less strength and Agility." + +Thus was the first seen buffalo described. The nearest locality from +whence it could have come was the State of Coahuila, in northern Mexico, +between 400 and 500 miles away, and at that time vehicles were unknown +to the Aztecs. But for the destruction of the whole mass of the written +literature of the Aztecs by the priests of the Spanish Conquest, we +might now be reveling in historical accounts of the bison which would +make the oldest of our present records seem of comparatively recent +date. + +Nine years after the event referred to above, or in 1530, another +Spanish explorer, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza, afterwards called Cabeza de +Vaca--or, in other words "Cattle Cabeza," the prototype of our own +distinguished "Buffalo Bill"--was wrecked on the Gulf coast, west of +the delta of the Mississippi, from whence he wandered westward through +what is now the State of Texas. In southeastern Texas he discovered the +American bison on his native heath. So far as can be ascertained, this +was the earliest discovery of the bison in a wild state, and the +description of the species as recorded by the explorer is of historical +interest. It is brief and superficial. The unfortunate explorer took +very little interest in animated nature, except as it contributed to the +sum of his daily food, which was then the all-important subject of his +thoughts. He almost starved. This is all he has to say:[1] + +[Note 1: Davis' Spanish Conquest of New Mexico. 1869. P. 67.] + +"Cattle come as far as this. I have seen them three times, and eaten of +their meat. I think they are about the size of those in Spain. They have +small horns like those of Morocco, and the hair long and flocky, like +that of the merino. Some are light brown (_pardillas_) and others black. +To my judgment the flesh is finer and sweeter than that of this country +[Spain]. The Indians make blankets of those that are not full grown, and +of the larger they make shoes and bucklers. They come as far as the +sea-coast of Florida [now Texas], and in a direction from the north, and +range over a district of more than 400 leagues. In the whole extent of +plain over which they roam, the people who live bordering upon it +descend and kill them for food, and thus a great many skins are +scattered throughout the country." + +Coronado was the next explorer who penetrated the country of the +buffalo, which he accomplished from the west, by way of Arizona and New +Mexico. He crossed the southern part of the "Pan-handle" of Texas, to +the edge of what is now the Indian Territory, and returned through the +same region. It was in the year 1542 that he reached the buffalo +country, and traversed the plains that were "full of crooke-backed oxen, +as the mountaine Serena in Spaine is of sheepe." This is the description +of the animal as recorded by one of his followers, Castañeda, and +translated by W. W. Davis:[2] + +[Note 2: The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico. Davis. 1869. Pp. 206-7.] + +"The first time we encountered the buffalo, all the horses took to +flight on seeing them, for they are horrible to the sight. + +"They have a broad and short face, eyes two palms from each other, and +projecting in such a manner sideways that they can see a pursuer. Their +beard is like that of goats, and so long that it drags the ground when +they lower the head. They have, on the anterior portion of the body, a +frizzled hair like sheep's wool; it is very fine upon the croup, and +sleek like a lion's mane. Their horns are very short and thick, and can +scarcely be seen through the hair. They always change their hair in May, +and at this season they really resemble lions. To make it drop more +quickly, for they change it as adders do their skins, they roll among +the brush-wood which they find in the ravines. + +"Their tail is very short, and terminates in a great tuft. When they run +they carry it in the air like scorpions. When quite young they are +tawny, and resemble our calves; but as age increases they change color +and form. + +"Another thing which struck us was that all the old buffaloes that we +killed had the left ear cloven, while it was entire in the young; we +could never discover the reason of this. + +"Their wool is so fine that handsome clothes would certainly be made of +it, but it can not be dyed for it is tawny red. We were much surprised +at sometimes meeting innumerable herds of bulls without a single cow, +and other herds of cows without bulls." + +Neither De Soto, Ponce de Leon, Vasquez de Ayllon, nor Pamphilo de +Narvaez ever saw a buffalo, for the reason that all their explorations +were made south of what was then the habitat of that animal. At the time +De Soto made his great exploration from Florida northwestward to the +Mississippi and into Arkansas (1539-'41) he did indeed pass through +country in northern Mississippi and Louisiana that was afterward +inhabited by the buffalo, but at that time not one was to be found +there. Some of his soldiers, however, who were sent into the northern +part of Arkansas, reported having seen buffalo skins in the possession +of the Indians, and were told that live buffaloes were to be found 5 or +6 leagues north of their farthest point. + +The earliest discovery of the bison in Eastern North America, or indeed +anywhere north of Coronado's route, was made somewhere near Washington, +District of Columbia, in 1612, by an English navigator named Samuel +Argoll,[3] and narrated as follows: + +"As soon as I had unladen this corne, I set my men to the felling of +Timber, for the building of a Frigat, which I had left half finished at +Point Comfort, the 19. of March: and returned myself with the ship into +Pembrook [Potomac] River, and so discovered to the head of it, which is +about 65 leagues into the Land, and navigable for any ship. And then +marching into the Countrie, I found great store of Cattle as big as +Kine, of which the Indians that were my guides killed a couple, which we +found to be very good and wholesome meate, and are very easie to be +killed, in regard they are heavy, slow, and not so wild as other beasts +of the wildernesse." + +[Note 3: Purchas: His Pilgrimes. (1625.) Vol. IV, p. 1765. "A letter of +Sir Samuel Argoll touching his Voyage to Virginia, and actions there. +Written to Master Nicholas Hawes, June, 1613."] + +It is to be regretted that the narrative of the explorer affords no clew +to the precise locality of this interesting discovery, but since it is +doubtful that the mariner journeyed very far on foot from the head of +navigation of the Potomac, it seems highly probable that the first +American bison seen by Europeans, other than the Spaniards, was found +within 15 miles, or even less, of the capital of the United States, and +possibly within the District of Columbia itself. + +The first meeting of the white man with the buffalo on the northern +boundary of that animal's habitat occurred in 1679, when Father +Hennepin ascended the St. Lawrence to the great lakes, and finally +penetrated the great wilderness as far as western Illinois. + +The next meeting with the buffalo on the Atlantic slope was in October, +1729, by a party of surveyors under Col. William Byrd, who were engaged +in surveying the boundary between North Carolina and Virginia. + +As the party journeyed up from the coast, marking the line which now +constitutes the interstate boundary, three buffaloes were seen on +Sugar-Tree Creek, but none of them were killed. + +On the return journey, in November, a bull buffalo was killed on +Sugar-Tree Creek, which is in Halifax County, Virginia, within 5 miles +of Big Buffalo Creek; longitude 78° 40' W., and 155 miles from the +coast.[4] "It was found all alone, tho' Buffaloes Seldom are." The meat +is spoken of as "a Rarity," not met at all on the expedition up. The +animal was found in thick woods, which were thus feelingly described: +"The woods were thick great Part of this Day's Journey, so that we were +forced to scuffle hard to advance 7 miles, being equal in fatigue to +double that distance of Clear and Open Ground." One of the creeks which +the party crossed was christened Buffalo Creek, and "so named from the +frequent tokens we discovered of that American Behemoth." + +[Note 4: Westover Manuscript. Col. William Byrd. Vol. I, p. 178.] + +In October, 1733, on another surveying expedition, Colonel Byrd's party +had the good fortune to kill another buffalo near Sugar-Tree Creek, +which incident is thus described:[5] + +[Note 5: Vol. II, pp. 24, 25.] + +"We pursued our journey thro' uneven and perplext woods, and in the +thickest of them had the Fortune to knock down a Young Buffalo 2 years +old. Providence threw this vast animal in our way very Seasonably, just +as our provisions began to fail us. And it was the more welcome, too, +because it was change of dyet, which of all Varietys, next to that of +Bed-fellows, is the most agreeable. We had lived upon Venison and Bear +till our stomachs loath'd them almost as much as the Hebrews of old did +their Quails. Our Butchers were so unhandy at their Business that we +grew very lank before we cou'd get our Dinner. But when it came, we +found it equal in goodness to the best Beef. They made it the longer +because they kept Sucking the Water out of the Guts in imitation of the +Catauba Indians, upon the belief that it is a great Cordial, and will +even make them drunk, or at least very Gay." + +A little later a solitary bull buffalo was found, _but spared_,[6] the +earliest instance of the kind on record, and which had few successors to +keep it company. + +[Note 6: _Ib._, p. 28.] + + + + +II. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. + + +The range of the American bison extended over about one-third of the +entire continent of North America. Starting almost at tide-water on the +Atlantic coast, it extended westward through a vast tract of dense +forest, across the Alleghany Mountain system to the prairies along the +Mississippi, and southward to the Delta of that great stream. Although +the great plains country of the West was the natural home of the +species, where it flourished most abundantly, it also wandered south +across Texas to the burning plains of northeastern Mexico, westward +across the Rocky Mountains into New Mexico, Utah, and Idaho, and +northward across a vast treeless waste to the bleak and inhospitable +shores of the Great Slave Lake itself. It is more than probable that had +the bison remained unmolested by man and uninfluenced by him, he would +eventually have crossed the Sierra Nevadas and the Coast Range and taken +up his abode in the fertile valleys of the Pacific slope. + +Had the bison remained for a few more centuries in undisturbed +possession of his range, and with liberty to roam at will over the North +American continent, it is almost certain that several distinctly +recognizable varieties would have been produced. The buffalo of the hot +regions in the extreme south would have become a short-haired animal +like the gaur of India and the African buffalo. The individuals +inhabiting the extreme north, in the vicinity of Great Slave Lake, for +example, would have developed still longer hair, and taken on more of +the dense hairyness of the musk ox. In the "wood" or "mountain buffalo" +we already have a distinct foreshadowing of the changes which would have +taken place in the individuals which made their permanent residence upon +rugged mountains. + +It would be an easy matter to fill a volume with facts relating to the +geographical distribution of _Bison americanus_ and the dates of its +occurrence and disappearance in the multitude of different localities +embraced within the immense area it once inhabited. The capricious +shiftings of certain sections of the great herds, whereby large areas +which for many years had been utterly unvisited by buffaloes suddenly +became overrun by them, could be followed up indefinitely, but to little +purpose. In order to avoid wearying the reader with a mass of dates and +references, the map accompanying this paper has been prepared to show at +a glance the approximate dates at which the bison finally disappeared +from the various sections of its habitat. In some cases the date given +is coincident with the death of the last buffalo known to have been +killed in a given State or Territory; in others, where records are +meager, the date given is the nearest approximation, based on existing +records. In the preparation of this map I have drawn liberally from Mr. +J. A. Allen's admirable monograph of "The American Bison," in which the +author has brought together, with great labor and invariable accuracy, a +vast amount of historical data bearing upon this subject. In this +connection I take great pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness to +Professor Allen's work. + +While it is inexpedient to include here all the facts that might be +recorded with reference to the discovery, existence, and ultimate +extinction of the bison in the various portions of its former habitat, +it is yet worth while to sketch briefly the extreme limits of its range. +In doing this, our starting point will be the Atlantic slope east of the +Alleghanies, and the reader will do well to refer to the large map. + +DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.--There is no indisputable evidence that the bison +ever inhabited this precise locality, but it is probable that it did. In +1612 Captain Argoll sailed up the "Pembrook River" to the head of +navigation (Mr. Allen believes this was the James River, and not the +Potomac) and marched inland a few miles, where he discovered buffaloes, +some of which were killed by his Indian guides. If this river was the +Potomac, and most authorities believe that it was, the buffaloes seen by +Captain Argoll might easily have been in what is now the District of +Columbia. + +Admitting the existence of a reasonable doubt as to the identity of the +Pembrook River of Captain Argoll, there is yet another bit of history +which fairly establishes the fact that in the early part of the +seventeenth century buffaloes inhabited the banks of the Potomac between +this city and the lower falls. In 1624 an English fur trader named Henry +Fleet came hither to trade with the Anacostian Indians, who then +inhabited the present site of the city of Washington, and with the +tribes of the Upper Potomac. In his journal (discovered a few years +since in the Lambeth Library, London) Fleet gave a quaint description of +the city's site as it then appeared. The following is from the +explorer's journal: + +"Monday, the 25th June, we set sail for the town of Tohoga, where we +came to an anchor 2 leagues short of the falls. * * * This place, +without question, is the most pleasant and healthful place in all this +country, and most convenient for habitation, the air temperate in summer +and not violent in winter. It aboundeth with all manner of fish. The +Indians in one night commonly will catch thirty sturgeons in a place +where the river is not above 12 fathoms broad, and as for deer, +buffaloes, bears, turkeys, the woods do swarm with them. * * * The 27th +of June I manned my shallop and went up with the flood, the tide rising +about 4 feet at this place. We had not rowed above 3 miles, but we might +hear the falls to roar about 6 miles distant."[7] + +[Note 7: Charles Burr Todd's "Story of Washington," p. 18. New York, +1889.] + +MARYLAND.--There is no evidence that the bison ever inhabited Maryland, +except what has already been adduced with reference to the District of +Columbia. If either of the references quoted may be taken as conclusive +proof, and I see no reason for disputing either, then the fact that the +bison once ranged northward from Virginia into Maryland is fairly +established. There is reason to expect that fossil remains of _Bison +americanus_ will yet be found both in Maryland and the District of +Columbia, and I venture to predict that this will yet occur. + +VIRGINIA.--Of the numerous references to the occurrence of the bison in +Virginia, it is sufficient to allude to Col. William Byrd's meetings +with buffaloes in 1620, while surveying the southern boundary of the +State, about 155 miles from the coast, as already quoted; the references +to the discovery of buffaloes on the eastern side of the Virginia +mountains, quoted by Mr. Allen from Salmon's "Present State of +Virginia," page 14 (London, 1737), and the capture _and domestication_ +of buffaloes in 1701 by the Huguenot settlers at Manikintown, which was +situated on the James River, about 14 miles above Richmond. Apparently, +buffaloes were more numerous in Virginia than in any other of the +Atlantic States. + +NORTH CAROLINA.--Colonel Byrd's discoveries along the interstate +boundary between Virginia and North Carolina fixes the presence of the +bison in the northern part of the latter State at the date of the +survey. The following letter to Prof. G. Brown Goode, dated Birdsnest +post-office, Va., August 6, 1888, from Mr. C. R. Moore, furnishes +reliable evidence of the presence of the buffalo at another point in +North Carolina: "In the winter of 1857 I was staying for the night at +the house of an old gentleman named Houston. I should judge he was +seventy then. He lived near Buffalo Ford, on the Catawba River, about 4 +miles from Statesville, N. C. I asked him how the ford got its name. He +told me that his grandfather told him that when he was a boy the buffalo +crossed there, and that when the rocks in the river were bare they would +eat the moss that grew upon them." The point indicated is in longitude +81° west and the date not far from 1750. + +SOUTH CAROLINA.--Professor Allen cites numerous authorities, whose +observations furnish abundant evidence of the existence of the buffalo +in South Carolina during the first half of the eighteenth century. From +these it is quite evident that in the northwestern half of the State +buffaloes were once fairly numerous. Keating declares, on the authority +of Colhoun, "and we know that some of those who first settled the +Abbeville district in South Carolina, in 1756, found the buffalo +there."[8] This appears to be the only definite locality in which the +presence of the species was recorded. + +[Note 8: Long's Expedition to the Source of the St. Peter's River, 1823, +II, p. 26.] + +GEORGIA.--The extreme southeastern limit of the buffalo in the United +States was found on the coast of Georgia, near the mouth of the Altamaha +River, opposite St. Simon's Island. Mr. Francis Moore, in his "Voyage to +Georgia," made in 1736 and reported upon in 1744,[9] makes the following +observation: + +[Note 9: Coll. Georgia Hist. Soc., I, p. 117.] + +"The island [St. Simon's] abounds with deer and rabbits. There are no +buffalo in it, though there are large herds upon the main." Elsewhere in +the same document (p. 122) reference is made to buffalo-hunting by +Indians on the main-land near Darien. + +In James E. Oglethorpe's enumeration (A. D. 1733) of the wild beasts of +Georgia and South Carolina he mentions "deer, elks, bears, wolves, and +buffaloes."[10] + +[Note 10: Ibid., I, p. 51.] + +Up to the time of Moore's voyage to Georgia the interior was almost +wholly unexplored, and it is almost certain that had not the "large +herds of buffalo on the main-land" existed within a distance of 20 or 30 +miles or less from the coast, the colonists would have had no knowledge +of them; nor would the Indians have taken to the war-path against the +whites at Darien "under pretense of hunting buffalo." + +ALABAMA.--Having established the existence of the bison in northwestern +Georgia almost as far down as the center of the State, and in +Mississippi down to the neighborhood of the coast, it was naturally +expected that a search of historical records would reveal evidence that +the bison once inhabited the northern half of Alabama. A most careful +search through all the records bearing upon the early history and +exploration of Alabama, to be found in the Library of Congress, failed +to discover the slightest reference to the existence of the species in +that State, or even to the use of buffalo skins by any of the Alabama +Indians. While it is possible that such a hiatus really existed, in this +instance its existence would be wholly unaccountable. I believe that the +buffalo once inhabited the northern half of Alabama, even though history +fails to record it. + +LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI.--At the beginning of the eighteenth century, +buffaloes were plentiful in southern Mississippi and Louisiana, not only +down to the coast itself, from Bay St. Louis to Biloxi, but even in the +very Delta of the Mississippi, as the following record shows. In a +"Memoir addressed to Count de Pontchartrain," December 10, 1697, the +author, M. de Remonville, describes the country around the mouth of the +Mississippi, now the State of Louisiana, and further says:[11] + +"A great abundance of wild cattle are also found there, which might be +domesticated by rearing up the young calves." Whether these animals were +buffaloes might be considered an open question but for the following +additional information, which affords positive evidence: "The trade in +furs and peltry would be immensely valuable and exceedingly profitable. +We could also draw from thence a great quantity of buffalo hides every +year, as the plains are filled with the animals." + +In the same volume, page 47, in a document entitled "Annals of Louisiana +from 1698 to 1722, by M. Penicaut" (1698), the author records the +presence of the buffalo on the Gulf coast on the banks of the Bay St. +Louis, as follows: "The next day we left Pea Island, and passed through +the Little Rigolets, which led into the sea about three leagues from the +Bay of St. Louis. We encamped at the entrance of the bay, near a +fountain of water that flows from the hills, and which was called at +this time Belle Fountain. We hunted during several days upon the coast +of this bay, and filled our boats with the meat of the deer, buffaloes, +and other wild game which we had killed, and carried it to the fort +(Biloxi)." + +[Note 11: Hist. Coll. of Louisiana and Florida, B. F. French, 1869, +first series, p. 2.] + +The occurrence of the buffalo at Natchez is recorded,[12] and also (p. +115) at the mouth of Red River, as follows: "We ascended the Mississippi +to Pass Manchac, where we killed fifteen buffaloes. The next day we +landed again, and killed eight more buffaloes and as many deer." + +[Note 12: Ibid., pp. 88-91.] + +The presence of the buffalo in the Delta of the Mississippi was observed +and recorded by D'Iberville in 1699.[13] + +[Note 13: Hist. Coll. of Louisiana and Florida, French, second series, +p. 58.] + +According to Claiborne,[14] the Choctaws have an interesting tradition +in regard to the disappearance of the buffalo from Mississippi. It +relates that during the early part of the eighteenth century a great +drought occurred, which was particularly severe in the prairie region. +For three years not a drop of rain fell. The Nowubee and Tombigbee +Rivers dried up and the forests perished. The elk and buffalo, which up +to that time had been numerous, all migrated to the country beyond the +Mississippi, and never returned. + +[Note 14: Mississippi as a Province, Territory, and State, p. 484.] + +TEXAS.--It will be remembered that it was in southeastern Texas, in all +probability within 50 miles of the present city of Houston, that the +earliest discovery of the American bison on its native heath was made in +1530 by Cabeza de Vaca, a half-starved, half-naked, and wholly wretched +Spaniard, almost the only surviving member of the celebrated expedition +which burned its ships behind it. In speaking of the buffalo in Texas at +the earliest periods of which we have any historical record, Professor +Allen says: "They were also found in immense herds on the coast of +Texas, at the Bay of St. Bernard (Matagorda Bay), and on the lower part +of the Colorado (Rio Grande, according to some authorities), by La +Salle, in 1685, and thence northwards across the Colorado, Brazos, and +Trinity Rivers." Joutel says that when in latitude 28° 51' "the sight +of abundance of goats and bullocks, differing in shape from ours, and +running along the coast, heightened our earnestness to be ashore." They +afterwards landed in St. Louis Bay (now called Matagorda Bay), where +they found buffaloes in such numbers on the Colorado River that they +called it La Rivière aux Boeufs.[15] According to Professor Allen, the +buffalo did not inhabit the coast of Texas east of the mouth of the +Brazos River. + +[Note 15: The American Bisons, Living and Extinct, p. 132.] + +It is a curious coincidence that the State of Texas, wherein the +earliest discoveries and observations upon the bison were made, should +also now furnish a temporary shelter for one of the last remnants of the +great herd. + +MEXICO.--In regard to the existence of the bison south of the Rio +Grande, in old Mexico, there appears to be but one authority on record, +Dr. Berlandier, who at the time of his death left in MS. a work on the +mammals of Mexico. At one time this MS. was in the Smithsonian +Institution, but it is there no longer, nor is its fate even +ascertainable. It is probable that it was burned in the fire that +destroyed a portion of the Institution in 1865. Fortunately Professor +Allen obtained and published in his monograph (in French) a copy of that +portion of Dr. Berlandier's work relating to the presence of the bison +in Mexico,[16] of which the following is a translation: + +[Note 16: The American Bisons, pp. 129-130.] + +"In Mexico, when the Spaniards, ever greedy for riches, pushed their +explorations to the north and northeast, it was not long before they met +with the buffalo. In 1602 the Franciscan monks who discovered Nuevo Leon +encountered in the neighborhood of Monterey numerous herds of these +quadrupeds. They were also distributed in Nouvelle Biscaye (States of +Chihuahua and Durango), and they sometimes advanced to the extreme south +of that country. In the eighteenth century they concentrated more and +more toward the north, but still remained very abundant in the +neighborhood of the province of Bexar. At the commencement of the +nineteenth century we see them recede gradually in the interior of the +country to such an extent that they became day by day scarcer and +scarcer about the settlements. Now, it is not in their periodical +migrations that we meet them near Bexar. Every year in the spring, in +April or May, they advance toward the north, to return again to the +southern regions in September and October. The exact limits of these +annual migrations are unknown; it is, however, probable that in the +north they never go beyond the banks of the Rio Bravo, at least in the +States of Cohahuila and Texas. Toward the north, not being checked by +the currents of the Missouri, they progress even as far as Michigan, and +they are found in summer in the Territories and interior States of the +United States of North America. The route which these animals follow in +their migrations occupies a width of several miles, and becomes so +marked that, besides the verdure destroyed, one would believe that the +fields had been covered with manure. + +"These migrations are not general, for certain bands do not seem to +follow the general mass of their kin, but remain stationary throughout +the whole year on the prairies covered with a rich vegetation on the +banks of the Rio de Guadelupe and the Rio Colorado of Texas, not far +from the shores of the Gulf, to the east of the colony of San Felipe, +precisely at the same spot where La Salle and his traveling companions +saw them two hundred years before. The Rev. Father Damian Mansanet saw +them also as in our days on the shores of Texas, in regions which have +since been covered with the habitations, hamlets, and villages of the +new colonists, and from whence they have disappeared since 1828." + +[Illustration: HEAD OF BUFFALO BULL From specimen in the National Museum +Group. Reproduced from the _Cosmopolitan Magazine_, by permission of the +publishers.] + +"From the observations made on this subject we may conclude that the +buffalo inhabited the temperate zone of the New World, and that they +inhabited it at all times. In the north they never advanced beyond the +48th or 58th degree of latitude, and in the south, although they may +have reached as low as 25°, they scarcely passed beyond the 27th or +28th degree (north latitude), at least in the inhabited and known +portions of the country." + +NEW MEXICO.--In 1542 Coronado, while on his celebrated march, met with +vast herds of buffalo on the Upper Pecos River, since which the presence +of the species in the valley of the Pecos has been well known. In +describing the journey of Espejo down the Pecos River in the year 1584, +Davis says (Spanish Conquest of New Mexico, p. 260): "They passed down a +river they called _Rio de las Vacas_, or the River of Oxen [the river +Pecos, and the same Cow River that Vaca describes, says Professor +Allen], and was so named because of the great number of buffaloes that +fed upon its banks. They traveled down this river the distance of 120 +leagues, all the way passing through great herds of buffaloes." + +Professor Allen locates the western boundary of the buffalo in New +Mexico even as far west as the western side of Rio Grande del Norte. + +UTAH.--It is well known that buffaloes, though in very small numbers, +once inhabited northeastern Utah, and that a few were killed by the +Mormon settlers prior to 1840 in the vicinity of Great Salt Lake. In the +museum at Salt Lake City I was shown a very ancient mounted head of a +buffalo bull which was said to have been killed in the Salt Lake Valley. +It is doubtful that such was really fact. There is no evidence that the +bison ever inhabited the southwestern half of Utah, and, considering the +general sterility of the Territory as a whole previous to its +development by irrigation, it is surprising that any buffalo in his +senses would ever set foot in it at all. + +IDAHO.--The former range of the bison probably embraced the whole of +Idaho. Fremont states that in the spring of 1824 "the buffalo were +spread in immense numbers over the Green River and Bear River Valleys, +and through all the country lying between the Colorado, or Green River +of the Gulf of California, and Lewis' Fork of the Columbia River, the +meridian of Fort Hall then forming the western limit of their range." +[In J. K. Townsend's "Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky +Mountains," in 1834, he records the occurrence of herds near the Mellade +and Boise and Salmon Rivers, ten days' journey--200 miles--west of Fort +Hall.] The buffalo then remained for many years in that country, and +frequently moved down the valley of the Columbia, on both sides of the +river, as far as the Fishing Falls. Below this point they never +descended in any numbers. About 1834 or 1835 they began to diminish very +rapidly, and continued to decrease until 1838 or 1840, when, with the +country we have just described, they entirely abandoned all the waters +of the Pacific north of Lewis's Fork of the Columbia [now called Snake] +River. At that time the Flathead Indians were in the habit of finding +their buffalo on the heads of Salmon River and other streams of the +Columbia. + +OREGON.--The only evidence on record of the occurrence of the bison in +Oregon is the following, from Professor Allen's memoir (p. 119): +"Respecting its former occurrence in eastern Oregon, Prof. O. C. Marsh, +under date of New Haven, February 7, 1875, writes me as follows: 'The +most western point at which I have myself observed remains of the +buffalo was in 187 on Willow Creek, eastern Oregon, among the foot hills +of the eastern side of the Blue Mountains. This is about latitude 44°. +The bones were perfectly characteristic, although nearly decomposed.'" + +The remains must have been those of a solitary and very enterprising +straggler. + +THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES (British).--At two or three points only did +the buffaloes of the British Possessions cross the Rocky Mountain +barrier toward British Columbia. One was the pass through which the +Canadian Pacific Railway now runs, 200 miles north of the international +boundary. According to Dr. Richardson, the number of buffaloes which +crossed the mountains at that point were sufficiently noticeable to +constitute a feature of the fauna on the western side of the range. It +is said that buffaloes also crossed by way of the Kootenai Pass, which +is only a few miles north of the boundary line, but the number which did +so must have been very small. + +As might be expected from the character of the country, the favorite +range of the bison in British America was the northern extension of the +great pasture region lying between the Missouri River and Great Slave +Lake. The most northerly occurrence of the bison is recorded as an +observation of Franklin in 1820 at Slave Point, on the north side of +Great Slave Lake. "A few frequent Slave Point, on the north side of the +lake, but this is the most northern situation in which they were +observed by Captain Franklin's party."[17] + +[Note 17: Sabine, Zoological Appendix to "Franklin's Journey," p. 668.] + +Dr. Richardson defined the eastern boundary of the bison's range in +British America as follows: "They do not frequent any of the districts +formed of primitive rocks, and the limits of their range to the +eastward, within the Hudson's Bay Company's territories, may be +correctly marked on the map by a line commencing in longitude 97°, on +the Red River, which flows into the south end of Lake Winnipeg, crossing +the Saskatchewan to the westward of the Basquian Hill, and running +thence by the Athapescow to the east end of Great Slave Lake." Their +migrations westward were formerly limited to the Rocky Mountain range, +and they are still unknown in New Caledonia and on the shores of the +Pacific to the north of the Columbia River; but of late years they have +found out a passage across the mountains near the sources of the +Saskatchewan, and their numbers to the westward are annually +increasing.[18] + +[Note 18: Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. 1, p, 279-280.] + +_Great Slave Lake._--That the buffalo inhabited the southern shore of +this lake as late as 1871 is well established by the following letter +from Mr. E. W. Nelson to Mr. J. A. Allen, under date of July 11, +1877:[19] "I have met here [St. Michaels, Alaska] two gentlemen who +crossed the mountains from British Columbia and came to Fort Yukon +through British America, from whom I have derived some information about +the buffalo (_Bison americanus_) which will be of interest to you. These +gentlemen descended the Peace River, and on about the one hundred and +eighteenth degree of longitude made a portage to Hay River, directly +north. On this portage they saw thousands of buffalo skulls, and old +trails, in some instances 2 or 3 feet deep, leading east and west. They +wintered on Hay River near its entrance into Great Slave Lake, and here +found the buffalo still common, occupying a restricted territory along +the southern border of the lake. This was in 1871. They made inquiry +concerning the large number of skulls seen by them on the portage, and +learned that about fifty years before, snow fell to the estimated depth +of 14 feet, and so enveloped the animals that they perished by +thousands. It is asserted that these buffaloes are larger than those of +the plains." + +[Note 19: American Naturalist, xi, p. 624.] + +MINNESOTA AND WISCONSIN.--A line drawn from Winnipeg to Chicago, curving +slightly to the eastward in the middle portion, will very nearly define +the eastern boundary of the buffalo's range in Minnesota and Wisconsin. + +ILLINOIS AND INDIANA.--The whole of these two States were formerly +inhabited by the buffalo, the fertile prairies of Illinois being +particularly suited to their needs. It is doubtful whether the range of +the species extended north of the northern boundary of Indiana, but +since southern Michigan was as well adapted to their support as Ohio or +Indiana, their absence from that State must have been due more to +accident than design. + +OHIO.--The southern shore of Lake Erie forms part of the northern +boundary of the bison's range in the eastern United States. La Hontan +explored Lake Erie in 1687 and thus describes its southern shore: "I can +not express what quantities of Deer and Turkeys are to be found in these +Woods, and in the vast Meads that lye upon the South side of the Lake. +At the bottom of the Lake we find beeves upon the Banks of two pleasant +Rivers that disembogue into it, without Cataracts or Rapid +Currents."[20] It thus appears that the southern shore of Lake Erie +forms part of the northern boundary of the buffalo's range in the +eastern United States. + +[Note 20: J. A. Allen's _American Bisons_, p. 107.] + +NEW YORK.--In regard to the presence of the bison in any portion of the +State of New York, Professor Allen considers the evidence as fairly +conclusive that it once existed in western New York, not only in the +vicinity of the eastern end of Lake Erie, where now stands the city of +Buffalo, at the mouth of a large creek of the same name, but also on the +shore of Lake Ontario, probably in Orleans County. In his monograph of +"The American Bisons," page 107, he gives the following testimony and +conclusions on this point: + +"The occurrence of a stream in western New York, called Buffalo Creek, +which empties into the eastern end of Lake Erie, is commonly viewed as +traditional evidence of its occurrence at this point, but positive +testimony to this effect has thus far escaped me. + +"This locality, if it actually came so far eastward, must have formed +the eastern limit of its range along the lakes. I have found only highly +questionable allusions to the occurrence of buffaloes along the southern +shore of Lake Ontario. Keating, on the authority of Colhoun, however, +has cited a passage from Morton's "New English Canaan" as proof of their +former existence in the neighborhood of this lake. Morton's statement is +based on Indian reports, and the context gives sufficient evidence of +the general vagueness of his knowledge of the region of which he was +speaking. The passage, printed in 1637 is as follows: They [the Indians] +have also made descriptions of great heards of well growne beasts that +live about the parts of this lake [Erocoise] such as the Christian world +(untill this discovery) hath not bin made acquainted with. These Beasts +are of the bignesse of a Cowe, their flesh being very good foode, their +hides good lether, their fleeces very usefull, being a kinde of wolle as +fine almost as the wolle of the Beaver, and the Salvages doe make +garments thereof. It is tenne yeares since first the relation of these +things came to the eares of the English.' The 'beast' to which allusion +is here made [says Professor Allen] is unquestionably the buffalo, but +the locality of Lake 'Erocoise' is not so easily settled. Colhoun +regards it, and probably correctly, as identical with Lake Ontario. * * +* The extreme northeastern limit of the former range of the buffalo +seems to have been, as above stated, in western New York, near the +eastern end of Lake Erie. That it probably ranged thus far there is fair +evidence." + +PENNSYLVANIA.--From the eastern end of Lake Erie the boundary of the +bison's habitat extends south into western Pennsylvania, to a marsh +called Buffalo Swamp on a map published by Peter Kalm in 1771. Professor +Allen says it "is indicated as situated between the Alleghany River and +the West Branch of the Susquehanna, near the heads of the Licking and +Toby's Creeks (apparently the streams now called Oil Creek and Clarion +Creek)." In this region there were at one time thousands of buffaloes. +While there is not at hand any positive evidence that the buffalo ever +inhabited the southwestern portion of Pennsylvania, its presence in the +locality mentioned above, and in West Virginia generally, on the south, +furnishes sufficient reason for extending the boundary so as to include +the southwestern portion of the State and connect with our starting +point, the District of Columbia. + + + + +III. ABUNDANCE. + + +Of all the quadrupeds that have lived upon the earth, probably no other +species has ever marshaled such innumerable hosts as those of the +American bison. It would have been as easy to count or to estimate the +number of leaves in a forest as to calculate the number of buffaloes +living at any given time during the history of the species previous to +1870. Even in South Central Africa, which has always been exceedingly +prolific in great herds of game, it is probable that all its quadrupeds +taken together on an equal area would never have more than equaled the +total number of buffalo in this country forty years ago. + +To an African hunter, such a statement may seem incredible, but it +appears to be fully warranted by the literature of both branches of the +subject. + +Not only did the buffalo formerly range eastward far into the forest +regions of western New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the Carolinas, and +Georgia, but in some places it was so abundant as to cause remark. In +Mr. J. A. Allen's valuable monograph[21] appear a great number of +interesting historical references on this subject, as indeed to every +other relating to the buffalo, a few of which I will take the liberty of +quoting. + +[Note 21: All who are especially interested in the life history of the +buffalo, both scientific and economical, will do well to consult Mr. +Allen's monograph, "The American Bisons, Living and Extinct," if it be +accessible. Unfortunately it is a difficult matter for the general +reader to obtain it. A reprint of the work as originally published, but +omitting the map, plates, and such of the subject-matter as relates to +the extinct species, appears in Hayden's "Report of the Geological +Survey of the Territories," for 1875 (pp. 443-587), but the volume has +for several years been out of print. + +The memoir as originally published has the following titles: + +_Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Kentucky.| N. S. Shaler, Director.| +Vol. I. Part II.|--| The American Bisons,| living and extinct.| By J. A. +Allen.| With twelve plates and map.|--| University press, Cambridge:| +Welch, Bigelow & Co.| 1876._ + +_Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology,| at Harvard College, +Cambridge, Mass.| Vol. IV. No. 10.|--| The American Bisons,| living and +extinct.| By J. A. Allen.| Published by permission of N. S. Shaler, +Director of the Kentucky| Geological Survey.| With twelve plates and a +map.| University press, Cambridge:| Welch, Bigelow & Co.| 1876.|_ + +_4to., pp. i-ix, 1-246, 1 col'd map, 12 pl., 13 ll. explanatory, 2 +wood-cuts in text._ + +These two publications were simultaneous, and only differed in the +titles. Unfortunately both are of greater rarity than the reprint +referred to above.] + +In the vicinity of the spot where the town of Clarion now stands, in +northwestern Pennsylvania, Mr. Thomas Ashe relates that one of the first +settlers built his log cabin near a salt spring which was visited by +buffaloes in such numbers that "he supposed there could not have been +less than two thousand in the neighborhood of the spring." During the +first years of his residence there, the buffaloes came in droves of +about three hundred each. + +Of the Blue Licks in Kentucky, Mr. John Filson thus wrote, in 1784: "The +amazing herds of buffaloes which resort thither, by their size and +number, fill the traveller with amazement and terror, especially when +he beholds the prodigious roads they have made from all quarters, as if +leading to some populous city; the vast space of land around these +springs desolated as if by a ravaging enemy, and hills reduced to +plains; for the land near these springs is chiefly hilly. * * * I have +heard a hunter assert he saw above one thousand buffaloes at the Blue +Licks at once; so numerous were they before the first settlers had +wantonly sported away their lives." Col. Daniel Boone declared of the +Red River region in Kentucky, "The buffaloes were more frequent than I +have seen cattle in the settlements, browzing on the leaves of the cane, +or cropping the herbage of those extensive plains, fearless because +ignorant of the violence of man. Sometimes we saw hundreds in a drove, +and the numbers about the salt springs were amazing." + +According to Ramsey, where Nashville now stands, in 1770 there were +"immense numbers of buffalo and other wild game. The country was crowded +with them. Their bellowings sounded from the hills and forest." Daniel +Boone found vast herds of buffalo grazing in the valleys of East +Tennessee, between the spurs of the Cumberland mountains. + +Marquette declared that the prairies along the Illinois River were +"covered with buffaloes." Father Hennepin, in writing of northern +Illinois, between Chicago and the Illinois River, asserted that "there +must be an innumerable quantity of wild bulls in that country, since the +earth is covered with their horns. * * * They follow one another, so +that you may see a drove of them for above a league together. * * * +Their ways are as beaten as our great roads, and no herb grows therein." + +Judged by ordinary standards of comparison, the early pioneers of the +last century thought buffalo were abundant in the localities mentioned +above. But the herds which lived east of the Mississippi were +comparatively only mere stragglers from the innumerable mass which +covered the great western pasture region from the Mississippi to the +Rocky Mountains, and from the Rio Grande to Great Slave Lake. The town +of Kearney, in south central Nebraska, may fairly be considered the +geographical center of distribution of the species, as it originally +existed, but ever since 1800, and until a few years ago, the center of +population has been in the Black Hills of southwestern Dakota. + +Between the Rocky Mountains and the States lying along the Mississippi +River on the west, from Minnesota to Louisiana, the whole country was +one vast buffalo range, inhabited by millions of buffaloes. One could +fill a volume with the records of plainsmen and pioneers who penetrated +or crossed that vast region between 1800 and 1870, and were in turn +surprised, astounded, and frequently dismayed by the tens of thousands +of buffaloes they observed, avoided, or escaped from. They lived and +moved as no other quadrupeds ever have, in great multitudes, like grand +armies in review, covering scores of square miles at once. They were so +numerous they frequently stopped boats in the rivers, threatened to +overwhelm travelers on the plains, and in later years derailed +locomotives and cars, until railway engineers learned by experience the +wisdom of stopping their trains whenever there were buffaloes crossing +the track. On this feature of the buffalo's life history a few detailed +observations may be of value. + +Near the mouth of the White River, in southwestern Dakota, Lewis and +Clark saw (in 1806) a herd of buffalo which caused them to make the +following record in their journal: + +"These last animals [buffaloes] are now so numerous that from an +eminence we discovered more than we had ever seen before at one time; +and if it be not impossible to calculate the moving multitude, which +darkened the whole plains, we are convinced that twenty thousand would +be no exaggerated number." + +When near the mouth of the Yellowstone, on their way down the Missouri, +a previous record had been made of a meeting with other herds: + +"The buffalo now appear in vast numbers. A herd happened to be on their +way across the river [the Missouri]. Such was the multitude of these +animals that although the river, including an island over which they +passed, was a mile in length, the herd stretched as thick as they could +swim completely from one side to the other, and the party was obliged to +stop for an hour. They consoled themselves for the delay by killing four +of the herd, and then proceeded till at the distance of 45 miles they +halted on an island, below which two other herds of buffalo, as numerous +as the first, soon after crossed the river."[22] + +[Note 22: Lewis and Clark's Exped., II, p. 395.] + +Perhaps the most vivid picture ever afforded of the former abundance of +buffalo is that given by Col. R. I. Dodge in his "Plains of the Great +West," p. 120, _et seq._ It is well worth reproducing entire: + +"In May, 1871, I drove in a light wagon from Old Fort Zara to Fort +Larned, on the Arkansas, 34 miles. At least 25 miles of this distance +was through one immense herd, composed of countless smaller herds of +buffalo then on their journey north. The road ran along the broad level +'bottom,' or valley, of the river. * * * + +"The whole country appeared one great mass of buffalo, moving slowly to +the northward; and it was only when actually among them that it could be +ascertained that the apparently solid mass was an agglomeration of +innumerable small herds, of from fifty to two hundred animals, separated +from the surrounding herds by greater or less space, but still +separated. The herds in the valley sullenly got out of my way, and, +turning, stared stupidly at me, sometimes at only a few yards' distance. +When I had reached a point where the hills were no longer more than a +mile from the road, the buffalo on the hills, seeing an unusual object +in their rear, turned, stared an instant, then started at full speed +directly towards me, stampeding and bringing with them the numberless +herds through which they passed, and pouring down upon me all the herds, +no longer separated, but one immense compact mass of plunging animals, +mad with fright, and as irresistible as an avalanche. + +"The situation was by no means pleasant. Reining up my horse (which was +fortunately a quiet old beast that had been in at the death of many a +buffalo, so that their wildest, maddest rush only caused him to cock his +ears in wonder at their unnecessary excitement), I waited until the +front of the mass was within 50 yards, when a few well-directed shots +from my rifle split the herd, and sent it pouring off in two streams to +my right and left. When all had passed me they stopped, apparently +perfectly satisfied, though thousands were yet within reach of my rifle +and many within less than 100 yards. Disdaining to fire again, I sent my +servant to cut out the tongues of the fallen. This occurred so +frequently within the next 10 miles, that when I arrived at Fort Larned +I had twenty-six tongues in my wagon, representing the greatest number +of buffalo that my conscience can reproach me for having murdered on any +single day. I was not hunting, wanted no meat, and would not voluntarily +have fired at these herds. I killed only in self-preservation and fired +almost every shot from the wagon." + +At my request Colonel Dodge has kindly furnished me a careful estimate +upon which to base a calculation of the number of buffaloes in that +great herd, and the result is very interesting. In a private letter, +dated September 21, 1887, he writes as follows: + +"The great herd on the Arkansas through which I passed could not have +averaged, _at rest_, over fifteen or twenty individuals to the acre, but +was, from my own observation, not less than 25 miles wide, and from +reports of hunters and others it was about five days in passing a given +point, or not less than 50 miles deep. From the top of Pawnee Rock I +could see from 6 to 10 miles in almost every direction. This whole vast +space was covered with buffalo, looking at a distance like one compact +mass, the visual angle not permitting the ground to be seen. I have seen +such a sight a great number of times, but never on so large a scale. + +"That was the last of the great herds." + +With these figures before us, it is not difficult to make a calculation +that will be somewhere near the truth of the number of buffaloes +actually seen in one day by Colonel Dodge on the Arkansas River during +that memorable drive, and also of the number of head in the entire herd. + +According to his recorded observation, the herd extended along the river +for a distance of 25 miles, which was in reality the width of the vast +procession that was moving north, and back from the road as far as the +eye could reach, on both sides. It is making a low estimate to consider +the extent of the visible ground at 1 mile on either side. This gives a +strip of country 2 miles wide by 25 long, or a total of 50 square miles +covered with buffalo, averaging from fifteen to twenty to the acre.[23] +Taking the lesser number, in order to be below the truth rather than +above it, we find that the number actually seen on that day by Colonel +Dodge was in the neighborhood of 480,000, not counting the additional +number taken in at the view from the top of Pawnee Rock, which, if +added, would easily bring the total up to a round half million! + +[Note 23: On the plains of Dakota, the Rev. Mr. Belcourt (Schoolcraft's +N. A. Indians, IV, p. 108) once counted two hundred and twenty-eight +buffaloes, a part of a great herd, feeding on a single acre of ground. +This of course was an unusual occurrence with buffaloes not stampeding, +but practically at rest. It is quite possible also that the extent of +the ground may have been underestimated.] + +If the advancing multitude had been at all points 50 miles in length (as +it was known to have been in some places at least) by 25 miles in width, +and still averaged fifteen head to the acre of ground, it would have +contained the enormous number of 12,000,000 head. But, judging from the +general principles governing such migrations, it is almost certain that +the moving mass advanced in the shape of a wedge, which would make it +necessary to deduct about two-third from the grand total, which would +leave 4,000,000 as our estimate of the actual number of buffaloes in +this great herd, which I believe is more likely to be below the truth +than above it. + +No wonder that the men of the West of those days, both white and red, +thought it would be impossible to exterminate such a mighty multitude. +The Indians of some tribes believed that the buffaloes issued from the +earth continually, and that the supply was necessarily inexhaustible. +And yet, in four short years the southern herd was almost totally +annihilated. + +With such a lesson before our eyes, confirmed in every detail by living +testimony, who will dare to say that there will be an elk, moose, +caribou, mountain sheep, mountain goat, antelope, or black-tail deer +left alive in the United States in a wild state fifty years from this +date, ay, or even twenty-five? + +Mr. William Blackmore contributes the following testimony to the +abundance of buffalo in Kansas:[24] + +[Note 24: Plains of the Great West, p. xvi.] + +"In the autumn of 1868, whilst crossing the plains on the Kansas Pacific +Railroad, for a distance of upwards of 120 miles, between Ellsworth and +Sheridan, we passed through an almost unbroken herd of buffalo. The +plains were blackened with them, and more than once the train had to +stop to allow unusually large herds to pass. * * * In 1872, whilst on a +scout for about a hundred miles south of Fort Dodge to the Indian +Territory, we were never out of sight of buffalo." + +Twenty years hence, when not even a bone or a buffalo-chip remains above +ground throughout the West to mark the presence of the buffalo, it may +be difficult for people to believe that these animals ever existed in +such numbers as to constitute not only a serious annoyance, but very +often a dangerous menace to wagon travel across the plains, and also to +stop railway trains, and even throw them off the track. The like has +probably never occurred before in any country, and most assuredly never +will again, if the present rate of large game destruction all over the +world can be taken as a foreshadowing of the future. In this connection +the following additional testimony from Colonel Dodge ("Plains of the +Great West," p. 121) is of interest: + +"The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad was then [in 1871-'72] in +process of construction, and nowhere could the peculiarity of the +buffalo of which I am speaking be better studied than from its trains. +If a herd was on the north side of the track, it would stand stupidly +gazing, and without a symptom of alarm, although the locomotive passed +within a hundred yards. If on the south side of the track, even though +at a distance of 1 or 2 miles from it, the passage of a train set the +whole herd in the wildest commotion. At full speed, and utterly +regardless of the consequences, it would make for the track on its line +of retreat. If the train happened not to be in its path, it crossed the +track and stopped satisfied. If the train was in its way, each +individual buffalo went at it with the desperation of despair, plunging +against or between locomotive and cars, just as its blind madness +chanced to direct it. Numbers were killed, but numbers still pressed on, +to stop and stare as soon as the obstacle had passed. After having +trains thrown off the track twice in one week, conductors learned to +have a very decided respect for the idiosyncrasies of the buffalo, and +when there was a possibility of striking a herd 'on the rampage' for the +north side of the track, the train was slowed up and sometimes stopped +entirely." + +The accompanying illustration, reproduced from the "Plains of the Great +West," by the kind permission of the author, is, in one sense, ocular +proof that collisions between railway trains and vast herds of buffaloes +were so numerous that they formed a proper subject for illustration. In +regard to the stoppage of trains and derailment of locomotives by +buffaloes, Colonel Dodge makes the following allusion in the private +letter already referred to: "There are at least a hundred reliable +railroad men now employed on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad +who were witnesses of, and sometimes sufferers from, the wild rushes of +buffalo as described on page 121 of my book. I was at the time stationed +at Fort Dodge, and I was personally cognizant of several of these +'accidents.'" + +[Illustration: SLAUGHTER OF BUFFALO ON THE KANSAS PACIFIC RAILROAD. +Reproduced from "The Plains of the Great West," by permission of the +author, Col. R. I. Dodge.] + +The following, from the ever pleasing pen of Mr. Catlin, is of decided +interest in this connection: + +"In one instance, near the mouth of White River, we met the most immense +herd crossing the Missouri River [in Dakota], and from an imprudence got +our boat into imminent danger amongst them, from which we were highly +delighted to make our escape. It was in the midst of the 'running +season,' and we had heard the 'roaring' (as it is called) of the herd +when we were several miles from them. When we came in sight, we were +actually terrified at the immense numbers that were streaming down the +green hills on one side of the river, and galloping up and over the +bluffs on the other. The river was filled, and in parts blackened with +their heads and horns, as they were swimming about, following up their +objects, and making desperate battle whilst they were swimming. I deemed +it imprudent for our canoe to be dodging amongst them, and ran it ashore +for a few hours, where we laid, waiting for the opportunity of seeing +the river clear, but we waited in vain. Their numbers, however, got +somewhat diminished at last, and we pushed off, and successfully made +our way amongst them. From the immense numbers that had passed the river +at that place, they had torn down the prairie bank of 15 feet in height, +so as to form a sort of road or landing place, where they all in +succession clambered up. Many in their turmoil had been wafted below +this landing, and unable to regain it against the swiftness of the +current, had fastened themselves along in crowds, hugging close to the +high bank under which they were standing. As we were drifting by these, +and supposing ourselves out of danger, I drew up my rifle and shot one +of them in the head, which tumbled into the water, and brought with him +a hundred others, which plunged in, and in a moment were swimming about +our canoe, and placing it in great danger. No attack was made upon us, +and in the confusion the poor beasts knew not, perhaps, the enemy that +was amongst them; but we were liable to be sunk by them, as they were +furiously hooking and climbing on to each other. I rose in my canoe, and +by my gestures and hallooing kept them from coming in contact with us +until we were out of their reach."[25] + +[Note 25: Catlin's North American Indians, II, p. 13.] + + + + +IV. CHARACTER OF THE SPECIES. + + +1. _The buffaloes rank amongst ruminants._--With the American people, +and through them all others, familiarity with the buffalo has bred +contempt. The incredible numbers in which the animals of this species +formerly existed made their slaughter an easy matter, so much so that +the hunters and frontiersmen who accomplished their destruction have +handed down to us a contemptuous opinion of the size, character, and +general presence of our bison. And how could it be otherwise than that a +man who could find it in his heart to murder a majestic bull bison for a +hide worth only a dollar should form a one-dollar estimate of the +grandest ruminant that ever trod the earth? Men who butcher African +elephants for the sake of their ivory also entertain a similar estimate +of their victims. + +With an acquaintance which includes fine living examples of all the +larger ruminants of the world except the musk-ox and the European bison, +I am sure that the American bison is the grandest of them all. His only +rivals for the kingship are the Indian bison, or gaur (_Bos gaurus_), of +Southern India, and the aurochs, or European bison, both of which +really surpass him in height, if not in actual balk also. The aurochs is +taller, and possesses a larger pelvis and heavier, stronger +hindquarters, but his body is decidedly smaller in all its proportions, +which gives him a lean and "leggy" look. The hair on the head, neck, and +forequarters of the aurochs is not nearly so long or luxuriant as on the +same parts of the American bison. This covering greatly magnifies the +actual bulk of the latter animal. Clothe the aurochs with the wonderful +pelage of our buffalo, give him the same enormous chest and body, and +the result would be a magnificent bovine monster, who would indeed stand +without a rival. But when first-class types of the two species are +placed side by side it seems to me that _Bison americanus_ will easily +rank his European rival. + +The gaur has no long hair upon any part of his body or head. What little +hair he has is very short and thin, his hindquarters being almost naked. +I have seen hundreds of these animals at short range, and have killed +and skinned several very fine specimens, one of which stood 5 feet 10 +inches in height at the shoulders. But, despite his larger bulk, his +appearance is not nearly so striking and impressive as that of the male +American bison. He seems like a huge ox running wild. + +The magnificent dark brown frontlet and beard of the buffalo, the shaggy +coat of hair upon the neck, hump, and shoulders, terminating at the +knees in a thick mass of luxuriant black locks, to say nothing of the +dense coat of finer fur on the body and hindquarters, give to our +species not only an apparent height equal to that of the gaur, but a +grandeur and nobility of presence which are beyond all comparison +amongst ruminants. + +The slightly larger bulk of the gaur is of little significance in a +comparison of the two species; for if size alone is to turn the scale, +we must admit that a 500-pound lioness, with no mane whatever, is a more +majestic looking animal than a 450-pound lion, with a mane which has +earned him his title of king of beasts. + +2. _Change of form in captivity._--By a combination of unfortunate +circumstances, the American bison is destined to go down to posterity +shorn of the honor which is his due, and appreciated at only half his +worth. The hunters who slew him were from the very beginning so absorbed +in the scramble for spoils that they had no time to measure or weigh +him, nor even to notice the majesty of his personal appearance on his +native heath. + +In captivity he fails to develop as finely as in his wild state, and +with the loss of his liberty he becomes a tame-looking animal. He gets +fat and short-bodied, and the lack of vigorous and constant exercise +prevents the development of bone and muscle which made the prairie +animal what he was. + +From observations made upon buffaloes that have been reared in +captivity, I am firmly convinced that confinement and +semi-domestication are destined to effect striking changes in the form +of _Bison americanus_. While this is to be expected to a certain extent +with most large species, the changes promise to be most conspicuous in +the buffalo. The most striking change is in the body between the hips +and the shoulders. As before remarked, it becomes astonishingly short +and rotund, and through liberal feeding and total lack of exercise the +muscles of the shoulders and hindquarters, especially the latter, are +but feebly developed. + +The most striking example of the change of form in the captive buffalo +is the cow in the Central Park Menagerie, New York. Although this animal +is fully adult, and has given birth to three fine calves, she is small, +astonishingly short-bodied, and in comparison with the magnificently +developed cows taken in 1886 by the writer in Montana, she seems almost +like an animal of another species. + +Both the live buffaloes in the National Museum collection of living +animals are developing the same shortness of body and lack of muscle, +and when they attain their full growth will but poorly resemble the +splendid proportions of the wild specimens in the Museum mounted group, +each of which has been mounted from a most careful and elaborate series +of post-mortem measurements. It may fairly be considered, however, that +the specimens taken by the Smithsonian expedition were in every way more +perfect representatives of the species than have been usually taken in +times past, for the simple reason that on account of the muscle they had +developed in the numerous chases they had survived, and the total +absence of the fat which once formed such a prominent feature of the +animal, they were of finer form, more active habit, and keener +intelligence than buffaloes possessed when they were so numerous. Out of +the millions which once composed the great northern herd, those +represented the survival of the fittest, and their existence at that +time was chiefly due to the keenness of their senses and their splendid +muscular powers in speed and endurance. + +Under such conditions it is only natural that animals of the highest +class should be developed. On the other hand, captivity reverses all +these conditions, while yielding an equally abundant food supply. + +In no feature is the change from natural conditions to captivity more +easily noticeable than in the eye. In the wild buffalo the eye is always +deeply set, well protected by the edge of the bony orbit, and perfect in +form and expression. The lids are firmly drawn around the ball, the +opening is so small that the white portion of the eyeball is entirely +covered, and the whole form and appearance of the organ is as shapely +and as pleasing in expression as the eye of a deer. + +In the captive the various muscles which support and control the eyeball +seem to relax and thicken, and the ball protrudes far beyond its normal +plane, showing a circle of white all around the iris, and bulging out in +a most unnatural way. I do not mean to assert that this is common in +captive buffaloes generally, but I have observed it to be disagreeably +conspicuous in many. + +Another change which takes place in the form of the captive buffalo is +an arching of the back in the middle, which has a tendency to make the +hump look lower at the shoulders and visibly alters the outline of the +back. This tendency to "hump up" the back is very noticeable in domestic +cattle and horses during rainy weather. While a buffalo on his native +heath would seldom assume such an attitude of dejection and misery, in +captivity, especially if it be anything like close confinement, it is +often to be observed, and I fear will eventually become a permanent +habit. Indeed, I think it may be confidently predicted that the time +will come when naturalists who have never seen a wild buffalo will +compare the specimens composing the National Museum group with the +living representatives to be seen in captivity and assert that the +former are exaggerations in both form and size. + +3. _Mounted Specimens in Museums._--Of the "stuffed" specimens to be +found in museums, all that I have ever seen outside of the National +Museum and even those within that institution up to 1886, were "stuffed" +in reality as well as in name. The skins that have been rammed full of +straw or excelsior have lost from 8 to 12 inches in height at the +shoulders, and the high and sharp hump of the male has become a huge, +thick, rounded mass like the hump of a dromedary, and totally unlike the +hump of a bison. It is impossible for any taxidermist to stuff a +buffalo-skin with loose materials and produce a specimen which fitly +represents the species. The proper height and form of the animal can be +secured and retained only by the construction of a manikin, or statue, +to carry the skin. In view of this fact, which surely must be apparent +to even the most casual observer, it is to be earnestly hoped that here +no one in authority will ever consent to mount or have mounted a +valuable skin of a bison in any other way than over a properly +constructed manikin. + +4. _The Calf._--The breeding season of the buffalo is from the 1st of +July to the 1st of October. The young cow does not breed until she is +three years old, and although two calves are sometimes produced at a +birth, one is the usual number. The calves are born in April, May, and +June, and sometimes, though rarely, as late as the middle of August. The +calf follows its mother until it is a year old, or even older. In May, +1886, the Smithsonian expedition captured a calf alive, which had been +abandoned by its mother because it could not keep up with her. The +little creature was apparently between two and three weeks old, and was +therefore born about May 1. Unlike the young of nearly all other +_Bovidæ_, the buffalo calf during the first months of its existence is +clad with hair of a totally different color from that which covers him +during the remainder of his life. His pelage is a luxuriant growth of +rather long, wavy hair, of a uniform brownish-yellow or "sandy" color +(cinnamon, or yellow ocher, with a shade of Indian yellow) all over the +head, body, and tail, in striking contrast with the darker colors of the +older animals. On the lower half of the leg it is lighter, shorter, and +straight. On the shoulders and hump the hair is longer than on the +other portions, being 11/2 inches in length, more wavy, and already +arranges itself in the tufts, or small bunches, so characteristic in the +adult animal. + +On the extremity of the muzzle, including the chin, the hair is very +short, straight, and as light in color as the lower portions of the leg. +Starting on the top of the nose, an inch behind the nostrils, and +forming a division between the light yellowish muzzle and the more +reddish hair on the remainder of the head, there is an irregular band of +dark, straight hair, which extends down past the corner of the mouth to +a point just back of the chin, where it unites. From the chin backward +the dark band increases in breadth and intensity, and continues back +half way to the angle of the jaw. At that point begins a sort of under +mane of wavy, dark-brown hair, nearly 3 inches long, and extends back +along the median line of the throat to a point between the fore legs, +where it abruptly terminates. From the back of the head another streak +of dark hair extends backward along the top of the neck, over the hump, +and down to the lumbar region, where it fades out entirely. These two +dark bands are in sharp contrast to the light sandy hair adjoining. + +The tail is densely haired. The tuft on the end is quite luxuriant, and +shows a center of darker hair. The hair on the inside of the ear is +dark, but that on the outside is sandy. + +The naked portion of the nose is light Vandyke-brown, with a pinkish +tinge, and the edge of the eyelid the same. The iris is dark brown. The +horn at three months is about 1 inch in length, and is a mere little +black stub. In the male, the hump is clearly defined, but by no means so +high in proportion as in the adult animal. The hump of the calf from +which this description is drawn is of about the same relative angle and +height as that of an adult cow buffalo. The specimen itself is well +represented in the accompanying plate. + +The measurements of this specimen in the flesh were as follows: + ++---------------------------------------------------------+ +| BISON AMERICANUS. (Male; four months old.) | ++---------------------------------------------------------+ +| (_No. 15503, National Museum collection._) | ++---------------------------------------------------------+ +| |Feet.|Inches.| +|Height at shoulders | 2 | 8 | +|Length, head and body to insertion of tail | 3 | 101/2 | +|Depth of chest | 1 | 4 | +|Depth of flank | | 10 | +|Girth behind fore leg | 3 | 1/2 | +|From base of horns around end of nose | 1 | 71/2 | +|Length of tail vertebræ | | 7 | ++---------------------------------------------------------+ + +The calves begin to shed their coat of red hair about the beginning of +August. The first signs of the change, however, appear about a month +earlier than that, in the darkening of the mane under the throat, and +also on the top of the neck.[26] + +[Note 26: Our captive had, in some way, bruised the skin on his +forehead, and in June all the hair came off the top of his head, leaving +it quite bald. We kept the skin well greased with porpoise oil, and by +the middle of July a fine coat of black hair had grown out all over the +surface that had previously been bare.] + +By the 1st of August the red hair on the body begins to fall off in +small patches, and the growth of fine, new, dark hair seems to actually +crowd off the old. As is the case with the adult animals, the shortest +hair is the first to be shed, but the change of coat takes place in +about half the time that it occupies in the older animals. + +By the 1st of October the transformation is complete, and not even a +patch of the old red hair remains upon the new suit of brown. This is +far from being the case with the old bulls and cows, for even up to the +last week in October we found them with an occasional patch of the old +hair still clinging to the new, on the back or shoulders. + +Like most young animals, the calf of the buffalo is very easily tamed, +especially if taken when only a few weeks old. The one captured in +Montana by the writer, resisted at first as stoutly as it was able, by +butting with its head, but after we had tied its legs together and +carried it to camp, across a horse, it made up its mind to yield +gracefully to the inevitable, and from that moment became perfectly +docile. It very soon learned to drink milk in the most satisfactory +manner, and adapted itself to its new surroundings quite as readily as +any domestic calf would have done. Its only cry was a low-pitched, +pig-like grunt through the nose, which was uttered only when hungry or +thirsty. + +I have been told by old frontiersmen and buffalo-hunters that it used to +be a common practice for a hunter who had captured a young calf to make +it follow him by placing one of his fingers in its mouth, and allowing +the calf to suck at it for a moment. Often a calf has been induced in +this way to follow a horseman for miles, and eventually to join his camp +outfit. It is said that the same result has been accomplished with +calves by breathing a few times into their nostrils. In this connection +Mr. Catlin's observations on the habits of buffalo calves are most +interesting. + +"In pursuing a large herd of buffaloes at the season when their calves +are but a few weeks old, I have often been exceedingly amused with the +curious maneuvers of these shy little things. Amidst the thundering +confusion of a throng of several hundreds or several thousands of these +animals, there will be many of the calves that lose sight of their dams; +and being left behind by the throng, and the swift-passing hunters, they +endeavor to secrete themselves, when they are exceedingly put to it on a +level prairie, where naught can be seen but the short grass of 6 or 8 +inches in height, save an occasional bunch of wild sage a few inches +higher, to which the poor affrighted things will run, and dropping on +their knees, will push their noses under it and into the grass, where +they will stand for hours, with their eyes shut, imagining themselves +securely hid, whilst they are standing up quite straight upon their hind +feet, and can easily be seen at several miles distance. It is a familiar +amusement with us, accustomed to these scenes, to retreat back over the +ground where we have just escorted the herd, and approach these little +trembling things, which stubbornly maintain their positions, with +their noses pushed under the grass and their eyes strained upon us, us +we dismount from our horses and are passing around them. From this fixed +position they are sure not to move until hands are laid upon them, and +then for the shins of a novice we can extend our sympathy; or if he can +preserve the skin on his bones from the furious buttings of its head, we +know how to congratulate him on his signal success and good luck. + +[Illustration: From photograph of group in National Museum. Engraved by +R. H. Carson. BUFFALO COW, CALF (FOUR MONTHS OLD), AND YEARLING. +Reproduced from the _Cosmopolitan Magazine_, by permission of the +publishers.] + +"In these desperate struggles for a moment, the little thing is +conquered, and makes no further resistance. And I have often, in +concurrence with a known custom of the country, held my hands over the +eyes of the calf and breathed a few strong breaths into its nostrils, +after which I have, with my hunting companions, rode several miles into +our encampment with the little prisoner busily following the heels of my +horse the whole way, as closely and as affectionately as its instinct +would attach it to the company of its dam. + +"This is one of the most extraordinary things that I have met with in +the habits of this wild country, and although I had often heard of it, +and felt unable exactly to believe it, I am now willing to bear +testimony to the fact from the numerous instances which I have witnessed +since I came into the country. During the time that I resided at this +post [mouth of the Tetón River] in the spring of the year, on my way up +the river, I assisted (in numerous hunts of the buffalo with the fur +company's men) in bringing in, in the above manner, several of these +little prisoners, which sometimes followed for 5 or 6 miles close to our +horse's heels, and even into the fur company's fort, and into the stable +where our horses were led. In this way, before I left the headwaters of +the Missouri, I think we had collected about a dozen, which Mr. Laidlaw +was successfully raising with the aid of a good milch cow."[27] + +[Note 27: North American Indians, I, 255.] + +It must be remembered, however, that such cases as the above were +exceptional, even with the very young calves, which alone exhibited the +trait described. Such instances occurred only when buffaloes existed in +such countless numbers that man's presence and influence had not +affected the character of the animal in the least. No such instances of +innocent stupidity will ever be displayed again, even by the youngest +calf. The war of extermination, and the struggle for life and security +have instilled into the calf, even from its birth, a mortal fear of both +men and horses, and the instinct to fly for life. The calf captured by +our party was not able to run, but in the most absurd manner it butted +our horses as soon as they came near enough, and when Private Moran +attempted to lay hold of the little fellow it turned upon him, struck +him in the stomach with its head, and sent him sprawling into the +sage-brush. If it had only possessed the strength, it would have led us +a lively chase. + +During 1886 four other buffalo calves were either killed or caught by +the cowboys on the Missouri-Yellowstone divide, in the Dry Creek +region. All of them ran the moment they discovered their enemies. Two +were shot and killed. One was caught by a cowboy named Horace Brodhurst, +ear marked, and turned loose. The fifth one was caught in September on +the Porcupine Creek round-up. He was then about five months old, and +being abundantly able to travel he showed a clean pair of heels. It took +three fresh horses, one after another, to catch him, and his final +capture was due to exhaustion, and not to the speed of any of his +pursuers. The distance covered by the chase, from the point where his +first pursuer started to where the third one finally lassoed him, was +considered to be at least 15 miles. But the capture came to naught, for +on the following day the calf died from overexertion and want of milk. + +Colonel Dodge states that the very young calves of a herd have to depend +upon the old bulls for protection, and seldom in vain. The mothers +abandon their offspring on slight provocation, and even none at all +sometimes, if we may judge from the condition of the little waif that +fell into our hands. Had its mother remained with it, or even in its +neighborhood, we should at least have seen her, but she was nowhere +within a radius of 5 miles at the time her calf was discovered. Nor did +she return to look for it, as two of us proved by spending the night in +the sage-brush at the very spot where the calf was taken. Colonel Dodge +declares that "the cow seems to possess scarcely a trace of maternal +instinct, and, when frightened, will abandon and run away from her calf +without the slightest hesitation. * * * When the calves are young they +are always kept in the center of each small herd, while the bulls +dispose themselves on the outside."[28] + +[Note 28: Plains of the Great West, pp. 124, 125.] + +Apparently the maternal instinct of the cow buffalo was easily mastered +by fear. That it was often manifested, however, is proven by the +following from Audubon and Bachman:[29] + +[Note 29: Quadrupeds of North America, vol. II, pp. 38, 39.] + +"Buffalo calves are drowned from being unable to ascend the steep banks +of the rivers across which they have just swam, as the cows cannot help +them, although they stand near the bank, and will not leave them to +their fate unless something alarms them. + +"On one occasion Mr. Kipp, of the American Fur Company, caught eleven +calves, their dams all the time standing near the top of the bank. +Frequently, however, the cows leave the young to their fate, when most +of them perish. In connection with this part of the subject, we may add +that we were informed, when on the Upper Missouri River, that when the +banks of that river were practicable for cows, and their calves could +not follow them, they went down again, after having gained the top, and +would remain by them until forced away by the cravings of hunger. When +thus forced by the necessity of saving themselves to quit their young, +they seldom, if ever, return to them. When a large herd of these wild +animals are crossing a river, the calves or yearlings manage to get on +the backs of the cows, and are thus conveyed safely over." + +5. _The Yearling._--During the first five months of his life, the calf +changes its coat completely, and becomes in appearance a totally +different animal. By the time he is six months old he has taken on all +the colors which distinguish him in after life, excepting that upon his +fore quarters. The hair on the head has started out to attain the +luxuriant length and density which is so conspicuous in the adult, and +its general color is a rich dark brown, shading to black under the chin +and throat. The fringe under the neck is long, straight, and black, and +the under parts, the back of the fore arm, the outside of thigh, and the +tail-tuft are all black. + +The color of the shoulder, the side, and upper part of the hind quarter +is a peculiar smoky brown ("broccoli brown" of Ridgway), having in +connection with the darker browns of the other parts a peculiar faded +appearance, quite as if it were due to the bleaching power of the sun. +On the fore quarters there is none of the bright straw color so +characteristic of the adult animal. Along the top of the neck and +shoulders, however, this color has at last begun to show faintly. The +hair on the body is quite luxuriant, both in length and density, in both +respects quite equaling, if not even surpassing, that of the finest +adults. For example, the hair on the side of the mounted yearling in the +Museum group has a length of 2 to 21/2 inches, while that on the same +region of the adult bull, whose pelage is particularly fine, is recorded +as being 2 inches only. + +The horn is a straight, conical spike from 4 to 6 inches long, according +to age, and perfectly black. The legs are proportionally longer and +larger in the joints than those of the full-grown animal. The +countenance of the yearling is quite interesting. The sleepy, helpless, +innocent expression of the very young calf has given place to a +wide-awake, mischievous look, and he seems ready to break away and run +at a second's notice. + +The measurements of the yearling in the Museum group are as follows: + ++----------------------------------------------------------------+ +|BISON AMERICANUS. (Male yearling, taken Oct. 31, 1886. Montana.)| ++----------------------------------------------------------------+ +| (_No. 15694, National Museum collection._) | ++----------------------------------------------------------------+ +| | Feet.| Inches. | +|Height at shoulders | 3 | 5 | +|Length, head and body to insertion of tail | 5 | | +|Depth of chest | 1 | 11 | +|Depth of flank | 1 | 1 | +|Girth behind fore leg | 4 | 3 | +|From base of horns around end of nose | 2 | 11/2 | +|Length of tail vertebræ | | 10 | ++----------------------------------------------------------------+ + +6. _The Spike Bull._--In hunters' parlance, the male buffalo between the +"yearling" age and four years is called a "spike" bull, in recognition +of the fact that up to the latter period the horn is a spike, either +perfectly straight, or with a curve near its base, and a straight point +the rest of the way up. The curve of the horn is generally hidden in +the hair, and the only part visible is the straight, terminal spike. +Usually the spike points diverge from each other, but often they are +parallel, and also perpendicular. In the fourth year, however, the +points of the horns begin to curve inward toward each other, describing +equal arcs of the same circle, as if they were going to meet over the +top of the head. + +In the handsome young "spike" bull in the Museum group, the hair on the +shoulders has begun to take on the length, the light color, and tufted +appearance of the adult, beginning at the highest point of the hump and +gradually spreading. Immediately back of this light patch the hair is +long, but dark and woolly in appearance. The leg tufts have doubled in +length, and reveal the character of the growth that may be finally +expected. The beard has greatly lengthened, as also has the hair upon +the bridge of the nose, the forehead, ears, jaws, and all other portions +of the head except the cheeks. + +The "spike" period of a buffalo is a most interesting one. Like a +seventeen-year-old boy, the young bull shows his youth in so many ways +it is always conspicuous, and his countenance is so suggestive of a +half-bearded youth it fixes the interest to a marked degree. He is +active, alert, and suspicious, and when he makes up his mind to run the +hunter may as well give up the chase. + +By a strange fatality, our spike bull appears to be the only one in any +museum, or even in preserved existence, as far as can be ascertained. +Out of the twenty-five buffaloes killed and preserved by the Smithsonian +expedition, ten of which were adult bulls, this specimen was the only +male between the yearling and the adult ages. An effort to procure +another entire specimen of this age from Texas yielded only two spike +heads. It is to be sincerely regretted that more specimens representing +this very interesting period of the buffalo's life have not been +preserved, for it is now too late to procure wild specimens. + +The following are the post-mortem dimensions of our specimen: + ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +| BISON AMERICANUS. | ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +|("Spike" bull, two years old; taken October 14, 1886. Montana.)| ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +| (_No. 15685, National Museum collection._) | ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +| | Feet.| Inches. | +|Height at shoulders | 4 | 2 | +|Length, head and body to insertion of tail | 7 | 7 | +|Depth of chest | 2 | 3 | +|Depth of flank | 1 | 7 | +|Girth behind fore leg | 6 | 8 | +|From base of horns around end of nose | 2 | 81/2 | +|Length of tail vertebræ | 1 | | ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ + +7. _The Adult Bull._--In attempting to describe the adult male in the +National Museum group, it is difficult to decide which feature is most +prominent, the massive, magnificent head, with its shaggy frontlet and +luxuriant black beard, or the lofty hump, with its showy covering of +straw-yellow hair, in thickly-growing locks 4 inches long. But the head +is irresistible in its claims to precedence. + +[Illustration: SPIKE BULL. From the group in the National Museum. +Reproduced from the _Cosmopolitan Magazine_, by permission of the +publishers.] + +It must be observed at this point that in many respects this animal is +an exceptionally fine one. In actual size of frame, and in quantity and +quality of pelage, it is far superior to the average, even of wild +buffaloes when they were most numerous and at their best.[30] In one +respect, however, that of actual bulk, it is believed that this specimen +may have often been surpassed. When buffaloes were numerous, and not +required to do any great amount of running in order to exist, they were, +in the autumn months, very fat. Audubon says: "A large bison bull will +generally weigh nearly 2,000 pounds, and a fat cow about 1,200 pounds. +We weighed one of the bulls killed by our party, and found it to reach +1,727 pounds, although it had already lost a good deal of blood. This +was an old bull, and not fat. It had probably weighed more at some +previous period."[31] Our specimen when killed (by the writer, December +6, 1886) was in full vigor, superbly muscled, and well fed, but he +carried not a single pound of fat. For years the never-ceasing race for +life had utterly prevented the secretion of useless and cumbersome fat, +and his "subsistence" had gone toward the development of useful muscle. +Having no means by which to weigh him, we could only estimate his +weight, in which I called for the advice of my cowboys, all of whom were +more or less familiar with the weight of range cattle, and one I +regarded as an expert. At first the estimated weight of the animal was +fixed at 1,700 pounds, but with a constitutional fear of estimating over +the truth, I afterward reduced it to 1,600 pounds. This I am now well +convinced was an error, for I believe the first figure to have been +nearer the truth. + +[Note 30: In testimony whereof the following extract from a letter +written by General Stewart Van Vliet, on March 10, 1897, to Professor +Baird, is of interest: + +"MY DEAR PROFESSOR: On the receipt of your letter of the 6th instant I +saw General Sheridan, and yesterday we called on your taxidermist and +examined the buffalo bull he is setting up for the Museum. I don't think +I have ever seen a more splendid specimen in my life. General Sheridan +and I have seen millions of buffalo on the plains in former times. I +have killed hundreds, but I never killed a larger animal than the one in +the possession of your taxidermist."] + +[Note 31: Quadrupeds of North America, vol. II, p. 44.] + +In mounting the skin of this animal, we endeavored by every means in our +power, foremost of which were three different sets of measurements, +taken from the dead animal, one set to check another, to reproduce him +when mounted in exactly the same form he possessed in life--muscular, +but not fat. + +The color of the body and hindquarters of a buffalo is very peculiar, +and almost baffles intelligent description. Audubon calls it "between a +dark umber and liver-shining brown." I once saw a competent artist +experiment with his oil-colors for a quarter of an hour before he +finally struck the combination which exactly matched the side of our +large bull. To my eyes, the color is a pale gray-brown or smoky gray. +The range of individual variation is considerable, some being uniformly +darker than the average type, and others lighter. While the under parts +of most adults are dark brown or blackish brown, others are actually +black. The hair on the body and hinder parts is fine, wavy on the +outside, and woolly underneath, and very dense. Add to this the +thickness of the skin itself, and the combination forms a covering that +is almost impervious to cold. + +The entire fore quarter region, _e. g._, the shoulders, the hump, and +the upper part of the neck, is covered with a luxuriant growth of pale +yellow hair (Naples yellow + yellow ocher), which stands straight out in +a dense mass, disposed in handsome tufts. The hair is somewhat woolly in +its nature, and the ends are as even as if the whole mass had lately +been gone over with shears and carefully clipped. This hair is 4 inches +in length. As the living animal moved his head from side to side, the +hair parted in great vertical furrows, so deep that the skin itself +seemed almost in sight. As before remarked, to comb this hair would +utterly destroy its naturalness, and it should never be done under any +circumstances. Standing as it does between the darker hair of the body +on one side and the almost black mass of the head on the other, this +light area is rendered doubly striking and conspicuous by contrast. It +not only covers the shoulders, but extends back upon the thorax, where +it abruptly terminates on a line corresponding to the sixth rib. + +From the shoulder-joint downward, the color shades gradually into a dark +brown until at the knee it becomes quite black. The huge fore-arm is +lost in a thick mass of long, coarse, and rather straight hair 10 inches +in length. This growth stops abruptly at the knee, but it hangs within 6 +inches of the hoof. The front side of this mass is blackish brown, but +it rapidly shades backward and downward into jet-black. + +The hair on the top of the head lies in a dense, matted mass, forming a +perfect crown of rich brown (burnt sienna) locks, 16 inches in length, +hanging over the eyes, almost enveloping both horns, and spreading back +in rich, dark masses upon the light-colored neck. + +On the cheeks the hair is of the same blackish brown color, but +comparatively short, and lies in beautiful waves. On the bridge of the +nose the hair is about 6 inches in length and stands out in a thick, +uniform, very curly mass, which always looks as if it had just been +carefully combed. + +Immediately around the nose and mouth the hair is very short, straight +and stiff, and lies close to the skin, which leaves the nostrils and +lips fully exposed. The front part of the chin is similarly clad, and +its form is perfectly flat, due to the habit of the animal in feeding +upon the short, crisp buffalo grass, in the course of which the chin is +pressed flat against the ground. The end of the muzzle is very massive, +measuring 2 feet 2 inches in circumference just back of the nostrils. + +The hair of the chin-beard is coarse, perfectly straight, jet black, and +111/2 inches in length on our old bull. + +Occasionally a bull is met with who is a genuine Esau amongst his kind. +I once saw a bull, of medium size but fully adult, whose hair was a +wonder to behold. I have now in my possession a small lock of hair which +I plucked from his forehead, and its length is 221/2 inches. His horns +were entirely concealed by the immense mass of long hair that nature had +piled upon his head, and his beard was as luxuriant as his frontlet. + +[Illustration: BULL BUFFALO IN NATIONAL MUSEUM GROUP. Drawn by Ernest E. +Thompson.] + +The nostril opening is large and wide. The color of the hairless +portions of the nose and mouth is shiny Vandyke brown and black, with a +strong tinge of bluish-purple, but this latter tint is not noticeable +save upon close examination, and the eyelid is the same. The iris is of +an irregular pear-shaped outline, 1-5/16 inches in its longest diameter, +very dark, reddish brown in color, with a black edging all around it. +Ordinarily no portion of the white eyeball is visible, but the broad +black band surrounding the iris, and a corner patch of white, is +frequently shown by the turning of the eye. The tongue is bluish purple, +as are the lips inside. + +The hoofs and horns are, in reality, jet black throughout, but the horn +often has at the base a scaly, dead appearance on the outside, and as +the wrinkles around the base increase with age and scale up and gather +dirt, that part looks gray. The horns of bulls taken in their prime are +smooth, glossy black, and even look as if they had been half polished +with oil. + +As the bull increases in age, the outer layers of the horn begin to +break off at the tip and pile up one upon another, until the horn has +become a thick, blunt stub, with only the tip of what was once a neat +and shapely point showing at the end. The bull is then known as a +"stub-horn," and his horns increase in roughness and unsightliness as he +grows older. From long rubbing on the earth, the outer curve of each +horn is gradually worn flat, which still further mars its symmetry. + +The horns serve as a fair index of the age of a bison. After he is three +years old, the bison adds each year a ring around the base of his horns, +the same as domestic cattle. If we may judge by this, the horn begins to +break when the bison is about ten or eleven years old, and the stubbing +process gradually continues during the rest of his life. Judging by the +teeth, and also the oldest horns I have seen, I am of the opinion that +the natural life time of the bison is about twenty-five years; certainly +no less. + ++--------------------------------------------------------+ +| BISON AMERICANUS. | +| (Male, eleven years old. | +| Taken December 6, 1866. Montana.) | +| (_No. 15703, National Museum collection._) | ++--------------------------------------------------------+ +| |Feet.|Inches.| +|Height at shoulders to the skin | 5 | 8 | +|Height at shoulders to top of hair | 6 | -- | +|Length, head and body to insertion of tail| 10 | 2 | +|Depth of chest | 3 | 10 | +|Depth of flank | 2 | 0 | +|Girth behind fore leg | 8 | 4 | +|From base of horns around end of nose | 3 | 6 | +|Length of tail vertebræ | 1 | 3 | +|Circumference of muzzle back of nostrils | 2 | 2 | ++--------------------------------------------------------+ + +8. _The Cow in the third year._--The young cow of course possesses the +same youthful appearance already referred to as characterizing the +"spike" bull. The hair on the shoulders has begun to take on the light +straw-color, and has by this time attained a length which causes it to +arrange itself in tufts, or locks. The body colors have grown darker, +and reached their permanent tone. Of course the hair on the head has by +no means attained its full length, and the head is not at all handsome. + +The horns are quite small, but the curve is well defined, and they +distinctly mark the sex of the individual, even at the beginning of the +third year. + ++------------------------------------------------------------+ +| BISON AMERICANUS. | +|(Young cow, in third year. Taken October 14, 1886. Montana.)| ++------------------------------------------------------------+ +| (_No. 15686, National Museum collection._) | ++------------------------------------------------------------+ +| |Feet.| Inches. | +|Height at shoulders | 4 | 5 | +|Length, head and body to insertion of tail| 7 | 7 | +|Depth of chest | 2 | 4 | +|Depth of flank | 1 | 4 | +|Girth behind fore leg | 5 | 4 | +|From base of horns around end of nose | 2 | 81/2 | +|Length of tail vertebræ | 1 | .. | ++------------------------------------------------------------+ + +9. _The adult Cow._--The upper body color of the adult cow in the +National Museum group (see Plate) is a rich, though not intense, Vandyke +brown, shading imperceptibly down the sides into black, which spreads +over the entire under parts and inside of the thighs. The hair on the +lower joints of the leg is in turn lighter, being about the same shade +as that on the loins. The fore-arm is concealed in a mass of almost +black hair, which gradually shades lighter from the elbow upward and +along the whole region of the humerus. On the shoulder itself the hair +is pale yellow or straw-color (Naples yellow + yellow ocher), which +extends down in a point toward the elbow. From the back of the head a +conspicuous baud of curly, dark-brown hair extends back like a mane +along the neck and to the top of the hump, beyond which it soon fades +out. + +The hair on the head is everywhere a rich burnt-sienna brown, except +around the corners of the mouth, where it shades into black. + +The horns of the cow bison are slender, but solid for about two-thirds +of their length from the tip, ringed with age near their base, and quite +black. Very often they are imperfect in shape, and out of every five +pairs at least one is generally misshapen. Usually one horn is +"crumpled," _e. g._, dwarfed in length and unnaturally thickened at the +base, and very often one horn is found to be merely an unsightly, +misshapen stub. + +[Illustration: From a photograph. Engraved by Frederick Juengling. BULL +BUFFALO. (REAR VIEW.) Reproduced from the _Cosmopolitan Magazine_, by +permission of the publishers.] + +The udder of the cow bison is very small, as might be expected of an +animal which must do a great deal of hard traveling, but the milk is +said to be very rich. Some authorities declare that it requires the +milk of two domestic cows to satisfy one buffalo calf, but this, I +think, is an error. Our calf began in May to consume 6 quarts of +domestic milk daily, which by June 10 had increased to 8, and up to July +10, 9 quarts was the utmost it could drink. By that time it began to eat +grass, but the quantity of milk disposed of remained about the same. + ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +| BISON AMERICANUS. | +|(Adult cow, eight years old. Taken November 18, 1886. Montana.)| ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +| (_No. 15767, National Museum collection._) | ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +| | Feet.| Inches. | +|Height at shoulders | 4 | 10 | +|Length, head and body to insertion of tail| 8 | 6 | +|Depth of chest | 3 | 7 | +|Depth of flank | 1 | 7 | +|Girth behind fore leg | 6 | 10 | +|From base of horns around end of nose | 3 | | +|Length of tail vertebræ | 1 | | ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ + +10. _The "Wood," or "Mountain" Buffalo._--Having myself never seen a +specimen of the so called "mountain buffalo" or "wood buffalo," which +some writers accord the rank of a distinct variety, I can only quote the +descriptions of others. While most Rocky Mountain hunters consider the +bison of the mountains quite distinct from that of the plains, it must +be remarked that no two authorities quite agree in regard to the +distinguishing characters of the variety they recognize. Colonel Dodge +states that "His body is lighter, whilst his legs are shorter, but much +thicker and stronger, than the plains animal, thus enabling him to +perform feats of climbing and tumbling almost incredible in such a huge +and unwieldy beast."[32] + +[Note 32: Plains of the Great West, p. 144.] + +The belief in the existence of a distinct mountain variety is quite +common amongst hunters and frontiersmen all along the eastern slope the +Rocky Mountains as far north as the Peace River. In this connection the +following from Professor Henry Youle Hind[33] is of general interest: + +[Note 33: Red River, Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Expedition, II p. +104-105.] + +"The existence of two kinds of buffalo is firmly believed by many +hunters at Red River; they are stated to be the prairie buffalo and the +buffalo of the woods. Many old hunters with whom I have conversed on +this subject aver that the so-called wood buffalo is a distinct species, +and although they are not able to offer scientific proofs, yet the +difference in size, color, hair, and horns, are enumerated as the +evidence upon which they base their statement. Men from their youth +familiar with these animals in the great plains, and the varieties which +are frequently met with in large herds, still cling to this opinion. The +buffalo of the plains are not always of the dark and rich bright brown +which forms their characteristic color. They are sometimes seen from +white to almost black, and a gray buffalo is not at all uncommon. +Buffalo emasculated by wolves are often found on the prairies, where +they grow to an immense size; the skin of the buffalo ox is recognized +by the shortness of the wool and by its large dimensions. The skin of +the so-called wood buffalo is much larger than that of the common +animal, the hair is very short, mane or hair about the neck short and +soft, and altogether destitute of curl, which is the common feature in +the hair or wool of the prairie animal. Two skins of the so-called wood +buffalo, which I saw at Selkirk Settlement, bore a very close +resemblance to the skin of the Lithuanian bison, judging from the +specimens of that species which I have since had an opportunity of +seeing in the British Museum. + +"The wood buffalo is stated to be very scarce, and only found north of +the Saskatchewan and on the flanks of the Rocky Mountains. It never +ventures into the open plains. The prairie buffalo, on the contrary, +generally avoids the woods in summer and keeps to the open country; but +in winter they are frequently found in the woods of the Little Souris, +Saskatchewan, the Touchwood Hills, and the aspen groves on the +Qu'Appelle. There is no doubt that formerly the prairie buffalo ranged +through open woods almost as much as he now does through the prairies." + +Mr. Harrison S. Young, an officer of the Hudson's Bay Fur Company, +stationed at Fort Edmonton, writes me as follows in a letter dated +October 22, 1887: "In our district of Athabasca, along the Salt River, +there are still a few wood buffalo killed every year; but they are fast +diminishing in numbers, and are also becoming very shy." + +In Prof. John Macoun's "Manitoba and the Great Northwest," page 342, +there occurs the following reference to the wood buffalo: "In the winter +of 1870 the last buffalo were killed north of Peace River; but in 1875 +about one thousand head were still in existence between the Athabasca +and Peace Rivers, north of Little Slave Lake. These are called wood +buffalo by the hunters, but diner only in size from those of the plain." + +In the absence of facts based on personal observations, I may be +permitted to advance an opinion in regard to the wood buffalo. There is +some reason for the belief that certain changes of form may have taken +place in the buffaloes that have taken up a permanent residence in +rugged and precipitous mountain regions. Indeed, it is hardly possible +to understand how such a radical change in the habitat of an animal +could fail, through successive generations, to effect certain changes in +the animal itself. It seems to me that the changes which would take +place in a band of plains buffaloes transferred to a permanent mountain +habitat can be forecast with a marked degree of certainty. The changes +that take place under such conditions in cattle, swine, and goats are +well known, and similar causes would certainly produce similar results +in the buffalo. + +The scantier feed of the mountains, and the great waste of vital energy +called for in procuring it, would hardly produce a larger buffalo than +the plains-fed animal, who acquires an abundance of daily food of the +best quality with but little effort. + +We should expect to see the mountain buffalo smaller in body than the +plains animal, with better leg development, and particularly with +stronger hind quarters. The pelvis of the plains buffalo is surprisingly +small and weak for so large an animal. Beyond question, constant +mountain climbing is bound to develop a maximum of useful muscle and +bone and a minimum of useless fat. If the loss of mane sustained by the +African lions who live in bushy localities may be taken as an index, we +should expect the bison of the mountains, especially the "wood buffalo," +to lose a great deal of his shaggy frontlet and mane on the bushes and +trees which surrounded him. Therefore, we would naturally expect to find +the hair on those parts shorter and in far less perfect condition than +on the bison of the treeless prairies. By reason of the more shaded +condition of his home, and the decided mitigation of the sun's +fierceness, we should also expect to see his entire pelage of a darker +tone. That he would acquire a degree of agility and strength unknown in +his relative of the plain is reasonably certain. In the course of many +centuries the change in his form might become well defined, constant, +and conspicuous; but at present there is apparently not the slightest +ground for considering that the "mountain buffalo" or "wood buffalo" is +entitled to rank even as a variety of _Bison americanus_. + +Colonel Dodge has recorded some very interesting information in regard +to the "mountain, or wood buffalo," which deserves to be quoted +entire.[34] + +[Note 34: Plains of the Great West, p. 144-147.] + +"In various portions of the Rocky Mountains, especially in the region of +the parks, is found an animal which old mountaineers call the 'bison.' +This animal bears about the same relation to a plains buffalo as a +sturdy mountain pony does to an American horse. His body is lighter, +whilst his legs are shorter, but much thicker and stronger, than the +plains animal, thus enabling him to perform feats of climbing and +tumbling almost incredible in such a huge and apparently unwieldy beast. + +"These animals are by no means plentiful, and are moreover excessively +shy, inhabiting the deepest, darkest defiles, or the craggy, almost +precipitous, sides of mountains inaccessible to any but the most +practiced mountaineers. + +"From the tops of the mountains which rim the parks the rains of ages +have cut deep gorges, which plunge with brusque abruptness, but +nevertheless with great regularity, hundreds or even thousands of feet +to the valley below. Down the bottom of each such gorge a clear, cold +stream of purest water, fertilizing a narrow belt of a few feet of +alluvial, and giving birth and growth, to a dense jungle of spruce, +quaking asp, and other mountain trees. One side of the gorge is +generally a thick forest of pine, while the other side is a meadow-like +park, covered with splendid grass. Such gorges are the favorite haunt of +the mountain buffalo. Early in the morning he enjoys a bountiful +breakfast of the rich nutritious grasses, quenches his thirst with the +finest water, and, retiring just within the line of jungle, where, +himself unseen, he can scan the open, he crouches himself in the long +grass and reposes in comfort and security until appetite calls him to +his dinner late in the evening. Unlike their plains relative, there is +no stupid staring at an intruder. At the first symptom of danger they +disappear like magic in the thicket, and never stop until far removed +from even the apprehension of pursuit. I have many times come upon their +fresh tracks, upon the beds from which they had first sprung in alarm, +but I have never even seen one. + +"I have wasted much time and a great deal of wind in vain endeavors to +add one of these animals to my bag. My figure is no longer adapted to +mountain climbing, and the possession of a bison's head of my own +killing is one of my blighted hopes. + +"Several of my friends have been more fortunate, but I know of no +sportsman who has bagged more than one.[35] + +[Note 35: Foot-note by William Blackmore: "The author is in error here, +as in a point of the Tarryall range of mountains, between Pike's Peak +and the South Park, in the autumn of 1871, two mountain buffaloes were +killed in one afternoon. The skin of the finer was presented to Dr. +Frank Buckland."] + +"Old mountaineers and trappers have given me wonderful accounts of the +number of these animals in all the mountain region 'many years ago;' and +I have been informed by them, that their present rarity is due to the +great snow-storm of 1844-'45, of which I have already spoken as +destroying the plains buffalo in the Laramie country. + +"One of my friends, a most ardent and pertinacious sportsman, determined +on the possession of a bison's head, and, hiring a guide, plunged into +the mountain wilds which separate the Middle from South Park. After +several days fresh tracks were discovered. Turning their horses loose on +a little gorge park, such as described, they started on foot on the +trail; for all that day they toiled and scrambled with the utmost +caution--now up, now down, through deep and narrow gorges and pine +thickets, over bare and rocky crags, sleeping where night overtook them. +Betimes next morning they pushed on the trail, and about 11 o'clock, +when both were exhausted and well-nigh disheartened, their route was +intercepted by a precipice. Looking over, they descried, on a projecting +ledge several hundred feet below, a herd of about 20 bisons lying down. +The ledge was about 300 feet at widest, by probably 1,000 feet long. Its +inner boundary was the wall of rock on the top of which they stood; its +outer appeared to be a sheer precipice of at least 200 feet. This ledge +was connected with the slope of the mountain by a narrow neck. The wind +being right, the hunters succeeded in reaching this neck unobserved. My +friend selected a magnificent head, that of a fine bull, young but full +grown, and both fired. At the report the bisons all ran to the far end +of the ledge and plunged over. + +"Terribly disappointed, the hunters ran to the spot, and found that they +had gone down a declivity, not actually a precipice, but so steep that +the hunters could not follow them. + +"At the foot lay a bison. A long, a fatiguing detour brought them to the +spot, and in the animal lying dead before him my friend recognized his +bull--his first and last mountain buffalo. Hone but a true sportsman can +appreciate his feelings. + +"The remainder of the herd was never seen after the great plunge, down +which it is doubtful if even a dog could have followed unharmed." + +In the issue of Forest and Stream of June 14, 1888, Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, +in an article entitled "The American Buffalo," relates a very +interesting experience with buffaloes which were pronounced to be of the +"mountain" variety, and his observations on the animals are well worth +reproducing here. The animals (eight in number) were encountered on the +northern slope of the Big Horn Mountains, in the autumn of 1877. "We +came upon them during a fearful blizzard of heavy hail, during which our +animals could scarcely retain their feet. In fact, the packer's mule +absolutely lay down on the ground rather than risk being blown down the +mountain side, and my own horse, totally unable to face such a violent +blow and the pelting hail (the stones being as large as big marbles), +positively stood stock-still, facing an old buffalo bull that was not +more than 25 feet in front of me. * * * Strange to say, this fearful +gust did not last more than ten minutes, when it stopped as suddenly as +it had commenced, and I deliberately killed my old buffalo at one shot, +just where he stood, and, separating two other bulls from the rest, +charged them down a rugged ravine. They passed over this and into +another one, but with less precipitous sides and no trees in the way, +and when I was on top of the intervening ridge I noticed that the +largest bull had halted in the bottom. Checking my horse, an excellent +buffalo hunter, I fired down at him without dismounting. The ball merely +barked his shoulder, and to my infinite surprise he turned and charged +me up the hill. * * * Stepping to one side of my horse, with the +charging and infuriated bull not 10 feet to my front, I fired upon him, +and the heavy ball took him square in the chest, bringing him to his +knees, with a gush of scarlet blood from his mouth and nostrils. * * * + +"Upon examining the specimen, I found it to be an old bull, apparently +smaller and very much blacker than the ones I had seen killed on the +plains only a day or so before. Then I examined the first one I had +shot, as well as others which were killed by the packer from the same +bunch, and I came to the conclusion that they were typical +representatives of the variety known as the 'mountain buffalo,' a form +much more active in movement, of slighter limbs, blacker, and far more +dangerous to attack. My opinion in the premises remains unaltered +to-day. In all this I may be mistaken, but it was also the opinion held +by the old buffalo hunter who accompanied me, and who at once remarked +when he saw them that they were 'mountain buffalo,' and not the plains +variety. * * * + +"These specimens were not actually measured by me in either case, and +their being considered smaller only rested upon my judging them by my +eye. But they were of a softer pelage, black, lighter in limb, and when +discovered were in the timber, on the side of the Big Horn Mountains." + +The band of bison in the Yellowstone Park must, of necessity, be of the +so-called "wood" or "mountain" variety, and if by any chance one of its +members ever dies of old age, it is to be hoped its skin may be +carefully preserved and sent to the National Museum to throw some +further light on this question. + +11. _The shedding of the winter pelage._--In personal appearance the +buffalo is subject to striking, and even painful, variations, and the +estimate an observer forms of him is very apt to depend upon the time of +the year at which the observation is made. Toward the end of the winter +the whole coat has become faded and bleached by the action of the sun, +wind, snow, and rain, until the freshness of its late autumn colors has +totally disappeared. The bison takes on a seedy, weathered, and rusty +look. But this is not a circumstance to what happens to him a little +later. Promptly with the coming of the spring, if not even in the last +week of February, the buffalo begins the shedding of his winter coat. It +is a long and difficult task, and with commendable energy he sets about +it at the earliest possible moment. It lasts him more than half the +year, and is attended with many positive discomforts. + +The process of shedding is accomplished in two ways: by the new hair +growing into and forcing off the old, and by the old hair falling off in +great patches, leaving the skin bare. On the heavily-haired +portions--the head, neck, fore quarters, and hump--the old hair stops +growing, dies, and the new hair immediately starts through the skin and +forces it off. The new hair grows so rapidly, and at the same time so +densely, that it forces itself into the old, becomes hopelessly +entangled with it, and in time actually lifts the old hair clear of the +skin. On the head the new hair is dark brown or black, but on the neck, +fore quarters, and hump it has at first, and indeed until it is 2 inches +in length, a peculiar gray or drab color, mixed with brown, totally +different from its final and natural color. The new hair starts first on +the head, but the actual shedding of the old hair is to be seen first +along the lower parts of the neck and between the fore legs. The +heavily-haired parts are never bare, but, on the contrary, the amount of +hair upon them is about the same all the year round. The old and the new +hair cling together with provoking tenacity long after the old coat +should fall, and on several of the bulls we killed in October there were +patches of it still sticking tightly to the shoulders, from which it +had to be forcibly plucked away. Under all such patches the new hair was +of a different color from that around them. + +The other process of shedding takes place on the body and hind quarters, +from which the old hair loosens and drops off in great woolly flakes a +foot square, more or less. The shedding takes place very unevenly, the +old hair remaining much longer in some places than in others. During +April, May, and June the body and hind quarters present a most ludicrous +and even pitiful spectacle. The island-like patches of persistent old +hair alternating with patches of bare brown skin are adorned (?) by +great ragged streamers of loose hair, which flutter in the wind like +signals of distress. Whoever sees a bison at this period is filled with +a desire to assist nature by plucking off the flying streamers of old +hair; but the bison never permits anything of the kind, however good +one's intentions may be. All efforts to dislodge the old hair are +resisted to the last extremity, and the buffalo generally acts as if the +intention were to deprive him of his skin itself. By the end of June, if +not before, the body and hind quarters are free from the old hair, and +as bare as the hide of a hippopotamus. The naked skin has a shiny brown +appearance, and of course the external anatomy of the animal is very +distinctly revealed. But for the long hair on the fore quarters, neck, +and head the bison would lose all his dignity of appearance with his +hair. As it is, the handsome black head, which is black with new hair as +early as the first of May, redeems the animal from utter homeliness. + +After the shedding of the body hair, the naked skin of the buffalo is +burned by the sun and bitten by flies until he is compelled to seek a +pool of water, or even a bed of soft mud, in which to roll and make +himself comfortable. He wallows, not so much because he is so fond of +either water or mud, but in self-defense; and when he emerges from his +wallow, plastered with mud from head to tail, his degradation is +complete. He is then simply not fit to be seen, even by his best +friends. + +By the first of October, a complete and wonderful transformation has +taken place. The buffalo stands forth clothed in a complete new suit of +hair, fine, clean, sleek, and bright in color, not a speck of dirt nor a +lock awry anywhere. To be sure, it is as yet a trifle short on the body, +where it is not over an inch in length, and hardly that; but it is +growing rapidly and getting ready for winter. + +From the 20th of November to the 20th of December the pelage is at its +very finest. By the former date it has attained its full growth, its +colors are at their brightest, and nothing has been lost either by the +elements or by accidental causes. To him who sees an adult bull at this +period, or near it, the grandeur of the animal is irresistibly felt. +After seeing buffaloes of all ages in the spring and summer months the +contrast afforded by those seen in October, November, and December was +most striking and impressive. In the later period, as different +individuals were wounded and brought to bay at close quarters, their +hair was so clean and well-kept, that more than once I was led to +exclaim: "He looks as if he had just been combed." + +It must be remarked, however, that the long hair of the head and fore +quarters is disposed in locks or tufts, and to comb it in reality would +utterly destroy its natural and characteristic appearance. + +Inasmuch as the pelage of the domesticated bison, the only +representatives of the species which will be found alive ten years +hence, will in all likelihood develop differently from that of the wild +animal, it may some time in the future be of interest to know the +length, by careful measurement, of the hair found on carefully-selected +typical wild specimens. To this end the following measurements are +given. It must be borne in mind that these specimens were not chosen +because their pelage was particularly luxuriant, but rather because they +are fine average specimens. + +The hair of the adult bull is by no means as long as I have seen on a +bison, although perhaps not many have greatly surpassed it. It is with +the lower animals as with man--the length of the hairy covering is an +individual character only. I have in my possession a tuft of hair, from +the frontlet of a rather small bull bison, which measures 221/2 inches +in length. The beard on the specimen from which this came was +correspondingly long, and the entire pelage was of wonderful length and +density. + +LENGTH OF THE HAIR OF BISON AMERICANUS. + +[Measurements, in inches, of the pelage of the specimens composing the +group in the National Museum.] + ++-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +| |Old |Old |Spike |Young |Yearling|Young | +| |bull, |cow, |bull, |cow, |calf, |calf, | +| |killed |killed |killed |killed |killed |four | +| |Dec. 6.|Nov. 18.|Oct. 14.|Oct. 14.|Oct. 31.|months| +|Length of: | | | | | |old. | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|hair on the shoulder| | | | | | | +|(over scapula) | 33/4 | 43/4 | 31/2 | 31/4 | 3 | 11/2 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|hair on top of hump | 61/2 | 7 | 51/4 | 51/2 | 41/2 | 2 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|hair on the middle | | | | | | | +|of the side | 2 | 11/2 | 21/2 | 11/2 | 21/4 | 11/4 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|hair on the | | | | | | | +|hind quarter | 13/4 | 11/4 | 3/4 | 3/4 | 2 | 1 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|hair on the | | | | | | | +|forehead | 16 | 81/2 | 61/2 | 5 | 31/2 | 1/2 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|the chin beard | 111/2 | 91/2 | 63/4 | 5 | 5 | 0 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|the breast tuft | 8 | 81/2 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 3 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|tuft on fore leg | 101/2 | 8 | 8 | 41/2 | 3 | 11/2 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|the tail tuft | 19 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 71/2 | 41/2 | ++-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ + +_Albinism._--Cases of albinism in the buffalo were of extremely rare +occurrence. I have met many old buffalo hunters, who had killed +thousands and seen scores of thousands of buffaloes, yet never had seen +a white one. From all accounts it appears that not over ten or eleven +white buffaloes, or white buffalo skins, were ever seen by white men. +Pied individuals were occasionally obtained, but even they were rare. +Albino buffaloes were always so highly prized that not a single one, so +far as I can learn, ever had the good fortune to attain adult size, +their appearance being so striking, in contrast with the other members +of the herd, as to draw upon them an unusual number of enemies, and +cause their speedy destruction. + +At the New Orleans Exposition, in 1884-'85, the Territory of Dakota +exhibited, amongst other Western quadrupeds, the mounted skin of a +two-year-old buffalo which might fairly be called an albino. Although +not really white, it was of a uniform dirty cream-color, and showed not +a trace of the bison's normal color on any part of its body. + +Lieut. Col. S. C. Kellogg, U. S. Army, has on deposit in the National +Museum a tanned skin which is said to have come from a buffalo. It is +from an animal about one year old, and the hair upon it, which is short, +very curly or wavy, and rather coarse, is pure white. In length and +texture the hair does not in any one respect resemble the hair of a +yearling buffalo save in one particular,--along the median line of the +neck and hump there is a rather long, thin mane of hair, which has the +peculiar woolly appearance of genuine buffalo hair on those parts. On +the shoulder portions of the skin the hair is as short as on the hind +quarters. I am inclined to believe this rather remarkable specimen came +from a wild half-breed calf, the result of a cross between a white +domestic cow and a buffalo bull. At one time it was by no means uncommon +for small bunches of domestic cattle to enter herds of buffalo and +remain there permanently. + +I have been informed that the late General Marcy possessed a white +buffalo skin. If it is still in existence, and is really _white_, it is +to be hoped that so great a rarity may find a permanent abiding place in +some museum where the remains of _Bison americanus_ are properly +appreciated. + + + + +V. THE HABITS OF THE BUFFALO. + + +The history of the buffalo's daily life and habits should begin with the +"running season." This period occupied the months of August and +September, and was characterized by a degree of excitement and activity +throughout the entire herd quite foreign to the ease-loving and even +slothful nature which was so noticeable a feature of the bison's +character at all other times. + +The mating season occurred when the herd was on its summer range. The +spring calves were from two to four months old. Through continued +feasting on the new crop of buffalo-grass and bunch-grass--the most +nutritious in the world, perhaps--every buffalo in the herd had grown +round-sided, fat, and vigorous. The faded and weather-beaten suit of +winter hair had by that time fallen off and given place to the new coat +of dark gray and black, and, excepting for the shortness of his hair, +the buffalo was in prime condition. + +During the "running season," as it was called by the plainsmen, the +whole nature of the herd was completely changed. Instead of being broken +up into countless small groups and dispersed over a vast extent of +territory, the herd came together in a dense and confused mass of many +thousand individuals, so closely congregated as to actually blacken the +face of the landscape. As if by a general and irresistible impulse, +every straggler would be drawn to the common center, and for miles on +every side of the great herd the country would be found entirely +deserted. + +At this time the herd itself became a seething mass of activity and +excitement. As usual under such conditions, the bulls were half the time +chasing the cows, and fighting each other during the other half. These +actual combats, which were always of short duration and over in a few +seconds after the actual collision took place, were preceded by the +usual threatening demonstrations, in which the bull lowers his head +until his nose almost touches the ground, roars like a fog-horn until +the earth seems to fairly tremble with the vibration, glares madly upon +his adversary with half-white eyeballs, and with his forefeet paws up +the dry earth and throws it upward in a great cloud of dust high above +his back. At such times the mingled roaring--it can not truthfully be +described as lowing or bellowing--of a number of huge bulls unite and +form a great volume of sound like distant thunder, which has often been +heard at a distance of from 1 to 3 miles. I have even been assured by +old plainsmen that under favorable atmospheric conditions such sounds +have been heard five miles. + +Notwithstanding the extreme frequency of combats between the bulls +during this season, their results were nearly always harmless, thanks to +the thickness of the hair and hide on the head and shoulders, and the +strength of the neck. + +Under no conditions was there ever any such thing as the pairing off or +mating of male and female buffaloes for any length of time. In the +entire process of reproduction the bison's habits were similar to those +of domestic cattle. For years the opinion was held by many, in some +cases based on misinterpreted observations, that in the herd the +identity of each family was partially preserved, and that each old bull +maintained an individual harem and group of progeny of his own. The +observations of Colonel Dodge completely disprove this very interesting +theory; for at best it was only a picturesque fancy, ascribing to the +bison a degree of intelligence which he never possessed. + +At the close of the breeding season the herd quickly settles down to its +normal condition. The mass gradually resolves itself into the numerous +bands or herdlets of from twenty to a hundred individuals, so +characteristic of bison on their feeding grounds, and these gradually +scatter in search of the best grass until the herd covers many square +miles of country. + +In his search for grass the buffalo displayed but little intelligence or +power of original thought. Instead of closely following the divides +between water courses where the soil was best and grass most abundant, +he would not hesitate to wander away from good feeding-grounds into +barren "bad lands," covered with sage-brush, where the grass was very +thin and very poor. In such broken country as Montana, Wyoming, and +southwestern Dakota, the herds, on reaching the best grazing grounds on +the divides, would graze there day after day until increasing thirst +compelled them to seek for water. Then, actuated by a common impulse, +the search for a water-hole was begun in a business-like way. The leader +of a herd, or "bunch," which post was usually filled by an old cow, +would start off down the nearest "draw," or stream-heading, and all the +rest would fall into line and follow her. From the moment this start was +made there was no more feeding, save as a mouthful of grass could be +snatched now and then without turning aside. In single file, in a line +sometimes half a mile long and containing between one and two hundred +buffaloes, the procession slowly marched down the coulée, close +alongside the gully as soon as the water-course began to cut a pathway +for itself. When the gully curved to right or left the leader would +cross its bed and keep straight on until the narrow ditch completed its +wayward curve and came back to the middle of the coulée. The trail of a +herd in search of water is usually as good a piece of engineering as +could be executed by the best railway surveyor, and is governed by +precisely the same principles. It always follows the level of the +valley, swerves around the high points, and crosses the stream +repeatedly in order to avoid climbing up from the level. The same trail +is used again and again by different herds until the narrow path, not +over a foot in width, is gradually cut straight down into the soil to a +depth of several inches, as if it had been done by a 12-inch +grooving-plane. By the time the trail has been worn down to a depth of 6 +or 7 inches, without having its width increased in the least, it is no +longer a pleasant path to walk in, being too much like a narrow ditch. +Then the buffaloes abandon it and strike out a new one alongside, which +is used until it also is worn down and abandoned. + +To day the old buffalo trails are conspicuous among the very few classes +of objects which remain as a reminder of a vanished race. The herds of +cattle now follow them in single file just as the buffaloes did a few +years ago, as they search for water in the same way. In some parts of +the West, in certain situations, old buffalo trails exist which the wild +herds wore down to a depth of 2 feet or more. + +Mile after mile marched the herd, straight down-stream, bound for the +upper water-hole. As the hot summer drew on, the pools would dry up one +by one, those nearest the source being the first to disappear. Toward +the latter part of summer, the journey for water was often a long one. +Hole after hole would be passed without finding a drop of water. At last +a hole of mud would be found, below that a hole with a little muddy +water, and a mile farther on the leader would arrive at a shallow pool +under the edge of a "cut bank," a white, snow-like deposit of alkali on +the sand encircling its margin, and incrusting the blades of grass and +rushed that grew up from the bottom. The damp earth around the pool was +cut up by a thousand hoof-prints, and the water was warm, strongly +impregnated with alkali, and yellow with animal impurities, but it was +_water_. The nauseous mixture was quickly surrounded by a throng of +thirsty, heated, and eager buffaloes of all ages, to which the oldest +and strongest asserted claims of priority. There was much crowding and +some fighting, but eventually all were satisfied. After such a long +journey to water, a herd would usually remain by it for some hours, +lying down, resting, and drinking at intervals until completely +satisfied. + +Having drunk its fill, the herd would never march directly back to the +choice feeding grounds it had just left, but instead would leisurely +stroll off at a right angle from the course it came, cropping for awhile +the rich bunch grasses of the bottom-lands, and then wander across the +hills in an almost aimless search for fresh fields and pastures new. +When buffaloes remained long in a certain locality it was a common thing +for them to visit the same watering-place a number of times, at +intervals of greater or less duration, according to circumstances. + +When undisturbed on his chosen range, the bison used to be fond of lying +down for an hour or two in the middle of the day, particularly when fine +weather and good grass combined to encourage him in luxurious habits. I +once discovered with the field glass a small herd of buffaloes lying +down at midday on the slope of a high ridge, and having ridden hard for +several hours we seized the opportunity to unsaddle and give our horses +an hour's rest before making the attack. While we were so doing, the +herd got up, shifted its position to the opposite side of the ridge, and +again laid down, every buffalo with his nose pointing to windward. + +Old hunters declare that in the days of their abundance, when feeding on +their ranges in fancied security, the younger animals were as playful as +well-fed domestic calves. It was a common thing to see them cavort and +frisk around with about as much grace as young elephants, prancing and +running to and fro with tails held high in air "like scorpions." + +Buffaloes are very fond of rolling in dry dirt or even in mud, and this +habit is quite strong in captive animals. Not only is it indulged in +during the shedding season, but all through the fall and winter. The two +live buffaloes in the National Museum are so much given to rolling, even +in rainy weather, that it is necessary to card them every few days to +keep them presentable. + +Bulls are much more given to rolling than the cows, especially after +they have reached maturity. They stretch out at full length, rub their +heads violently to and fro on the ground, in which the horn serves as +the chief point of contact and slides over the ground like a +sled-runner. After thoroughly scratching one side on mother earth they +roll over and treat the other in like manner. Notwithstanding his sharp +and lofty hump, a buffalo bull can roll completely over with as much +ease as any horse. + +The vast amount of rolling and side-scratching on the earth indulged in +by bull buffaloes is shown in the worn condition of the horns of every +old specimen. Often a thickness of half an inch is gone from the upper +half of each horn on its outside curve, at which point the horn is worn +quite flat. This is well illustrated in the horns shown in the +accompanying plate, fig. 6. + +[Illustration: DEVELOPMENT OF THE HORNS OF THE AMERICAN BISON. + +1. The Calf. 2. The Yearling. 3. Spike Bull, 2 years old. +4. Spike Bull, 3 years old. 5. Bull, 4 years old. +6. Bull, 11 years old. 7. Old "stub-horn" Bull, 20 years old.] + +Mr. Catlin[36] affords some very interesting and valuable information in +regard to the bison's propensity for wollowing in mad, and also the +origin of the "fairy circles," which have caused so much speculation +amongst travelers: + +[Note 36: North American Indians, vol. I, p. 249, 250.] + +"In the heat of summer, these huge animals, which no doubt suffer very +much with the great profusion of their long and shaggy hair, or fur, +often graze on the low grounds of the prairies, where there is a little +stagnant water lying amongst the grass, and the ground underneath being +saturated with it, is soft, into which the enormous bull, lowered down +upon one knee, will plunge his horns, and at last his head, driving up +the earth, and soon making an excavation in the ground into which the +water filters from amongst the grass, forming for him in a few moments a +cool and comfortable bath, into which he plunges like a hog in his mire. + +"In this delectable laver he throws himself flat upon his side, and +forcing himself violently around, with his horns and his huge hump on +his shoulders presented to the sides, he ploughs up the ground by his +rotary motion, sinking himself deeper and deeper in the ground, +continually enlarging his pool, in which he at length becomes nearly +immersed, and the water and mud about him mixed into a complete mortar, +which changes his color and drips in streams from every part of him as +he rises up upon his feet, a hideous monster of mud and ugliness, too +frightful and too eccentric to be described! + +"It is generally the leader of the herd that takes upon him to make this +excavation, and if not (but another one opens the ground), the leader +(who is conqueror) marches forward, and driving the other from it +plunges himself into it; and, having cooled his sides and changed his +color to a walking mass of mud and mortar, he stands in the pool until +inclination induces him to step out and give place to the next in +command who stands ready, and another, and another, who advance forward +in their turns to enjoy the luxury of the wallow, until the whole band +(sometimes a hundred or more) will pass through it in turn,[37] each one +throwing his body around in a similar manner and each one adding a +little to the dimensions of the pool, while he carries away in his hair +an equal share of the clay, which dries to a gray or whitish color and +gradually falls off. By this operation, which is done perhaps in the +space of half an hour, a circular excavation of fifteen or twenty feet +in diameter and two feet in depth is completed and left for the water to +run into, which soon fills it to the level of the ground. + +[Note 37: In the District of Columbia work-house we have a counterpart +of this in the public bath-tub, wherein forty prisoners were seen by a +_Star_ reporter to bathe one after another in the same water!] + +"To these sinks, the waters lying on the surface of the prairies are +continually draining and in them lodging their vegetable deposits, which +after a lapse of years fill them up to the surface with a rich soil, +which throws up an unusual growth of grass and herbage, forming +conspicuous circles, which arrest the eye of the traveler and are +calculated to excite his surprise for ages to come." + +During the latter part of the last century, when the bison inhabited +Kentucky and Pennsylvania, the salt springs of those States were +resorted to by thousands of those animals, who drank of the saline +waters and licked the impregnated earth. Mr. Thomas Ashe[38] affords us +a most interesting account, from the testimony of an eye witness, of the +behavior of a bison at a salt spring. The description refers to a +locality in western Pennsylvania, where "an old man, one of the first +settlers of this country, built his log house on the immediate borders +of a salt spring. He informed me that for the first several seasons the +buffaloes paid him their visits with the utmost regularity; they +traveled in single files, always following each other at equal +distances, forming droves, on their arrival, of about 300 each. + +[Note 38: Travels in America in 1806. London, 1808.] + +"The first and second years, so unacquainted were these poor brutes with +the use of this man's house or with his nature, that in a few hours they +_rubbed_ the house completely down, taking delight in turning the logs +off with their horns, while he had some difficulty to escape from being +trampled under their feet or crushed to death in his own ruins. At that +period he supposed there could not have been less than 2,000 in the +neighborhood of the spring. They sought for no manner of food, but only +bathed and drank three or four times a day and rolled in the earth, or +reposed with their flanks distended in the adjacent shades; and on the +fifth and sixth days separated into distinct droves, bathed, drank, and +departed in single files, according to the exact order of their arrival. +They all rolled successively in the same hole, and each thus carried +away a coat of mud to preserve the moisture on their skin and which, +when hardened and baked in the sun, would resist the stings of millions +of insects that otherwise would persecute these peaceful travelers to +madness or even death." + +It was a fixed habit with the great buffalo herds to move southward from +200 to 400 miles at the approach of winter. Sometimes this movement was +accomplished quietly and without any excitement, but at other times it +was done with a rush, in which considerable distances would be gone over +on the double quick. The advance of a herd was often very much like that +of a big army, in a straggling line, from four to ten animals abreast. +Sometimes the herd moved forward in a dense mass, and in consequence +often came to grief in quicksands, alkali bogs, muddy crossings, and on +treacherous ice. In such places thousands of buffaloes lost their lives, +through those in the lead being forced into danger by pressure of the +mass coming behind. In this manner, in the summer of 1867, over two +thousand buffaloes, out of a herd of about four thousand, lost their +lives in the quicksands of the Platte River, near Plum Creek, while +attempting to cross. One winter, a herd of nearly a hundred buffaloes +attempted to cross a lake called Lac-qui-parle, in Minnesota, upon the +ice, which gave way, and drowned the entire herd. During the days of the +buffalo it was a common thing for voyagers on the Missouri River to see +buffaloes hopelessly mired in the quicksands or mud along the shore, +either dead or dying, and to find their dead bodies floating down the +river, or lodged on the upper ends of the islands and sand-bars. + +Such accidents as these: it may be repeated, were due to the great +number of animals and the momentum of the moving mass. The forced +marches of the great herds were like the flight of a routed army, in +which helpless individuals were thrust into mortal peril by the +irresistible force of the mass coming behind, which rushes blindly on +after their leaders. In this way it was possible to decoy a herd toward +a precipice and cause it to plunge over en masse, the leaders being +thrust over by their followers, and all the rest following of their own +free will, like the sheep who cheerfully leaped, one after another, +through a hole in the side of a high bridge because their bell-wether +did so. + +But it is not to be understood that the movement of a great herd, +because it was made on a run, necessarily partook of the nature of a +stampede in which a herd sweeps forward in a body. The most graphic +account that I ever obtained of facts bearing on this point was +furnished by Mr. James McNaney, drawn from his experience on the +northern buffalo range in 1882. His party reached the range (on Beaver +Creek, about 100 miles south of Glendive) about the middle of November, +and found buffaloes already there; in fact they had begun to arrive from +the north as early as the middle of October. About the first of December +an immense herd arrived from the north. It reached their vicinity one +night, about 10 o'clock, in a mass that seemed to spread everywhere. As +the hunters sat in their tents, loading cartridges and cleaning their +rifles, a low rumble was heard, which gradually increased to "a +thundering noise," and some one exclaimed, "There! that's a big herd of +buffalo coming in!" All ran out immediately, and hallooed and discharged +rifles to keep the buffaloes from running over their tents. Fortunately, +the horses were picketed some distance away in a grassy coulée, which +the buffaloes did not enter. The herd came at a jog trot, and moved +quite rapidly. "In the morning the whole country was black with +buffalo." It was estimated that 10,000 head were in sight. One immense +detachment went down on to a "flat" and laid down. There it remained +quietly, enjoying a long rest, for about ten days. It gradually broke up +into small bands, which strolled off in various directions looking for +food, and which the hunters quietly attacked. + +A still more striking event occurred about Christmas time at the same +place. For a few days the neighborhood of McNaney's camp had been +entirely deserted by buffaloes, not even one remaining. But one morning +about daybreak a great herd which was traveling south began to pass +their camp. A long line of moving forms was seen advancing rapidly from +the northwest, coming in the direction of the hunters' camp. It +disappeared in the creek valley for a few moments, and presently the +leaders suddenly came in sight again at the top of "a rise" a few +hundred yards away, and came down the intervening slope at full speed, +within 50 yards of the two tents. After them came a living stream of +followers, all going at a gallop, described by the observer as "a long +lope," from four to ten buffaloes abreast. Sometimes there would be a +break in the column of a minute's duration, then more buffaloes would +appear at the brow of the hill, and the column went rushing by as +before. The calves ran with their mothers, and the young stock got over +the ground with much less exertion than the older animals. For about +four hours, or until past 11 o'clock, did this column of buffaloes +gallop past the camp over a course no wider than a village street. Three +miles away toward the south the long dark line of bobbing humps and +hind quarters wound to the right between two hills and disappeared. True +to their instincts, the hunters promptly brought out their rifles, and +began to fire at the buffaloes as they ran. A furious fusilade was kept +up from the very doors of the tents, and from first to last over fifty +buffaloes were killed. Some fell headlong the instant they were hit, but +the greater number ran on until their mortal wounds compelled them to +halt, draw off a little way to one side, and finally fall in their death +struggles. + +Mr. McNaney stated that the hunters estimated the number of buffaloes +_on that portion_ of the range that winter (1881-'82) at 100,000. + +It is probable, and in fact reasonably certain, that such forced-march +migrations as the above were due to snow-covered pastures and a scarcity +of food on the more northern ranges. Having learned that a journey south +will bring him to regions of less snow and more grass, it is but natural +that so lusty a traveler should migrate. The herds or bands which +started south in the fall months traveled more leisurely, with frequent +halts to graze on rich pastures. The advance was on a very different +plan, taking place in straggling lines and small groups dispersed over +quite a scope of country. + +Unless closely pursued, the buffalo never chose to make a journey of +several miles through hilly country on a continuous run. Even when +fleeing from the attack of a hunter, I have often had occasion to notice +that, if the hunter was a mile behind, the buffalo would always walk +when going uphill; but as soon as the crest was gained he would begin to +run, and go down the slope either at a gallop or a swift trot. In former +times, when the buffalo's world was wide, when retreating from an attack +he always ran against the wind, to avoid running upon a new danger, +which showed that he depended more upon his sense of smell than his +eye-sight. During the last years of his existence, however, this habit +almost totally disappeared, and the harried survivors learned to run for +the regions which offered the greatest safety. But even to-day, if a +Texas hunter should go into the Staked Plains, and descry in the +distance a body of animals running against the wind, he would, without a +moment's hesitation, pronounce them buffaloes, and the chances are that +he would be right. + +In winter the buffalo used to face the storms, instead of turning tail +and "drifting" before them helplessly, as domestic cattle do. But at the +same time, when beset by a blizzard, he would wisely seek shelter from +it in some narrow and deep valley or system of ravines. There the herd +would lie down and wait patiently for the storm to cease. After a heavy +fall of snow, the place to find the buffalo was in the flats and creek +bottoms, where the tall, rank bunch-grasses showed their tops above the +snow, and afforded the best and almost the only food obtainable. + +When the snow-fall was unusually heavy, and lay for a long time on the +ground, the buffalo was forced to fast for days together, and sometimes +even weeks. If a warm day came, and thawed the upper surface of the snow +sufficiently for succeeding cold to freeze it into a crust, the outlook +for the bison began to be serious. A man can travel over a crust through +which the hoofs of a ponderous bison cut like chisels and leave him +floundering belly-deep. It was at such times that the Indians hunted him +on snow-shoes, and drove their spears into his vitals as he wallowed +helplessly in the drifts. Then the wolves grew fat upon the victims +which they, also, slaughtered almost without effort. + +Although buffaloes did not often actually perish from hunger and cold +during the severest winters (save in a few very exceptional cases), they +often came out in very poor condition. The old bulls always suffered +more severely than the rest, and at the end of winter were frequently in +miserable plight. + +Unlike most other terrestrial quadrupeds of America, so long as he could +roam at will the buffalo had settled migratory habits.[39] While the elk +and black-tail deer change their altitude twice a year, in conformity +with the approach and disappearance of winter, the buffalo makes a +radical change of latitude. This was most noticeable in the great +western pasture region, where the herds were most numerous and their +movements most easily observed. + +[Note 39: On page 248 of his "North American Indians," vol. I, Mr. +Catlin declares pointedly that "these animals are, truly speaking, +gregarious, but not migratory; they graze in immense and almost +incredible numbers at times, and roam about and over vast tracts of +country from east to west and from west to east as often as from north +to south, which has often been supposed they naturally and habitually +did to accommodate themselves to the temperature of the climate in the +different latitudes." Had Mr. Catlin resided continuously in any one +locality on the great buffalo range, he would have found that the +buffalo had decided migratory habits. The abundance of proof on this +point renders it unnecessary to eater fully into the details of the +subject.] + +At the approach of winter the whole great system of herds which ranged +from the Peace River to the Indian Territory moved south a few hundred +miles, and wintered under more favorable circumstances than each band +would have experienced at its farthest north. Thus it happened that +nearly the whole of the great range south of the Saskatchewan was +occupied by buffaloes even in winter. + +The movement north began with the return of mild weather in the early +spring. Undoubtedly this northward migration was to escape the heat of +their southern winter range rather than to find better pasture; for as a +grazing country for cattle all the year round, Texas is hardly +surpassed, except where it is overstocked. It was with the buffaloes a +matter of choice rather than necessity which sent them on their annual +pilgrimage northward. + +Col. R. I. Dodge, who has made many valuable observations on the +migratory habits of the southern buffaloes, has recorded the +following:[40] + +"Early in spring, as soon as the dry and apparently desert prairie had +begun to change its coat of dingy brown to one of palest green, the +horizon would begin to be dotted with buffalo, single or in groups of +two or three, forerunners of the coming herd. Thicker and thicker and in +larger groups they come, until by the time the grass is well up the +whole vast landscape appears a mass of buffalo, some individuals +feeding, others standing, others lying down, but the herd moving slowly, +moving constantly to the northward. * * * Some years, as in 1871, the +buffalo appeared to move northward in one immense column oftentimes from +20 to 50 miles in width, and of unknown depth from front to rear. Other +years the northward journey was made in several parallel columns, moving +at the same rate, and with their numerous flankers covering a width of a +hundred or more miles. + +"The line of march of this great spring migration was not always the +same, though it was confined within certain limits. I am informed by old +frontiersmen that it has not within twenty-five years crossed the +Arkansas River east of Great Bend nor west of Big Sand Creek. The most +favored routes crossed the Arkansas at the mouth of Walnut Creek, Pawnee +Fork, Mulberry Creek, the Cimarron Crossing, and Big Sand Creek. + +"As the great herd proceeds northward it is constantly depleted, numbers +wandering off to the right and left, until finally it is scattered in +small herds far and wide over the vast feeding grounds, where they pass +the summer. + +"When the food in one locality fails they go to another, and towards +fall, when the grass of the high prairie becomes parched by the heat and +drought, they gradually work their way back to the south, concentrating +on the rich pastures of Texas and the Indian Territory, whence, the same +instinct acting on all, they are ready to start together on the +northward march as soon as spring starts the grass." + +[Note 40: Our Wild Indians, p. 283, _et seq._] + +So long as the bison held undisputed possession of the great plains his +migratory habits were as above--regular, general, and on a scale that +was truly grand. The herds that wintered in Texas, the Indian Territory, +and New Mexico probably spent their summers in Nebraska, southwestern +Dakota, and Wyoming. The winter herds of northern Colorado, Wyoming, +Nebraska, and southern Dakota went to northern Dakota and Montana, while +the great Montana herds spent the summer on the Grand Coteau des +Prairies lying between the Saskatchewan and the Missouri. The two great +annual expeditions of the Red River half-breeds, which always took place +in summer, went in two directions from Winnipeg and Pembina--one, the +White Horse Plain division, going westward along the Qu'Appelle to the +Saskatchewan country, and the other, the Red River division, southwest +into Dakota. In 1840 the site of the present city of Jamestown, Dakota, +was the northeastern limit of the herds that summered in Dakota, and the +country lying between that point and the Missouri was for years the +favorite hunting ground of the Red River division. + +The herds which wintered on the Montana ranges always went north in the +early spring, usually in March, so that during the time the hunters were +hauling in the hides taken on the winter hunt the ranges were entirely +deserted. It is equally certain, however, that a few small bauds +remained in certain portions of Montana throughout the summer. But the +main body crossed the international boundary, and spent the summer on +the plains of the Saskatchewan, where they were hunted by the +half-breeds from the Red River settlements and the Indians of the +plains. It is my belief that in this movement nearly all the buffaloes +of Montana and Dakota participated, and that the herds which spent the +summer in Dakota, where they were annually hunted by the Red River +half-breeds, came up from Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska. + +While most of the calves were born on the summer ranges, many were +brought forth en route. It was the habit of the cows to retire to a +secluded spot, if possible a ravine well screened from observation, +bring forth their young, and nourish and defend them until they were +strong enough to join the herd. Calves were born all the time from March +to July, and sometimes even as late as August. On the summer ranges it +was the habit of the cows to leave the bulls at calving time, and thus +it often happened that small herds were often seen composed of bulls +only. Usually the cow produced but one calf, but twins were not +uncommon. Of course many calves were brought forth in the herd, but the +favorite habit of the cow was as stated. As soon as the young calves +were brought into the herd, which for prudential reasons occurred at the +earliest possible moment, the bulls assumed the duty of protecting them +from the wolves which at all times congregated in the vicinity of a +herd, watching for an opportunity to seize a calf or a wounded buffalo +which might be left behind. A calf always follows its mother until its +successor is appointed and installed, unless separated from her by force +of circumstances. They suck until they are nine months old, or even +older, and Mr. McNaney once saw a lusty calf suck its mother (in +January) on the Montana range several hours after she had been killed +for her skin. + +When a buffalo is wounded it leaves the herd immediately and goes off as +far from the line of pursuit as it can get, to escape the rabble of +hunters, who are sure to follow the main body. If any deep ravines are +at hand the wounded animal limps away to the bottom of the deepest and +most secluded one, and gradually works his way up to its very head, +where he finds himself in a perfect cul-de-sac, barely wide enough to +admit him. Here he is so completely hidden by the high walls and +numerous bends that his pursuer must needs come within a few feet of his +horns before his huge bulk is visible. I have more than once been +astonished at the real impregnability of the retreats selected by +wounded bison. In following up wounded bulls in ravine headings it +always became too dangerous to make the last stage of the pursuit on +horseback, for fear of being caught in a passage so narrow as to insure +a fatal accident to man or horse in case of a sudden discovery of the +quarry. I have seen wounded bison shelter in situations where a single +bull could easily defend himself from a whole pack of wolves, being +completely walled in on both sides and the rear, and leaving his foes no +point of attack save his head and horns. + +Bison which were nursing serious wounds most often have gone many days +at a time without either food or water, and in this connection it may be +mentioned that the recuperative power of a bison is really wonderful. +Judging from the number of old leg wounds, fully healed, which I have +found in freshly killed bisons, one may be tempted to believe that a +bison never died of a broken leg. One large bull which I skeletonized +had had his humerus shot squarely in two, but it had united again more +firmly than ever. Another large bull had the head of his left femur and +the hip socket shattered completely to pieces by a big ball, but he had +entirely recovered from it, and was as lusty a runner as any bull we +chased. We found that while a broken leg was a misfortune to a buffalo, +it always took something more serious than that to stop him. + + + + +VI. THE FOOD OF THE BISON. + + +It is obviously impossible to enumerate all the grasses which served the +bison as food on his native heath without presenting a complete list of +all the plants of that order found in a given region; but it is at least +desirable to know which of the grasses of the great pasture region were +his favorite and most common food. It was the nutritious character and +marvelous abundance of his food supply which enabled the bison to exist +in such absolutely countless numbers as characterized his occupancy of +the great plains. The following list comprises the grasses which were +the bison's principal food, named in the order of their importance: + +_Bouteloua oligostachya_ (buffalo, grama, or mesquite grass).--This +remarkable grass formed the _pièce de résistance_ of the bison's bill +of fare in the days when he flourished, and it now comes to us daily in +the form of beef produced of primest quality and in greatest quantity on +what was until recently the great buffalo range. This grass is the most +abundant and widely distributed species to be found in the great pasture +region between the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains and the +nineteenth degree of west longitude. It is the principal grass of the +plains from Texas to the British Possessions, and even in the latter +territory it is quite conspicuous. To any one but a botanist its first +acquaintance means a surprise. Its name and fame lead the unacquainted +to expect a grass which is tall, rank, and full of "fodder," like the +"blue joint" (_Andropogon provincialis_). The grama grass is very short, +the leaves being usually not more than 2 or 3 inches in length and +crowded together at the base of the stems. The flower stalk is about a +foot in height, but on grazed lands are eaten off and but seldom seen. +The leaves are narrow and inclined to curl, and lie close to the ground. +Instead of developing a continuous growth, this grass grows in small, +irregular patches, usually about the size of a man's hand, with narrow +strips of perfectly bare ground between them. The grass curls closely +upon the ground, in a woolly carpet or cushion, greatly resembling a +layer of Florida moss. Even in spring-time it never shows more color +than a tint of palest green, and the landscape which is dependent upon +this grass for color is never more than "a gray and melancholy waste." +Unlike the soft, juicy, and succulent grasses of the well-watered +portions of the United States, the tiny leaves of the grama grass are +hard, stiff, and dry. I have often noticed that in grazing neither +cattle nor horses are able to bite off the blades, but instead each leaf +is pulled out of the tuft, seemingly by its root. + +Notwithstanding its dry and uninviting appearance, this grass is highly +nutritious, and its fat-producing qualities are unexcelled. The heat of +summer dries it up effectually without destroying its nutritive +elements, and it becomes for the remainder of the year excellent hay, +cured on its own roots. It affords good grazing all the year round, save +in winter, when it is covered with snow, and even then, if the snow is +not too deep, the buffaloes, cattle, and horses paw down through it to +reach the grass, or else repair to wind-swept ridges and hill-tops, +where the snow has been blown off and left the grass partly exposed. +Stock prefer it to all the other grasses of the plains. + +On bottom-lands, where moisture is abundant, this grass develops much +more luxuriantly, growing in a close mass, and often to a height of a +foot or more, if not grazed down, when it is cut for hay, and sometimes +yields 11/2 tons to the acre. In Montana and the north it is generally +known as "buffalo-grass," a name to which it would seem to be fully +entitled, notwithstanding the fact that this name is also applied, and +quite generally, to another species, the next to be noticed. + +_Buchloë dactyloides_ (Southern buffalo-grass).--This species is next +in value and extent of distribution to the grama grass. It also is found +all over the great plains south of Nebraska and southern Wyoming, but +not further north, although in many localities it occurs so sparsely as +to be of little account. A single bunch of it very greatly resembles +_Bouteloua oligostachya_, but its general growth is very different. It +is very short, its general mass seldom rising more than 3 inches above +the ground. It grows in extensive patches, and spreads by means of +stolons, which sometimes are 2 feet in length, with joints every 3 or 4 +inches. Owing to its southern distribution this might well be named the +Southern buffalo grass, to distinguish it from the two other species of +higher latitudes, to which the name "buffalo" has been fastened forever. + +_Stipa spartea_ (Northern buffalo-grass; wild oat).--This grass is found +in southern Manitoba, westwardly across the plains to the Rocky +Mountains, and southward as far as Montana, where it is common in many +localities. On what was once the buffalo range of the British +Possessions this rank grass formed the bulk of the winter pasturage, and +in that region is quite as famous as our grama grass. An allied species +(_Stipa viridula_, bunch-grass) is "widely diffused over our Rocky +Mountain region, extending to California and British America, and +furnishing a considerable part of the wild forage of the region" _Stipa +spartea_ bears an ill name among stockmen on account of the fact that at +the base of each seed is a very hard and sharp-pointed callus, which +under certain circumstances (so it is said) lodges in the cheeks of +domestic animals that feed upon this grass when it is dry, and which +cause much trouble. But the buffalo, like the wild horse and half-wild +range cattle, evidently escaped this annoyance. This grass is one of the +common species over a wide area of the northern plains, and is always +found on soil which is comparatively dry. In Dakota, Minnesota, and +northwest Iowa it forms a considerable portion of the upland prairie +hay. + +Of the remaining grasses it is practically impossible to single out any +one as being specially entitled to fourth place in this list. There are +several species which flourish in different localities, and in many +respects appear to be of about equal importance as food for stock. Of +these the following are the most noteworthy: + +_Aristida purpurea_ (Western beard-grass; purple "bunch-grass" of +Montana).--On the high, rolling prairies of the Missouri-Yellowstone +divide this grass is very abundant. It grows in little solitary bunches, +about 6 inches high, scattered through the curly buffalo-grass +(_Bouteloua oligostachya_). Under more favorable conditions it grows to +a height of 12 to 18 inches. It is one of the prettiest grasses of that +region, and in the fall and winter its purplish color makes it quite +noticeable. The Montana stockmen consider it one of the most valuable +grasses of that region for stock of all kinds. Mr. C. M. Jacobs assured +me that the buffalo used to be very fond of this grass, and that +"wherever this grass grew in abundance there were the best +hunting-grounds for the bison." It appears that _Aristida purpurea_ is +not sufficiently abundant elsewhere in the Northwest to make it an +important food for stock; but Dr. Vesey declares that it is "abundant on +the plains of Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas." + +_Koeleria cristata._--Very generally distributed from Texas and New +Mexico to the British Possessions; sand hills and arid soils; mountains, +up to 8,000 feet. + +_Poa tenuifolia_ (blue-grass of the plains and mountains).--A valuable +"bunch-grass," widely distributed throughout the great pasture region; +grows in all sorts of soils and situations; common in the Yellowstone +Park. + +_Festuca scabrella_ (bunch-grass).--One of the most valuable grasses of +Montana and the Northwest generally; often called the "great +bunch-grass." It furnishes excellent food for horses and cattle, and is +so tall it is cut in large quantities for hay. This is the prevailing +species on the foot-hills and mountains generally, up to an altitude of +7,000 feet, where it is succeeded by _Festuca ovina_. + +_Andropogon provincialis_ (blue stem).--An important species, extending +from eastern Kansas and Nebraska to the foot-hills of the Rocky +Mountains, and from Northern Texas to the Saskatchewan; common in +Montana on alkali flats and bottom lands generally. This and the +preceding species were of great value to the buffalo in winter, when the +shorter grasses were covered with snow. + +_Andropogon scoparius_ (bunch grass; broom sedge; wood-grass).--Similar +to the preceding in distribution and value, but not nearly so tall. + +None of the buffalo grasses are found in the mountains. In the mountain +regions which have been visited by the buffalo and in the Yellowstone +Park, where to-day the only herd remaining in a state of nature is to be +found (though not by the man with a gun), the following are the grasses +which form all but a small proportion of the ruminant food: _Koeleria +cristata_; _Poa tenuifolia_ (Western blue-grass); _Stipa viridula_ +(feather-grass); _Stipa comata_; _Agropyrum divergens_; _Agropyrum +caninum_. + +When pressed by hunger, the buffalo used to browse on certain species of +sage-brush, particularly _Atriplex canescens_ of the Southwest. But he +was discriminating in the matter of diet, and as far as can be +ascertained he was never known to eat the famous and much-dreaded "loco" +weed (_Astragalus molissimus_), which to ruminant animals is a veritable +drug of madness. Domestic cattle and horses often eat this plant; where +it is abundant, and become demented in consequence. + + + + +VII. MENTAL CAPACITY AND DISPOSITION. + + +(1) _Reasoning from cause to effect._--The buffalo of the past was an +animal of a rather low order of intelligence, and his dullness of +intellect was one of the important factors in his phenomenally swift +extermination. He was provokingly slow in comprehending the existence +and nature of the dangers that threatened his life, and, like the stupid +brute that he was, would very often stand quietly and see two or three +score, or even a hundred, of his relatives and companions shot down +before his eyes, with no other feeling than one of stupid wonder and +curiosity. Neither the noise nor smoke of the still-hunter's rifle, the +falling, struggling, nor the final death of his companions conveyed to +his mind the idea of a danger to be fled from, and so the herd stood +still and allowed the still-hunter to slaughter its members at will. + +Like the Indian, and many white men also, the buffalo seemed to feel +that their number was so great it could never be sensibly diminished. +The presence of such a great multitude gave to each of its individuals a +feeling of security and mutual support that is very generally found in +animals who congregate in great herds. The time was when a band of elk +would stand stupidly and wait for its members to be shot down one after +another; but it is believed that this was due more to panic than to a +lack of comprehension of danger. + +The fur seals who cover the "hauling grounds" of St. Paul and St. George +Islands, Alaska, in countless thousands, have even less sense of danger +and less comprehension of the slaughter of thousands of their kind, +which takes place daily, than had the bison. They allow themselves to be +herded and driven off landwards from the hauling-ground for half a mile +to the killing-ground, and, finally, with most cheerful indifference, +permit the Aleuts to club their brains out. + +It is to be added that whenever and wherever seals or sea-lions inhabit +a given spot, with but few exceptions, it is an easy matter to approach +individuals of the herd. The presence of an immense number of +individuals plainly begets a feeling of security and mutual support. And +let not the bison or the seal be blamed for this, for man himself +exhibits the same foolish instinct. Who has not met the woman of mature +years and full intellectual vigor who is mortally afraid to spend a +night entirely alone in her own house, but is perfectly willing to do +so, and often does do so without fear, when she can have the company of +one small and helpless child, or, what is still worse, three or four of +them! But with the approach of extermination, and the utter breaking up +of all the herds, a complete change has been wrought in the character of +the bison. At last, but alas! entirely too late, the crack of the rifle +and its accompanying puff of smoke conveyed to the slow mind of the +bison a sense of deadly danger to himself. At last he recognized man, +whether on foot or horseback, or peering at him from a coulée, as his +mortal enemy. At last he learned to run. In 1886 we found the scattered +remnant of the great northern herd the wildest and most difficult +animals to kill that we had ever hunted in any country. It had been only +through the keenest exercise of all their powers of self-preservation +that those buffaloes had survived until that late day, and we found +them almost as swift as antelopes and far more wary. The instant a +buffalo caught sight of a man, even though a mile distant, he was off at +the top of his speed, and generally ran for some wild region several +miles away. + +In our party was an experienced buffalo-hunter, who in three years had +slaughtered over three thousand head for their hides. He declared that +if he could ever catch a "bunch" at rest he could "get a stand" the same +as he used to do, and kill several head before the rest would run. It so +happened that the first time we found buffaloes we discovered a bunch of +fourteen head, lying in the sun at noon, on the level top of a low +butte, all noses pointing up the wind. We stole up within range and +fired. At the instant the first shot rang out up sprang every buffalo as +if he had been thrown upon his feet by steel springs, and in a second's +time the whole bunch was dashing away from us with the speed of +race-horses. + +Our buffalo-hunter declared that in chasing buffaloes we could count +with certainty upon their always running against the wind, for this had +always been their habit. Although this was once their habit, we soon +found that those who now represent the survival of the fittest have +learned better wisdom, and now run (1) away from their pursuer and (2) +toward the best hiding place. Now they pay no attention whatever to the +direction of the wind, and if a pursuer follows straight behind, a +buffalo may change his course three or four times in a 10-mile chase. An +old bull once led one of our hunters around three-quarters of a circle +which had a diameter of 5 or 6 miles. + +The last buffaloes were mentally as capable of taking care of themselves +as any animals I ever hunted. The power of original reasoning which they +manifested in scattering all over a given tract of rough country, like +hostile Indians when hotly pressed by soldiers, in the Indian-like +manner in which they hid from sight in deep hollows, and, as we finally +proved, in _grazing only in ravines and hollows_, proved conclusively +that _but for the use of fire-arms_ those very buffaloes would have been +actually safe from harm by man, and that they would have increased +indefinitely. As they were then, the Indians' arrows and spears could +never have been brought to bear upon them, save in rare instances, for +they had thoroughly learned to dread man and fly from him for their +lives. Could those buffaloes have been protected from rifles and +revolvers the resultant race would have displayed far more active mental +powers, keener vision, and finer physique than the extinguished race +possessed. + +In fleeing from an enemy the buffalo ran against the wind, in order that +his keen scent might save him from the disaster of running upon new +enemies; which was an idea wholly his own, and not copied by any other +animal so far as known. + +But it must be admitted that the buffalo of the past was very often a +most stupid reasoner. He would deliberately walk into a quicksand, +where hundreds of his companions were already ingulfed and in their +death-struggle. He would quit feeding, run half a mile, and rush +headlong into a moving train of cars that happened to come between him +and the main herd on the other side of the track. He allowed himself to +be impounded and slaughtered by a howling mob in a rudely constructed +pen, which a combined effort on the part of three or four old bulls +would have utterly demolished at any point. A herd of a thousand +buffaloes would allow an armed hunter to gallop into their midst, very +often within arm's-length, when any of the bulls nearest him might +easily have bowled him over and had him trampled to death in a moment. +The hunter who would ride in that manner into a herd of the Cape +buffaloes of Africa (_Bubalus caffer_) would be unhorsed and killed +before he had gone half a furlong. + +(2) _Curiosity._--The buffalo of the past possessed but little +curiosity; he was too dull to entertain many unnecessary thoughts. Had +he possessed more of this peculiar trait, which is the mark of an +inquiring mind, he would much sooner have accomplished a comprehension +of the dangers that proved his destruction. His stolid indifference to +everything he did not understand cost him his existence, although in +later years he displayed more interest in his environment. On one +occasion in hunting I staked my success with an old bull I was pursuing +on the chance that when he reached the crest of a ridge his curiosity +would prompt him to pause an instant to look at me. Up to that moment he +had had only one quick glance at me before he started to run. As he +climbed the slope ahead of me, in full view, I dismounted and made ready +to fire the instant he should pause to look at me. As I expected, he did +come to a fall stop on the crest of the ridge, and turned half around to +look at me. But for his curiosity I should have been obliged to fire at +him under very serious disadvantages. + +(3) _Fear._--With the buffalo, fear of man is now the ruling passion. +Says Colonel Dodge: "He is as timid about his flank and rear as a raw +recruit. When traveling nothing in front stops him, but an unusual +object in the rear will send him to the right-about [toward the main +body of the herd] at the top of his speed." + +(4) _Courage._--It was very seldom that the buffalo evinced any courage +save that of despair, which even cowards possess. Unconscious of his +strength, his only thought was flight, and it was only when brought to +bay that he was ready to fight. Now and then, however, in the chase, the +buffalo turned upon his pursuer and overthrew horse and rider. Sometimes +the tables were completely turned, and the hunter found his only safety +in flight. During the buffalo slaughter the butchers sometimes had +narrow escapes from buffaloes supposed to be dead or mortally wounded, +and a story comes from the great northern range south of Glendive of a +hunter who was killed by an old bull whose tongue he had actually cut +out in the belief that he was dead. + +Sometimes buffalo cows display genuine courage in remaining with their +calves in the presence of danger, although in most cases they left their +offspring to their fate. During a hunt for live buffalo calves, +undertaken by Mr. C. J. Jones of Garden City, Kans., in 1886, and very +graphically described by a staff correspondent of the American Field in +a series of articles in that journal under the title of "The Last of the +Buffalo," the following remarkable incident occurred:[41] + +[Note 41: American Field, July 24, 1886, p. 78.] + +"The last calf was caught by Carter, who roped it neatly as Mr. Jones +cut it out of the herd and turned it toward him. This was a fine heifer +calf, and was apparently the idol of her mother's heart, for the latter +came very near making a casualty the price of the capture. As soon as +the calf was roped, the old cow left the herd and charged on Carter +viciously, as he bent over his victim. Seeing the danger, Mr. Jones rode +in at just the nick of time, and drove the cow off for a moment; but she +returned again and again, and finally began charging him whenever he +came near; so that, much as he regretted it, he had to shoot her with +his revolver, which he did, killing her almost immediately." + +The mothers of the thirteen other calves that were caught by Mr. Jones's +party allowed their offspring to be "cut out," lassoed, and tied, while +they themselves devoted all their energies to leaving them as far behind +as possible. + +(5) _Affection._--While the buffalo cows manifested a fair degree of +affection for their young, the adult bulls of the herd often displayed a +sense of responsibility for the safety of the calves that was admirable, +to say the least. Those who have had opportunities for watching large +herds tell us that whenever wolves approached and endeavored to reach a +calf the old bulls would immediately interpose and drive the enemy away. +It was a well-defined habit for the bulls to form the outer circle of +every small group or section of a great herd, with the calves in the +center, well guarded from the wolves, which regarded them as their most +choice prey. + +Colonel Dodge records a remarkable incident in illustration of the +manner in which the bull buffaloes protected the calves of the herd.[42] + +[Note 42: Plains of the Great West, p. 125.] + +"The duty of protecting the calves devolved almost entirely on the +bulls. I have seen evidences of this many times, but the most remarkable +instance I have ever heard of was related to me by an army surgeon, who +was an eye-witness. + +"He was one evening returning to camp after a day's hunt, when his +attention was attracted by the curious action of a little knot of six or +eight buffalo. Approaching sufficiently near to see clearly, he +discovered that this little knot were all bulls, standing in a close +circle, with their heads outwards, while in a concentric circle at some +12 or 15 paces distant sat, licking their chaps in impatient expectancy, +at least a dozen large gray wolves (excepting man, the most dangerous +enemy of the buffalo). + +"The doctor determined to watch the performance. After a few moments +the knot broke up, and, still keeping in a compact mass, started on a +trot for the main herd, some half a mile oft". To his very great +astonishment, the doctor now saw that the central and controlling figure +of this mass was a poor little calf so newly born as scarcely to be able +to walk. After going 50 or 100 paces the calf laid down, the bulls +disposed themselves in a circle as before, and the wolves, who had +trotted along on each side of their retreating supper, sat down and +licked their chaps again; and though the doctor did not see the finale, +it being late and the camp distant, he had no doubt that the noble +fathers did their whole duty by their offspring, and carried it safely +to the herd." + +(6) _Temper._--I have asked many old buffalo hunters for facts in regard +to the temper and disposition of herd buffaloes, and all agree that they +are exceedingly quiet, peace loving, and even indolent animals at all +times save during the rutting season. Says Colonel Dodge: "The habits of +the buffalo are almost identical with those of the domestic cattle. +Owing either to a more pacific disposition, or to the greater number of +bulls, there, is very little fighting, even at the season when it might +be expected. I have been among them for days, have watched their conduct +for hours at a time, and with the very best opportunities for +observation, but have never seen a regular combat between bulls. They +frequently strike each other with their horns, but this seems to be a +mere expression of impatience at being crowded." + +In referring to the "running season" of the buffalo, Mr. Catlin says: +"It is no uncommon thing at this season, at these gatherings, to see +several thousands in a mass eddying and wheeling about under a cloud of +dust, which is raised by the bulls as they are pawing in the dirt, or +engaged in desperate combats, as they constantly are, plunging and +butting at each other in a most furious manner." + +On the whole, the disposition of the buffalo is anything but vicious. +Both sexes yield with surprising readiness to the restraints of +captivity, and in a remarkably short time become, if taken young, as +fully domesticated as ordinary cattle. Buffalo calves are as easily +tamed as domestic ones, and make very interesting pets. A prominent +trait of character in the captive buffalo is a mulish obstinacy or +headstrong perseverance under certain circumstances that is often very +annoying. When a buffalo makes up his mind to go through a fence, he is +very apt to go through, either peaceably or by force, as occasion +requires. Fortunately, however, the captive animals usually accept a +fence in the proper spirit, and treat it with a fair degree of respect. + + + + +VIII. VALUE OF THE BUFFALO TO MAN. + + +It may fairly be supposed that if the people of this country could have +been made to realize the immense money value of the great buffalo herds +as they existed in 1870, a vigorous and successful effort would have +been made to regulate and restrict the slaughter. The fur seal of +Alaska, of which about 100,000 are killed annually for their skins, +yield an annual revenue to the Government of $100,000 and add $900,000 +more to the actual wealth of the United States. It pays to protect those +seals, and we mean to protect them against all comers who seek their +unrestricted slaughter, no matter whether the poachers be American, +English, Russian, or Canadian. It would be folly to do otherwise, and if +those who would exterminate the fur seal by shooting them in the water +will not desist for the telling, then they must by the compelling. + +The fur seal is a good investment for the United States, and their +number is not diminishing. As the buffalo herds existed in 1870, 500,000 +head of bulls, young and old, could have been killed every year for a +score of years without sensibly diminishing the size of the herds. At a +low estimate these could easily have been made to yield various products +worth $5 each, as follows: Kobe, $2.50; tongue, 20 cents; meat of +hindquarters, $2; bones, horns, and hoofs, 25 cents; total, $5. And the +amount annually added to the wealth of the United States would have been +$2,500,000. + +On all the robes taken for the market, say, 200,000, the Government +could have collected a tax of 50 cents each, which would have yielded a +sum doubly sufficient to have maintained a force of mounted police fully +competent to enforce the laws regulating the slaughter. Had a contract +for the protection of the buffalo been offered at $50,000 per annum, ay, +or even half that sum, an army of competent men would have competed for +it every year, and it could have been carried out to the letter. But, as +yet, the American people have not learned to spend money for the +protection of valuable game; and by the time they do learn it, there +will be no game to protect. + +Even despite the enormous waste of raw material that ensued in the +utilization of the buffalo product, the total cash value of all the +material derived from this source, if it could only be reckoned up, +would certainly amount to many millions of dollars--perhaps twenty +millions, all told. This estimate may, to some, seem high, but when we +stop to consider that in eight years, from 1876 to 1884, a single firm, +that of Messrs. J. & A. Boskowitz, 105 Greene street, New York, paid out +the enormous sum of $923,070 (nearly one million) for robes and hides, +and that in a single year (1882) another firm, that of Joseph Ullman, +165 Mercer street, New York, paid out $216,250 for robes and hides, it +may not seem so incredible. + +Had there been a deliberate plan for the suppression of all statistics +relating to the slaughter of buffalo in the United States, and what it +yielded, the result could not have been more complete barrenness than +exists to-day in regard to this subject. There is only one railway +company which kept its books in such a manner as to show the kind and +quantity of its business at that time. Excepting this, nothing is known +definitely. + +Fortunately, enough facts and figures were recorded during the hunting +operations of the Red River half-breeds to enable us, by bringing them +all together, to calculate with sufficient exactitude the value of the +buffalo to them from 1820 to 1840. The result ought to be of interest to +all who think it is not worth while to spend money in preserving our +characteristic game animals. + +In Ross's "Red River Settlement," pp. 242-273, and Schoolcraft's "North +American Indians," Part iv, pp. 101-110, are given detailed accounts of +the conduct and results of two hunting expeditions by the half-breeds, +with many valuable statistics. On this data we base our calculation. + +Taking the result of one particular day's slaughter as an index to the +methods of the hunters in utilizing the products of the chase, we find +that while "not less than 2,500 animals were killed," out of that number +only 375 bags of pemmican and 240 bales of dried meat were made. "Now," +says Mr. Ross," making all due allowance for waste, 750 animals would +have been ample for such a result. What, then, we might ask, became of +the remaining 1,750! * * * Scarcely one-third in number of the animals +killed is turned to account." + +A bundle of dried meat weighs 60 to 70 pounds, and a bag of pemmican 100 +to 110 pounds. If economically worked up, a whole buffalo cow yields +half a bag of pemmican (about 55 pounds) and three-fourths of a bundle +of dried meat (say 45 pounds). The most economical calculate that from +eight to ten cows are required to load a single Red River cart. The +proceeds of 1,776 cows once formed 228 bags of pemmican, 1,213 bales of +dried meat, 166 sacks of tallow, each weighing 200 pounds, 556 bladders +of marrow weighing 12 pounds each, and the value of the whole was +$8,160. The total of the above statement is 132,057 pounds of buffalo +product for 1,776 cows, or within a fraction of 75 pounds to each cow. +The bulls and young animals killed were not accounted for. + +The expedition described by Mr. Ross contained 1,210 carts and 620 +hunters, and returned with 1,089,000 pounds of meat, making 900 pounds +for each cart, and 200 pounds for each individual in the expedition, of +all ages and both sexes. Allowing, as already ascertained, that of the +above quantity of product every 75 pounds represents one cow saved and +two and one third buffaloes wasted, it means that 14,520 buffaloes were +killed and utilized and 33,250 buffaloes were killed and eaten fresh or +wasted, and 47,770 buffaloes were killed by 620 hunters, or an average +of 77 buffaloes to each hunter. The total number of buffaloes killed for +each cart was 39. + +Allowing, what was actually the case, that every buffalo killed would, +if properly cared for, have yielded meat, fat, and robe worth at least +$5, the total value of the buffaloes slaughtered by that expedition +amounted to $258,850, and of which the various products actually +utilized represented a cash value of $72,001 added to the wealth of the +Red River half-breeds. + +In 1820 there went 540 carts to the buffalo plains; in 1825, 680; in +1830, 820; in 1835, 970; in 1840, 1,210. + +From 1820 to 1825 the average for each year was 610; from 1825 to 1830, +750; from 1830 to 1835, 895; from 1835 to 1840, 1,000. + +Accepting the statements of eye-witnesses that for every buffalo killed +two and one-third buffaloes are wasted or eaten on the spot, and that +every loaded cart represented thirty-nine dead buffaloes which were +worth when utilized $5 each, we have the following series of totals: + +From 1820 to 1825 five expeditions, of 610 carts each, killed 118,950 +buffaloes, worth $594,750. + +From 1825 to 1830 five expeditions, of 750 carts each, killed 146,250 +buffaloes, worth $731,250. + +From 1830 to 1835 five expeditions, of 895 carts each, killed 174,525 +buffaloes, worth $872,625. + +From 1835 to 1840 five expeditions, of 1,090 carts each, killed 212,550 +buffaloes, worth $1,062,750. + +Total number of buffaloes killed in twenty years,[43] $652,275; total +value of buffaloes killed in twenty years,[43] $3,261,375; total value +of the product utilized[43] and added to the wealth of the settlements, +$978,412. + +[Note 43: By the Red River half-breeds only.] + +The Eskimo has his seal, which yields nearly everything that he +requires; the Korak of Siberia depends for his very existence upon his +reindeer; the Ceylon native has the cocoa-nut palm, which leaves him +little else to desire, and the North American Indian had the American, +bison. If any animal was ever designed by the hand of nature for the +express purpose of supplying, at one stroke, nearly all the wants of an +entire race, surely the buffalo was intended for the Indian. + +And right well was this gift of the gods utilized by the children of +nature to whom it came. Up to the time when the United States Government +began to support our Western Indians by the payment of annuities and +furnishing quarterly supplies of food, clothing, blankets, cloth, tents, +etc., the buffalo had been the main dependence of more than 50,000 +Indians who inhabited the buffalo range and its environs. Of the many +different uses to which the buffalo and his various parts were, put by +the red man, the following were the principal ones: + +The body of the buffalo yielded fresh meat, of which thousands of tons +were consumed; dried meat, prepared in summer for winter use; pemmican +(also prepared in summer), of meat, fat, and berries; tallow, made up +into large balls or sacks, and kept in store; marrow, preserved in +bladders; and tongues, dried and smoked, and eaten as a delicacy. + +The skin of the buffalo yielded a robe, dressed with the hair on, for +clothing and bedding; a hide, dressed without the hair, which made a +teepee cover, when a number were sewn together; boats, when sewn +together in a green state, over a wooden framework. Shields, made from +the thickest portions, as rawhide; ropes, made up as rawhide; clothing +of many kinds; bags for use in traveling; coffins, or winding sheets for +the dead, etc. + +Other portions utilized were sinews, which furnished fiber for ropes, +thread, bow-strings, snow-shoe webs, etc.; hair, which was sometimes +made into belts and ornaments; "buffalo chips," which formed a valuable +and highly-prized fuel; bones, from which many articles of use and +ornament were made; horns, which were made into spoons, drinking +vessels, etc. + +After the United States Government began to support the buffalo-hunting +Indians with annuities and supplies, the woolen blanket and canvas tent +took the place of the buffalo robe and the skin-covered teepee, and +"Government beef" took the place of buffalo meat. But the slaughter of +buffaloes went on just the same, and the robes and hides taken were +traded for useless and often harmful luxuries, such as canned +provisions, fancy knickknacks, whisky, fire-arms of the most approved +pattern, and quantities of fixed ammunition. During the last ten years +of the existence of the herds it is an open question whether the buffalo +did not do our Indians more harm than good. Amongst the Crows, who were +liberally provided for by the Government, horse racing was a common +pastime, and the stakes were usually dressed buffalo robes.[44] + +[Note 44: On one occasion, which is doubtless still remembered with +bitterness by many a Crow of the Custer Agency, my old friend Jim +McNaney backed his horse Ogalalla against the horses of the whole Crow +tribe. The Crows forthwith formed a pool, which consisted of a huge pile +of buffalo robes, worth about $1,200, and with it backed their best +race-horse. He was forthwith "beaten out of sight" by Ogalalla, and +another grievance was registered against the whites.] + +The total disappearance of the buffalo has made no perceptible +difference in the annual cost of the Indians to the Government. During +the years when buffaloes were numerous and robes for the purchase of +fire-arms and cartridges were plentiful, Indian wars were frequent, and +always costly to the Government. The Indians were then quite +independent, because they could take the war path at any time and live +on buffalo indefinitely. Now, the case is very different. The last time +Sitting Bull went on the war-path and was driven up into Manitoba, he +had the doubtful pleasure of living on his ponies and dogs until he +became utterly starved out. Since his last escapade, the Sioux have been +compelled to admit that the game is up and the war-path is open to them +no longer. Should they wish to do otherwise they know that they could +survive only by killing cattle, and cattle that are guarded by cowboys +and ranchmen are no man's game. Therefore, while we no longer have to +pay for an annual campaign in force against hostile Indians, the total +absence of the buffalo brings upon the nation the entire support of the +Indian, and the cash outlay each year is as great as ever. + +The value of the American bison to civilized man can never be +calculated, nor even fairly estimated. It may with safety be said, +however, that it has been probably tenfold greater than most persons +have ever supposed. It would be a work of years to gather statistics of +the immense bulk of robes and hides, undoubtedly amounting to millions +in the aggregate; the thousands of tons of meat, and the train-loads of +bones which have been actually utilized by man. Nor can the effect of +the bison's presence upon the general development of the great West ever +be calculated. It has sunk into the great sum total of our progress, and +well nigh lost to sight forever. + +As a mere suggestion of the immense value of "the buffalo product" at +the time when it had an existence, I have obtained from two of our +leading fur houses in New York City, with branches elsewhere, a detailed +statement of their business in buffalo robes and hides during the last +few years of the trade. They not only serve to show the great value of +the share of the annual crop that passed through their hands, but that +of Messrs. J. & A. Boskowitz is of especial value, because, being +carefully itemized throughout, it shows the decline and final failure of +the trade in exact figures. I am under many obligations to both these +firms for their kindness in furnishing the facts I desired, and +especially to the Messrs. Boskowitz, who devoted considerable time and +labor to the careful compilation of the annexed statement of their +business in buffalo skins. + +_Memorandum of buffalo robes and hides bought by Messrs J. & A. +Boskowitz, 101-105 Greene Street, New York, and 202 Lake street, +Chicago, from 1876 to 1884._ + ++----------------------------------------+ +|Year | Buffalo robes. | Buffalo hides. | +| |Number.| Cost. | Number.|Cost. | ++-----+-------+---------+--------+-------+ +|1876 | 31,838| $39,620| None.| ... | +|1877 | 9,353| 35,560| None.| ... | +|1878 | 41,268| 150,600| None.| ... | +|1879 | 28,613| 110,420| None.| ... | +|1880 | 34,901| 176,200| 4,570|$13,140| +|1881 | 23,355| 151,800| 26,601| 89,030| +|1882 | 2,124| 15,600| 15,464| 44,140| +|1883 | 6,690| 29,770| 21,869| 67,190| +|1884 | None.| ...| 529| 1,720| ++-----+-------+---------+--------+-------+ +|Total|177,142|$709,570 | 69,033|215,220| ++----------------------------------------+ + +Total number of buffalo skins handled in nine years, 246,175; total +cost, $924,790. + +I have also been favored with some very interesting facts and figures +regarding the business done in buffalo skins by the firm of Mr. Joseph +Ullman, exporter and importer of furs and robes, of 165-107 Mercer +street, New York, and also 353 Jackson street, St. Paul, Minnesota. The +following letter was written me by Mr. Joseph Ullman on November 12, +1887, for which I am greatly indebted: + +"Inasmuch as you particularly desire the figures for the years 1880-'86, +I have gone through my buffalo robe and hide accounts of those years, +and herewith give you approximate figures, as there are a good many +things to be considered which make it difficult to give exact figures. + +"In 1881 we handled about 14,000 hides, average cost about $3.50, and +12,000 robes, average cost about $7.50. + +"In 1882 we purchased between 35,000 and 40,000 hides, at an average +cost of about $3.50, and about 10,000 robes, at an average cost of about +$8.50. + +"In 1883 we purchased from 6,000 to 7,000 hides and about 1,500 to 2,000 +robes at a slight advance in price against the year previous. + +"In 1884 we purchased less than 2,500 hides, and in my opinion these +were such as were carried over from the previous season in the +Northwest, and were not fresh-slaughtered skins. The collection of robes +this season was also comparatively small, and nominally robes carried +over from 1883. + +"In 1885 the collection of hides amounted to little or nothing. + +"The aforesaid goods were all purchased direct in the Northwest, that is +to say, principally in Montana, and shipped in care of our branch house +at St. Paul, Minnesota, to Joseph Ullman, Chicago. The robes mentioned +above were Indian-tanned robes and were mainly disposed of to the +jobbing trade both East and West. + +"In 1881 and the years prior, the hides were divided into two kinds, +viz, robe hides, which were such as had a good crop of fur and were +serviceable for robe purposes, and the heavy and short-furred bull +hides. The former were principally sold to the John S. Way Manufacturing +Company, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and to numerous small robe tanners, +while the latter were sold for leather purposes to various hide-tanners +throughout the United States and Canada, and brought 51/2 to 81/2 cents per +pound. A very large proportion of these latter were tanned by the Wilcox +Tanning Company, Wilcox, Pennsylvania. + +"About the fall of 1882 we established a tannery for buffalo robes in +Chicago, and from that time forth we tanned all the good hides which we +received into robes and disposed of them in the same manner as the +Indian-tanned robes. + +"I don't know that I am called upon to express an opinion as to the +benefit or disadvantage of the extermination of the buffalo, but +nevertheless take the liberty to say that I think that some proper law +restricting the unpardonable slaughter of the buffalo should have been +enacted at the time. It is a well-known fact that soon after the +Northern Pacific Railroad opened up that portion of the country, thereby +making the transportation of the buffalo hides feasible, that is to say, +reducing the cost of freight, thousands upon thousands of buffaloes were +killed for the sake of the hide alone, while the carcasses were left to +rot on the open plains. + +"The average prices paid the buffalo hunters [from 1880 to 1884] was +about as follows: For cow hides [robes!], $3; bull hides, $2.50; +yearlings, $1.50; calves, 75 cents; and the cost of getting the hides to +market brought the cost up to about $3.50 per hide." + +The amount actually paid out by Joseph Ullman, in four years, for +buffalo robes and hides was about $310,000, and this, too, long after +the great southern herd had ceased to exist, and when the northern herd +furnished the sole supply. It thus appears that during the course of +eight years business (leaving out the small sum paid out in 1884), on +the part of the Messrs. Boskowitz, and four years on that of Mr. Joseph +Ullman, these two firms alone paid out the enormous sum of $1,233,070 +for buffalo robes and hides which they purchased to sell again at a good +profit. By the time their share of the buffalo product reached the +consumers it must have represented an actual money value of about +$2,000,000. + +Besides these two firms there were at that time many others who also +handled great quantities of buffalo skins and hides for which they paid +out immense sums of money. In this country the other leading firms +engaged in this business were I. G. Baker & Co., of Fort Benton; P. B. +Weare & Co., Chicago; Obern, Hoosick & Co., Chicago and Saint Paul; +Martin Bates & Co., and Messrs. Shearer, Nichols & Co. (now Hurlburt, +Shearer & Sanford), of New York. There were also many others whose names +I am now unable to recall. + +In the British Possessions and Canada the frontier business was largely +monopolized by the Hudson's Bay Fur Company, although the annual +"output" of robes and hides was but small in comparison with that +gathered in the United States, where the herds were far more numerous. +Even in their most fruitful locality for robes--the country south of the +Saskatchewan--this company had a very powerful competitor in the firm of +I. G. Baker & Co., of Fort Benton, which secured the lion's share of the +spoil and sent it down the Missouri River. + +It is quite certain that the utilization of the buffalo product, even so +far as it was accomplished, resulted in the addition of several millions +of dollars to the wealth of the people of the United States. That the +total sum, could it be reckoned up, would amount to at least fifteen +millions, seems reasonably certain; and my own impression is that twenty +millions would be nearer the mark. It is much to be regretted that the +exact truth can never be known, for in this age of universal slaughter a +knowledge of the cash value of the wild game of the United States that +has been killed up to date might go far toward bringing about the actual +as well as the theoretical protection of what remains. + + * * * * * + +UTILIZATION OF THE BUFFALO BY WHITE MEN. + +_Robes._--Ordinarily the skin of a large ruminant is of little value in +comparison with the bulk of toothsome flesh it covers. In fattening +domestic cattle for the market, the value of the hide is so +insignificant that it amounts to no more than a butcher's perquisite in +reckoning up the value of the animal. With the buffalo, however, so +enormous was the waste of the really available product that probably +nine-tenths of the total value derived from the slaughter of the animal +came from his skin alone. Of this, about four-fifths came from the +utilization of the furry robe and one-fifth from skins classed as +"hides," which were either taken in the summer season, when the hair was +very short or almost absent, and used for the manufacture of leather and +leather goods, or else were the poorly-furred skins of old bulls. + +The season for robe-taking was from October 15 to February 15, and a +little later in the more northern latitudes. In the United States the +hair of the buffalo was still rather short up to the first of November; +but by the middle of November it was about at its finest as to length, +density, color, and freshness. The Montana hunters considered that the +finest robes were those taken from November 15 to December 15. Before +the former date the hair had not quite attained perfection in length, +and after the latter it began to show wear and lose color. The winter +storms of December and January began to leave their mark upon the robes +by the 1st of February, chiefly by giving the hair a bleached and +weathered appearance. By the middle of February the pelage was decidedly +on the wane, and the robe-hunter was also losing his energy. Often, +however, the hunt was kept up until the middle of March, until either +the deterioration of the quality of the robe, the migration of the herds +northward, or the hunter's longing to return "to town" and "clean up," +brought the hunt to an end. + +On the northern buffalo range, the hunter, or "buffalo skinner," removed +the robe in the following manner: + +When the operator had to do his work alone, which was almost always the +case, he made haste to skin his victims while they were yet warm, if +possible, and before _rigor mortis_ had set in; but, at all hazards, +before they should become hard frozen. With a warm buffalo he could +easily do his work single-handed, but with one rigid or frozen stiff it +was a very different matter. + +His first act was to heave the carcass over until it lay fairly upon its +back, with its feet up in the air. To keep it in that position he +wrenched the head violently around to one side, close against the +shoulder, at the point where the hump was highest and the tendency to +roll the greatest, and used it very effectually as a chock to keep the +body from rolling back upon its side. Having fixed the carcass in +position he drew forth his steel, sharpened his sharp-pointed +"ripping-knife," and at once proceeded to make all the opening cuts in +the skin. Each leg was girdled to the bone, about 8 inches above the +hoof, and the skin of the leg ripped open from that point along the +inside to the median line of the body. A long, straight cut was then +made along the middle of the breast and abdomen, from the root of the +tail to the chin. In skinning cows and young animals, nothing but the +skin of the forehead and nose was left on the skull, the skin of the +throat and cheeks being left on the hide; but in skinning old bulls, on +whose heads the skin was very thick and tough, the whole head was left +unskinned, to save labor and time. The skin of the neck was severed in a +circle around the neck, just behind the ears. It is these huge heads of +bushy brown hair, looking, at a little distance, quite black, in sharp +contrast with the ghastly whiteness of the perfect skeletons behind +them, which gives such a weird and ghostly appearance to the lifeless +prairies of Montana where the bone-gatherer has not yet done his perfect +work. The skulls of the cows and young buffaloes are as clean and bare +as if they had been carefully macerated, and bleached by a skilled +osteologist. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1. A DEAD BULL. From a photograph by L. A. Huffman.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 2. BUFFALO SKINNERS AT WORK. From a photograph by +L. A. Huffman.] + +The opening cuts having been made, the broad-pointed "skinning-knife" +was duly sharpened, and with it the operator fell to work to detach the +skin from the body in the shortest possible time. The tail was always +skinned and left on the hide. As soon as the skin was taken off it was +spread out on a clean, smooth, and level spot of ground, and stretched +to its fullest extent, inside uppermost. On the northern range, very few +skins were "pegged out," _i. e._, stretched thoroughly and held by means +of wooden pegs driven through the edges of the skin into the earth. It +was practiced to a limited extent on the southern range during the +latter part of the great slaughter, when buffaloes were scarce and time +abundant. Ordinarily, however, there was no time for pegging, nor were +pegs available on the range to do the work with. A warm skin stretched +on the curly buffalo-grass, hair side down, sticks to the ground of +itself until it has ample time to harden. On the northern range the +skinner always cut the initials of his outfit in the thin subcutaneous +muscle which was always found adhering to the skin on each side, and +which made a permanent and very plain mark of ownership. + +In the south, the traders who bought buffalo robes on the range +sometimes rigged up a rude press, with four upright posts and a huge +lever, in which robes that had been folded into a convenient size were +pressed into bales, like bales of cotton. These could be transported by +wagon much more economically than could loose robes. An illustration of +this process is given in an article by Theodore R. Davis, entitled "The +Buffalo Range," in _Harper's Magazine_ for January, 1869, Vol. xxxviii, +p. 163. The author describes the process as follows: + +"As the robes are secured, the trader has them arranged in lots of ten +each, with but little regard for quality other than some care that +particularly fine robes do not go too many in one lot. These piles are +then pressed into a compact bale by means of a rudely constructed affair +composed of saplings and a chain." + +On the northern range, skins were not folded until the time came to haul +them in. Then the hunter repaired to the scene of his winter's work, +with a wagon surmounted by a hay-rack (or something like it), usually +drawn by four horses. As the skins were gathered up they were folded +once, lengthwise down the middle, with the hair inside. Sometimes as +many as 100 skins were hauled at one load by four horses. + +On one portion of the northern range the classification of buffalo +peltries was substantially as follows: Under the head _of robes_ was +included all cow skins taken during the proper season, from one year old +upward, and all bull skins from one to three years old. Bull skins over +three years of age were classed as _hides_, and while the best of them +were finally tanned and used as robes, the really poor ones were +converted into leather. The large robes, when tanned, were used very +generally throughout the colder portions of North America as sleigh +robes and wraps, and for bedding in the regions of extreme cold. The +small robes, from the young animals, and likewise many large robes, were +made into overcoats, at once the warmest and the most cumbersome that +ever enveloped a human being. Thousands of old bull robes were tanned +with the hair on, and the body portions were made into overshoes, with +the woolly hair inside--absurdly large and uncouth, but very warm. + +I never wore a pair of buffalo overshoes without being torn by +conflicting emotions--mortification at the ridiculous size of my +combined foot-gear, big boots inside of huge overshoes, and supreme +comfort derived from feet that were always warm. + +Besides the ordinary robe, the hunters and fur buyers of Montana +recognized four special qualities, as follows: + +The "beaver robe," with exceedingly fine, wavy fur, the color of a +beaver, and having long, coarse, straight hairs coming through it. The +latter were of course plucked out in the process of manufacture. These +were very rare. In 1882 Mr. James McNaney took one, a cow robe, the only +one out of 1,200 robes taken that season, and sold it for $75, when +ordinary robes fetched only $3.50. + +The "black-and-tan robe" is described as having the nose, flanks, and +inside of fore legs black-and-tan (whatever that may mean), while the +remainder of the robe is jet black. + +A "buckskin robe" is from what is always called a "white buffalo," and +is in reality a dirty cream color instead of white. A robe of this +character sold in Miles City in 1882 for $200, and was the only one of +that character taken on the northern range during that entire winter. A +very few pure white robes have been taken, so I have been told, chiefly +by Indians, but I have never seen one. + +A "blue robe" or "mouse-colored (?) robe" is one on which the body color +shows a decidedly bluish cast, and at the same time has long, fine fur. +Out of his 1,200 robes taken in 1882, Mr. McNaney picked out 12 which +passed muster as the much sought for blue robes, and they sold at $16 +each. + +As already intimated, the price paid on the range for ordinary buffalo +skins varied according to circumstances, and at different periods, and +in different localities, ranged all the way from 65 cents to $10. The +latter figure was paid in Texas in 1887 for the last lot of "robes" ever +taken. The lowest prices ever paid were during the tremendous slaughter +which annihilated the southern herd. Even as late as 1876, in the +southern country, cow robes brought on the range only from 65 to 90 +cents, and bull robes $1.15. On the northern range, from 1881 to 1883, +the prices paid were much higher, ranging from $2.50 to $4. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1. FIVE MINUTES' WORK. Photographed by L. A. Huffman.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 2. SCENE ON THE NORTHERN BUFFALO RANGE. Photographed +by L. A. Huffman.] + +A few hundred dressed robes still remain in the hands of some of the +largest fur dealers in New York, Chicago, and Montreal, which can be +purchased at prices much lower than one would expect, considering the +circumstances. In 1888, good robes, Indian tanned, were offered in New +York at prices ranging from $15 to $30, according to size and quality, +but in Montreal no first-class robes were obtainable at less than $40. + +_Hides._--Next in importance to robes was the class of skins known +commercially as hides. Under this head were classed all skins which for +any reason did not possess the pelage necessary to a robe, and were +therefore fit only for conversion into leather. Of these, the greater +portion consisted of the skins of old bulls on which the hair was of +poor quality and the skin itself too thick and heavy to ever allow of +its being made into a soft, pliable, and light-weight robe. The +remaining portion of the hides marketed were from buffaloes killed in +spring and summer, when the body and hindquarters ware almost naked. +Apparently the quantity of summer-killed hides marketed was not very +great, for it was only the meanest and most unprincipled ones of the +grand army of buffalo-killers who were mean enough to kill buffaloes in +summer simply for their hides. It is said that at one time +summer-killing was practiced on the southern range to an extent that +became a cause for alarm to the great body of more respectable hunters, +and the practice was frowned upon so severely that the wretches who +engaged in it found it wise to abandon it. + +_Bones._--Next in importance to robes and hides was the bone product, +the utilization of which was rendered possible by the rigorous climate +of the buffalo plains. Under the influence of the wind and sun and the +extremes of heat and cold, the flesh remaining upon a carcass dried up, +disintegrated, and fell to dust, leaving the bones of almost the entire +skeleton as clean and bare as if they had been stripped of flesh by some +powerful chemical process. Very naturally, no sooner did the live +buffaloes begin to grow scarce than the miles of bleaching' bones +suggested the idea of finding a use for them. A market was readily found +for them in the East, and the prices paid per ton were sufficient to +make the business of bone-gathering quite remunerative. The bulk of the +bone product was converted into phosphate for fertilizing purposes, but +much of it was turned into carbon for use in the refining of sugar. + +The gathering of bones became a common industry as early as 1872, during +which year 1,135,300 pounds were shipped over the Atchison, Topeka and +Santa Fé Railroad. In the year following the same road shipped 2,743,100 +pounds, and in 1874 it handled 6,914,950 pounds more. This trade +continued from that time on until the plains have been gleaned so far +back from the railway lines that it is no longer profitable to seek +them. For that matter, however, it is said that south of the Union +Pacific nothing worth the seeking now remains. + +The building of the Northern Pacific Railway made possible the shipment +of immense quantities of dry bones. Even as late as 1886 overland +travelers saw at many of the stations between Jamestown, Dakota, and +Billings, Montana, immense heaps of bones lying alongside the track +awaiting shipment. In 1885 a single firm shipped over 200 tons of bones +from Miles City. + +The valley of the Missouri River was gleaned by teamsters who gathered +bones from as far back as 100 miles and hauled them to the river for +shipment on the steamers. An operator who had eight wagons in the +business informed me that in order to ship bones on the river steamers +it was necessary to crush them, and that for crushed bones, shipped in +bags, a Michigan fertilizer company paid $18 per ton. Uncrushed bones, +shipped by the railway, sold for $12 per ton. + +It is impossible to ascertain the total amount or value of the bone +product, but it is certain that it amounted to many thousand tons, and +in value must have amounted to some hundreds of thousands of dollars. +But for the great number of railroads, river steamers, and sea-going +vessels (from Texas ports) engaged in carrying this product, it would +have cut an important figure in the commerce of the country, but owing +to the many interests between which it was divided it attracted little +attention. + +_Meat._--The amount of fresh buffalo meat cured and marketed was really +very insignificant. So long as it was to be had at all it was so very +abundant that it was worth only from 2 to 3 cents per pound in the +market, and many reasons combined to render the trade in fresh buffalo +meat anything but profitable. Probably not more than one one-thousandth +of the buffalo meat that might have been saved and utilized was saved. +The buffalo carcasses that were wasted on the great plains every year +during the two great periods of slaughter (of the northern and southern +herds) would probably have fed to satiety during the entire time more +than a million persons. + +As to the quality of buffalo meat, it may be stated in general terms +that it differs in no way whatever from domestic beef of the same age +produced by the same kind of grass. Perhaps there is no finer grazing +ground in the world than Montana, and the beef it produces is certainly +entitled to rank with the best. There are many persons who claim to +recognize a difference between the taste of buffalo meat and domestic +beef; but for my part I do not believe any difference really exists, +unless it is that the flesh of the buffalo is a little sweeter and more +juicy. As for myself, I feel certain I could not tell the difference +between the flesh of a three-year old buffalo and that of a domestic +beef of the same age, nor do I believe any one else could, even on a +wager. Having once seen a butcher eat an elephant steak in the belief +that it was beef from his own shop, and another butcher eat _loggerhead +turtle_ steak for beef, I have become somewhat skeptical in regard to +the intelligence of the human palate. + +As a matter of experiment, during our hunt for buffalo we had buffalo +meat of all ages, from one year up to eleven, cooked in as many +different ways as our culinary department could turn out. We had it +broiled, fried with batter, roasted, boiled, and stewed. The last +method, when employed upon slices of meat that had been hacked from a +frozen hind-quarter, produced results that were undeniably tough and not +particularly good. But it was an unfair way to cook any kind of meat, +and may be guarantied to spoil the finest beef in the world. + +Hump meat from a cow buffalo not too old, cut in slices and fried in +batter, _a la cowboy_, is delicious--a dish fit for the gods. We had +tongues in plenty, but the ordinary meat was so good they were not half +appreciated. Of course the tenderloin was above criticism, and even the +round steaks, so lightly esteemed by the epicure, were tender and juicy +to a most satisfactory degree. + +It has been said that the meat of the buffalo has a coarser texture or +"grain" than domestic beef. Although I expected to find such to be the +case, I found no perceptible difference whatever, nor do I believe that +any exists. As to the distribution of fat I am unable to say, for the +reason that our buffaloes were not fat. + +It is highly probable that the distribution of fat through the meat, so +characteristic of the shorthorn breeds, and which has been brought about +only by careful breeding, is not found in either the beef of the buffalo +or common range cattle. In this respect, shorthorn beef no doubt +surpasses both the others mentioned, but in all other points, texture, +flavor, and general tenderness, I am very sure it does not. + +It is a great mistake for a traveler to kill a patriarchal old bull +buffalo, and after attempting to masticate a small portion of him to +rise up and declare that buffalo meat is coarse, tough, and dry. A +domestic bull of the same age would taste as tough. It is probably only +those who have had the bad taste to eat bull-beef who have ever found +occasion to asperse the reputation of _Bison americanus_ as a beef +animal. + +Until people got tired of them, buffalo tongues were in considerable +demand, and hundreds, if not even thousands, of barrels of them were +shipped east from the buffalo country. + +_Pemmican._--Out of the enormous waste of good buffalo flesh one product +stands forth as a redeeming feature--pemmican. Although made almost +exclusively by the half-breeds and Indians of the Northwest it +constituted a regular article of commerce of great value to overland +travelers, and was much sought for as long as it was produced. Its +peculiar "staying powers," due to the process of its manufacture, which +yielded a most nourishing food in a highly condensed form, made it of +inestimable value to the overland traveler who must travel light or not +at all. A handful of pemmican was sufficient food to constitute a meal +when provisions were at all scarce. The price of pemmican in Winnipeg +was once as low as 2d. per pound, but in 1883 a very small quantity +which was brought in sold at 10 cents per pound. This was probably the +last buffalo pemmican made. H. M. Robinson states that in 1878 pemmican +was worth 1s. 3d. per pound. + +The manufacture of pemmican, as performed by the Red River half-breeds, +was thus described by the Rev. Mr. Belcourt, a Catholic priest, who once +accompanied one of the great buffalo-hunting expeditions:[45] + +[Note 45: Schoolcraft's History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian +Tribes, iv, p. 107.] + +"Other portions which are destined to be made into pimikehigan, or +pemmican, are exposed to an ardent heat, and thus become brittle and +easily reducible to small particles by the use of a flail, the +buffalo-hide answering the purpose of a threshing-floor. The fat or +tallow, being cut up and melted in large kettles of sheet iron, is +poured upon this pounded meat, and the whole mass is worked together +with shovels until it is well amalgamated, when it is pressed, while +still warm, into bags made of buffalo skin, which are strongly sewed up, +and the mixture gradually cools and becomes almost as hard as a rock. If +the fat used in this process is that taken from the parts containing the +udder, the meat is called fine pemmican. In some cases, dried fruits, +such as the prairie pear and cherry, are intermixed, which forms what is +called seed pemmican. Tho lovers of good eating judge the first +described to be very palatable; the second, better; the third, +excellent. A taurean of pemmican weighs from 100 to 110 pounds. Some +idea may be formed of the immense destruction of buffalo by these people +when it is stated that a whole cow yields one-half a bag of pemmican and +three fourths of a bundle of dried meat; so that the most economical +calculate that from eight to ten cows are required for the load of a +single vehicle." + +It is quite evident from the testimony of disinterested travelers that +ordinary pemmican was not very palatable to one unaccustomed to it as a +regular article of food. To the natives, however, especially the +Canadian _voyageur_, it formed one of the most valuable food products of +the country, and it is said that the demand for it was generally greater +than the supply. + +_Dried, or "jerked" meat._--The most popular and universal method of +curing buffalo meat was to cut it into thin flakes, an inch or less in +thickness and of indefinite length, and without salting it in the least +to hang it over poles, ropes, wicker-frames, or even clumps of standing +sage brush, and let it dry in the sun. This process yielded the famous +"jerked" meat so common throughout the West in the early days, from the +Rio Grande to the Saskatchewan. Father Belcourt thus described the +curing process as it was practiced by the half-breeds and Indians of the +Northwest: + +"The meat, when taken to camp, is cut by the women into long strips +about a quarter of an inch thick, which are hung upon the lattice-work +prepared for that purpose to dry. This lattice-work is formed of small +pieces of wood, placed horizontally, transversely, and equidistant from +each other, not unlike an immense gridiron, and is supported by wooden +uprights (trepieds). In a few days the meat is thoroughly desiccated, +when it is bent into proper lengths and tied into bundles of 60 or 70 +pounds weight. This is called dried meat (viande seche). To make the +hide into parchment (so called) it is stretched on a frame, and then +scraped on the inside with a piece of sharpened bone and on the outside +with a small but sharp-curved iron, proper to remove the hair. This is +considered, likewise, the appropriate labor of women. The men break the +bones, which are boiled in water to extract the marrow to be used for +frying and other culinary purposes. The oil is then poured into the +bladder of the animal, which contains, when filled, about 12 pounds, +being the yield of the marrow-bones of two buffaloes." + +In the Northwest Territories dried meat, which formerly sold at 2_d._ +per pound, was worth in 1878 10_d._ per pound. + +Although I have myself prepared quite a quantity of jerked buffalo meat, +I never learned to like it. Owing to the absence of salt in its curing, +the dried meat when pounded and made into a stew has a "far away" taste +which continually reminds one of hoofs and horns. For all that, and +despite its resemblance in flavor to Liebig's Extract of Beef, it is +quite good, and better to the taste than ordinary pemmican. + +The Indians formerly cured great quantities of buffalo meat in this +way--in summer, of course, for use in winter--but the advent of that +popular institution called "Government beef" long ago rendered it +unnecessary for the noble red man to exert his squaw in that once +honorable field of labor. + +During the existence of the buffalo herds a few thrifty and enterprising +white men made a business of killing buffaloes in summer and drying the +meat in bulk, in the same manner which to-day produces our popular +"dried beef." Mr. Allen states that "a single hunter at Hays City +shipped annually for some years several hundred barrels thus prepared, +which the consumers probably bought for ordinary beef." + +_Uses of bison's hair._--Numerous attempts have been made to utilize the +woolly hair of the bison in the manufacture of textile fabrics. As early +as 1729 Col. William Byrd records the fact that garments were made of +this material, as follows: + +"The Hair growing upon his Head and Neck is long and Shagged, and so +Soft that it will spin into Thread not unlike Mohair, and might be wove +into a sort of Camlet. Some People have Stockings knit of it, that would +have served an Israelite during his forty Years march thro' the +Wilderness."[46] + +[Note 46: Westover MSS., i, p. 172.] + +In 1637 Thomas Morton published, in his "New English Canaan," p. 98,[47] +the following reference to the Indians who live on the southern shore of +Lake Erocoise, supposed to be Lake Ontario: + +[Note 47: Quoted by Professor Allen, "American Bisons," p. 107.] + +"These Beasts [buffaloes, undoubtedly] are of the bignesse of a Cowe, +their flesh being very good foode, their hides good lether, their +fleeces very usefull, being a kind of wolle, as fine as the wolle of the +Beaver, and the Salvages doe make garments thereof." + +Professor Allen quotes a number of authorities who have recorded +statements in regard to the manufacture of belts, garters, scarfs, +sacks, etc., from buffalo wool by various tribes of Indians.[48] He also +calls attention to the only determined efforts ever made by white men on +a liberal scale for the utilization of buffalo "wool" and its +manufacture into cloth, an account of which appears in Ross's "Red River +Settlement," pp. 69-72. In 1821 some of the more enterprising of the Red +River (British) colonists conceived the idea of making fortunes out of +the manufacture of woolen goods from the fleece of the buffalo, and for +that purpose organized the Buffalo Wool Company, the principal object of +which was declared to be "to provide a substitute for wool, which +substitute was to be the wool of the wild buffalo, which was to be +collected in the plains and manufactured both for the use of the +colonists and for export." A large number of skilled workmen of various +kinds were procured from England, and also a plant of machinery and +materials. When too late, it was found that the supply of buffalo wool +obtainable was utterly insufficient, the raw wool costing the company +1_s._ 6_d._ per pound, and cloth which it cost the company £2 10_s._ +per yard to produce was worth only 4_s._ 6_d._ per yard in England. The +historian states that universal drunkenness on the part of all concerned +aided very materially in bringing about the total failure of the +enterprise in a very short time. + +[Note 48: The American Bison, p. 197.] + +While it is possible to manufacture the fine, woolly fur of the bison +into cloth or knitted garments, provided a sufficient supply of the raw +material could be obtained (which is and always has been impossible), +nothing could be more visionary than an attempt to thus produce salable +garments at a profit. + +Articles of wearing apparel made of buffalo's hair are interesting as +curiosities, for their rarity makes them so, but that is the only end +they can ever serve so long as there is a sheep living. + +In the National Museum, in the section of animal products, there is +displayed a pair of stockings made in Canada from the finest buffalo +wool, from the body of the animal. They are thick, heavy, and full of +the coarse, straight hairs, which it seems can never be entirely +separated from the fine wool. In general texture they are as coarse as +the coarsest sheep's wool would produce. + +With the above are also displayed a rope-like lariat, made by the +Comanche Indians, and a smaller braided lasso, seemingly a sample more +than a full-grown lariat, made by the Otoe Indians of Nebraska. Both of +the above are made of the long, dark-brown hair of the head and +shoulders, and in spite of the fact that they have been twisted as hard +as possible, the ends of the hairs protrude so persistently that the +surface of each rope is extremely hairy. + +_Buffalo chips._--Last, but by no means least in value to the traveler +on the treeless plains, are the droppings of the buffalo, universally +known as "buffalo chips." When over one year old and thoroughly dry, +this material makes excellent fuel. Usually it occurs only where +fire-wood is unobtainable, and thousands of frontiersmen have a million +times found it of priceless value. When dry, it catches easily, burns +readily, and makes a hot fire with but very little smoke, although it is +rapidly consumed. Although not as good for a fire as even the poorest +timber it is infinitely better than sage-brush, which, in the absence of +chips, is often the traveler's last resort. + +It usually happens that chips are most-abundant in the sheltered +creek-bottoms and near the water-holes, the very situations which +travelers naturally select for their camps. In these spots the herds +have gathered either for shelter in winter or for water in summer, and +remained in a body for some hours. And now, when the cowboy on the +round-up, the surveyor, or hunter, who must camp out, pitches his tent +in the grassy coulée or narrow creek-bottom, his first care is to start +out with his largest gunning bag to "rustle some buffalo chips" for a +campfire. He, at least, when he returns well laden with the spoil of his +humble chase, still has good reason to remember the departed herd with +feelings of gratitude. Thus even the last remains of this most useful +animal are utilized by man in providing for his own imperative wants. + + + + +IX. THE PRESENT VALUE OF THE BISON TO CATTLE-GROWERS. + + +_The bison in captivity and domestication._--Almost from time immemorial +it has been known that the American bison takes kindly to captivity, +herds contentedly with domestic cattle, and crosses with them with the +utmost readiness. It was formerly believed, and indeed the tradition +prevails even now to quite an extent, that on account of the hump on the +shoulders a domestic cow could not give birth to a half-breed calf. This +belief is entirely without foundation, and is due to theories rather +than facts. + +Numerous experiments in buffalo breeding have been made, and the subject +is far from being a new one. As early as 1701 the Huguenot settlers at +Manikintown, on the James River, a few miles above Richmond, began to +domesticate buffaloes. It is also a matter of historical record that in +1786, or thereabouts, buffaloes were domesticated and bred in captivity +in Virginia, and Albert Gallatin states that in some of the northwestern +counties the mixed breed was quite common. In 1815 a series of elaborate +and valuable experiments in cross-breeding the buffalo and domestic +cattle was begun by Mr. Robert Wickliffe, of Lexington, Ky., and +continued by him for upwards of thirty years.[49] + +[Note 49: For a full account of Mr. Wickliffe's experiments, written +by himself, see Audubon and Bachman's "Quadrupeds of North America," +vol. ii, pp. 52-54.] + +Quite recently the buffalo-breeding operations of Mr. S. L. Bedson, of +Stony Mountain, Manitoba, and Mr. C. J. Jones, of Garden City, Kans., +have attracted much attention, particularly for the reason that the +efforts of both these gentlemen have been directed toward the practical +improvement of the present breeds of range cattle. For this reason the +importance of the work in which they are engaged can hardly be +overestimated, and the results already obtained by Mr. Bedson, whose +experiments antedate those of Mr. Jones by several years, are of the +greatest interest to western cattle-growers. Indeed, unless the stock of +pure-blood buffaloes now remaining proves insufficient for the purpose, +I fully believe that we will gradually see a great change wrought in the +character of western cattle by the introduction of a strain of buffalo +blood. + +The experiments which have been made thus far prove conclusively that-- + +(1) The male bison crosses readily with the opposite sex of domestic +cattle, but a buffalo cow has never been known to produce a half-breed +calf. + +(2) The domestic cow produces a half-breed calf successfully. + +(3) The progeny of the two species is fertile to any extent, yielding +half-breeds, quarter, three-quarter breeds, and so on. + +(4) The bison breeds in captivity with perfect regularity and success. + +_Need of an improvement in range cattle._--Ever since the earliest days +of cattle-ranching in the West, stockmen have had it in their power to +produce a breed which would equal in beef-bearing qualities the best +breeds to be found upon the plains, and be so much better calculated to +survive the hardships of winter, that their annual losses would have +been very greatly reduced. Whenever there is an unusually severe winter, +such as comes about three times in every decade, if not even oftener, +range cattle perish by thousands. It is an absolute impossibility for +every ranchman who owns several thousand, or even several hundred, head +of cattle to provide hay for them, even during the severest portion of +the winter season, and consequently the cattle must depend wholly upon +their own resources. When the winter is reasonably mild, and the snows +never very deep, nor lying too long at a time on the ground, the cattle +live through the winter with very satisfactory success. Thanks to the +wind, it usually happens that the falling snow is blown off the ridges +as fast as it falls, leaving the grass sufficiently uncovered for the +cattle to feed upon it. If the snow-fall is universal, but not more than +a few inches in depth, the cattle paw through it here and there, and eke +out a subsistence, on quarter rations it may be, until a friendly +chinook wind sets in from the southwest and dissolves the snow as if by +magic in a few hours' time. + +But when a deep snow comes, and lies on the ground persistently, week in +and week out, when the warmth of the sun softens and moistens its +surface sufficiently for a returning cold wave to freeze it into a hard +crust, forming a universal wall of ice between the luckless steer and +his only food, the cattle starve and freeze in immense numbers. Being +totally unfitted by nature to survive such unnatural conditions, it is +not strange that they succumb. + +Under present conditions the stockman simply stakes his cattle against +the winter elements and takes his chances on the results, which are +governed by circumstances wholly beyond his control. The losses of the +fearful winter of 1886-'87 will probably never be forgotten by the +cattlemen of the great Western grazing ground. In many portions of +Montana and Wyoming the cattlemen admitted a loss of 50 per cent of +their cattle, and in some localities the loss was still greater. The +same conditions are liable to prevail next winter, or any succeeding +winter, and we may yet see more than half the range cattle in the West +perish in a single month. + +Yet all this time the cattlemen have had it in their power, by the +easiest and simplest method in the world, to introduce a strain of hardy +native blood in their stock which would have made it capable of +successfully resisting a much greater degree of hunger and cold. It is +really surprising that the desirability of cross-breeding the buffalo +and domestic cattle should for so long a time have been either +overlooked or disregarded. While cattle-growers generally have shown the +greatest enterprise in producing special breeds for milk, for butter, or +for beef, cattle with short horns and cattle with no horns at all, only +two or three men have had the enterprise to try to produce a breed +particularly hardy and capable. + +A buffalo can weather storms and outlive hunger and cold which would +kill any domestic steer that ever lived. When nature placed him on the +treeless and blizzard-swept plains, she left him well equipped to +survive whatever natural conditions he would have to encounter. The most +striking feature of his entire _tout ensemble_ is his magnificent suit +of hair and fur combined, the warmest covering possessed by any +quadruped save the musk-ox. The head, neck, and fore quarters are +clothed with hide and hair so thick as to be almost, if not entirely, +impervious to cold. The hair on the body and hind quarters is long, +fine, very thick, and of that peculiar woolly quality which constitutes +the best possible protection against cold. Let him who doubts the warmth +of a good buffalo robe try to weather a blizzard with something else, +and then try the robe. The very form of the buffalo--short, thick legs, +and head hung very near the ground--suggests most forcibly a special +fitness to wrestle with mother earth for a living, snow or no snow. A +buffalo will flounder for days through deep snow-drifts without a morsel +of food, and survive where the best range steer would literally freeze +on foot, bolt upright, as hundreds did in the winter of 1886-'87. While +range cattle turn tail to a blizzard and drift helplessly, the buffalo +faces it every time, and remains master of the situation. + +It has for years been a surprise to me that Western stockmen have not +seized upon the opportunity presented by the presence of the buffalo to +improve the character of their cattle. Now that there are no longer any +buffalo calves to be had on the plains for the trouble of catching them, +and the few domesticated buffaloes that remain are worth fabulous +prices, we may expect to see a great deal of interest manifested in this +subject, and some costly efforts made to atone for previous lack of +forethought. + +_The character of the buffalo-domestic hybrid._--The subjoined +illustration from a photograph kindly furnished by Mr. C. J. Jones, +represents a ten months' old half-breed calf (male), the product of a +buffalo bull and domestic cow. The prepotency of the sire is apparent at +the first glance, and to so marked an extent that the illustration would +pass muster anywhere as having been drawn from a full-blood buffalo. The +head, neck, and hump, and the long woolly hair that covers them, +proclaim the buffalo in every line. Excepting that the hair on the +shoulders (below the hump) is of the same length as that on the body and +hind quarters, there is, so far as one can judge from an excellent +photograph, no difference whatever observable between this lusty young +half-breed and a full blood buffalo calf of the same age and sex. Mr. +Jones describes the color of this animal as "iron-gray," and remarks: +"You will see how even the fur is, being as long on the hind parts as on +the shoulders and neck, very much unlike the buffalo, which is so shaggy +about the shoulders and so thin farther back." Upon this point it is to +be remarked that the hair on the body of a yearling or two year-old +buffalo is always very much longer in proportion to the hair on the +forward parts than it is later in life, and while the shoulder hair is +always decidedly longer than that back of it, during the first two years +the contrast is by no means so very great. A reference to the memoranda +of hair measurements already given will afford precise data on this +point. + +In regard to half-breed calves, Mr. Bedson states in a private letter +that "the hump does not appear until several months after birth." + +Altogether, the male calf described above so strongly resembles a +pure-blood buffalo as to be generally mistaken for one; the form of the +adult half-blood cow promptly proclaims her origin. The accompanying +plate, also from a photograph supplied by Mr. Jones, accurately +represents a half-breed cow, six years old, weighing about 1,800 pounds. +Her body is very noticeably larger in proportion than that of the cow +buffalo, her pelvis much heavier, broader, and more cow-like, therein +being a decided improvement upon the small and weak hind quarters of the +wild species. The hump is quite noticeable, but is not nearly so high as +in the pure buffalo cow. The hair on the fore quarters, neck, and head +is decidedly shorter, especially on the head; the frontlet and chin +beard being conspicuously lacking. The tufts of long, coarse, black hair +which clothe the fore-arm of the buffalo cow are almost absent, but +apparently the hair on the body and hind quarters has lost but little, +if any, of its length, density, and fine, furry quality. The horns are +decidedly cow-like in their size, length, and curvature. + +[Illustration: HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DOMESTIC) CALF.--HERD OF C. J. JONES, +GARDEN CITY, KANSAS. Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.] + +Regarding the general character of the half-breed buffalo, and his herd +in general, Mr. Bedson writes me as follows, in a letter dated September +12, 1888: + +"The nucleus of my herd consisted of a young buffalo bull and four +heifer calves, which I purchased in 1877, and the increase from these +few has been most rapid, as will be shown by a tabular statement farther +on. + +"Success with the breeding of the pure buffalo was followed by +experiments in crossing with the domestic animal. This crossing has +generally been between a buffalo bull and an ordinary cow, and with the +most encouraging results, since it had been contended by many that +although the cow might breed a calf from the buffalo, yet it would be at +the expense of her life, owing to the hump on a buffalo's shoulder; but +this hump does not appear until several months after birth. This has +been proved a fallacy respecting _this herd_ at least, for calving has +been attended with no greater percentage of losses than would be +experienced in ranching with the ordinary cattle. Buffalo cows and +crosses have dropped calves at as low a temperature as 20° below zero, +and the calves were sturdy and healthy. + +"The half breed resulting from the cross as above mentioned has been +again crossed with the thoroughbred buffalo bull, producing a three +quarter breed animal closely resembling the buffalo, the head and robe +being quite equal, if not superior. The half-breeds are very prolific. +The cows drop a calf annually. They are also very hardy indeed, as they +take the instinct of the buffalo during the blizzards and storms, and do +not drift like native cattle. They remain upon the open prairie during +our severest winters, while the thermometer ranges from 30 to 40 degrees +below zero, with little or no food except what they rustled on the +prairie, and no shelter at all. In nearly all the ranching parts of +North America foddering and housing of cattle is imperative in a more or +less degree,[50] creating an item of expense felt by all interested in +cattle-raising; but the buffalo [half]breed retains all its native +hardihood, needs no housing, forages in the deepest snows for its own +food, yet becomes easily domesticated, and consequently needs but little +herding. Therefore the progeny of the buffalo is easily reared, cheaply +fed, and requires no housing in winter; three very essential points in +stock-raising. + +[Note 50: On nearly all the great cattle ranches of the United States +it is absolutely impossible, and is not even attempted.--W. T. H.] + +"They are always in good order, and I consider the meat of the +half-breed much preferable to domestic animals, while the robe is very +fine indeed, the fur being evened up on the hind parts, the same as on +the shoulders. During the history of the herd, accident and other causes +have compelled the slaughtering of one or two, and in these instances +the carcasses have sold for 18 cents per pound; the hides in their +dressed state for $50 to $75 each. A half-breed buffalo ox (four years +old, crossed with buffalo bull and Durham cow) was killed last winter, +and weighed 1,280 pounds dressed beef. One pure buffalo bull now in my +herd weighs fully 2,000 pounds, and a [half]breed bull 1,700 to 1,800 +pounds. + +"The three-quarter breed is an enormous animal in size, and has an extra +good robe, which will readily bring $40 to $50 in any market where there +is a demand for robes. They are also very prolific, and I consider them +the coming cattle for our range cattle for the Northern climate, while +the half and quarter breeds will be the animals for the more Southern +district. The half and three-quarter breed cows, when really matured, +will weigh from 1,400 to 1,800 pounds. + +"I have never crossed them except with a common grade of cows, while I +believe a cross with the Galloways would produce the handsomest robe +ever handled, and make the best range cattle in the world. I have not +had time to give my attention to my herd, more than to let them range on +the prairies at will. By proper care great results can be accomplished." + +Hon. C. J. Jones, of Garden City, Kans., whose years of experience with +the buffalo, both as old-time hunter, catcher, and breeder, has earned +for him the sobriquet of "Buffalo Jones," five years ago became deeply +interested in the question of improving range cattle by crossing with +the buffalo. With characteristic Western energy he has pursued the +subject from that time until the present, having made five trips to the +range of the only buffaloes remaining from the great southern herd, and +captured sixty-eight buffalo calves and eleven adult cows with which to +start a herd. In a short article published in the Farmers' Review +(Chicago, August 22, 1888), Mr. Jones gives his views on the value of +the buffalo in cross-breeding as follows: + +"In all my meanderings I have not found a place but I could count more +carcasses [of cattle] than living animals. Who has not ridden over some +of the Western railways and counted dead cattle by the thousands? The +great question is, Where can we get a race of cattle that will stand +blizzards, and endure the drifting snow, and will not be driven with the +storms against the railroad fences and pasture fences, there to perish +for the want of nerve to face the northern winds for a few miles, to +where the winter grasses could be had in abundance? Realizing these +facts, both from observation and pocket, we pulled on our 'thinking +cap,' and these points came vividly to our mind: + +"(1) We want an animal that is hardy. + +"(2) We want an animal with nerve and endurance. + +"(3) We want an animal that faces the blizzards and endures the storms. + +"(4) We want an animal that will rustle the prairies, and not yield to +discouragement. + +"(5) We want an animal that will fill the above bill, and make good +beef and plenty of it. + +[Illustration: HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DOMESTIC) COW.--HERD OF C. J. JONES, +GARDEN CITY, KANSAS. Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.] + +"All the points above could easily be found in the buffalo, excepting +the fifth, and even that is more than filled as to the quality, but not +in quantity. Where is the 'old timer' who has not had a cut from the +hump or sirloin of a fat buffalo cow in the fall of the year, and where +is the one who will not make affidavit that it was the best meat he ever +ate? Yes, the fat was very rich, equal to the marrow from the bone of +domestic cattle. * * * + +"The great question remained unsolved as to the quantity of meat from +the buffalo. I finally heard of a half-breed buffalo in Colorado, and +immediately set out to find it. I traveled at least 1,000 miles to find +it, and found a five-year-old half-breed cow that had been bred to +domestic bulls and had brought forth two calves--a yearling and a +sucking calf that gave promise of great results. + +"The cow had never been fed, but depended altogether on the range, and +when I saw her, in the fall of 1883. I estimated her weight at 1,800 +pounds. She was a brindle, and had a handsome robe even in September; +she had as good hind quarters as ordinary cattle; her foreparts were +heavy and resembled the buffalo, yet not near so much of the hump. The +offspring showed but very little of the buffalo, yet they possessed a +woolly coat, which showed clearly that they were more than domestic +cattle. * * * + +"What we can rely on by having one-fourth, one-half, and three-fourths +breeds might be analyzed as follows: + +"We can depend upon a race of cattle unequaled in the world for +hardiness and durability; a good meat-bearing animal; the best and only +fur-bearing animal of the bovine race; the animal always found in a +storm where it is overtaken by it; a race of cattle so clannish as never +to separate and go astray; the animal that can always have free range, +as they exist where no other animal can live; the animal that can water +every third day and keep fat, ranging from 20 to 30 miles from water; in +fact, they are the perfect animal for the plains of North America. +One-fourth breeds for Texas, one-half breeds for Colorado and Kansas, +and three-fourths breeds for more northern country, is what will soon be +sought after more than any living animal. Then we will never be +confronted with dead carcarsses from starvation, exhaustion, and lack of +nerve, as in years gone by." + +_The bison as a beast of burden._--On account of the abundance of horses +for all purposes throughout the entire country, oxen are so seldom used +they almost constitute a curiosity. There never has existed a necessity +to break buffaloes to the yoke and work them like domestic oxen, and so +few experiments have been made in this direction that reliable data on +this subject is almost wholly wanting. While at Miles City, Mont., I +heard of a German "granger" who worked a small farm in the Tongue River +Valley, and who once had a pair of cow buffaloes trained to the yoke. +It was said that they were strong, rapid walkers, and capable of +performing as much work as the best domestic oxen, but they were at +times so uncontrollably headstrong and obstinate as to greatly detract +from their usefulness. The particular event of their career on which +their historian dwelt with special interest occurred when their owner +was hauling a load of potatoes to town with them. In the course of the +long drive the buffaloes grew very thirsty, and upon coming within sight +of the water in the river they started for it in a straight course. The +shouts and blows of the driver only served to hasten their speed, and +presently, when they reached the edge of the high bank, they plunged +down it without the slightest hesitation, wagon, potatoes, and all, to +the loss of everything except themselves and the drink they went after! + +Mr. Robert Wickliffe states that trained buffaloes make satisfactory +oxen. "I have broken them to the yoke, and found them capable of making +excellent oxen; and for drawing wagons, carts, or other heavily laden +vehicles on long journeys they would, I think, be greatly preferable to +the common ox." + +It seems probable that, in the absence of horses, the buffalo would make +a much more speedy and enduring draught animal than the domestic ox, +although it is to be doubted whether he would be as strong. His weaker +pelvis and hind quarters would surely count against him under certain +circumstances, but for some purposes his superior speed and endurance +would more than counterbalance that defect. + +BISON HERDS AND INDIVIDUALS IN CAPTIVITY AND DOMESTICATION, JANUARY 1, +1889. + +_Herd of Mr. S. L. Bedson, Stony Mountain, Manitoba._--In 1877 Mr. +Bedson purchased 5 buffalo calves, 1 bull, and 4 heifers, for which he +paid $1,000. In 1888 his herd consisted of 23 full-blood bulls, 35 cows, +3 half-breed cows, 5 half-breed bulls, and 17 calves, mixed and +pure;[51] making a total of 83 head. These were all produced from the +original 5, no purchases having been made, nor any additions made in any +other way. Besides the 83 head constituting the herd when it was sold, 5 +were killed and 9 given away, which would otherwise make a total of 97 +head produced since 1877. In November, 1888, this entire herd was +purchased, for $50,000, by Mr. C. J. Jones, and added to the already +large herd owned by that gentleman in Kansas. + +[Note 51: In summing up the total number of buffaloes and mixed-breeds +now alive in captivity, I have been obliged to strike an average on this +lot of calves "mixed and pure," and have counted twelve as being of pure +breed and five mixed, which I have reason to believe is very near the +truth.] + +[Illustration: YOUNG HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DOMESTIC) BULL.--HERD OF C. J. +JONES, GARDEN CITY, KANSAS. Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.] + +_Herd of Mr. C. J. Jones, Garden City, Kans._--Mr. Jones's original herd +of 57 buffaloes constitute a living testimonial to his individual +enterprise, and to his courage, endurance, and skill in the chase. The +majority of the individuals composing the herd he himself ran down, +lassoed, and tied with his own hands. For the last five years Mr. Jones +has made an annual trip, in June, to the uninhabited "panhandle" of +Texas, to capture calves out of the small herd of from one hundred to +two hundred head which represented the last remnant of the great +southern herd. Each of these expeditious involved a very considerable +outlay in money, an elaborate "outfit" of men, horses, vehicles, camp +equipage, and lastly, but most important of all, a herd of a dozen fresh +milch cows to nourish the captured calves and keep them from dying of +starvation and thirst. The region visited was fearfully barren, almost +without water, and to penetrate it was always attended by great +hardship. The buffaloes were difficult to find, but the ground was good +for running, being chiefly level plains, and the superior speed of the +running horses always enabled the hunters to overtake a herd whenever +one was sighted, and to "cut out" and lasso two, three, or four of its +calves. The degree of skill and daring displayed in these several +expeditions are worthy of the highest admiration, and completely surpass +anything I have ever seen or read of being accomplished in connection +with hunting, or the capture of live game. The latest feat of Mr. Jones +and his party comes the nearest to being incredible. During the month of +May, 1888, they not only captured seven calves, but also _eleven adult +cows_, of which some were lassoed in full career on the prairie, thrown, +tied, and hobbled! The majority, however, were actually "rounded up," +herded, and held in control until a bunch of tame buffaloes was driven +down to meet them, so that it would thus be possible to drive all +together to a ranch. This brilliant feat can only be appreciated as it +deserves by those who have lately hunted buffalo, and learned by dear +experience the extent of their wariness, and the difficulties, to say +nothing of the dangers, inseparably connected with their pursuit. + +The result of each of Mr. Jones's five expeditions is as follows: In +1884 no calves found; 1885, 11 calves captured, 5 died, 6 survived; +1886, 14 calves captured, 7 died, 7 survived; 1887, 36 calves captured, +6 died, 30 survived; 1888, 7 calves captured, all survived; 1888, 11 old +cows captured, all survived. Total, 79 captures, 18 losses, 57 +survivors. + +The census of the herd is exactly as follows: Adult cows, 11; three-year +olds, 7, of which 2 are males and 5 females; two-year olds, 4, of which +all are males; yearling, 28, of which 15 are males and 13 females; +calves, 7, of which 3 are males and 4 females. Total herd, 57; 24 males +and 33 females. To this, Mr. Jones's original herd, must now be added +the entire herd formerly owned by Mr. Bedson. + +Respecting his breeding operations Mr. Jones writes: "My oldest [bull] +buffaloes are now three years old, and I am breeding one hundred +domestic cows to them this year. Am breeding the Galloway cows quite +extensively; also some Shorthorns, Herefords, and Texas cows. I expect +best results from the Galloways. If I can get the black luster of the +latter and the fur of a buffalo, I will have a robe that will bring more +money than we get for the average range steer." + +In November, 1888, Mr. Jones purchased Mr. Bedson's entire herd, and in +the following mouth proceeded to ship a portion of it to Kansas City. +Thirty-three head were separated from the remainder of the herd on the +prairie near Stony Mountain, 12 miles from Winnipeg, and driven to the +railroad. Several old bulls broke away en route and ran back to the +herd, and when the remainder were finally corraled in the pens at the +stock-yards "they began to fight among themselves, and some fierce +encounters were waged between the old bulls. The younger cattle were +raised on the horns of their seniors, thrown in the air, and otherwise +gored." While on the way to St. Paul three of the half-breed buffaloes +were killed by their companions. On reaching Kansas City and unloading +the two cars, 13 head broke away from the large force of men that +attempted to manage them, stampeded through the city, and finally took +refuge in the low-lands along the river. In due time, however, all were +recaptured. + +Since the acquisition of this northern herd and the subsequent press +comment that it has evoked, Mr. Jones has been almost overwhelmed with +letters of inquiry in regard to the whole subject of buffalo breeding, +and has found it necessary to print and distribute a circular giving +answers to the many inquiries that have been made. + +_Herd of Mr. Charles Allard, Flathead Indian Reservation, +Montana._--This herd was visited in the autumn of 1888 by Mr. G. O. +Shields, of Chicago, who reports that it consists of thirty-five head of +pure-blood buffaloes, of which seven are calves of 1888, six are +yearlings, and six are two-year olds. Of the adult animals, four cows +and two bulls are each fourteen years old, "and the beards of the bulls +almost sweep the ground as they walk." + +_Herd of Hon. W. F. Cody ("Buffalo Bill")._--The celebrated "Wild West +Show" has, ever since its organization, numbered amongst its leading +attractions a herd of live buffaloes of all ages. At present this herd +contains eighteen head, of which fourteen were originally purchased of +Mr. H. T. Groome, of Wichita, Kansas, and have made a journey to London +and back. As a proof of the indomitable persistence of the bison in +breeding under most unfavorable circumstances, the fact that four of the +members of this herd are calves which were born in 1888 in London, at +the American Exposition, is of considerable interest. + +This herd is now (December, 1888) being wintered on General Beale's +farm, near the city of Washington. In 1886-'87, while the Wild West Show +was at Madison Square Garden, New York City, its entire herd of twenty +buffaloes was carried off by pleuro-pneumonia. It is to be greatly +feared that sooner or later in the course of its travels the present +herd will also disappear, either through disease or accident. + +_Herd of Mr. Charles Goodnight, Clarendon, Texas._--Mr. Goodnight writes +that he has "been breeding buffaloes in a small way for the past ten +years," but without giving any particular attention to it. At present +his herd consists of thirteen head, of which two are three-year old +bulls and four are calves. There are seven cows of all ages, one of +which is a half-breed. + +_Herd at the Zoological Society's Gardens, Philadelphia, Arthur E. +Brown, superintendent._--This institution is the fortunate possessor of +a small herd of ten buffaloes, of which four are males and six females. +Two are calves of 1877. In 1886 the Gardens sold an adult bull and cow +to Hon. W. F. Cody for $300. + +_Herd at Bismarck Grove, Kansas, owned by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa +Fé Railroad Company._--A small herd of buffaloes has for several years +past been kept at Bismarck Grove as an attraction to visitors. At +present it contains ten head, one of which is a very large bull, another +in a four-year-old bull, six are cows of various ages, and two are +two-year olds. In 1885 a large bull belonging to this herd grew so +vicious and dangerous that it was necessary to kill him. + +The following interesting account of this herd was published in the +Kansas City Times of December 8, 1888: + +"Thirteen years ago Colonel Stanton purchased a buffalo bull calf for $8 +and two heifers for $25. The descendants of these three buffaloes now +found at Bismarck Grove, where all were born, number in all ten. There +were seventeen, but the rest have died, with the exception of one, which +was given away. They are kept in an inclosure containing about 30 acres +immediately adjoining the park, and there may be seen at any time. The +sight is one well worth a trip and the slight expense that may attach to +it, especially to one who has never seen the American bison in his +native state. + +"The present herd includes two fine bull calves dropped last spring, two +heifers, five cows, and a bull six years old and as handsome as a +picture. The latter has been named Cleveland, after the colonel's +favorite Presidential candidate. The entire herd is in as fine condition +as any beef cattle, though they were never fed anything but hay and are +never given any shelter. In fact they don't take kindly to shelter, and +whether a blizzard is blowing, with the mercury 20 degrees below zero, +or the sun pouring down his scorching rays, with the thermometer 110 +degrees above, they set their heads resolutely toward storm or sun and +take their medicine as if they liked it. Hon. W. F. Cody, "Buffalo +Bill," tried to buy the whole herd two years ago to take to Europe with +his Wild West Show, but they were not for sale at his own figures, and, +indeed, there is no anxiety to dispose of them at any figures. The +railroad company has been glad to furnish them pasturage for the sake of +adding to the attractions of the park, in which there are also +forty-three head of deer, including two as fine bucks as ever trotted +over the national deer trail toward the salt-licks in northern Utah. + +"While the bison at Bismark Grove are splendid specimens of their class, +"Cleveland" is decidedly the pride of the herd, and as grand a creature +as ever trod the soil of Kansas on four legs. He is just six years old +and is a perfect specimen of the kings of the plains. There is royal +blood in his veins, and his coat is finer than the imperial purple. It +is not possible to get at him to measure his stature and weight. He must +weigh fully 3,000 pounds, and it is doubtful if there is to-day living +on the face of the earth a handsomer buffalo bull than he. "Cleveland's" +disposition is not so ugly as old Barney's was, but at certain seasons +he is very wild, and there is no one venturesome enough to go into the +inclosure. It is then not altogether safe to even look over the high and +heavy board fence at him, for he is likely to make a run for the +visitor, as the numerous holes in the fence where he has knocked off the +boards will testify." + +_Herd of Mr. Frederick Dupree, Cheyenne Indian Agency, near Fort +Bennett, Dakota._--This herd contains at present nine pure-blood +buffaloes, five of which are cows and seven mixed bloods. Of the former, +there are two adult bulls and four adult cows. Of the mixed blood +animals, six are half-breeds and one a quarter-breed buffalo. + +Mr. Dupree obtained the nucleus of his herd in 1882, at which time he +captured five wild calves about 100 miles west of Fort Bennett. Of +these, two died after two months of captivity and a third was killed by +an Indian in 1885. + +Mr. D. F. Carlin, of the Indian service, at Fort Bennett, has kindly +furnished me the following information respecting this herd, under date +of November 1, 1888: + +"The animals composing this herd are all in fine condition and are quite +tame. They keep by themselves most of the time, except the oldest bull +(six years old), who seems to appreciate the company of domestic cattle +more than that of his own family. Mr. Dupree has kept one half-breed +bull as an experiment; he thinks it will produce a hardy class of +cattle. His half-breeds are all black, with one exception, and that is a +roan; but they are all built like the buffalo, and when young they grunt +more like a hog than like a calf, the same as a full-blood buffalo. + +"Mr. Dupree has never lost a [domestic] cow in giving birth to a +half-breed calf, as was supposed by many people would be the case. There +have been no sales from this herd, although the owner has a standing +offer of $650 for a cow and bull. The cows are not for sale at any +price." + +_Herd at Lincoln Park, Chicago, Mr. W. P. Walker, superintendent._--This +very interesting and handsomely-kept herd is composed of seven +individuals of the following character: One bull eight years old, one +bull four years old, two cows eight years old, two cows two years old in +the spring of 1888, and one female calf born in the spring of 1888. + +_Zoological Gardens, Cincinnati, Ohio._--This collection contains four +bison, an adult bull and cow, and one immature specimen. + +_Dr. V. T. McGillicuddy, Rapid City, Dakota_, has a herd of four pure +buffaloes and one half-breed. Of the former, the two adults, a bull and +cow seven years old, were caught by Sioux Indians near the Black Hills +for the owner in the spring of 1882. The Indians drove two milch cows to +the range to nourish the calves when caught. These have produced two +calves, one of which, a bull, is now three years old, and the other is a +yearling heifer. + +_Central Park Menagerie, New York, Dr. W. A. Conklin, director._--This +much-visited collection contains four bison, an adult bull and cow, a +two-year-old calf, and a yearling. + +_Mr. John H. Starin, Glen Inland, near New York City._--There are four +buffaloes at this summer resort. + +_The U. S. National Museum, Washington, District of Columbia._--The +collection of the department of living animals at this institution +contains two fine young buffaloes; a bull four years old in July, 1888, +and a cow three years old in May of the same year. These animals were +captured in western Nebraska, when they were calves, by H. R. Jackett, +of Ogalalla, and kept by him on his ranch until 1885. In April, 1888, +Hon. Eugene G. Blackford, of New York, purchased them of Mr. Frederick +D. Nowell, of North Platte, Nebraska, for $100 for the pair, and +presented them to the National Museum, in the hope that they might form +the nucleus of a herd to be owned and exhibited by the United States +Government in or near the city of Washington. The two animals were +received in Ogalalla by Mr. Joseph Palmer, of the National Museum, and +by him they were brought on to Washington in May, in fine condition. +Since their arrival they have been exhibited to the public in a +temporary inclosure on the Smithsonian Grounds, and have attracted much +attention. + +_Mr. B. C. Winston, of Hamline, Minnesota_, owns a pair of buffaloes, +one of which, a young bull, was caught by him in western Dakota in the +spring of 1886, soon after its birth. The cow was purchased at Rosseau, +Dakota Territory, a year later, for $225. + +_Mr. I. P. Butler, of Colorado, Texas_, is the owner of a young bull +buffalo and a half-breed calf. + +_Mr. Jesse Huston, of Miles City, Montana_, owns a fine five-year-old +bull buffalo. + +_Mr. L. F. Gardner, of Bellwood, Oregon_, is the owner of a large adult +bull. + +_The Riverside Ranch Company, south of Mandan, Dakota_, owns a pair of +full-blood buffaloes. + +_In Dakota_, in the hands of parties unknown, there are four full-blood +buffaloes. + +_Mr. James R. Hitch, of Optima, Indian Territory_, has a pair of young +buffaloes, which he has offered for sale for $750. + +_Mr. Joseph A. Hudson, of Estell, Nebraska_, owns a three-year-old bull +buffalo, which is for sale. + +In other countries there are live specimens of _Bison americanus_ +reported as follows: two at Belleview Gardens, Manchester, England; one +at the Zoological Gardens, London; one at Liverpool, England (purchased +of Hon. W. F. Cody in 1888); two at the Zoological Gardens, Dresden; one +at the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta. + ++--------------------------------------------------+ +| _Statistics of full-blood buffaloes | | +| in captivity January 1, 1889._ | | ++---------------------------------------------+----+ +|Number kept for breeding purposes | 216| +|Number kept for exhibition | 40| +| | ---| +| Total pure-blood buffaloes in captivity | 256| +|Wild buffaloes under Government | | +|protection in the Yellowstone Park | 200| +|Number of mixed-breed buffalo-domestics | 40| ++--------------------------------------------------+ + +There are, without doubt, a few half-breeds in Manitoba of which I have +no account. It is probable there are also a very few more captive +buffaloes scattered singly here and there which will be heard of later, +but the total will be a very small number, I am sure. + + + + +PART II.--THE EXTERMINATION. + + + + +I. CAUSES OF THE EXTERMINATION. + + +The causes which led to the practical extinction (in a wild state, at +least) of the most economically valuable wild animal that ever inhabited +the American continent, are by no means obscure. It is well that we +should know precisely what they were, and by the sad fate of the buffalo +be warned in time against allowing similar causes to produce the same +results with our elk, antelope, deer, moose, caribou, mountain sheep, +mountain goat, walrus, and other animals. It will be doubly deplorable +if the remorseless slaughter we have witnessed during the last twenty +years carries with it no lessons for the future. A continuation of the +record we have lately made as wholesale game butchers will justify +posterity in dating us back with the mound-builders and cave-dwellers, +when man's only known function was to slay and eat. + +The primary cause of the buffalo's extermination, and the one which +embraced all others, was the descent of civilization, with all its +elements of destructiveness, upon the whole of the country inhabited by +that animal. From the Great Slave Lake to the Rio Grande the home of the +buffalo was everywhere overrun by the man with a gun; and, as has ever +been the case, the wild creatures were gradually swept away, the largest +and most conspicuous forms being the first to go. + +The secondary causes of the extermination of the buffalo may be +catalogued as follows: + +(1) Man's reckless greed, his wanton destructiveness, and improvidence +in not husbanding such resources as come to him from the hand of nature +ready made. + +(2) The total and utterly inexcusable absence of protective measures and +agencies on the part of the National Government and of the West States +and Territories. + +(3) The fatal preference on the part of hunters generally, both white +and red, for the robe and flesh of the cow over that furnished by the +bull. + +(4) The phenomenal stupidity of the animals themselves, and their +indifference to man. + +(5) The perfection of modern breech-loading rifles and other sporting +fire-arms in general. + +Each of these causes acted against the buffalo with its fall force, to +offset which there was _not even one_ restraining or preserving +influence, and it is not to be wondered at that the species went down +before them. Had any one of these conditions been eliminated the result +would have been reached far less quickly. Had the buffalo, for example, +possessed one-half the fighting qualities of the grizzly bear he would +have fared very differently, but his inoffensiveness and lack of courage +almost leads one to doubt the wisdom of the economy of nature so far as +it relates to him. + + + + +II. METHODS OF SLAUGHTER. + + +1. _The still-hunt._--Of all the deadly methods of buffalo slaughter, +the still-hunt was the deadliest. Of all the methods that were +unsportsmanlike, unfair, ignoble, and utterly reprehensible, this was in +every respect the lowest and the worst. Destitute of nearly every +element of the buoyant excitement and spice of danger that accompanied +genuine buffalo hunting on horseback, the still-hunt was mere butchery +of the tamest and yet most cruel kind. About it there was none of the +true excitement of the chase; but there was plenty of greedy eagerness +to "down" as many "head" as possible every day, just as there is in +every slaughter-house where the killers are paid so much per head. +Judging from all accounts, it was about as exciting and dangerous work +as it would be to go out now and shoot cattle on the Texas or Montana +ranges. The probabilities are, however, that shooting Texas cattle would +be the most dangerous; for, instead of running from a man on foot, as +the buffalo used to do, range cattle usually charge down upon him, from +motives of curiosity, perhaps, and not infrequently place his life in +considerable jeopardy. + +The buffalo owes his extermination very largely to his own unparalleled +stupidity; for nothing else could by any possibility have enabled the +still-hunters to accomplish what they did in such an incredibly short +time. So long as the chase on horseback was the order of the day, it +ordinarily required the united efforts of from fifteen to twenty-five +hunters to kill a thousand buffalo in a single season; but a single +still-hunter, with a long-range breech-loader, who knew how to make a +"sneak" and get "a stand on a bunch," often succeeded in killing from +one to three thousand in one season by his own unaided efforts. Capt. +Jack Brydges, of Kansas, who was one of the first to begin the final +slaughter of the southern herd, killed, by contract, one thousand one +hundred and forty-two buffaloes in six weeks. + +So long as the buffalo remained in large herds their numbers gave each +individual a feeling of dependence upon his fellows and of general +security from harm, even in the presence of strange phenomena which he +could not understand. When he heard a loud report and saw a little cloud +of white smoke rising from a gully, a clump of sage-brash, or the top of +a ridge, 200 yards away, he wondered what it meant, and held himself in +readiness to follow his leader in case she should run away. But when the +leader of the herd, usually the oldest cow, fell bleeding upon the +ground, and no other buffalo promptly assumed the leadership of the +herd, instead of acting independently and fleeing from the alarm, he +merely did as he saw the others do, and waited his turn to be shot. +Latterly, however, when the herds were totally broken up, when the few +survivors were scattered in every direction, and it became a case of +every buffalo for himself, they became wild and wary, ever ready to +start off at the slightest alarm, and run indefinitely. Had they shown +the same wariness seventeen years ago that the survivors have manifested +during the last three or four years, there would now be a hundred +thousand head alive instead of only about three hundred in a wild and +unprotected state. + +Notwithstanding the merciless war that had been waged against the +buffalo for over a century by both whites and Indians, and the steady +decrease of its numbers, as well as its range, there were several +million head on foot, not only up to the completion of the Union Pacific +Railway, but as late as the year 1870. Up to that time the killing done +by white men had been chiefly for the sake of meat, the demand for robes +was moderate, and the Indians took annually less than one hundred +thousand for trading. Although half a million buffaloes were killed by +Indians, half-breeds, and whites, the natural increase was so very +considerable as to make it seem that the evil day of extermination was +yet far distant. + +But by a coincidence which was fatal to the buffalo, with the building +of three lines of railway through the most populous buffalo country +there came a demand for robes and hides, backed up by an unlimited +supply of new and marvellously accurate breech-loading rifles and fixed +ammunition. And then followed a wild rush of hunters to the buffalo +country, eager to destroy as many head as possible in the shortest time. +For those greedy ones the chase on horseback was "too slow" and too +unfruitful. That was a retail method of killing, whereas they wanted to +kill by wholesale. From their point of view, the still-hunt or "sneak" +hunt was the method _par excellence_. If they could have obtained +Gatling guns with which to mow down a whole herd at a time, beyond a +doubt they would have gladly used them. + +The still-hunt was seen at its very worst in the years 1871, 1872, and +1873, on the southern buffalo range, and ten years later at its best in +Montana, on the northern. Let us first consider it at its best, which in +principle was bad enough. + +The great rise in the price of robes which followed the blotting out of +the great southern herd at once put buffalo-hunting on a much more +comfortable and respectable business basis in the North than it had ever +occupied in the South, where prices had all along been phenomenally low. + +In Montana it was no uncommon thing for a hunter to invest from $1,000 +to $2,000 in his "outfit" of horses, wagons, weapons, ammunition, +provisions, and sundries. + +One of the men who accompanied the Smithsonian Expedition for Buffalo, +Mr. James McNaney, of Miles City, Montana, was an ex-buffalo banter, who +had spent three seasons on the northern range, killing buffalo for their +robes, and his standing as a hunter was of the best. A brief description +of his outfit and its work during its last season on the range +(1882-'83) may fairly be taken as a typical illustration of the life and +work of the still-hunter at its best. The only thing against it was the +extermination of the buffalo. + +During the winters of 1880 and 1881 Mr. McNaney had served in Maxwell's +outfit as a hunter, working by the month, but his success in killing was +such that he decided to work the third year on his own account. Although +at that time only seventeen years of age, he took an elder brother as a +partner, and purchased an outfit in Miles City, of which the following +were the principal items: Two wagons, 2 four-horse teams, 2 +saddle-horses, 2 wall-tents, 1 cook-stove with pipe, 1 40-90 Sharp's +rifle (breech-loading), 1 45-70 Sharps rifle (breech-loading), 1 45-120 +Sharps rifle (breech-loading), 50 pounds gunpowder, 550 pounds lead, +4,500 primers, 600 brass shells, 4 sheets patch-paper, 60 Wilson +skinning knives, 3 butcher's steels, 1 portable grindstone, flour, +bacon, baking-powder, coffee, sugar, molasses, dried apples, canned +vegetables, beans, etc., in quantity. + +The entire cost of the outfit was about $1,400. Two men were hired for +the season at $50 per month, and the party started from Miles City on +November 10, which was considered a very late start. The usual time of +setting out for the range was about October 1. + +The outfit went by rail northeastward to Terry, and from thence across +country south and east about 100 miles, around the head of O'Fallon +Creek to the head of Beaver Creek, a tributary of the Little Missouri. A +good range was selected, without encroachment upon the domains of the +hunters already in the field, and the camp was made near the bank of the +creek, close to a supply of wood and water, and screened from distant +observation by a circle of hills and ridges. The two rectangular +wall-tents were set up end to end, with the cook-stove in the middle, +where the ends came together. In one tent the cooking and eating was +done, and the other contained the beds. + +It was planned that the various members of the party should cook turn +about, a week at a time, but one of them soon developed such a rare and +conspicuous talent for bread-making and general cookery that he was +elected by acclamation to cook during the entire season. To the other +three members fell the hunting. Each man hunted separately from the +others, and skinned all the animals that his rifle brought down. + +There were buffalo on the range when the hunters arrived, and the +killing began at once. At daylight the still-hunter sallied forth on +foot, carrying in his hand his huge Sharps rifle, weighing from 16 to 19 +pounds, with from seventy-five to one hundred loaded cartridges in his +two belts or his pockets. At his side, depending from his belt, hung his +"hunter's companion," a flat leather scabbard, containing a ripping +knife, a skinning knife, and a butcher's steel upon which to sharpen +them. The total weight carried was very considerable, seldom less than +36 pounds, and often more. + +Inasmuch as it was highly important to move camp as seldom as possible +in the course of a season's work, the hunter exercised the greatest +precaution in killing his game, and had ever before his mind the +necessity of doing his killing without frightening away the survivors. + +With ten thousand buffaloes on their range, it was considered the height +of good luck to find a "bunch" of fifty head in a secluded "draw" or +hollow, where it was possible to "make a kill" without disturbing the +big herd. + +The still-hunter usually went on foot, for when buffaloes became so +scarce as to make it necessary for him to ride his occupation was +practically gone. At the time I speak of, the hunter seldom had to walk +more than 3 miles from camp to find buffalo, in case there were any at +all on his range, and it was usually an advantage to be without a horse. +From the top of a ridge or high butte the country was carefully scanned, +and if several small herds were in sight the one easiest to approach was +selected as the one to attack. It was far better to find a herd lying +down or quietly grazing, or sheltering from a cold wind, than to find it +traveling, for while a hard run of a mile or two often enabled the +hunter to "head off" a moving herd and kill a certain number of animals +out of it, the net results were never half so satisfactory as with herds +absolutely at rest. + +Having decided upon an attack, the hunter gets to leeward of his game, +and approaches it according to the nature of the ground. If it is in a +hollow, he secures a position at the top of the nearest ridge, as close +as he can get. If it is in a level "flat," he looks for a gully up which +he can skulk until within good rifle-shot. If there is no gully, he may +be obliged to crawl half a mile on his hands and knees, often through +snow or amongst beds of prickly pear, taking advantage of even such +scanty cover as sage-brush affords. Some Montana still-hunters adopted +the method of drawing a gunny-sack over the entire upper half of the +body, with holes cut for the eyes and arms, which simple but +unpicturesque arrangement often enabled the hunter to approach his +game much more easily and more closely than would otherwise have been +possible. + +[Illustration: STILL-HUNTING BUFFALOES ON THE NORTHERN RANGE. +From a painting by J. H. Moser, in the National Museum.] + +Having secured a position within from 100 to 250 yards of his game +(often the distance was much greater), the hunter secures a comfortable +rest for his huge rifle, all the time keeping his own person thoroughly +hidden from view, estimates the distance, carefully adjusts his sights, +and begins business. If the herd is moving, the animal in the lead is +the first one shot, close behind the fore leg and about a foot above the +brisket, which sends the ball through the lungs. If the herd is at rest, +the oldest cow is always supposed to be the leader, and she is the one +to kill first. The noise startles the buffaloes, they stare at the +little cloud of white smoke and feel inclined to run, but seeing their +leader hesitate they wait for her. She, when struck, gives a violent +start forward, but soon stops, and the blood begins to run from her +nostrils in two bright crimson streams. In a couple of minutes her body +sways unsteadily, she staggers, tries hard to keep her feet, but soon +gives a lurch sidewise and falls. Some of the other members of the herd +come around her and stare and sniff in wide-eyed wonder, and one of the +more wary starts to lead the herd away. But before she takes half a +dozen steps "bang!" goes the hidden rifle again, and her leadership is +ended forever. Her fall only increases the bewilderment of the survivors +over a proceeding which to them is strange and unaccountable, because +the danger is not visible. They cluster around the fallen ones, sniff at +the warm blood, bawl aloud in wonderment, and do everything but run +away. + +The policy of the hunter is to not fire too rapidly, but to attend +closely to business, and every time a buffalo attempts to make off, +shoot it down. One shot per minute was a moderate rate of firing, but +under pressure of circumstances two per minute could be discharged with +deliberate precision. With the most accurate hunting rifle ever made, a +"dead rest," and a large mark practically motionless, it was no wonder +that nearly every shot meant a dead buffalo. The vital spot on a buffalo +which stands with its side to the hunter is about a foot in diameter, +and on a full-grown bull is considerably more. Under such conditions as +the above, which was called getting "a stand," the hunter nurses his +victims just as an angler plays a big fish with light tackle, and in the +most methodical manner murders them one by one, either until the last +one falls, his cartridges are all expended, or the stupid brutes come to +their senses and run away. Occasionally the poor fellow was troubled by +having his rifle get too hot to use, but if a snow-bank was at hand he +would thrust the weapon into it without ceremony to cool it off. + +A success in getting a stand meant the slaughter of a good-sized herd. A +hunter whom I met in Montana, Mr. Harry Andrews, told me that he once +fired one hundred and fifteen shots from one spot and killed sixty-three +buffalo in less than an hour. The highest number Mr. McNaney ever knew +of being killed in one stand was ninety-one head, but Colonel Dodge +once counted one hundred and twelve carcasses of buffalo "inside of a +semicircle of 200 yards radius, all of which were killed by one man from +the same spot, and in less than three-quarters of an hour." + +The "kill" being completed, the hunter then addressed himself to the +task of skinning his victims. The northern hunters were seldom guilty of +the reckless carelessness and lack of enterprise in the treatment of +robes which at one time was so prominent a feature of work on the +southern range. By the time white men began to hunt for robes on the +northern range, buffalo were becoming comparatively scarce, and robes +were worth from $2 to $4 each. The fur-buyers had taught the hunters, +with the potent argument of hard cash, that a robe carefully and neatly +taken off, stretched, and kept reasonably free from blood and dirt, was +worth more money in the market than one taken off in a slovenly manner, +and contrary to the nicer demands of the trade. After 1880, buffalo on +the northern range were skinned with considerable care, and amongst the +robe-hunters not one was allowed to become a loss when it was possible +to prevent it. Every full-sized cow robe was considered equal to $3.50 +in hard cash, and treated accordingly. The hunter, or skinner, always +stretched every robe out on the ground to its fullest extent while it +was yet warm, and cut the initials of his employer in the thin +subcutaneous muscle which always adhered to the inside of the skin. A +warm skin is very elastic, and when stretched upon the ground the hair +holds it in shape until it either dries or freezes, and so retains its +full size. On the northern range skins were so valuable that many a +dispute arose between rival outfits over the ownership of a dead +buffalo, some of which produced serious results. + +2. _The chase on horseback or "running buffalo."_--Next to the +still-hunt the method called "running buffalo" was the most fatal to the +race, and the one most universally practiced. To all hunters, save +greedy white men, the chase on horseback yielded spoil sufficient for +every need, and it also furnished sport of a superior kind--manly, +exhilarating, and well spiced with danger. Even the horses shared the +excitement and eagerness of their riders. + +So long as the weapons of the Indian consisted only of the bow and arrow +and the spear, he was obliged to kill at close quarters or not at all. +And even when fire-arms were first placed in his hands their caliber was +so small, the charge so light, and the Indian himself so poor a marksman +at long range, that his best course was still to gallop alongside the +herd on his favorite "buffalo horse" and kill at the shortest possible +range. From all accounts, the Red River half-breeds, who hunted almost +exclusively with fire-arms, never dreamed of the deadly still hunt, but +always killed their game by "running" it. + +In former times even the white men of the plains did the most of their +buffalo hunting on horseback, using the largest-sized Colt's revolver, +sometimes one in each hand, until the repeating-rifle made its +appearance, which in a great measure displaced the revolver in running +buffalo. But about that time began the mad warfare for "robes" and +"hides," and the only fair and sportsmanlike method of hunting was +declared too slow for the greedy buffalo-skinners. + +Then came the cold-blooded butchery of the still-hunt. From that time on +the buffalo as a game animal steadily lost caste. It soon came to be +universally considered that there was no sport in hunting buffalo. True +enough of still-hunting, where the hunter sneaks up and shoots them down +one by one at such long range the report of his big rifle does not even +frighten them away. So far as sportsmanlike fairness is concerned, that +method was not one whit more elevated than killing game by poison. + +Bat the chase on horseback was a different thing. Its successful +prosecution demanded a good horse, a bold rider, a firm seat, and +perfect familiarity with weapons. The excitement of it was intense, the +dangers not to be despised, and, above all, the buffalo had a fair show +for his life, or partially so, at least. The mode of attack is easily +described. + +Whenever the hunters discovered a herd of buffalo, they usually got to +leeward of it and quietly rode forward in a body, or stretched out in a +regular skirmish line, behind the shelter of a knoll, perhaps, until +they had approached the herd as closely as could be done without +alarming it. Usually the unsuspecting animals, with a confidence due +more to their great numbers than anything else, would allow a party of +horsemen to approach within from 200 to 400 yards of their flankers, and +then they would start off on a slow trot. The hunters then put spurs to +their horses and dashed forward to overtake the herd as quickly as +possible. Once up with it, each hunter chooses the best animal within +his reach, chases him until his flying steed carries him close +alongside, and then the arrow or the bullet is sent into his vitals. The +fatal spot is from 12 to 18 inches in circumference, and lies +immediately back of the fore leg, with its lowest point on a line with +the elbow. + +This, the true chase of the buffalo, was not only exciting, but +dangerous. It often happened that the hunter found himself surrounded by +the flying herd, and in a cloud of dust, so that neither man nor horse +could see the ground before them. Under such circumstances fatal +accidents to both men and horses were numerous. It was not an uncommon +thing for half-breeds to shoot each other in the excitement of the +chase; and, while now and then a wounded bull suddenly turned upon his +pursuer and overthrew him, the greatest number of casualties were from +falls. + +Of the dangers involved in running buffalo Colonel Dodge writes as +follows:[52] + +[Note 52: Plains of the Great West, p. 127.] + +"The danger is not so much from the buffalo, which rarely makes an +effort to injure his pursuer, as from the fact that neither man nor +horse can see the ground, which may be rough and broken, or perforated +with prairie-dog or gopher holes. This danger is so imminent, that a man +who runs into a herd of buffalo may be said to take his life in his +hand. I have never known a man hurt by a buffalo in such a chase. I have +known of at least six killed, and a very great many more or less +injured, some very severely, by their horses falling with them." + +On this point Catlin declares that to engage in running buffalo is "at +the hazard of every bone in one's body, to feel the fine and thrilling +exhilaration of the chase for a moment, and then as often to upbraid and +blame himself for his folly and imprudence." + +Previous to my first experience in "running buffalo" I had entertained a +mortal dread of ever being called upon to ride a chase across a +prairie-dog town. The mouth of a prairie-dog's burrow is amply large to +receive the hoof of a horse, and the angle at which the hole descends +into the earth makes it just right for the leg of a running horse to +plunge into up to the knee and bring down both horse and rider +instantly; the former with a broken leg, to say the least of it. If the +rider sits loosely, and promptly resigns his seat, he will go flying +forward, as if thrown from a catapult, for 20 feet or so, perhaps to +escape with a few broken bones, and perhaps to have his neck broken, or +his skull fractured on the hard earth. If he sticks tightly to his +saddle, his horse is almost certain to fall upon him, and perhaps kill +him. Judge, then, my feelings when the first bunch of buffalo we started +headed straight across the largest prairie-dog town I had ever seen up +to that time. And not only was the ground honey-combed with gaping round +holes, but it was also crossed here and there by treacherous ditch-like +gullies, cut straight down into the earth to an uncertain depth, and so +narrow as to be invisible until it was almost time to leap across them. + +But at such a time, with the game thundering along a few rods in +advance, the hunter thinks of little else except getting up to it. He +looks as far ahead as possible, and helps his horse to avoid dangers, +but to a great extent the horse must guide himself. The rider plies his +spurs and looks eagerly forward, almost feverish with excitement and +eagerness, but at the same time if he is wise he _expects_ a fall, and +holds himself in readiness to take the ground with as little damage as +he can. + +Mr. Catlin gives a most graphic description of a hunting accident, which +may fairly be quoted in full as a type of many such. I must say that I +fully sympathize with M. Chardon in his estimate of the hardness of the +ground he fell upon, for I have a painful recollection of a fall I had +from which I arose with the settled conviction that the ground in +Montana is the hardest in the world! It seemed more like falling upon +cast-iron than prairie turf. + +"I dashed along through the thundering mass as they swept away over the +plain, scarcely able to tell whether I was on a buffalo's back or my +horse, hit and hooked and jostled about, till at length I found myself +alongside my game, when I gave him a shot as I passed him. + +[Illustration: THE CHASE ON HORSEBACK. From a painting in the National +Museum by George Catlin.] + +I saw guns flash about me in several directions, but I heard them +not. Amidst the trampling throng Mons. Chardon had wounded a stately +bull, and at this moment was passing him with his piece leveled for +another shot. They were both at full speed and I also, within the +reach of the muzzle of my gun, when the bull instantly turned, +receiving the horse upon his horns, and the ground received poor +Chardon, who made a frog's leap of some 20 feet or more over the +bull's back and almost under my horse's heels. I wheeled my horse as +soon as possible and rode back where lay poor Chardon, gasping to +start his breath again, and within a few paces of him his huge +victim, with his heels high in the air, and the horse lying across +him. I dismounted instantly, but Chardon was raising himself on his +hands, with his eyes and mouth full of dirt, and feeling for his gun, +which lay about 30 feet in advance of him. 'Heaven spare you! are you +hurt, Chardon?' 'Hi-hic--hic--hic--hic--no;--hic--no--no, I believe +not. Oh, this is not much, Mons. Cataline--this is nothing new--but +this is a d--d hard piece of ground here--hic--oh! hic!' At this the +poor fellow fainted, but in a few moments arose, picked up his gun, +took his horse by the bit, which then opened _its_ eyes, and with a +_hic_ and a ugh--_ughk!_--sprang upon its feet, shook off the dirt, +and here we were, all upon our legs again, save the bull, whose fate +had been more sad than that of either."[53] + +[Note 53: North American Indians, I, pp. 25-26.] + +The following passage from Mr. Alexander Ross's graphic description of a +great hunt,[54] in which about four hundred hunters made an onslaught +upon a herd, affords a good illustration of the dangers in running +buffalo: + +[Note 54: Red River Settlement, p. 256.] + +"On this occasion the surface was rocky and full of badger-holes. +Twenty-three horses and riders were at one moment all sprawling on the +ground; one horse, gored by a bull, was killed on the spot; two more +were disabled by the fall; one rider broke his shoulder-blade; another +burst his gun and lost three of his fingers by the accident; and a third +was struck on the knee by an exhausted ball. These accidents will not be +thought overnumerous, considering the result, for in the evening no less +than thirteen hundred and seventy-five tongues were brought into camp." + +It really seems as if the horses of the plains entered willfully and +knowingly into the war on the doomed herds. But for the willingness and +even genuine eagerness with which the "buffalo horses" of both white men +and Indians entered into the chase, hunting on horseback would have been +attended with almost insurmountable difficulties, and the results would +have been much less fatal to the species. According to all accounts the +horses of the Indians and half-breeds were far better trained than those +of their white rivals, no doubt owing to the fact that the use of the +bow, which required the free use of both hands, was only possible when +the horse took the right coarse of his own free will or else could be +guided by the pressure of the knees. If we may believe the historians of +that period, and there is not the slightest reason to doubt them, the +"buffalo horses" of the Indians displayed almost as much intelligence +and eagerness in the chase as did their human riders. Indeed, in +"running buffalo" with only the bow and arrow, nothing but the willing +co-operation of the horse could have possibly made this mode of hunting +either satisfactory or successful. + +In Lewis and Clarke's Travels, volume II, page 387, appears the +following record: + +"He [Sergeant Pryor] had found it almost impossible with two men to +drive on the remaining horses, for as soon as they discovered a herd of +buffaloes the loose horses immediately set off in pursuit of them, and +surrounded the buffalo herd with almost as much skill as their riders +could have done. At last he was obliged to send one horseman forward and +drive all the buffaloes from the route." + +The Hon. H. H. Sibley, who once accompanied the Red River half-breeds on +their annual hunt, relates the following[55]: + +"One of the hunters fell from his saddle, and was unable to overtake his +horse, which continued the chase as if he of himself could accomplish +great things, so much do these animals become imbued with a passion for +this sport! On another occasion a half-breed left his favorite steed at +the camp, to enable him to recruit his strength, enjoining upon his wife +the necessity of properly securing the animal, which was not done. Not +relishing the idea of being left behind, he started after us and soon +was alongside, and thus he continued to keep pace with the hunters in +their pursuit of the buffalo, seeming to await with impatience the fall +of some of them to the earth. The chase ended, he came neighing to his +master, whom he soon singled out, although the men were dispersed here +and there for a distance of miles." + +[Note 55: Schoolcraft's "North American Indians," 108.] + +Col. R. I. Dodge, in his Plains of the Great West, page 129, describes a +meeting with two Mexican buffalo-hunters whose horses were so fleet and +so well trained that whenever a herd of buffalo came in sight, instead +of shooting their game wherever they came up with it, the one having the +best horse would dash into the herd, cut out a fat two-year old, and, +with the help of his partner, then actually drive it to their camp +before shooting it down. "They had a fine lot of meat and a goodly pile +of skins, and they said that every buffalo had been driven into camp and +killed as the one I saw. 'It saves a heap of trouble packing the meat to +camp,' said one of them, naively." + +Probably never before in the history of the world, until civilized man +came in contact with the buffalo, did whole armies of men march out in +true military style, with officers, flags, chaplains, and rules of war, +and make war on wild animals. No wonder the buffalo has been +exterminated. So long as they existed north of the Missouri in any +considerable number, the half-breeds and Indians of the Manitoba Red +River settlement used to gather each year in a great army, and go with +carts to the buffalo range. On these great hunts, which took place every +year from about the 15th of June to the 1st of September, vast numbers +of buffalo were killed, and the supply was finally exhausted. As if +Heaven had decreed the extirpation of the species, the half-breed +hunters, like their white robe-hunting rivals farther south, always +killed _cows_ in preference to bulls so long as a choice was possible, +the very course best calculated to exterminate any species in the +shortest possible time. + +The army of half-breeds and Indians which annually went forth from the +Red River settlement to make war on the buffalo was often far larger +than the army with which Cortez subdued a great empire. As early as 1846 +it had become so great, that it was necessary to divide it into two +divisions, one of which, the White Horse Plain division, was accustomed +to go west by the Assinniboine River to the "rapids crossing-place," and +from there in a southwesterly direction. The Red River division went +south to Pembina, and did the most of their hunting in Dakota. The two +divisions sometimes met (says Professor Hind), but not intentionally. In +1849 a Mr. Flett took a census of the White Horse Plain division, in +Dakota Territory, and found that it contained 603 carts, 700 +half-breeds, 200 Indians, 600 horses, 200 oxen, 400 dogs, and 1 cat. + +In his "Red River Settlement" Mr. Alexander Ross gives the following +census of the number of carts assembled in camp for the buffalo hunt at +five different-periods: + ++--------------------------+ +|_Number of carts assembled| +| for the first trip._ | ++--------------------------+ +|In 1820 | 540| +|In 1825 | 680| +|In 1830 | 820| +|In 1835 | 970| +|In 1840 | 1,210| ++--------------------------+ + +The expedition which was accompanied by Rev. Mr. Belcourt, a Catholic +priest, whose account is set forth in the Hon. Mr. Sibley's paper on the +buffalo,[56] was a comparatively small one, which started from Pembina, +and very generously took pains not to spoil the prospects of the great +Red River division, which was expected to take the field at the same +time. This, therefore, was a small party, like others which had already +reached the range; but it contained 213 carts, 55 hunters and their +families, making 60 lodges in all. This party killed 1,776 cows (bulls +not counted, many of which were killed, though "not even a tongue was +taken"), which yielded 228 bags of pemmican, 1,213 bales of dried meat, +166 sacks of tallow, and 556 bladders full of marrow. But this was very +moderate slaughter, being about 33 buffalo to each family. Even as late +as 1872, when buffalo were getting scarce, Mr. Grant[57] met a +half-breed family on the Qu'Appelle, consisting of man, wife, and seven +children, whose six carts were laden with the meat and robes yielded by +_sixty_ buffaloes; that number representing this one hunter's share of +the spoils of the hunt. + +[Note 56: Schoolcraft, pp. 101-110.] + +[Note 57: Ocean to Ocean, p. 116.] + +To afford an idea of the truly military character of those Red River +expeditions, I have only to quote a page from Prof. Henry Youle +Hind:[58] + +[Note 58: Assinniboine and Saskatch. Exp. Exped., II, p. 111.] + +"After the start from the settlement has been well made, and all +stragglers or tardy hunters have arrived, a great council is held and a +president elected. A number of captains are nominated by the president +and people jointly. The captains then proceed to appoint their own +policemen, the number assigned to each not exceeding ten. Their duties +are to see that the laws of the hunt are strictly carried out. In 1840, +if a man ran a buffalo without permission before the general hunt began, +his saddle and bridle were cut to pieces for the first offense; for the +second offense his clothes were cut off his back. At the present day +these punishments are changed to a fine of 20 shillings for the first +offense. No gun is permitted to be fired when in the buffalo country +before the 'race' begins. A priest sometimes goes with the hunt, and +mass is then celebrated in the open prairies. + +"At night the carts are placed in the form of a circle, with the horses +and cattle inside the ring, and it is the duty of the captains and their +policemen to see that this is rightly done. All laws are proclaimed in +camp, and relate to the hunt alone. All camping orders are given by +signal, a flag being carried by the guides, who are appointed by +election. Each guide has his tarn of one day, and no man can pass a +guide on duty without subjecting himself to a fine of 5 shillings. No +hunter can leave the camp to return home without permission, and no one +is permitted to stir until any animal or property of value supposed to +be lost is recovered. The policemen, at the order of their captains, can +seize any cart at night-fall and place it where they choose for the +public safety, but on the following morning they are compelled to bring +it back to the spot from which they moved it the previous evening. This +power is very necessary, in order that the horses may not be stampeded +by night attacks of the Sioux or other Indian tribes at war with the +half-breeds. A heavy fine is imposed in case of neglect in extinguishing +fires when the camp is broken up in the morning. + +"In sight of buffalo all the hunters are drawn up in line, the +president, captains, and police being a few yards in advance, +restraining the impatient hunters. 'Not yet! Not yet!' is the subdued +whisper of the president. The approach to the herd is cautiously made. +'Now!' the president exclaims; and as the word leaves his lips the +charge is made, and in a few minutes the excited half-breeds are amongst +the bewildered buffalo." + +"After witnessing one buffalo hunt," says Prof. John Macoun, "I can not +blame the half-breed and the Indian for leaving the farm and wildly +making for the plains when it is reported that buffalo have crossed the +border." + +The "great fall hunt" was a regular event with about all the Indian +tribes living within striking distance of the buffalo, in the course of +which great numbers of buffalo were killed, great quantities of meat +dried and made into pemmican, and all the skins taken were tanned in +various ways to suit the many purposes they were called upon to serve. + +Mr. Francis La Flesche informs me that during the presence of the +buffalo in western Nebraska and until they were driven south by the +Sioux, the fall hunt of the Omahas was sometimes participated in by +three hundred lodges, or about 3,000 people all told, six hundred of +whom were warriors, and each of whom generally killed about ten +buffaloes. The laws of the hunt were very strict and inexorable. In +order that all participants should have an equal chance, it was decreed +that any hunter caught "still-hunting" should be soundly flogged. On one +occasion an Indian was discovered in the act, but not caught. During the +chase which was made to capture him many arrows were fired at him by the +police, but being better mounted than his pursuers he escaped, and kept +clear of the camp during the remainder of the hunt. On another occasion +an Omaha, guilty of the same offense, was chased, and in his effort to +escape his horse fell with him in a coulée and broke one of his legs. In +spite of the sad plight of the Omaha, his pursuers came up and flogged +him, just as if nothing had happened. + +After the invention of the Colt's revolver, and breech-loading rifles +generally, the chase on horseback speedily became more fatal to the +bison than it ever had been before. With such weapons, it was possible +to gallop into the midst of a flying herd and, during the course of a +run of 2 or 3 miles, discharge from twelve to forty shots at a range of +only a few yards, or even a few feet. In this kind of hunting the heavy +Navy revolver was the favorite weapon, because it could be held in one +hand and fired with far greater precision than could a rifle held in +both hands. Except in the hands of an expert, the use of the rifle was +limited, and often attended with risk to the hunter; but the revolver +was good for all directions; it could very often be used with deadly +effect where a rifle could not have been used at all, and, moreover, it +left the bridle-hand free. Many cavalrymen and hunters were able to use +a revolver with either hand, or one in each hand. Gen. Lew. Wallace +preferred the Smith and Wesson in 1867, which he declared to be "the +best of revolvers" then. + +It was his marvelous skill in shooting buffaloes with a rifle, from the +back of a galloping horse, that earned for the Hon. W. F. Cody the +sobriquet by which he is now familiarly known to the world--"Buffalo +Bill." To the average hunter on horseback the galloping of the horse +makes it easy for him to aim at the heart of a buffalo and shoot clear +over its back. No other shooting is so difficult, or requires such +consummate dexterity as shooting with any kind of a gun, especially a +rifle, from the back of a running horse. Let him who doubts this +statement try it for himself and he will doubt no more. It was in the +chase of the buffalo on horseback, armed with a rifle, that "Buffalo +Bill" acquired the marvelous dexterity with the rifle which he has since +exhibited in the presence of the people of two continents. I regret that +circumstances have prevented my obtaining the exact figures of the great +kill of buffaloes that Mr. Cody once made in a single run, in which he +broke all previous records in that line, and fairly earned his title. In +1867 he entered into a contract with the Kansas Pacific Railway, then in +course of construction through western Kansas, at a monthly salary of +$500, to deliver all the buffalo meat that would be required by the army +of laborers engaged in building the road. In eighteen mouths he killed +4,280 buffaloes. + +3. _Impounding or Killing in Pens._--At first thought it seems hard to +believe that it was ever possible for Indians to build pens and drive +wild buffaloes into them, as cowboys now corral their cattle, yet such +wholesale catches were of common occurrence among the Plains Crees of +the south Saskatchewan country, and the same general plan was pursued, +with slight modifications, by the Indians of the Assinniboine, +Blackfeet, and Gros Ventres, and other tribes of the Northwest. Like the +keddah elephant-catching operations in India, this plan was feasible +only in a partially wooded country, and where buffalo were so numerous +that their presence could be counted upon to a certainty. The "pound" +was simply a circular pen, having a single entrance; but being unable to +construct a gate of heavy timbers, such as is made to drop and close the +entrance to an elephant pen, the Indians very shrewdly got over the +difficulty by making the opening at the edge of a perpendicular bank 10 +or 12 feet high, easy enough for a buffalo to jump down, but impossible +for him to scale afterward. It is hardly probable that Indians who were +expert enough to attack and kill buffalo on foot would have been tempted +to undertake the labor that building a pound always involved, had it not +been for the wild excitement attending captures made in this way, and +which were shared to the fullest possible extent by warriors, women, and +children alike. + +The best description of this method which has come under our notice is +that of Professor Hind, who witnessed its practice by the Plains Crees, +on the headwaters of the Qu'Appelle River, in 1858. He describes the +pound he saw as a fence, constructed of the trunks of trees laced +together with green withes, and braced on the outside by props, +inclosing a circular space about 120 feet in diameter. It was placed in +a pretty dell between sand-hills, and leading from it in two diverging +rows (like the guiding wings of an elephant pen) were the two rows of +bushes which the Indians designate "dead men," which serve to guide the +buffalo into the pound. The "dead men" extended a distance of 4 miles +into the prairie. They were placed about 50 feet apart, and the two +rows gradually diverged until at their extremities they were from 11/2 +to 2 miles apart. + +[Illustration: CREE INDIANS IMPOUNDING BUFFALOES. Reproduced from Prof. +H. Y. Hind's--"Red River, Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Expedition."] + +"When the skilled hunters are about to bring in a herd of buffalo from +the prairie," says Professor Hind, "they direct the course of the gallop +of the alarmed animals by confederates stationed in hollows or small +depressions, who, when the buffalo appear inclined to take a direction +leading from the space marked out by the 'dead men,' show themselves for +a moment and wave their robes, immediately hiding again. This serves to +turn the buffalo slightly in another direction, and when the animals, +having arrived between the rows of 'dead men,' endeavor to pass through +them, Indians stationed here and there behind a 'dead man' go through +the same operation, and thus keep the animals within the narrowing +limits of the converging lines. At the entrance to the pound there is a +strong trunk of a tree placed about a foot from the ground, and on the +inner side an excavation is made sufficiently deep to prevent the +buffalo from leaping back when once in the pound. As soon as the animals +have taken the fatal spring, they begin to gallop round and round the +ring fence, looking for a chance to escape, but with the utmost silence +women and children on the outside hold their robes before every orifice +until the whole herd is brought in; then they climb to the top of the +fence, and, with the hunters who have followed closely in the rear of +the buffalo, spear or shoot with bows and arrows or fire-arms at the +bewildered animals, rapidly becoming frantic with rage and terror, +within the narrow limits of the pound. + +"A dreadful scene of confusion and slaughter then begins; the oldest and +strongest animals crush and toss the weaker; the shouts and screams of +the excited Indians rise above the roaring of the bulls, the bellowing +of the cows, and the piteous moaning of the calves. The dying struggles +of so many huge and powerful animals crowded together create a revolting +and terrible scene, dreadful from the excess of its cruelty and waste of +life, but with occasional displays of wonderful brute strength and rage; +while man in his savage, untutored, and heathen state shows both in deed +and expression how little he is superior to the noble beasts he so +wantonly and cruelly destroys."[59] + +[Note 59: Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Expedition, p. 358.] + +The last scene of the bloody tragedy is thus set forth a week later: + +"Within the circular fence ... lay, tossed in every conceivable +position, over two hundred dead buffalo. [The exact number was 240.] +From old bulls to calves of three months' old, animals of every age were +huddled together in all the forced attitudes of violent death. Some lay +on their backs, with eyes starting from their heads and tongue thrust +out through clotted gore. Others were impaled on the horns of the old +and strong bulls. Others again, which had been tossed, were lying with +broken backs, two and three deep. One little calf hung suspended on the +horns of a bull which had impaled it in the wild race round and round +the pound. The Indians looked upon the dreadful and sickening sight +with evident delight, and told how such and such a bull or cow had +exhibited feats of wonderful strength in the death-struggle. The flesh +of many of the cows had been taken from them, and was drying in the sun +on stages near the tents. It is needless to say that the odor was +overpowering, and millions of large blue flesh-flies, humming and +buzzing over the putrefying bodies, was not the least disgusting part of +the spectacle." + +It is some satisfaction to know that when the first "run" was made, ten +days previous, the herd of two hundred buffaloes was no sooner driven +into the pound than a wary old bull espied a weak spot in the fence, +charged it at full speed, and burst through to freedom and the prairie, +followed by the entire herd. + +Strange as it may seem to-day, this wholesale method of destroying +buffalo was once practiced in Montana. In his memoir on "The American +Bison," Mr. J. A. Allen states that as late as 1873, while journeying +through that Territory in charge of the Yellowstone Expedition, he +"several times met with the remains of these pounds and their converging +fences in the region above the mouth of the Big Horn River." Mr. Thomas +Simpson states that in 1840 there were three camps of Assinniboine +Indians in the vicinity of Carlton House, each of which had its buffalo +pound into which they drove forty or fifty animals daily. + +4. _The "Surround."_--During the last forty years the final +extermination of the buffalo has been confidently predicted by not only +the observing white man of the West, but also nearly all the Indians and +half-breeds who formerly depended upon this animal for the most of the +necessities, as well as luxuries, of life. They have seen the great +herds driven westward farther and farther, until the plains were left +tenantless, and hunger took the place of feasting on the choice tid-bits +of the chase. And is it not singular that during this period the Indian +tribes were not moved by a common impulse to kill sparingly, and by the +exercise of a reasonable economy in the chase to make the buffalo last +as long as possible. + +But apparently no such thoughts ever entered their minds, so far as +_they themselves_ were concerned. They looked with jealous eyes upon the +white hunter, and considered him as much of a robber as if they had a +brand on every buffalo. It has been claimed by some authors that the +Indians killed with more judgment and more care for the future than did +the white man, but I fail to find any evidence that such was ever the +fact. They all killed wastefully, wantonly, and always about five times +as many head as were really necessary for food. It was always the same +old story, whenever a gang of Indians needed meat a whole herd was +slaughtered, the choicest portions of the finest animals were taken, and +about 75 per cent of the whole left to putrefy and fatten the wolves. +And now, as we read of the appalling slaughter, one can scarcely repress +the feeling of grim satisfaction that arises when we also read that many +of the ex-slaughterers are almost starving for the millions of pounds +of fat and juicy buffalo meat they wasted a few years ago. Verily, the +buffalo is in a great measure avenged already. + +The following extract from Mr. Catlin's "North American Indians,"[60] I, +page 199-200, serves well to illustrate not only a very common and very +deadly Indian method of wholesale slaughter--the "surround"--but also +to show the senseless destructiveness of Indians even when in a state of +semi-starvation, which was brought upon them by similar acts of +improvidence and wastefulness. + +[Note 60: H. Mis. 600, pt. 2-31] + +"The Minatarees, as well as the Mandans, had suffered for some months +past for want of meat, and had indulged in the most alarming fears that +the herds of buffalo were emigrating so far off from them that there was +great danger of their actual starvation, when it was suddenly announced +through the village one morning at an early hour that a herd of +buffaloes was in sight. A hundred or more young men mounted their +horses, with weapons in hand, and steered their course to the prairies. +* * * + +"The plan of attack, which in this country is familiarly called a +surround, was explicitly agreed upon, and the hunters, who were all +mounted on their 'buffalo horses' and armed with bows and arrows or long +lances, divided into two columns, taking opposite directions, and drew +themselves gradually around the herd at a mile or more distance from +them, thus forming a circle of horsemen at equal distances apart, who +gradually closed in upon them with a moderate pace at a signal given. +The unsuspecting herd at length 'got the wind' of the approaching enemy +and fled in a mass in the greatest confusion. To the point where they +were aiming to cross the line the horsemen were seen, at full speed, +gathering and forming in a column, brandishing their weapons, and +yelling in the most frightful manner, by which they turned the black and +rushing mass, which moved off in an opposite direction, where they were +again met and foiled in a similar manner, and wheeled back in utter +confusion; by which time the horsemen had closed in from all directions, +forming a continuous line around them, whilst the poor affrighted +animals were eddying about in a crowded and confused mass, hooking and +climbing upon each other, when the work of death commenced. I had rode +up in the rear and occupied an elevated position at a few rods' +distance, from which I could (like the general of a battlefield) survey +from my horse's back the nature and the progress of the grand _mêlée_, +but (unlike him) without the power of issuing a command or in any way +directing its issue. + +"In this grand turmoil [see illustration] a cloud of dust was soon +raised, which in parts obscured the throng where the hunters were +galloping their horses around and driving the whizzing arrows or their +long lances to the hearts of these noble animals; which in many +instances, becoming infuriated with deadly wounds in their sides, +erected their shaggy manes over their bloodshot eyes and furiously +plunged forward at the sides of their assailants' horses, sometimes +goring them to death at a lunge and putting their dismounted riders to +flight for their lives. Sometimes their dense crowd was opened, and the +blinded horsemen, too intent on their prey amidst the cloud of dust, +were hemmed and wedged in amidst the crowding beasts, over whose backs +they were obliged to leap for security, leaving their horses to the fate +that might await them in the results of this wild and desperate war. +Many were the bulls that turned upon their assailants and met them with +desperate resistance, and many were the warriors who were dismounted and +saved themselves by the superior muscles of their legs; some who were +closely pursued by the bulls wheeled suddenly around, and snatching the +part of a buffalo robe from around their waists, threw it over the horns +and eyes of the infuriated beast, and darting by its side drove the +arrow or the lance to its heart; others suddenly dashed off upon the +prairie by the side of the affrighted animals which had escaped from the +throng, and closely escorting them for a few rods, brought down their +heart's blood in streams and their huge carcasses upon the green and +enameled turf. + +"In this way this grand hunt soon resolved itself into a desperate +battle, _and in the space of fifteen minutes resulted in the total +destruction of the whole herd_, which in all their strength and fury +were doomed, like every beast and living thing else, to fall before the +destroying hands of mighty man. + +"I had sat in trembling silence upon my horse and witnessed this +extraordinary scene, which allowed not one of these animals to escape +out of my sight. Many plunged off upon the prairie for a distance, but +were overtaken and killed, and although I could not distinctly estimate +the number that were slain, yet I am sure that some hundreds of these +noble animals fell in this grand _mêlée_. * * * Amongst the poor +affrighted creatures that had occasionally dashed through the ranks of +their enemy and sought safety in flight upon the prairie (and in some +instances had undoubtedly gained it), I saw them stand awhile, looking +back, when they turned, and, as if bent on their own destruction, +retraced their steps, and mingled themselves and their deaths with those +of the dying throng. Others had fled to a distance on the prairies, and +for want of company, of friends or of foes, had stood and gazed on till +the battle-scene was over, seemingly taking pains to stay and hold their +lives in readiness for their destroyers until the general destruction +was over, when they fell easy victims to their weapons, making the +slaughter complete." + +It is to be noticed that _every animal_ of this entire herd of several +hundred was slain on the spot, and there is no room to doubt that at +least half (possibly much more) of the meat thus taken was allowed to +become a loss. People who are so utterly senseless as to wantonly +destroy their own source of food, as the Indians have done, certainly +deserve to starve. + +This "surround" method of wholesale slaughter was also practiced by +the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Sioux, Pawnees, Ornabas, and probably many +other tribes. + +[Illustration: THE SURROUND. From a painting in the National Museum by +George Catlin.] + +5. _Decoying and Driving._--Another method of slaughtering by wholesale +is thus described by Lewis and Clarke, I, 235. The locality indicated +was the Missouri River, in Montana, just above the mouth of Judith +River: + +"On the north we passed a precipice about 120 feet high, under which lay +scattered the fragments of at least one hundred carcasses of buffaloes, +although the water which had washed away the lower part of the hill, +must have carried off many of the dead. These buffaloes had been chased +down a precipice in a way very common on the Missouri, and by which vast +herds are destroyed in a moment. The mode of hunting is to select one of +the most active and fleet young men, who is disguised by a buffalo skin +round his body; the skin of the head with the ears and horns fastened on +his own head in such a way as to deceive the buffaloes. Thus dressed, he +fixes himself at a convenient distance between a herd of buffaloes and +any of the river precipices, which sometimes extend for some miles. + +"His companions in the mean time get in the rear and side of the herd, +and at a given signal show themselves, and advance towards the +buffaloes. They instantly take alarm, and, finding the hunters beside +them, they run toward the disguised Indian or decoy, who leads them on +at full speed toward the river, when, suddenly securing himself in some +crevice of the cliff which he had previously fixed on, the herd is left +on the brink of the precipice; it is then in vain for the foremost to +retreat or even to stop; they are pressed on by the hindmost rank, who, +seeing no danger but from the hunters, goad on those before them till +the whole are precipitated and the shore is strewed with their dead +bodies. Sometimes in this perilous seduction the Indian is himself +either trodden under foot by the rapid movements of the buffaloes, or, +missing his footing in the cliff, is urged down the precipice by the +falling herd. The Indians then select as much meat as they wish, and the +rest is abandoned to the wolves, and creates a most dreadful stench." + +Harper's Magazine, volume 38, page 147, contains the following from the +pen of Theo. E. Davis, in an article entitled "The Buffalo Range:" + +"As I have previously stated, the best hunting on the range is to be +found between the Platte and Arkansas Rivers. Here I have seen the +Indians have recourse to another method of slaughtering buffalo in a +very easy, but to me a cruel way, for where one buffalo is killed +several are sure to be painfully injured; but these, too, are soon +killed by the Indians, who make haste to lance or shoot the cripples. + +"The mode of hunting is somewhat as follows: A herd is discovered +grazing on the table-lands. Being thoroughly acquainted with the +country, the Indians are aware of the location of the nearest point +where the table land is broken abruptly by a precipice which descends a +hundred or more feet. Toward this 'devil-jump' the Indians head the +herd, which is at once driven pell mell to and over the precipice. +Meanwhile a number of Indians have taken their way by means of routes +known to them, and succeed in reaching the cañon through which the +crippled buffalo are running in all directions. These are quickly +killed, so that out of a very considerable band of buffalo but few +escape, many having been killed by the fall and others dispatched while +limping off. This mode of hunting is sometimes indulged in by +harum-scarum white men, but it is done more for deviltry than anything +else. I have never known of its practice by army officers or persons who +professed to hunt buffalo as a sport." + +6. _Hunting on Snow-shoes._--"In the dead of the winters," says Mr. +Catlin,[61] "which are very long and severely cold in this country, +where horses can not be brought into the chase with any avail, the +Indian runs upon the surface of the snow by aid of his snow-shoes, which +buoy him up, while the great weight of the buffaloes sinks them down to +the middle of their sides, and, completely stopping their progress, +insures them certain and easy victims to the bow or lance of their +pursuers. The snow in these regions often lies during the winter to the +depth of 3 and 4 feet, being blown away from the tops and sides of the +hills in many places, which are left bare for the buffaloes to graze +upon, whilst it is drifted in the hollows and ravines to a very great +depth, and rendered almost entirely impassable to these huge animals, +which, when closely pursued by their enemies, endeavor to plunge through +it, but are soon wedged in and almost unable to move, where they fall an +easy prey to the Indian, who runs up lightly upon his snow-shoes and +drives his lance to their hearts. The skins are then stripped off, to be +sold to the fur traders, and the carcasses left to be devoured by the +wolves. [Owing to the fact that the winter's supply of meat was procured +and dried in the summer and fall months, the flesh of all buffalo killed +in winter was allowed to become a total loss.] This is the season in +which the greatest number of these animals are destroyed for their +robes; they are most easily killed at this time, and their hair or fur, +being longer and more abundant, gives greater value to the robe." + +[Note 61: North American Indians, I, 253.] + + + * * * * * + + + + +III. PROGRESS OF THE EXTERMINATION. + +A. THE PERIOD OF DESULTORY DESTRUCTION, FROM 1730 TO 1830. + +[Illustration: INDIANS ON SNOW-SHOES HUNTING BUFFALOES. +From a painting in the National Museum by George Catlin.] + + +The disappearance of the buffalo from all the country east of the +Mississippi was one of the inevitable results of the advance of +civilization. To the early pioneers who went forth into the wilderness +to wrestle with nature for the necessities of life, this valuable animal +might well have seemed a gift direct from the hand of Providence. During +the first few years of the early settler's life in a new country, the +few domestic animals he had brought with him were far too valuable to +be killed for food, and for a long period he looked to the wild animals +of the forest and the prairie for his daily supply of meat. The time was +when no one stopped to think of the important part our game animals +played in the settlement of this country, and even now no one has +attempted to calculate the lessened degree of rapidity with which the +star of empire would have taken its westward way without the bison, +deer, elk, and antelope. The Western States and Territories pay little +heed to the wanton slaughter of deer and elk now going on in their +forests, but the time will soon come when the "grangers" will enter +those regions and find the absence of game a very serious matter. + +Although the bison was the first wild species to disappear before the +advance of civilization, he served a good purpose at a highly critical +period. His huge bulk of toothsome flesh fed many a hungry family, and +his ample robe did good service in the settler's cabin and sleigh in +winter weather. By the time game animals had become scarce, domestic +herds and flocks had taken their place, and hunting became a pastime +instead of a necessity. + +As might be expected, from the time the bison was first seen by white +men he has always been a conspicuous prize, and being the largest of the +land quadrupeds, was naturally the first to disappear. Every man's hand +has been against him. While his disappearance from the eastern United +States was, in the main, due to the settler who killed game as a means +of subsistence, there were a few who made the killing of those animals a +regular business. This occurred almost exclusively in the immediate +vicinity of salt springs, around which the bison congregated in great +numbers, and made their wholesale slaughter of easy accomplishment. Mr. +Thomas Ashe[62] has recorded some very interesting facts and +observations on this point. In speaking of an old man who in the latter +part of the last century built a log house for himself "on the immediate +borders of a salt spring," in western Pennsylvania, for the purpose of +killing buffaloes out of the immense droves which frequented that spot, +Mr. Ashe says: + +[Note 62: Travels in America in 1806. London, 1808.] + +"In the first and second years this old man, with some companions, +killed from six to seven hundred of these noble creatures merely for the +sake of their skins, which to them were worth only 2 shillings each; and +after this 'work of death' they were obliged to leave the place till the +following season, or till the wolves, bears, panthers, eagles, rooks, +ravens, etc., had devoured the carcasses and abandoned the place for +other prey. In the two following years the same persons killed great +numbers out of the first droves that arrived, skinned them, and left +their bodies exposed to the sun and air; but they soon had reason to +repent of this, for the remaining droves, as they came up in succession, +stopped, gazed on the mangled and putrid bodies, sorrowfully moaned or +furiously lowed aloud, and returned instantly to the wilderness in an +unusual run, without tasting their favorite spring or licking the +impregnated earth, which was also once their most agreeable occupation; +nor did they nor any of their race ever revisit the neighborhood. + +"The simple history of this spring is that of every other in the settled +parts of this Western World; the carnage of beasts was everywhere the +same. I met with a man who had killed two thousand buffaloes with his +own hand, and others no doubt have done the same thing. In consequence +of such proceedings not one buffalo is at this time to be found east of +the Mississippi, except a few domesticated by the curious, or carried +through the country on a public show." + +But, fortunately, there is no evidence that such slaughter as that +described by Mr. Ashe was at all common, and there is reason for the +belief that until within the last forty years the buffalo was sacrificed +in ways conducive to the greatest good of the greatest number. + +From Coronado to General Frémont there has hardly been an explorer of +United States territory who has not had occasion to bless the bison, and +its great value to mankind can hardly be overestimated, although by many +it can readily be forgotten. + +The disappearance of the bison from the eastern United States was due to +its consumption as food. It was very gradual, like the march of +civilization, and, under the circumstances, absolutely inevitable. In a +country so thickly peopled as this region speedily became, the mastodon +could have survived extinction about as easily as the bison. Except when +the latter became the victim of wholesale slaughter, there was little +reason to bemoan his fate, save upon grounds that may be regarded purely +sentimental. He served a most excellent purpose in the development of +the country. Even as late as 1875 the farmers of eastern Kansas were in +the habit of making trips every fall into the western part of that State +for wagon loads of buffalo meat as a supply for the succeeding winter. +The farmers of Texas, Nebraska, Dakota, and Minnesota also drew largely +upon the buffalo as long as the supply lasted. + +The extirpation of the bison west of the Rocky Mountains was due to +legitimate hunting for food and clothing rather than for marketable +peltries. In no part of that whole region was the species ever numerous, +although in the mountains themselves, notably in Colorado, within easy +reach of the great prairies on the east, vast numbers were seen by the +early explorers and pioneers. But to the westward, away from the +mountains, they were very rarely met with, and their total destruction +in that region was a matter of easy accomplishment. According to Prof. +J. A. Allen the complete disappearance of the bison west of the Rocky +Mountains took place between 1838 and 1840. + +B. THE PERIOD OF SYSTEMATIC SLAUGHTER, FROM 1830 TO 1838. + +We come now to a history which I would gladly leave unwritten. Its +record is a disgrace to the American people in general, and the +Territorial, State, and General Government in particular. It will cause +succeeding generations to regard us as being possessed of the leading +characteristics of the savage and the beast of prey--cruelty and greed. +We will be likened to the blood-thirsty tiger of the Indian jungle, who +slaughters a dozen bullocks at once when he knows he can eat only one. + +In one respect, at least, the white men who engaged in the systematic +slaughter of the bison were savages just as much as the Piegan Indians, +who would drive a whole herd over a precipice to secure a week's rations +of meat for a single village. The men who killed buffaloes for their +tongues and those who shot them from the railway trains for sport were +murderers. In no way does civilized man so quickly revert to his former +state as when he is alone with the beasts of the field. Give him a gun +and something which he may kill without getting himself in trouble, and, +presto! he is instantly a savage again, finding exquisite delight in +bloodshed, slaughter, and death, if not for gain, then solely for the +joy and happiness of it. There is no kind of warfare against game +animals too unfair, too disreputable, or too mean for white men to +engage in if they can only do so with safety to their own precious +carcasses. They will shoot buffalo and antelope from running railway +trains, drive deer into water with hounds and cut their throats in cold +blood, kill does with fawns a week old, kill fawns by the score for +their spotted skins, slaughter deer, moose, and caribou in the snow at a +pitiful disadvantage, just as the wolves do; exterminate the wild ducks +on the whole Atlantic seaboard with punt guns for the metropolitan +markets; kill off the Rocky Mountain goats for hides worth only 50 cents +apiece, destroy wagon loads of trout with dynamite, and so on to the end +of the chapter. + +Perhaps the most gigantic task ever undertaken on this continent in the +line of game-slaughter was the extermination of the bison in the great +pasture region by the hide-hunters. Probably the brilliant rapidity and +success with which that lofty undertaking was accomplished was a matter +of surprise even to those who participated in it. The story of the +slaughter is by no means a long one. + +The period of systematic slaughter of the bison naturally begins with +the first organized efforts in that direction, in a business-like, +wholesale way. Although the species had been steadily driven westward +for a hundred years by the advancing settlements, and had during all +that time been hunted for the meat and robes it yielded, its +extermination did not begin in earnest until 1820, or thereabouts. As +before stated, various persons had previous to that time made buffalo +killing a business in order to sell their skins, but such instances were +very exceptional. By that time the bison was totally extinct in all the +region lying east of the Mississippi River except a portion of +Wisconsin, where it survived until about 1830. In 1820 the first +organized buffalo hunting expedition on a grand scale was made from the +Red River settlement, Manitoba, in which five hundred and forty carts +proceeded to the range. Previous to that time the buffaloes were found +near enough to the settlements around Fort Garry that every settler +could hunt independently; but as the herds were driven farther and +farther away, it required an organized effort and a long journey to +reach them. + +The American Fur Company established trading posts along the Missouri +River, one at the mouth of the Tetón River and another at the mouth of +the Yellowstone. In 1826 a post was established at the eastern base of +the Rocky Mountains, at the head of the Arkansas River, and in 1832 +another was located in a corresponding situation at the head of the +South Fork of the Platte, close to where Denver now stands. Both the +latter were on what was then the western border of the buffalo range. +Elsewhere throughout the buffalo country there were numerous other +posts, always situated as near as possible to the best hunting ground, +and at the same time where they would be most accessible to the hunters, +both white and red. + +As might be supposed, the Indians were encouraged to kill buffaloes for +their robes, and this is what Mr. George Catlin wrote at the mouth of +the Tetón River (Pyatt County, Dakota) in 1832 concerning this +trade:[63] + +"It seems hard and cruel (does it not?) that we civilized people, with +all the luxuries and comforts of the world about us, should be drawing +from the backs of these useful animals the skins for our luxury, leaving +their carcasses to be devoured by the wolves; that we should draw from +that country some one hundred and fifty or two hundred thousand of their +robes annually, the greater part of which are taken from animals that +are killed expressly for the robe, at a season when the meat is not +cured and preserved, and for each of which skins the Indian has received +but a pint of whisky! Such is the fact, and that number, or near it, are +annually destroyed, in addition to the number that is necessarily killed +for the subsistence of three hundred thousand Indians, who live chiefly +upon them." + +The author further declared that the fur trade in those "great western +realms" was then limited chiefly to the purchase of buffalo robes. + +1. _The Red River half-breeds._--In June, 1840, when the Red River +half-breeds assembled at Pembina for their annual expedition against the +buffalo, they mustered as follows: + ++-------------------------------------+ +|Carts |1,210| ++-------------------------+-----+-----+ +|Hunters | 620| | ++-------------------------+-----+ | +|Women | 650|1,630| ++-------------------------+-----+ | +|Boys and girls | 360| | ++-------------------------+-----+-----+ +|Horses (buffalo runners) | 403| ++-------------------------------+-----+ +|Dogs | 542| ++-------------------------------+-----+ +|Cart horses | 655| ++-------------------------------+-----+ +|Draught oxen | 586| ++-------------------------------+-----+ +|Skinning knives |1,240| ++-------------------------------------+ + +The total value of the property employed in this expedition and the +working time occupied by it (two months) amounted to the enormous sum of +£24,000. + +[Note 63: North American Indians, I, p. 263.] + +Although the bison formerly ranged to Fort Garry (near Winnipeg), they +had been steadily killed off and driven back, and in 1840 none were +found by the expedition until it was 250 miles from Pembina, which is +situated on the Red River, at the international boundary. At that time +the extinction of the species from the Red River to the Cheyenne was +practically complete. The Red River settlers, aided, of course, by the +Indians of that region, are responsible for the extermination of the +bison throughout northeastern Dakota as far as the Cheyenne River, +northern Minnesota, and the whole of what is now the province of +Manitoba. More than that; as the game grew scarce and retired farther +and farther, the half-breeds, who despised agriculture as long as there +was a buffalo to kill, extended their hunting operations westward along +the Qu'Appelle until they encroached upon the hunting-grounds of the +Plain Crees, who lived in the Saskatchewan country. + +Thus was an immense inroad made in the northern half of the herd which +had previously covered the entire pasture region from the Great Slave +Lake to central Texas. This was the first visible impression of the +systematic killing which began in 1820. Up to 1840 it is reasonably +certain, as will be seen by figures given elsewhere, that by this +business-like method of the half-breeds, at least 652,000 buffaloes were +destroyed by them alone. + +Even as early as 1840 the Red River hunt was prosecuted through Dakota +southwestwardly to the Missouri River and a short distance beyond it. +Here it touched the wide strip of territory, bordering that stream, +which was even then being regularly drained of its animal resources by +the Indian hunters, who made the river their base of operations, and +whose robes were shipped on its steam-boats. + +It is certain that these annual Red River expeditions into Dakota were +kept up as late as 1847, and as long thereafter as buffaloes were to be +found in any number between the Cheyenne and the Missouri. At the same +time, the White Horse Plains division, which hunted westward from Fort +Garry, did its work of destruction quite as rapidly and as thoroughly as +the rival expedition to the United States. + +In 1857 the Plains Crees, inhabiting the country around the headwaters +of the Qu'Appelle River (250 miles due west from Winnipeg), assembled in +council, and "determined that in consequence of promises often made and +broken by the white men and half-breeds, and the rapid destruction by +them of the buffalo they fed on, they would not permit either white men +or half-breeds to hunt in their country, or travel through it, except +for the purpose of trading for their dried meat, pemmican, skins and +robes." + +In 1858 the Crees reported that between the two branches of the +Saskatchewan buffalo were "very scarce." Professor Hind's expedition saw +only one buffalo in the whole course of their journey from Winnipeg +until they reached Sand Hill Lake, at the head of the Qu'Appelle, near +the south branch of the Saskatchewan, where the first herd was +encountered. Although the species was not totally extinct on the +Qu'Appelle at that time, it was practically so. + +2. _The country of the Sioux._--The next territory completely +depopulated of buffaloes by systematic hunting was very nearly the +entire southern half of Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, and northern +Nebraska as far as the North Platte. This vast region, once the favorite +range for hundreds of thousands of buffaloes, had for many years been +the favorite hunting ground of the Sioux Indians of the Missouri, the +Pawnees, Omahas, and all other tribes of that region. The settlement of +Iowa and Minnesota presently forced into this region the entire body of +Mississippi Sioux from the country west of Prairie du Chien and around +Fort Snelling, and materially hastened the extermination of all the game +animals which were once so abundant there. It is absolutely certain that +if the Indians had been uninfluenced by the white traders, or, in other +words, had not been induced to take and prepare a large number of robes +every year for the market, the species would have survived very much +longer than it did. But the demand quickly proved to be far greater than +the supply. The Indians, of course, found it necessary to slaughter +annually a great number of buffaloes for their own wants--for meat, +robes, leather, teepees, etc. When it came to supplementing this +necessary slaughter by an additional fifty thousand or more every year +for marketable robes, it is no wonder that the improvident savages soon +found, when too late, that the supply of buffaloes was not +inexhaustible. Naturally enough, they attributed their disappearance to +the white man, who was therefore a robber, and a proper subject for the +scalping-knife. Apparently it never occurred to the minds of the Sioux +that they themselves were equally to blame; it was always _the paleface_ +who killed the buffaloes; and it was always _Sioux_ buffaloes that they +killed. The Sioux seemed to feel that they held a chattel mortgage on +all the buffaloes north of the Platte, and it required more than one +pitched battle to convince them otherwise. + +Up to the time when the great Sioux Reservation was established in +Dakota (1875-'77), when 33,739 square miles of country, or nearly the +whole southwest quarter of the Territory, was set aside for the +exclusive occupancy of the Sioux, buffaloes were very numerous +throughout that entire region. East of the Missouri River, which is the +eastern boundary of the Sioux Reservation, from Bismarck all the way +down, the species was practically extinct as early as 1870. But at the +time when it became unlawful for white hunters to enter the territory of +the Sioux nation there were tens of thousands of buffaloes upon it, and +their subsequent slaughter is chargeable to the Indians alone, save as +to those which migrated into the hunting grounds of the whites. + +3. _Western railways, and their part in the extermination of the +buffalo._--The building of a railroad means the speedy extermination of +all the big game along its line. In its eagerness to attract the public +and build up "a big business," every new line which traverses a country +containing game does its utmost, by means of advertisements and posters, +to attract the man with a gun. Its game resorts are all laid bare, and +the market hunters and sportsmen swarm in immediately, slaying and to +slay. + +Within the last year the last real retreat for our finest game, the only +remaining stronghold for the mountain sheep, goat, caribou, elk, and +deer--northwestern Montana, northern Idaho, and thence westward--has +been laid open to the very heart by the building of the St. Paul, +Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway, which runs up the valley of the Milk +River to Fort Assinniboine, and crosses the Rocky Mountains through Two +Medicine Pass. Heretofore that region has been so difficult to reach +that the game it contains has been measurably secure from general +slaughter; but now it also must "go." + +The marking out of the great overland trail by the Argonauts of '49 in +their rush for the gold fields of California was the foreshadowing of +the great east-and-west breach in the universal herd, which was made +twenty years later by the first transcontinental railway. + +The pioneers who "crossed the plains" in those days killed buffaloes for +food whenever they could, and the constant harrying of those animals +experienced along the line of travel, soon led them to retire from the +proximity of such continual danger. It was undoubtedly due to this cause +that the number seen by parties who crossed the plains in 1849 and +subsequently, was surprisingly small. But, fortunately for the +buffaloes, the pioneers who would gladly have halted and turned aside +now and then for the excitement of the chase, were compelled to hurry +on, and accomplish the long journey while good weather lasted. It was +owing to this fact, and the scarcity of good horses, that the buffaloes +found it necessary to retire only a few miles from the wagon route to +get beyond the reach of those who would have gladly hunted them. + +Mr. Allen Varner, of Indianola, Illinois, has kindly furnished me with +the following facts in regard to the presence of the buffalo, as +observed by him during his journey westward, over what was then known as +the Oregon Trail. + +"The old Oregon trail ran from Independence, Missouri, to old Fort +Laramie, through the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, and thence up to +Salt Lake City. We left Independence on May C, 1849, and struck the +Platte River at Grand Island. The trail had been traveled but very +little previous to that year. We saw no buffaloes whatever until we +reached the forks of the Platte, on May 20, or thereabouts. There we saw +seventeen head. From that time on we saw small bunches now and then; +never more than forty or fifty together. We saw no great herds anywhere, +and I should say we did not see over five hundred head all told. The +most western point at which we saw buffaloes was about due north of +Laramie Peak, and it must have been about the 20th of June. We killed +several head for meat during our trip, and found them all rather thin +in flesh. Plainsmen who claimed to know, said that all the buffaloes we +saw had wintered in that locality, and had not had time to get fat. The +annual migration from the south had not yet begun, or rather had not yet +brought any of the southern buffaloes that far north." + +In a few years the tide of overland travel became so great, that the +buffaloes learned to keep away from the dangers of the trail, and many a +pioneer has crossed the plains without ever seeing a live buffalo. + +4. _The division of the universal herd._--Until the building of the +first transcontinental railway made it possible to market the "buffalo +product," buffalo hunting as a business was almost wholly in the hands +of the Indians. Even then, the slaughter so far exceeded the natural +increase that the narrowing limits of the buffalo range was watched with +anxiety, and the ultimate extinction of the species confidently +predicted. Even without railroads the extermination of the race would +have taken place eventually, but it would have been delayed perhaps +twenty years. With a recklessness of the future that was not to be +expected of savages, though perhaps perfectly natural to civilized white +men, who place the possession of a dollar above everything else, the +Indians with one accord singled out the _cows_ for slaughter, because +their robes and their flesh better suited the fastidious taste of the +noble redskin. The building of the Union Pacific Railway began at Omaha +in 1865, and during that year 40 miles were constructed. The year +following saw the completion of 265 miles more, and in 1867 245 miles +were added, which brought it to Cheyenne. In 1868, 350 miles were built, +and in 1869 the entire line was open to traffic. + +In 1867, when Maj. J. W. Powell and Prof. A. H. Thompson crossed the +plains by means of the Union Pacific Railway as far as it was +constructed and thence onward by wagon, they saw during the entire trip +only one live buffalo, a solitary old bull, wandering aimlessly along +the south bank of the Platte River. + +The completion of the Union Pacific Railway divided forever the +buffaloes of the United States into two great herds, which thereafter +became known respectively as the northern and southern herds. Both +retired rapidly and permanently from the railway, and left a strip of +country over 50 miles wide almost uninhabited by them. Although many +thousand buffaloes were killed by hunters who made the Union Pacific +Railway their base of operations, the two great bodies retired north and +south so far that the greater number were beyond striking distance from +that line. + +5. _The destruction of the southern herd._--The geographical center of +the great southern herd during the few years of its separate existence +previous to its destruction was very near the present site of Garden +City, Kansas. On the east, even as late as 1872, thousands of buffaloes +ranged within 10 miles of Wichita, which was then the headquarters of a +great number of buffalo-hunters, who plied their occupation vigorously +during the winter. On the north the herd ranged within 25 miles of the +Union Pacific, until the swarm of hunters coming down from the north +drove them farther and farther south. On the west, a few small bands +ranged as far as Pike's Peak and the South Park, but the main body +ranged east of the town of Pueblo, Colorado. In the southwest, buffaloes +were abundant as far as the Pecos and the Staked Plains, while the +southern limit of the herd was about on a line with the southern +boundary of New Mexico. Regarding this herd, Colonel Dodge writes as +follows: "Their most prized feeding ground was the section of country +between the South Platte and Arkansas rivers, watered by the Republican, +Smoky, Walnut, Pawnee, and other parallel or tributary streams, and +generally known as the Republican country. Hundreds of thousands went +south from here each winter, but hundreds of thousands remained. It was +the chosen home of the buffalo." + +Although the range of the northern herd covered about twice as much +territory as did the southern, the latter contained probably twice as +many buffaloes. The number of individuals in the southern herd in the +year 1871 must have been at least three millions, and most estimates +place the total much higher than that. + +During the years from 1866 to 1871, inclusive, the Atchison, Topeka and +Santa Fé Railway and what is now known as the Kansas Pacific, or Kansas +division of the Union Pacific Railway, were constructed from the +Missouri River westward across Kansas, and through the heart of the +southern buffalo range. The southern herd was literally cut to pieces by +railways, and every portion of its range rendered easily accessible. +There had always been a market for buffalo robes at a fair price, and as +soon as the railways crossed the buffalo country the slaughter began. +The rush to the range was only surpassed by the rush to the gold mines +of California in earlier years. The railroad builders, teamsters, +fortune-seekers, "professional" hunters, trappers, guides, and every one +out of a job turned out to hunt buffalo for hides and meat. The +merchants who had already settled in all the little towns along the +three great railways saw an opportunity to make money out of the buffalo +product, and forthwith began to organize and supply hunting parties with +arms, ammunition, and provisions, and send them to the range. An immense +business of this kind was done by the merchants of Dodge City (Fort +Dodge), Wichita, and Leavenworth, and scores of smaller towns did a +corresponding amount of business in the same line. During the years 1871 +to 1874 but little else was done in that country except buffalo killing. +Central depots were established in the best buffalo country, from whence +hunting parties operated in all directions. Buildings were erected for +the curing of meat, and corrals were built in which to heap up the +immense piles of buffalo skins that accumulated. At Dodge City, as late +as 1878, Professor Thompson saw a lot of baled buffalo skins in a +corral, the solid cubical contents of which he calculated to equal 120 +cords. + +At first the utmost wastefulness prevailed. Every one wanted to kill +buffalo, and no one was willing to do the skinning and curing. Thousands +upon thousands of buffaloes were killed for their tongues alone, and +never skinned. Thousands more were wounded by unskillful marksmen and +wandered off to die and become a total loss. But the climax of +wastefulness and sloth was not reached until the enterprising +buffalo-butcher began to skin his dead buffaloes by horse-power. The +process is of interest, as showing the depth of degradation to which a +man can fall and still call himself a hunter. The skin of the buffalo +was ripped open along the belly and throat, the legs cut around at the +knees, and ripped up the rest of the way. The skin of the neck was +divided all the way around at the back of the head, and skinned back a +few inches to afford a start. A stout iron bar, like a hitching post, +was then driven through the skull and about 18 inches into the earth, +after which a rope was tied very firmly to the thick skin of the neck, +made ready for that purpose. The other end of this rope was then hitched +to the whiffletree of a pair of horses, or to the rear axle of a wagon, +the horses were whipped up, and the skin was forthwith either torn in +two or torn off the buffalo with about 50 pounds of flesh adhering to +it. It soon became apparent to even the most enterprising buffalo +skinner that this method was not an unqualified success, and it was +presently abandoned. + +The slaughter which began in 1871 was prosecuted with great vigor and +enterprise in 1872, and reached its heighten 1873. By that time, the +buffalo country fairly swarmed with hunters, each, party putting forth +its utmost efforts to destroy more buffaloes than its rivals. By that +time experience had taught the value of thorough organization, and the +butchering was done in a more business-like way. By a coincidence that +proved fatal to the bison, it was just at the beginning of the slaughter +that breech-loading, long-range rifles attained what was practically +perfection. The Sharps 40-90 or 45-120, and the Remington were the +favorite weapons of the buffalo-hunter, the former being the one in most +general use. Before the leaden hail of thousands of these deadly +breech-loaders the buffaloes went down at the rate of several thousand +daily during the hunting season. + +During the years 1871 and 1872 the most wanton wastefulness prevailed. +Colonel Dodge declares that, though hundreds of thousands of skins were +sent to market, they scarcely indicated the extent of the slaughter. +Through want of skill in shooting and want of knowledge in preserving +the hides of those slain by green hunters, _one hide sent to market +represented three, four, or even five dead buffalo_. The skinners and +curers knew so little of the proper mode of curing hides, that at least +half of those actually taken were lost. In the summer and fall of 1872 +one hide sent to market represented at least _three_ dead buffalo. This +condition of affairs rapidly improved; but such was the furor for +slaughter, and the ignorance of all concerned, that every hide sent to +market in 1871 represented no less than _five_ dead buffalo. + +By 1873 the condition of affairs had somewhat improved, through better +organization of the hunting parties and knowledge gained by experience +in curing. For all that, however, buffaloes were still so exceedingly +plentiful, and shooting was so much easier than skinning, the latter was +looked upon as a necessary evil and still slighted to such an extent +that every hide actually sold and delivered represented two dead +buffaloes. + +In 1874 the slaughterers began to take alarm at the increasing scarcity +of buffalo, and the skinners, having a much smaller number of dead +animals to take care of than ever before, were able to devote more time +to each subject and do their work properly. As a result, Colonel Dodge +estimated that during 1874, and from that time on, one hundred skins +delivered represented not more than one hundred and twenty-five dead +buffaloes; but that "no parties have ever got the proportion lower than +this." + +The great southern herd was slaughtered by still-hunting, a method which +has already been fully described. A typical hunting party is thus +described by Colonel Dodge:[64] + +"The most approved party consisted of four men--one shooter, two +skinners, and one man to cook, stretch hides, and take care of camp. +Where buffalo were very plentiful the number of skinners was increased. +A light wagon, drawn by two horses or mules, takes the outfit into the +wilderness, and brings into camp the skins taken each day. The outfit is +most meager: a sack of flour, a side of bacon, 5 pounds of coffee, tea, +and sugar, a little salt, and possibly a few beans, is a month's supply. +A common or "A" tent furnishes shelter; a couple of blankets for each +man is a bed. One or more of Sharps or Remington's heaviest sporting +rifles, and an unlimited supply of ammunition, is the armament; while a +coffee-pot, Dutch-oven, frying-pan, four tin plates, and four tin cups +constitute the kitchen and table furniture. + +"The skinning knives do duty at the platter, and 'fingers were made +before forks.' Nor must be forgotten one or more 10-gallon kegs for +water, as the camp may of necessity be far away from a stream. The +supplies are generally furnished by the merchant for whom the party is +working, who, in addition, pays each of the party a specified percentage +of the value of the skins delivered. The shooter is carefully selected +for his skill and knowledge of the habits of the buffalo. He is captain +and leader of the party. When all is ready, he plunges into the +wilderness, going to the center of the best buffalo region known to him, +not already occupied (for there are unwritten regulations recognized as +laws, giving to each hunter certain rights of discovery and occupancy). +Arrived at the position, he makes his camp in some hidden ravine or +thicket, and makes all ready for work." + +[Note 64: Plains of the Great West, p. 134.] + +Of course the slaughter was greatest along the lines of the three great +railways--the Kansas Pacific, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé, and the +Union Pacific, about in the order named. It reached its height in the +season of 1873. During that year the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé +Railroad carried out of the buffalo country 251,443 robes, 1,017,600 +pounds of meat, and 2,743,100 pounds of bones. The end of the southern +herd was then near at hand. Could the southern buffalo range have been +roofed over at that time it would have made one vast charnel-house. +Putrifying carcasses, many of them with the hide still on, lay thickly +scattered over thousands of square miles of the level prairie, poisoning +the air and water and offending the sight. The remaining herds had +become mere scattered bands, harried and driven hither and thither by +the hunters, who now swarmed almost as thickly as the buffaloes. A +cordon of camps was established along the Arkansas River, the South +Platte, the Republican, and the few other streams that contained water, +and when the thirsty animals came to drink they were attacked and driven +away, and with the most fiendish persistency kept from slaking their +thirst, so that they would again be compelled to seek the river and come +within range of the deadly breech-loaders. Colonel Dodge declares that +in places favorable to such warfare, as the south bank of the Platte, a +herd of buffalo has, by shooting at it by day and by lighting fires and +firing guns at night, been kept from water until it has been entirely +destroyed. In the autumn of 1873, when Mr. William Blackmore traveled +for some 30 or 40 miles along the north bank of the Arkansas River to +the east of Port Dodge, "there was a continuous line of putrescent +carcasses, so that the air was rendered pestilential and offensive to +the last degree. The hunters had formed a line of camps along the banks +of the river, and had shot down the buffalo, night and morning, as they +came to drink. In order to give an idea of the number of these +carcasses, it is only necessary to mention that I counted sixty-seven on +one spot not covering 4 acres." + +White hunters were not allowed to hunt in the Indian Territory, but the +southern boundary of the State of Kansas was picketed by them, and a +herd no sooner crossed the line going north than it was destroyed. Every +water-hole was guarded by a camp of hunters, and whenever a thirsty herd +approached, it was promptly met by rifle-bullets. + +During this entire period the slaughter of buffaloes was universal. The +man who desired buffalo meat for food almost invariably killed five +times as many animals as he could utilize, and after cutting from each +victim its very choicest parts--the _tongue alone_, possibly, or perhaps +the hump and hind quarters, one or the other, or both--fully four-fifths +of the really edible portion of the carcass would be left to the wolves. +It was no uncommon thing for a man to bring in two barrels of salted +buffalo tongues, without another pound of meat or a solitary robe. The +tongues were purchased at 25 cents each and sold in the markets farther +east at 50 cents. In those days of criminal wastefulness it was a very +common thing for buffaloes to be slaughtered for their tongues alone. +Mr. George Catlin[65] relates that a few days previous to his arrival at +the mouth of the Tetón River (Dakota), in 1832, "an immense herd of +buffaloes had showed themselves on the opposite side of the river," +whereupon a party of five or six hundred Sioux Indians on horseback +forded the river, attacked the herd, recrossed the river about sunset, +and came into the fort with fourteen hundred fresh buffalo tongues, +which were thrown down in a mass, and for which they required only a few +gallons of whisky, which was soon consumed in "a little harmless +carouse." Mr. Catlin states that from all that he could learn not a skin +or a pound of meat, other than the tongues, was saved after this awful +slaughter. + +[Note 65: North American Indians, I, 256.] + +Judging from all accounts, it is making a safe estimate to say that +probably no fewer than fifty thousand buffaloes have been killed for +their tongues alone, and the most of these are undoubtedly chargeable +against white men, who ought to have known better. + +A great deal has been said about the slaughter of buffaloes by foreign +sportsmen, particularly Englishmen; but I must say that, from all that +can be ascertained on this point, this element of destruction has been +greatly exaggerated and overestimated. It is true that every English +sportsman who visited this country in the days of the buffalo always +resolved to have, and did have, "a buffalo hunt," and usually under the +auspices of United States Army officers. Undoubtedly these parties did +kill hundreds of buffaloes, but it is very doubtful whether the +aggregate of the number slain by foreign sportsmen would run up higher +than ten thousand. Indeed, for myself, I am well convinced that there +are many old ex-still-hunters yet living, each of whom is accountable +for a greater number of victims than all buffaloes killed by foreign +sportsmen would make added together. The professional butchers were very +much given to crying out against "them English lords," and holding up +their hands in holy horror at buffaloes killed by them for their heads, +instead of for hides to sell at a dollar apiece; but it is due the +American public to say that all this outcry was received at its true +value and deceived very few. By those in possession of the facts it was +recognized as "a blind," to divert public opinion from the real +culprits. + +Nevertheless it is very true that many men who were properly classed as +sportsmen, in contradistinction from the pot-hunters, did engage in +useless and inexcusable slaughter to an extent that was highly +reprehensible, to say the least. A sportsman is not supposed to kill +game wantonly, when it can be of no possible use to himself or any one +else, but a great many do it for all that. Indeed, the sportsman who +kills sparingly and conscientiously is rather the exception than the +rule. Colonel Dodge thus refers to the work of some foreign sportsmen: + +"In the fall of that year [1872] three English gentlemen went out with +me for a short hunt, and in their excitement bagged more buffalo than +would have supplied a brigade." As a general thing, however, the +professional sportsmen who went out to have a buffalo hunt for the +excitement of the chase and the trophies it yielded, nearly always found +the bison so easy a victim, and one whose capture brought so little +glory to the hunter, that the chase was voted very disappointing, and +soon abandoned in favor of nobler game. In those days there was no more +to boast of in killing a buffalo than in the assassination of a Texas +steer. + +It was, then, the hide-hunters, white and red, but especially white, who +wiped out the great southern herd in four short years. The prices +received for hides varied considerably, according to circumstances, but +for the green or undressed article it usually ranged from 50 cents for +the skins of calves to $1.25 for those of adult animals in good +condition. Such prices seem ridiculously small, but when it is +remembered that, when buffaloes were plentiful it was no uncommon thing +for a hunter to kill from forty to sixty head in a day, it will readily +be seen that the _chances_ of making very handsome profits were +sufficient to tempt hunters to make extraordinary exertions. Moreover, +even when the buffaloes were nearly gone, the country was overrun with +men who had absolutely nothing else to look to as a means of livelihood, +and so, no matter whether the profits were great or small, so long as +enough buffaloes remained to make it possible to get a living by their +pursuit, they were hunted down with the most determined persistency and +pertinacity. + +6. _Statistics of the slaughter._--The most careful and reliable +estimate ever made of results of the slaughter of the southern buffalo +herd is that of Col. Richard Irving Dodge, and it is the only one I know +of which furnishes a good index of the former size of that herd. +Inasmuch as this calculation was based on actual statistics, +supplemented by personal observations and inquiries made in that region +during the great slaughter, I can do no better than to quote Colonel +Dodge almost in full.[66] + +[Note 66: Plains of the Great West, pp. 139-144.] + +The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad furnished the following +statistics of the buffalo product carried by it during the years 1872, +1873, and 1874: + ++----------------------------------------------------+ +| _Buffalo product._ | ++----------------------------------------------------+ +| | No. of skins | | | +|Year. | carried. | Meat carried. | Bone carried.| ++----------------------------------------------------+ +| | | Pounds. | Pounds. | +|1872 | 165,721 | ... | 1,135,300 | +|1873 | 251,443 | 1,617,600 | 2,743,100 | +|1874 | 42,289 | 632,800 | 6,914,950 | ++------|--------------|---------------|--------------+ +|Total | 459,453 | 2,250,400 | 10,793,350 | ++----------------------------------------------------+ + +The officials of the Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific railroads either +could not or would not furnish any statistics of the amount of the +buffalo product carried by their lines during this period, and it became +necessary to proceed without the actual figures in both cases. Inasmuch +as the Kansas Pacific road cuts through a portion of the buffalo country +which was in every respect as thickly inhabited by those animals as the +region traversed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé, it seemed +absolutely certain that the former road hauled out fully as many hides +as the latter, if not more, and its quota is so set down. The Union +Pacific line handled a much smaller number of buffalo hides than either +of its southern rivals, but Colonel Dodge believes that this, "with the +smaller roads which touch the buffalo region, taken together, carried +about as much as either of the two principal buffalo roads." + +Colonel Dodge considers it reasonably certain that the statistics +furnished by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé road represent only +one-third of the entire buffalo product, and there certainly appears to +be good ground for this belief. It is therefore in order to base further +calculations upon these figures. + +According to evidence gathered on the spot by Colonel Dodge during the +period of the great slaughter, one hide sent to market in 1872 +represented three dead buffaloes, in 1873 two, and in 1874 one hundred +skins delivered represented one hundred and twenty-five dead animals. +The total slaughter by white men was therefore about as below: + ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +|Year.|Hides |Hides |Total |Total |Total | +| |shipped |shipped |number of |number |of buffaloes| +| |by A., T.|by other |buffaloes |killed and|slaughtered | +| |and S. F.|roads, |utilized. |wasted. |by whites. | +| |railway. |same | | | | +| | |period. | | | | +| | |(estimated)| | | | ++-----+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+------------+ +|1872 | 165,721 | 331,442 | 497,163 | 994,326| 1,491,489 | +|1873 | 251,443 | 502,886 | 754,329 | 754,329| 1,508,658 | +|1874 | 42,289 | 84,578 | 126,867 | 31,716| 158,583 | +|Total| 459,453 | 918,906 |1,378,359 | 1,780,481| 3,158,730 | ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ + +During all this time the Indians of all tribes within striking distance +of the herds killed an immense number of buffaloes every year. In the +summer they killed for the hairless hides to use for lodges and for +leather, and in the autumn they slaughtered for robes and meat, but +particularly robes, which were all they could offer the white trader in +exchange for his goods. They were too lazy and shiftless to cure much +buffalo meat, and besides it was not necessary, for the Government fed +them. In regard to the number of buffaloes of the southern herd killed +by the Indians, Colonel Dodge arrives at an estimate, as follows: + +"It is much more difficult to estimate the number of dead buffalo +represented by the Indian-tanned skins or robes sent to market. This +number varies with the different tribes, and their greater or less +contact with the whites. Thus, the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Kiowas of +the southern plains, having less contact with whites, use skins for +their lodges, clothing, bedding, par-fléches, saddles, lariats, for +almost everything. The number of robes sent to market represent only +what we may call the foreign exchange of these tribes, and is really not +more than one-tenth of the skins taken. To be well within bounds I will +assume that one robe sent to market by these Indians represents six dead +buffaloes. + +"Those bands of Sioux who live at the agencies, and whose peltries are +taken to market by the Union Pacific Railroad, live in lodges of cotton +cloth furnished by the Indian Bureau. They use much civilized clothing, +bedding, boxes, ropes, etc. For these luxuries they must pay in robes, +and as the buffalo range is far from wide, and their yearly 'crop' +small, more than half of it goes to market." + +Leaving out of the account at this point all consideration of the +killing done north of the Union Pacific Railroad, Colonel Dodge's +figures are as follows: + +_Southern buffaloes slaughtered by southern Indians._ + ++-----------------------------------------------------------------+ +| |Sent to |No. of dead | +| Indians. |market. |buffaloes | +| | |represented.| ++-----------------------------------------+----------+------------+ +| | | | +|Kiowas, Comanches, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, | | | +|and other Indians whose robes go over the| | | +|Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad | 19,000 | 114,000 | +|Sioux at agencies, Union Pacific Railroad| 10,000 | 16,000 | +| +----------+------------+ +|Total slaughtered per annum | 29,000 | 130,000 | +|Total for the three years 1872-1874 | ... | 390,000 | ++-----------------------------------------------------------------+ + +Reference has already been made to the fact that during those years an +immense number of buffaloes were killed by the farmers of eastern Kansas +and Nebraska for their meat. Mr. William Mitchell, of Wabaunsee, Kansas, +stated to the writer that "in those days, when buffaloes were plentiful +in western Kansas, pretty much everybody made a trip West in the fall +and brought back a load of buffalo meat. Everybody had it in abundance +as long as buffaloes remained in any considerable number. Very few skins +were saved; in fact, hardly any, for the reason that nobody knew how to +tan them, and they always spoiled. At first a great many farmers tried +to dress the green hides that they brought back, but they could not +succeed, and finally gave up trying. Of course, a great deal of the meat +killed was wasted, for only the best parts were brought back." + +The Wichita (Kansas) _World_ of February 9, 1889, contains the following +reference: + +"In 1871 and 1872 the buffalo ranged within 10 miles of Wichita, and +could be counted by the thousands. The town, then in its infancy, was +the headquarters for a vast number of buffalo-hunters, who plied their +occupation vigorously during the winter. The buffalo were killed +principally for their hides, and daily wagon trains arrived in town +loaded with them. Meat was very cheap in those days; fine, tender +buffalo steak selling from 1 to 2 cents per pound. * * * The business +was quite profitable for a time, but a sudden drop in the price of hides +brought them down as low as 25 and 50 cents each. * * * It was a very +common thing in those days for people living in Wichita to start out in +the morning and return by evening with a wagon load of buffalo meat." + +Unquestionably a great many thousand buffaloes were killed annually by +the settlers of Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, and +the mountain Indians living west of the great range. The number so slain +can only be guessed at, for there is absolutely no data on which to +found an estimate. Judging merely from the number of people within reach +of the range, it may safely be estimated that the total number of +buffaloes slaughtered annually to satisfy the wants of this +heterogeneous element could not have been less than fifty thousand, and +probably was a much higher number. This, for the three years, would make +one hundred and fifty thousand, and the grand total would therefore be +about as follows: + ++------------------------------------------------------+ +| _The slaughter of the southern herd._ | ++------------------------------------------------------+ +|Killed by "professional" white hunters in | | +| 1872, 1873, and 1874 | 3,158,730 | +|Killed by Indians, same period | 390,000 | +|Killed by settlers and mountain Indians | 150,000 | +| | --------- | +| Total slaughter in three years | 3,098,730 | ++------------------------------------------------------+ + +These figures seem incredible, but unfortunately there is not the +slightest reason for believing they are too high. There are many men now +living who declare that during the great slaughter they each killed from +twenty-five hundred to three thousand buffaloes every year. With +thousands of hunters on the range, and such possibilities of slaughter +before each, it is, after all, no wonder that an average of nearly a +million and a quarter of buffaloes fell each year during that bloody +period. + +By the close of the hunting season of 1875 the great southern herd had +ceased to exist. As a body, it had been utterly annihilated. The main +body of the survivors, numbering about ten thousand head, fled +southwest, and dispersed through that great tract of wild, desolate, and +inhospitable country stretching southward from the Cimarron country +across the "Public Land Strip," the Pan-handle of Texas, and the Llano +Estacado, or Staked Plain, to the Pecos River. A few small bands of +stragglers maintained a precarious existence for a few years longer on +the headwaters of the Republican River and in southwestern Nebraska, +near Ogalalla, where calves were caught alive as late as 1885. Wild +buffaloes were seen in southwestern Kansas for the last time in 1886, +and the two or three score of individuals still living in the Canadian +River country of the Texas Pan-handle are the last wild survivors of the +great Southern herd. + +The main body of the fugitives which survived the great slaughter of +1871-'74 continued to attract hunters who were very "hard up," who +pursued them, often at the risk of their own lives, even into the +terrible Llano Estacado. In Montana in 1886 I met on a cattle ranch an +ex-buffalo-hunter from Texas, named Harry Andrews, who from 1874 to 1876 +continued in pursuit of the scattered remnants of the great southern +herd through the Pan-handle of Texas and on into the Staked Plain +itself. By that time the market had become completely overstocked with +robes, and the prices received by Andrews and other hunters was only 65 +cents each for cow robes and $1.15 each for bull robes, delivered on the +range, the purchaser providing for their transportation to the railway. +But even at those prices, which were so low as to make buffalo killing +seem like downright murder, Mr. Andrews assured me that he "made big +money." On one occasion, when he "got a stand" on a large bunch of +buffalo, he fired one hundred and fifteen shots from one spot, and +killed sixty-three buffaloes in about an hour. + +In 1880 buffalo hunting as a business ceased forever in the Southwest, +and so far as can be ascertained, but one successful hunt for robes has +been made in that region since that time. That occurred in the fall and +winter of 1887, about 100 miles north of Tascosa, Texas, when two +parties, one of which was under the leadership of Lee Howard, attacked +the only band of buffaloes left alive in the Southwest, and which at +that time numbered about two hundred head. The two parties killed +fifty-two buffaloes, of which ten skins were preserved entire for +mounting. Of the remaining forty-two, the heads were cut off and +preserved for mounting and the skins were prepared as robes. The +mountable skins were finally sold at the following prices: Young cows, +$50 to $60; adult cows, $75 to $100; adult bull, $150. The unmounted +heads sold as follows: Young bulls, $25 to $30; adult bulls, $50; young +cows, $10 to $12; adult cows, $15 to $25. A few of the choicest robes +sold at $20 each, and the remainder, a lot of twenty eight, of prime +quality and in excellent condition, were purchased by the Hudson's Bay +Fur Company for $350. + +Such was the end of the great southern herd. In 1871 it contained +certainly no fewer than three million buffaloes, and by the beginning of +1875 its existence as a herd had utterly ceased, and nothing but +scattered, fugitive bands remained. + +7. _The Destruction of the Northern Herd._--Until the building of the +Northern Pacific Railway there were but two noteworthy outlets for the +buffalo robes that were taken annually in the Northwestern Territories +of the United States. The principal one was the Missouri River, and the +Yellowstone River was the other. Down these streams the hides were +transported by steam-boats to the nearest railway shipping point. For +fifty years prior to the building of the Northern Pacific Railway in +1880-'82, the number of robes marketed every year by way of these +streams was estimated variously at from fifty to one hundred thousand. +A great number of hides taken in the British Possessions fell into the +hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, and found a market in Canada. + +In May, 1881, the Sioux City (Iowa) _Journal_ contained the following +information in regard to the buffalo robe "crop" of the previous hunting +season--the winter of 1880-'81: + +"It is estimated by competent authorities that one hundred thousand +buffalo hides will be shipped out of the Yellowstone country this +season. Two firms alone are negotiating for the transportation of +twenty-five thousand hides each. * * * Most of our citizens saw the big +load of buffalo hides that the _C. K. Peck_ brought down last season, a +load that hid everything about the boat below the roof of the hurricane +deck. There were ten thousand hides in that load, and they were all +brought out of the Yellowstone on one trip and transferred to the _C. K. +Peck_. How such a load could have been piled on the little _Terry_ not +even the men on the boat appear to know. It hid every part of the boat, +barring only the pilot-house and smoke-stacks. But such a load will not +be attempted again. For such boats as ply the Yellowstone there are at +least fifteen full loads of buffalo hides and other pelts. Reckoning one +thousand hides to three car loads, and adding to this fifty cars for the +other pelts, it will take at least three hundred and fifty box-cars to +carry this stupendous bulk of peltry East to market. These figures are +not guesses, but estimates made by men whose business it is to know +about the amount of hides and furs awaiting shipment. + +"Nothing like it has ever been known in the history of the fur trade. +Last season the output of buffalo hides was above the average, and last +year only about thirty thousand hides came out of the Yellowstone +country, or less than a third of what is there now awaiting shipment The +past severe winter caused the buffalo to bunch themselves in a few +valleys where there was pasturage, and there the slaughter went on all +winter. There was no sport about it, simply shooting down the +famine-tamed animals as cattle might be shot down in a barn-yard. To the +credit of the Indians it can be said that they killed no more than they +could save the meat from. The greater part of the slaughter was done by +white hunters, or butchers rather, who followed the business of killing +and skinning buffalo by the mouth, leaving the carcasses to rot." + +At the time of the great division made by the Union Pacific Railway the +northern body of buffalo extended from the valley of the Platte River +northward to the southern shore of Great Slave Lake, eastward almost to +Minnesota, and westward to an elevation of 8,000 feet in the Rocky +Mountains. The herds were most numerous along the central portion of +this region (see map), and from the Platte Valley to Great Slave Lake +the range was continuous. The buffalo population of the southern half of +this great range was, according to all accounts, nearly three times as +great as that of the northern half. At that time, or, let us say, 1870, +there were about four million buffaloes south of the Platte River, and +probably about one million and a half north of it. I am aware that the +estimate of the number of buffaloes in the great northern herd is +usually much higher than this, but I can see no good grounds for making +it so. To my mind, the evidence is conclusive that, although the +northern herd ranged over such an immense area, it was numerically less +than half the size of the overwhelming multitude which actually crowded +the southern range, and at times so completely consumed the herbage of +the plains that detachments of the United States Army found it difficult +to find sufficient grass for their mules and horses.[67] + +[Note 67: As an instance of this, see _Forest and Stream_, vol. II, +p. 184: "Horace Jones, the interpreter here [Fort Sill], says that on +his first trip along the line of the one hundredth meridian, in 1859, +accompanying Major Thomas--since our noble old general--they passed +continuous herds for over 60 miles, which left so little grass behind +them that Major Thomas was seriously troubled about his horses."] + +The various influences which ultimately led to the complete blotting out +of the great northern herd were exerted about as follows: + +In the British Possessions, where the country was immense and game of +all kinds except buffalo very scarce indeed; where, in the language of +Professor Kenaston, the explorer, "there was a great deal of country +around every wild animal," the buffalo constituted the main dependence +of the Indians, who would not cultivate the soil at all, and of the +half-breeds, who would not so long as they could find buffalo. Under +such circumstances the buffaloes of the British Possessions were hunted +much more vigorously and persistently than those of the United States, +where there was such an abundant supply of deer, elk, antelope, and +other game for the Indians to feed upon, and a paternal government to +support them with annuities besides. Quite contrary to the prevailing +idea of the people of the United States, viz., that there were great +herds of buffaloes in existence in the Saskatchewan country long after +ours had all been destroyed, the herds of British America had been +almost totally exterminated by the time the final slaughter of our +northern herd was inaugurated by the opening of the Northern Pacific +Railway in 1880. The Canadian Pacific Railway played no part whatever in +the extermination of the bison in the British Possessions, for it had +already taken place. The half-breeds of Manitoba, the Plains Crees of +Qu'Appelle, and the Blackfeet of the South Saskatchewan country swept +bare a great belt of country stretching east and west between the Rocky +Mountains and Manitoba. The Canadian Pacific Railway found only +bleaching bones in the country through which it passed. The buffalo had +disappeared from that entire region before 1879 and left the Blackfeet +Indians on the verge of starvation. A few thousand buffaloes still +remained in the country around the headwaters of the Battle River, +between the North and South Saskatchewan, but they were surrounded and +attacked from all sides, and their numbers diminished very rapidly until +all were killed. + +The latest information I have been able to obtain in regard to the +disappearance of this northern band has been kindly furnished by Prof. +C. A. Kenaston, who in 1881, and also in 1883, made a thorough +exploration of the country between Winnipeg and Fort Edmonton for the +Canadian Pacific Railway Company. His four routes between the two points +named covered a vast scope of country, several hundred miles in width. +In 1881, at Moose Jaw, 75 miles southeast of The Elbow of the South +Saskatchewan, he saw a party of Cree Indians, who had just arrived from +the northwest with several carts laden with fresh buffalo meat. At Fort +Saskatchewan, on the North Saskatchewan River, just above Edmonton, he +saw a party of English sportsmen who had recently been hunting on the +Battle and Red Deer Rivers, between Edmonton and Fort Kalgary, where +they had found buffaloes, and killed as many as they cared to slaughter. +In one afternoon they killed fourteen, and could have killed more had +they been more blood-thirsty. In 1883 Professor Kenaston found the fresh +trail of a band of twenty-five or thirty buffaloes at The Elbow of the +South Saskatchewan. Excepting in the above instances he saw no further +traces of buffalo, nor did he hear of the existence of any in all the +country he explored. In 1881 he saw many Cree Indians at Fort Qu'Appelle +in a starving condition, and there was no pemmican or buffalo meat at +the fort. In 1883, however, a little pemmican found its way to Winnipeg, +where it sold at 15 cents per pound; an exceedingly high price. It had +been made that year, evidently in the mouth of April, as he purchased it +in May for his journey. + +The first really alarming impression made on our northern herd was by +the Sioux Indians, who very speedily exterminated that portion of it +which had previously covered the country lying between the North Platte +and a line drawn from the center of Wyoming to the center of Dakota. All +along the Missouri River from Bismarck to Fort Benton, and along the +Yellowstone to the head of navigation, the slaughter went bravely on. +All the Indian tribes of that vast region--Sioux, Cheyennes, Crows, +Blackfeet, Bloods, Piegans, Assinniboines, Gros Ventres, and +Shoshones--found their most profitable business and greatest pleasure +(next to scalping white settlers) in hunting the buffalo. It took from +eight to twelve buffalo hides to make a covering for one ordinary +teepee, and sometimes a single teepee of extra size required from twenty +to twenty-five hides. + +The Indians of our northwestern Territories marketed about seventy-five +thousand buffalo robes every year so long as the northern herd was large +enough to afford the supply. If we allow that for every skin sold to +white traders four others were used in supplying their own wants, which +must be considered a very moderate estimate, the total number of +buffaloes slaughtered annually by those tribes must have been about +three hundred and seventy-five thousand. + +The end which so many observers had for years been predicting really +began (with the northern herd) in 1876, two years after the great +annihilation which had taken place in the South, although it was not +until four years later that the slaughter became universal over the +entire range. It is very clearly indicated in the figures given in a +letter from Messrs. I. G. Baker & Co., of Fort Benton, Montana, to the +writer, dated October 6, 1887, which reads as follows: + +"There were sent East from the year 1876 from this point about +seventy-five thousand buffalo robes. In 1880 it had fallen to about +twenty thousand, in 1883 not more than five thousand, and in 1884 none +whatever. We are sorry we can not give you a better record, but the +collection of hides which exterminated the buffalo was from the +Yellowstone country on the Northern Pacific, instead of northern +Montana." + +The beginning of the final slaughter of our northern herd may be dated +about 1880, by which time the annual robe crop of the Indians had +diminished three-fourths, and when summer killing for hairless hides +began on a large scale. The range of this herd was surrounded on three +sides by tribes of Indians, armed with breech-loading rifles and +abundantly supplied with fixed ammunition. Up to the year 1880 the +Indians of the tribes previously mentioned killed probably three times +as many buffaloes as did the white hunters, and had there not been a +white hunter in the whole Northwest the buffalo would have been +exterminated there just as surely, though not so quickly by perhaps ten +years, as actually occurred. Along the north, from the Missouri River to +the British line, and from the reservation in northwestern Dakota to the +main divide of the Rocky Mountains, a distance of 550 miles as the crow +flies, the country was one continuous Indian reservation, inhabited by +eight tribes, who slaughtered buffalo in season and out of season, in +winter for robes and in summer for hides and meat to dry. In the +Southeast was the great body of Sioux, and on the Southwest the Crows +and Northern Cheyennes, all engaged in the same relentless warfare. It +would have required a body of armed men larger than the whole United +States Army to have withstood this continuous hostile pressure without +ultimate annihilation. + +Let it be remembered, therefore, that the American Indian is as much +responsible for the extermination of our northern herd of bison as the +American citizen. I have yet to learn of an instance wherein an Indian +refrained from excessive slaughter of game through motives of economy, +or care for the future, or prejudice against wastefulness. From all +accounts the quantity of game killed by an Indian has always been +limited by two conditions only--lack of energy to kill more, or lack of +more game to be killed. White men delight in the chase, and kill for the +"sport" it yields, regardless of the effort involved. Indeed, to a +genuine sportsman, nothing in hunting is "sport" which is not obtained +at the cost of great labor. An Indian does not view the matter in that +light, and when he has killed enough to supply his wants, he stops, +because he sees no reason why he should exert himself any further. This +has given rise to the statement, so often repeated, that the Indian +killed only enough buffaloes to supply his wants. If an Indian ever +attempted, or even showed any inclination, to husband the resources of +nature in any way, and restrain wastefulness on _the part of Indians_, +it would be gratifying to know of it. + +The building of the Northern Pacific Railway across Dakota and Montana +hastened the end that was fast approaching; but it was only an incident +in the annihilation of the northern herd. Without it the final result +would have been just the same, but the end would probably not have been +reached until about 1888. + +The Northern Pacific Railway reached Bismarck, Dakota, on the Missouri +River, in the year 1876, and from that date onward received for +transportation eastward all the buffalo robes and hides that came down +the two rivers, Missouri and Yellowstone. + +Unfortunately the Northern Pacific Railway Company kept no separate +account of its buffalo product business, and is unable to furnish a +statement of the number of hides and robes it handled. It is therefore +impossible to even make an estimate of the total number of buffaloes +killed on the northern range during the six years which ended with the +annihilation of that herd. + +In regard to the business done by the Northern Pacific Railway, and the +precise points from whence the bulk of the robes were shipped, the +following letter from Mr. J. M. Hannaford, traffic manager of the +Northern Pacific Railroad, under date of September 3, 1887, is of +interest. + +"Your communication, addressed to President Harris, has been referred to +me for the information desired. + +"I regret that our accounts are not so kept as to enable me to furnish +you accurate data; but I have been able to obtain the following general +information, which may prove of some value to you: + +"From the years 1876 and 1880 our line did not extend beyond Bismarck, +which was the extreme easterly shipping point for buffalo robes and +hides, they being brought down the Missouri River from the north for +shipment from that point. In the years 1876, 1877, 1878, and 1879 there +were handled at that point yearly from three to four thousand bales of +robes, about one-half the bales containing ten robes and the other half +twelve robes each. During these years practically no hides were shipped. +In 1880 the shipment of hides, dry and untanned, commenced,[68] and in +1881 and 1882 our line was extended west, and the shipping points +increased, reaching as far west as Terry and Sully Springs, in Montana. +During these years, 1880, 1881, and 1882, which practically finished the +shipments of hides and robes, it is impossible for me to give you any +just idea of the number shipped. The only figures obtainable are those +of 1881, when over seventy-five thousand dry and untanned buffalo hides +came down the river for shipment from Bismarck. Some robes were also +shipped from this point that year, and a considerable number of robes +and hides were shipped from several other shipping points. + +[Note 68: It is to be noted that hairless hides, _taken from buffaloes +killed in summer_, are what the writer refers to. It was not until 1881, +when the end was very near, that hunting buffalo in summer as well as +winter became a wholesale business. What hunting can be more disgraceful +than the slaughter of females and young _in summer_, when skins are +almost worthless.] + +"The number of pounds of buffalo meat shipped over our line has never +cut any figure, the bulk of the meat having been left on the prairie, as +not being of sufficient value to pay the cost of transportation. + +"The names of the extreme eastern and western stations from which +shipments were made are as follows: In 1880, Bismarck was the only +shipping point. In 1881, Glendive, Bismarck, and Beaver Creek. In 1882, +Terry and Sully Springs, Montana, were the chief shipping points, and in +the order named, so far as numbers and amount of shipments are +concerned. Bismarck on the east and Forsyth on the west were the two +extremities. + +"Up to the year 1880, so long as buffalo were killed only for robes, the +bands did not decrease very materially; but beginning with that year, +when they were killed for their hides as well, a most indiscriminate +slaughter commenced, and from that time on they disappeared very +rapidly. Up to the year 1881 there were two large bands, one south of +the Yellowstone and the other north of that river. In the year mentioned +those south of the river were driven north and never returned, having +joined the northern band, and become practically extinguished. + +"Since 1882 there have, of course, been occasional shipments both of +hides and robes, but in such small quantities and so seldom that they +cut practically no figure, the bulk of them coming probably from north +Missouri points down the river to Bismarck." + +In 1880 the northern buffalo range embraced the following streams; The +Missouri and all its tributaries, from Port Shaw, Montana, to Fort +Bennett, Dakota, and the Yellowstone and all its tributaries. Of this +region, Miles City, Montana, was the geographical center. The grass was +good over the whole of it, and the various divisions of the great herd +were continually shifting from one locality to another, often making +journeys several hundred miles at a time. Over the whole of this vast +area their bleaching bones lie scattered (where they have not as yet +been gathered up for sale) from the Upper Marias and Milk Rivers, near +the British boundary, to the Platte, and from the James River, in +central Dakota, to an elevation of 8,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains. +Indeed, as late as October, 1887, I gathered up on the open common, +within half a mile of the Northern Pacific Railway depot at the city of +Helena, the skull, horns, and numerous odd bones of a large bull buffalo +which had been killed there. + +[Illustration: WHERE THE MILLIONS HAVE GONE. From a painting by J. H. +Moser in the National Museum.] + +Over many portions of the northern range the traveler may even now ride +for days together without once being out of sight of buffalo +carcasses, or bones. Such was the case in 1886 in the country lying +between the Missouri and the Yellowstone, northwest of Miles City. Go +wherever we might, on divides, into bad lands, creek bottoms, or on the +highest plateaus, we always found the inevitable and omnipresent grim +and ghastly skeleton, with hairy head, dried-up and shriveled nostrils, +half-skinned legs stretched helplessly upon the gray turf, and the bones +of the body bleached white as chalk. + +The year 1881 witnessed the same kind of a stampede for the northern +buffalo range that occurred just ten years previously in the south. At +that time robes were worth from two to three times as much as they ever +had been in the south, the market was very active, and the successful +hunter was sure to reap a rich reward as long as the buffaloes lasted. +At that time the hunters and hide-buyers estimated that there were five +hundred thousand buffaloes within a radius of 150 miles of Miles City, +and that there were still in the entire northern herd not far from one +million head. The subsequent slaughter proved that these estimates were +probably not far from the truth. In that year Fort Custer was so nearly +overwhelmed by a passing herd that a detachment of soldiers was ordered +out to turn the herd away from the post. In 1882 an immense herd +appeared on the high, level plateau on the north side of the Yellowstone +which overlooks Miles City and Fort Keogh in the valley below. A squad +of soldiers from the Fifth Infantry was sent up on the bluff, and in +less than an hour had killed enough buffaloes to load six four-mule +teams with meat. In 1886 there were still about twenty bleaching +skeletons lying in a group on the edge of this plateau at the point +where the road from the ferry reaches the level, but all the rest had +been gathered up. + +In 1882 there were, so it is estimated by men who were in the country, +no fewer than five thousand white hunters and skinners on the northern +range. Lieut. J. M. T. Partello declares that "a cordon of camps, from +the Upper Missouri, where it bends to the west, stretched toward the +setting sun as far as the dividing line of Idaho, completely blocking in +the great ranges of the Milk River, the Musselshell, Yellowstone, and +the Marias, and rendering it impossible for scarcely a single bison to +escape through the chain of sentinel camps to the Canadian northwest. +Hunters of Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado drove the poor hunted animals +north, directly into the muzzles of the thousands of repeaters ready to +receive them. * * * Only a few short years ago, as late as 1883, a herd +of about seventy-five thousand crossed the Yellowstone River a few miles +south of here [Fort Keogh], scores of Indians, pot-hunters, and white +butchers on their heels, bound for the Canadian dominions, where they +hoped to find a haven of safety. Alas! not five thousand of that mighty +mass ever lived to reach the British border line." + +It is difficult to say (at least to the satisfaction of old hunters) +which were the most famous hunting grounds on the northern range. +Lieutenant Partello states that when he hunted in the great triangle +bounded by the three rivers, Missouri, Musselshell, and Yellowstone, it +contained, to the best of his knowledge and belief, two hundred and +fifty thousand buffaloes. Unquestionably that region yielded an immense +number of buffalo robes, and since the slaughter _thousands of tons_ of +bones have been gathered up there. Another favorite locality was the +country lying between the Powder River and the Little Missouri, +particularly the valleys of Beaver and O'Fallon Creeks. Thither went +scores of "outfits" and hundreds of hunters and skinners from the +Northern Pacific Railway towns from Miles City to Glendive. The hunters +from the towns between Glendive and Bismarck mostly went south to Cedar +Creek and the Grand and Moreau Rivers. But this territory was also the +hunting ground of the Sioux Indians from the great reservation farther +south. + +Thousands upon thousands of buffaloes were killed on the Milk and Marias +Rivers, in the Judith Basin, and in northern Wyoming. + +The method of slaughter has already been fully described under the head +of "the still-hunt," and need not be recapitulated. It is some +gratification to know that the shocking and criminal wastefulness which +was so marked a feature of the southern butchery was almost wholly +unknown in the north. Robes were worth from $1.50 to $3.50, according to +size and quality, and were removed and preserved with great care. Every +one hundred robes marketed represented not more than one hundred and ten +dead buffaloes, and even this small percentage of loss was due to the +escape of wounded animals which afterward died and were devoured by the +wolves. After the skin was taken off the hunter or skinner stretched it +carefully upon the ground, inside uppermost, cut his initials in the +adherent subcutaneous muscle, and left it until the season for hauling +in the robes, which was always done in the early spring, immediately +following the hunt. + +As was the case in the south, it was the ability of a single hunter to +destroy an entire bunch of buffalo in a single day that completely +annihilated the remaining thousands of the northern herd before the +people of the United States even learned what was going on. For example, +one hunter of my acquaintance, Vic. Smith, the most famous hunter in +Montana, killed one hundred and seven buffaloes in one "stand," in about +one hour's time, and without shifting his point of attack. This occurred +in the Red Water country, about 100 miles northeast of Miles City, in +the winter of 1881-'82. During the same season another hunter, named +"Doc." Aughl, killed eighty-five buffaloes at one "stand," and John +Edwards killed seventy-five. The total number that Smith claims to have +killed that season is "about five thousand." Where buffaloes were at all +plentiful, every man who called himself a hunter was expected to kill +between one and two thousand during the hunting season--from November to +February--and when the buffaloes were to be found it was a comparatively +easy thing to do. + +During the year 1882 the thousands of bison that still remained alive +on the range indicated above, and also marked out on the accompanying +map, were distributed over that entire area very generally. In February +of that year a Fort Benton correspondent of _Forest and Stream_ wrote as +follows: "It is truly wonderful how many buffalo are still left. +Thousands of Indians and hundreds of white men depend on them for a +living. At present nearly all the buffalo in Montana are between Milk +River and Bear Paw Mountains. There are only a few small bands between +the Missouri and the Yellowstone." There were plenty of buffalo on the +Upper Marias River in October, 1882. In November and December there were +thousands between the Missouri and the Yellowstone Rivers. South of the +Northern Pacific Railway the range during the hunting season of 1882-'83 +was thus defined by a hunter who has since written out the "Confessions +of a Buffalo Butcher" for _Forest and Stream_ (vol. xxiv, p. 489): "Then +[October, 1882] the western limit was defined in a general way by Powder +River, and extending eastward well toward the Missouri and south to +within 60 or 70 miles of the Black Hills. It embraces the valleys of all +tributaries to Powder River from the east, all of the valleys of Beaver +Creek, O'Fallon Creek, and the Little Missouri and Moreau Rivers, and +both forks of the Cannon Ball for almost half their length. This immense +territory, lying almost equally in Montana and Dakota, had been occupied +during the winters by many thousands of buffaloes from time immemorial, +and many of the cows remained during the summer and brought forth their +young undisturbed." + +The three hunters composing the party whose record is narrated in the +interesting sketch referred to, went out from Miles City on October 23, +1882, due east to the bad lands between the Powder River and O'Fallon +Creek, and were on the range all winter. They found comparatively few +buffaloes, and secured only two hundred and eighty-six robes, which they +sold at an average price of $2.20 each. They saved and marketed a large +quantity of meat, for which they obtained 3 cents per pound. They found +the whole region in which they hunted fairly infested with Indians and +half-breeds, all hunting buffalo. + +The hunting season which began in October, 1882, and ended in February, +1883, finished the annihilation of the great northern herd, and left but +a few small bauds of stragglers, numbering only a very few thousand +individuals all told. A noted event of the season was the retreat +northward across the Yellowstone of the immense herd mentioned by +Lieutenant Partello as containing seventy-five thousand head; others +estimated the number at fifty thousand; and the event is often spoken of +to-day by frontiersmen who were in that region at the time. Many think +that the whole great body went north into British territory, and that +there is still a goodly remnant of it in some remote region between the +Peace River and the Saskatchewan, or somewhere there, which will yet +return to the United States. Nothing could be more illusory than this +belief. In the first place, the herd never reached the British line, +and, if it had, it would have been promptly annihilated by the hungry +Blackfeet and Cree Indians, who were declared to be in a half-starved +condition, through the disappearance of the buffalo, as early as 1879. + +The great herd that "went north" was utterly extinguished by the white +hunters along the Missouri River and the Indians living north of it. The +only vestige of it that remained was a band of about two hundred +individuals that took refuge in the labyrinth of ravines and creek +bottoms that lie west of the Musselshell between Flat Willow and Box +Elder Creeks, and another band of about seventy-five which settled in +the bad lands between the head of the Big Dry and Big Porcupine Creeks, +where a few survivors were found by the writer in 1886. + +South of the Northern Pacific Railway, a band of about three hundred +settled permanently in and around the Yellowstone National Park, but in +a very short time every animal outside of the protected limits of the +park was killed, and whenever any of the park buffaloes strayed beyond +the boundary they too were promptly killed for their heads and hides. At +present the number remaining in the park is believed by Captain Harris, +the superintendent, to be about two hundred; about one-third of which is +due to breeding in the protected territory. + +In the southeast the fate of that portion of the herd is well known. The +herd which at the beginning of the hunting season of 1883 was known to +contain about ten thousand head, and ranged in western Dakota, about +half way between the Black Hills and Bismarck, between the Moreau and +Grand Rivers, was speedily reduced to about one thousand head. Vic. +Smith, who was "in at the death," says there were eleven hundred, others +say twelve hundred. Just at this juncture (October, 1883) Sitting Bull +and his whole band of nearly one thousand braves arrived from the +Standing Sock Agency, and in two days' time slaughtered the entire herd. +Vic. Smith and a host of white hunters took part in the killing of this +last ten thousand, and he declares that "when we got through the hunt +there was not a hoof left. That wound up the buffalo in the Far West, +only a stray bull being seen here and there afterwards." + +Curiously enough, not even the buffalo hunters themselves were at the +time aware of the fact that the end of the hunting season of 1882-'83 +was also the end of the buffalo, at least as an inhabitant of the plains +and a source of revenue. In the autumn of 1883 they nearly all outfitted +as usual, often at an expense of many hundreds of dollars, and blithely +sought "the range" that had up to that time been so prolific in robes. +The end was in nearly every case the same--total failure and bankruptcy. +It was indeed hard to believe that not only the millions, but also the +thousands, had actually gone, and forever. + +I have found it impossible to ascertain definitely the number of robes +and hides shipped from the northern range during the last years of the +slaughter, and the only reliable estimate I have obtained was made for +me, alter much consideration and reflection, by Mr. J. N. Davis, of +Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mr. Davis was for many years a buyer of furs, +robes, and hides on a large scale throughout our Northwestern +Territories, and was actively engaged in buying up buffalo robes as long +as there were any to buy. In reply to a letter asking for statistics, he +wrote me as follows, on September 27, 1887: + +"It is impossible to give the exact number of robes and hides shipped +out of Dakota and Montana from 1876 to 1883, or the exact number of +buffalo in the northern herd; but I will give you as correct an account +as any one can. In 1876 it was estimated that there were half a million +buffaloes within a radius of 150 miles of Miles City. In 1881 the +Northern Pacific Railroad was built as far west as Glendive and Miles +City. At that time the whole country was a howling wilderness, and +Indians and wild buffalo were too numerous to mention. The first +shipment of buffalo robes, killed by white men, was made that year, and +the stations on the Northern Pacific Railroad between Miles City and +Mandan sent out about fifty thousand hides and robes. In 1882 the number +of hides and robes bought and shipped was about two hundred thousand, +and in 1883 forty thousand. In 1884 I shipped from Dickinson, Dakota +Territory, the only car load of robes that went East that year, and it +was the last shipment ever made." + +For a long time the majority of the ex-hunters cherished the fond +delusion that the great herd had only "gone north" into the British +Possessions, and would eventually return in great force. Scores of +rumors of the finding of herds floated about, all of which were eagerly +believed at first. But after a year or two had gone by without the +appearance of a single buffalo, and likewise without any reliable +information of the existence of a herd of any size, even in British +territory, the butchers of the buffalo either hung up their old Sharps +rifles, or sold them for nothing to the gun-dealers, and sought other +means of livelihood. Some took to gathering up buffalo bones and selling +them by the ton, and others became cowboys. + + + + +IV. CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE BISON. + + +The slaughter of the buffalo down to the very point of extermination has +been so very generally condemned, and the general Government has been so +unsparingly blamed for allowing such a massacre to take place on the +public domain, it is important that the public should know all the facts +in the case. To the credit of Congress it must be said that several very +determined efforts were made between the years 1871 and 1876 looking +toward the protection of the buffalo. The failure of all those +well-meant efforts was due to our republican form of Government. Had +this Government been a monarchy the buffalo would have been protected; +but unfortunately in this case (perhaps the only one on record wherein a +king could have accomplished more than the representatives of the +people) the necessary act of Congress was so hedged in and beset by +obstacles that it never became an accomplished fact. Even when both +houses of Congress succeeded in passing a suitable act (June 23, 1874) +it went to the President in the last days of the session only to be +pigeon-holed, and die a natural death. + +The following is a complete history of Congressional legislation in +regard to the protection of the buffalo from wanton slaughter and +ultimate extinction. The first step taken in behalf of this persecuted +animal was on March 13, 1871, when Mr. McCormick, of Arizona, introduced +a bill (H. R. 157), which was ordered to be printed. Nothing further was +done with it. It read as follows: + +_Be it enacted, etc._, That, excepting for the purpose of using the meat +for food or preserving the akin, it shall be unlawful for any person to +kill the bison, or buffalo, found anywhere upon the public lands of the +United States; and for the violation of this law the offender shall, +upon conviction before any court of competent jurisdiction, be liable to +a fine of $100 for each animal killed, one-half of which sum shall, upon +its collection, be paid to the informer. + +On February 14, 1872, Mr. Cole, of California, introduced in the Senate +the following resolution, which was considered by unanimous consent and +agreed to: + +_Resolved_, That the Committee on Territories be directed to inquire +into the expediency of enacting a law for the protection of the buffalo, +elk, antelope, and other useful animals running wild in the Territories +of the United States against indiscriminate slaughter and extermination, +and that they report by bill or otherwise. + +On February 16, 1872, Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, introduced a bill in +the Senate (S. 655) restricting the killing of the buffalo upon the +public lauds; which was read twice by its title and referred to the +Committee on Territories. + +On April 5, 1872, Mr. B. C. McCormick, of Arizona, made a speech in the +House of Representatives, while it was in Committee of the Whole, on the +restriction of the killing of buffalo. + +He mentioned a then recent number of _Harper's Weekly_, in which were +illustrations of the slaughter of buffalo, and also read a partly +historical extract in regard to the same. He related how, when he was +once snow-bound upon the Kansas Pacific Railroad, the buffalo furnished +food for himself and fellow-passengers. Then he read the bill introduced +by him March 13, 1871, and also copies of letters furnished him by Henry +Bergh, president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty +to Animals, which were sent to the latter by General W. B. Hazen, Lieut. +Col. A. G. Brackett, and E. W. Wynkoop. He also read a statement by +General Hazen to the effect that he knew of a man who killed ninety-nine +buffaloes with his own hand in one day. He also spoke on the subject of +cross-breeding the buffalo with common cattle, and read an extract in +regard to it from the San Francisco _Post_.[69] + +[Note 69: Congressional Globe (Appendix), second session Forty-second +Congress.] + +On April 6, 1872, Mr. McCormick asked leave to have printed in the +Globe some remarks he had prepared regarding restricting the killing of +buffalo, which was granted.[70] + +[Note 70: Congressional Globe, April 6, 1872, Forty-second Congress, +second session.] + +On January 5, 1874, Mr. Fort, of Illinois, introduced a bill (H. R. 921) +to prevent the useless slaughter of buffalo within the Territories of +the United States; which was read and referred to the Committee on the +Territories.[71] + +[Note 71: Congressional Record, vol. 2, part 1, Forty-third Congress, +p. 371.] + +On March 10, 1874, this bill was reported to the House from the +Committee on the Territories, with a recommendation that it be +passed.[72] + +[Note 72: Congressional Record, vol. 2, part 3, Forty-third Congress, +first session, pp. 2105, 2109.] + +The first section of the bill provided that it shall be unlawful for any +person, who is not an Indian, to kill, wound, or in any way destroy any +female buffalo of any age, found at large within the boundaries of any +of the Territories of the United States. + +The second section provided that it shall be, in like manner, unlawful +for any such person to kill, wound, or destroy in said Territories any +greater number of male buffaloes than are needed for food by such +person, or than can be used, cured, or preserved for the food of other +persons, or for the market. It shall in like manner be unlawful for any +such person, or persons, to assist, or be in any manner engaged or +concerned in or about such unlawful killing, wounding, or destroying of +any such buffaloes; that any person who shall violate the provisions of +the act shall, on conviction, forfeit and pay to the United States the +sum of $100 for each offense (and each buffalo so unlawfully killed, +wounded, or destroyed shall be and constitute a separate offense), and +on a conviction of a second offense may be committed to prison for a +period not exceeding thirty days; and that all United States judges, +justices, courts, and legal tribunals in said Territories shall have +jurisdiction in cases of the violation of the law. + +Mr. Cox said he had been told by old hunters that it was impossible to +tell the sex of a running buffalo; and he also stated that the bill gave +preference to the Indians. + +Mr. Fort said the object was to prevent early extermination; that +thousands were annually slaughtered for skins alone, and thousands for +their tongues alone; that perhaps hundreds of thousands are killed every +year in utter wantonness, with no object for such destruction. He had +been told that the sexes could be distinguished while they were +running.[73] + +[Note 73: I know of no greater affront that could be offered to the +intelligence of a genuine buffalo-hunter than to accuse him of not +knowing enough to tell the sex of a buffalo "on the run" by its form +alone.--W. T. H.] + +This bill does not prohibit any person joining in a reasonable chase and +hunt of the buffalo. + +Said Mr. Fort, "So far as I am advised, gentlemen upon this floor +representing all the Territories are favorable to the passage of this +bill." + +Mr. Cox wanted the clause excepting the Indians from the operations of +the bill stricken out, and stated that the Secretary of the Interior had +already said to the House that the civilization of the Indian was +Impossible while the buffalo remained on the plains. + +The Clerk read for Mr. McCormick the following extract from the _New +Mexican_, a paper published in Santa Fé: + +The buffalo slaughter, which has been going on the past few years on the +plains, and which increases every year, is wantonly wicked, and should +be stopped by the most stringent enactments and most vigilant +enforcements of the law. Killing these noble animals for their hides +simply, or to gratify the pleasure of some Russian duke or English lord, +is a species of vandalism which can not too quickly be checked. United +States surveying parties report that there are two thousand hunters on +the plains killing these animals for their hides. One party of sixteen +hunters report having killed twenty-eight thousand buffaloes during the +past summer. It seems to us there is quite as much reason why the +Government should protect the buffaloes as the Indians. + +Mr. McCormick considered the subject important, and had not a doubt of +the fearful slaughter. He read the following extract from a letter that +he had received from General Hazen: + +I know a man who killed with his own hand ninety-nine buffaloes in one +day, without taking a pound of the meat. The buffalo for food has an +intrinsic value about equal to an average Texas beef, or say $20. There +are probably not less than a million of these animals on the western +plains. If the Government owned a herd of a million oxen they would at +least take steps to prevent this wanton slaughter. The railroads have +made the buffalo so accessible as to present a case not dissimilar. + +He agreed with Mr. Cox that some features of the bill would probably be +impracticable, and moved to amend it. He did not believe any bill would +entirely accomplish the purpose, but he desired that such wanton +slaughter should be stopped. + +Said he, "It would have been well both for the Indians and the white men +if an enactment of this kind had been placed on our statute-books years +ago. * * * I know of no one act that would gratify the red men more." + +Mr. Holman expressed surprise that Mr. Cox should make any objection to +parts of the measure. The former regarded the bill as "an effort in a +most commendable direction," and trusted that it would pass. + +Mr. Cox said he would not have objected to the bill but from the fact +that it was partial in its provisions. He wanted a bill that would +impose a penalty on every man, red, white, or black, who may wantonly +kill these buffaloes. + +Mr. Potter desired to know whether more buffaloes were slaughtered by +the Indians than by white men. + +Mr. Fort thought the white men were doing the greatest amount of +killing. + +Mr. Eldridge thought there would be just as much propriety in killing +the fish in our rivers as in destroying the buffalo in order to compel +the Indians to become civilized. + +Mr. Conger said: "As a matter of fact, every man knows the range of the +buffalo has grown more and more confined year after year; that they have +been driven westward before advancing civilization." But he opposed the +bill! + +Mr. Hawley, of Connecticut, said: "I am glad to see this bill. I am in +favor of this law, and hope it will pass." + +Mr. Lowe favored the bill, and thought that the buffalo ought to be +protected for proper utility. + +Mr. Cobb thought they ought to be protected for the settlers, who +depended partly on them for food. + +Mr. Parker, of Missouri, intimated that the policy of the Secretary of +the Interior was a sound one, and that the buffaloes ought to be +exterminated, to prevent difficulties in civilizing the Indians. + +Said Mr. Conger, "I do not think the measure will tend at all to protect +the buffalo." + +Mr. McCormick replied: "This bill will not prevent the killing of +buffaloes for any useful purpose, but only their wanton destruction." + +Mr. Kasson said: "I wish to say one word in support of this bill, +because I have had some experience as to the manner in which these +buffaloes are treated by hunters. The buffalo is a creature of vast +utility, * * *. This animal ought to be protected; * * *." + +The question being taken on the passage of the bill, there were--ayes +132, noes not counted. + +So the bill was passed. + +On June 23, 1874, this bill (H. R. 921) came up in the Senate.[74] + +[Note 74: Congressional Globe, Vol. 2, part 6, Forty-third Congress, +first session.] + +Mr. Harvey moved, as an amendment, to strike out the words "who is not +an Indian." + +Said Mr. Hitchcock, "That will defeat the bill." + +Mr. Frelinghuysen said: "That would prevent the Indians from killing the +buffalo on their own ground. I object to the bill." + +Mr. Sargent said: "I think we can pass the bill in the right shape +without objection. Let us take it up. It is a very important one." + +Mr. Frelinghuysen withdrew his objection. + +Mr. Harvey thought it was a very important bill, and withdrew his +amendment. + +The bill was reported to the Senate, ordered to a third reading, read +the third time, and passed. It went to President Grant for signature, +and expired in his hands at the adjournment of that session of Congress. + +On February 2, 1874, Mr. Fort introduced a bill (H. R. 1689) to tax +buffalo hides; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. + +On June 10, 1874, Mr. Dawes, from the Committee on Ways and Means, +reported back the bill adversely, and moved that it be laid on the +table. + +Mr. Fort asked to have the bill referred to the Committee of the +Whole, and it was so referred. + +On February 2, 1874, Mr. R. C. McCormick, of Arizona, introduced in the +House a bill (H. R. 1728) restricting the killing of the bison, or +buffalo, on the public lands; which was referred to the Committee on the +Public Lands, and never heard of more. + +On January 31, 1876, Mr. Fort introduced a bill (H. R. 1719) to prevent +the useless slaughter of buffaloes within the Territories of the United +States, which was referred to the Committee on the Territories.[75] + +[Note 75: Forty-fourth Congress, first session, vol. 4, part 2, pp. +1237-1241.] + +The Committee on the Territories reported back the bill without +amendment on February 23, 1876.[76] Its provisions were in every respect +identical with those of the bill introduced by Mr. Fort in 1874, and +which passed both houses. + +[Note 76: Forty-fourth Congress first session, vol. 4, part 1, p. 773.] + +In support of it Mr. Fort said: "The intention and object of this bill +is to preserve them [the buffaloes] for the use of the Indians, whose +homes are upon the public domain, and to the frontiersmen, who may +properly use them for food. * * * They have been and are now being +slaughtered in large numbers. * * * Thousands of these noble brutes are +annually slaughtered out of mere wontonness. * * * This bill, just as it +is now presented, passed the last Congress. It was not vetoed, but fell, +as I understand, merely for want of time to consider it after having +passed both houses." He also intimated that the Government was using a +great deal of money for cattle to furnish the Indians, while the buffalo +was being wantonly destroyed, whereas they might be turned to their +good. + +Mr. Crounse wanted the words "who is not an Indian" struck out, so as to +make the bill general. He thought Indians were to blame for the wanton +destruction. + +Mr. Fort thought the amendment unnecessary, and stated that he was +informed that the Indians did not destroy the buffaloes wantonly. + +Mr. Dunnell thought the bill one of great importance. + +The Clerk read for him a letter from A. G. Brackett, lieutenant-colonel, +Second United States Cavalry, stationed at Omaha Barracks, in which was +a very urgent request to have Congress interfere to prevent the +wholesale slaughter then going on. + +Mr. Reagan thought the bill proper and right. He knew from personal +experience how the wanton slaughtering was going on, and also that the +Indians were _not_ the ones who did it. + +Mr. Townsend, of New York, saw no reason why a white man should not be +allowed to kill a female buffalo as well as an Indian. He said it would +be impracticable to have a separate law for each. + +Mr. Maginnis did not agree with him. He thought the bill ought to pass +as it stood. + +Mr. Throckmorton thought that while the intention of the bill was a +good one, yet it was mischievous and difficult to enforce, and would +also work hardship to a large portion of our frontier people. He had +several objections. He also thought a cow buffalo could not be +distinguished at a distance. + +Mr. Hancock, of Texas, thought the bill an impolicy, and that the sooner +the buffalo was exterminated the better. + +Mr. Fort replied by asking him why all the game--deer, antelope, +etc.--was not slaughtered also. Then he went on to state that to +exterminate the buffalo would be to starve innocent children of the red +man, and to make the latter more wild and savage than he was already. + +Mr. Baker, of Indiana, offered the following amendment as a substitute +for the one already offered: + +_Provided_, That any white person who shall employ, hire, or procure, +directly or indirectly, any Indian to kill any buffalo forbidden to be +killed by this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and punished +in the manner provided in this act. + +Mr. Fort stated that a certain clause in his bill covered the object of +the amendment. + +Mr. Jenks offered the following amendment: + +Strike out in the fourth line of the second section the word "can" and +insert "shall;" and in the second line of the same section insert the +word "wantonly" before "kill;" so that the clause will read: + +"That it shall be in like manner unlawful for any such person to +wantonly kill, wound, or destroy in the said Territories any greater +number of male buffaloes than are needed for food by such person, or +than shall be used, cured, or preserved for the food of other persons, +or for the market." + +Mr. Conger said: "I think the whole bill is unwise. I think it is a +useless measure." + +Mr. Hancock said: "I move that the bill and amendment be laid on the +table." + +The motion to lay the bill upon the table was defeated, and the +amendment was rejected. + +Mr. Conger called for a division on the passage of the bill. The House +divided, and there were--ayes 93, noes 48. He then demanded tellers, and +they reported--ayes 104, noes 36. So the bill was passed. + +On February 25, 1876, the bill was reported to the Senate, and referred +to the Committee on Territories, from whence it never returned. + +On March 20, 1876, Mr. Fort introduced a bill (H. R. 2767) to tax +buffalo hides; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, +and never heard of afterward. + +This was the last move made in Congress in behalf of the buffalo. The +philanthropic friends of the frontiersman, the Indian, and of the +buffalo himself, despaired of accomplishing the worthy object for which +they had so earnestly and persistently labored, and finally gave up the +fight. At the very time the effort in behalf of buffalo protection was +abandoned the northern herd still flourished, and might have been +preserved from extirpation. + +At various times the legislatures of a few of the Western States and +Territories enacted laws vaguely and feebly intended to provide some +sort of protection to the fast disappearing animals. One of the first +was the game law of Colorado, passed in 1872, which declared that the +killers of game should not leave any flesh to spoil. The western game +laws of those days amounted to about as much as they do now; practically +nothing at all. I have never been able to learn of a single instance, +save in the Yellowstone Park, wherein a western hunter was prevented by +so simple and innocuous a thing as a game law from killing game. Laws +were enacted, but they were always left to enforce themselves. The idea +of the frontiersman (the average, at least) has always been to kill as +much game as possible before some other fellow gets a chance at it, _and +before it is all killed off_! So he goes at the game, and as a general +thing kills all he can while it lasts, and with it feeds himself and +family, his dogs, and even his hogs, to repletion. I knew one Montana +man north of Miles City who killed for his own use twenty-six black-tail +deer in one season, and had so much more venison than he could consume +or give away that a great pile of carcasses lay in his yard until spring +and spoiled. + +During the existence of the buffalo it was declared by many an +impossibility to stop or prevent the slaughter. Such an accusation of +weakness and imbecility on the part of the General Government is an +insult to our strength and resources. The protection of game is now and +always has been simply a question of money. A proper code of game laws +and a reasonable number of salaried game-wardens, sworn to enforce them +and punish all offenses against them, would have afforded the buffalo as +much protection as would have been necessary to his continual existence. +To be sure, many buffaloes would have been killed on the sly in spite of +laws to the contrary, but it was wholesale slaughter that wrought the +extermination, and that could easily have been prevented. A tax of 50 +cents each on buffalo robes would have maintained a sufficient number of +game-wardens to have reasonably regulated the killing, and maintained +for an indefinite period a bountiful source of supply of food, and also +raiment for both the white man of the plains and the Indian. By +judicious management the buffalo could have been made to yield an annual +revenue equal to that we now receive from the fur-seals--$100,000 per +year. + +During the two great periods of slaughter--1870-'75 and 1880-'84--the +principal killing grounds were as well known as the stock-yards of +Chicago. Had proper laws been enacted, and had either the general or +territorial governments entered with determination upon the task of +restricting the killing of buffaloes to proper limits, their enforcement +would have been, in the main, as simple and easy as the collection of +taxes. Of course the solitary hunter in a remote locality would have +bowled over his half dozen buffaloes in secure defiance of the law; but +such desultory killing could not have made much impression on the great +mass for many years. The business-like, wholesale slaughter, wherein +one hunter would openly kill five thousand buffaloes and market perhaps +two thousand hides, could easily have been stopped forever. Buffalo +hides could not have been dealt in clandestinely, for many reasons, and +had there been no sale for ill-gotten spoils the still-hunter would have +gathered no spoils to sell. It was an undertaking of considerable +magnitude, and involving a cash outlay of several hundred dollars to +make up an "outfit" of wagons, horses, arms and ammunition, food, etc., +for a trip to "the range" after buffaloes. It was these wholesale +hunters, both in the North and the South, who exterminated the species, +and to say that all such undertakings could not have been effectually +prevented by law is to accuse our law-makers and law-officers of +imbecility to a degree hitherto unknown. There is nowhere in this +country, nor in any of the waters adjacent to it, a living species of +any kind which the United States Government can not fully and +perpetually protect from destruction by human agencies if it chooses to +do so. The destruction of the buffalo was a loss of wealth perhaps +twenty times greater than the sum it would have cost to conserve it, and +this stupendous waste of valuable food and other products was committed +by one class of the American people and permitted by another with a +prodigality and wastefulness which even in the lowest savages would be +inexcusable. + + + + +V. COMPLETENESS OF THE EXTERMINATION. + +(May 1, 1889.) + +Although the existence of a few widely-scattered individuals enables us +to say that the bison is not yet absolutely extinct in a wild state, +there is no reason to hope that a single wild and unprotected individual +will remain alive ten years hence. The nearer the species approaches to +complete extermination, the more eagerly are the wretched fugitives +pursued to the death whenever found. Western hunters are striving for +the honor (?) of killing the last buffalo, which, it is to be noted, has +already been slain about a score of times by that number of hunters. + +The buffaloes still alive in a wild state are so very few, and have been +so carefully "marked down" by hunters, it is possible to make a very +close estimate of the total number remaining. In this enumeration the +small herd in the Yellowstone National Park is classed with other herds +in captivity and under protection, for the reason that, had it not been +for the protection afforded by the law and the officers of the Park, not +one of these buffaloes would be living to-day. Were the restrictions of +the law removed now, every one of those animals would be killed within +three months. Their heads alone are worth from $25 to $50 each to +taxidermists, and for this reason every buffalo is a prize worth the +hunter's winning. Had it not been for stringent laws, and a rigid +enforcement of them by Captain Harris, the last of the Park buffaloes +would have been shot years ago by Vic. Smith, the Rea Brothers, and +other hunters, of whom there is always an able contingent around the +Park. + +In the United States the death of a buffalo is now such an event that it +is immediately chronicled by the Associated Press and telegraphed all +over the country. By reason of this, and from information already in +hand, we are able to arrive at a very fair understanding of the present +condition of the species in a wild state. + +In December, 1886, the Smithsonian expedition left about fifteen +buffaloes alive in the bad lands of the Missouri-Yellowstone divide, at +the head of Big Porcupine Creek. In 1887 three of these were killed by +cowboys, and in 1888 two more, the last death recorded being that of an +old bull killed near Billings. There are probably eight or ten +stragglers still remaining in that region, hiding in the wildest and +most broken tracts of the bad lands, as far as possible from the cattle +ranches, and where even cowboys seldom go save on a round-up. From the +fact that no other buffaloes, at least so far as can be learned, have +been killed in Montana during the last two years, I am convinced that +the bunch referred to are the last representatives of the species +remaining in Montana. + +In the spring of 1886 Mr. B. C. Winston, while on a hunting trip about +75 miles west of Grand Rapids, Dakota, saw seven buffaloes--five adult +animals and two calves; of which he killed one, a large bull, and caught +a calf alive. On September 11, 1888, a solitary bull was killed 3 miles +from the town of Oakes, in Dickey County. There are still three +individuals in the unsettled country lying between that point and the +Missouri, which are undoubtedly the only wild representatives of the +race east of the Missouri River. + +On April 28, 1887, Dr. William Stephenson, of the United States Army, +wrote me as follows from Pilot Butte, about 30 miles north of Rock +Springs, Wyoming: + +"There are undoubtedly buffalo within 50 or 60 miles of here, two having +been killed out of a band of eighteen some ten days since by cowboys, +and another band of four seen near there. I hear from cattlemen of their +being seen every year north and northeast of here." + +This band was seen once in 1888. In February, 1889, Hon. Joseph M. +Carey, member of Congress from Wyoming, received a letter informing him +that this band of buffaloes, consisting of twenty-six head, had been +seen grazing in the Red Desert of Wyoming, and that the Indians were +preparing to attack it. At Judge Carey's request the Indian Bureau +issued orders which it was hoped would prevent the slaughter. So, until +further developments, we have the pleasure of recording the presence of +twenty-six wild buffaloes in southern Wyoming. + +There are no buffaloes whatever in the vicinity of the Yellowstone Park, +either in Wyoming, Montana, or Idaho, save what wander out of that +reservation, and when any do, they are speedily killed. + +There is a rumor that there are ten or twelve mountain buffaloes still +on foot in Colorado, in a region called Lost Park, and, while it lacks +confirmation, we gladly accept it as a fact. In 1888 Mr. C. B. Cory, of +Boston, saw in Denver, Colorado, eight fresh buffalo skins, which it was +said had come from the region named above. In 1885 there was a herd of +about forty "mountain buffalo" near South Park, and although some of the +number may still survive, the indications are that the total number of +wild buffaloes in Colorado does not exceed twenty individuals. + +In Texas a miserable remnant of the great southern herd still remains in +the "Pan-handle country," between the two forks of the Canadian River. +In 1886 about two hundred head survived, which number by the summer of +1887 had been reduced to one hundred, or less. In the hunting season of +1887-'88 a ranchman named Lee Howard fitted out and led a strong party +into the haunts of the survivors, and killed fifty-two of them. In May, +1888, Mr. C. J. Jones again visited this region for the purpose of +capturing buffaloes alive. His party found, from first to last, +thirty-seven buffaloes, of which they captured eighteen head, eleven +adult cows and seven calves; the greatest feat ever accomplished in +buffalo-hunting. It is highly probable that Mr. Jones and his men saw +about all the buffaloes now living in the Pan-handle country, and it +therefore seems quite certain that not over twenty-five individuals +remain. These are so few, so remote, and so difficult to reach, it is to +be hoped no one will consider them worth going after, and that they will +be left to take care of themselves. It is greatly to be regretted that +the State of Texas does not feel disposed to make a special effort for +their protection and preservation. + +In regard to the existence of wild buffaloes in the British Possessions, +the statements of different authorities are at variance, by far the +larger number holding the opinion that there are in all the Northwest +Territory only a few almost solitary stragglers. But there is still good +reason for the hope, and also the belief, that there still remain in +Athabasca, between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers, at least a few +hundred "wood buffalo." In a very interesting and well-considered +article in the London _Field_ of November 10, 1888, Mr. Miller Christy +quotes all the available positive evidence bearing on this point, and I +gladly avail myself of the opportunity to reproduce it here: + +"The Hon. Dr. Schulz, in the recent debate on the Mackenzie River basin, +in the Canadian senate, quoted Senator Hardisty, of Edmonton, of the +Hudson's Bay Company, to the effect that the wood buffalo still existed +in the region in question. 'It was,' he said, 'difficult to estimate how +many; but probably five or six hundred still remain in scattered bands.' +There had been no appreciable difference in their numbers, he thought, +during the last fifteen years, as they could not be hunted on horseback, +on account of the wooded character of the country, and were, therefore, +very little molested. They are larger than the buffalo of the great +plains, weighing at least 150 pounds more. They are also coarser haired +and straighter horned. + +"The doctor also quoted Mr. Frank Oliver, of Edmonton, to the effect +that the wood buffalo still exists in small numbers between the Lower +Peace and Great Slave Rivers, extending westward from the latter to the +Salt River in latitude 60 degrees, and also between the Peace and +Athabasca Rivers. He states that 'they are larger than the prairie +buffalo, and the fur is darker, but practically they are the same +animal.' ...Some buffalo meat is brought in every winter to the Hudson's +Bay Company's posts nearest the buffalo ranges. + +"Dr. Schulz further stated that he had received the following testimony +from Mr. Donald Ross, of Edmonton: The wood buffalo still exists in the +localities named. About 1870 one was killed as far west on Peace River +as Port Dunvegan. They are quite different from the prairie buffalo, +being nearly double the size, as they will dress fully 700 pounds." + +It will be apparent to most observers, I think, that Mr. Ross's +statement in regard to the size of the wood buffalo is a random shot. + +In a private letter to the writer, under date of October 22, 1887, Mr. +Harrison S. Young, of the Hudson's Bay Company's post at Edmonton, +writes as follows: + +"The buffalo are not yet extinct in the Northwest. There are still some +stray ones on the prairies away to the south of this, but they must be +very few. I am unable to find any one who has personal knowledge of the +killing of one during the last two years, though I have since the +receipt of your letter questioned a good many half-breeds on the +subject. In our district of Athabasca, along the Salt River, there are +still a few wood buffalo killed every year, but they are fast +diminishing in numbers and are also becoming very shy." + +In his "Manitoba and the Great Northwest" Prof. John Macoun has this to +say regarding the presence of the wood buffalo in the region referred +to: + +"The wood buffalo, when I was on the Peace River in 1875, were confined +to the country lying between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers north of +latitude 57° 30', or chiefly in the Birch Hills. They were also said to +be in some abundance on the Salt and Hay Rivers, running into the Save +River north of Peace River. The herds thirteen years ago [now nineteen] +were supposed to number about one thousand, all told. I believe many +still exist, as the Indians of that region eat fish, which are much +easier procured than either buffalo or moose, and the country is much +too difficult for white men." + +All this evidence, when carefully considered, resolves itself into +simply this and no more: The only evidence in favor of the existence of +any live buffaloes between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers is in the form +of very old rumors, most of them nearly fifteen years old; time enough +for the Indians to have procured fire-arms in abundance and killed all +those buffaloes two or three times over. + +Mr. Miller Christy takes "the mean of the estimates," and assumes that +there are now about five hundred and fifty buffaloes in the region +named. If we are to believe in the existence there of any stragglers his +estimate is a fair one, and we will gladly accept it. The total is +therefore as follows: + ++-------------------------------------------------+ +| _Number of American bison running wild | +| and unprotected on January 1, 1889._ | ++-------------------------------------------------+ +|In the Pan-handle of Texas | 25| +|In Colorado | 20| +|In southern Wyoming | 26| +|In the Musselshell country, Montana | 10| +|In western Dakota | 4| +| |---| +| Total number in the United States | 85| +|In Athabasca, Northwest Territory (estimated)|550| +| |---| +| Total in all North America |635| ++-------------------------------------------------+ + +Add to the above the total number already recorded in captivity (256) +and those under Government protection in the Yellowstone Park (200), and +the whole number of individuals of _Bison americanus_ now living is +1,091. + +From this time it is probable that many rumors of the sudden appearance +of herds of buffaloes will become current. Already there have been three +or four that almost deserve special mention. The first appeared in +March, 1887, when various Western newspapers published a circumstantial +account of how a herd of about three hundred buffaloes swam the Missouri +River about 10 miles above Bismarck, near the town of Painted Woods, and +ran on in a southwesterly direction. A letter of inquiry, addressed to +Mr. S. A. Peterson, postmaster at Painted Woods, elicited the following +reply: + +"The whole rumor is false, and without any foundation. I saw it first in +the ---- newspaper, where I believe it originated." + +In these days of railroads and numberless hunting parties, there is not +the remotest possibility of there being anywhere in the United States a +herd of a hundred, or even fifty, buffaloes which has escaped +observation. Of the eighty-five head still existing in a wild state it +may safely be predicted that not even one will remain alive five years +hence. A buffalo is now so great a prize, and by the ignorant it is +considered so great an honor(!) to kill one, that extraordinary +exertions will be made to find and shoot down without mercy the "last +buffalo." + +There is no possible chance for the race to be perpetuated in a wild +state, and in a few years more hardly a bone will remain above ground to +mark the existence of the must prolific mammalian species that ever +existed, so far as we know. + + + + +VI. EFFECTS OF THE EXTERMINATION. + + +The buffalo supplied the Indian with food, clothing, shelter, bedding, +saddles, ropes, shields, and innumerable smaller articles of use and +ornament In the United States a paternal government takes the place of +the buffalo in supplying all these wants of the red man, and it costs +several millions of dollars annually to accomplish the task. + +The following are the tribes which depended very largely--some almost +wholly--upon the buffalo for the necessities, and many of the luxuries, +of their savage life until the Government began to support them: + ++------------------------------------+ +|Sioux |30,561| +|Crow | 3,226| +|Piegan, Blood, and Blackfeet | 2,026| +|Cheyenne | 3,477| +|Gros Ventres | 856| +|Arickaree | 517| +|Mandan | 283| +|Bannack and Shoshone | 2,001| +|Nez Percé | 1,460| +|Assinniboine | 1,688| +|Kiowas and Comanches | 2,756| +|Arapahoes | 1,217| +|Apache | 332| +|Ute | 978| +|Omaha | 1,160| +|Pawnee | 998| +|Winnebago | 1,222| +| |------| +| Total |54,758| ++------------------------------------+ + +This enumeration (from the census of 1886) leaves entirely out of +consideration many thousands of Indians living in the Indian Territory +and other portions of the Southwest, who drew an annual supply of meat +and robes from the chase of the buffalo, notwithstanding the fact that +their chief dependence was upon agriculture. + +The Indians of what was once the buffalo country are not starving and +freezing, for the reason that the United States Government supplies them +regularly with beef and blankets in lieu of buffalo. Does any one +imagine that the Government could not have regulated the killing of +buffaloes, and thus maintained the supply, for far less money than it +now costs to feed and clothe those 54,758 Indians! + +How is it with the Indians of the British Possessions to-day? + +Prof. John Maconn writes as follows in his "Manitoba and the Great +Northwest," page 342: + +"During the last three years [prior to 1883] the great herds have been +kept south of our boundary, and, as the result of this, our Indians have +been on the verge of starvation. When the hills were covered with +countless thousands [of buffaloes] in 1877, the Blackfeet were dying of +starvation in 1879." + +During the winter of 1886-'87, destitution and actual starvation +prevailed to an alarming extent among certain tribes of Indians in the +Northwest Territory who once lived bountifully on the buffalo. A +terrible tale of suffering in the Athabasca and Peace River country has +recently (1888) come to the minister of the interior of the Canadian +government, in the form of a petition signed by the bishop of that +diocese, six clergymen and missionaries, and several justices of the +peace. It sets forth that "owing to the destruction of game, the +Indians, both last winter and last summer, have been in a state of +starvation. They are now in a complete state of destitution, and are +utterly unable to provide themselves with clothing, shelter, ammunition, +or food for the coming winter." The petition declares that on account of +starvation, and consequent cannibalism, a party of twenty-nine Cree +Indians was reduced to three in the winter of 1886.[77] Of the Fort +Chippewyan Indians, between twenty and thirty starved to death last +winter, and the death of many more was hastened by want of food and by +famine diseases. Many other Indians--Crees, Beavers, and Chippewyans--at +almost all points where there are missions or trading posts, would +certainly have starved to death but for the help given them by the +traders and missionaries at those places. It is now declared by the +signers of the memorial that scores of families, having lost their heads +by starvation, are now perfectly helpless, and during the coming winter +must either starve to death or eat one another unless help comes. +Heart-rending stories of suffering and cannibalism continue to come in +from what was once the buffalo plains. + +[Note 77: It was the Cree Indians who used to practice impounding +buffaloes, slaughtering a penful of two hundred head at a time with most +fiendish glee, and leaving all but the very choicest of the meat to +putrefy.] + +If ever thoughtless people were punished for their reckless +improvidence, the Indians and half-breeds of the Northwest Territory are +now paying the penalty for the wasteful slaughter of the buffalo a few +short years ago. The buffalo is his own avenger, to an extent his +remorseless slayers little dreamed he ever could be. + + + + +VII. PRESERVATION OF THE SPECIES FROM ABSOLUTE EXTINCTION. + + +There is reason to fear that unless the United States Government takes +the matter in hand and makes a special effort to prevent it, the +pure-blood bison will be lost irretrievably through mixture with +domestic breeds and through in-and-in breeding. + +The fate of the Yellowstone Park herd is, to say the least, highly +uncertain. A distinguished Senator, who is deeply interested in +legislation for the protection of the National Park reservation, has +declared that the pressure from railway corporations, which are seeking +a foot-hold in the park, has become so great and so aggressive that he +fears the park will "eventually be broken up." In any such event, the +destruction of the herd of park buffaloes would be one of the very first +results. If the park is properly maintained, however, it is to be hoped +that the buffaloes now in it will remain there and increase +indefinitely. + +As yet there are only two captive buffaloes in the possession of the +Government, viz, those in the Department of Living Animals of the +National Museum, presented by Hon. E. G. Blackford, of New York. The +buffaloes now in the Zoological Gardens of the country are but few in +number, and unless special pains be taken to prevent it, by means of +judicious exchanges, from time to time, these will rapidly deteriorate +in size, and within a comparatively short time run out entirely, through +continued in-and-in breeding. It is said that even the wild aurochs in +the forests of Lithuania are decreasing in size and, in number from this +cause. + +With private owners of captive buffaloes, the temptations to produce +cross-breeds will be so great that it is more than likely the breeding +of pure-blood buffaloes will be neglected. Indeed, unless some stockman +like Mr. C. J. Jones takes particular pains to protect his full blood +buffaloes, and keep the breed absolutely pure, in twenty years there +will not be a pure-blood animal of that species on any stock farm in +this country. Under existing conditions, the constant tendency of the +numerous domestic forms is to absorb and utterly obliterate the few wild +ones. + +If we may judge from the examples set as by European governments, it is +clearly the duty of our Government to act in this matter, and act +promptly, with a degree of liberality and promptness which can not be +otherwise than highly gratifying to every American citizen and every +friend of science throughout the world. The Fiftieth Congress, at its +last session, responded to the call made upon it, and voted $200,000 for +the establishment of a National Zoological Park in the District of +Columbia on a grand scale. One of the leading purposes it is destined to +serve is the preservation and breeding in comfortable, and so far as +space is concerned, luxurious captivity of a number of fine specimens of +every species of American quadruped now threatened with +extermination.[78] + +[Note 78: It is indeed an unbounded satisfaction to be able to now +record the fact that this important task, in which every American +citizen has a personal interest, is actually to be undertaken. Last year +we could only way it ought to be undertaken. In its accomplishment, the +Government expects the co-operation of private individuals all over the +country in the form of gifts of desirable living animals, for no +government could afford to purchase all the animals necessary for a +great Zoological Garden, provide for their wants in a liberal way, and +yet give the public free access to the collection, as is to be given to +the National Zoological Park.] + +At least eight or ten buffaloes of pure breed should be secured very +soon by the Zoological Park Commission, by gift if possible, and cared +for with special reference to keeping the breed absolutely pure, and +_keeping the herd from deteriorating and dying out through in-and-in +breeding_. + +The total expense would be trifling in comparison with the importance of +the end to be gained, and in that way we might, in a small measure, +atone for our neglect of the means which would have protected the great +herds from extinction. In this way, by proper management, it will be not +only possible but easy to preserve fine living representatives of this +important species for centuries to come. + +The result of continuing in-breeding is certain extinction. Its progress +may be so slow as to make no impression upon the mind of a herd-owner, +but the end is only a question of time. The fate of a majority of the +herds of British wild cattle (_Bos urus_) warn us what to expect with +the American bison under similar circumstances. Of the fourteen herds of +wild cattle which were in existence in England and Scotland during the +early part of the present century, direct descendants of the wild herds +found in Great Britain, nine have become totally extinct through in +breeding. + +The five herds remaining are those at Somerford Park, Blickling Hall, +Woodbastwick, Chartley, and Chillingham. + + + + +PART III.--THE SMITHSONIAN EXPEDITION FOR MUSEUM SPECIMENS. + + + + +I. THE EXPLORATION. + + +During the first three months of the year 1886 it was ascertained by the +writer, then chief taxidermist of the National Museum, that the +extermination of the American bison had made most alarming progress. By +extensive correspondence it was learned that the destruction of all the +large herds, both North and South, was already an accomplished fact. +While it was generally supposed that at least a few thousand individuals +still inhabited the more remote and inaccessible regions of what once +constituted the great northern buffalo range, it was found that the +actual number remaining in the whole United States was probably less +than three hundred. + +By some authorities who were consulted it was considered an +impossibility to procure a large series of specimens anywhere in this +country, while others asserted positively that there were no wild +buffaloes south of the British possessions save those in the Yellowstone +National Park. Canadian authorities asserted with equal positiveness +that none remained in their territory. + +A careful inventory of the specimens in the collection of the National +Museum revealed the fact that, with the exception of one mounted female +skin, another unmounted, and one mounted skeleton of a male buffalo, the +Museum was actually without presentable specimens of this most important +and interesting mammal. + +Besides those mentioned above, the collection contained only two old, +badly mounted, and dilapidated skins, (one of which had been taken in +summer, and therefore was not representative), an incomplete skeleton, +some fragmentary skulls of no value, and two mounted heads. Thus it +appeared that the Museum was unable to show a series of specimens, good +or bad, or even one presentable male of good size. + +In view of this alarming state of affairs, coupled with the already +declared extinction of _Bison americanus_, the Secretary of the +Smithsonian Institution, Prof. Spencer F. Baird, determined to send a +party into the field at once to find wild buffalo, if any were still +living, and in case any were found to collect a number of specimens. +Since it seemed highly uncertain whether any other institution, or any +private individual, would have the opportunity to collect a large supply +of specimens before it became too late, it was decided by the Secretary +that the Smithsonian Institution should undertake the task of providing +for the future as liberally as possible. For the benefit of the smaller +scientific museums of the country, and for others which will come into +existence during the next half century, it was resolved to collect at +all hazards, in case buffalo could be found, between eighty and one +hundred specimens of various kinds, of which from twenty to thirty +should be skins, an equal number should be complete skeletons, and of +skulls at least fifty. + +In view of the great scarcity of buffalo and the general belief that it +might be a work of some months to find any specimens, even if it were +possible to find any at all, it was determined not to risk the success +of the undertaking by delaying it until the regular autumn hunting +season, but to send a party into the field at once to prosecute a +search. It was resolved to discover at all hazards the whereabouts of +any buffalo that might still remain in this country in a wild state, +and, if possible, to reach them before the shedding of their winter +pelage. It very soon became apparent, however, that the latter would +prove an utter impossibility. + +Late in the month of April a letter was received from Dr. J. C. Merrill, +United States Army, dated at Huntley, Montana, giving information of +reports that buffalo were still to be found in three localities in the +Northwest, viz: on the headwaters of the Powder River, Wyoming; in +Judith Basin, Montana; and on Big Dry Creek, also in Montana. The +reports in regard to the first two localities proved to be erroneous. It +was ascertained to a reasonable certainty that there still existed in +southwestern Dakota a small band of six or eight wild buffaloes, while +from the Pan-handle of Texas there came reports of the existence there, +in small scattered hands, of about two hundred head. The buffalo known +to be in Dakota were far too few in number to justify a long and +expensive search, while those in Texas, on the Canadian River, were too +difficult to reach to make it advisable to hunt them save as a last +resort. It was therefore decided to investigate the localities named in +the Northwest. + +Through the courtesy of the Secretary of War, an order was sent to the +officer commanding the Department of Dakota, requesting him to furnish +the party, through the officers in command at Forts Keogh, Maginnis, and +McKinney, such field transportation, escort, and camp equipage as might +be necessary, and also to sell to the party such commissary stores as +might be required, at cost price, plus 10 per cent. The Secretary of the +Interior also favored the party with an order, directing all Indian +agents, scouts, and others in the service of the Department to render +assistance as far as possible when called upon. + +In view of the public interest attaching to the results of the +expedition, the railway transportation of the party to and from Montana +was furnished entirely without cost to the Smithsonian Institution. For +these valuable courtesies we gratefully acknowledge our obligations to +Mr. Frank Thomson, of the Pennsylvania Railroad; Mr. Roswell Miller, of +the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul; and Mr. Robert Harris, of the +Northern Pacific. + +Under orders from the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the +writer left Washington on May 6, accompanied by A. H. Forney, assistant +in the department of taxidermy, and George H. Hedley, of Medina, New +York. It had been decided that Miles City, Montana, might properly be +taken as the first objective point, and that town was reached on May 9. + +Diligent inquiry in Miles City and at Fort Keogh, 2 miles distant, +revealed the fact that no one knew of the presence of any wild buffalo +anywhere in the Northwest, save within the protected limits of the +Yellowstone Park. All inquiries elicited the same reply: "There are no +buffalo any more, and you can't get any anywhere." Many persons who were +considered good authority declared most positively that there was not a +live buffalo in the vicinity of Big Dry Creek, nor anywhere between the +Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. An army officer from Fort Maginnis +testified to the total absence of buffalo in the Judith Basin, and +ranchmen from Wyoming asserted that none remained in the Powder River +country. + +Just at this time it was again reported to us, and most opportunely +confirmed by Mr. Henry E. Phillips, owner of the =LU=-bar ranch on +Little Dry Creek, that there still remained a chance to find a few +buffalo in the country lying south of the Big Dry. On the other hand, +other persons who seemed to be fully informed regarding that very region +and the animal life it contained, assured us that not a single buffalo +remained there, and that a search in that direction would prove +fruitless. But the balance of evidence, however, seemed to lie in favor +of the Big Dry country, and we resolved to hunt through it with all +possible dispatch. + +On the afternoon of May 13 we crossed the Yellowstone and started +northwest up the trail which leads along Sunday Creek. Our entire party +consisted of the two assistants already mentioned, a non-commissioned +officer, Sergeant Garone, and four men from the Fifth Infantry acting as +escort; Private Jones, also from the Fifth Infantry, detailed to act as +our cook, and a teamster. Our conveyance consisted of a six-mule team, +which, like the escort, was ordered out for twenty days only, and +provided accordingly. Before leaving Miles City we purchased two +saddle-horses for use in hunting, the equipments for which were +furnished by the ordnance department at Fort Keogh. + +During the first two days' travel through the bad lands north of the +Yellowstone no mammals were seen save prairie-dogs and rabbits. On the +third day a few antelope were seen, but none killed. It is to be borne +in mind that this entire region is absolutely treeless everywhere save +along the margins of the largest streams. Bushes are also entirely +absent, with the exception of sage-brush, and even that does not occur +to any extent on the divides. + +On the third day two young buck antelopes were shot at the Red Buttes. +One had already commenced to shed his hair, but the other had not quite +reached that point. We prepared the skin of the first specimen and the +skeleton of the other. This was the only good antelope skin we obtained +in the spring, those of all the other specimens taken being quite +worthless on account of the looseness of the hair. During the latter +part of May, and from that time on until the long winter hair is +completely shed, it falls off in handfuls at the slightest pressure, +leaving the skin clad only with a thin growth of new, mouse-colored hair +an eighth of an inch long. + +After reaching Little Dry Creek and hunting through the country on the +west side of it nearly to its confluence with the Big Dry we turned +southwest, and finally went into permanent camp on Phillips Creek, 8 +miles above the =LU=-bar ranch and 4 miles from the Little Dry. At that +point we were about 80 miles from Miles City. + +From information furnished us by Mr. Phillips and the cowboys in his +employ, we were assured that about thirty-five head of buffalo ranged in +the bad lands between Phillips Creek and the Musselshell River and south +of the Big Dry. This tract of country was about 40 miles long from east +to west by 25 miles wide, and therefore of about 1,000 square miles in +area. Excepting two temporary cowboy camps it was totally uninhabited by +man, treeless, without any running streams, save in winter and spring, +and was mostly very hilly and broken. + +In this desolate and inhospitable country the thirty-five buffaloes +alluded to had been seen, first on Sand Creek, then at the head of the +Big Porcupine, again near the Musselshell, and latest near the head of +the Little Dry. As these points were all from 15 to 30 miles distant +from each other, the difficulty of finding such a small herd becomes +apparent. + +Although Phillips Creek was really the eastern boundary of the buffalo +country, it was impossible for a six-mule wagon to proceed beyond it, at +least at that point. Having established a permanent camp, the Government +wagon and its escort returned to Fort Keogh, and we proceeded to hunt +through the country between Sand Creek and the Little Dry. The absence +of nearly all the cowboys on the spring round-up, which began May 20, +threatened to be a serious drawback to us, as we greatly needed the +services of a man who was acquainted with the country. We had with us as +a scout and guide a Cheyenne Indian, named Dog, but it soon became +apparent that he knew no more about the country than we did. +Fortunately, however, we succeeded in occasionally securing the services +of a cowboy, which was of great advantage to us. + +It was our custom to ride over the country daily, each day making a +circuit through a new locality, and covering as much ground as it was +possible to ride over in a day. It was also our custom to take trips of +from two to four days in length, during which we carried our blankets +and rations upon our horses and camped wherever night overtook us, +provided water could be found. + +Our first success consisted in the capture of a buffalo calf, which from +excessive running had become unable to keep up with its mother, and had +been left behind. The calf was caught alive without any difficulty, and +while two of the members of our party carried it to camp across a horse, +the other two made a vigorous effort to discover the band of adult +animals. The effort was unsuccessful, for, besides the calf, no other +buffaloes were seen. + +Ten days after the above event two bull buffaloes were met with on the +Little Dry, 15 miles above the =LU=-bar ranch, one of which was +overtaken and killed, but the other got safely away. The shedding of the +winter coat was in full progress. On the head, neck, and shoulders the +old hair had been entirely replaced by the new, although the two coats +were so matted together that the old hair clung in tangled masses to the +other. The old hair was brown and weather-beaten, but the new, which was +from 3 to 6 inches long, had a peculiar bluish-gray appearance. On the +head the new hair was quite black, and contrasted oddly with the lighter +color. On the body and hind quarters there were large patches of skin +which were perfectly bare, between which lay large patches of old, +woolly, brown hair. This curious condition gave the animal a very +unkempt and "seedy" appearance, the effect of which was heightened by +the long, shaggy locks of old, weather beaten hair which clung to the +new coat of the neck and shoulders like tattered signals of distress, +ready to be blown away by the first gust of wind. + +This specimen was a large one, measuring 5 feet 4 inches in height. +Inasmuch as the skin was not in condition to mount, we took only the +skeleton, entire, and the skin of the head and neck. + +The capture of the calf and the death of this bull proved conclusively +that there were buffaloes in that region, and also that they were +breeding in comparative security. The extent of the country they had to +range over made it reasonably certain that their number would not be +diminished to any serious extent by the cowboys on the spring round-up, +although it was absolutely certain that in a few months the members of +that band would all be killed. The report of the existence of a herd of +thirty-five head was confirmed later by cowboys, who had actually seen +the animals, and killed two of them merely for sport, as usual. They +saved a few pounds of hump meat, and all the rest became food for the +wolves and foxes. + +It was therefore resolved to leave the buffaloes entirely unmolested +until autumn, and then, when the robes would be in the finest condition, +return for a hunt on a liberal scale. Accordingly, it was decided to +return to Washington without delay, and a courier was dispatched with a +request for transportation to carry our party back to Fort Keogh. + +While awaiting the arrival of the wagons, a cowboy in the employ of the +Phillips Land and Cattle Company killed a solitary bull buffalo about 15 +miles west of our camp, near Sand Creek. This animal had completely shed +the hair on his body and hind quarters. In addition to the preservation +of his entire skeleton, we prepared the skin also, as an example of the +condition of the buffalo immediately after shedding. + +On June 6 the teams from Fort Keogh arrived, and we immediately returned +to Miles City, taking with us our live buffalo calf, two fresh buffalo +skeletons, three bleached skeletons, seven skulls, one skin entire, and +one head skin, in addition to a miscellaneous collection of skins and +skeletons of smaller mammals and birds. On reaching Miles City we +hastily packed and shipped our collection, and, taking the calf with us, +returned at once to Washington. + + + + +II. THE HUNT. + + +On September 24 I arrived at Miles City a second time, fully equipped +for a protracted hunt for buffalo; this time accompanied only by W. +Harvey Brown, a student of the University of Kansas, as field assistant, +having previously engaged three cowboys as guides and hunters--Irwin +Boyd, James McNaney, and L. S. Russell. Messrs. Boyd and Russell were in +Miles City awaiting my arrival, and Mr. McNaney joined us in the field a +few days later. Mr. Boyd acted as my foreman during the entire hunt, a +position which he filled to my entire satisfaction. + +Thanks to the energy and good-will of the officers at Fort Keogh, of +which Lieutenant-Colonel Cochran was then in command, our +transportation, camp equipage, and stores were furnished without an +hour's delay. We purchased two months' supplies of commissary stores, a +team, and two saddle-horses, and hired three more horses, a light wagon, +and a set of double harness. Each of the cowboys furnished one horse; so +that in our outfit we had ten head, a team, and two good saddle-horses +for each hunter. The worst feature of the whole question of subsistence +was the absolute necessity of hauling a supply of grain from Miles City +into the heart of the buffalo country for our ten horses. For such work +as they had to encounter it was necessary to feed them constantly and +liberally with oats in order to keep them in condition to do their work. +We took with us 2,000 pounds of oats, and by the beginning of November +as much more had to be hauled up to us. + +Thirty six hours after our arrival in Miles City our outfit was +complete, and we crossed the Yellowstone and started up the Sunday Creek +trail. We had from Fort Keogh a six-mule team, an escort of four men, in +charge of Sergeant Bayliss, and an old veteran of more than twenty +years' service, from the Fifth Infantry, Private Patrick McCanna, who +was detailed to act as cook and camp-guard for our party during our stay +in the field. + +On September 29 we reached Tow's ranch, the =HV=, on Big Dry Creek +(erroneously called Big Timber Creek on most maps of Montana), at the +mouth of Sand Creek, which here flows into it from the southwest. This +point is said to be 90 miles from Miles City. Here we received our +freight from the six-mule wagon, loaded it with bleached skeletons and +skulls of buffalo, and started it back to the post. One member of the +escort, Private C. S. West, who was then on two months' furlough, +elected to join our party for the hunt, and accordingly remained with us +to its close. Leaving half of our freight stored at the =HV= ranch, we +loaded the remainder upon our own wagon, and started up Sand Creek. + +[Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF THE HUNT FOR BUFFALO. MONTANA 1886.] + +At this point the hunt began. As the wagon and extra horses proceeded up +the Sand Creek trail in the care of W. Harvey Brown, the three cowboys +and I paired off, and while two hunted through the country along the +south side of the creek, the others took the north. The whole of the +country bordering Sand Creek, quite up to its source, consists of rugged +hills and ridges, which sometimes rise to considerable height, cut +between by great yawning ravines and hollows, such as persecuted game +loves to seek shelter in. Inasmuch as the buffalo we were in search of +had been seen hiding in those ravines, it became necessary to search +through them with systematic thoroughness; a proceeding which was very +wearing upon our horses. Along the south side of Sand Creek, near its +source, the divide between it and Little Dry Creek culminates in a chain +of high, flat-topped buttes, whose summits bear a scanty growth of +stunted pines, which serve to make them conspicuous landmarks. On some +maps these insignificant little buttes are shown as mountains, under the +name of "Piny Buttes." + +It was our intention to go to the head of Sand Creek, and beyond, in +case buffaloes were not found earlier. Immediately westward of its +source there is a lofty level plateau, about 3 miles square, which, by +common consent, we called the High Divide. It is the highest ground +anywhere between the Big Dry and the Yellowstone, and is the starting +point of streams that run northward into the Missouri and Big Dry, +eastward into Sand Creek and the Little Dry, southward into Porcupine +Creek and the Yellowstone, and westward into the Musselshell. On three +sides--north, east, and south--it is surrounded by wild and rugged butte +country, and its sides are scored by intricate systems of great yawning +ravines and hollows, steep-sided and very deep, and bad lands of the +worst description. + +By the 12th of October the hunt had progressed up Sand Creek to its +source, and westward across the High Divide to Calf Creek, where we +found a hole of wretchedly bad water and went into permanent camp. We +considered that the spot we selected would serve us as a key to the +promising country that lay on three sides of it, and our surmise that +the buffalo were in the habit of hiding in the heads of those great +ravines around the High Divide soon proved to be correct. Our camp at +the head of Calf Creek was about 20 miles east of the Musselshell River, +40 miles south of the Missouri, and about 135 miles from Miles City, as +the trail ran. Four miles north of us, also on Calf Creek, was the line +camp of the =STV= ranch, owned by Messrs. J. H. Conrad & Co., and 18 +miles east, near the head of Sand Creek, was the line camp of the +=N=-bar ranch, owned by Mr. Newman. At each of these camps there were +generally from two to four cowboys. From all these gentlemen we received +the utmost courtesy and hospitality on all occasions, and all the +information in regard to buffalo which it was in their power to give. On +many occasions they rendered us valuable assistance, which is hereby +gratefully acknowledged. + +We saw no buffalo, nor any signs of any, until October 13. On that day, +while L. S. Russell was escorting our second load of freight across the +High Divide, he discovered a band of seven buffaloes lying in the head +of a deep ravine. He fired upon them, but killed none, and when they +dashed away he gave chase and followed them 2 or 3 miles. Being mounted +on a tired horse, which was unequal to the demands of the chase, he was +finally distanced by the herd, which took a straight course and ran due +south. As it was then nearly night, nothing further could be done that +day except to prepare for a vigorous chase on the morrow. Everything was +got in perfect readiness for an early start, and by daybreak the +following morning the three cowboys and the writer were mounted on our +best horses, and on our way through the bad lands to take up the trail +of the seven buffaloes. + +Shortly after sunrise we found the trail, not far from the head of Calf +Creek, and followed it due south. We left the rugged butte region behind +us, and entered a tract of country quite unlike anything we had found +before. It was composed of a succession of rolling hills and deep +hollows, smooth enough on the surface, to all appearances, but like a +desert of sand-hills to traverse. The dry soil was loose and crumbly, +like loose ashes or scoriæ, and the hoofs of our horses sank into it +half-way to the fetlocks at every step. But there was another feature +which was still worse. The whole surface of the ground was cracked and +seamed with a perfect net-work of great cracks, into which our horses +stepped every yard or so, and sank down still farther, with many a +tiresome wrench of the joints. It was terrible ground to go over. To +make it as bad as possible, a thick growth of sage-brush or else +grease-wood was everywhere present for the horses to struggle through, +and when it came to dragging a loaded wagon across that 12-mile stretch +of "bad grounds" or "gumbo ground," as it was called, it was killing +work. + +But in spite of the character of this ground, in one way it was a +benefit to us. Owing to its looseness on the surface we were able to +track the buffaloes through it with the greatest ease, whereas on any +other ground in that country it would have been almost impossible. We +followed the trail due south for about 20 miles, which brought us to the +head of a small stream called Taylor Creek. Here the bad grounds ended, +and in the grassy country which lay beyond, tracking was almost +impossible. Just at noon we rode to a high point, and on scanning the +hills and hollows with the binocular discovered the buffaloes lying at +rest on the level top of a small butte 2 miles away. The original bunch +of seven had been joined by an equal number. + +We crept up to within 200 yards of the buffaloes, which was as close as +we could go, fired a volley at them just as they lay, and did not even +kill a calf! Instantly they sprang up and dashed away at astonishing +speed, heading straight for the sheltering ravines around the High +Divide. + +We had a most exciting and likewise dangerous chase after the herd +through a vast prairie-dog town, honey-combed with holes just right for +a running horse to thrust a leg in up to the knee and snap it off like a +pipe-stem, and across fearfully wide gullies that either had to be +leaped or fallen into. McNaney killed a fine old bull and a beautiful +two year old, or "spike" bull, out of this herd, while I managed to kill +a cow and another large old bull, making four for that day, all told. +This herd of fourteen head was the largest that we saw during the entire +hunt. + +Two days later, when we were on the spot with the wagon to skin our game +and haul in the hides, four more buffaloes were discovered within 2 +miles of us, and while I worked on one of the large bull skins to save +it from spoiling, the cowboys went after the buffalo, and by a really +brilliant exploit killed them all. The first one to fall was an old cow, +which was killed at the beginning of the chase, the next was an old +bull, who was brought down about 5 miles from the scene of the first +attack, then 2 miles farther on a yearling calf was killed. The fourth +buffalo, an immense old bull, was chased fully 12 miles before he was +finally brought down. + +The largest bull fell about 8 miles from our temporary camp, in the +opposite direction from that in which our permanent camp lay, and at +about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. There not being time enough in which +to skin him completely and reach our rendezvous before dark, Messrs. +McNaney and Boyd dressed the carcass to preserve the meat, partly +skinned the legs, and came to camp. + +As early as possible the next morning we drove to the carcass with the +wagon, to prepare both skin and skeleton and haul them in. When we +reached it we found that during the night a gang of Indians had robbed +us of our hard-earned spoil. They had stolen the skin and all the +eatable meat, broken up the leg-bones to get at the marrow, and even cut +out the tongue. And to injury the skulking thieves had added insult. +Through laziness they had left the head unskinned, but on one side of it +they had smeared the hair with red war-paint, the other side they had +daubed with yellow, and around the base of one horn they had tied a +strip of red flannel as a signal of defiance. Of course they had left +for parts unknown, and we never saw any signs of them afterward. The +gang visited the =LU=-bar ranch a few days later, so we learned +subsequently. It was then composed of eleven braves(!), who claimed to +be Assinniboines, and were therefore believed to be Piegans, the most +notorious horse and cattle thieves in the Northwest. + +On October 22d Mr. Russell ran down in a fair chase a fine bull buffalo, +and killed him in the rough country bordering the High Divide on the +south. This was the ninth specimen. On the 26th we made an other trip +with the wagon to the Buffalo Buttes, as, for the sake of convenience, +we had named the group of buttes near which eight head had already been +taken. While Mr. Brown and I were getting the wagon across the bad +grounds, Messrs. McNaney and Boyd discovered a solitary bull buffalo +feeding in a ravine within a quarter of a mile of our intended camping +place, and the former stalked him and killed him at long range. The +buffalo had all been attracted to that locality by some springs which +lay between two groups of hills, and which was the only water within a +radius of about 15 miles. In addition to water, the grass around the +Buffalo Buttes was most excellent. + +During all this time we shot antelope and coyotes whenever an +opportunity offered, and preserved the skins and skeletons of the finest +until we had obtained a very fine series of both. At this season the +pelts of these animals were in the finest possible condition, the hair +having attained its maximum length and density, and, being quite new, +had lost none of its brightness of color, either by wear or the action +of the weather. Along Sand Creek and all around the High Divide antelope +were moderately plentiful (but really scarce in comparison with their +former abundance), so much so that had we been inclined to slaughter we +could have killed a hundred head or more, instead of the twenty that we +shot as specimens and for their flesh. We have it to say that from first +to last not an antelope was killed which was not made use of to the +fullest extent. + +On the 31st of October, Mr. Boyd and I discovered a buffalo cow and +yearling calf in the ravines north of the High Divide, within 3 miles of +our camp, and killed them both. The next day Private West arrived with a +six mule team from Fort Keogh, in charge of Corporal Clafer and three +men. This wagon brought us another 2,000 pounds of oats and various +commissary stores. When it started back, on November 3, we sent by it +all the skins and skeletons of buffalo, antelope, etc., which we had +collected up to that date, which made a heavy load for the six mules. On +this same day Mr. McNaney killed two young cow buffaloes in the bad +lands south of the High Divide, which brought our total number up to +fourteen. + +On the night of the 3d the weather turned very cold, and on the day +following we experienced our first snow-storm. By that time the water in +the hole, which up to that time had supplied our camp, became so thick +with mud and filth that it was unendurable; and having discovered a fine +pool of pure water in the bottom of a little cañon on the southern slope +of the High Divide we moved to it forthwith. It was really the upper +spring of the main fork of the Big Porcupine, and a finer situation for +a camp does not exist in that whole region. The spot which nature made +for us was sheltered on all sides by the high walls of the cañon, within +easy reach of an inexhaustible supply of good water, and also within +reach of a fair supply of dry fire-wood, which we found half a mile +below. This became our last permanent camp, and its advantages made up +for the barrenness and discomfort of our camp on Calf Creek. Immediately +south of us, and 2 miles distant there rose a lofty conical butte about +600 feet high, which forms a very conspicuous landmark from the south. +We were told that it was visible from 40 miles down the Porcupine. +Strange to say, this valuable landmark was without a name, so far as we +could learn; so, for our own convenience, we christened it Smithsonian +Butte. + +The two buffalo cows that Mr. McNaney killed just before we moved our +camp seemed to be the last in the country, for during the following week +we scouted for 15 miles in three directions, north, east, and south, +without finding as much as a hoof-print. At last we decided to go away +and give that country absolute quiet for a week, in the hope that some +more buffalo would come into it. Leaving McCanna and West to take care +of the camp, we loaded a small assortment of general equipage into the +wagon and pulled about 25 miles due west to the Musselshell River. + +We found a fine stream of clear water, flowing over sand and pebbles, +with heavy cottonwood timber and thick copses of willow along its banks, +which afforded cover for white-tailed deer. In the rugged brakes, which +led from the level river bottom into a labyrinth of ravines and gullies, +ridges and hog-backs, up to the level of the high plateau above, we +found a scanty growth of stunted cedars and pines, which once sheltered +great numbers of mule deer, elk, and bear. Now, however, few remain, and +these are very hard to find. Even when found, the deer are nearly always +young. Although we killed five mule deer and five white-tails, we did +not kill even one fine buck, and the only one we saw on the whole trip +was a long distance off. We saw fresh tracks of elk, and also grizzly +bear, but our most vigorous efforts to discover the animals themselves +always ended in disappointment. The many bleaching skulls and antlers of +elk and deer, which we found everywhere we went, afforded proof of what +that country had been as a home for wild animals only a few years ago. +We were not a little surprised at finding the fleshless carcasses of +three head of cattle that had been killed and eaten by bears within a +few months. + +In addition to ten deer, we shot three wild geese, seven sharp-tailed +grouse, eleven sage grouse, nine Bohemian waxwings, and a magpie, for +their skeletons. We made one trip of several miles up the Musselshell, +and another due west, almost to the Bull Mountains, but no signs of +buffalo were found. The weather at this time was quite cold, the +thermometer registering 6 degrees below zero; but, in spite of the fact +that we were without shelter and had to bivouac in the open, we were, +generally speaking, quite comfortable. + +Having found no buffalo by the 17th, we felt convinced that we ought to +return to our permanent camp, and did so on that day. Having brought +back nearly half a wagon-load of specimens in the flesh or half skinned, +it was absolutely necessary that I should remain at camp all the next +day. While I did so, Messrs. McNaney and Boyd rode over to the Buffalo +Buttes, found four fine old buffalo cows, and, after a hard chase, +killed them all. + +Under the circumstances, this was the most brilliant piece of work of +the entire hunt. As the four cows dashed past the hunters at the Buffalo +Buttes, heading for the High Divide, fully 20 miles distant, McNaney +killed one cow, and two others went off wounded. Of course the cowboys +gave chase. About 12 miles from the starting-point one of the wounded +cows left her companions, was headed off by Boyd, and killed. About 6 +miles beyond that one, McNaney overhauled the third cow and killed her, +but the fourth one got away for a short time. While McNaney skinned the +third cow and dressed the carcass to preserve the meat, Boyd took their +now thoroughly exhausted horses to camp and procured fresh mounts. On +returning to McNaney they set out in pursuit of the fourth cow, chased +her across the High Divide, within a mile or so of our camp, and into +the ravines on the northern slope, where she was killed. She met her +death nearly if not quite 25 miles from the spot where the first one +fell. + +The death of these four cows brought our number of buffaloes up to +eighteen, and made us think about the possibilities of getting thirty. +As we were proceeding to the Buffalo Buttes on the day after the "kill" +to gather in the spoil, Mr. Brown and I taking charge of the wagon, +Messrs. McNaney and Boyd went ahead in order to hunt. When within about +5 miles of the Buttes we came unexpectedly upon our companions, down in +a hollow, busily engaged in skinning another old cow, which they had +discovered traveling across the bad grounds, waylaid, and killed. + +We camped that night on our old ground at the Buffalo Buttes, and +although we all desired to remain a day or two and hunt for more +buffalo, the peculiar appearance of the sky in the northwest, and the +condition of the atmosphere, warned us that a change of weather was +imminent. Accordingly, the following morning we decided without +hesitation that it was best to get back to camp that day, and it soon +proved very fortunate for us that we so decided. + +Feeling that by reason of my work on the specimens I had been deprived +of a fair share of the chase, I arranged for Mr. Boyd to accompany the +wagon on the return trip, that I might hunt through the bad lands west +of the Buffalo Buttes, which I felt must contain some buffalo. Mr. +Russell went northeast and Mr. McNaney accompanied me. About 4 miles +from our late camp we came suddenly upon a fine old solitary bull, +feeding in a hollow between two high and precipitous ridges. After a +short but sharp chase I succeeded in getting a fair shot at him, and +killed him with a ball which broke his left humerus and passed into his +lungs. He was the only large bull killed on the entire trip by a single +shot. He proved to be a very fine specimen, measuring 5 feet 6 inches in +height at the shoulders. The wagon was overtaken and called back to get +the skin, and while it was coming I took a complete series of +measurements and sketches of him as he lay. + +Although we removed the skin very quickly, and lost no time in again +starting the wagon to our permanent camp, the delay occasioned by the +death of our twentieth buffalo,--which occurred on November 20, +precisely two months from the date of our leaving Washington to collect +twenty buffalo, it possible,--caused us all to be caught in a +snow-storm, which burst upon us from the northwest. The wagon had to be +abandoned about 12 miles from camp in the bad lands. Mr. Brown packed +the bedding on one of the horses and rode the other, he and Boyd +reaching camp about 9 o'clock that night in a blinding snow-storm. Of +coarse the skins in the wagon were treated with preservatives and +covered up. It proved to be over a week that the wagon and its load had +to remain thus abandoned before it was possible to get to it and bring +it to camp, and even then the task was one of great difficulty. In this +connection I can not refrain from recording the fact that the services +rendered by Mr. W. Harvey Brown on all such trying occasions as the +above were invaluable. He displayed the utmost zeal and intelligence, +not only in the more agreeable kinds of work and sport incident to the +hunt, but also in the disagreeable drudgery, such as team-driving and +working on half-frozen specimens in bitter cold weather. + +The storm which set in on the 20th soon developed into a regular +blizzard. A fierce and bitter cold wind swept down from the northwest, +driving the snow before it in blinding gusts. Had our camp been poorly +sheltered we would have suffered, but at it was we were fairly +comfortable. + +Having thus completed our task (of getting twenty buffaloes), we were +anxious to get out of that fearful country before we should get caught +in serious difficulties with the weather, and it was arranged that +Private C. S. West should ride to Fort Keogh as soon as possible, with a +request for transportation. By the third day, November 23, the storm had +abated sufficiently that Private West declared his willingness to start. +It was a little risky, but as he was to make only 10 miles the first day +and stop at the =N=-bar camp on Sand Creek, it was thought safe to let +him go. He dressed himself warmly, took my revolver, in order not to be +hampered with a rifle, and set out. + +The next day was clear and fine, and we remarked it as an assurance of +Mr. West's safety during his ride from Sand Creek to the =LU=-bar ranch, +his second stopping-place. The distance was about 25 miles, through bad +lands all the way, and it was the only portion of the route which caused +me anxiety for our courier's safety. The snow on the levels was less +than 6 inches deep, the most of it having been blown into drifts and +hollows; but although the coulées were all filled level to the top, our +courier was a man of experience and would know how to avoid them. + +The 25th day of November was the most severe day of the storm, the +mercury in our sheltered cañon sinking to -16 degrees. We had hoped to +kill at least five more buffaloes by the time Private West should arrive +with the wagons; but when at the end of a week the storm had spent +itself, the snow was so deep that hunting was totally impossible save in +the vicinity of camp, where there was nothing to kill. We expected the +wagons by the 3d of December, but they did not come that day nor within +the next three. By the 6th the snow had melted off sufficiently that a +buffalo hunt was once more possible, and Mr. McNaney and I decided to +make a final trip to the Buffalo Buttes. The state of the ground made it +impossible for us to go there and return the same day, so we took a +pack-horse and arranged to camp out. + +When a little over half-way to our old rendezvous we came upon three +buffaloes in the bad grounds, one of which was an enormous old bull, the +next largest was an adult cow, and the third a two-year-old heifer. Mr. +McNaney promptly knocked down the old cow, while I devoted my attention +to the bull; but she presently got up and made off unnoticed at the +precise moment Mr. McNaney was absorbed in watching my efforts to bring +down the old bull. After a short chase my horse carried me alongside my +buffalo, and as he turned toward me I gave him a shot through the +shoulder, breaking the fore leg and bringing him promptly to the ground. +I then turned immediately to pursue the young cow, but by that time she +had got on the farther side of a deep gully which was filled with snow, +and by the time I got my horse safely across she had distanced me. I +then rode back to the old bull. When he saw me coming he got upon his +feet and ran a short distance, but was easily overtaken. He then stood +at bay, and halting within 30 yards of him I enjoyed the rare +opportunity of studying a live bull buffalo of the largest size on foot +on his native heath. I even made an outline sketch of him in my +note-book. Having studied his form and outlines as much as was really +necessary, I gave him a final shot through the lungs, which soon ended +his career. + +This was a truly magnificent specimen in every respect. He was a +"stub-horn" bull, about eleven years old, much larger every way than any +of the others we collected. His height at the shoulder was 5 feet 8 +inches perpendicular, or 2 inches more than the next largest of our +collection. His hair was in remarkably fine condition, being long, fine, +thick, and well colored. The hair in his frontlet is 16 inches in +length, and the thick coat of shaggy, straw-colored tufts which covered +his neck and shoulders measured 4 inches. His girth behind the fore leg +was 8 feet 4 inches, and his weight was estimated at 1,600 pounds. + +[Illustration: TROPHIES OF THE HUNT. Mounted by the author in the U. S. +National Museum. Reproduced from the _Cosmopolitan Magazine_, by +permission of the publishers.] + +I was delighted with our remarkably good fortune in securing such a +prize, for, owing to the rapidity with which the large buffaloes are +being found and killed off these days, I had not hoped to capture a +really old individual. Nearly every adult bull we took carried old +bullets in his body, and from this one we took four of various sizes +that had been fired into him on various occasions. One was found +sticking fast in one of the lumbar vertebræ.[79] + +[Note 79: This specimen is now the commanding figure of the group of +buffalo which has recently been placed on exhibition in the Museum.] + +After a chase of several miles Mr. McNaney finally overhauled his cow +and killed her, which brought the number of buffaloes taken on the fall +hunt up to twenty-two. We spent the night at the Buffalo Buttes and +returned to camp the next day. Neither on that day nor the one following +did the wagons arrive, and on the evening of the 8th we learned from the +cowboys of the =N=-bar camp on Sand Creek that our courier, Private West, +had not been seen or heard from since he left their camp on November 24, +and evidently had got lost and frozen to death in the bad lands. + +The next day we started out to search for Private West, or news of him, +and spent the night with Messrs. Brodhurst and Andrews, at their camp on +Sand Creek. On the 10th, Mr. McNaney and I hunted through the bad lands +over the course our courier should have taken, while Messrs. Russell and +Brodhurst looked through the country around the head of the Little Dry. +When McNaney and I reached the =LU=-bar ranch that night we were greatly +rejoiced at finding that West was alive, although badly frost-bitten, +and in Fort Keogh. + +It appears that instead of riding due east to the =LU=-bar ranch, he +lost his way in the bad lands, where the buttes all look alike when +covered with snow, and rode southwest. It is at all times an easy matter +for even a cowboy to get lost in Montana if the country is new to him, +and when there is snow on the ground the difficulty of finding one's way +is increased tenfold. There is not only the danger of losing one's way, +but the still greater danger of getting ingulfed in a deep coulée full +of loose snow, which may easily cause both horse and rider to perish +miserably. Even the most experienced riders sometimes ride into coulées +which are level full of snow and hidden from sight. + +Private West's experience was a terrible one, and also a wonderful case +of self-preservation. It shows what a man with a cool head and plenty of +grit can go through and live. When he left us he wore two undershirts, a +heavy blanket shirt, a soldier's blouse and overcoat, two pairs of +drawers, a pair of soldier's woolen trousers, and a pair of overalls. On +his feet he wore three pairs of socks, a pair of _low shoes_ with canvas +leggins, and he started with his feet tied up in burlaps. His head and +hands were also well protected. He carried a 38-caliber revolver, but, +by a great oversight, only six matches. When he left the =N=-bar camp, +instead of going due east toward the =LU=-bar ranch, he swung around and +went southwest, clear around the head of the Little Dry, and finally +struck the Porcupine south of our camp. The first night out he made a +fire with sage-brush, and kept it going all night. The second night he +also had a fire, but it took his last match to make it. During the first +three days he had no food, but on the fourth he shot a sage-cock with +his revolver, and ate it raw. This effort, however, cost him his last +cartridge. Through hard work and lack of food his pony presently gave +out, and necessitated long and frequent stops for rest. West's feet +threatened to freeze, and he cut off the skirts of his overcoat to wrap +them with, in place of the gunny sacking, that had been worn to rags. +Being afraid to go to sleep at night, he slept by snatches in the +warmest part of the day, while resting his horse. + +On the 5th day he began to despair of succor, although he still toiled +southward through the bad lands toward the Yellowstone, where people +lived. On the envelopes which contained my letters he kept a diary of +his wanderings, which could tell his story when the cowboys would find +his body on the spring round-up. + +On the afternoon of the sixth day he found a trail and followed it until +nearly night, when he came to Cree's sheep ranch, and found the solitary +ranchman at home. The warm-hearted frontiersman gave the starving +wanderers, man and horse, such a welcome as they stood in need of. West +solemnly declares that in twenty-four hours he ate a whole sheep. After +two or three days of rest and feeding both horse and rider were able to +go on, and in course of time reached Fort Keogh. + +Without the loss of a single day Colonel Gibson started three teams and +an escort up to us, and notwithstanding his terrible experience, West +had the pluck to accompany them as guide. His arrival among us once more +was like the dead coming to life again. The train reached our camp on +the 13th, and on the 15th we pulled out for Miles City, loaded to the +wagon-bows with specimens, forage, and camp plunder. + +From our camp down to the =HV= ranch, at the mouth of Sand Creek, the +trail was in a terrible condition. But, thanks to the skill and judgment +of the train-master, Mr. Ed. Haskins, and his two drivers, who also knew +their business well, we got safely and in good time over the dangerous +part of our road. Whenever our own tired and overloaded team got stuck +in the mud, or gave out, there was always a pair of mules ready to hitch +on and help us out. As a train-master, Mr. Haskins was a perfect model, +skillful, pushing, good-tempered, and very obliging. + +From the =HV= ranch to Miles City the trail was in fine condition, and +we went in as rapidly as possible, fearing to be caught in the +snow-storm which threatened us all the way in. We reached Miles City on +December 20, with our collection complete and in fine condition, and the +next day a snow-storm set in which lasted until the 25th, and resulted +in over a foot of snow. The ice running in the Yellowstone stopped all +the ferry-boats, and it was with good reason that we congratulated +ourselves on the successful termination of our hunt at that particular +time. Without loss of time Mr. Brown and I packed our collection, which +tilled twenty-one large cases, turned in our equipage at Fort Keogh, +sold our horses, and started on our homeward journey. In due course of +time the collection reached the Museum in good condition, and a series +of the best specimens it contains has already been mounted. + +At this point it is proper to acknowledge our great indebtedness to the +Secretary of War for the timely co-operation of the War Department, +which rendered the expedition possible. Our thanks are due to the +officers who were successively in command at Fort Keogh during our work, +Col. John D. Wilkins, Col. George M. Gibson, and Lieut. Col. M. A. +Cochran, and their various staff officers; particularly Lieut. C. B. +Thompson, quartermaster, and Lieut. H. K. Bailey, adjutant. It is due +these officers to state that everything we asked for was cheerfully +granted with a degree of promptness which contributed very greatly to +the success of the hunt, and lightened its labors very materially. + +I have already acknowledged our indebtedness to the officers of the +Pennsylvania; the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul; and Northern Pacific +railways for the courtesies so liberally extended in our emergency. I +take pleasure in adding that all the officers and employés of the +Northern Pacific Railway with whom we had any relations, particularly +Mr. C. S. Fee, general passenger and ticket agent, treated our party +with the utmost kindness and liberality throughout the trip. We are in +like manner indebted to the officers of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. +Paul Railway for valuable privileges granted with the utmost cordiality. + +Our thanks are also due to Dr. J. C. Merrill, and to Mr. Henry R. +Phillips, of the Phillips Land and Cattle Company, on Little Dry Creek, +for valuable information at a critical moment, and to the latter for +hospitality and assistance in various ways, at times when both were +keenly appreciated. + +Counting the specimens taken in the spring, our total catch of buffalo +amounted to twenty-five head, and constituted as complete and fine a +series as could be wished for. I am inclined to believe that in size and +general quality of pelage the adult bull and cow selected and mounted +for our Museum group are not to be surpassed, even if they are ever +equaled, by others of their kind. + +The different ages and sexes were thus represented in our collection: 10 +old bulls, 1 young bull, 7 old cows, 4 young cows, 2 yearling calves, 1 +three-months calf[80]; total, 25 specimens. + +[Note 80: Caught alive, but died in captivity July 26, 1886, and now in +the mounted group.] + +Our total collection of specimens of _Bison americanus_, including +everything taken, contained the following: 24 fresh skins, 1 head skin, +8 fresh skeletons, 8 dry skeletons, 51 dry skulls, 2 foetal young; +total, 94 specimens. + +Our collection as a whole also included a fine series of skins and +skeletons of antelope, deer of two species, coyotes, jack rabbits, sage +grouse (of which we prepared twenty-four rough skeletons for the +Department of Comparative Anatomy), sharp tailed grouse, and specimens +of all the other species of birds and small mammals to be found in that +region at that season. From this _matériel_ we now have on exhibition +besides the group of buffaloes, a family group of antelope, another of +coyotes, and another of prairie dogs, all with natural surroundings. + + + + +III. THE MOUNTED GROUP IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. + + +The result of the Smithsonian expedition for bison which appeals most +strongly to the general public is the huge group of six choice specimens +of both sexes and all ages, mounted with natural surroundings, and +displayed in a superb mahogany case. The dimensions of the group are as +follows: Length, 16 feet; width, 12 feet, and height, 10 feet. The +subjoined illustration is a very fair representation of the principal +one of its four sides, and the following admirable description (by Mr. +Harry P. Godwin), from the Washington _Star_ of March 10, 1888, is both +graphic and accurate: + +A SCENE FROM MONTANA--SIX OF MR. HORNADAY'S BUFFALOES FORM A PICTURESQUE +GROUP--A BIT OF THE WILD WEST REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL +MUSEUM--SOMETHING NOVEL IN THE WAY OF TAXIDERMY--REAL BUFFALO-GRASS, +REAL MONTANA DIRT, AND REAL BUFFALOES. + +A little bit of Montana--a small square patch from the wildest part of +the wild West--has been transferred to the National Museum. It is so +little that Montana will never miss it, but enough to enable one who has +the faintest glimmer of imagination to see it all for himself--the +hummocky prairie, the buffalo-grass, the sage-brush, and the buffalo. It +is as though a little group of buffalo that have come to drink at a pool +had been suddenly struck motionless by some magic spell, each in a +natural attitude, and then the section of prairie, pool, buffalo, and +all had been carefully cut out and brought to the National Museum. All +this is in a huge glass case, the largest ever made for the Museum. This +case and the space about it, at the south end of the south hall, has +been inclosed by high screens for many days while the taxidermist and +his assistants have been at work. The finishing touches were put on +to-day, and the screens will be removed Monday, exposing to view what is +regarded as a triumph of the taxidermist's art. The group, with its +accessories, has been prepared so as to tell in an attractive way to the +general visitor to the Museum the story of the buffalo, but care has +been taken at the same time to secure an accuracy of detail that will +satisfy the critical scrutiny of the most technical naturalist. + +THE ACCESSORIES. + +The pool of water is a typical alkaline water-hole, such as are found on +the great northern range of bison, and are resorted to for water by wild +animals in the fall when the small streams are dry. The pool is in a +depression in the dry bed of a coulée or small creek. A little mound +that rises beside the creek has been partially washed away by the water, +leaving a crumbling bank, which shows the strata of the earth, a very +thin layer of vegetable soil, beneath a stratum of grayish earth, and a +layer of gravel, from which protrude a fossil bone or two. The whole +bank shows the marks of erosion by water. Near by the pool a small +section of the bank has fallen. A buffalo trail passes by the pool in +front. This is a narrow path, well beaten down, depressed, and bare of +grass. Such paths were made by herds of bison all over their pasture +region as they traveled down water-courses, in single file, searching +for water. In the grass some distance from the pool lie the bleaching +skulls of two buffalo who have fallen victims to hunters who have +cruelly lain in wait to get a shot at the animals as they come to +drink. Such relics, strewn all over the plain, tell the story of the +extermination of the American bison. About the pool and the sloping +mound grow the low buffalo-grass, tufts of tall bunch-grass and +sage-brush, and a species of prickly pear. The pool is clear and +tranquil. About its edges is a white deposit of alkali. These are the +scenic accessories of the buffalo group, but they have an interest +almost equal to that of the buffaloes themselves, for they form really +and literally a genuine bit of the West. The homesick Montana cowboy, +far from his wild haunts, can here gaze upon his native sod again; for +the sod, the earth that forms the face of the bank, the sage-brush, and +all were brought from Montana--all except the pool. The pool is a glassy +delusion, and very perfect in its way. One sees a plant growing beneath +the water, and in the soft, oozy bottom, near the edge, are the deep +prints made by the fore feet of a big buffalo bull. About the soft, +moist earth around the pool, and in the buffalo trail are the +foot-tracks of the buffalo that have tramped around the pool, some of +those nearest the edge having filled with water. + + +THE SIX BUFFALOES. + +The group comprises six buffaloes. In front of the pool, as if just +going to drink, is the huge buffalo bull, the giant of his race, the +last one that was secured by the Smithsonian party in 1888, and the one +that is believed to be the largest specimen of which there is authentic +record. Near by is a cow eight years old, a creature that would be +considered of great dimensions in any other company than that of the big +bull. Near the cow is a suckling calf, four months old. Upon the top of +the mound is a "spike" bull, two and a half years old; descending the +mound away from the pool is a young cow three years old, on one side, +and on the other a male calf a year and a half old. All the members of +the group are disposed in natural attitudes. The young cow is snuffing +at a bunch of tall grass; the old bull and cow are turning their heads +in the same direction apparently, as if alarmed by something +approaching; the others, having slaked their thirst, appear to be moving +contentedly away. The four months' old calf was captured alive and +brought to this city. It lived for some days in the Smithsonian grounds, +but pined for its prairie home, and finally died. It is around the great +bull that the romance and main interest of the group centers. + + * * * * * + +It seemed as if Providence had ordained that this splendid animal, +perfect in limb, noble in size, should be saved to serve as a monument +to the greatness of his race, that once roamed the prairies in myriads. +Bullets found in his body showed that he had been chased and hunted +before, but fate preserved him for the immortality of a Museum exhibit. +His vertical height at the shoulders is 5 feet 8 inches. The thick hair +adds enough to his height to make it full 6 feet. The length of his head +and body is 9 feet 2 inches, his girth 8 feet 4 inches and his weight +is, or was, about 1,600 pounds. + + +THE TAXIDERMIST'S OBJECT LESSONS. + +This group, with its accessories, is, in point of size, about the +biggest thing ever attempted by a taxidermist. It was mounted by Mr. +Hornaday, assisted by Messrs. J. Palmer and A. H. Forney. It represents +a new departure in mounting specimens for museums. Generally such +specimens have been mounted singly, upon a flat surface. The American +mammals, collected by Mr. Hornaday, will be mounted in a manner that +will make each piece or group an object lesson, telling something of the +history and the habits of the animal. The first group produced as one of +the results of the Montana hunt comprised three coyotes. Two of them are +struggling, and one might almost say snarling, over a bone. They do not +stand on a painted board, but on a little patch of soil. Two other +groups designed by Mr. Hornaday, and executed by Mr. William Palmer, are +about to be placed in the Museum. One of these represents a family of +prairie-dogs. They are disposed about a prairie-dog mound. One sits on +its haunches eating; others are running about. Across the mouth of the +burrow, just ready to disappear into it, is another one, startled for +the moment by the sudden appearance of a little burrowing owl that has +alighted on one side of the burrow. The owl and the dog are good friends +and live together in the same burrow, but there appears to be strained +relations between the two for the moment. + +MAP ILLUSTRATING THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. +Prepared by W. T. Hornaday. + + + + +INDEX. + +A. + +Abundance of the American bison, 387-393. +Accidents to bison herds, 420. +Affection, instinct of, in the bison, 433. +_Agropyrum_, 429. +Alabama, 380. +Albinism in the bison, 411. +Allard, Mr. Charles, 461. +Allen, Mr. J. A., on the American bison, 377, 381, 385, 387, 450, 480. +"American Field," quotation from, 433. + Fur Company, 488. +Andrews, Mr. Harry, 502. +_Andropogon provincialis_, 427, 429. + _scoparius_, 429. +Argoll, Capt. Sam'l, discovery of bison by, 375, 378. +Arkansas, 375. +_Aristida purpurea_, 428 +Ashe, Mr. Thomas, on the buffalo, 420, 485. +_Astragalus molissimus_, 429. +Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railway, 493, 496, 498, 499. +Athabasca, buffaloes in, 523-524. +_Atriplex canescens_, 429. +Audubon and Bachman, observations by, 400. +Aurochs, or European bison, 394. + +B. + +Bailey, Lieut. H. K., 545. +Baird, Prof. S. F., expedition for buffaloes, sent out by, 529. +Baker & Co., Messrs. I. G., 411, 506. +Bedson, Mr. S. L., buffalo-breeding by, 452, 454-456. + herd owned by, 458, 460. +Berlandier, Dr., on bison in Mexico, 381. +Bismark Grove, Kans., buffaloes at, 461. +Bison, the American. + abundance of, 387-393. + accidents to herds of, 420. + adult bull of, 402-406. + cow of, 406, 436. + affection in the 433. + albinism in the, 414. + as a beast of burden, 457. + bones of the, 445. + breeding habits of, 425. + season of, 396, 415. + calf of the, 366-401, 425, 433. + change of form in, 377, 394, 409. + character of, 393. + color of, 396-403. + courage of, 432. + cow of, 406-436. +Bison, cross-breeding, 451-458. + domestication of, 379, 451-458. + fear in 432. + food of, 426-429. + habits of, 415-426. + in running, 422, 430-431. + in winter, 423. + when wounded, 426. + hair of, 449. + "hide" of, 445, 505-507. + horns of, 405, 406. + hunting the, 405, 470, 478, 480, 483, 484, 536-542. + meat of, 446, 448. + mental capacity of, 429-434. + migrations of, 389, 420, 424-429. + monograph of, by J. A. Allen, 387. + "mountain" form of, 407-412. + mounted skins of, 396, 412, 546-548. + pelage of, 412-414. + protection of, possible, 435. + rank of, with other _Bovidæ_, 393. + reasoning powers of, 429. + robe of, 441-415, 453, 470. + shedding of pelage of, 412-414. + size of, 405, 407. + slaughter of the, 486-513. + Smithsonian expedition for, 529-546. + "spike bull" of, 401. + "wood" variety of, 407-412. + "yearling" of, 401. +Blackford, Mr. E. G., buffaloes presented by, 463, 527. +Bones, buffalo, utilization of, 445. +Boskowitz, Messrs. J. & A., 394. +_Bouteloua oligostachya_, 427, 428. +Boyd, Mr. Irvin, 534, 537, 538, 540. +Breeding of the buffalo, 390, 415, 425. + with domestic cattle, 452-458, 528. +British Possessions, buffalo in the 384, 408, 489, 504, 523. +Brown, Mr. W. Harvey, 534, 535, 541. +_Buchloë dactyloides_, 428. +Buffalo (see Bison, American.) +Buffalo Bill (see Cody, Hon. W. F.) +Buffalo Buttes, 538, 540, 542. +Buffalo "chips," 541. +Buffalo grass, 427, 428. +Byrd, Col. William, 376, 449. + +C. + +Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nuñez, 373. +Calf of the buffalo, 396-401, 425, 433. + pelage of, 396-398. + capture of a, 532. +Calf Creek, Montana, 535, 536. +Canadian Pacific Railway, 504. +Captivity, list of buffaloes in, 458-464. +Carey, Hon. Joseph M., 522. +Carolina, North, 376, 379. + South, 379. +Castañeda, description of American bison by, 374. +Catlin, George, on buffalo calves, 398. + on buffalo hunting, 472, 481. + on extermination of the buffalo, 488. + on habits of the buffalo, 419, 423, 434. + stopped by herd, 392. +Cattle-growers, value of bison to, 451-458. +Cattle, Western range, 452. +Central Park menagerie, New York, 463. +Change of form in American bison, 377, 394, 409. +Character of the American bison, 393. +Chase of the buffalo, on horseback, 470-478. +Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, courtesies extended by, 530. +"Chips," buffalo, 451. +Christy, Mr. Miller, on the buffalo, 523. +Cochran, Lieut. Col. M. A., 534, 545. +Cody, Hon. W. F., 460, 477. +Cole, the Hon. Mr., of California, 514. +Color of the American bison, 396, 403. +Colorado, 488, 523. +Completeness of the bison's extermination, 521-525. +Conger, the Hon. Mr., 516, 517, 519. +Congress, National Zoological Park established by, 528. +Congressional legislation to protect the bison, 513-521. +Cory, Mr. C. B., 523. +Coronado, penetration of buffalo range by, 374, 383. +Cortez, American bison first seen by, 373. +Courage, instinct of, in the bison, 432. +Cow, the adult buffalo, 406, 436. + young buffalo, 406. +Cox, Hon. S. S., 515, 516. +Cree Indians, 478, 489, 504, 505, 527. +Cross-breeding between the buffalo and domestic cattle, 451-458. + +D. + +Dakota, 389, 489, 490, 512. +Davis, Mr. J. N., 512. +Davis, Mr. Theo. R., 483. +Davis, Mr. W. W., records of Coronado's march, by, 383. +Dawes, Hon. Henry L., 517. +Decoying and driving buffaloes, 483. +De Solis, description of bison, by, 373. +Destruction of the southern herd, 492-502. + northern herd, 502-513. +Discovery of the American bison: + in captivity, by Cortez, 373. + eastern North America, by Argoll, 375. + Illinois, by Father Hennepin, 375. + Texas, by Cabeza de Vaca, 373. + Coronado, 373, 383. +District of Columbia, 375, 378. +Distribution of the American bison, 376-383, 402, 503, 508. + geographical center of, 388. +Division of the great buffalo range, 492. +Dodge, Col. R. I., observations on the buffalo, by, 389, 392, + 400-409, 424, 433, 471, 474, 493, 495, 498. +Domestication of the American bison, 379, 452-458, 528. +Dry Creek, Big, 512, 530, 534. + Little, 532, 533, 535. +Dupree. Mr. F., buffaloes owned by, 462. + +E. + +Eldridge, the Hon. Mr., 516. +Estimate of buffaloes, 391, 504, 509. +Expedition for bison sent by the Smithsonian, 522, 529-546. +Expeditions of the Red River half-breeds, 436, 437, 474. +Extermination of the American bison: + cause of the, 454. + completeness of the, 521-525. + effects of the, 525-527. + methods employed in the, 465, 470, 478, 480, 483, 484. + north of Union Pacific Railway, 502-513. + progress of the, 484. + share of the Indians in the, 478. + south of the Union Pacific Railway, 498-502. + west of the Rocky Mountains, 486. +Extermination of American quadrupeds, 487, 491, 502. + +F. + +Fear, instinct of, in the bison, 432. +Fee, Mr. C. S., favors extended by, 545. +_Festuca scabrella_, 429. +"Field," the London, quotation from, 523. +Fleet, Henry, mention of bison on the Potomac, by, 378. +Food of the bison, 426-434. +"Forest and Stream," quotations from, 411, 511. +Forney, Mr. A. H., 531. +Fort Keogh, buffaloes near, 509. +Fort, the Hon. Mr., of Illinois, 515, 516, 517, 518, 519. + +G. + +Gaur, or Indian bison, 393. +Geographical distribution of the bison, 376-388, 492. +Georgia, 379. +Gibson, Col. Geo. M., 544, 545. +Godwin, Mr. Harry P., 546. +Goode, Prof. G. Brown, 379. +Goodnight, Mr. Charles, buffaloes owned by, 460. +Great Slave Lake, 384, 408. +Group of buffaloes in the National Museum. 546-548. + +H. + +Habits of the bison, 415-426. +Hair of the buffalo, uses of the, 449. +Half-breeds of the Northwest Territories, 436, 474, 488, 504. +Hannaford, Mr. J. M., letter from, 507. +"Harper's Magazine," quotation from, 483. +Harris, Capt. Moses, 521. +Harris, Mr. Robert, courtesies extended by, 530. +Haskins, Mr. Edward, train-master, 544. +Hawley, Hon. J. R., 517. +Hazen, General W. B., on buffalo slaughter, 514, 516. +Hedley, Mr. George H., with expedition for bison 531. +Hennepin, Father, bison seen in Illinois by, 388. +Herds, list of captive bison, 458-464. +Hides, buffalo, 445, 505, 506, 507. +High Divide, 535, 536, 538, 542. +Hind, Prof. H. Y., 407, 476, 478. +Holman, Hon. W. S., 516. +Hornaday, W. T., group of bison by, 546-548. +Horns of the American bison, 405, 407. +Huguenot settlers, domestication of bison by, 379, 451. +Hunting the buffalo, method of + decoying and driving, 483. + horseback, 470. + impounding, 478. + on snow shoes, 484. + "still-hunt," 465. + "surround," 480. +Hunting on the Musselshell River, 539. +Hybrid, the buffalo-domestic, 454-457. + +I. + +Idaho, 383. +Illinois, 385-388. +Impounding buffaloes, 478. +Indiana, 385. +Indians: + responsibility of, for buffalo slaughter, 506. + robes marketed by northern, 505. + share of the, in buffalo destruction, 478, 480, 483, 484, + 489, 490, 500, 505, 506, 512. + starving for lack of the buffalo, 526. + who subsisted on the buffalo, 526. + +J. + +Jones, Mr. C. J., breeding of buffaloes, by, 452, 454, 456. + buffaloes captured by, 458, 523. + buffalo herd owned by, 458. + +K. + +Kansas, 391, 424, 496, 501. +Kasson, Hon. J. A., 517. +Kenaston, Prof. C. A., 505. +Kentucky, 388, 420. +Keogh, Fort, 509, 531. +_Koeleria cristata_, 429. + +L. + +Lewis and Clark, buffaloes seen by, 389, 483. +Lincoln Park, Chicago, buffaloes in, 462. +Loco weed not eaten by the buffalo, 429. +Louisiana, 380. + +M. + +Macoun, Prof. John, 524, 526. +"Manitoba and the great Northwest," 524, 526. +Maryland, 378. +McCormick, Hon. R. C., 514, 516, 518. +McGillycuddy, Dr. V. T., buffaloes owned by, 462. +McNaney, Mr. James, 421, 424, 467, 534, 537, 538, 540, 542. +Meat of the buffalo, 446, 448. +Mental capacity of the American bison, 429-434. +Merrill, Dr. J. C., 530, 545. +Mexico, 381. +Migrating habits of the buffalo, 389, 420, 424-425. +Miles City, Montana, 531, 534, 541. +Miller, Mr. Roswell, courtesies extended by, 530. +Minnesota, 385. +Mississippi, 380. +Monograph on "The American Bison," 387. +Montana, 421, 508, 509, 510, 511. +"Mountain buffalo," 407-412. +Mounted skins of buffaloes, 396, 412, 546-548. +Museum, National, 395, 527, 546. +Musselshell River, 535, 539. + +N. + +National Museum, live buffaloes at the, 395, 463, 527. + mounted buffaloes in the, 396, 397, 401, 402, 405, 406, 407, + 546-548. +Nelson, Mr. E. W., 385. +New Mexico, 383. +New York, 385. +Northern herd, destruction of the, 502-513. +Northern Pacific Railway, 502, 507, 511, 513. + courtesies extended by, 530. +Northwest Territories (British), 384, 408, 489, 523. + +O. + +Ohio, 385. +Omaha Indians, buffalo hunting by, 477. +Oregon, 389. +Oregon trail, 491. + +P. + +Partello, Lieut. J. M. T., 509. +Peace River, buffaloes on the, 524. +Pelage of the American bison, 396, 414, 415, 442, 453. +Pemmican, 447. +Pennsylvania, the buffalo in, 386, 387, 420, 485. +Pennsylvania Railway, courtesies extended by, 530. +Phillips, Mr. Henry R., courtesies extended by, 531, 545. +"Plains of the Great West," 389, 391, 409. +_Poa tenuifolia_, 429. +Porcupine Creek, buffaloes on, 512, 522, 532. +Products of the buffalo, 434-451. +Protection of American animals, 435, 520, 521. + the bison possible, 435, 520. + +R. + +Ranch, LU-bar, 532, 543. + the HV, 534, 544. +Railways, influence of the, in buffalo slaughter, 490-493, 507. +Rank of the American bison, 393. +Reasoning faculty of the bison, 429-430. +Recuperative power of the bison, 426. +Red Buttes, 531. +Red River half-breeds, 474, 488. +"Red River Settlement," 436, 450, 474, 475. +Regan, the Hon. Mr., 518. +Robe of the American bison, 441-445, 453, 470. + best season for taking, 442. + preparation of the, 442, 443, 470. + trade in, 513. + utilization of, 411, 505. + value of, 394, 444, 445. + varieties and classification of, 443, 444. +Ross, Mr. Alexander (_see_ "Red River Settlement.") +"Running" buffaloes, 470. +Running power and habits of the buffalo, 422, 430, 431. +Russell, Mr. L. S., 534, 536, 537, 538. + +S. + +Sage brush, 547. +Sand Creek, Montana, 534, 535, 538. +Schulz, Dr., on the buffalo in Athabasca, 523-524. +Secretary of War, favors extended by, 530-545. +Shufeldt, Dr. R. W., on mountain buffaloes, 411. +Sibley, Hon. H. H., 474. +"Sioux City Journal," quotation from, 503. +Sioux Indiana, destruction of buffaloes by, 490, 497, 500, 505. +Slaughter of the buffalo, 486-513. +Smith, Mr. V., 510, 512. +Smithsonian Butte, 539. +Smithsonian Institution expedition for buffaloes, 522, 529-546. +Snow-shoes, hunting buffaloes on, 484. +Southern buffalo herd, destruction of, 492-502. +"Spike" bull buffalo, 401. +"Star, Washington," description from the, 546-548. +Starin, Mr. J. H., buffaloes owned by, 463. +Statistics of the slaughter of the southern herd, 498-502. + buffaloes now living, 458-461, 525. +Stephenson, Dr. William, 522. +Still hunt, 465-510. +_Stipa comata_, 429. + _sparica_, 428. + _viridula_, 429. +Stub-horn bull, killed by author, 542. + +T. + +Tepee, hides required for a, 505. +Temper of the bison, 434. +Tennessee, 388. +Texas, existence the bison in, 374, 381, 501, 502. +Thompson, Lieut. C. B., 545. +Thompson, Mr. Frank, courtesies extended by, 530. +"Times, Kansas City," quotation from, 461. + +U. + +Ullman, Mr. Joseph buffalo product handled by, 394. +Utah, 383. +Utilization of the buffalo, 437. + +V. + +Value of the bison to man, 434-451, 526. +Value of a single bison on the range, 435, 436. + buffalo to cattle-growers, 451, 458. + buffalo-robe, 498. + products handled by two firms, 439-440. +Varner, Mr. Allen, 491. +Virginia, the buffalo in, 376, 378, 379. + +W. + +Wastefulness in buffalo slaughter, 494, 496-498, 510. +Weapons used in buffalo hunting, 466, 467, 470, 477. +West, Mr. C. S., 534, 538, 541, 543. +Wichita (Kansas) "World," 500. +Wilkins, Col. John D., 545. +Wilson, the Hon. Mr., 514. +Winston, Mr. B. C., 463, 522. +Winter habits of the buffalo, 423. +Wisconsin, 385. +Wood buffaloes, 407-412. +Wounded bison, habits of, 426. +Wyoming, 522. + +Y. + +Yearling of the buffalo, 401. +Yellowstone Park, buffaloes in, 512, 521, 522, 527. +Yellowstone Rivers, 531, 544. +Young Mr. Harrison, S., 524. + +Z. + +Zoological Garden of Cincinnati, 462. + Philadelphia, 461. + Park at Washington, establishment of, by Congress, 528. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Extermination of the American Bison, by +William T. 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Hornaday. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: 0.75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0.75em; + text-indent: 2%; + } + .sc {font-variant: small-caps; } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; + } + hr.narrow { + width: 15%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + hr.medium { + width: 45%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + hr.wide { + width: 65%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + .in1em {margin-left: 1em; } + .insem {margin-left: 1.5em; } + .in2em {margin-left: 2em; } + .in3em {margin-left: 3em; } + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } + body {margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + color: gray; background-color: transparent; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + a:link {color: blue; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; } + link {color: blue; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; } + a:visited {color: blue; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; } + a:hover {color: red; background-color: transparent; } + .center {text-align: center; } + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em; } + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right; } + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none; } + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Extermination of the American Bison, by +William T. Hornaday + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States +and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it +under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this +eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not +located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this ebook. + + +Title: The Extermination of the American Bison + +Author: William T. Hornaday + +Release Date: February 10, 2006 [EBook #17748] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXTERMINATION OF THE *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Tony Browne and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h4>SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.</h4> + +<h4>UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.</h4> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<h1><big>THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON.</big></h1> + +<h2>BY</h2> + +<h2>WILLIAM T. HORNADAY,</h2> + +<h3><i>Superintendent of the National Zoological Park.</i></h3> +<hr class="medium" /> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/001.jpg" + alt="Inscription" title="Inscription" /> +</div> +<h4>Inscription</h4> +<hr class="medium" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_366" id="page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span></p> + +<h4>From the Report of the National Museum, 1886-’87, pages 369-548, and +plates I-XXII.</h4> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<h3>WASHINGTON</h3> + +<h3>GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.</h3> + +<h3>1889.</h3> +<hr class="medium" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_369" id="page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<table summary="contents"><tr><td> +<a href="#prefatory_note"><b class="sc">Prefatory note</b></a><br /><br /> + +<a href="#part_i_life_history_of_the_bison"><b class="sc">Part I.—The life history of the bison</b></a><br /><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#i_discovery_of_the_species"><b>I. Discovery of the species</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#ii_geographical_distribution"><b>II. Geographical distribution</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#iii_abundance"><b>III. Abundance</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#iv_character_of_the_species"><b>IV. Character of the species</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_iv_1">1. The buffalo’s rank amongst ruminants</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_iv_2">2. Change of form in captivity</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_iv_3">3. Mounted specimens in museums</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_iv_4">4. The calf</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_iv_5">5. The yearling</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_iv_6">6. The spike bull</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_iv_7">7. The adult bull</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_iv_8">8. The cow in the third year</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_iv_9">9. The adult cow</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_iv_10">10. The “Wood” or “Mountain Buffalo”</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_iv_11">11. The shedding of the winter pelage</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#v_the_habits_of_the_buffalo"><b>V. Habits of the buffalo</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#vi_the_food_of_the_bison"><b>VI. The food of the buffalo</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#vii_mental_capacity_and_disposition"><b>VII. Mental capacity and disposition of the buffalo</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#viii_value_of_the_buffalo_to_man"><b>VIII. Value to mankind</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#ix_the_present_value_of_the_bison_to_cattle-growers"><b>IX. Economic value of the bison to Western cattle-growers</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_ix_1">1. The bison in captivity and domestication</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_ix_2">2. Need of an improvement in range cattle</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_ix_3">3. Character of the buffalo-domestic hybrid</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_ix_4">4. The bison as a beast of burden</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#i_ix_5">5. List of bison herds and individuals in captivity</a></span><br /><br /> + +<a href="#part_ii_the_extermination"><b class="sc">Part II.—The extermination</b></a><br /><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#i_causes_of_the_extermination"><b>I. Causes of the extermination</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#ii_methods_of_slaughter"><b>II. Methods of slaughter</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#ii_ii_1">1. The “still hunt”</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#ii_ii_2">2. The chase on horseback</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#ii_ii_3">3. Impounding</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#ii_ii_4">4. The surround</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#ii_ii_5">5. Decoying and driving</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#ii_ii_6">6. Hunting on snow-shoes</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#iii_progress_of_the_extermination"><b>III. Progress of the extermination</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="insem"><a href="#ii_iii_a">A. The period of desultory destruction</a></span><br /> +<span class="insem"><a href="#ii_iii_b">B. The period of systematic slaughter</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#ii_iii_b_1">1. The Red River half-breeds</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#ii_iii_b_2">2. The country of the Sioux</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#ii_iii_b_3">3. Western railways, and their part in the extermination of the buffalo</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#ii_iii_b_4">4. The division of the universal herd</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#ii_iii_b_5">5. The destruction of the southern herd</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#ii_iii_b_6">6. Statistics of the slaughter</a></span><br /> +<span class="in2em"><a href="#ii_iii_b_7">7. The destruction of the northern herd</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#iv_congressional_legislation_for_the_protection_of_the_bison"><b>IV. Legislation to prevent useless slaughter</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#v_completeness_of_the_extermination"><b>V. Completeness of the wild buffalo’s extirpation</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#vi_effects_of_the_extermination"><b>VI. Effects of the disappearance of the bison</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#vii_preservation_of_the_species_from_absolute_extinction"><b>VII. Preservation of the species from absolute extinction</b></a></span><br /><br /> + +<a href="#part_iii_the_smithsonian_expedition_for_museum_specimens"><b class="sc">Part III.—The Smithsonian expedition for specimens</b></a><br /><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#i_the_exploration"><b>I. The exploration for specimens</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#ii_the_hunt"><b>II. The hunt</b></a></span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><a href="#iii_the_mounted_group_in_the_national_museum"><b>III. The mounted group in the National Museum</b></a></span><br /><br /> +<a href="#index"><b class="sc">Index</b></a><br /> +</td></tr></table> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_368" id="page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span></p> +<p><a name="museum" id="museum"></a></p> +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/002.jpg" + alt="GROUP OF AMERICAN BISONS Collected and mounted IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM." title="GROUP OF AMERICAN BISONS Collected and mounted IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Group of American Bisons in the National Museum.</span><br />Collected and mounted by W. T. Hornaday.</h4> + +<hr class="medium" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_370" id="page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span></p> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> +<div class="center"> +<a href="#museum"><b>Group of buffaloes in the National Museum</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#head"><b>Head of bull buffalo</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#slaughter"><b>Slaughter of buffalo on Kansas Pacific Railroad</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#buffalo_cow"><b>Buffalo cow, calf, and yearling</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#spike_bull"><b>Spike bull</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#bull_buffalo"><b>Bull buffalo</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#rear"><b>Bull buffalo, rear view</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#horns"><b>The development of the buffalo’s horns</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#dead"><b>A dead bull</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#skinners"><b>Buffalo skinners at work</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#five"><b>Five minutes’ work</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#northern"><b>Scene on the northern buffalo range</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#half"><b>Half-breed calf</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#cow"><b>Half-breed buffalo (domestic) cow</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#young"><b>Young half-breed bull</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#still"><b>The still-hunt</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#chase"><b>The chase on horseback</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#cree"><b>Cree Indians impounding buffalo</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#surround"><b>The surround</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#indians"><b>Indians on snow-shoes hunting buffaloes</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#where"><b>Where the millions have gone</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#trophies"><b>Trophies of the hunt</b></a><br /><br /> +<br /> +<hr class="narrow" /> + +<h2>MAPS.</h2> +<a href="#map"><b>Sketch map of the hunt for buffalo</b></a><br /><br /> +<a href="#map2"><b>Map illustrating the extermination of the American bison</b></a><br /> +</div> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_371" id="page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_372" id="page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="prefatory_note" id="prefatory_note"></a>PREFATORY NOTE.</h2> + +<p>It is hoped that the following historical account of the discovery, +partial utilization, and almost complete extermination of the great +American bison may serve to cause the public to fully realize the folly +of allowing all our most valuable and interesting American mammals to be +wantonly destroyed in the same manner. The wild buffalo is practically +gone forever, and in a few more years, when the whitened bones of the +last bleaching skeleton shall have been picked up and shipped East for +commercial uses, nothing will remain of him save his old, well-worn +trails along the water-courses, a few museum specimens, and regret for +his fate. If his untimely end fails even to point a moral that shall +benefit the surviving species of mammals <i>which are now being +slaughtered in like manner</i>, it will be sad indeed.</p> + +<p>Although <i>Bison americanus</i> is a true bison, according to scientific +classification, and not a buffalo, the fact that more than sixty +millions of people in this country unite in calling him a “buffalo,” and +know him by no other name, renders it quite unnecessary for me to +apologize for following, in part, a harmless custom which has now become +so universal that all the naturalists in the world could not change it +if they would.</p> + +<p>W. T. H.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_373" id="page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span></p> +<hr class="wide" /> + +<h2>THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON,</h2> + +<h3>By <span class="sc">William T. Hornaday</span>,</h3> + +<h3><i>Superintendent of the National Zoological Park.</i></h3> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2><a name="part_i_life_history_of_the_bison" id="part_i_life_history_of_the_bison"></a>PART I.—LIFE HISTORY OF THE BISON.</h2> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="i_discovery_of_the_species" id="i_discovery_of_the_species"></a>I. Discovery of the species.</h2> + + +<p>The discovery of the American bison, as first made by Europeans, +occurred in the menagerie of a heathen king.</p> + +<p>In the year 1521, when Cortez reached Anahuac, the American bison was +seen for the first time by civilized Europeans, if we may be permitted +to thus characterize the horde of blood thirsty plunder seekers who +fought their way to the Aztec capital. With a degree of enterprise that +marked him as an enlightened monarch, Montezuma maintained, for the +instruction of his people, a well-appointed menagerie, of which the +historian De Solis wrote as follows (1724):</p> + +<p>“In the second Square of the same House were the Wild Beasts, which were +either presents to Montezuma, or taken by his Hunters, in strong Cages +of Timber, rang’d in good Order, and under Cover: Lions, Tygers, Bears, +and all others of the savage Kind which New-Spain produced; among which +the greatest Rarity was the Mexican Bull; a wonderful composition of +divers Animals. It has crooked Shoulders, with a Bunch on its Back like +a Camel; its Flanks dry, its Tail large, and its Neck cover’d with Hair +like a Lion. It is cloven footed, its Head armed like that of a Bull, +which it resembles in Fierceness, with no less strength and Agility.”</p> + +<p>Thus was the first seen buffalo described. The nearest locality from +whence it could have come was the State of Coahuila, in northern Mexico, +between 400 and 500 miles away, and at that time vehicles were unknown +to the Aztecs. But for the destruction of the whole mass of the written +literature of the Aztecs by the priests of the Spanish Conquest, we +might now be reveling in historical accounts of the bison which would +make the oldest of our present records seem of comparatively recent +date.</p> + +<p>Nine years after the event referred to above, or in 1530, another +Spanish explorer, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza, afterwards called Cabeza de +Vaca—or, in other words “Cattle Cabeza,” the prototype of our own +distinguished “Buffalo Bill”—was wrecked on the Gulf coast, west of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_374" id="page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>the delta of the Mississippi, from whence he wandered westward through +what is now the State of Texas. In southeastern Texas he discovered the +American bison on his native heath. So far as can be ascertained, this +was the earliest discovery of the bison in a wild state, and the +description of the species as recorded by the explorer is of historical +interest. It is brief and superficial. The unfortunate explorer took +very little interest in animated nature, except as it contributed to the +sum of his daily food, which was then the all-important subject of his +thoughts. He almost starved. This is all he has to say:<a name="fnanchor_1_1" id="fnanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>“Cattle come as far as this. I have seen them three times, and eaten of +their meat. I think they are about the size of those in Spain. They have +small horns like those of Morocco, and the hair long and flocky, like +that of the merino. Some are light brown (<i>pardillas</i>) and others black. +To my judgment the flesh is finer and sweeter than that of this country +[Spain]. The Indians make blankets of those that are not full grown, and +of the larger they make shoes and bucklers. They come as far as the +sea-coast of Florida [now Texas], and in a direction from the north, and +range over a district of more than 400 leagues. In the whole extent of +plain over which they roam, the people who live bordering upon it +descend and kill them for food, and thus a great many skins are +scattered throughout the country.”</p> + +<p>Coronado was the next explorer who penetrated the country of the +buffalo, which he accomplished from the west, by way of Arizona and New +Mexico. He crossed the southern part of the “Pan-handle” of Texas, to +the edge of what is now the Indian Territory, and returned through the +same region. It was in the year 1542 that he reached the buffalo +country, and traversed the plains that were “full of crooke-backed oxen, +as the mountaine Serena in Spaine is of sheepe.” This is the description +of the animal as recorded by one of his followers, Castañeda, and +translated by W. W. Davis:<a name="fnanchor_2_2" id="fnanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>“The first time we encountered the buffalo, all the horses took to +flight on seeing them, for they are horrible to the sight.</p> + +<p>“They have a broad and short face, eyes two palms from each other, and +projecting in such a manner sideways that they can see a pursuer. Their +beard is like that of goats, and so long that it drags the ground when +they lower the head. They have, on the anterior portion of the body, a +frizzled hair like sheep’s wool; it is very fine upon the croup, and +sleek like a lion’s mane. Their horns are very short and thick, and can +scarcely be seen through the hair. They always change their hair in May, +and at this season they really resemble lions. To make it drop more +quickly, for they change it as adders do their skins, they roll among +the brush-wood which they find in the ravines.</p> + +<p>“Their tail is very short, and terminates in a great tuft. When they run +they carry it in the air like scorpions. When quite young they are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_375" id="page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span>tawny, and resemble our calves; but as age increases they change color +and form.</p> + +<p>“Another thing which struck us was that all the old buffaloes that we +killed had the left ear cloven, while it was entire in the young; we +could never discover the reason of this.</p> + +<p>“Their wool is so fine that handsome clothes would certainly be made of +it, but it can not be dyed for it is tawny red. We were much surprised +at sometimes meeting innumerable herds of bulls without a single cow, +and other herds of cows without bulls.”</p> + +<p>Neither De Soto, Ponce de Leon, Vasquez de Ayllon, nor Pamphilo de +Narvaez ever saw a buffalo, for the reason that all their explorations +were made south of what was then the habitat of that animal. At the time +De Soto made his great exploration from Florida northwestward to the +Mississippi and into Arkansas (1539-’41) he did indeed pass through +country in northern Mississippi and Louisiana that was afterward +inhabited by the buffalo, but at that time not one was to be found +there. Some of his soldiers, however, who were sent into the northern +part of Arkansas, reported having seen buffalo skins in the possession +of the Indians, and were told that live buffaloes were to be found 5 or +6 leagues north of their farthest point.</p> + +<p>The earliest discovery of the bison in Eastern North America, or indeed +anywhere north of Coronado’s route, was made somewhere near Washington, +District of Columbia, in 1612, by an English navigator named Samuel +Argoll,<a name="fnanchor_3_3" id="fnanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and narrated as follows:</p> + +<p>“As soon as I had unladen this corne, I set my men to the felling of +Timber, for the building of a Frigat, which I had left half finished at +Point Comfort, the 19. of March: and returned myself with the ship into +Pembrook [Potomac] River, and so discovered to the head of it, which is +about 65 leagues into the Land, and navigable for any ship. And then +marching into the Countrie, I found great store of Cattle as big as +Kine, of which the Indians that were my guides killed a couple, which we +found to be very good and wholesome meate, and are very easie to be +killed, in regard they are heavy, slow, and not so wild as other beasts +of the wildernesse.”</p> + +<p>It is to be regretted that the narrative of the explorer affords no clew +to the precise locality of this interesting discovery, but since it is +doubtful that the mariner journeyed very far on foot from the head of +navigation of the Potomac, it seems highly probable that the first +American bison seen by Europeans, other than the Spaniards, was found +within 15 miles, or even less, of the capital of the United States, and +possibly within the District of Columbia itself.</p> + +<p>The first meeting of the white man with the buffalo on the northern +boundary of that animal’s habitat occurred in 1679, when Father +Hennepin<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_376" id="page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> ascended the St. Lawrence to the great lakes, and finally +penetrated the great wilderness as far as western Illinois.</p> + +<p>The next meeting with the buffalo on the Atlantic slope was in October, +1729, by a party of surveyors under Col. William Byrd, who were engaged +in surveying the boundary between North Carolina and Virginia.</p> + +<p>As the party journeyed up from the coast, marking the line which now +constitutes the interstate boundary, three buffaloes were seen on +Sugar-Tree Creek, but none of them were killed.</p> + +<p>On the return journey, in November, a bull buffalo was killed on +Sugar-Tree Creek, which is in Halifax County, Virginia, within 5 miles +of Big Buffalo Creek; longitude 78° 40' W., and 155 miles from the +coast.<a name="fnanchor_4_4" id="fnanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> “It was found all alone, tho’ Buffaloes Seldom are.” The meat +is spoken of as “a Rarity,” not met at all on the expedition up. The +animal was found in thick woods, which were thus feelingly described: +“The woods were thick great Part of this Day’s Journey, so that we were +forced to scuffle hard to advance 7 miles, being equal in fatigue to +double that distance of Clear and Open Ground.” One of the creeks which +the party crossed was christened Buffalo Creek, and “so named from the +frequent tokens we discovered of that American Behemoth.”</p> + +<p>In October, 1733, on another surveying expedition, Colonel Byrd’s party +had the good fortune to kill another buffalo near Sugar-Tree Creek, +which incident is thus described:<a name="fnanchor_5_5" id="fnanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>“We pursued our journey thro’ uneven and perplext woods, and in the +thickest of them had the Fortune to knock down a Young Buffalo 2 years +old. Providence threw this vast animal in our way very Seasonably, just +as our provisions began to fail us. And it was the more welcome, too, +because it was change of dyet, which of all Varietys, next to that of +Bed-fellows, is the most agreeable. We had lived upon Venison and Bear +till our stomachs loath’d them almost as much as the Hebrews of old did +their Quails. Our Butchers were so unhandy at their Business that we +grew very lank before we cou’d get our Dinner. But when it came, we +found it equal in goodness to the best Beef. They made it the longer +because they kept Sucking the Water out of the Guts in imitation of the +Catauba Indians, upon the belief that it is a great Cordial, and will +even make them drunk, or at least very Gay.”</p> + +<p>A little later a solitary bull buffalo was found, <i>but spared</i>,<a name="fnanchor_6_6" id="fnanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> the +earliest instance of the kind on record, and which had few successors to +keep it company.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="ii_geographical_distribution" id="ii_geographical_distribution"></a>II. Geographical Distribution.</h2> + +<p>The range of the American bison extended over about one-third of the +entire continent of North America. Starting almost at tide-water <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_377" id="page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span>on the +Atlantic coast, it extended westward through a vast tract of dense +forest, across the Alleghany Mountain system to the prairies along the +Mississippi, and southward to the Delta of that great stream. Although +the great plains country of the West was the natural home of the +species, where it flourished most abundantly, it also wandered south +across Texas to the burning plains of northeastern Mexico, westward +across the Rocky Mountains into New Mexico, Utah, and Idaho, and +northward across a vast treeless waste to the bleak and inhospitable +shores of the Great Slave Lake itself. It is more than probable that had +the bison remained unmolested by man and uninfluenced by him, he would +eventually have crossed the Sierra Nevadas and the Coast Range and taken +up his abode in the fertile valleys of the Pacific slope.</p> + +<p>Had the bison remained for a few more centuries in undisturbed +possession of his range, and with liberty to roam at will over the North +American continent, it is almost certain that several distinctly +recognizable varieties would have been produced. The buffalo of the hot +regions in the extreme south would have become a short-haired animal +like the gaur of India and the African buffalo. The individuals +inhabiting the extreme north, in the vicinity of Great Slave Lake, for +example, would have developed still longer hair, and taken on more of +the dense hairyness of the musk ox. In the “wood” or “mountain buffalo” +we already have a distinct foreshadowing of the changes which would have +taken place in the individuals which made their permanent residence upon +rugged mountains.</p> + +<p>It would be an easy matter to fill a volume with facts relating to the +geographical distribution of <i>Bison americanus</i> and the dates of its +occurrence and disappearance in the multitude of different localities +embraced within the immense area it once inhabited. The capricious +shiftings of certain sections of the great herds, whereby large areas +which for many years had been utterly unvisited by buffaloes suddenly +became overrun by them, could be followed up indefinitely, but to little +purpose. In order to avoid wearying the reader with a mass of dates and +references, the map accompanying this paper has been prepared to show at +a glance the approximate dates at which the bison finally disappeared +from the various sections of its habitat. In some cases the date given +is coincident with the death of the last buffalo known to have been +killed in a given State or Territory; in others, where records are +meager, the date given is the nearest approximation, based on existing +records. In the preparation of this map I have drawn liberally from Mr. +J. A. Allen’s admirable monograph of “The American Bison,” in which the +author has brought together, with great labor and invariable accuracy, a +vast amount of historical data bearing upon this subject. In this +connection I take great pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness to +Professor Allen’s work.</p> + +<p>While it is inexpedient to include here all the facts that might be +recorded with reference to the discovery, existence, and ultimate +extinction<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_378" id="page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> of the bison in the various portions of its former habitat, +it is yet worth while to sketch briefly the extreme limits of its range. +In doing this, our starting point will be the Atlantic slope east of the +Alleghanies, and the reader will do well to refer to the large map.</p> + +<p>DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.—There is no indisputable evidence that the bison +ever inhabited this precise locality, but it is probable that it did. In +1612 Captain Argoll sailed up the “Pembrook River” to the head of +navigation (Mr. Allen believes this was the James River, and not the +Potomac) and marched inland a few miles, where he discovered buffaloes, +some of which were killed by his Indian guides. If this river was the +Potomac, and most authorities believe that it was, the buffaloes seen by +Captain Argoll might easily have been in what is now the District of +Columbia.</p> + +<p>Admitting the existence of a reasonable doubt as to the identity of the +Pembrook River of Captain Argoll, there is yet another bit of history +which fairly establishes the fact that in the early part of the +seventeenth century buffaloes inhabited the banks of the Potomac between +this city and the lower falls. In 1624 an English fur trader named Henry +Fleet came hither to trade with the Anacostian Indians, who then +inhabited the present site of the city of Washington, and with the +tribes of the Upper Potomac. In his journal (discovered a few years +since in the Lambeth Library, London) Fleet gave a quaint description of +the city’s site as it then appeared. The following is from the +explorer’s journal:</p> + +<p>“Monday, the 25th June, we set sail for the town of Tohoga, where we +came to an anchor 2 leagues short of the falls. * * * This place, +without question, is the most pleasant and healthful place in all this +country, and most convenient for habitation, the air temperate in summer +and not violent in winter. It aboundeth with all manner of fish. The +Indians in one night commonly will catch thirty sturgeons in a place +where the river is not above 12 fathoms broad, and as for deer, +buffaloes, bears, turkeys, the woods do swarm with them. * * * The 27th +of June I manned my shallop and went up with the flood, the tide rising +about 4 feet at this place. We had not rowed above 3 miles, but we might +hear the falls to roar about 6 miles distant.”<a name="fnanchor_7_7" id="fnanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>MARYLAND.—There is no evidence that the bison ever inhabited Maryland, +except what has already been adduced with reference to the District of +Columbia. If either of the references quoted may be taken as conclusive +proof, and I see no reason for disputing either, then the fact that the +bison once ranged northward from Virginia into Maryland is fairly +established. There is reason to expect that fossil remains of <i>Bison +americanus</i> will yet be found both in Maryland and the District of +Columbia, and I venture to predict that this will yet occur.</p> + +<p>VIRGINIA.—Of the numerous references to the occurrence of the bison in +Virginia, it is sufficient to allude to Col. William Byrd’s meetings +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_379" id="page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span>with buffaloes in 1620, while surveying the southern boundary of the +State, about 155 miles from the coast, as already quoted; the references +to the discovery of buffaloes on the eastern side of the Virginia +mountains, quoted by Mr. Allen from Salmon’s “Present State of +Virginia,” page 14 (London, 1737), and the capture <i>and domestication</i> +of buffaloes in 1701 by the Huguenot settlers at Manikintown, which was +situated on the James River, about 14 miles above Richmond. Apparently, +buffaloes were more numerous in Virginia than in any other of the +Atlantic States.</p> + +<p>NORTH CAROLINA.—Colonel Byrd’s discoveries along the interstate +boundary between Virginia and North Carolina fixes the presence of the +bison in the northern part of the latter State at the date of the +survey. The following letter to Prof. G. Brown Goode, dated Birdsnest +post-office, Va., August 6, 1888, from Mr. C. R. Moore, furnishes +reliable evidence of the presence of the buffalo at another point in +North Carolina: “In the winter of 1857 I was staying for the night at +the house of an old gentleman named Houston. I should judge he was +seventy then. He lived near Buffalo Ford, on the Catawba River, about 4 +miles from Statesville, N. C. I asked him how the ford got its name. He +told me that his grandfather told him that when he was a boy the buffalo +crossed there, and that when the rocks in the river were bare they would +eat the moss that grew upon them.” The point indicated is in longitude +81° west and the date not far from 1750.</p> + +<p>SOUTH CAROLINA.—Professor Allen cites numerous authorities, whose +observations furnish abundant evidence of the existence of the buffalo +in South Carolina during the first half of the eighteenth century. From +these it is quite evident that in the northwestern half of the State +buffaloes were once fairly numerous. Keating declares, on the authority +of Colhoun, “and we know that some of those who first settled the +Abbeville district in South Carolina, in 1756, found the buffalo +there.”<a name="fnanchor_8_8" id="fnanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> This appears to be the only definite locality in which the +presence of the species was recorded.</p> + +<p>GEORGIA.—The extreme southeastern limit of the buffalo in the United +States was found on the coast of Georgia, near the mouth of the Altamaha +River, opposite St. Simon’s Island. Mr. Francis Moore, in his “Voyage to +Georgia,” made in 1736 and reported upon in 1744,<a name="fnanchor_9_9" id="fnanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> makes the following +observation:</p> + +<p>“The island [St. Simon’s] abounds with deer and rabbits. There are no +buffalo in it, though there are large herds upon the main.” Elsewhere in +the same document (p. 122) reference is made to buffalo-hunting by +Indians on the main-land near Darien.</p> + +<p>In James E. Oglethorpe’s enumeration (A. D. 1733) of the wild beasts of +Georgia and South Carolina he mentions “deer, elks, bears, wolves, and +buffaloes.”<a name="fnanchor_10_10" id="fnanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_380" id="page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span></p><p>Up to the time of Moore’s voyage to Georgia the interior was almost +wholly unexplored, and it is almost certain that had not the “large +herds of buffalo on the main-land” existed within a distance of 20 or 30 +miles or less from the coast, the colonists would have had no knowledge +of them; nor would the Indians have taken to the war-path against the +whites at Darien “under pretense of hunting buffalo.”</p> + +<p>ALABAMA.—Having established the existence of the bison in northwestern +Georgia almost as far down as the center of the State, and in +Mississippi down to the neighborhood of the coast, it was naturally +expected that a search of historical records would reveal evidence that +the bison once inhabited the northern half of Alabama. A most careful +search through all the records bearing upon the early history and +exploration of Alabama, to be found in the Library of Congress, failed +to discover the slightest reference to the existence of the species in +that State, or even to the use of buffalo skins by any of the Alabama +Indians. While it is possible that such a hiatus really existed, in this +instance its existence would be wholly unaccountable. I believe that the +buffalo once inhabited the northern half of Alabama, even though history +fails to record it.</p> + +<p>LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI.—At the beginning of the eighteenth century, +buffaloes were plentiful in southern Mississippi and Louisiana, not only +down to the coast itself, from Bay St. Louis to Biloxi, but even in the +very Delta of the Mississippi, as the following record shows. In a +“Memoir addressed to Count de Pontchartrain,” December 10, 1697, the +author, M. de Remonville, describes the country around the mouth of the +Mississippi, now the State of Louisiana, and further says:<a name="fnanchor_11_11" id="fnanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>“A great abundance of wild cattle are also found there, which might be +domesticated by rearing up the young calves.” Whether these animals were +buffaloes might be considered an open question but for the following +additional information, which affords positive evidence: “The trade in +furs and peltry would be immensely valuable and exceedingly profitable. +We could also draw from thence a great quantity of buffalo hides every +year, as the plains are filled with the animals.”</p> + +<p>In the same volume, page 47, in a document entitled “Annals of Louisiana +from 1698 to 1722, by M. Penicaut” (1698), the author records the +presence of the buffalo on the Gulf coast on the banks of the Bay St. +Louis, as follows: “The next day we left Pea Island, and passed through +the Little Rigolets, which led into the sea about three leagues from the +Bay of St. Louis. We encamped at the entrance of the bay, near a +fountain of water that flows from the hills, and which was called at +this time Belle Fountain. We hunted during several days upon the coast +of this bay, and filled our boats with the meat of the deer, buffaloes, +and other wild game which we had killed, and carried it to the fort +(Biloxi).”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_381" id="page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span></p><p>The occurrence of the buffalo at Natchez is recorded,<a name="fnanchor_12_12" id="fnanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> and also (p. +115) at the mouth of Red River, as follows: “We ascended the Mississippi +to Pass Manchac, where we killed fifteen buffaloes. The next day we +landed again, and killed eight more buffaloes and as many deer.”</p> + +<p>The presence of the buffalo in the Delta of the Mississippi was observed +and recorded by D’Iberville in 1699.<a name="fnanchor_13_13" id="fnanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>According to Claiborne,<a name="fnanchor_14_14" id="fnanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> the Choctaws have an interesting tradition +in regard to the disappearance of the buffalo from Mississippi. It +relates that during the early part of the eighteenth century a great +drought occurred, which was particularly severe in the prairie region. +For three years not a drop of rain fell. The Nowubee and Tombigbee +Rivers dried up and the forests perished. The elk and buffalo, which up +to that time had been numerous, all migrated to the country beyond the +Mississippi, and never returned.</p> + +<p>TEXAS.—It will be remembered that it was in southeastern Texas, in all +probability within 50 miles of the present city of Houston, that the +earliest discovery of the American bison on its native heath was made in +1530 by Cabeza de Vaca, a half-starved, half-naked, and wholly wretched +Spaniard, almost the only surviving member of the celebrated expedition +which burned its ships behind it. In speaking of the buffalo in Texas at +the earliest periods of which we have any historical record, Professor +Allen says: “They were also found in immense herds on the coast of +Texas, at the Bay of St. Bernard (Matagorda Bay), and on the lower part +of the Colorado (Rio Grande, according to some authorities), by La +Salle, in 1685, and thence northwards across the Colorado, Brazos, and +Trinity Rivers.” Joutel says that when in latitude 28° 51' “the sight +of abundance of goats and bullocks, differing in shape from ours, and +running along the coast, heightened our earnestness to be ashore.” They +afterwards landed in St. Louis Bay (now called Matagorda Bay), where +they found buffaloes in such numbers on the Colorado River that they +called it La Rivière aux Boeufs.<a name="fnanchor_15_15" id="fnanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> According to Professor Allen, the +buffalo did not inhabit the coast of Texas east of the mouth of the +Brazos River.</p> + +<p>It is a curious coincidence that the State of Texas, wherein the +earliest discoveries and observations upon the bison were made, should +also now furnish a temporary shelter for one of the last remnants of the +great herd.</p> + +<p>MEXICO.—In regard to the existence of the bison south of the Rio +Grande, in old Mexico, there appears to be but one authority on record, +Dr. Berlandier, who at the time of his death left in MS. a work on the +mammals of Mexico. At one time this MS. was in the Smithsonian +Institution, but it is there no longer, nor is its fate even +ascertainable.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_382" id="page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> It is probable that it was burned in the fire that +destroyed a portion of the Institution in 1865. Fortunately Professor +Allen obtained and published in his monograph (in French) a copy of that +portion of Dr. Berlandier’s work relating to the presence of the bison +in Mexico,<a name="fnanchor_16_16" id="fnanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> of which the following is a translation:</p> + +<p>“In Mexico, when the Spaniards, ever greedy for riches, pushed their +explorations to the north and northeast, it was not long before they met +with the buffalo. In 1602 the Franciscan monks who discovered Nuevo Leon +encountered in the neighborhood of Monterey numerous herds of these +quadrupeds. They were also distributed in Nouvelle Biscaye (States of +Chihuahua and Durango), and they sometimes advanced to the extreme south +of that country. In the eighteenth century they concentrated more and +more toward the north, but still remained very abundant in the +neighborhood of the province of Bexar. At the commencement of the +nineteenth century we see them recede gradually in the interior of the +country to such an extent that they became day by day scarcer and +scarcer about the settlements. Now, it is not in their periodical +migrations that we meet them near Bexar. Every year in the spring, in +April or May, they advance toward the north, to return again to the +southern regions in September and October. The exact limits of these +annual migrations are unknown; it is, however, probable that in the +north they never go beyond the banks of the Rio Bravo, at least in the +States of Cohahuila and Texas. Toward the north, not being checked by +the currents of the Missouri, they progress even as far as Michigan, and +they are found in summer in the Territories and interior States of the +United States of North America. The route which these animals follow in +their migrations occupies a width of several miles, and becomes so +marked that, besides the verdure destroyed, one would believe that the +fields had been covered with manure.</p> + +<p>“These migrations are not general, for certain bands do not seem to +follow the general mass of their kin, but remain stationary throughout +the whole year on the prairies covered with a rich vegetation on the +banks of the Rio de Guadelupe and the Rio Colorado of Texas, not far +from the shores of the Gulf, to the east of the colony of San Felipe, +precisely at the same spot where La Salle and his traveling companions +saw them two hundred years before. The Rev. Father Damian Mansanet saw +them also as in our days on the shores of Texas, in regions which have +since been covered with the habitations, hamlets, and villages of the +new colonists, and from whence they have disappeared since 1828.”</p> +<p><a name="head" id="head"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/003.jpg" + alt="Head of bull buffalo" title="Head of bull buffalo" /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Head of Buffalo Bull</span><br /> +From specimen in the National Museum Group.<br />Reproduced from the <i>Cosmopolitan Magazine</i>, by permission of the +publishers.</h4> + +<p>“From the observations made on this subject we may conclude that the +buffalo inhabited the temperate zone of the New World, and that they +inhabited it at all times. In the north they never advanced beyond the +48th or 58th degree of latitude, and in the south, although +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_383" id="page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span>they may +have reached as low as 25°, they scarcely passed beyond the 27th or +28th degree (north latitude), at least in the inhabited and known +portions of the country.”</p> + +<p>NEW MEXICO.—In 1542 Coronado, while on his celebrated march, met with +vast herds of buffalo on the Upper Pecos River, since which the presence +of the species in the valley of the Pecos has been well known. In +describing the journey of Espejo down the Pecos River in the year 1584, +Davis says (Spanish Conquest of New Mexico, p. 260): “They passed down a +river they called <i>Rio de las Vacas</i>, or the River of Oxen [the river +Pecos, and the same Cow River that Vaca describes, says Professor +Allen], and was so named because of the great number of buffaloes that +fed upon its banks. They traveled down this river the distance of 120 +leagues, all the way passing through great herds of buffaloes.”</p> + +<p>Professor Allen locates the western boundary of the buffalo in New +Mexico even as far west as the western side of Rio Grande del Norte.</p> + +<p>UTAH.—It is well known that buffaloes, though in very small numbers, +once inhabited northeastern Utah, and that a few were killed by the +Mormon settlers prior to 1840 in the vicinity of Great Salt Lake. In the +museum at Salt Lake City I was shown a very ancient mounted head of a +buffalo bull which was said to have been killed in the Salt Lake Valley. +It is doubtful that such was really fact. There is no evidence that the +bison ever inhabited the southwestern half of Utah, and, considering the +general sterility of the Territory as a whole previous to its +development by irrigation, it is surprising that any buffalo in his +senses would ever set foot in it at all.</p> + +<p>IDAHO.—The former range of the bison probably embraced the whole of +Idaho. Fremont states that in the spring of 1824 “the buffalo were +spread in immense numbers over the Green River and Bear River Valleys, +and through all the country lying between the Colorado, or Green River +of the Gulf of California, and Lewis’ Fork of the Columbia River, the +meridian of Fort Hall then forming the western limit of their range.” +[In J. K. Townsend’s “Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky +Mountains,” in 1834, he records the occurrence of herds near the Mellade +and Boise and Salmon Rivers, ten days’ journey—200 miles—west of Fort +Hall.] The buffalo then remained for many years in that country, and +frequently moved down the valley of the Columbia, on both sides of the +river, as far as the Fishing Falls. Below this point they never +descended in any numbers. About 1834 or 1835 they began to diminish very +rapidly, and continued to decrease until 1838 or 1840, when, with the +country we have just described, they entirely abandoned all the waters +of the Pacific north of Lewis’s Fork of the Columbia [now called Snake] +River. At that time the Flathead Indians were in the habit of finding +their buffalo on the heads of Salmon River and other streams of the +Columbia.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_384" id="page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span></p> +<p>OREGON.—The only evidence on record of the occurrence of the bison in +Oregon is the following, from Professor Allen’s memoir (p. 119): +“Respecting its former occurrence in eastern Oregon, Prof. O. C. Marsh, +under date of New Haven, February 7, 1875, writes me as follows: ‘The +most western point at which I have myself observed remains of the +buffalo was in 187 on Willow Creek, eastern Oregon, among the foot hills +of the eastern side of the Blue Mountains. This is about latitude 44°. +The bones were perfectly characteristic, although nearly decomposed.’”</p> + +<p>The remains must have been those of a solitary and very enterprising +straggler.</p> + +<p>THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES (British).—At two or three points only did +the buffaloes of the British Possessions cross the Rocky Mountain +barrier toward British Columbia. One was the pass through which the +Canadian Pacific Railway now runs, 200 miles north of the international +boundary. According to Dr. Richardson, the number of buffaloes which +crossed the mountains at that point were sufficiently noticeable to +constitute a feature of the fauna on the western side of the range. It +is said that buffaloes also crossed by way of the Kootenai Pass, which +is only a few miles north of the boundary line, but the number which did +so must have been very small.</p> + +<p>As might be expected from the character of the country, the favorite +range of the bison in British America was the northern extension of the +great pasture region lying between the Missouri River and Great Slave +Lake. The most northerly occurrence of the bison is recorded as an +observation of Franklin in 1820 at Slave Point, on the north side of +Great Slave Lake. “A few frequent Slave Point, on the north side of the +lake, but this is the most northern situation in which they were +observed by Captain Franklin’s party.”<a name="fnanchor_17_17" id="fnanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>Dr. Richardson defined the eastern boundary of the bison’s range in +British America as follows: “They do not frequent any of the districts +formed of primitive rocks, and the limits of their range to the +eastward, within the Hudson’s Bay Company’s territories, may be +correctly marked on the map by a line commencing in longitude 97°, on +the Red River, which flows into the south end of Lake Winnipeg, crossing +the Saskatchewan to the westward of the Basquian Hill, and running +thence by the Athapescow to the east end of Great Slave Lake.” Their +migrations westward were formerly limited to the Rocky Mountain range, +and they are still unknown in New Caledonia and on the shores of the +Pacific to the north of the Columbia River; but of late years they have +found out a passage across the mountains near the sources of the +Saskatchewan, and their numbers to the westward are annually +increasing.<a name="fnanchor_18_18" id="fnanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p><i>Great Slave Lake.</i>—That the buffalo inhabited the southern shore of +this lake as late as 1871 is well established by the following letter +from <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_385" id="page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span>Mr. E. W. Nelson to Mr. J. A. Allen, under date of July 11, +1877:<a name="fnanchor_19_19" id="fnanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> “I have met here [St. Michaels, Alaska] two gentlemen who +crossed the mountains from British Columbia and came to Fort Yukon +through British America, from whom I have derived some information about +the buffalo (<i>Bison americanus</i>) which will be of interest to you. These +gentlemen descended the Peace River, and on about the one hundred and +eighteenth degree of longitude made a portage to Hay River, directly +north. On this portage they saw thousands of buffalo skulls, and old +trails, in some instances 2 or 3 feet deep, leading east and west. They +wintered on Hay River near its entrance into Great Slave Lake, and here +found the buffalo still common, occupying a restricted territory along +the southern border of the lake. This was in 1871. They made inquiry +concerning the large number of skulls seen by them on the portage, and +learned that about fifty years before, snow fell to the estimated depth +of 14 feet, and so enveloped the animals that they perished by +thousands. It is asserted that these buffaloes are larger than those of +the plains.”</p> + +<p>MINNESOTA AND WISCONSIN.—A line drawn from Winnipeg to Chicago, curving +slightly to the eastward in the middle portion, will very nearly define +the eastern boundary of the buffalo’s range in Minnesota and Wisconsin.</p> + +<p>ILLINOIS AND INDIANA.—The whole of these two States were formerly +inhabited by the buffalo, the fertile prairies of Illinois being +particularly suited to their needs. It is doubtful whether the range of +the species extended north of the northern boundary of Indiana, but +since southern Michigan was as well adapted to their support as Ohio or +Indiana, their absence from that State must have been due more to +accident than design.</p> + +<p>OHIO.—The southern shore of Lake Erie forms part of the northern +boundary of the bison’s range in the eastern United States. La Hontan +explored Lake Erie in 1687 and thus describes its southern shore: “I can +not express what quantities of Deer and Turkeys are to be found in these +Woods, and in the vast Meads that lye upon the South side of the Lake. +At the bottom of the Lake we find beeves upon the Banks of two pleasant +Rivers that disembogue into it, without Cataracts or Rapid +Currents.”<a name="fnanchor_20_20" id="fnanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> It thus appears that the southern shore of Lake Erie +forms part of the northern boundary of the buffalo’s range in the +eastern United States.</p> + +<p>NEW YORK.—In regard to the presence of the bison in any portion of the +State of New York, Professor Allen considers the evidence as fairly +conclusive that it once existed in western New York, not only in the +vicinity of the eastern end of Lake Erie, where now stands the city of +Buffalo, at the mouth of a large creek of the same name, but also on the +shore of Lake Ontario, probably in Orleans County. In his monograph <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_386" id="page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span>of +“The American Bisons,” page 107, he gives the following testimony and +conclusions on this point:</p> + +<p>“The occurrence of a stream in western New York, called Buffalo Creek, +which empties into the eastern end of Lake Erie, is commonly viewed as +traditional evidence of its occurrence at this point, but positive +testimony to this effect has thus far escaped me.</p> + +<p>“This locality, if it actually came so far eastward, must have formed +the eastern limit of its range along the lakes. I have found only highly +questionable allusions to the occurrence of buffaloes along the southern +shore of Lake Ontario. Keating, on the authority of Colhoun, however, +has cited a passage from Morton’s “New English Canaan” as proof of their +former existence in the neighborhood of this lake. Morton’s statement is +based on Indian reports, and the context gives sufficient evidence of +the general vagueness of his knowledge of the region of which he was +speaking. The passage, printed in 1637 is as follows: They [the Indians] +have also made descriptions of great heards of well growne beasts that +live about the parts of this lake [Erocoise] such as the Christian world +(untill this discovery) hath not bin made acquainted with. These Beasts +are of the bignesse of a Cowe, their flesh being very good foode, their +hides good lether, their fleeces very usefull, being a kinde of wolle as +fine almost as the wolle of the Beaver, and the Salvages doe make +garments thereof. It is tenne yeares since first the relation of these +things came to the eares of the English.’ The ‘beast’ to which allusion +is here made [says Professor Allen] is unquestionably the buffalo, but +the locality of Lake ‘Erocoise’ is not so easily settled. Colhoun +regards it, and probably correctly, as identical with Lake Ontario. * * +* The extreme northeastern limit of the former range of the buffalo +seems to have been, as above stated, in western New York, near the +eastern end of Lake Erie. That it probably ranged thus far there is fair +evidence.”</p> + +<p>PENNSYLVANIA.—From the eastern end of Lake Erie the boundary of the +bison’s habitat extends south into western Pennsylvania, to a marsh +called Buffalo Swamp on a map published by Peter Kalm in 1771. Professor +Allen says it “is indicated as situated between the Alleghany River and +the West Branch of the Susquehanna, near the heads of the Licking and +Toby’s Creeks (apparently the streams now called Oil Creek and Clarion +Creek).” In this region there were at one time thousands of buffaloes. +While there is not at hand any positive evidence that the buffalo ever +inhabited the southwestern portion of Pennsylvania, its presence in the +locality mentioned above, and in West Virginia generally, on the south, +furnishes sufficient reason for extending the boundary so as to include +the southwestern portion of the State and connect with our starting +point, the District of Columbia.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_387" id="page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span></p> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="iii_abundance" id="iii_abundance"></a>III. Abundance.</h2> + + +<p>Of all the quadrupeds that have lived upon the earth, probably no other +species has ever marshaled such innumerable hosts as those of the +American bison. It would have been as easy to count or to estimate the +number of leaves in a forest as to calculate the number of buffaloes +living at any given time during the history of the species previous to +1870. Even in South Central Africa, which has always been exceedingly +prolific in great herds of game, it is probable that all its quadrupeds +taken together on an equal area would never have more than equaled the +total number of buffalo in this country forty years ago.</p> + +<p>To an African hunter, such a statement may seem incredible, but it +appears to be fully warranted by the literature of both branches of the +subject.</p> + +<p>Not only did the buffalo formerly range eastward far into the forest +regions of western New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the Carolinas, and +Georgia, but in some places it was so abundant as to cause remark. In +Mr. J. A. Allen’s valuable monograph<a name="fnanchor_21_21" id="fnanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> appear a great number of +interesting historical references on this subject, as indeed to every +other relating to the buffalo, a few of which I will take the liberty of +quoting.</p> + +<p>In the vicinity of the spot where the town of Clarion now stands, in +northwestern Pennsylvania, Mr. Thomas Ashe relates that one of the first +settlers built his log cabin near a salt spring which was visited by +buffaloes in such numbers that “he supposed there could not have been +less than two thousand in the neighborhood of the spring.” During the +first years of his residence there, the buffaloes came in droves of +about three hundred each.</p> + +<p>Of the Blue Licks in Kentucky, Mr. John Filson thus wrote, in 1784: “The +amazing herds of buffaloes which resort thither, by their size and +number, fill the traveller with amazement and terror, especially when <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_388" id="page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> +he beholds the prodigious roads they have made from all quarters, as if +leading to some populous city; the vast space of land around these +springs desolated as if by a ravaging enemy, and hills reduced to +plains; for the land near these springs is chiefly hilly. * * * I have +heard a hunter assert he saw above one thousand buffaloes at the Blue +Licks at once; so numerous were they before the first settlers had +wantonly sported away their lives.” Col. Daniel Boone declared of the +Red River region in Kentucky, “The buffaloes were more frequent than I +have seen cattle in the settlements, browzing on the leaves of the cane, +or cropping the herbage of those extensive plains, fearless because +ignorant of the violence of man. Sometimes we saw hundreds in a drove, +and the numbers about the salt springs were amazing.”</p> + +<p>According to Ramsey, where Nashville now stands, in 1770 there were +“immense numbers of buffalo and other wild game. The country was crowded +with them. Their bellowings sounded from the hills and forest.” Daniel +Boone found vast herds of buffalo grazing in the valleys of East +Tennessee, between the spurs of the Cumberland mountains.</p> + +<p>Marquette declared that the prairies along the Illinois River were +“covered with buffaloes.” Father Hennepin, in writing of northern +Illinois, between Chicago and the Illinois River, asserted that “there +must be an innumerable quantity of wild bulls in that country, since the +earth is covered with their horns. * * * They follow one another, so +that you may see a drove of them for above a league together. * * * +Their ways are as beaten as our great roads, and no herb grows therein.”</p> + +<p>Judged by ordinary standards of comparison, the early pioneers of the +last century thought buffalo were abundant in the localities mentioned +above. But the herds which lived east of the Mississippi were +comparatively only mere stragglers from the innumerable mass which +covered the great western pasture region from the Mississippi to the +Rocky Mountains, and from the Rio Grande to Great Slave Lake. The town +of Kearney, in south central Nebraska, may fairly be considered the +geographical center of distribution of the species, as it originally +existed, but ever since 1800, and until a few years ago, the center of +population has been in the Black Hills of southwestern Dakota.</p> + +<p>Between the Rocky Mountains and the States lying along the Mississippi +River on the west, from Minnesota to Louisiana, the whole country was +one vast buffalo range, inhabited by millions of buffaloes. One could +fill a volume with the records of plainsmen and pioneers who penetrated +or crossed that vast region between 1800 and 1870, and were in turn +surprised, astounded, and frequently dismayed by the tens of thousands +of buffaloes they observed, avoided, or escaped from. They lived and +moved as no other quadrupeds ever have, in great multitudes, like grand +armies in review, covering scores of square miles at once. They were so +numerous they frequently stopped boats in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_389" id="page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span>rivers, threatened to +overwhelm travelers on the plains, and in later years derailed +locomotives and cars, until railway engineers learned by experience the +wisdom of stopping their trains whenever there were buffaloes crossing +the track. On this feature of the buffalo’s life history a few detailed +observations may be of value.</p> + +<p>Near the mouth of the White River, in southwestern Dakota, Lewis and +Clark saw (in 1806) a herd of buffalo which caused them to make the +following record in their journal:</p> + +<p>“These last animals [buffaloes] are now so numerous that from an +eminence we discovered more than we had ever seen before at one time; +and if it be not impossible to calculate the moving multitude, which +darkened the whole plains, we are convinced that twenty thousand would +be no exaggerated number.”</p> + +<p>When near the mouth of the Yellowstone, on their way down the Missouri, +a previous record had been made of a meeting with other herds:</p> + +<p>“The buffalo now appear in vast numbers. A herd happened to be on their +way across the river [the Missouri]. Such was the multitude of these +animals that although the river, including an island over which they +passed, was a mile in length, the herd stretched as thick as they could +swim completely from one side to the other, and the party was obliged to +stop for an hour. They consoled themselves for the delay by killing four +of the herd, and then proceeded till at the distance of 45 miles they +halted on an island, below which two other herds of buffalo, as numerous +as the first, soon after crossed the river.”<a name="fnanchor_22_22" id="fnanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>Perhaps the most vivid picture ever afforded of the former abundance of +buffalo is that given by Col. R. I. Dodge in his “Plains of the Great +West,” p. 120, <i>et seq.</i> It is well worth reproducing entire:</p> + +<p>“In May, 1871, I drove in a light wagon from Old Fort Zara to Fort +Larned, on the Arkansas, 34 miles. At least 25 miles of this distance +was through one immense herd, composed of countless smaller herds of +buffalo then on their journey north. The road ran along the broad level +‘bottom,’ or valley, of the river. * * *</p> + +<p>”The whole country appeared one great mass of buffalo, moving slowly to +the northward; and it was only when actually among them that it could be +ascertained that the apparently solid mass was an agglomeration of +innumerable small herds, of from fifty to two hundred animals, separated +from the surrounding herds by greater or less space, but still +separated. The herds in the valley sullenly got out of my way, and, +turning, stared stupidly at me, sometimes at only a few yards’ distance. +When I had reached a point where the hills were no longer more than a +mile from the road, the buffalo on the hills, seeing an unusual object +in their rear, turned, stared an instant, then started at full speed +directly towards me, stampeding and bringing with them the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_390" id="page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span>numberless +herds through which they passed, and pouring down upon me all the herds, +no longer separated, but one immense compact mass of plunging animals, +mad with fright, and as irresistible as an avalanche.</p> + +<p>“The situation was by no means pleasant. Reining up my horse (which was +fortunately a quiet old beast that had been in at the death of many a +buffalo, so that their wildest, maddest rush only caused him to cock his +ears in wonder at their unnecessary excitement), I waited until the +front of the mass was within 50 yards, when a few well-directed shots +from my rifle split the herd, and sent it pouring off in two streams to +my right and left. When all had passed me they stopped, apparently +perfectly satisfied, though thousands were yet within reach of my rifle +and many within less than 100 yards. Disdaining to fire again, I sent my +servant to cut out the tongues of the fallen. This occurred so +frequently within the next 10 miles, that when I arrived at Fort Larned +I had twenty-six tongues in my wagon, representing the greatest number +of buffalo that my conscience can reproach me for having murdered on any +single day. I was not hunting, wanted no meat, and would not voluntarily +have fired at these herds. I killed only in self-preservation and fired +almost every shot from the wagon.”</p> + +<p>At my request Colonel Dodge has kindly furnished me a careful estimate +upon which to base a calculation of the number of buffaloes in that +great herd, and the result is very interesting. In a private letter, +dated September 21, 1887, he writes as follows:</p> + +<p>“The great herd on the Arkansas through which I passed could not have +averaged, <i>at rest</i>, over fifteen or twenty individuals to the acre, but +was, from my own observation, not less than 25 miles wide, and from +reports of hunters and others it was about five days in passing a given +point, or not less than 50 miles deep. From the top of Pawnee Rock I +could see from 6 to 10 miles in almost every direction. This whole vast +space was covered with buffalo, looking at a distance like one compact +mass, the visual angle not permitting the ground to be seen. I have seen +such a sight a great number of times, but never on so large a scale.</p> + +<p>“That was the last of the great herds.”</p> + +<p>With these figures before us, it is not difficult to make a calculation +that will be somewhere near the truth of the number of buffaloes +actually seen in one day by Colonel Dodge on the Arkansas River during +that memorable drive, and also of the number of head in the entire herd.</p> + +<p>According to his recorded observation, the herd extended along the river +for a distance of 25 miles, which was in reality the width of the vast +procession that was moving north, and back from the road as far as the +eye could reach, on both sides. It is making a low estimate to consider +the extent of the visible ground at 1 mile on either side. This gives a +strip of country 2 miles wide by 25 long, or a total of 50 square <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_391" id="page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span>miles +covered with buffalo, averaging from fifteen to twenty to the acre.<a name="fnanchor_23_23" id="fnanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> +Taking the lesser number, in order to be below the truth rather than +above it, we find that the number actually seen on that day by Colonel +Dodge was in the neighborhood of 480,000, not counting the additional +number taken in at the view from the top of Pawnee Rock, which, if +added, would easily bring the total up to a round half million!</p> + +<p>If the advancing multitude had been at all points 50 miles in length (as +it was known to have been in some places at least) by 25 miles in width, +and still averaged fifteen head to the acre of ground, it would have +contained the enormous number of 12,000,000 head. But, judging from the +general principles governing such migrations, it is almost certain that +the moving mass advanced in the shape of a wedge, which would make it +necessary to deduct about two-third from the grand total, which would +leave 4,000,000 as our estimate of the actual number of buffaloes in +this great herd, which I believe is more likely to be below the truth +than above it.</p> + +<p>No wonder that the men of the West of those days, both white and red, +thought it would be impossible to exterminate such a mighty multitude. +The Indians of some tribes believed that the buffaloes issued from the +earth continually, and that the supply was necessarily inexhaustible. +And yet, in four short years the southern herd was almost totally +annihilated.</p> + +<p>With such a lesson before our eyes, confirmed in every detail by living +testimony, who will dare to say that there will be an elk, moose, +caribou, mountain sheep, mountain goat, antelope, or black-tail deer +left alive in the United States in a wild state fifty years from this +date, ay, or even twenty-five?</p> + +<p>Mr. William Blackmore contributes the following testimony to the +abundance of buffalo in Kansas:<a name="fnanchor_24_24" id="fnanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p> + +<p>“In the autumn of 1868, whilst crossing the plains on the Kansas Pacific +Railroad, for a distance of upwards of 120 miles, between Ellsworth and +Sheridan, we passed through an almost unbroken herd of buffalo. The +plains were blackened with them, and more than once the train had to +stop to allow unusually large herds to pass. * * * In 1872, whilst on a +scout for about a hundred miles south of Fort Dodge to the Indian +Territory, we were never out of sight of buffalo.”</p> + +<p>Twenty years hence, when not even a bone or a buffalo-chip remains above +ground throughout the West to mark the presence of the buffalo, it may +be difficult for people to believe that these animals ever existed in +such numbers as to constitute not only a serious annoyance, but very <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_392" id="page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> +often a dangerous menace to wagon travel across the plains, and also to +stop railway trains, and even throw them off the track. The like has +probably never occurred before in any country, and most assuredly never +will again, if the present rate of large game destruction all over the +world can be taken as a foreshadowing of the future. In this connection +the following additional testimony from Colonel Dodge (“Plains of the +Great West,” p. 121) is of interest:</p> + +<p>“The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad was then [in 1871-’72] in +process of construction, and nowhere could the peculiarity of the +buffalo of which I am speaking be better studied than from its trains. +If a herd was on the north side of the track, it would stand stupidly +gazing, and without a symptom of alarm, although the locomotive passed +within a hundred yards. If on the south side of the track, even though +at a distance of 1 or 2 miles from it, the passage of a train set the +whole herd in the wildest commotion. At full speed, and utterly +regardless of the consequences, it would make for the track on its line +of retreat. If the train happened not to be in its path, it crossed the +track and stopped satisfied. If the train was in its way, each +individual buffalo went at it with the desperation of despair, plunging +against or between locomotive and cars, just as its blind madness +chanced to direct it. Numbers were killed, but numbers still pressed on, +to stop and stare as soon as the obstacle had passed. After having +trains thrown off the track twice in one week, conductors learned to +have a very decided respect for the idiosyncrasies of the buffalo, and +when there was a possibility of striking a herd ‘on the rampage’ for the +north side of the track, the train was slowed up and sometimes stopped +entirely.”</p> + +<p>The accompanying illustration, reproduced from the “Plains of the Great +West,” by the kind permission of the author, is, in one sense, ocular +proof that collisions between railway trains and vast herds of buffaloes +were so numerous that they formed a proper subject for illustration. In +regard to the stoppage of trains and derailment of locomotives by +buffaloes, Colonel Dodge makes the following allusion in the private +letter already referred to: “There are at least a hundred reliable +railroad men now employed on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad +who were witnesses of, and sometimes sufferers from, the wild rushes of +buffalo as described on page 121 of my book. I was at the time stationed +at Fort Dodge, and I was personally cognizant of several of these +‘accidents.’”</p> + +<p><a name="slaughter" id="slaughter"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/004.jpg" + alt="SLAUGHTER OF BUFFALO ON THE KANSAS PACIFIC RAILROAD." title="SLAUGHTER OF BUFFALO ON THE KANSAS PACIFIC RAILROAD." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Slaughter of Buffalo on the Kansas Pacific Railroad.</span><br /> +Reproduced from “The Plains of the Great West,” by permission of the +author, Col. R. I. Dodge.</h4> + +<p>The following, from the ever pleasing pen of Mr. Catlin, is of decided +interest in this connection:</p> + +<p>“In one instance, near the mouth of White River, we met the most immense +herd crossing the Missouri River [in Dakota], and from an imprudence got +our boat into imminent danger amongst them, from which we were highly +delighted to make our escape. It was in the midst of the ‘running +season,’ and we had heard the ‘roaring’ (as it is called) of the herd +when we were several miles from them. When <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_393" id="page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span>we came in sight, we were +actually terrified at the immense numbers that were streaming down the +green hills on one side of the river, and galloping up and over the +bluffs on the other. The river was filled, and in parts blackened with +their heads and horns, as they were swimming about, following up their +objects, and making desperate battle whilst they were swimming. I deemed +it imprudent for our canoe to be dodging amongst them, and ran it ashore +for a few hours, where we laid, waiting for the opportunity of seeing +the river clear, but we waited in vain. Their numbers, however, got +somewhat diminished at last, and we pushed off, and successfully made +our way amongst them. From the immense numbers that had passed the river +at that place, they had torn down the prairie bank of 15 feet in height, +so as to form a sort of road or landing place, where they all in +succession clambered up. Many in their turmoil had been wafted below +this landing, and unable to regain it against the swiftness of the +current, had fastened themselves along in crowds, hugging close to the +high bank under which they were standing. As we were drifting by these, +and supposing ourselves out of danger, I drew up my rifle and shot one +of them in the head, which tumbled into the water, and brought with him +a hundred others, which plunged in, and in a moment were swimming about +our canoe, and placing it in great danger. No attack was made upon us, +and in the confusion the poor beasts knew not, perhaps, the enemy that +was amongst them; but we were liable to be sunk by them, as they were +furiously hooking and climbing on to each other. I rose in my canoe, and +by my gestures and hallooing kept them from coming in contact with us +until we were out of their reach.”<a name="fnanchor_25_25" id="fnanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="iv_character_of_the_species" id="iv_character_of_the_species"></a>IV. Character of the species.</h2> + + +<p><a name="i_iv_1" id="i_iv_1"></a>1. <i>The buffaloes rank amongst ruminants.</i>—With the American people, +and through them all others, familiarity with the buffalo has bred +contempt. The incredible numbers in which the animals of this species +formerly existed made their slaughter an easy matter, so much so that +the hunters and frontiersmen who accomplished their destruction have +handed down to us a contemptuous opinion of the size, character, and +general presence of our bison. And how could it be otherwise than that a +man who could find it in his heart to murder a majestic bull bison for a +hide worth only a dollar should form a one-dollar estimate of the +grandest ruminant that ever trod the earth? Men who butcher African +elephants for the sake of their ivory also entertain a similar estimate +of their victims.</p> + +<p>With an acquaintance which includes fine living examples of all the +larger ruminants of the world except the musk-ox and the European bison, +I am sure that the American bison is the grandest of them all. His only +rivals for the kingship are the Indian bison, or gaur (<i>Bos gaurus</i>), of +Southern India, and the aurochs, or European bison, both of which <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_394" id="page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span> +really surpass him in height, if not in actual balk also. The aurochs is +taller, and possesses a larger pelvis and heavier, stronger +hindquarters, but his body is decidedly smaller in all its proportions, +which gives him a lean and “leggy” look. The hair on the head, neck, and +forequarters of the aurochs is not nearly so long or luxuriant as on the +same parts of the American bison. This covering greatly magnifies the +actual bulk of the latter animal. Clothe the aurochs with the wonderful +pelage of our buffalo, give him the same enormous chest and body, and +the result would be a magnificent bovine monster, who would indeed stand +without a rival. But when first-class types of the two species are +placed side by side it seems to me that <i>Bison americanus</i> will easily +rank his European rival.</p> + +<p>The gaur has no long hair upon any part of his body or head. What little +hair he has is very short and thin, his hindquarters being almost naked. +I have seen hundreds of these animals at short range, and have killed +and skinned several very fine specimens, one of which stood 5 feet 10 +inches in height at the shoulders. But, despite his larger bulk, his +appearance is not nearly so striking and impressive as that of the male +American bison. He seems like a huge ox running wild.</p> + +<p>The magnificent dark brown frontlet and beard of the buffalo, the shaggy +coat of hair upon the neck, hump, and shoulders, terminating at the +knees in a thick mass of luxuriant black locks, to say nothing of the +dense coat of finer fur on the body and hindquarters, give to our +species not only an apparent height equal to that of the gaur, but a +grandeur and nobility of presence which are beyond all comparison +amongst ruminants.</p> + +<p>The slightly larger bulk of the gaur is of little significance in a +comparison of the two species; for if size alone is to turn the scale, +we must admit that a 500-pound lioness, with no mane whatever, is a more +majestic looking animal than a 450-pound lion, with a mane which has +earned him his title of king of beasts.</p> + +<p><a name="i_iv_2" id="i_iv_2"></a>2. <i>Change of form in captivity.</i>—By a combination of unfortunate +circumstances, the American bison is destined to go down to posterity +shorn of the honor which is his due, and appreciated at only half his +worth. The hunters who slew him were from the very beginning so absorbed +in the scramble for spoils that they had no time to measure or weigh +him, nor even to notice the majesty of his personal appearance on his +native heath.</p> + +<p>In captivity he fails to develop as finely as in his wild state, and +with the loss of his liberty he becomes a tame-looking animal. He gets +fat and short-bodied, and the lack of vigorous and constant exercise +prevents the development of bone and muscle which made the prairie +animal what he was.</p> + +<p>From observations made upon buffaloes that have been reared in +captivity, I am firmly convinced that confinement and +semi-domestication <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_395" id="page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span>are destined to effect striking changes in the form +of <i>Bison americanus</i>. While this is to be expected to a certain extent +with most large species, the changes promise to be most conspicuous in +the buffalo. The most striking change is in the body between the hips +and the shoulders. As before remarked, it becomes astonishingly short +and rotund, and through liberal feeding and total lack of exercise the +muscles of the shoulders and hindquarters, especially the latter, are +but feebly developed.</p> + +<p>The most striking example of the change of form in the captive buffalo +is the cow in the Central Park Menagerie, New York. Although this animal +is fully adult, and has given birth to three fine calves, she is small, +astonishingly short-bodied, and in comparison with the magnificently +developed cows taken in 1886 by the writer in Montana, she seems almost +like an animal of another species.</p> + +<p>Both the live buffaloes in the National Museum collection of living +animals are developing the same shortness of body and lack of muscle, +and when they attain their full growth will but poorly resemble the +splendid proportions of the wild specimens in the Museum mounted group, +each of which has been mounted from a most careful and elaborate series +of post-mortem measurements. It may fairly be considered, however, that +the specimens taken by the Smithsonian expedition were in every way more +perfect representatives of the species than have been usually taken in +times past, for the simple reason that on account of the muscle they had +developed in the numerous chases they had survived, and the total +absence of the fat which once formed such a prominent feature of the +animal, they were of finer form, more active habit, and keener +intelligence than buffaloes possessed when they were so numerous. Out of +the millions which once composed the great northern herd, those +represented the survival of the fittest, and their existence at that +time was chiefly due to the keenness of their senses and their splendid +muscular powers in speed and endurance.</p> + +<p>Under such conditions it is only natural that animals of the highest +class should be developed. On the other hand, captivity reverses all +these conditions, while yielding an equally abundant food supply.</p> + +<p>In no feature is the change from natural conditions to captivity more +easily noticeable than in the eye. In the wild buffalo the eye is always +deeply set, well protected by the edge of the bony orbit, and perfect in +form and expression. The lids are firmly drawn around the ball, the +opening is so small that the white portion of the eyeball is entirely +covered, and the whole form and appearance of the organ is as shapely +and as pleasing in expression as the eye of a deer.</p> + +<p>In the captive the various muscles which support and control the eyeball +seem to relax and thicken, and the ball protrudes far beyond its normal +plane, showing a circle of white all around the iris, and bulging out in +a most unnatural way. I do not mean to assert that this is common in +captive buffaloes generally, but I have observed it to be disagreeably +conspicuous in many.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_396" id="page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span></p><p>Another change which takes place in the form of the captive buffalo is +an arching of the back in the middle, which has a tendency to make the +hump look lower at the shoulders and visibly alters the outline of the +back. This tendency to “hump up” the back is very noticeable in domestic +cattle and horses during rainy weather. While a buffalo on his native +heath would seldom assume such an attitude of dejection and misery, in +captivity, especially if it be anything like close confinement, it is +often to be observed, and I fear will eventually become a permanent +habit. Indeed, I think it may be confidently predicted that the time +will come when naturalists who have never seen a wild buffalo will +compare the specimens composing the National Museum group with the +living representatives to be seen in captivity and assert that the +former are exaggerations in both form and size.</p> + +<p><a name="i_iv_3" id="i_iv_3"></a>3. <i>Mounted Specimens in Museums.</i>—Of the “stuffed” specimens to be +found in museums, all that I have ever seen outside of the National +Museum and even those within that institution up to 1886, were “stuffed” +in reality as well as in name. The skins that have been rammed full of +straw or excelsior have lost from 8 to 12 inches in height at the +shoulders, and the high and sharp hump of the male has become a huge, +thick, rounded mass like the hump of a dromedary, and totally unlike the +hump of a bison. It is impossible for any taxidermist to stuff a +buffalo-skin with loose materials and produce a specimen which fitly +represents the species. The proper height and form of the animal can be +secured and retained only by the construction of a manikin, or statue, +to carry the skin. In view of this fact, which surely must be apparent +to even the most casual observer, it is to be earnestly hoped that here +no one in authority will ever consent to mount or have mounted a +valuable skin of a bison in any other way than over a properly +constructed manikin.</p> + +<p><a name="i_iv_4" id="i_iv_4"></a>4. <i>The Calf.</i>—The breeding season of the buffalo is from the 1st of +July to the 1st of October. The young cow does not breed until she is +three years old, and although two calves are sometimes produced at a +birth, one is the usual number. The calves are born in April, May, and +June, and sometimes, though rarely, as late as the middle of August. The +calf follows its mother until it is a year old, or even older. In May, +1886, the Smithsonian expedition captured a calf alive, which had been +abandoned by its mother because it could not keep up with her. The +little creature was apparently between two and three weeks old, and was +therefore born about May 1. Unlike the young of nearly all other +<i>Bovidæ</i>, the buffalo calf during the first months of its existence is +clad with hair of a totally different color from that which covers him +during the remainder of his life. His pelage is a luxuriant growth of +rather long, wavy hair, of a uniform brownish-yellow or “sandy” color +(cinnamon, or yellow ocher, with a shade of Indian yellow) all over the +head, body, and tail, in striking contrast with the darker colors of the +older animals. On the lower half of the leg it is lighter, shorter, and +straight. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_397" id="page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span>On the shoulders and hump the hair is longer than on the +other portions, being 1½ inches in length, more wavy, and already +arranges itself in the tufts, or small bunches, so characteristic in the +adult animal.</p> + +<p>On the extremity of the muzzle, including the chin, the hair is very +short, straight, and as light in color as the lower portions of the leg. +Starting on the top of the nose, an inch behind the nostrils, and +forming a division between the light yellowish muzzle and the more +reddish hair on the remainder of the head, there is an irregular band of +dark, straight hair, which extends down past the corner of the mouth to +a point just back of the chin, where it unites. From the chin backward +the dark band increases in breadth and intensity, and continues back +half way to the angle of the jaw. At that point begins a sort of under +mane of wavy, dark-brown hair, nearly 3 inches long, and extends back +along the median line of the throat to a point between the fore legs, +where it abruptly terminates. From the back of the head another streak +of dark hair extends backward along the top of the neck, over the hump, +and down to the lumbar region, where it fades out entirely. These two +dark bands are in sharp contrast to the light sandy hair adjoining.</p> + +<p>The tail is densely haired. The tuft on the end is quite luxuriant, and +shows a center of darker hair. The hair on the inside of the ear is +dark, but that on the outside is sandy.</p> + +<p>The naked portion of the nose is light Vandyke-brown, with a pinkish +tinge, and the edge of the eyelid the same. The iris is dark brown. The +horn at three months is about 1 inch in length, and is a mere little +black stub. In the male, the hump is clearly defined, but by no means so +high in proportion as in the adult animal. The hump of the calf from +which this description is drawn is of about the same relative angle and +height as that of an adult cow buffalo. The specimen itself is well +represented in the accompanying plate.</p> + +<p>The measurements of this specimen in the flesh were as follows:</p> +<h4>BISON AMERICANUS. (Male; four months old.)</h4> + +<h5>(<i>No. 15503, National Museum collection.</i>)</h5> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">Feet.</td><td align="center">Inches.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">Height at shoulders</td><td align="center"><tt>2</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 8 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">Length, head and body to insertion of tail</td><td align="center"><tt>3</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>10½</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">Depth of chest</td><td align="center"><tt>1</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 4 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">Depth of flank</td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"><tt>10 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">Girth behind fore leg</td><td align="center"><tt>3</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> ½</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">From base of horns around end of nose</td><td align="center"><tt>1</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 7½</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">Length of tail vertebræ</td><td align="center"><tt> </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 7 </tt></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>The calves begin to shed their coat of red hair about the beginning of +August. The first signs of the change, however, appear about a month +earlier than that, in the darkening of the mane under the throat, and +also on the top of the neck.<a name="fnanchor_26_26" id="fnanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_398" id="page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span></p><p>By the 1st of August the red hair on the body begins to fall off in +small patches, and the growth of fine, new, dark hair seems to actually +crowd off the old. As is the case with the adult animals, the shortest +hair is the first to be shed, but the change of coat takes place in +about half the time that it occupies in the older animals.</p> + +<p>By the 1st of October the transformation is complete, and not even a +patch of the old red hair remains upon the new suit of brown. This is +far from being the case with the old bulls and cows, for even up to the +last week in October we found them with an occasional patch of the old +hair still clinging to the new, on the back or shoulders.</p> + +<p>Like most young animals, the calf of the buffalo is very easily tamed, +especially if taken when only a few weeks old. The one captured in +Montana by the writer, resisted at first as stoutly as it was able, by +butting with its head, but after we had tied its legs together and +carried it to camp, across a horse, it made up its mind to yield +gracefully to the inevitable, and from that moment became perfectly +docile. It very soon learned to drink milk in the most satisfactory +manner, and adapted itself to its new surroundings quite as readily as +any domestic calf would have done. Its only cry was a low-pitched, +pig-like grunt through the nose, which was uttered only when hungry or +thirsty.</p> + +<p>I have been told by old frontiersmen and buffalo-hunters that it used to +be a common practice for a hunter who had captured a young calf to make +it follow him by placing one of his fingers in its mouth, and allowing +the calf to suck at it for a moment. Often a calf has been induced in +this way to follow a horseman for miles, and eventually to join his camp +outfit. It is said that the same result has been accomplished with +calves by breathing a few times into their nostrils. In this connection +Mr. Catlin’s observations on the habits of buffalo calves are most +interesting.</p> + +<p>“In pursuing a large herd of buffaloes at the season when their calves +are but a few weeks old, I have often been exceedingly amused with the +curious maneuvers of these shy little things. Amidst the thundering +confusion of a throng of several hundreds or several thousands of these +animals, there will be many of the calves that lose sight of their dams; +and being left behind by the throng, and the swift-passing hunters, they +endeavor to secrete themselves, when they are exceedingly put to it on a +level prairie, where naught can be seen but the short grass of 6 or 8 +inches in height, save an occasional bunch of wild sage a few inches +higher, to which the poor affrighted things will run, and dropping on +their knees, will push their noses under it and into the grass, where +they will stand for hours, with their eyes shut, imagining themselves +securely hid, whilst they are standing up quite straight upon their hind +feet, and can easily be seen at several miles distance. It is a familiar +amusement with us, accustomed to these scenes, to retreat back over the +ground where we have just escorted the herd, and approach these little +trembling things, which stubbornly maintain their <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_399" id="page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span>positions, with +their noses pushed under the grass and their eyes strained upon us, us +we dismount from our horses and are passing around them. From this fixed +position they are sure not to move until hands are laid upon them, and +then for the shins of a novice we can extend our sympathy; or if he can +preserve the skin on his bones from the furious buttings of its head, we +know how to congratulate him on his signal success and good luck.</p> + +<p><a name="buffalo_cow" id="buffalo_cow"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/005.jpg" + alt="BUFFALO_COW" title="BUFFALO_COW" /> +</div> +<h4>From photograph of group in National Museum.<br />Engraved by +R. H. Carson.<br /><span class="sc">Buffalo Cow, Calf (Four Months Old), and Yearling.</span><br /> +Reproduced from the <i>Cosmopolitan Magazine</i>, by permission of the +publishers.</h4> +<p>“In these desperate struggles for a moment, the little thing is +conquered, and makes no further resistance. And I have often, in +concurrence with a known custom of the country, held my hands over the +eyes of the calf and breathed a few strong breaths into its nostrils, +after which I have, with my hunting companions, rode several miles into +our encampment with the little prisoner busily following the heels of my +horse the whole way, as closely and as affectionately as its instinct +would attach it to the company of its dam.</p> + +<p>“This is one of the most extraordinary things that I have met with in +the habits of this wild country, and although I had often heard of it, +and felt unable exactly to believe it, I am now willing to bear +testimony to the fact from the numerous instances which I have witnessed +since I came into the country. During the time that I resided at this +post [mouth of the Tetón River] in the spring of the year, on my way up +the river, I assisted (in numerous hunts of the buffalo with the fur +company’s men) in bringing in, in the above manner, several of these +little prisoners, which sometimes followed for 5 or 6 miles close to our +horse’s heels, and even into the fur company’s fort, and into the stable +where our horses were led. In this way, before I left the headwaters of +the Missouri, I think we had collected about a dozen, which Mr. Laidlaw +was successfully raising with the aid of a good milch cow.”<a name="fnanchor_27_27" id="fnanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>It must be remembered, however, that such cases as the above were +exceptional, even with the very young calves, which alone exhibited the +trait described. Such instances occurred only when buffaloes existed in +such countless numbers that man’s presence and influence had not +affected the character of the animal in the least. No such instances of +innocent stupidity will ever be displayed again, even by the youngest +calf. The war of extermination, and the struggle for life and security +have instilled into the calf, even from its birth, a mortal fear of both +men and horses, and the instinct to fly for life. The calf captured by +our party was not able to run, but in the most absurd manner it butted +our horses as soon as they came near enough, and when Private Moran +attempted to lay hold of the little fellow it turned upon him, struck +him in the stomach with its head, and sent him sprawling into the +sage-brush. If it had only possessed the strength, it would have led us +a lively chase.</p> + +<p>During 1886 four other buffalo calves were either killed or caught by +the cowboys on the Missouri-Yellowstone divide, in the Dry Creek +region. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_400" id="page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span>All of them ran the moment they discovered their enemies. Two +were shot and killed. One was caught by a cowboy named Horace Brodhurst, +ear marked, and turned loose. The fifth one was caught in September on +the Porcupine Creek round-up. He was then about five months old, and +being abundantly able to travel he showed a clean pair of heels. It took +three fresh horses, one after another, to catch him, and his final +capture was due to exhaustion, and not to the speed of any of his +pursuers. The distance covered by the chase, from the point where his +first pursuer started to where the third one finally lassoed him, was +considered to be at least 15 miles. But the capture came to naught, for +on the following day the calf died from overexertion and want of milk.</p> + +<p>Colonel Dodge states that the very young calves of a herd have to depend +upon the old bulls for protection, and seldom in vain. The mothers +abandon their offspring on slight provocation, and even none at all +sometimes, if we may judge from the condition of the little waif that +fell into our hands. Had its mother remained with it, or even in its +neighborhood, we should at least have seen her, but she was nowhere +within a radius of 5 miles at the time her calf was discovered. Nor did +she return to look for it, as two of us proved by spending the night in +the sage-brush at the very spot where the calf was taken. Colonel Dodge +declares that “the cow seems to possess scarcely a trace of maternal +instinct, and, when frightened, will abandon and run away from her calf +without the slightest hesitation. * * * When the calves are young they +are always kept in the center of each small herd, while the bulls +dispose themselves on the outside.”<a name="fnanchor_28_28" id="fnanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<p>Apparently the maternal instinct of the cow buffalo was easily mastered +by fear. That it was often manifested, however, is proven by the +following from Audubon and Bachman:<a name="fnanchor_29_29" id="fnanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p>“Buffalo calves are drowned from being unable to ascend the steep banks +of the rivers across which they have just swam, as the cows cannot help +them, although they stand near the bank, and will not leave them to +their fate unless something alarms them.</p> + +<p>“On one occasion Mr. Kipp, of the American Fur Company, caught eleven +calves, their dams all the time standing near the top of the bank. +Frequently, however, the cows leave the young to their fate, when most +of them perish. In connection with this part of the subject, we may add +that we were informed, when on the Upper Missouri River, that when the +banks of that river were practicable for cows, and their calves could +not follow them, they went down again, after having gained the top, and +would remain by them until forced away by the cravings of hunger. When +thus forced by the necessity of saving themselves to quit their young, +they seldom, if ever, return to them. When a large herd of these wild +animals are crossing a river, the calves or yearlings manage to get on +the backs of the cows, and are thus conveyed safely over.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_401" id="page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span></p> + +<p><a name="i_iv_5" id="i_iv_5"></a>5. <i>The Yearling.</i>—During the first five months of his life, the calf +changes its coat completely, and becomes in appearance a totally +different animal. By the time he is six months old he has taken on all +the colors which distinguish him in after life, excepting that upon his +fore quarters. The hair on the head has started out to attain the +luxuriant length and density which is so conspicuous in the adult, and +its general color is a rich dark brown, shading to black under the chin +and throat. The fringe under the neck is long, straight, and black, and +the under parts, the back of the fore arm, the outside of thigh, and the +tail-tuft are all black.</p> + +<p>The color of the shoulder, the side, and upper part of the hind quarter +is a peculiar smoky brown (“broccoli brown” of Ridgway), having in +connection with the darker browns of the other parts a peculiar faded +appearance, quite as if it were due to the bleaching power of the sun. +On the fore quarters there is none of the bright straw color so +characteristic of the adult animal. Along the top of the neck and +shoulders, however, this color has at last begun to show faintly. The +hair on the body is quite luxuriant, both in length and density, in both +respects quite equaling, if not even surpassing, that of the finest +adults. For example, the hair on the side of the mounted yearling in the +Museum group has a length of 2 to 2½ inches, while that on the same +region of the adult bull, whose pelage is particularly fine, is recorded +as being 2 inches only.</p> + +<p>The horn is a straight, conical spike from 4 to 6 inches long, according +to age, and perfectly black. The legs are proportionally longer and +larger in the joints than those of the full-grown animal. The +countenance of the yearling is quite interesting. The sleepy, helpless, +innocent expression of the very young calf has given place to a +wide-awake, mischievous look, and he seems ready to break away and run +at a second’s notice.</p> + +<p>The measurements of the yearling in the Museum group are as follows:</p> + +<h4>BISON AMERICANUS. (Male yearling, taken Oct. 31, 1886. Montana.)</h4> +<h5>(<i>No. 15694, National Museum collection.</i>)</h5> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="center">Feet.</td><td align="center">Inches.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Height at shoulders</td><td align="center"><tt>3</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 5 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length, head and body to insertion of tail</td><td align="center"><tt>5</tt></td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Depth of chest</td><td align="center"><tt>1</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>11 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Depth of flank</td><td align="center"><tt>1</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 1 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Girth behind fore leg</td><td align="center"><tt>4</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 3 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">From base of horns around end of nose</td><td align="center"><tt>2</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 1½</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of tail vertebræ</td><td align="center"> </td><td align="center"><tt>10 </tt></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><a name="i_iv_6" id="i_iv_6"></a>6. <i>The Spike Bull.</i>—In hunters’ parlance, the male buffalo between the +“yearling” age and four years is called a “spike” bull, in recognition +of the fact that up to the latter period the horn is a spike, either +perfectly straight, or with a curve near its base, and a straight point +the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_402" id="page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span>rest of the way up. The curve of the horn is generally hidden in +the hair, and the only part visible is the straight, terminal spike. +Usually the spike points diverge from each other, but often they are +parallel, and also perpendicular. In the fourth year, however, the +points of the horns begin to curve inward toward each other, describing +equal arcs of the same circle, as if they were going to meet over the +top of the head.</p> + +<p>In the handsome young “spike” bull in the Museum group, the hair on the +shoulders has begun to take on the length, the light color, and tufted +appearance of the adult, beginning at the highest point of the hump and +gradually spreading. Immediately back of this light patch the hair is +long, but dark and woolly in appearance. The leg tufts have doubled in +length, and reveal the character of the growth that may be finally +expected. The beard has greatly lengthened, as also has the hair upon +the bridge of the nose, the forehead, ears, jaws, and all other portions +of the head except the cheeks.</p> + +<p>The “spike” period of a buffalo is a most interesting one. Like a +seventeen-year-old boy, the young bull shows his youth in so many ways +it is always conspicuous, and his countenance is so suggestive of a +half-bearded youth it fixes the interest to a marked degree. He is +active, alert, and suspicious, and when he makes up his mind to run the +hunter may as well give up the chase.</p> + +<p>By a strange fatality, our spike bull appears to be the only one in any +museum, or even in preserved existence, as far as can be ascertained. +Out of the twenty-five buffaloes killed and preserved by the Smithsonian +expedition, ten of which were adult bulls, this specimen was the only +male between the yearling and the adult ages. An effort to procure +another entire specimen of this age from Texas yielded only two spike +heads. It is to be sincerely regretted that more specimens representing +this very interesting period of the buffalo’s life have not been +preserved, for it is now too late to procure wild specimens.</p> + +<p>The following are the post-mortem dimensions of our specimen:</p> + +<h4>BISON AMERICANUS.</h4> +<h4>(“Spike” bull, two years old; taken October 14, 1886. Montana.)</h4> +<h5>(<i>No. 15685, National Museum collection.</i>)</h5> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"> </td><td align="center">Feet.</td><td align="center">Inches.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Height at shoulders</td><td align="center"><tt>4</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 2 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length, head and body to insertion of tail</td><td align="center"><tt>7</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 7 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Depth of chest</td><td align="center"><tt>2</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 3 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Depth of flank</td><td align="center"><tt>1</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 7 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Girth behind fore leg</td><td align="center"><tt>6</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 8 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">From base of horns around end of nose</td><td align="center"><tt>2</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 8½</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of tail vertebræ</td><td align="center"><tt>1</tt></td><td> </td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><a name="i_iv_7" id="i_iv_7"></a>7. <i>The Adult Bull.</i>—In attempting to describe the adult male in the +National Museum group, it is difficult to decide which feature is most +prominent, the massive, magnificent head, with its shaggy frontlet and +luxuriant black beard, or the lofty hump, with its showy covering of +straw-yellow hair, in thickly-growing locks 4 inches long. But the head +is irresistible in its claims to precedence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_403" id="page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span></p> + + +<p><a name="spike_bull" id="spike_bull"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/006.jpg" + alt="SPIKE BULL." title="SPIKE BULL" /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Spike Bull.</span><br />From the group in the National Museum.<br /> +Reproduced from the <i>Cosmopolitan Magazine</i>, by permission of the +publishers.</h4> + +<p>It must be observed at this point that in many respects this animal is +an exceptionally fine one. In actual size of frame, and in quantity and +quality of pelage, it is far superior to the average, even of wild +buffaloes when they were most numerous and at their best.<a name="fnanchor_30_30" id="fnanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> In one +respect, however, that of actual bulk, it is believed that this specimen +may have often been surpassed. When buffaloes were numerous, and not +required to do any great amount of running in order to exist, they were, +in the autumn months, very fat. Audubon says: “A large bison bull will +generally weigh nearly 2,000 pounds, and a fat cow about 1,200 pounds. +We weighed one of the bulls killed by our party, and found it to reach +1,727 pounds, although it had already lost a good deal of blood. This +was an old bull, and not fat. It had probably weighed more at some +previous period.”<a name="fnanchor_31_31" id="fnanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> Our specimen when killed (by the writer, December +6, 1886) was in full vigor, superbly muscled, and well fed, but he +carried not a single pound of fat. For years the never-ceasing race for +life had utterly prevented the secretion of useless and cumbersome fat, +and his “subsistence” had gone toward the development of useful muscle. +Having no means by which to weigh him, we could only estimate his +weight, in which I called for the advice of my cowboys, all of whom were +more or less familiar with the weight of range cattle, and one I +regarded as an expert. At first the estimated weight of the animal was +fixed at 1,700 pounds, but with a constitutional fear of estimating over +the truth, I afterward reduced it to 1,600 pounds. This I am now well +convinced was an error, for I believe the first figure to have been +nearer the truth.</p> + +<p>In mounting the skin of this animal, we endeavored by every means in our +power, foremost of which were three different sets of measurements, +taken from the dead animal, one set to check another, to reproduce him +when mounted in exactly the same form he possessed in life—muscular, +but not fat.</p> + +<p>The color of the body and hindquarters of a buffalo is very peculiar, +and almost baffles intelligent description. Audubon calls it “between a +dark umber and liver-shining brown.” I once saw a competent artist +experiment with his oil-colors for a quarter of an hour before he +finally struck the combination which exactly matched the side of our +large bull. To my eyes, the color is a pale gray-brown or smoky gray. +The range of individual variation is considerable, some being uniformly <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_404" id="page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> +darker than the average type, and others lighter. While the under parts +of most adults are dark brown or blackish brown, others are actually +black. The hair on the body and hinder parts is fine, wavy on the +outside, and woolly underneath, and very dense. Add to this the +thickness of the skin itself, and the combination forms a covering that +is almost impervious to cold.</p> + +<p>The entire fore quarter region, <i>e. g.</i>, the shoulders, the hump, and +the upper part of the neck, is covered with a luxuriant growth of pale +yellow hair (Naples yellow + yellow ocher), which stands straight out in +a dense mass, disposed in handsome tufts. The hair is somewhat woolly in +its nature, and the ends are as even as if the whole mass had lately +been gone over with shears and carefully clipped. This hair is 4 inches +in length. As the living animal moved his head from side to side, the +hair parted in great vertical furrows, so deep that the skin itself +seemed almost in sight. As before remarked, to comb this hair would +utterly destroy its naturalness, and it should never be done under any +circumstances. Standing as it does between the darker hair of the body +on one side and the almost black mass of the head on the other, this +light area is rendered doubly striking and conspicuous by contrast. It +not only covers the shoulders, but extends back upon the thorax, where +it abruptly terminates on a line corresponding to the sixth rib.</p> + +<p>From the shoulder-joint downward, the color shades gradually into a dark +brown until at the knee it becomes quite black. The huge fore-arm is +lost in a thick mass of long, coarse, and rather straight hair 10 inches +in length. This growth stops abruptly at the knee, but it hangs within 6 +inches of the hoof. The front side of this mass is blackish brown, but +it rapidly shades backward and downward into jet-black.</p> + +<p>The hair on the top of the head lies in a dense, matted mass, forming a +perfect crown of rich brown (burnt sienna) locks, 16 inches in length, +hanging over the eyes, almost enveloping both horns, and spreading back +in rich, dark masses upon the light-colored neck.</p> + +<p>On the cheeks the hair is of the same blackish brown color, but +comparatively short, and lies in beautiful waves. On the bridge of the +nose the hair is about 6 inches in length and stands out in a thick, +uniform, very curly mass, which always looks as if it had just been +carefully combed.</p> + +<p>Immediately around the nose and mouth the hair is very short, straight +and stiff, and lies close to the skin, which leaves the nostrils and +lips fully exposed. The front part of the chin is similarly clad, and +its form is perfectly flat, due to the habit of the animal in feeding +upon the short, crisp buffalo grass, in the course of which the chin is +pressed flat against the ground. The end of the muzzle is very massive, +measuring 2 feet 2 inches in circumference just back of the nostrils.</p> + +<p>The hair of the chin-beard is coarse, perfectly straight, jet black, and +11½ inches in length on our old bull.</p> + +<p>Occasionally a bull is met with who is a genuine Esau amongst his kind. +I once saw a bull, of medium size but fully adult, whose hair <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_405" id="page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span>was a +wonder to behold. I have now in my possession a small lock of hair which +I plucked from his forehead, and its length is 22½ inches. His horns +were entirely concealed by the immense mass of long hair that nature had +piled upon his head, and his beard was as luxuriant as his frontlet.</p> + +<p><a name="bull_buffalo" id="bull_buffalo"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/007.jpg" + alt="BULL BUFFALO" title="BULL BUFFALO" /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Bull Buffalo in National Museum Group.</span><br />Drawn by Ernest E. +Thompson.</h4> + +<p>The nostril opening is large and wide. The color of the hairless +portions of the nose and mouth is shiny Vandyke brown and black, with a +strong tinge of bluish-purple, but this latter tint is not noticeable +save upon close examination, and the eyelid is the same. The iris is of +an irregular pear-shaped outline, 1-5/16 inches in its longest diameter, +very dark, reddish brown in color, with a black edging all around it. +Ordinarily no portion of the white eyeball is visible, but the broad +black band surrounding the iris, and a corner patch of white, is +frequently shown by the turning of the eye. The tongue is bluish purple, +as are the lips inside.</p> + +<p>The hoofs and horns are, in reality, jet black throughout, but the horn +often has at the base a scaly, dead appearance on the outside, and as +the wrinkles around the base increase with age and scale up and gather +dirt, that part looks gray. The horns of bulls taken in their prime are +smooth, glossy black, and even look as if they had been half polished +with oil.</p> + +<p>As the bull increases in age, the outer layers of the horn begin to +break off at the tip and pile up one upon another, until the horn has +become a thick, blunt stub, with only the tip of what was once a neat +and shapely point showing at the end. The bull is then known as a +“stub-horn,” and his horns increase in roughness and unsightliness as he +grows older. From long rubbing on the earth, the outer curve of each +horn is gradually worn flat, which still further mars its symmetry.</p> + +<p>The horns serve as a fair index of the age of a bison. After he is three +years old, the bison adds each year a ring around the base of his horns, +the same as domestic cattle. If we may judge by this, the horn begins to +break when the bison is about ten or eleven years old, and the stubbing +process gradually continues during the rest of his life. Judging by the +teeth, and also the oldest horns I have seen, I am of the opinion that +the natural life time of the bison is about twenty-five years; certainly +no less.</p> + +<h4>BISON AMERICANUS.</h4> +<h4>(Male, eleven years old. Taken December 6, 1866. Montana.)</h4> +<h5>(<i>No. 15703, National Museum collection.</i>)</h5> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">Feet.</td><td align="center">Inches.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Height at shoulders to the skin</td><td align="center"><tt> 5</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 8 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Height at shoulders to top of hair</td><td align="center"><tt> 6</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> — </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length, head and body to insertion of tail</td><td align="center"><tt>10</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 2 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Depth of chest</td><td align="center"><tt> 3</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>10 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Depth of flank</td><td align="center"><tt> 2</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 0 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Girth behind fore leg</td><td align="center"><tt> 8</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 4 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">From base of horns around end of nose</td><td align="center"><tt> 3</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 6 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of tail vertebræ</td><td align="center"><tt> 1</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 3 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Circumference of muzzle back of nostrils</td><td align="center"><tt> 2</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 2 </tt></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_406" id="page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span></p> +<p><a name="i_iv_8" id="i_iv_8"></a>8. <i>The Cow in the third year.</i>—The young cow of course possesses the +same youthful appearance already referred to as characterizing the +“spike” bull. The hair on the shoulders has begun to take on the light +straw-color, and has by this time attained a length which causes it to +arrange itself in tufts, or locks. The body colors have grown darker, +and reached their permanent tone. Of course the hair on the head has by +no means attained its full length, and the head is not at all handsome.</p> + +<p>The horns are quite small, but the curve is well defined, and they +distinctly mark the sex of the individual, even at the beginning of the +third year.</p> + +<h4>BISON AMERICANUS.</h4> +<h4>(Young cow, in third year. Taken October 14, 1886. Montana.)</h4> + +<h5>(<i>No. 15686, National Museum collection.</i>)</h5> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">Feet.</td><td align="center">Inches.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Height at shoulders</td><td align="center"><tt>4</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>5 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length, head and body to insertion of tail</td><td align="center"><tt>7</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>7 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Depth of chest</td><td align="center"><tt>2</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>4 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Depth of flank</td><td align="center"><tt>1</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>4 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Girth behind fore leg</td><td align="center"><tt>5</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>4 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">From base of horns around end of nose</td><td align="center"><tt>2</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>8½</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of tail vertebræ</td><td align="center"><tt>1</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>— </tt></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><a name="i_iv_9" id="i_iv_9"></a>9. <i>The adult Cow.</i>—The upper body color of the adult cow in the +National Museum group (see Plate) is a rich, though not intense, Vandyke +brown, shading imperceptibly down the sides into black, which spreads +over the entire under parts and inside of the thighs. The hair on the +lower joints of the leg is in turn lighter, being about the same shade +as that on the loins. The fore-arm is concealed in a mass of almost +black hair, which gradually shades lighter from the elbow upward and +along the whole region of the humerus. On the shoulder itself the hair +is pale yellow or straw-color (Naples yellow + yellow ocher), which +extends down in a point toward the elbow. From the back of the head a +conspicuous baud of curly, dark-brown hair extends back like a mane +along the neck and to the top of the hump, beyond which it soon fades +out.</p> + +<p>The hair on the head is everywhere a rich burnt-sienna brown, except +around the corners of the mouth, where it shades into black.</p> + +<p>The horns of the cow bison are slender, but solid for about two-thirds +of their length from the tip, ringed with age near their base, and quite +black. Very often they are imperfect in shape, and out of every five +pairs at least one is generally misshapen. Usually one horn is +“crumpled,” <i>e. g.</i>, dwarfed in length and unnaturally thickened at the +base, and very often one horn is found to be merely an unsightly, +misshapen stub.</p> + +<p><a name="rear" id="rear"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/008.jpg" + alt="BULL BUFFALO. (REAR VIEW.)" title="BULL BUFFALO. (REAR VIEW.)" /> +</div> +<h4>From a photograph. Engraved by Frederick Juengling.<br /> +<span class="sc">Bull Buffalo. (Rear View.)</span><br />Reproduced from the <i>Cosmopolitan Magazine</i>, by +permission of the publishers.</h4> + +<p>The udder of the cow bison is very small, as might be expected of an +animal which must do a great deal of hard traveling, but the milk is +said to be very rich. Some authorities declare that it requires the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_407" id="page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span> +milk of two domestic cows to satisfy one buffalo calf, but this, I +think, is an error. Our calf began in May to consume 6 quarts of +domestic milk daily, which by June 10 had increased to 8, and up to July +10, 9 quarts was the utmost it could drink. By that time it began to eat +grass, but the quantity of milk disposed of remained about the same.</p> + +<h4>BISON AMERICANUS.</h4> +<h4>(Adult cow, eight years old. Taken November 18, 1886. Montana.)</h4> +<h5>(<i>No. 15767, National Museum collection.</i>)</h5> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="adult cow"> +<tr><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">Feet.</td><td align="center">Inches.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Height at shoulders</td><td align="center"><tt>4</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>10 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length, head and body to insertion of tail</td><td align="center"><tt>8</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 6 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Depth of chest</td><td align="center"><tt>3</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 7 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Depth of flank</td><td align="center"><tt>1</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 7 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Girth behind fore leg</td><td align="center"><tt>6</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>10 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">From base of horns around end of nose</td><td align="center"><tt>3</tt></td><td> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of tail vertebræ</td><td align="center"><tt>1</tt></td><td> </td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><a name="i_iv_10" id="i_iv_10"></a>10. <i>The “Wood,” or “Mountain” Buffalo.</i>—Having myself never seen a +specimen of the so called “mountain buffalo” or “wood buffalo,” which +some writers accord the rank of a distinct variety, I can only quote the +descriptions of others. While most Rocky Mountain hunters consider the +bison of the mountains quite distinct from that of the plains, it must +be remarked that no two authorities quite agree in regard to the +distinguishing characters of the variety they recognize. Colonel Dodge +states that “His body is lighter, whilst his legs are shorter, but much +thicker and stronger, than the plains animal, thus enabling him to +perform feats of climbing and tumbling almost incredible in such a huge +and unwieldy beast.”<a name="fnanchor_32_32" id="fnanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>The belief in the existence of a distinct mountain variety is quite +common amongst hunters and frontiersmen all along the eastern slope the +Rocky Mountains as far north as the Peace River. In this connection the +following from Professor Henry Youle Hind<a name="fnanchor_33_33" id="fnanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> is of general interest:</p> + +<p>“The existence of two kinds of buffalo is firmly believed by many +hunters at Red River; they are stated to be the prairie buffalo and the +buffalo of the woods. Many old hunters with whom I have conversed on +this subject aver that the so-called wood buffalo is a distinct species, +and although they are not able to offer scientific proofs, yet the +difference in size, color, hair, and horns, are enumerated as the +evidence upon which they base their statement. Men from their youth +familiar with these animals in the great plains, and the varieties which +are frequently met with in large herds, still cling to this opinion. The +buffalo of the plains are not always of the dark and rich bright brown +which forms their characteristic color. They are sometimes seen from +white to almost black, and a gray buffalo is not at all uncommon. +Buffalo <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_408" id="page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span>emasculated by wolves are often found on the prairies, where +they grow to an immense size; the skin of the buffalo ox is recognized +by the shortness of the wool and by its large dimensions. The skin of +the so-called wood buffalo is much larger than that of the common +animal, the hair is very short, mane or hair about the neck short and +soft, and altogether destitute of curl, which is the common feature in +the hair or wool of the prairie animal. Two skins of the so-called wood +buffalo, which I saw at Selkirk Settlement, bore a very close +resemblance to the skin of the Lithuanian bison, judging from the +specimens of that species which I have since had an opportunity of +seeing in the British Museum.</p> + +<p>“The wood buffalo is stated to be very scarce, and only found north of +the Saskatchewan and on the flanks of the Rocky Mountains. It never +ventures into the open plains. The prairie buffalo, on the contrary, +generally avoids the woods in summer and keeps to the open country; but +in winter they are frequently found in the woods of the Little Souris, +Saskatchewan, the Touchwood Hills, and the aspen groves on the +Qu’Appelle. There is no doubt that formerly the prairie buffalo ranged +through open woods almost as much as he now does through the prairies.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Harrison S. Young, an officer of the Hudson’s Bay Fur Company, +stationed at Fort Edmonton, writes me as follows in a letter dated +October 22, 1887: “In our district of Athabasca, along the Salt River, +there are still a few wood buffalo killed every year; but they are fast +diminishing in numbers, and are also becoming very shy.”</p> + +<p>In Prof. John Macoun’s “Manitoba and the Great Northwest,” page 342, +there occurs the following reference to the wood buffalo: “In the winter +of 1870 the last buffalo were killed north of Peace River; but in 1875 +about one thousand head were still in existence between the Athabasca +and Peace Rivers, north of Little Slave Lake. These are called wood +buffalo by the hunters, but diner only in size from those of the plain.”</p> + +<p>In the absence of facts based on personal observations, I may be +permitted to advance an opinion in regard to the wood buffalo. There is +some reason for the belief that certain changes of form may have taken +place in the buffaloes that have taken up a permanent residence in +rugged and precipitous mountain regions. Indeed, it is hardly possible +to understand how such a radical change in the habitat of an animal +could fail, through successive generations, to effect certain changes in +the animal itself. It seems to me that the changes which would take +place in a band of plains buffaloes transferred to a permanent mountain +habitat can be forecast with a marked degree of certainty. The changes +that take place under such conditions in cattle, swine, and goats are +well known, and similar causes would certainly produce similar results +in the buffalo.</p> + +<p>The scantier feed of the mountains, and the great waste of vital energy +called for in procuring it, would hardly produce a larger buffalo <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_409" id="page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span>than +the plains-fed animal, who acquires an abundance of daily food of the +best quality with but little effort.</p> + +<p>We should expect to see the mountain buffalo smaller in body than the +plains animal, with better leg development, and particularly with +stronger hind quarters. The pelvis of the plains buffalo is surprisingly +small and weak for so large an animal. Beyond question, constant +mountain climbing is bound to develop a maximum of useful muscle and +bone and a minimum of useless fat. If the loss of mane sustained by the +African lions who live in bushy localities may be taken as an index, we +should expect the bison of the mountains, especially the “wood buffalo,” +to lose a great deal of his shaggy frontlet and mane on the bushes and +trees which surrounded him. Therefore, we would naturally expect to find +the hair on those parts shorter and in far less perfect condition than +on the bison of the treeless prairies. By reason of the more shaded +condition of his home, and the decided mitigation of the sun’s +fierceness, we should also expect to see his entire pelage of a darker +tone. That he would acquire a degree of agility and strength unknown in +his relative of the plain is reasonably certain. In the course of many +centuries the change in his form might become well defined, constant, +and conspicuous; but at present there is apparently not the slightest +ground for considering that the “mountain buffalo” or “wood buffalo” is +entitled to rank even as a variety of <i>Bison americanus</i>.</p> + +<p>Colonel Dodge has recorded some very interesting information in regard +to the “mountain, or wood buffalo,” which deserves to be quoted +entire.<a name="fnanchor_34_34" id="fnanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>“In various portions of the Rocky Mountains, especially in the region of +the parks, is found an animal which old mountaineers call the ‘bison.’ +This animal bears about the same relation to a plains buffalo as a +sturdy mountain pony does to an American horse. His body is lighter, +whilst his legs are shorter, but much thicker and stronger, than the +plains animal, thus enabling him to perform feats of climbing and +tumbling almost incredible in such a huge and apparently unwieldy beast.</p> + +<p>“These animals are by no means plentiful, and are moreover excessively +shy, inhabiting the deepest, darkest defiles, or the craggy, almost +precipitous, sides of mountains inaccessible to any but the most +practiced mountaineers.</p> + +<p>“From the tops of the mountains which rim the parks the rains of ages +have cut deep gorges, which plunge with brusque abruptness, but +nevertheless with great regularity, hundreds or even thousands of feet +to the valley below. Down the bottom of each such gorge a clear, cold +stream of purest water, fertilizing a narrow belt of a few feet of +alluvial, and giving birth and growth, to a dense jungle of spruce, +quaking asp, and other mountain trees. One side of the gorge is +generally a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_410" id="page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span>thick forest of pine, while the other side is a meadow-like +park, covered with splendid grass. Such gorges are the favorite haunt of +the mountain buffalo. Early in the morning he enjoys a bountiful +breakfast of the rich nutritious grasses, quenches his thirst with the +finest water, and, retiring just within the line of jungle, where, +himself unseen, he can scan the open, he crouches himself in the long +grass and reposes in comfort and security until appetite calls him to +his dinner late in the evening. Unlike their plains relative, there is +no stupid staring at an intruder. At the first symptom of danger they +disappear like magic in the thicket, and never stop until far removed +from even the apprehension of pursuit. I have many times come upon their +fresh tracks, upon the beds from which they had first sprung in alarm, +but I have never even seen one.</p> + +<p>“I have wasted much time and a great deal of wind in vain endeavors to +add one of these animals to my bag. My figure is no longer adapted to +mountain climbing, and the possession of a bison’s head of my own +killing is one of my blighted hopes.</p> + +<p>“Several of my friends have been more fortunate, but I know of no +sportsman who has bagged more than one.<a name="fnanchor_35_35" id="fnanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>“Old mountaineers and trappers have given me wonderful accounts of the +number of these animals in all the mountain region ‘many years ago;’ and +I have been informed by them, that their present rarity is due to the +great snow-storm of 1844-’45, of which I have already spoken as +destroying the plains buffalo in the Laramie country.</p> + +<p>“One of my friends, a most ardent and pertinacious sportsman, determined +on the possession of a bison’s head, and, hiring a guide, plunged into +the mountain wilds which separate the Middle from South Park. After +several days fresh tracks were discovered. Turning their horses loose on +a little gorge park, such as described, they started on foot on the +trail; for all that day they toiled and scrambled with the utmost +caution—now up, now down, through deep and narrow gorges and pine +thickets, over bare and rocky crags, sleeping where night overtook them. +Betimes next morning they pushed on the trail, and about 11 o’clock, +when both were exhausted and well-nigh disheartened, their route was +intercepted by a precipice. Looking over, they descried, on a projecting +ledge several hundred feet below, a herd of about 20 bisons lying down. +The ledge was about 300 feet at widest, by probably 1,000 feet long. Its +inner boundary was the wall of rock on the top of which they stood; its +outer appeared to be a sheer precipice of at least 200 feet. This ledge +was connected with the slope of the mountain by a narrow neck. The wind +being right, the hunters succeeded in reaching this neck unobserved. My +friend selected a magnificent head, that of a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_411" id="page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span>fine bull, young but full +grown, and both fired. At the report the bisons all ran to the far end +of the ledge and plunged over.</p> + +<p>“Terribly disappointed, the hunters ran to the spot, and found that they +had gone down a declivity, not actually a precipice, but so steep that +the hunters could not follow them.</p> + +<p>“At the foot lay a bison. A long, a fatiguing detour brought them to the +spot, and in the animal lying dead before him my friend recognized his +bull—his first and last mountain buffalo. Hone but a true sportsman can +appreciate his feelings.</p> + +<p>“The remainder of the herd was never seen after the great plunge, down +which it is doubtful if even a dog could have followed unharmed.”</p> + +<p>In the issue of Forest and Stream of June 14, 1888, Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, +in an article entitled “The American Buffalo,” relates a very +interesting experience with buffaloes which were pronounced to be of the +“mountain” variety, and his observations on the animals are well worth +reproducing here. The animals (eight in number) were encountered on the +northern slope of the Big Horn Mountains, in the autumn of 1877. “We +came upon them during a fearful blizzard of heavy hail, during which our +animals could scarcely retain their feet. In fact, the packer’s mule +absolutely lay down on the ground rather than risk being blown down the +mountain side, and my own horse, totally unable to face such a violent +blow and the pelting hail (the stones being as large as big marbles), +positively stood stock-still, facing an old buffalo bull that was not +more than 25 feet in front of me. * * * Strange to say, this fearful +gust did not last more than ten minutes, when it stopped as suddenly as +it had commenced, and I deliberately killed my old buffalo at one shot, +just where he stood, and, separating two other bulls from the rest, +charged them down a rugged ravine. They passed over this and into +another one, but with less precipitous sides and no trees in the way, +and when I was on top of the intervening ridge I noticed that the +largest bull had halted in the bottom. Checking my horse, an excellent +buffalo hunter, I fired down at him without dismounting. The ball merely +barked his shoulder, and to my infinite surprise he turned and charged +me up the hill. * * * Stepping to one side of my horse, with the +charging and infuriated bull not 10 feet to my front, I fired upon him, +and the heavy ball took him square in the chest, bringing him to his +knees, with a gush of scarlet blood from his mouth and nostrils. * * *</p> + +<p>“Upon examining the specimen, I found it to be an old bull, apparently +smaller and very much blacker than the ones I had seen killed on the +plains only a day or so before. Then I examined the first one I had +shot, as well as others which were killed by the packer from the same +bunch, and I came to the conclusion that they were typical +representatives of the variety known as the ‘mountain buffalo,’ a form +much more active in movement, of slighter limbs, blacker, and far more +dangerous to attack. My opinion in the premises remains unaltered +to-day. In <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_412" id="page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span>all this I may be mistaken, but it was also the opinion held +by the old buffalo hunter who accompanied me, and who at once remarked +when he saw them that they were ‘mountain buffalo,’ and not the plains +variety. * * *</p> + +<p>“These specimens were not actually measured by me in either case, and +their being considered smaller only rested upon my judging them by my +eye. But they were of a softer pelage, black, lighter in limb, and when +discovered were in the timber, on the side of the Big Horn Mountains.”</p> + +<p>The band of bison in the Yellowstone Park must, of necessity, be of the +so-called “wood” or “mountain” variety, and if by any chance one of its +members ever dies of old age, it is to be hoped its skin may be +carefully preserved and sent to the National Museum to throw some +further light on this question.</p> + +<p><a name="i_iv_11" id="i_iv_11"></a>11. <i>The shedding of the winter pelage.</i>—In personal appearance the +buffalo is subject to striking, and even painful, variations, and the +estimate an observer forms of him is very apt to depend upon the time of +the year at which the observation is made. Toward the end of the winter +the whole coat has become faded and bleached by the action of the sun, +wind, snow, and rain, until the freshness of its late autumn colors has +totally disappeared. The bison takes on a seedy, weathered, and rusty +look. But this is not a circumstance to what happens to him a little +later. Promptly with the coming of the spring, if not even in the last +week of February, the buffalo begins the shedding of his winter coat. It +is a long and difficult task, and with commendable energy he sets about +it at the earliest possible moment. It lasts him more than half the +year, and is attended with many positive discomforts.</p> + +<p>The process of shedding is accomplished in two ways: by the new hair +growing into and forcing off the old, and by the old hair falling off in +great patches, leaving the skin bare. On the heavily-haired +portions—the head, neck, fore quarters, and hump—the old hair stops +growing, dies, and the new hair immediately starts through the skin and +forces it off. The new hair grows so rapidly, and at the same time so +densely, that it forces itself into the old, becomes hopelessly +entangled with it, and in time actually lifts the old hair clear of the +skin. On the head the new hair is dark brown or black, but on the neck, +fore quarters, and hump it has at first, and indeed until it is 2 inches +in length, a peculiar gray or drab color, mixed with brown, totally +different from its final and natural color. The new hair starts first on +the head, but the actual shedding of the old hair is to be seen first +along the lower parts of the neck and between the fore legs. The +heavily-haired parts are never bare, but, on the contrary, the amount of +hair upon them is about the same all the year round. The old and the new +hair cling together with provoking tenacity long after the old coat +should fall, and on several of the bulls we killed in October there were +patches of it <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_413" id="page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span>still sticking tightly to the shoulders, from which it +had to be forcibly plucked away. Under all such patches the new hair was +of a different color from that around them.</p> + +<p>The other process of shedding takes place on the body and hind quarters, +from which the old hair loosens and drops off in great woolly flakes a +foot square, more or less. The shedding takes place very unevenly, the +old hair remaining much longer in some places than in others. During +April, May, and June the body and hind quarters present a most ludicrous +and even pitiful spectacle. The island-like patches of persistent old +hair alternating with patches of bare brown skin are adorned (?) by +great ragged streamers of loose hair, which flutter in the wind like +signals of distress. Whoever sees a bison at this period is filled with +a desire to assist nature by plucking off the flying streamers of old +hair; but the bison never permits anything of the kind, however good +one’s intentions may be. All efforts to dislodge the old hair are +resisted to the last extremity, and the buffalo generally acts as if the +intention were to deprive him of his skin itself. By the end of June, if +not before, the body and hind quarters are free from the old hair, and +as bare as the hide of a hippopotamus. The naked skin has a shiny brown +appearance, and of course the external anatomy of the animal is very +distinctly revealed. But for the long hair on the fore quarters, neck, +and head the bison would lose all his dignity of appearance with his +hair. As it is, the handsome black head, which is black with new hair as +early as the first of May, redeems the animal from utter homeliness.</p> + +<p>After the shedding of the body hair, the naked skin of the buffalo is +burned by the sun and bitten by flies until he is compelled to seek a +pool of water, or even a bed of soft mud, in which to roll and make +himself comfortable. He wallows, not so much because he is so fond of +either water or mud, but in self-defense; and when he emerges from his +wallow, plastered with mud from head to tail, his degradation is +complete. He is then simply not fit to be seen, even by his best +friends.</p> + +<p>By the first of October, a complete and wonderful transformation has +taken place. The buffalo stands forth clothed in a complete new suit of +hair, fine, clean, sleek, and bright in color, not a speck of dirt nor a +lock awry anywhere. To be sure, it is as yet a trifle short on the body, +where it is not over an inch in length, and hardly that; but it is +growing rapidly and getting ready for winter.</p> + +<p>From the 20th of November to the 20th of December the pelage is at its +very finest. By the former date it has attained its full growth, its +colors are at their brightest, and nothing has been lost either by the +elements or by accidental causes. To him who sees an adult bull at this +period, or near it, the grandeur of the animal is irresistibly felt. +After seeing buffaloes of all ages in the spring and summer months the +contrast afforded by those seen in October, November, and December was +most striking and impressive. In the later period, as different +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_414" id="page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span>individuals were wounded and brought to bay at close quarters, their +hair was so clean and well-kept, that more than once I was led to +exclaim: “He looks as if he had just been combed.”</p> + +<p>It must be remarked, however, that the long hair of the head and fore +quarters is disposed in locks or tufts, and to comb it in reality would +utterly destroy its natural and characteristic appearance.</p> + +<p>Inasmuch as the pelage of the domesticated bison, the only +representatives of the species which will be found alive ten years +hence, will in all likelihood develop differently from that of the wild +animal, it may some time in the future be of interest to know the +length, by careful measurement, of the hair found on carefully-selected +typical wild specimens. To this end the following measurements are +given. It must be borne in mind that these specimens were not chosen +because their pelage was particularly luxuriant, but rather because they +are fine average specimens.</p> + +<p>The hair of the adult bull is by no means as long as I have seen on a +bison, although perhaps not many have greatly surpassed it. It is with +the lower animals as with man—the length of the hairy covering is an +individual character only. I have in my possession a tuft of hair, from +the frontlet of a rather small bull bison, which measures 22½ inches +in length. The beard on the specimen from which this came was +correspondingly long, and the entire pelage was of wonderful length and +density.</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h4>LENGTH OF THE HAIR OF BISON AMERICANUS.</h4> + +<h5>[Measurements, in inches, of the pelage of the specimens composing the +group in the National Museum.]</h5> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="length of hair"> +<tr><td align="center"> </td><td align="center">Old bull,<br />killed<br />Dec. 6.</td><td align="center">Old cow,<br />killed<br />Nov. 18.</td><td align="center">Spike bull,<br />killed<br />Oct. 14.</td><td align="center">Young cow,<br />killed<br />Oct. 14.</td><td align="center">Yearling calf,<br />killed<br />Oct. 31.</td><td align="center">Young calf,<br />four<br />months old.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of hair on the shoulder (over scapula)</td><td align="center"><tt> 3¾</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 4¾</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 3½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 3¼</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 3 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 1½</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of hair on top of hump</td><td align="center"><tt> 6½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 7 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 5¼</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 5½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 4½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 2 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of hair on the middle of the side</td><td align="center"><tt> 2 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 1½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 2½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 1½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 2¼</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 1¼</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of hair on the hind quarter</td><td align="center"><tt> 1¾</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 1¼</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> ¾</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> ¾</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 2 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 1 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of hair on the forehead</td><td align="center"><tt>16 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 8½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 6½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 5 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 3½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> ½</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of the chin beard</td><td align="center"><tt>11½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 9½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 6¾</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 5 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 5 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 0 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of the breast tuft</td><td align="center"><tt> 8 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 8½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 8 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 6 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 5 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 3 </tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of tuft on fore leg</td><td align="center"><tt>10½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 8 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 8 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 4½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 3 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 1½</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Length of the tail tuft</td><td align="center"><tt>19 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt>15 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt>15 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt>13 </tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 7½</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 4½</tt></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><br /></p> + +<p><i>Albinism.</i>—Cases of albinism in the buffalo were of extremely rare +occurrence. I have met many old buffalo hunters, who had killed +thousands and seen scores of thousands of buffaloes, yet never had seen +a white one. From all accounts it appears that not over ten or eleven +white buffaloes, or white buffalo skins, were ever seen by white men. +Pied individuals were occasionally obtained, but even they were rare. +Albino buffaloes were always so highly prized that not a single one, so +far as I can learn, ever had the good fortune to attain adult size, +their appearance being so striking, in contrast with the other members +of the herd, as to draw upon them an unusual number of enemies, and +cause their speedy destruction.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_415" id="page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span></p><p>At the New Orleans Exposition, in 1884-’85, the Territory of Dakota +exhibited, amongst other Western quadrupeds, the mounted skin of a +two-year-old buffalo which might fairly be called an albino. Although +not really white, it was of a uniform dirty cream-color, and showed not +a trace of the bison’s normal color on any part of its body.</p> + +<p>Lieut. Col. S. C. Kellogg, U. S. Army, has on deposit in the National +Museum a tanned skin which is said to have come from a buffalo. It is +from an animal about one year old, and the hair upon it, which is short, +very curly or wavy, and rather coarse, is pure white. In length and +texture the hair does not in any one respect resemble the hair of a +yearling buffalo save in one particular,—along the median line of the +neck and hump there is a rather long, thin mane of hair, which has the +peculiar woolly appearance of genuine buffalo hair on those parts. On +the shoulder portions of the skin the hair is as short as on the hind +quarters. I am inclined to believe this rather remarkable specimen came +from a wild half-breed calf, the result of a cross between a white +domestic cow and a buffalo bull. At one time it was by no means uncommon +for small bunches of domestic cattle to enter herds of buffalo and +remain there permanently.</p> + +<p>I have been informed that the late General Marcy possessed a white +buffalo skin. If it is still in existence, and is really <i>white</i>, it is +to be hoped that so great a rarity may find a permanent abiding place in +some museum where the remains of <i>Bison americanus</i> are properly +appreciated.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="v_the_habits_of_the_buffalo" id="v_the_habits_of_the_buffalo"></a>V. The Habits of the Buffalo.</h2> + + +<p>The history of the buffalo’s daily life and habits should begin with the +“running season.” This period occupied the months of August and +September, and was characterized by a degree of excitement and activity +throughout the entire herd quite foreign to the ease-loving and even +slothful nature which was so noticeable a feature of the bison’s +character at all other times.</p> + +<p>The mating season occurred when the herd was on its summer range. The +spring calves were from two to four months old. Through continued +feasting on the new crop of buffalo-grass and bunch-grass—the most +nutritious in the world, perhaps—every buffalo in the herd had grown +round-sided, fat, and vigorous. The faded and weather-beaten suit of +winter hair had by that time fallen off and given place to the new coat +of dark gray and black, and, excepting for the shortness of his hair, +the buffalo was in prime condition.</p> + +<p>During the “running season,” as it was called by the plainsmen, the +whole nature of the herd was completely changed. Instead of being broken +up into countless small groups and dispersed over a vast extent of +territory, the herd came together in a dense and confused mass of many +thousand individuals, so closely congregated as to actually blacken the +face of the landscape. As if by a general and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_416" id="page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span>irresistible impulse, +every straggler would be drawn to the common center, and for miles on +every side of the great herd the country would be found entirely +deserted.</p> + +<p>At this time the herd itself became a seething mass of activity and +excitement. As usual under such conditions, the bulls were half the time +chasing the cows, and fighting each other during the other half. These +actual combats, which were always of short duration and over in a few +seconds after the actual collision took place, were preceded by the +usual threatening demonstrations, in which the bull lowers his head +until his nose almost touches the ground, roars like a fog-horn until +the earth seems to fairly tremble with the vibration, glares madly upon +his adversary with half-white eyeballs, and with his forefeet paws up +the dry earth and throws it upward in a great cloud of dust high above +his back. At such times the mingled roaring—it can not truthfully be +described as lowing or bellowing—of a number of huge bulls unite and +form a great volume of sound like distant thunder, which has often been +heard at a distance of from 1 to 3 miles. I have even been assured by +old plainsmen that under favorable atmospheric conditions such sounds +have been heard five miles.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the extreme frequency of combats between the bulls +during this season, their results were nearly always harmless, thanks to +the thickness of the hair and hide on the head and shoulders, and the +strength of the neck.</p> + +<p>Under no conditions was there ever any such thing as the pairing off or +mating of male and female buffaloes for any length of time. In the +entire process of reproduction the bison’s habits were similar to those +of domestic cattle. For years the opinion was held by many, in some +cases based on misinterpreted observations, that in the herd the +identity of each family was partially preserved, and that each old bull +maintained an individual harem and group of progeny of his own. The +observations of Colonel Dodge completely disprove this very interesting +theory; for at best it was only a picturesque fancy, ascribing to the +bison a degree of intelligence which he never possessed.</p> + +<p>At the close of the breeding season the herd quickly settles down to its +normal condition. The mass gradually resolves itself into the numerous +bands or herdlets of from twenty to a hundred individuals, so +characteristic of bison on their feeding grounds, and these gradually +scatter in search of the best grass until the herd covers many square +miles of country.</p> + +<p>In his search for grass the buffalo displayed but little intelligence or +power of original thought. Instead of closely following the divides +between water courses where the soil was best and grass most abundant, +he would not hesitate to wander away from good feeding-grounds into +barren “bad lands,” covered with sage-brush, where the grass was very +thin and very poor. In such broken country as Montana, Wyoming, and +southwestern Dakota, the herds, on reaching the best grazing <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_417" id="page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span>grounds on +the divides, would graze there day after day until increasing thirst +compelled them to seek for water. Then, actuated by a common impulse, +the search for a water-hole was begun in a business-like way. The leader +of a herd, or “bunch,” which post was usually filled by an old cow, +would start off down the nearest “draw,” or stream-heading, and all the +rest would fall into line and follow her. From the moment this start was +made there was no more feeding, save as a mouthful of grass could be +snatched now and then without turning aside. In single file, in a line +sometimes half a mile long and containing between one and two hundred +buffaloes, the procession slowly marched down the coulée, close +alongside the gully as soon as the water-course began to cut a pathway +for itself. When the gully curved to right or left the leader would +cross its bed and keep straight on until the narrow ditch completed its +wayward curve and came back to the middle of the coulée. The trail of a +herd in search of water is usually as good a piece of engineering as +could be executed by the best railway surveyor, and is governed by +precisely the same principles. It always follows the level of the +valley, swerves around the high points, and crosses the stream +repeatedly in order to avoid climbing up from the level. The same trail +is used again and again by different herds until the narrow path, not +over a foot in width, is gradually cut straight down into the soil to a +depth of several inches, as if it had been done by a 12-inch +grooving-plane. By the time the trail has been worn down to a depth of 6 +or 7 inches, without having its width increased in the least, it is no +longer a pleasant path to walk in, being too much like a narrow ditch. +Then the buffaloes abandon it and strike out a new one alongside, which +is used until it also is worn down and abandoned.</p> + +<p>To day the old buffalo trails are conspicuous among the very few classes +of objects which remain as a reminder of a vanished race. The herds of +cattle now follow them in single file just as the buffaloes did a few +years ago, as they search for water in the same way. In some parts of +the West, in certain situations, old buffalo trails exist which the wild +herds wore down to a depth of 2 feet or more.</p> + +<p>Mile after mile marched the herd, straight down-stream, bound for the +upper water-hole. As the hot summer drew on, the pools would dry up one +by one, those nearest the source being the first to disappear. Toward +the latter part of summer, the journey for water was often a long one. +Hole after hole would be passed without finding a drop of water. At last +a hole of mud would be found, below that a hole with a little muddy +water, and a mile farther on the leader would arrive at a shallow pool +under the edge of a “cut bank,” a white, snow-like deposit of alkali on +the sand encircling its margin, and incrusting the blades of grass and +rushed that grew up from the bottom. The damp earth around the pool was +cut up by a thousand hoof-prints, and the water was warm, strongly +impregnated with alkali, and yellow with animal impurities, but it was +<i>water</i>. The nauseous mixture was quickly <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_418" id="page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span>surrounded by a throng of +thirsty, heated, and eager buffaloes of all ages, to which the oldest +and strongest asserted claims of priority. There was much crowding and +some fighting, but eventually all were satisfied. After such a long +journey to water, a herd would usually remain by it for some hours, +lying down, resting, and drinking at intervals until completely +satisfied.</p> + +<p>Having drunk its fill, the herd would never march directly back to the +choice feeding grounds it had just left, but instead would leisurely +stroll off at a right angle from the course it came, cropping for awhile +the rich bunch grasses of the bottom-lands, and then wander across the +hills in an almost aimless search for fresh fields and pastures new. +When buffaloes remained long in a certain locality it was a common thing +for them to visit the same watering-place a number of times, at +intervals of greater or less duration, according to circumstances.</p> + +<p>When undisturbed on his chosen range, the bison used to be fond of lying +down for an hour or two in the middle of the day, particularly when fine +weather and good grass combined to encourage him in luxurious habits. I +once discovered with the field glass a small herd of buffaloes lying +down at midday on the slope of a high ridge, and having ridden hard for +several hours we seized the opportunity to unsaddle and give our horses +an hour’s rest before making the attack. While we were so doing, the +herd got up, shifted its position to the opposite side of the ridge, and +again laid down, every buffalo with his nose pointing to windward.</p> + +<p>Old hunters declare that in the days of their abundance, when feeding on +their ranges in fancied security, the younger animals were as playful as +well-fed domestic calves. It was a common thing to see them cavort and +frisk around with about as much grace as young elephants, prancing and +running to and fro with tails held high in air “like scorpions.”</p> + +<p>Buffaloes are very fond of rolling in dry dirt or even in mud, and this +habit is quite strong in captive animals. Not only is it indulged in +during the shedding season, but all through the fall and winter. The two +live buffaloes in the National Museum are so much given to rolling, even +in rainy weather, that it is necessary to card them every few days to +keep them presentable.</p> + +<p>Bulls are much more given to rolling than the cows, especially after +they have reached maturity. They stretch out at full length, rub their +heads violently to and fro on the ground, in which the horn serves as +the chief point of contact and slides over the ground like a +sled-runner. After thoroughly scratching one side on mother earth they +roll over and treat the other in like manner. Notwithstanding his sharp +and lofty hump, a buffalo bull can roll completely over with as much +ease as any horse.</p> + +<p>The vast amount of rolling and side-scratching on the earth indulged in +by bull buffaloes is shown in the worn condition of the horns of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_419" id="page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span>every +old specimen. Often a thickness of half an inch is gone from the upper +half of each horn on its outside curve, at which point the horn is worn +quite flat. This is well illustrated in the horns shown in the +accompanying plate, fig. 6.</p> + +<p><a name="horns" id="horns"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/009.jpg" + alt="The Development of Buffalo’s Horns" title="The Development of Buffalo’s Horns" /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Development of the Horns of the American Bison.</span><br /> +1. The Calf. 2. The Yearling. 3. Spike Bull, 2 years old.<br /> +4. Spike Bull, 3 years old. 5. Bull, 4 years old.<br /> +6. Bull, 11 years old. 7. Old "stub-horn" Bull, 20 years old.</h4> +<p>Mr. Catlin<a name="fnanchor_36_36" id="fnanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> affords some very interesting and valuable information in +regard to the bison’s propensity for wollowing in mad, and also the +origin of the “fairy circles,” which have caused so much speculation +amongst travelers:</p> + +<p>“In the heat of summer, these huge animals, which no doubt suffer very +much with the great profusion of their long and shaggy hair, or fur, +often graze on the low grounds of the prairies, where there is a little +stagnant water lying amongst the grass, and the ground underneath being +saturated with it, is soft, into which the enormous bull, lowered down +upon one knee, will plunge his horns, and at last his head, driving up +the earth, and soon making an excavation in the ground into which the +water filters from amongst the grass, forming for him in a few moments a +cool and comfortable bath, into which he plunges like a hog in his mire.</p> + +<p>“In this delectable laver he throws himself flat upon his side, and +forcing himself violently around, with his horns and his huge hump on +his shoulders presented to the sides, he ploughs up the ground by his +rotary motion, sinking himself deeper and deeper in the ground, +continually enlarging his pool, in which he at length becomes nearly +immersed, and the water and mud about him mixed into a complete mortar, +which changes his color and drips in streams from every part of him as +he rises up upon his feet, a hideous monster of mud and ugliness, too +frightful and too eccentric to be described!</p> + +<p>“It is generally the leader of the herd that takes upon him to make this +excavation, and if not (but another one opens the ground), the leader +(who is conqueror) marches forward, and driving the other from it +plunges himself into it; and, having cooled his sides and changed his +color to a walking mass of mud and mortar, he stands in the pool until +inclination induces him to step out and give place to the next in +command who stands ready, and another, and another, who advance forward +in their turns to enjoy the luxury of the wallow, until the whole band +(sometimes a hundred or more) will pass through it in turn,<a name="fnanchor_37_37" id="fnanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> each one +throwing his body around in a similar manner and each one adding a +little to the dimensions of the pool, while he carries away in his hair +an equal share of the clay, which dries to a gray or whitish color and +gradually falls off. By this operation, which is done perhaps in the +space of half an hour, a circular excavation of fifteen or twenty feet +in diameter and two feet in depth is completed and left for the water to +run into, which soon fills it to the level of the ground.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_420" id="page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span></p><p>“To these sinks, the waters lying on the surface of the prairies are +continually draining and in them lodging their vegetable deposits, which +after a lapse of years fill them up to the surface with a rich soil, +which throws up an unusual growth of grass and herbage, forming +conspicuous circles, which arrest the eye of the traveler and are +calculated to excite his surprise for ages to come.”</p> + +<p>During the latter part of the last century, when the bison inhabited +Kentucky and Pennsylvania, the salt springs of those States were +resorted to by thousands of those animals, who drank of the saline +waters and licked the impregnated earth. Mr. Thomas Ashe<a name="fnanchor_38_38" id="fnanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> affords us +a most interesting account, from the testimony of an eye witness, of the +behavior of a bison at a salt spring. The description refers to a +locality in western Pennsylvania, where “an old man, one of the first +settlers of this country, built his log house on the immediate borders +of a salt spring. He informed me that for the first several seasons the +buffaloes paid him their visits with the utmost regularity; they +traveled in single files, always following each other at equal +distances, forming droves, on their arrival, of about 300 each.</p> + +<p>“The first and second years, so unacquainted were these poor brutes with +the use of this man’s house or with his nature, that in a few hours they +<i>rubbed</i> the house completely down, taking delight in turning the logs +off with their horns, while he had some difficulty to escape from being +trampled under their feet or crushed to death in his own ruins. At that +period he supposed there could not have been less than 2,000 in the +neighborhood of the spring. They sought for no manner of food, but only +bathed and drank three or four times a day and rolled in the earth, or +reposed with their flanks distended in the adjacent shades; and on the +fifth and sixth days separated into distinct droves, bathed, drank, and +departed in single files, according to the exact order of their arrival. +They all rolled successively in the same hole, and each thus carried +away a coat of mud to preserve the moisture on their skin and which, +when hardened and baked in the sun, would resist the stings of millions +of insects that otherwise would persecute these peaceful travelers to +madness or even death.”</p> + +<p>It was a fixed habit with the great buffalo herds to move southward from +200 to 400 miles at the approach of winter. Sometimes this movement was +accomplished quietly and without any excitement, but at other times it +was done with a rush, in which considerable distances would be gone over +on the double quick. The advance of a herd was often very much like that +of a big army, in a straggling line, from four to ten animals abreast. +Sometimes the herd moved forward in a dense mass, and in consequence +often came to grief in quicksands, alkali bogs, muddy crossings, and on +treacherous ice. In such places thousands of buffaloes lost their lives, +through those in the lead being forced into danger by pressure of the +mass coming behind. In this manner, in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_421" id="page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span>summer of 1867, over two +thousand buffaloes, out of a herd of about four thousand, lost their +lives in the quicksands of the Platte River, near Plum Creek, while +attempting to cross. One winter, a herd of nearly a hundred buffaloes +attempted to cross a lake called Lac-qui-parle, in Minnesota, upon the +ice, which gave way, and drowned the entire herd. During the days of the +buffalo it was a common thing for voyagers on the Missouri River to see +buffaloes hopelessly mired in the quicksands or mud along the shore, +either dead or dying, and to find their dead bodies floating down the +river, or lodged on the upper ends of the islands and sand-bars.</p> + +<p>Such accidents as these: it may be repeated, were due to the great +number of animals and the momentum of the moving mass. The forced +marches of the great herds were like the flight of a routed army, in +which helpless individuals were thrust into mortal peril by the +irresistible force of the mass coming behind, which rushes blindly on +after their leaders. In this way it was possible to decoy a herd toward +a precipice and cause it to plunge over en masse, the leaders being +thrust over by their followers, and all the rest following of their own +free will, like the sheep who cheerfully leaped, one after another, +through a hole in the side of a high bridge because their bell-wether +did so.</p> + +<p>But it is not to be understood that the movement of a great herd, +because it was made on a run, necessarily partook of the nature of a +stampede in which a herd sweeps forward in a body. The most graphic +account that I ever obtained of facts bearing on this point was +furnished by Mr. James McNaney, drawn from his experience on the +northern buffalo range in 1882. His party reached the range (on Beaver +Creek, about 100 miles south of Glendive) about the middle of November, +and found buffaloes already there; in fact they had begun to arrive from +the north as early as the middle of October. About the first of December +an immense herd arrived from the north. It reached their vicinity one +night, about 10 o’clock, in a mass that seemed to spread everywhere. As +the hunters sat in their tents, loading cartridges and cleaning their +rifles, a low rumble was heard, which gradually increased to “a +thundering noise,” and some one exclaimed, “There! that’s a big herd of +buffalo coming in!” All ran out immediately, and hallooed and discharged +rifles to keep the buffaloes from running over their tents. Fortunately, +the horses were picketed some distance away in a grassy coulée, which +the buffaloes did not enter. The herd came at a jog trot, and moved +quite rapidly. “In the morning the whole country was black with +buffalo.” It was estimated that 10,000 head were in sight. One immense +detachment went down on to a “flat” and laid down. There it remained +quietly, enjoying a long rest, for about ten days. It gradually broke up +into small bands, which strolled off in various directions looking for +food, and which the hunters quietly attacked.</p> + +<p>A still more striking event occurred about Christmas time at the same +place. For a few days the neighborhood of McNaney’s camp had <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_422" id="page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span>been +entirely deserted by buffaloes, not even one remaining. But one morning +about daybreak a great herd which was traveling south began to pass +their camp. A long line of moving forms was seen advancing rapidly from +the northwest, coming in the direction of the hunters’ camp. It +disappeared in the creek valley for a few moments, and presently the +leaders suddenly came in sight again at the top of “a rise” a few +hundred yards away, and came down the intervening slope at full speed, +within 50 yards of the two tents. After them came a living stream of +followers, all going at a gallop, described by the observer as “a long +lope,” from four to ten buffaloes abreast. Sometimes there would be a +break in the column of a minute’s duration, then more buffaloes would +appear at the brow of the hill, and the column went rushing by as +before. The calves ran with their mothers, and the young stock got over +the ground with much less exertion than the older animals. For about +four hours, or until past 11 o’clock, did this column of buffaloes +gallop past the camp over a course no wider than a village street. Three +miles away toward the south the long dark line of bobbing humps and +hind quarters wound to the right between two hills and disappeared. True +to their instincts, the hunters promptly brought out their rifles, and +began to fire at the buffaloes as they ran. A furious fusilade was kept +up from the very doors of the tents, and from first to last over fifty +buffaloes were killed. Some fell headlong the instant they were hit, but +the greater number ran on until their mortal wounds compelled them to +halt, draw off a little way to one side, and finally fall in their death +struggles.</p> + +<p>Mr. McNaney stated that the hunters estimated the number of buffaloes +<i>on that portion</i> of the range that winter (1881-’82) at 100,000.</p> + +<p>It is probable, and in fact reasonably certain, that such forced-march +migrations as the above were due to snow-covered pastures and a scarcity +of food on the more northern ranges. Having learned that a journey south +will bring him to regions of less snow and more grass, it is but natural +that so lusty a traveler should migrate. The herds or bands which +started south in the fall months traveled more leisurely, with frequent +halts to graze on rich pastures. The advance was on a very different +plan, taking place in straggling lines and small groups dispersed over +quite a scope of country.</p> + +<p>Unless closely pursued, the buffalo never chose to make a journey of +several miles through hilly country on a continuous run. Even when +fleeing from the attack of a hunter, I have often had occasion to notice +that, if the hunter was a mile behind, the buffalo would always walk +when going uphill; but as soon as the crest was gained he would begin to +run, and go down the slope either at a gallop or a swift trot. In former +times, when the buffalo’s world was wide, when retreating from an attack +he always ran against the wind, to avoid running upon a new danger, +which showed that he depended more upon his sense of smell than his +eye-sight. During the last years of his existence, however, this <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_423" id="page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span>habit +almost totally disappeared, and the harried survivors learned to run for +the regions which offered the greatest safety. But even to-day, if a +Texas hunter should go into the Staked Plains, and descry in the +distance a body of animals running against the wind, he would, without a +moment’s hesitation, pronounce them buffaloes, and the chances are that +he would be right.</p> + +<p>In winter the buffalo used to face the storms, instead of turning tail +and “drifting” before them helplessly, as domestic cattle do. But at the +same time, when beset by a blizzard, he would wisely seek shelter from +it in some narrow and deep valley or system of ravines. There the herd +would lie down and wait patiently for the storm to cease. After a heavy +fall of snow, the place to find the buffalo was in the flats and creek +bottoms, where the tall, rank bunch-grasses showed their tops above the +snow, and afforded the best and almost the only food obtainable.</p> + +<p>When the snow-fall was unusually heavy, and lay for a long time on the +ground, the buffalo was forced to fast for days together, and sometimes +even weeks. If a warm day came, and thawed the upper surface of the snow +sufficiently for succeeding cold to freeze it into a crust, the outlook +for the bison began to be serious. A man can travel over a crust through +which the hoofs of a ponderous bison cut like chisels and leave him +floundering belly-deep. It was at such times that the Indians hunted him +on snow-shoes, and drove their spears into his vitals as he wallowed +helplessly in the drifts. Then the wolves grew fat upon the victims +which they, also, slaughtered almost without effort.</p> + +<p>Although buffaloes did not often actually perish from hunger and cold +during the severest winters (save in a few very exceptional cases), they +often came out in very poor condition. The old bulls always suffered +more severely than the rest, and at the end of winter were frequently in +miserable plight.</p> + +<p>Unlike most other terrestrial quadrupeds of America, so long as he could +roam at will the buffalo had settled migratory habits.<a name="fnanchor_39_39" id="fnanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> While the elk +and black-tail deer change their altitude twice a year, in conformity +with the approach and disappearance of winter, the buffalo makes a +radical change of latitude. This was most noticeable in the great +western pasture region, where the herds were most numerous and their +movements most easily observed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_424" id="page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span></p><p>At the approach of winter the whole great system of herds which ranged +from the Peace River to the Indian Territory moved south a few hundred +miles, and wintered under more favorable circumstances than each band +would have experienced at its farthest north. Thus it happened that +nearly the whole of the great range south of the Saskatchewan was +occupied by buffaloes even in winter.</p> + +<p>The movement north began with the return of mild weather in the early +spring. Undoubtedly this northward migration was to escape the heat of +their southern winter range rather than to find better pasture; for as a +grazing country for cattle all the year round, Texas is hardly +surpassed, except where it is overstocked. It was with the buffaloes a +matter of choice rather than necessity which sent them on their annual +pilgrimage northward.</p> + +<p>Col. R. I. Dodge, who has made many valuable observations on the +migratory habits of the southern buffaloes, has recorded the +following:<a name="fnanchor_40_40" id="fnanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p>“Early in spring, as soon as the dry and apparently desert prairie had +begun to change its coat of dingy brown to one of palest green, the +horizon would begin to be dotted with buffalo, single or in groups of +two or three, forerunners of the coming herd. Thicker and thicker and in +larger groups they come, until by the time the grass is well up the +whole vast landscape appears a mass of buffalo, some individuals +feeding, others standing, others lying down, but the herd moving slowly, +moving constantly to the northward. * * * Some years, as in 1871, the +buffalo appeared to move northward in one immense column oftentimes from +20 to 50 miles in width, and of unknown depth from front to rear. Other +years the northward journey was made in several parallel columns, moving +at the same rate, and with their numerous flankers covering a width of a +hundred or more miles.</p> + +<p>“The line of march of this great spring migration was not always the +same, though it was confined within certain limits. I am informed by old +frontiersmen that it has not within twenty-five years crossed the +Arkansas River east of Great Bend nor west of Big Sand Creek. The most +favored routes crossed the Arkansas at the mouth of Walnut Creek, Pawnee +Fork, Mulberry Creek, the Cimarron Crossing, and Big Sand Creek.</p> + +<p>“As the great herd proceeds northward it is constantly depleted, numbers +wandering off to the right and left, until finally it is scattered in +small herds far and wide over the vast feeding grounds, where they pass +the summer.</p> + +<p>“When the food in one locality fails they go to another, and towards +fall, when the grass of the high prairie becomes parched by the heat and +drought, they gradually work their way back to the south, concentrating +on the rich pastures of Texas and the Indian Territory, whence, the same +instinct acting on all, they are ready to start together on the +northward march as soon as spring starts the grass.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_425" id="page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span></p><p>So long as the bison held undisputed possession of the great plains his +migratory habits were as above—regular, general, and on a scale that +was truly grand. The herds that wintered in Texas, the Indian Territory, +and New Mexico probably spent their summers in Nebraska, southwestern +Dakota, and Wyoming. The winter herds of northern Colorado, Wyoming, +Nebraska, and southern Dakota went to northern Dakota and Montana, while +the great Montana herds spent the summer on the Grand Coteau des +Prairies lying between the Saskatchewan and the Missouri. The two great +annual expeditions of the Red River half-breeds, which always took place +in summer, went in two directions from Winnipeg and Pembina—one, the +White Horse Plain division, going westward along the Qu’Appelle to the +Saskatchewan country, and the other, the Red River division, southwest +into Dakota. In 1840 the site of the present city of Jamestown, Dakota, +was the northeastern limit of the herds that summered in Dakota, and the +country lying between that point and the Missouri was for years the +favorite hunting ground of the Red River division.</p> + +<p>The herds which wintered on the Montana ranges always went north in the +early spring, usually in March, so that during the time the hunters were +hauling in the hides taken on the winter hunt the ranges were entirely +deserted. It is equally certain, however, that a few small bauds +remained in certain portions of Montana throughout the summer. But the +main body crossed the international boundary, and spent the summer on +the plains of the Saskatchewan, where they were hunted by the +half-breeds from the Red River settlements and the Indians of the +plains. It is my belief that in this movement nearly all the buffaloes +of Montana and Dakota participated, and that the herds which spent the +summer in Dakota, where they were annually hunted by the Red River +half-breeds, came up from Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska.</p> + +<p>While most of the calves were born on the summer ranges, many were +brought forth en route. It was the habit of the cows to retire to a +secluded spot, if possible a ravine well screened from observation, +bring forth their young, and nourish and defend them until they were +strong enough to join the herd. Calves were born all the time from March +to July, and sometimes even as late as August. On the summer ranges it +was the habit of the cows to leave the bulls at calving time, and thus +it often happened that small herds were often seen composed of bulls +only. Usually the cow produced but one calf, but twins were not +uncommon. Of course many calves were brought forth in the herd, but the +favorite habit of the cow was as stated. As soon as the young calves +were brought into the herd, which for prudential reasons occurred at the +earliest possible moment, the bulls assumed the duty of protecting them +from the wolves which at all times congregated in the vicinity of a +herd, watching for an opportunity to seize a calf or a wounded buffalo +which might be left behind. A calf always follows its mother until its +successor is appointed and installed, unless separated from her by force +of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_426" id="page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span>circumstances. They suck until they are nine months old, or even +older, and Mr. McNaney once saw a lusty calf suck its mother (in +January) on the Montana range several hours after she had been killed +for her skin.</p> + +<p>When a buffalo is wounded it leaves the herd immediately and goes off as +far from the line of pursuit as it can get, to escape the rabble of +hunters, who are sure to follow the main body. If any deep ravines are +at hand the wounded animal limps away to the bottom of the deepest and +most secluded one, and gradually works his way up to its very head, +where he finds himself in a perfect cul-de-sac, barely wide enough to +admit him. Here he is so completely hidden by the high walls and +numerous bends that his pursuer must needs come within a few feet of his +horns before his huge bulk is visible. I have more than once been +astonished at the real impregnability of the retreats selected by +wounded bison. In following up wounded bulls in ravine headings it +always became too dangerous to make the last stage of the pursuit on +horseback, for fear of being caught in a passage so narrow as to insure +a fatal accident to man or horse in case of a sudden discovery of the +quarry. I have seen wounded bison shelter in situations where a single +bull could easily defend himself from a whole pack of wolves, being +completely walled in on both sides and the rear, and leaving his foes no +point of attack save his head and horns.</p> + +<p>Bison which were nursing serious wounds most often have gone many days +at a time without either food or water, and in this connection it may be +mentioned that the recuperative power of a bison is really wonderful. +Judging from the number of old leg wounds, fully healed, which I have +found in freshly killed bisons, one may be tempted to believe that a +bison never died of a broken leg. One large bull which I skeletonized +had had his humerus shot squarely in two, but it had united again more +firmly than ever. Another large bull had the head of his left femur and +the hip socket shattered completely to pieces by a big ball, but he had +entirely recovered from it, and was as lusty a runner as any bull we +chased. We found that while a broken leg was a misfortune to a buffalo, +it always took something more serious than that to stop him.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="vi_the_food_of_the_bison" id="vi_the_food_of_the_bison"></a>VI. The Food of the Bison.</h2> + + +<p>It is obviously impossible to enumerate all the grasses which served the +bison as food on his native heath without presenting a complete list of +all the plants of that order found in a given region; but it is at least +desirable to know which of the grasses of the great pasture region were +his favorite and most common food. It was the nutritious character and +marvelous abundance of his food supply which enabled the bison to exist +in such absolutely countless numbers as characterized his occupancy of +the great plains. The following list comprises the grasses which were +the bison’s principal food, named in the order of their importance: <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_427" id="page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Bouteloua oligostachya</i> (buffalo, grama, or mesquite grass).—This +remarkable grass formed the <i>pièce de résistance</i> of the bison’s bill +of fare in the days when he flourished, and it now comes to us daily in +the form of beef produced of primest quality and in greatest quantity on +what was until recently the great buffalo range. This grass is the most +abundant and widely distributed species to be found in the great pasture +region between the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains and the +nineteenth degree of west longitude. It is the principal grass of the +plains from Texas to the British Possessions, and even in the latter +territory it is quite conspicuous. To any one but a botanist its first +acquaintance means a surprise. Its name and fame lead the unacquainted +to expect a grass which is tall, rank, and full of “fodder,” like the +“blue joint” (<i>Andropogon provincialis</i>). The grama grass is very short, +the leaves being usually not more than 2 or 3 inches in length and +crowded together at the base of the stems. The flower stalk is about a +foot in height, but on grazed lands are eaten off and but seldom seen. +The leaves are narrow and inclined to curl, and lie close to the ground. +Instead of developing a continuous growth, this grass grows in small, +irregular patches, usually about the size of a man’s hand, with narrow +strips of perfectly bare ground between them. The grass curls closely +upon the ground, in a woolly carpet or cushion, greatly resembling a +layer of Florida moss. Even in spring-time it never shows more color +than a tint of palest green, and the landscape which is dependent upon +this grass for color is never more than “a gray and melancholy waste.” +Unlike the soft, juicy, and succulent grasses of the well-watered +portions of the United States, the tiny leaves of the grama grass are +hard, stiff, and dry. I have often noticed that in grazing neither +cattle nor horses are able to bite off the blades, but instead each leaf +is pulled out of the tuft, seemingly by its root.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding its dry and uninviting appearance, this grass is highly +nutritious, and its fat-producing qualities are unexcelled. The heat of +summer dries it up effectually without destroying its nutritive +elements, and it becomes for the remainder of the year excellent hay, +cured on its own roots. It affords good grazing all the year round, save +in winter, when it is covered with snow, and even then, if the snow is +not too deep, the buffaloes, cattle, and horses paw down through it to +reach the grass, or else repair to wind-swept ridges and hill-tops, +where the snow has been blown off and left the grass partly exposed. +Stock prefer it to all the other grasses of the plains.</p> + +<p>On bottom-lands, where moisture is abundant, this grass develops much +more luxuriantly, growing in a close mass, and often to a height of a +foot or more, if not grazed down, when it is cut for hay, and sometimes +yields 1½ tons to the acre. In Montana and the north it is generally +known as “buffalo-grass,” a name to which it would seem to be fully +entitled, notwithstanding the fact that this name is also applied, and +quite generally, to another species, the next to be noticed.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_428" id="page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span></p> +<p><i>Buchloë dactyloides</i> (Southern buffalo-grass).—This species is next +in value and extent of distribution to the grama grass. It also is found +all over the great plains south of Nebraska and southern Wyoming, but +not further north, although in many localities it occurs so sparsely as +to be of little account. A single bunch of it very greatly resembles +<i>Bouteloua oligostachya</i>, but its general growth is very different. It +is very short, its general mass seldom rising more than 3 inches above +the ground. It grows in extensive patches, and spreads by means of +stolons, which sometimes are 2 feet in length, with joints every 3 or 4 +inches. Owing to its southern distribution this might well be named the +Southern buffalo grass, to distinguish it from the two other species of +higher latitudes, to which the name “buffalo” has been fastened forever.</p> + +<p><i>Stipa spartea</i> (Northern buffalo-grass; wild oat).—This grass is found +in southern Manitoba, westwardly across the plains to the Rocky +Mountains, and southward as far as Montana, where it is common in many +localities. On what was once the buffalo range of the British +Possessions this rank grass formed the bulk of the winter pasturage, and +in that region is quite as famous as our grama grass. An allied species +(<i>Stipa viridula</i>, bunch-grass) is “widely diffused over our Rocky +Mountain region, extending to California and British America, and +furnishing a considerable part of the wild forage of the region” <i>Stipa +spartea</i> bears an ill name among stockmen on account of the fact that at +the base of each seed is a very hard and sharp-pointed callus, which +under certain circumstances (so it is said) lodges in the cheeks of +domestic animals that feed upon this grass when it is dry, and which +cause much trouble. But the buffalo, like the wild horse and half-wild +range cattle, evidently escaped this annoyance. This grass is one of the +common species over a wide area of the northern plains, and is always +found on soil which is comparatively dry. In Dakota, Minnesota, and +northwest Iowa it forms a considerable portion of the upland prairie +hay.</p> + +<p>Of the remaining grasses it is practically impossible to single out any +one as being specially entitled to fourth place in this list. There are +several species which flourish in different localities, and in many +respects appear to be of about equal importance as food for stock. Of +these the following are the most noteworthy:</p> + +<p><i>Aristida purpurea</i> (Western beard-grass; purple “bunch-grass” of +Montana).—On the high, rolling prairies of the Missouri-Yellowstone +divide this grass is very abundant. It grows in little solitary bunches, +about 6 inches high, scattered through the curly buffalo-grass +(<i>Bouteloua oligostachya</i>). Under more favorable conditions it grows to +a height of 12 to 18 inches. It is one of the prettiest grasses of that +region, and in the fall and winter its purplish color makes it quite +noticeable. The Montana stockmen consider it one of the most valuable +grasses of that region for stock of all kinds. Mr. C. M. Jacobs assured +me that the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_429" id="page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span>buffalo used to be very fond of this grass, and that +“wherever this grass grew in abundance there were the best +hunting-grounds for the bison.” It appears that <i>Aristida purpurea</i> is +not sufficiently abundant elsewhere in the Northwest to make it an +important food for stock; but Dr. Vesey declares that it is “abundant on +the plains of Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas.”</p> + +<p><i>Kœleria cristata.</i>—Very generally distributed from Texas and New +Mexico to the British Possessions; sand hills and arid soils; mountains, +up to 8,000 feet.</p> + +<p><i>Poa tenuifolia</i> (blue-grass of the plains and mountains).—A valuable +“bunch-grass,” widely distributed throughout the great pasture region; +grows in all sorts of soils and situations; common in the Yellowstone +Park.</p> + +<p><i>Festuca scabrella</i> (bunch-grass).—One of the most valuable grasses of +Montana and the Northwest generally; often called the “great +bunch-grass.” It furnishes excellent food for horses and cattle, and is +so tall it is cut in large quantities for hay. This is the prevailing +species on the foot-hills and mountains generally, up to an altitude of +7,000 feet, where it is succeeded by <i>Festuca ovina</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Andropogon provincialis</i> (blue stem).—An important species, extending +from eastern Kansas and Nebraska to the foot-hills of the Rocky +Mountains, and from Northern Texas to the Saskatchewan; common in +Montana on alkali flats and bottom lands generally. This and the +preceding species were of great value to the buffalo in winter, when the +shorter grasses were covered with snow.</p> + +<p><i>Andropogon scoparius</i> (bunch grass; broom sedge; wood-grass).—Similar +to the preceding in distribution and value, but not nearly so tall.</p> + +<p>None of the buffalo grasses are found in the mountains. In the mountain +regions which have been visited by the buffalo and in the Yellowstone +Park, where to-day the only herd remaining in a state of nature is to be +found (though not by the man with a gun), the following are the grasses +which form all but a small proportion of the ruminant food: <i>Kœleria +cristata</i>; <i>Poa tenuifolia</i> (Western blue-grass); <i>Stipa viridula</i> +(feather-grass); <i>Stipa comata</i>; <i>Agropyrum divergens</i>; <i>Agropyrum +caninum</i>.</p> + +<p>When pressed by hunger, the buffalo used to browse on certain species of +sage-brush, particularly <i>Atriplex canescens</i> of the Southwest. But he +was discriminating in the matter of diet, and as far as can be +ascertained he was never known to eat the famous and much-dreaded “loco” +weed (<i>Astragalus molissimus</i>), which to ruminant animals is a veritable +drug of madness. Domestic cattle and horses often eat this plant; where +it is abundant, and become demented in consequence.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="vii_mental_capacity_and_disposition" id="vii_mental_capacity_and_disposition"></a>VII. Mental Capacity and Disposition.</h2> + + +<p>(1) <i>Reasoning from cause to effect.</i>—The buffalo of the past was an +animal of a rather low order of intelligence, and his dullness of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_430" id="page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span>intellect was one of the important factors in his phenomenally swift +extermination. He was provokingly slow in comprehending the existence +and nature of the dangers that threatened his life, and, like the stupid +brute that he was, would very often stand quietly and see two or three +score, or even a hundred, of his relatives and companions shot down +before his eyes, with no other feeling than one of stupid wonder and +curiosity. Neither the noise nor smoke of the still-hunter’s rifle, the +falling, struggling, nor the final death of his companions conveyed to +his mind the idea of a danger to be fled from, and so the herd stood +still and allowed the still-hunter to slaughter its members at will.</p> + +<p>Like the Indian, and many white men also, the buffalo seemed to feel +that their number was so great it could never be sensibly diminished. +The presence of such a great multitude gave to each of its individuals a +feeling of security and mutual support that is very generally found in +animals who congregate in great herds. The time was when a band of elk +would stand stupidly and wait for its members to be shot down one after +another; but it is believed that this was due more to panic than to a +lack of comprehension of danger.</p> + +<p>The fur seals who cover the “hauling grounds” of St. Paul and St. George +Islands, Alaska, in countless thousands, have even less sense of danger +and less comprehension of the slaughter of thousands of their kind, +which takes place daily, than had the bison. They allow themselves to be +herded and driven off landwards from the hauling-ground for half a mile +to the killing-ground, and, finally, with most cheerful indifference, +permit the Aleuts to club their brains out.</p> + +<p>It is to be added that whenever and wherever seals or sea-lions inhabit +a given spot, with but few exceptions, it is an easy matter to approach +individuals of the herd. The presence of an immense number of +individuals plainly begets a feeling of security and mutual support. And +let not the bison or the seal be blamed for this, for man himself +exhibits the same foolish instinct. Who has not met the woman of mature +years and full intellectual vigor who is mortally afraid to spend a +night entirely alone in her own house, but is perfectly willing to do +so, and often does do so without fear, when she can have the company of +one small and helpless child, or, what is still worse, three or four of +them! But with the approach of extermination, and the utter breaking up +of all the herds, a complete change has been wrought in the character of +the bison. At last, but alas! entirely too late, the crack of the rifle +and its accompanying puff of smoke conveyed to the slow mind of the +bison a sense of deadly danger to himself. At last he recognized man, +whether on foot or horseback, or peering at him from a coulée, as his +mortal enemy. At last he learned to run. In 1886 we found the scattered +remnant of the great northern herd the wildest and most difficult +animals to kill that we had ever hunted in any country. It had been only +through the keenest exercise of all their powers of self-preservation +that those buffaloes had survived until that late day, and we found <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_431" id="page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span> +them almost as swift as antelopes and far more wary. The instant a +buffalo caught sight of a man, even though a mile distant, he was off at +the top of his speed, and generally ran for some wild region several +miles away.</p> + +<p>In our party was an experienced buffalo-hunter, who in three years had +slaughtered over three thousand head for their hides. He declared that +if he could ever catch a “bunch” at rest he could “get a stand” the same +as he used to do, and kill several head before the rest would run. It so +happened that the first time we found buffaloes we discovered a bunch of +fourteen head, lying in the sun at noon, on the level top of a low +butte, all noses pointing up the wind. We stole up within range and +fired. At the instant the first shot rang out up sprang every buffalo as +if he had been thrown upon his feet by steel springs, and in a second’s +time the whole bunch was dashing away from us with the speed of +race-horses.</p> + +<p>Our buffalo-hunter declared that in chasing buffaloes we could count +with certainty upon their always running against the wind, for this had +always been their habit. Although this was once their habit, we soon +found that those who now represent the survival of the fittest have +learned better wisdom, and now run (1) away from their pursuer and (2) +toward the best hiding place. Now they pay no attention whatever to the +direction of the wind, and if a pursuer follows straight behind, a +buffalo may change his course three or four times in a 10-mile chase. An +old bull once led one of our hunters around three-quarters of a circle +which had a diameter of 5 or 6 miles.</p> + +<p>The last buffaloes were mentally as capable of taking care of themselves +as any animals I ever hunted. The power of original reasoning which they +manifested in scattering all over a given tract of rough country, like +hostile Indians when hotly pressed by soldiers, in the Indian-like +manner in which they hid from sight in deep hollows, and, as we finally +proved, in <i>grazing only in ravines and hollows</i>, proved conclusively +that <i>but for the use of fire-arms</i> those very buffaloes would have been +actually safe from harm by man, and that they would have increased +indefinitely. As they were then, the Indians’ arrows and spears could +never have been brought to bear upon them, save in rare instances, for +they had thoroughly learned to dread man and fly from him for their +lives. Could those buffaloes have been protected from rifles and +revolvers the resultant race would have displayed far more active mental +powers, keener vision, and finer physique than the extinguished race +possessed.</p> + +<p>In fleeing from an enemy the buffalo ran against the wind, in order that +his keen scent might save him from the disaster of running upon new +enemies; which was an idea wholly his own, and not copied by any other +animal so far as known.</p> + +<p>But it must be admitted that the buffalo of the past was very often a +most stupid reasoner. He would deliberately walk into a quicksand, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_432" id="page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span> +where hundreds of his companions were already ingulfed and in their +death-struggle. He would quit feeding, run half a mile, and rush +headlong into a moving train of cars that happened to come between him +and the main herd on the other side of the track. He allowed himself to +be impounded and slaughtered by a howling mob in a rudely constructed +pen, which a combined effort on the part of three or four old bulls +would have utterly demolished at any point. A herd of a thousand +buffaloes would allow an armed hunter to gallop into their midst, very +often within arm’s-length, when any of the bulls nearest him might +easily have bowled him over and had him trampled to death in a moment. +The hunter who would ride in that manner into a herd of the Cape +buffaloes of Africa (<i>Bubalus caffer</i>) would be unhorsed and killed +before he had gone half a furlong.</p> + +<p>(2) <i>Curiosity.</i>—The buffalo of the past possessed but little +curiosity; he was too dull to entertain many unnecessary thoughts. Had +he possessed more of this peculiar trait, which is the mark of an +inquiring mind, he would much sooner have accomplished a comprehension +of the dangers that proved his destruction. His stolid indifference to +everything he did not understand cost him his existence, although in +later years he displayed more interest in his environment. On one +occasion in hunting I staked my success with an old bull I was pursuing +on the chance that when he reached the crest of a ridge his curiosity +would prompt him to pause an instant to look at me. Up to that moment he +had had only one quick glance at me before he started to run. As he +climbed the slope ahead of me, in full view, I dismounted and made ready +to fire the instant he should pause to look at me. As I expected, he did +come to a fall stop on the crest of the ridge, and turned half around to +look at me. But for his curiosity I should have been obliged to fire at +him under very serious disadvantages.</p> + +<p>(3) <i>Fear.</i>—With the buffalo, fear of man is now the ruling passion. +Says Colonel Dodge: “He is as timid about his flank and rear as a raw +recruit. When traveling nothing in front stops him, but an unusual +object in the rear will send him to the right-about [toward the main +body of the herd] at the top of his speed.”</p> + +<p>(4) <i>Courage.</i>—It was very seldom that the buffalo evinced any courage +save that of despair, which even cowards possess. Unconscious of his +strength, his only thought was flight, and it was only when brought to +bay that he was ready to fight. Now and then, however, in the chase, the +buffalo turned upon his pursuer and overthrew horse and rider. Sometimes +the tables were completely turned, and the hunter found his only safety +in flight. During the buffalo slaughter the butchers sometimes had +narrow escapes from buffaloes supposed to be dead or mortally wounded, +and a story comes from the great northern range south of Glendive of a +hunter who was killed by an old bull whose tongue he had actually cut +out in the belief that he was dead.</p> + +<p>Sometimes buffalo cows display genuine courage in remaining with <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_433" id="page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span>their +calves in the presence of danger, although in most cases they left their +offspring to their fate. During a hunt for live buffalo calves, +undertaken by Mr. C. J. Jones of Garden City, Kans., in 1886, and very +graphically described by a staff correspondent of the American Field in +a series of articles in that journal under the title of “The Last of the +Buffalo,” the following remarkable incident occurred:<a name="fnanchor_41_41" id="fnanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>“The last calf was caught by Carter, who roped it neatly as Mr. Jones +cut it out of the herd and turned it toward him. This was a fine heifer +calf, and was apparently the idol of her mother’s heart, for the latter +came very near making a casualty the price of the capture. As soon as +the calf was roped, the old cow left the herd and charged on Carter +viciously, as he bent over his victim. Seeing the danger, Mr. Jones rode +in at just the nick of time, and drove the cow off for a moment; but she +returned again and again, and finally began charging him whenever he +came near; so that, much as he regretted it, he had to shoot her with +his revolver, which he did, killing her almost immediately.”</p> + +<p>The mothers of the thirteen other calves that were caught by Mr. Jones’s +party allowed their offspring to be “cut out,” lassoed, and tied, while +they themselves devoted all their energies to leaving them as far behind +as possible.</p> + +<p>(5) <i>Affection.</i>—While the buffalo cows manifested a fair degree of +affection for their young, the adult bulls of the herd often displayed a +sense of responsibility for the safety of the calves that was admirable, +to say the least. Those who have had opportunities for watching large +herds tell us that whenever wolves approached and endeavored to reach a +calf the old bulls would immediately interpose and drive the enemy away. +It was a well-defined habit for the bulls to form the outer circle of +every small group or section of a great herd, with the calves in the +center, well guarded from the wolves, which regarded them as their most +choice prey.</p> + +<p>Colonel Dodge records a remarkable incident in illustration of the +manner in which the bull buffaloes protected the calves of the herd.<a name="fnanchor_42_42" id="fnanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + +<p>“The duty of protecting the calves devolved almost entirely on the +bulls. I have seen evidences of this many times, but the most remarkable +instance I have ever heard of was related to me by an army surgeon, who +was an eye-witness.</p> + +<p>“He was one evening returning to camp after a day’s hunt, when his +attention was attracted by the curious action of a little knot of six or +eight buffalo. Approaching sufficiently near to see clearly, he +discovered that this little knot were all bulls, standing in a close +circle, with their heads outwards, while in a concentric circle at some +12 or 15 paces distant sat, licking their chaps in impatient expectancy, +at least a dozen large gray wolves (excepting man, the most dangerous +enemy of the buffalo).</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_434" id="page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span></p> +<p>“The doctor determined to watch the performance. After a few moments +the knot broke up, and, still keeping in a compact mass, started on a +trot for the main herd, some half a mile oft”. To his very great +astonishment, the doctor now saw that the central and controlling figure +of this mass was a poor little calf so newly born as scarcely to be able +to walk. After going 50 or 100 paces the calf laid down, the bulls +disposed themselves in a circle as before, and the wolves, who had +trotted along on each side of their retreating supper, sat down and +licked their chaps again; and though the doctor did not see the finale, +it being late and the camp distant, he had no doubt that the noble +fathers did their whole duty by their offspring, and carried it safely +to the herd.”</p> + +<p>(6) <i>Temper.</i>—I have asked many old buffalo hunters for facts in regard +to the temper and disposition of herd buffaloes, and all agree that they +are exceedingly quiet, peace loving, and even indolent animals at all +times save during the rutting season. Says Colonel Dodge: “The habits of +the buffalo are almost identical with those of the domestic cattle. +Owing either to a more pacific disposition, or to the greater number of +bulls, there, is very little fighting, even at the season when it might +be expected. I have been among them for days, have watched their conduct +for hours at a time, and with the very best opportunities for +observation, but have never seen a regular combat between bulls. They +frequently strike each other with their horns, but this seems to be a +mere expression of impatience at being crowded.”</p> + +<p>In referring to the “running season” of the buffalo, Mr. Catlin says: +“It is no uncommon thing at this season, at these gatherings, to see +several thousands in a mass eddying and wheeling about under a cloud of +dust, which is raised by the bulls as they are pawing in the dirt, or +engaged in desperate combats, as they constantly are, plunging and +butting at each other in a most furious manner.”</p> + +<p>On the whole, the disposition of the buffalo is anything but vicious. +Both sexes yield with surprising readiness to the restraints of +captivity, and in a remarkably short time become, if taken young, as +fully domesticated as ordinary cattle. Buffalo calves are as easily +tamed as domestic ones, and make very interesting pets. A prominent +trait of character in the captive buffalo is a mulish obstinacy or +headstrong perseverance under certain circumstances that is often very +annoying. When a buffalo makes up his mind to go through a fence, he is +very apt to go through, either peaceably or by force, as occasion +requires. Fortunately, however, the captive animals usually accept a +fence in the proper spirit, and treat it with a fair degree of respect.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="viii_value_of_the_buffalo_to_man" id="viii_value_of_the_buffalo_to_man"></a>VIII. Value of the Buffalo to MAN.</h2> + + +<p>It may fairly be supposed that if the people of this country could have +been made to realize the immense money value of the great buffalo herds +as they existed in 1870, a vigorous and successful effort would have +been made to regulate and restrict the slaughter. The fur <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_435" id="page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span>seal of +Alaska, of which about 100,000 are killed annually for their skins, +yield an annual revenue to the Government of $100,000 and add $900,000 +more to the actual wealth of the United States. It pays to protect those +seals, and we mean to protect them against all comers who seek their +unrestricted slaughter, no matter whether the poachers be American, +English, Russian, or Canadian. It would be folly to do otherwise, and if +those who would exterminate the fur seal by shooting them in the water +will not desist for the telling, then they must by the compelling.</p> + +<p>The fur seal is a good investment for the United States, and their +number is not diminishing. As the buffalo herds existed in 1870, 500,000 +head of bulls, young and old, could have been killed every year for a +score of years without sensibly diminishing the size of the herds. At a +low estimate these could easily have been made to yield various products +worth $5 each, as follows: Kobe, $2.50; tongue, 20 cents; meat of +hindquarters, $2; bones, horns, and hoofs, 25 cents; total, $5. And the +amount annually added to the wealth of the United States would have been +$2,500,000.</p> + +<p>On all the robes taken for the market, say, 200,000, the Government +could have collected a tax of 50 cents each, which would have yielded a +sum doubly sufficient to have maintained a force of mounted police fully +competent to enforce the laws regulating the slaughter. Had a contract +for the protection of the buffalo been offered at $50,000 per annum, ay, +or even half that sum, an army of competent men would have competed for +it every year, and it could have been carried out to the letter. But, as +yet, the American people have not learned to spend money for the +protection of valuable game; and by the time they do learn it, there +will be no game to protect.</p> + +<p>Even despite the enormous waste of raw material that ensued in the +utilization of the buffalo product, the total cash value of all the +material derived from this source, if it could only be reckoned up, +would certainly amount to many millions of dollars—perhaps twenty +millions, all told. This estimate may, to some, seem high, but when we +stop to consider that in eight years, from 1876 to 1884, a single firm, +that of Messrs. J. & A. Boskowitz, 105 Greene street, New York, paid out +the enormous sum of $923,070 (nearly one million) for robes and hides, +and that in a single year (1882) another firm, that of Joseph Ullman, +165 Mercer street, New York, paid out $216,250 for robes and hides, it +may not seem so incredible.</p> + +<p>Had there been a deliberate plan for the suppression of all statistics +relating to the slaughter of buffalo in the United States, and what it +yielded, the result could not have been more complete barrenness than +exists to-day in regard to this subject. There is only one railway +company which kept its books in such a manner as to show the kind and +quantity of its business at that time. Excepting this, nothing is known +definitely.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_436" id="page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span></p> + +<p>Fortunately, enough facts and figures were recorded during the hunting +operations of the Red River half-breeds to enable us, by bringing them +all together, to calculate with sufficient exactitude the value of the +buffalo to them from 1820 to 1840. The result ought to be of interest to +all who think it is not worth while to spend money in preserving our +characteristic game animals.</p> + +<p>In Ross’s “Red River Settlement,” pp. 242-273, and Schoolcraft’s “North +American Indians,” Part iv, pp. 101-110, are given detailed accounts of +the conduct and results of two hunting expeditions by the half-breeds, +with many valuable statistics. On this data we base our calculation.</p> + +<p>Taking the result of one particular day’s slaughter as an index to the +methods of the hunters in utilizing the products of the chase, we find +that while “not less than 2,500 animals were killed,” out of that number +only 375 bags of pemmican and 240 bales of dried meat were made. “Now,” +says Mr. Ross,” making all due allowance for waste, 750 animals would +have been ample for such a result. What, then, we might ask, became of +the remaining 1,750! * * * Scarcely one-third in number of the animals +killed is turned to account.”</p> + +<p>A bundle of dried meat weighs 60 to 70 pounds, and a bag of pemmican 100 +to 110 pounds. If economically worked up, a whole buffalo cow yields +half a bag of pemmican (about 55 pounds) and three-fourths of a bundle +of dried meat (say 45 pounds). The most economical calculate that from +eight to ten cows are required to load a single Red River cart. The +proceeds of 1,776 cows once formed 228 bags of pemmican, 1,213 bales of +dried meat, 166 sacks of tallow, each weighing 200 pounds, 556 bladders +of marrow weighing 12 pounds each, and the value of the whole was +$8,160. The total of the above statement is 132,057 pounds of buffalo +product for 1,776 cows, or within a fraction of 75 pounds to each cow. +The bulls and young animals killed were not accounted for.</p> + +<p>The expedition described by Mr. Ross contained 1,210 carts and 620 +hunters, and returned with 1,089,000 pounds of meat, making 900 pounds +for each cart, and 200 pounds for each individual in the expedition, of +all ages and both sexes. Allowing, as already ascertained, that of the +above quantity of product every 75 pounds represents one cow saved and +two and one third buffaloes wasted, it means that 14,520 buffaloes were +killed and utilized and 33,250 buffaloes were killed and eaten fresh or +wasted, and 47,770 buffaloes were killed by 620 hunters, or an average +of 77 buffaloes to each hunter. The total number of buffaloes killed for +each cart was 39.</p> + +<p>Allowing, what was actually the case, that every buffalo killed would, +if properly cared for, have yielded meat, fat, and robe worth at least +$5, the total value of the buffaloes slaughtered by that expedition +amounted to $258,850, and of which the various products actually <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_437" id="page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span> +utilized represented a cash value of $72,001 added to the wealth of the +Red River half-breeds.</p> + +<p>In 1820 there went 540 carts to the buffalo plains; in 1825, 680; in +1830, 820; in 1835, 970; in 1840, 1,210.</p> + +<p>From 1820 to 1825 the average for each year was 610; from 1825 to 1830, +750; from 1830 to 1835, 895; from 1835 to 1840, 1,000.</p> + +<p>Accepting the statements of eye-witnesses that for every buffalo killed +two and one-third buffaloes are wasted or eaten on the spot, and that +every loaded cart represented thirty-nine dead buffaloes which were +worth when utilized $5 each, we have the following series of totals:</p> + +<p>From 1820 to 1825 five expeditions, of 610 carts each, killed 118,950 +buffaloes, worth $594,750.</p> + +<p>From 1825 to 1830 five expeditions, of 750 carts each, killed 146,250 +buffaloes, worth $731,250.</p> + +<p>From 1830 to 1835 five expeditions, of 895 carts each, killed 174,525 +buffaloes, worth $872,625.</p> + +<p>From 1835 to 1840 five expeditions, of 1,090 carts each, killed 212,550 +buffaloes, worth $1,062,750.</p> + +<p>Total number of buffaloes killed in twenty years,<a name="fnanchor_43_43" id="fnanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> $652,275; total +value of buffaloes killed in twenty years,<a href="#footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> $3,261,375; total value +of the product utilized<a href="#footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> and added to the wealth of the settlements, +$978,412.</p> + +<p>The Eskimo has his seal, which yields nearly everything that he +requires; the Korak of Siberia depends for his very existence upon his +reindeer; the Ceylon native has the cocoa-nut palm, which leaves him +little else to desire, and the North American Indian had the American, +bison. If any animal was ever designed by the hand of nature for the +express purpose of supplying, at one stroke, nearly all the wants of an +entire race, surely the buffalo was intended for the Indian.</p> + +<p>And right well was this gift of the gods utilized by the children of +nature to whom it came. Up to the time when the United States Government +began to support our Western Indians by the payment of annuities and +furnishing quarterly supplies of food, clothing, blankets, cloth, tents, +etc., the buffalo had been the main dependence of more than 50,000 +Indians who inhabited the buffalo range and its environs. Of the many +different uses to which the buffalo and his various parts were, put by +the red man, the following were the principal ones:</p> + +<p>The body of the buffalo yielded fresh meat, of which thousands of tons +were consumed; dried meat, prepared in summer for winter use; pemmican +(also prepared in summer), of meat, fat, and berries; tallow, made up +into large balls or sacks, and kept in store; marrow, preserved in +bladders; and tongues, dried and smoked, and eaten as a delicacy.</p> + +<p>The skin of the buffalo yielded a robe, dressed with the hair on, for +clothing and bedding; a hide, dressed without the hair, which made a +teepee cover, when a number were sewn together; boats, when sewn +together in a green state, over a wooden framework. Shields, made <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_438" id="page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span>from +the thickest portions, as rawhide; ropes, made up as rawhide; clothing +of many kinds; bags for use in traveling; coffins, or winding sheets for +the dead, etc.</p> + +<p>Other portions utilized were sinews, which furnished fiber for ropes, +thread, bow-strings, snow-shoe webs, etc.; hair, which was sometimes +made into belts and ornaments; “buffalo chips,” which formed a valuable +and highly-prized fuel; bones, from which many articles of use and +ornament were made; horns, which were made into spoons, drinking +vessels, etc.</p> + +<p>After the United States Government began to support the buffalo-hunting +Indians with annuities and supplies, the woolen blanket and canvas tent +took the place of the buffalo robe and the skin-covered teepee, and +“Government beef” took the place of buffalo meat. But the slaughter of +buffaloes went on just the same, and the robes and hides taken were +traded for useless and often harmful luxuries, such as canned +provisions, fancy knickknacks, whisky, fire-arms of the most approved +pattern, and quantities of fixed ammunition. During the last ten years +of the existence of the herds it is an open question whether the buffalo +did not do our Indians more harm than good. Amongst the Crows, who were +liberally provided for by the Government, horse racing was a common +pastime, and the stakes were usually dressed buffalo robes.<a name="fnanchor_44_44" id="fnanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> + +<p>The total disappearance of the buffalo has made no perceptible +difference in the annual cost of the Indians to the Government. During +the years when buffaloes were numerous and robes for the purchase of +fire-arms and cartridges were plentiful, Indian wars were frequent, and +always costly to the Government. The Indians were then quite +independent, because they could take the war path at any time and live +on buffalo indefinitely. Now, the case is very different. The last time +Sitting Bull went on the war-path and was driven up into Manitoba, he +had the doubtful pleasure of living on his ponies and dogs until he +became utterly starved out. Since his last escapade, the Sioux have been +compelled to admit that the game is up and the war-path is open to them +no longer. Should they wish to do otherwise they know that they could +survive only by killing cattle, and cattle that are guarded by cowboys +and ranchmen are no man’s game. Therefore, while we no longer have to +pay for an annual campaign in force against hostile Indians, the total +absence of the buffalo brings upon the nation the entire support of the +Indian, and the cash outlay each year is as great as ever.</p> + +<p>The value of the American bison to civilized man can never be +calculated, nor even fairly estimated. It may with safety be said, +however, that it has been probably tenfold greater than most persons +have <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_439" id="page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span>ever supposed. It would be a work of years to gather statistics of +the immense bulk of robes and hides, undoubtedly amounting to millions +in the aggregate; the thousands of tons of meat, and the train-loads of +bones which have been actually utilized by man. Nor can the effect of +the bison’s presence upon the general development of the great West ever +be calculated. It has sunk into the great sum total of our progress, and +well nigh lost to sight forever.</p> + +<p>As a mere suggestion of the immense value of “the buffalo product” at +the time when it had an existence, I have obtained from two of our +leading fur houses in New York City, with branches elsewhere, a detailed +statement of their business in buffalo robes and hides during the last +few years of the trade. They not only serve to show the great value of +the share of the annual crop that passed through their hands, but that +of Messrs. J. & A. Boskowitz is of especial value, because, being +carefully itemized throughout, it shows the decline and final failure of +the trade in exact figures. I am under many obligations to both these +firms for their kindness in furnishing the facts I desired, and +especially to the Messrs. Boskowitz, who devoted considerable time and +labor to the careful compilation of the annexed statement of their +business in buffalo skins.</p> + +<h4><i>Memorandum of buffalo robes and hides bought by Messrs J. & A. +Boskowitz,<br /> 101-105 Greene Street, New York, and 202 Lake street, +Chicago, from 1876 to 1884.</i></h4> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="hides"> +<tr><td align="center" rowspan="2">Year</td><td align="center" colspan="2">Buffalo robes.</td><td align="center" colspan="2">Buffalo hides.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">Number.</td><td align="center">Cost.</td><td align="center">Number.</td><td align="center">Cost.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><tt>1876</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>31,838</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>$39,620</tt></td><td align="right">None.</td><td align="right">…</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><tt>1877</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>9,353</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>35,560</tt></td><td align="right">None.</td><td align="right">…</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><tt>1878</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>41,268</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>150,600</tt></td><td align="right">None.</td><td align="right">…</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><tt>1879</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>28,613</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>110,420</tt></td><td align="right">None.</td><td align="right">…</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><tt>1880</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>34,901</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>176,200</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>4,570</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>$13,140</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><tt>1881</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>23,355</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>151,800</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>26,601</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>89,030</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><tt>1882</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>2,124</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>15,600</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>15,464</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>44,140</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><tt>1883</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>6,690</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>29,770</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>21,869</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>67,190</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><tt>1884</tt></td><td align="right">None.</td><td align="right">…</td><td align="right"><tt>529</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>1,720</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">Total</td><td align="right"><tt>177,142</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>$709,570</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>69,033</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>215,220</tt></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<h4>Total number of buffalo skins handled in nine years, 246,175; total +cost, $924,790.</h4> + +<p>I have also been favored with some very interesting facts and figures +regarding the business done in buffalo skins by the firm of Mr. Joseph +Ullman, exporter and importer of furs and robes, of 165-107 Mercer +street, New York, and also 353 Jackson street, St. Paul, Minnesota. The +following letter was written me by Mr. Joseph Ullman on November 12, +1887, for which I am greatly indebted:</p> + +<p>“Inasmuch as you particularly desire the figures for the years 1880-’86, +I have gone through my buffalo robe and hide accounts of those years, +and herewith give you approximate figures, as there are a good many +things to be considered which make it difficult to give exact figures.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_440" id="page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span></p> + +<p>“In 1881 we handled about 14,000 hides, average cost about $3.50, and +12,000 robes, average cost about $7.50.</p> + +<p>“In 1882 we purchased between 35,000 and 40,000 hides, at an average +cost of about $3.50, and about 10,000 robes, at an average cost of about +$8.50.</p> + +<p>“In 1883 we purchased from 6,000 to 7,000 hides and about 1,500 to 2,000 +robes at a slight advance in price against the year previous.</p> + +<p>“In 1884 we purchased less than 2,500 hides, and in my opinion these +were such as were carried over from the previous season in the +Northwest, and were not fresh-slaughtered skins. The collection of robes +this season was also comparatively small, and nominally robes carried +over from 1883.</p> + +<p>“In 1885 the collection of hides amounted to little or nothing.</p> + +<p>“The aforesaid goods were all purchased direct in the Northwest, that is +to say, principally in Montana, and shipped in care of our branch house +at St. Paul, Minnesota, to Joseph Ullman, Chicago. The robes mentioned +above were Indian-tanned robes and were mainly disposed of to the +jobbing trade both East and West.</p> + +<p>“In 1881 and the years prior, the hides were divided into two kinds, +viz, robe hides, which were such as had a good crop of fur and were +serviceable for robe purposes, and the heavy and short-furred bull +hides. The former were principally sold to the John S. Way Manufacturing +Company, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and to numerous small robe tanners, +while the latter were sold for leather purposes to various hide-tanners +throughout the United States and Canada, and brought 5½ to 8½ +cents per pound. A very large proportion of these latter were tanned by +the Wilcox Tanning Company, Wilcox, Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p>“About the fall of 1882 we established a tannery for buffalo robes in +Chicago, and from that time forth we tanned all the good hides which we +received into robes and disposed of them in the same manner as the +Indian-tanned robes.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know that I am called upon to express an opinion as to the +benefit or disadvantage of the extermination of the buffalo, but +nevertheless take the liberty to say that I think that some proper law +restricting the unpardonable slaughter of the buffalo should have been +enacted at the time. It is a well-known fact that soon after the +Northern Pacific Railroad opened up that portion of the country, thereby +making the transportation of the buffalo hides feasible, that is to say, +reducing the cost of freight, thousands upon thousands of buffaloes were +killed for the sake of the hide alone, while the carcasses were left to +rot on the open plains.</p> + +<p>“The average prices paid the buffalo hunters [from 1880 to 1884] was +about as follows: For cow hides [robes!], $3; bull hides, $2.50; +yearlings, $1.50; calves, 75 cents; and the cost of getting the hides to +market brought the cost up to about $3.50 per hide.”</p> + +<p>The amount actually paid out by Joseph Ullman, in four years, for <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_441" id="page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span> +buffalo robes and hides was about $310,000, and this, too, long after +the great southern herd had ceased to exist, and when the northern herd +furnished the sole supply. It thus appears that during the course of +eight years business (leaving out the small sum paid out in 1884), on +the part of the Messrs. Boskowitz, and four years on that of Mr. Joseph +Ullman, these two firms alone paid out the enormous sum of $1,233,070 +for buffalo robes and hides which they purchased to sell again at a good +profit. By the time their share of the buffalo product reached the +consumers it must have represented an actual money value of about +$2,000,000.</p> + +<p>Besides these two firms there were at that time many others who also +handled great quantities of buffalo skins and hides for which they paid +out immense sums of money. In this country the other leading firms +engaged in this business were I. G. Baker & Co., of Fort Benton; P. B. +Weare & Co., Chicago; Obern, Hoosick & Co., Chicago and Saint Paul; +Martin Bates & Co., and Messrs. Shearer, Nichols & Co. (now Hurlburt, +Shearer & Sanford), of New York. There were also many others whose names +I am now unable to recall.</p> + +<p>In the British Possessions and Canada the frontier business was largely +monopolized by the Hudson’s Bay Fur Company, although the annual +“output” of robes and hides was but small in comparison with that +gathered in the United States, where the herds were far more numerous. +Even in their most fruitful locality for robes—the country south of the +Saskatchewan—this company had a very powerful competitor in the firm of +I. G. Baker & Co., of Fort Benton, which secured the lion’s share of the +spoil and sent it down the Missouri River.</p> + +<p>It is quite certain that the utilization of the buffalo product, even so +far as it was accomplished, resulted in the addition of several millions +of dollars to the wealth of the people of the United States. That the +total sum, could it be reckoned up, would amount to at least fifteen +millions, seems reasonably certain; and my own impression is that twenty +millions would be nearer the mark. It is much to be regretted that the +exact truth can never be known, for in this age of universal slaughter a +knowledge of the cash value of the wild game of the United States that +has been killed up to date might go far toward bringing about the actual +as well as the theoretical protection of what remains.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<h4>UTILIZATION OF THE BUFFALO BY WHITE MEN.</h4> + +<p><i>Robes.</i>—Ordinarily the skin of a large ruminant is of little value in +comparison with the bulk of toothsome flesh it covers. In fattening +domestic cattle for the market, the value of the hide is so +insignificant that it amounts to no more than a butcher’s perquisite in +reckoning up the value of the animal. With the buffalo, however, so +enormous was the waste of the really available product that probably +nine-tenths of the total value derived from the slaughter of the animal +came from his skin alone. Of this, about four-fifths came from the +utilization of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_442" id="page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span>the furry robe and one-fifth from skins classed as +“hides,” which were either taken in the summer season, when the hair was +very short or almost absent, and used for the manufacture of leather and +leather goods, or else were the poorly-furred skins of old bulls.</p> + +<p>The season for robe-taking was from October 15 to February 15, and a +little later in the more northern latitudes. In the United States the +hair of the buffalo was still rather short up to the first of November; +but by the middle of November it was about at its finest as to length, +density, color, and freshness. The Montana hunters considered that the +finest robes were those taken from November 15 to December 15. Before +the former date the hair had not quite attained perfection in length, +and after the latter it began to show wear and lose color. The winter +storms of December and January began to leave their mark upon the robes +by the 1st of February, chiefly by giving the hair a bleached and +weathered appearance. By the middle of February the pelage was decidedly +on the wane, and the robe-hunter was also losing his energy. Often, +however, the hunt was kept up until the middle of March, until either +the deterioration of the quality of the robe, the migration of the herds +northward, or the hunter’s longing to return “to town” and “clean up,” +brought the hunt to an end.</p> + +<p>On the northern buffalo range, the hunter, or “buffalo skinner,” removed +the robe in the following manner:</p> + +<p>When the operator had to do his work alone, which was almost always the +case, he made haste to skin his victims while they were yet warm, if +possible, and before <i>rigor mortis</i> had set in; but, at all hazards, +before they should become hard frozen. With a warm buffalo he could +easily do his work single-handed, but with one rigid or frozen stiff it +was a very different matter.</p> + +<p>His first act was to heave the carcass over until it lay fairly upon its +back, with its feet up in the air. To keep it in that position he +wrenched the head violently around to one side, close against the +shoulder, at the point where the hump was highest and the tendency to +roll the greatest, and used it very effectually as a chock to keep the +body from rolling back upon its side. Having fixed the carcass in +position he drew forth his steel, sharpened his sharp-pointed +“ripping-knife,” and at once proceeded to make all the opening cuts in +the skin. Each leg was girdled to the bone, about 8 inches above the +hoof, and the skin of the leg ripped open from that point along the +inside to the median line of the body. A long, straight cut was then +made along the middle of the breast and abdomen, from the root of the +tail to the chin. In skinning cows and young animals, nothing but the +skin of the forehead and nose was left on the skull, the skin of the +throat and cheeks being left on the hide; but in skinning old bulls, on +whose heads the skin was very thick and tough, the whole head was left +unskinned, to save labor and time. The skin of the neck was severed in a +circle around the neck, just behind the ears. It is these huge heads of +bushy brown hair, looking, at a little <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_443" id="page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span>distance, quite black, in sharp +contrast with the ghastly whiteness of the perfect skeletons behind +them, which gives such a weird and ghostly appearance to the lifeless +prairies of Montana where the bone-gatherer has not yet done his perfect +work. The skulls of the cows and young buffaloes are as clean and bare +as if they had been carefully macerated, and bleached by a skilled +osteologist.</p> + +<p><a name="dead" id="dead"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/010.jpg" + alt="DEAD BULL" title="DEAD BULL" /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Fig. 1. A Dead Bull.</span> From a photograph by L. A. Huffman.</h4> +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p><a name="skinners" id="skinners"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/011.jpg" + alt="BUFFALO SKINNERS AT WORK." title="BUFFALO SKINNERS AT WORK." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Fig. 2. Buffalo Skinners at Work.</span> From a photograph by L. A. Huffman.</h4> + +<p>The opening cuts having been made, the broad-pointed “skinning-knife” +was duly sharpened, and with it the operator fell to work to detach the +skin from the body in the shortest possible time. The tail was always +skinned and left on the hide. As soon as the skin was taken off it was +spread out on a clean, smooth, and level spot of ground, and stretched +to its fullest extent, inside uppermost. On the northern range, very few +skins were “pegged out,” <i>i. e.</i>, stretched thoroughly and held by means +of wooden pegs driven through the edges of the skin into the earth. It +was practiced to a limited extent on the southern range during the +latter part of the great slaughter, when buffaloes were scarce and time +abundant. Ordinarily, however, there was no time for pegging, nor were +pegs available on the range to do the work with. A warm skin stretched +on the curly buffalo-grass, hair side down, sticks to the ground of +itself until it has ample time to harden. On the northern range the +skinner always cut the initials of his outfit in the thin subcutaneous +muscle which was always found adhering to the skin on each side, and +which made a permanent and very plain mark of ownership.</p> + +<p>In the south, the traders who bought buffalo robes on the range +sometimes rigged up a rude press, with four upright posts and a huge +lever, in which robes that had been folded into a convenient size were +pressed into bales, like bales of cotton. These could be transported by +wagon much more economically than could loose robes. An illustration of +this process is given in an article by Theodore R. Davis, entitled “The +Buffalo Range,” in <i>Harper’s Magazine</i> for January, 1869, Vol. xxxviii, +p. 163. The author describes the process as follows:</p> + +<p>“As the robes are secured, the trader has them arranged in lots of ten +each, with but little regard for quality other than some care that +particularly fine robes do not go too many in one lot. These piles are +then pressed into a compact bale by means of a rudely constructed affair +composed of saplings and a chain.”</p> + +<p>On the northern range, skins were not folded until the time came to haul +them in. Then the hunter repaired to the scene of his winter’s work, +with a wagon surmounted by a hay-rack (or something like it), usually +drawn by four horses. As the skins were gathered up they were folded +once, lengthwise down the middle, with the hair inside. Sometimes as +many as 100 skins were hauled at one load by four horses.</p> + +<p>On one portion of the northern range the classification of buffalo +peltries was substantially as follows: Under the head <i>of robes</i> was +included all cow skins taken during the proper season, from one year old +upward, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_444" id="page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span>and all bull skins from one to three years old. Bull skins over +three years of age were classed as <i>hides</i>, and while the best of them +were finally tanned and used as robes, the really poor ones were +converted into leather. The large robes, when tanned, were used very +generally throughout the colder portions of North America as sleigh +robes and wraps, and for bedding in the regions of extreme cold. The +small robes, from the young animals, and likewise many large robes, were +made into overcoats, at once the warmest and the most cumbersome that +ever enveloped a human being. Thousands of old bull robes were tanned +with the hair on, and the body portions were made into overshoes, with +the woolly hair inside—absurdly large and uncouth, but very warm.</p> + +<p>I never wore a pair of buffalo overshoes without being torn by +conflicting emotions—mortification at the ridiculous size of my +combined foot-gear, big boots inside of huge overshoes, and supreme +comfort derived from feet that were always warm.</p> + +<p>Besides the ordinary robe, the hunters and fur buyers of Montana +recognized four special qualities, as follows:</p> + +<p>The “beaver robe,” with exceedingly fine, wavy fur, the color of a +beaver, and having long, coarse, straight hairs coming through it. The +latter were of course plucked out in the process of manufacture. These +were very rare. In 1882 Mr. James McNaney took one, a cow robe, the only +one out of 1,200 robes taken that season, and sold it for $75, when +ordinary robes fetched only $3.50.</p> + +<p>The “black-and-tan robe” is described as having the nose, flanks, and +inside of fore legs black-and-tan (whatever that may mean), while the +remainder of the robe is jet black.</p> + +<p>A “buckskin robe” is from what is always called a “white buffalo,” and +is in reality a dirty cream color instead of white. A robe of this +character sold in Miles City in 1882 for $200, and was the only one of +that character taken on the northern range during that entire winter. A +very few pure white robes have been taken, so I have been told, chiefly +by Indians, but I have never seen one.</p> + +<p>A “blue robe” or “mouse-colored (?) robe” is one on which the body color +shows a decidedly bluish cast, and at the same time has long, fine fur. +Out of his 1,200 robes taken in 1882, Mr. McNaney picked out 12 which +passed muster as the much sought for blue robes, and they sold at $16 +each.</p> + +<p>As already intimated, the price paid on the range for ordinary buffalo +skins varied according to circumstances, and at different periods, and +in different localities, ranged all the way from 65 cents to $10. The +latter figure was paid in Texas in 1887 for the last lot of “robes” ever +taken. The lowest prices ever paid were during the tremendous slaughter +which annihilated the southern herd. Even as late as 1876, in the +southern country, cow robes brought on the range only from 65 <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_445" id="page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span>to 90 +cents, and bull robes $1.15. On the northern range, from 1881 to 1883, +the prices paid were much higher, ranging from $2.50 to $4.</p> + +<p><a name="five" id="five"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/012.jpg" + alt="FIVE MINUTES’ WORK" title="FIVE MINUTES’ WORK" /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Fig. 1. Five Minutes’ Work.</span> Photographed by L. A. Huffman.</h4> +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p><a name="northern" id="northern"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/013.jpg" + alt="SCENE ON THE NORTHERN BUFFALO RANGE." title="SCENE ON THE NORTHERN BUFFALO RANGE." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Fig. 2. Scene on the Northern Buffalo Range.</span> Photographed by L. A. Huffman.</h4> + +<p>A few hundred dressed robes still remain in the hands of some of the +largest fur dealers in New York, Chicago, and Montreal, which can be +purchased at prices much lower than one would expect, considering the +circumstances. In 1888, good robes, Indian tanned, were offered in New +York at prices ranging from $15 to $30, according to size and quality, +but in Montreal no first-class robes were obtainable at less than $40.</p> + +<p><i>Hides.</i>—Next in importance to robes was the class of skins known +commercially as hides. Under this head were classed all skins which for +any reason did not possess the pelage necessary to a robe, and were +therefore fit only for conversion into leather. Of these, the greater +portion consisted of the skins of old bulls on which the hair was of +poor quality and the skin itself too thick and heavy to ever allow of +its being made into a soft, pliable, and light-weight robe. The +remaining portion of the hides marketed were from buffaloes killed in +spring and summer, when the body and hindquarters ware almost naked. +Apparently the quantity of summer-killed hides marketed was not very +great, for it was only the meanest and most unprincipled ones of the +grand army of buffalo-killers who were mean enough to kill buffaloes in +summer simply for their hides. It is said that at one time +summer-killing was practiced on the southern range to an extent that +became a cause for alarm to the great body of more respectable hunters, +and the practice was frowned upon so severely that the wretches who +engaged in it found it wise to abandon it.</p> + +<p><i>Bones.</i>—Next in importance to robes and hides was the bone product, +the utilization of which was rendered possible by the rigorous climate +of the buffalo plains. Under the influence of the wind and sun and the +extremes of heat and cold, the flesh remaining upon a carcass dried up, +disintegrated, and fell to dust, leaving the bones of almost the entire +skeleton as clean and bare as if they had been stripped of flesh by some +powerful chemical process. Very naturally, no sooner did the live +buffaloes begin to grow scarce than the miles of bleaching’ bones +suggested the idea of finding a use for them. A market was readily found +for them in the East, and the prices paid per ton were sufficient to +make the business of bone-gathering quite remunerative. The bulk of the +bone product was converted into phosphate for fertilizing purposes, but +much of it was turned into carbon for use in the refining of sugar.</p> + +<p>The gathering of bones became a common industry as early as 1872, during +which year 1,135,300 pounds were shipped over the Atchison, Topeka and +Santa Fé Railroad. In the year following the same road shipped 2,743,100 +pounds, and in 1874 it handled 6,914,950 pounds more. This trade +continued from that time on until the plains have been gleaned so far +back from the railway lines that it is no longer profitable <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_446" id="page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span>to seek +them. For that matter, however, it is said that south of the Union +Pacific nothing worth the seeking now remains.</p> + +<p>The building of the Northern Pacific Railway made possible the shipment +of immense quantities of dry bones. Even as late as 1886 overland +travelers saw at many of the stations between Jamestown, Dakota, and +Billings, Montana, immense heaps of bones lying alongside the track +awaiting shipment. In 1885 a single firm shipped over 200 tons of bones +from Miles City.</p> + +<p>The valley of the Missouri River was gleaned by teamsters who gathered +bones from as far back as 100 miles and hauled them to the river for +shipment on the steamers. An operator who had eight wagons in the +business informed me that in order to ship bones on the river steamers +it was necessary to crush them, and that for crushed bones, shipped in +bags, a Michigan fertilizer company paid $18 per ton. Uncrushed bones, +shipped by the railway, sold for $12 per ton.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to ascertain the total amount or value of the bone +product, but it is certain that it amounted to many thousand tons, and +in value must have amounted to some hundreds of thousands of dollars. +But for the great number of railroads, river steamers, and sea-going +vessels (from Texas ports) engaged in carrying this product, it would +have cut an important figure in the commerce of the country, but owing +to the many interests between which it was divided it attracted little +attention.</p> + +<p><i>Meat.</i>—The amount of fresh buffalo meat cured and marketed was really +very insignificant. So long as it was to be had at all it was so very +abundant that it was worth only from 2 to 3 cents per pound in the +market, and many reasons combined to render the trade in fresh buffalo +meat anything but profitable. Probably not more than one one-thousandth +of the buffalo meat that might have been saved and utilized was saved. +The buffalo carcasses that were wasted on the great plains every year +during the two great periods of slaughter (of the northern and southern +herds) would probably have fed to satiety during the entire time more +than a million persons.</p> + +<p>As to the quality of buffalo meat, it may be stated in general terms +that it differs in no way whatever from domestic beef of the same age +produced by the same kind of grass. Perhaps there is no finer grazing +ground in the world than Montana, and the beef it produces is certainly +entitled to rank with the best. There are many persons who claim to +recognize a difference between the taste of buffalo meat and domestic +beef; but for my part I do not believe any difference really exists, +unless it is that the flesh of the buffalo is a little sweeter and more +juicy. As for myself, I feel certain I could not tell the difference +between the flesh of a three-year old buffalo and that of a domestic +beef of the same age, nor do I believe any one else could, even on a +wager. Having once seen a butcher eat an elephant steak in the belief +that it was beef from his own shop, and another butcher eat <i>loggerhead +turtle</i> steak for <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_447" id="page_447">[Pg 447]</a></span>beef, I have become somewhat skeptical in regard to +the intelligence of the human palate.</p> + +<p>As a matter of experiment, during our hunt for buffalo we had buffalo +meat of all ages, from one year up to eleven, cooked in as many +different ways as our culinary department could turn out. We had it +broiled, fried with batter, roasted, boiled, and stewed. The last +method, when employed upon slices of meat that had been hacked from a +frozen hind-quarter, produced results that were undeniably tough and not +particularly good. But it was an unfair way to cook any kind of meat, +and may be guarantied to spoil the finest beef in the world.</p> + +<p>Hump meat from a cow buffalo not too old, cut in slices and fried in +batter, <i>a la cowboy</i>, is delicious—a dish fit for the gods. We had +tongues in plenty, but the ordinary meat was so good they were not half +appreciated. Of course the tenderloin was above criticism, and even the +round steaks, so lightly esteemed by the epicure, were tender and juicy +to a most satisfactory degree.</p> + +<p>It has been said that the meat of the buffalo has a coarser texture or +“grain” than domestic beef. Although I expected to find such to be the +case, I found no perceptible difference whatever, nor do I believe that +any exists. As to the distribution of fat I am unable to say, for the +reason that our buffaloes were not fat.</p> + +<p>It is highly probable that the distribution of fat through the meat, so +characteristic of the shorthorn breeds, and which has been brought about +only by careful breeding, is not found in either the beef of the buffalo +or common range cattle. In this respect, shorthorn beef no doubt +surpasses both the others mentioned, but in all other points, texture, +flavor, and general tenderness, I am very sure it does not.</p> + +<p>It is a great mistake for a traveler to kill a patriarchal old bull +buffalo, and after attempting to masticate a small portion of him to +rise up and declare that buffalo meat is coarse, tough, and dry. A +domestic bull of the same age would taste as tough. It is probably only +those who have had the bad taste to eat bull-beef who have ever found +occasion to asperse the reputation of <i>Bison americanus</i> as a beef +animal.</p> + +<p>Until people got tired of them, buffalo tongues were in considerable +demand, and hundreds, if not even thousands, of barrels of them were +shipped east from the buffalo country.</p> + +<p><i>Pemmican.</i>—Out of the enormous waste of good buffalo flesh one product +stands forth as a redeeming feature—pemmican. Although made almost +exclusively by the half-breeds and Indians of the Northwest it +constituted a regular article of commerce of great value to overland +travelers, and was much sought for as long as it was produced. Its +peculiar “staying powers,” due to the process of its manufacture, which +yielded a most nourishing food in a highly condensed form, made it of +inestimable value to the overland traveler who must travel light or not +at all. A handful of pemmican was sufficient food to constitute a meal +when provisions were at all scarce. The price of pemmican in Winnipeg +was <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_448" id="page_448">[Pg 448]</a></span>once as low as 2d. per pound, but in 1883 a very small quantity +which was brought in sold at 10 cents per pound. This was probably the +last buffalo pemmican made. H. M. Robinson states that in 1878 pemmican +was worth 1s. 3d. per pound.</p> + +<p>The manufacture of pemmican, as performed by the Red River half-breeds, +was thus described by the Rev. Mr. Belcourt, a Catholic priest, who once +accompanied one of the great buffalo-hunting expeditions:<a name="fnanchor_45_45" id="fnanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>“Other portions which are destined to be made into pimikehigan, or +pemmican, are exposed to an ardent heat, and thus become brittle and +easily reducible to small particles by the use of a flail, the +buffalo-hide answering the purpose of a threshing-floor. The fat or +tallow, being cut up and melted in large kettles of sheet iron, is +poured upon this pounded meat, and the whole mass is worked together +with shovels until it is well amalgamated, when it is pressed, while +still warm, into bags made of buffalo skin, which are strongly sewed up, +and the mixture gradually cools and becomes almost as hard as a rock. If +the fat used in this process is that taken from the parts containing the +udder, the meat is called fine pemmican. In some cases, dried fruits, +such as the prairie pear and cherry, are intermixed, which forms what is +called seed pemmican. Tho lovers of good eating judge the first +described to be very palatable; the second, better; the third, +excellent. A taurean of pemmican weighs from 100 to 110 pounds. Some +idea may be formed of the immense destruction of buffalo by these people +when it is stated that a whole cow yields one-half a bag of pemmican and +three fourths of a bundle of dried meat; so that the most economical +calculate that from eight to ten cows are required for the load of a +single vehicle.”</p> + +<p>It is quite evident from the testimony of disinterested travelers that +ordinary pemmican was not very palatable to one unaccustomed to it as a +regular article of food. To the natives, however, especially the +Canadian <i>voyageur</i>, it formed one of the most valuable food products of +the country, and it is said that the demand for it was generally greater +than the supply.</p> + +<p><i>Dried, or “jerked” meat.</i>—The most popular and universal method of +curing buffalo meat was to cut it into thin flakes, an inch or less in +thickness and of indefinite length, and without salting it in the least +to hang it over poles, ropes, wicker-frames, or even clumps of standing +sage brush, and let it dry in the sun. This process yielded the famous +“jerked” meat so common throughout the West in the early days, from the +Rio Grande to the Saskatchewan. Father Belcourt thus described the +curing process as it was practiced by the half-breeds and Indians of the +Northwest:</p> + +<p>“The meat, when taken to camp, is cut by the women into long strips +about a quarter of an inch thick, which are hung upon the lattice-work +prepared for that purpose to dry. This lattice-work is formed of small +pieces of wood, placed horizontally, transversely, and equidistant from <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_449" id="page_449">[Pg 449]</a></span> +each other, not unlike an immense gridiron, and is supported by wooden +uprights (trepieds). In a few days the meat is thoroughly desiccated, +when it is bent into proper lengths and tied into bundles of 60 or 70 +pounds weight. This is called dried meat (viande seche). To make the +hide into parchment (so called) it is stretched on a frame, and then +scraped on the inside with a piece of sharpened bone and on the outside +with a small but sharp-curved iron, proper to remove the hair. This is +considered, likewise, the appropriate labor of women. The men break the +bones, which are boiled in water to extract the marrow to be used for +frying and other culinary purposes. The oil is then poured into the +bladder of the animal, which contains, when filled, about 12 pounds, +being the yield of the marrow-bones of two buffaloes.”</p> + +<p>In the Northwest Territories dried meat, which formerly sold at 2<i>d.</i> +per pound, was worth in 1878 10<i>d.</i> per pound.</p> + +<p>Although I have myself prepared quite a quantity of jerked buffalo meat, +I never learned to like it. Owing to the absence of salt in its curing, +the dried meat when pounded and made into a stew has a “far away” taste +which continually reminds one of hoofs and horns. For all that, and +despite its resemblance in flavor to Liebig’s Extract of Beef, it is +quite good, and better to the taste than ordinary pemmican.</p> + +<p>The Indians formerly cured great quantities of buffalo meat in this +way—in summer, of course, for use in winter—but the advent of that +popular institution called “Government beef” long ago rendered it +unnecessary for the noble red man to exert his squaw in that once +honorable field of labor.</p> + +<p>During the existence of the buffalo herds a few thrifty and enterprising +white men made a business of killing buffaloes in summer and drying the +meat in bulk, in the same manner which to-day produces our popular +“dried beef.” Mr. Allen states that “a single hunter at Hays City +shipped annually for some years several hundred barrels thus prepared, +which the consumers probably bought for ordinary beef.”</p> + +<p><i>Uses of bison’s hair.</i>—Numerous attempts have been made to utilize the +woolly hair of the bison in the manufacture of textile fabrics. As early +as 1729 Col. William Byrd records the fact that garments were made of +this material, as follows:</p> + +<p>“The Hair growing upon his Head and Neck is long and Shagged, and so +Soft that it will spin into Thread not unlike Mohair, and might be wove +into a sort of Camlet. Some People have Stockings knit of it, that would +have served an Israelite during his forty Years march thro’ the +Wilderness.”<a name="fnanchor_46_46" id="fnanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>In 1637 Thomas Morton published, in his “New English Canaan,” p. 98,<a name="fnanchor_47_47" id="fnanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> +the following reference to the Indians who live on the southern shore of +Lake Erocoise, supposed to be Lake Ontario:</p> + +<p>“These Beasts [buffaloes, undoubtedly] are of the bignesse of a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_450" id="page_450">[Pg 450]</a></span>Cowe, +their flesh being very good foode, their hides good lether, their +fleeces very usefull, being a kind of wolle, as fine as the wolle of the +Beaver, and the Salvages doe make garments thereof.”</p> + +<p>Professor Allen quotes a number of authorities who have recorded +statements in regard to the manufacture of belts, garters, scarfs, +sacks, etc., from buffalo wool by various tribes of Indians.<a name="fnanchor_48_48" id="fnanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> He also +calls attention to the only determined efforts ever made by white men on +a liberal scale for the utilization of buffalo “wool” and its +manufacture into cloth, an account of which appears in Ross’s “Red River +Settlement,” pp. 69-72. In 1821 some of the more enterprising of the Red +River (British) colonists conceived the idea of making fortunes out of +the manufacture of woolen goods from the fleece of the buffalo, and for +that purpose organized the Buffalo Wool Company, the principal object of +which was declared to be “to provide a substitute for wool, which +substitute was to be the wool of the wild buffalo, which was to be +collected in the plains and manufactured both for the use of the +colonists and for export.” A large number of skilled workmen of various +kinds were procured from England, and also a plant of machinery and +materials. When too late, it was found that the supply of buffalo wool +obtainable was utterly insufficient, the raw wool costing the company +1<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> per pound, and cloth which it cost the company £2 10<i>s.</i> +per yard to produce was worth only 4<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> per yard in England. The +historian states that universal drunkenness on the part of all concerned +aided very materially in bringing about the total failure of the +enterprise in a very short time.</p> + +<p>While it is possible to manufacture the fine, woolly fur of the bison +into cloth or knitted garments, provided a sufficient supply of the raw +material could be obtained (which is and always has been impossible), +nothing could be more visionary than an attempt to thus produce salable +garments at a profit.</p> + +<p>Articles of wearing apparel made of buffalo’s hair are interesting as +curiosities, for their rarity makes them so, but that is the only end +they can ever serve so long as there is a sheep living.</p> + +<p>In the National Museum, in the section of animal products, there is +displayed a pair of stockings made in Canada from the finest buffalo +wool, from the body of the animal. They are thick, heavy, and full of +the coarse, straight hairs, which it seems can never be entirely +separated from the fine wool. In general texture they are as coarse as +the coarsest sheep’s wool would produce.</p> + +<p>With the above are also displayed a rope-like lariat, made by the +Comanche Indians, and a smaller braided lasso, seemingly a sample more +than a full-grown lariat, made by the Otoe Indians of Nebraska. Both of +the above are made of the long, dark-brown hair of the head and +shoulders, and in spite of the fact that they have been twisted as <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_451" id="page_451">[Pg 451]</a></span>hard +as possible, the ends of the hairs protrude so persistently that the +surface of each rope is extremely hairy.</p> + +<p><i>Buffalo chips.</i>—Last, but by no means least in value to the traveler +on the treeless plains, are the droppings of the buffalo, universally +known as “buffalo chips.” When over one year old and thoroughly dry, +this material makes excellent fuel. Usually it occurs only where +fire-wood is unobtainable, and thousands of frontiersmen have a million +times found it of priceless value. When dry, it catches easily, burns +readily, and makes a hot fire with but very little smoke, although it is +rapidly consumed. Although not as good for a fire as even the poorest +timber it is infinitely better than sage-brush, which, in the absence of +chips, is often the traveler’s last resort.</p> + +<p>It usually happens that chips are most-abundant in the sheltered +creek-bottoms and near the water-holes, the very situations which +travelers naturally select for their camps. In these spots the herds +have gathered either for shelter in winter or for water in summer, and +remained in a body for some hours. And now, when the cowboy on the +round-up, the surveyor, or hunter, who must camp out, pitches his tent +in the grassy coulée or narrow creek-bottom, his first care is to start +out with his largest gunning bag to “rustle some buffalo chips” for a +campfire. He, at least, when he returns well laden with the spoil of his +humble chase, still has good reason to remember the departed herd with +feelings of gratitude. Thus even the last remains of this most useful +animal are utilized by man in providing for his own imperative wants.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="ix_the_present_value_of_the_bison_to_cattle-growers" id="ix_the_present_value_of_the_bison_to_cattle-growers"></a>IX. The Present Value of the Bison to Cattle-Growers.</h2> + + +<p><a name="i_ix_1" id="i_ix_1"></a><i>The bison in captivity and domestication.</i>—Almost from time immemorial +it has been known that the American bison takes kindly to captivity, +herds contentedly with domestic cattle, and crosses with them with the +utmost readiness. It was formerly believed, and indeed the tradition +prevails even now to quite an extent, that on account of the hump on the +shoulders a domestic cow could not give birth to a half-breed calf. This +belief is entirely without foundation, and is due to theories rather +than facts.</p> + +<p>Numerous experiments in buffalo breeding have been made, and the subject +is far from being a new one. As early as 1701 the Huguenot settlers at +Manikintown, on the James River, a few miles above Richmond, began to +domesticate buffaloes. It is also a matter of historical record that in +1786, or thereabouts, buffaloes were domesticated and bred in captivity +in Virginia, and Albert Gallatin states that in some of the northwestern +counties the mixed breed was quite common. In 1815 a series of elaborate +and valuable experiments in cross-breeding the buffalo and domestic +cattle was begun by Mr. Robert Wickliffe, of Lexington, Ky., and +continued by him for upwards of thirty years.<a name="fnanchor_49_49" id="fnanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_452" id="page_452">[Pg 452]</a></span></p> + +<p>Quite recently the buffalo-breeding operations of Mr. S. L. Bedson, of +Stony Mountain, Manitoba, and Mr. C. J. Jones, of Garden City, Kans., +have attracted much attention, particularly for the reason that the +efforts of both these gentlemen have been directed toward the practical +improvement of the present breeds of range cattle. For this reason the +importance of the work in which they are engaged can hardly be +overestimated, and the results already obtained by Mr. Bedson, whose +experiments antedate those of Mr. Jones by several years, are of the +greatest interest to western cattle-growers. Indeed, unless the stock of +pure-blood buffaloes now remaining proves insufficient for the purpose, +I fully believe that we will gradually see a great change wrought in the +character of western cattle by the introduction of a strain of buffalo +blood.</p> + +<p>The experiments which have been made thus far prove conclusively that—</p> + +<p>(1) The male bison crosses readily with the opposite sex of domestic +cattle, but a buffalo cow has never been known to produce a half-breed +calf.</p> + +<p>(2) The domestic cow produces a half-breed calf successfully.</p> + +<p>(3) The progeny of the two species is fertile to any extent, yielding +half-breeds, quarter, three-quarter breeds, and so on.</p> + +<p>(4) The bison breeds in captivity with perfect regularity and success.</p> + +<p><a name="i_ix_2" id="i_ix_2"></a><i>Need of an improvement in range cattle.</i>—Ever since the earliest days +of cattle-ranching in the West, stockmen have had it in their power to +produce a breed which would equal in beef-bearing qualities the best +breeds to be found upon the plains, and be so much better calculated to +survive the hardships of winter, that their annual losses would have +been very greatly reduced. Whenever there is an unusually severe winter, +such as comes about three times in every decade, if not even oftener, +range cattle perish by thousands. It is an absolute impossibility for +every ranchman who owns several thousand, or even several hundred, head +of cattle to provide hay for them, even during the severest portion of +the winter season, and consequently the cattle must depend wholly upon +their own resources. When the winter is reasonably mild, and the snows +never very deep, nor lying too long at a time on the ground, the cattle +live through the winter with very satisfactory success. Thanks to the +wind, it usually happens that the falling snow is blown off the ridges +as fast as it falls, leaving the grass sufficiently uncovered for the +cattle to feed upon it. If the snow-fall is universal, but not more than +a few inches in depth, the cattle paw through it here and there, and eke +out a subsistence, on quarter rations it may be, until a friendly +chinook wind sets in from the southwest and dissolves the snow as if by +magic in a few hours’ time.</p> + +<p>But when a deep snow comes, and lies on the ground persistently, week in +and week out, when the warmth of the sun softens and moistens its +surface sufficiently for a returning cold wave to freeze it into a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_453" id="page_453">[Pg 453]</a></span>hard +crust, forming a universal wall of ice between the luckless steer and +his only food, the cattle starve and freeze in immense numbers. Being +totally unfitted by nature to survive such unnatural conditions, it is +not strange that they succumb.</p> + +<p>Under present conditions the stockman simply stakes his cattle against +the winter elements and takes his chances on the results, which are +governed by circumstances wholly beyond his control. The losses of the +fearful winter of 1886-’87 will probably never be forgotten by the +cattlemen of the great Western grazing ground. In many portions of +Montana and Wyoming the cattlemen admitted a loss of 50 per cent of +their cattle, and in some localities the loss was still greater. The +same conditions are liable to prevail next winter, or any succeeding +winter, and we may yet see more than half the range cattle in the West +perish in a single month.</p> + +<p>Yet all this time the cattlemen have had it in their power, by the +easiest and simplest method in the world, to introduce a strain of hardy +native blood in their stock which would have made it capable of +successfully resisting a much greater degree of hunger and cold. It is +really surprising that the desirability of cross-breeding the buffalo +and domestic cattle should for so long a time have been either +overlooked or disregarded. While cattle-growers generally have shown the +greatest enterprise in producing special breeds for milk, for butter, or +for beef, cattle with short horns and cattle with no horns at all, only +two or three men have had the enterprise to try to produce a breed +particularly hardy and capable.</p> + +<p>A buffalo can weather storms and outlive hunger and cold which would +kill any domestic steer that ever lived. When nature placed him on the +treeless and blizzard-swept plains, she left him well equipped to +survive whatever natural conditions he would have to encounter. The most +striking feature of his entire <i>tout ensemble</i> is his magnificent suit +of hair and fur combined, the warmest covering possessed by any +quadruped save the musk-ox. The head, neck, and fore quarters are +clothed with hide and hair so thick as to be almost, if not entirely, +impervious to cold. The hair on the body and hind quarters is long, +fine, very thick, and of that peculiar woolly quality which constitutes +the best possible protection against cold. Let him who doubts the warmth +of a good buffalo robe try to weather a blizzard with something else, +and then try the robe. The very form of the buffalo—short, thick legs, +and head hung very near the ground—suggests most forcibly a special +fitness to wrestle with mother earth for a living, snow or no snow. A +buffalo will flounder for days through deep snow-drifts without a morsel +of food, and survive where the best range steer would literally freeze +on foot, bolt upright, as hundreds did in the winter of 1886-’87. While +range cattle turn tail to a blizzard and drift helplessly, the buffalo +faces it every time, and remains master of the situation.</p> + +<p>It has for years been a surprise to me that Western stockmen have <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_454" id="page_454">[Pg 454]</a></span>not +seized upon the opportunity presented by the presence of the buffalo to +improve the character of their cattle. Now that there are no longer any +buffalo calves to be had on the plains for the trouble of catching them, +and the few domesticated buffaloes that remain are worth fabulous +prices, we may expect to see a great deal of interest manifested in this +subject, and some costly efforts made to atone for previous lack of +forethought.</p> + +<p><a name="i_ix_3" id="i_ix_3"></a><i>The character of the buffalo-domestic hybrid.</i>—The subjoined +illustration from a photograph kindly furnished by Mr. C. J. Jones, +represents a ten months’ old half-breed calf (male), the product of a +buffalo bull and domestic cow. The prepotency of the sire is apparent at +the first glance, and to so marked an extent that the illustration would +pass muster anywhere as having been drawn from a full-blood buffalo. The +head, neck, and hump, and the long woolly hair that covers them, +proclaim the buffalo in every line. Excepting that the hair on the +shoulders (below the hump) is of the same length as that on the body and +hind quarters, there is, so far as one can judge from an excellent +photograph, no difference whatever observable between this lusty young +half-breed and a full blood buffalo calf of the same age and sex. Mr. +Jones describes the color of this animal as “iron-gray,” and remarks: +“You will see how even the fur is, being as long on the hind parts as on +the shoulders and neck, very much unlike the buffalo, which is so shaggy +about the shoulders and so thin farther back.” Upon this point it is to +be remarked that the hair on the body of a yearling or two year-old +buffalo is always very much longer in proportion to the hair on the +forward parts than it is later in life, and while the shoulder hair is +always decidedly longer than that back of it, during the first two years +the contrast is by no means so very great. A reference to the memoranda +of hair measurements already given will afford precise data on this +point.</p> + +<p>In regard to half-breed calves, Mr. Bedson states in a private letter +that “the hump does not appear until several months after birth.”</p> + +<p>Altogether, the male calf described above so strongly resembles a +pure-blood buffalo as to be generally mistaken for one; the form of the +adult half-blood cow promptly proclaims her origin. The accompanying +plate, also from a photograph supplied by Mr. Jones, accurately +represents a half-breed cow, six years old, weighing about 1,800 pounds. +Her body is very noticeably larger in proportion than that of the cow +buffalo, her pelvis much heavier, broader, and more cow-like, therein +being a decided improvement upon the small and weak hind quarters of the +wild species. The hump is quite noticeable, but is not nearly so high as +in the pure buffalo cow. The hair on the fore quarters, neck, and head +is decidedly shorter, especially on the head; the frontlet and chin +beard being conspicuously lacking. The tufts of long, coarse, black hair +which clothe the fore-arm of the buffalo cow are almost absent, but +apparently the hair on the body and hind quarters has lost <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_455" id="page_455">[Pg 455]</a></span>but little, +if any, of its length, density, and fine, furry quality. The horns are +decidedly cow-like in their size, length, and curvature.</p> + +<p><a name="half" id="half"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/014.jpg" + alt="HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DOMESTIC) CALF." title="HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DOMESTIC) CALF." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Half-breed (Buffalo-Domestic) Calf.—Herd of C. J. Jones, +Garden City, Kansas.</span><br />Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.</h4> + +<p>Regarding the general character of the half-breed buffalo, and his herd +in general, Mr. Bedson writes me as follows, in a letter dated September +12, 1888:</p> + +<p>“The nucleus of my herd consisted of a young buffalo bull and four +heifer calves, which I purchased in 1877, and the increase from these +few has been most rapid, as will be shown by a tabular statement farther +on.</p> + +<p>“Success with the breeding of the pure buffalo was followed by +experiments in crossing with the domestic animal. This crossing has +generally been between a buffalo bull and an ordinary cow, and with the +most encouraging results, since it had been contended by many that +although the cow might breed a calf from the buffalo, yet it would be at +the expense of her life, owing to the hump on a buffalo’s shoulder; but +this hump does not appear until several months after birth. This has +been proved a fallacy respecting <i>this herd</i> at least, for calving has +been attended with no greater percentage of losses than would be +experienced in ranching with the ordinary cattle. Buffalo cows and +crosses have dropped calves at as low a temperature as 20° below zero, +and the calves were sturdy and healthy.</p> + +<p>“The half breed resulting from the cross as above mentioned has been +again crossed with the thoroughbred buffalo bull, producing a three +quarter breed animal closely resembling the buffalo, the head and robe +being quite equal, if not superior. The half-breeds are very prolific. +The cows drop a calf annually. They are also very hardy indeed, as they +take the instinct of the buffalo during the blizzards and storms, and do +not drift like native cattle. They remain upon the open prairie during +our severest winters, while the thermometer ranges from 30 to 40 degrees +below zero, with little or no food except what they rustled on the +prairie, and no shelter at all. In nearly all the ranching parts of +North America foddering and housing of cattle is imperative in a more or +less degree,<a name="fnanchor_50_50" id="fnanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> creating an item of expense felt by all interested in +cattle-raising; but the buffalo [half]breed retains all its native +hardihood, needs no housing, forages in the deepest snows for its own +food, yet becomes easily domesticated, and consequently needs but little +herding. Therefore the progeny of the buffalo is easily reared, cheaply +fed, and requires no housing in winter; three very essential points in +stock-raising.</p> + +<p>“They are always in good order, and I consider the meat of the +half-breed much preferable to domestic animals, while the robe is very +fine indeed, the fur being evened up on the hind parts, the same as on +the shoulders. During the history of the herd, accident and other causes +have compelled the slaughtering of one or two, and in these instances <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_456" id="page_456">[Pg 456]</a></span> +the carcasses have sold for 18 cents per pound; the hides in their +dressed state for $50 to $75 each. A half-breed buffalo ox (four years +old, crossed with buffalo bull and Durham cow) was killed last winter, +and weighed 1,280 pounds dressed beef. One pure buffalo bull now in my +herd weighs fully 2,000 pounds, and a [half]breed bull 1,700 to 1,800 +pounds.</p> + +<p>“The three-quarter breed is an enormous animal in size, and has an extra +good robe, which will readily bring $40 to $50 in any market where there +is a demand for robes. They are also very prolific, and I consider them +the coming cattle for our range cattle for the Northern climate, while +the half and quarter breeds will be the animals for the more Southern +district. The half and three-quarter breed cows, when really matured, +will weigh from 1,400 to 1,800 pounds.</p> + +<p>“I have never crossed them except with a common grade of cows, while I +believe a cross with the Galloways would produce the handsomest robe +ever handled, and make the best range cattle in the world. I have not +had time to give my attention to my herd, more than to let them range on +the prairies at will. By proper care great results can be accomplished.”</p> + +<p>Hon. C. J. Jones, of Garden City, Kans., whose years of experience with +the buffalo, both as old-time hunter, catcher, and breeder, has earned +for him the sobriquet of “Buffalo Jones,” five years ago became deeply +interested in the question of improving range cattle by crossing with +the buffalo. With characteristic Western energy he has pursued the +subject from that time until the present, having made five trips to the +range of the only buffaloes remaining from the great southern herd, and +captured sixty-eight buffalo calves and eleven adult cows with which to +start a herd. In a short article published in the Farmers’ Review +(Chicago, August 22, 1888), Mr. Jones gives his views on the value of +the buffalo in cross-breeding as follows:</p> + +<p>“In all my meanderings I have not found a place but I could count more +carcasses [of cattle] than living animals. Who has not ridden over some +of the Western railways and counted dead cattle by the thousands? The +great question is, Where can we get a race of cattle that will stand +blizzards, and endure the drifting snow, and will not be driven with the +storms against the railroad fences and pasture fences, there to perish +for the want of nerve to face the northern winds for a few miles, to +where the winter grasses could be had in abundance? Realizing these +facts, both from observation and pocket, we pulled on our ‘thinking +cap,’ and these points came vividly to our mind:</p> + +<p>“(1) We want an animal that is hardy.</p> + +<p>“(2) We want an animal with nerve and endurance.</p> + +<p>“(3) We want an animal that faces the blizzards and endures the storms.</p> + +<p>“(4) We want an animal that will rustle the prairies, and not yield to +discouragement.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_457" id="page_457">[Pg 457]</a></span></p> +<p>“(5) We want an animal that will fill the above bill, and make good +beef and plenty of it.</p> + +<p><a name="cow" id="cow"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/015.jpg" + alt="HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DOMESTIC) COW." title="HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DOMESTIC) COW." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Half-breed (Buffalo-Domestic) Cow.—Herd of C. J. Jones, +Garden City, Kansas.</span><br />Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.</h4> + +<p>“All the points above could easily be found in the buffalo, excepting +the fifth, and even that is more than filled as to the quality, but not +in quantity. Where is the ‘old timer’ who has not had a cut from the +hump or sirloin of a fat buffalo cow in the fall of the year, and where +is the one who will not make affidavit that it was the best meat he ever +ate? Yes, the fat was very rich, equal to the marrow from the bone of +domestic cattle. * * *</p> + +<p>“The great question remained unsolved as to the quantity of meat from +the buffalo. I finally heard of a half-breed buffalo in Colorado, and +immediately set out to find it. I traveled at least 1,000 miles to find +it, and found a five-year-old half-breed cow that had been bred to +domestic bulls and had brought forth two calves—a yearling and a +sucking calf that gave promise of great results.</p> + +<p>“The cow had never been fed, but depended altogether on the range, and +when I saw her, in the fall of 1883. I estimated her weight at 1,800 +pounds. She was a brindle, and had a handsome robe even in September; +she had as good hind quarters as ordinary cattle; her foreparts were +heavy and resembled the buffalo, yet not near so much of the hump. The +offspring showed but very little of the buffalo, yet they possessed a +woolly coat, which showed clearly that they were more than domestic +cattle. * * *</p> + +<p>“What we can rely on by having one-fourth, one-half, and three-fourths +breeds might be analyzed as follows:</p> + +<p>“We can depend upon a race of cattle unequaled in the world for +hardiness and durability; a good meat-bearing animal; the best and only +fur-bearing animal of the bovine race; the animal always found in a +storm where it is overtaken by it; a race of cattle so clannish as never +to separate and go astray; the animal that can always have free range, +as they exist where no other animal can live; the animal that can water +every third day and keep fat, ranging from 20 to 30 miles from water; in +fact, they are the perfect animal for the plains of North America. +One-fourth breeds for Texas, one-half breeds for Colorado and Kansas, +and three-fourths breeds for more northern country, is what will soon be +sought after more than any living animal. Then we will never be +confronted with dead carcarsses from starvation, exhaustion, and lack of +nerve, as in years gone by.”</p> + +<p><a name="i_ix_4" id="i_ix_4"></a><i>The bison as a beast of burden.</i>—On account of the abundance of horses +for all purposes throughout the entire country, oxen are so seldom used +they almost constitute a curiosity. There never has existed a necessity +to break buffaloes to the yoke and work them like domestic oxen, and so +few experiments have been made in this direction that reliable data on +this subject is almost wholly wanting. While at Miles City, Mont., I +heard of a German “granger” who worked a small farm in the Tongue River +Valley, and who once had a pair of cow buffaloes trained <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_458" id="page_458">[Pg 458]</a></span>to the yoke. +It was said that they were strong, rapid walkers, and capable of +performing as much work as the best domestic oxen, but they were at +times so uncontrollably headstrong and obstinate as to greatly detract +from their usefulness. The particular event of their career on which +their historian dwelt with special interest occurred when their owner +was hauling a load of potatoes to town with them. In the course of the +long drive the buffaloes grew very thirsty, and upon coming within sight +of the water in the river they started for it in a straight course. The +shouts and blows of the driver only served to hasten their speed, and +presently, when they reached the edge of the high bank, they plunged +down it without the slightest hesitation, wagon, potatoes, and all, to +the loss of everything except themselves and the drink they went after!</p> + +<p>Mr. Robert Wickliffe states that trained buffaloes make satisfactory +oxen. “I have broken them to the yoke, and found them capable of making +excellent oxen; and for drawing wagons, carts, or other heavily laden +vehicles on long journeys they would, I think, be greatly preferable to +the common ox.”</p> + +<p>It seems probable that, in the absence of horses, the buffalo would make +a much more speedy and enduring draught animal than the domestic ox, +although it is to be doubted whether he would be as strong. His weaker +pelvis and hind quarters would surely count against him under certain +circumstances, but for some purposes his superior speed and endurance +would more than counterbalance that defect.</p> + +<p><a name="i_ix_5" id="i_ix_5"></a>BISON HERDS AND INDIVIDUALS IN CAPTIVITY AND DOMESTICATION, JANUARY 1, +1889.</p> + +<p><i>Herd of Mr. S. L. Bedson, Stony Mountain, Manitoba.</i>—In 1877 Mr. +Bedson purchased 5 buffalo calves, 1 bull, and 4 heifers, for which he +paid $1,000. In 1888 his herd consisted of 23 full-blood bulls, 35 cows, +3 half-breed cows, 5 half-breed bulls, and 17 calves, mixed and +pure;<a name="fnanchor_51_51" id="fnanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> making a total of 83 head. These were all produced from the +original 5, no purchases having been made, nor any additions made in any +other way. Besides the 83 head constituting the herd when it was sold, 5 +were killed and 9 given away, which would otherwise make a total of 97 +head produced since 1877. In November, 1888, this entire herd was +purchased, for $50,000, by Mr. C. J. Jones, and added to the already +large herd owned by that gentleman in Kansas.</p> + +<p><a name="young" id="young"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/016.jpg" + alt="YOUNG HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DOMESTIC) BULL." title="YOUNG HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DOMESTIC) BULL." /> +</div> + +<h4><span class="sc">Young Half-breed (Buffalo-Domestic) Bull.—Herd of C. J. +Jones, Garden City, Kansas.</span><br />Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.</h4> + +<p><i>Herd of Mr. C. J. Jones, Garden City, Kans.</i>—Mr. Jones’s original herd +of 57 buffaloes constitute a living testimonial to his individual +enterprise, and to his courage, endurance, and skill in the chase. The +majority of the individuals composing the herd he himself ran down, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_459" id="page_459">[Pg 459]</a></span> +lassoed, and tied with his own hands. For the last five years Mr. Jones +has made an annual trip, in June, to the uninhabited “panhandle” of +Texas, to capture calves out of the small herd of from one hundred to +two hundred head which represented the last remnant of the great +southern herd. Each of these expeditious involved a very considerable +outlay in money, an elaborate “outfit” of men, horses, vehicles, camp +equipage, and lastly, but most important of all, a herd of a dozen fresh +milch cows to nourish the captured calves and keep them from dying of +starvation and thirst. The region visited was fearfully barren, almost +without water, and to penetrate it was always attended by great +hardship. The buffaloes were difficult to find, but the ground was good +for running, being chiefly level plains, and the superior speed of the +running horses always enabled the hunters to overtake a herd whenever +one was sighted, and to “cut out” and lasso two, three, or four of its +calves. The degree of skill and daring displayed in these several +expeditions are worthy of the highest admiration, and completely surpass +anything I have ever seen or read of being accomplished in connection +with hunting, or the capture of live game. The latest feat of Mr. Jones +and his party comes the nearest to being incredible. During the month of +May, 1888, they not only captured seven calves, but also <i>eleven adult +cows</i>, of which some were lassoed in full career on the prairie, thrown, +tied, and hobbled! The majority, however, were actually “rounded up,” +herded, and held in control until a bunch of tame buffaloes was driven +down to meet them, so that it would thus be possible to drive all +together to a ranch. This brilliant feat can only be appreciated as it +deserves by those who have lately hunted buffalo, and learned by dear +experience the extent of their wariness, and the difficulties, to say +nothing of the dangers, inseparably connected with their pursuit.</p> + +<p>The result of each of Mr. Jones’s five expeditions is as follows: In +1884 no calves found; 1885, 11 calves captured, 5 died, 6 survived; +1886, 14 calves captured, 7 died, 7 survived; 1887, 36 calves captured, +6 died, 30 survived; 1888, 7 calves captured, all survived; 1888, 11 old +cows captured, all survived. Total, 79 captures, 18 losses, 57 +survivors.</p> + +<p>The census of the herd is exactly as follows: Adult cows, 11; three-year +olds, 7, of which 2 are males and 5 females; two-year olds, 4, of which +all are males; yearling, 28, of which 15 are males and 13 females; +calves, 7, of which 3 are males and 4 females. Total herd, 57; 24 males +and 33 females. To this, Mr. Jones’s original herd, must now be added +the entire herd formerly owned by Mr. Bedson.</p> + +<p>Respecting his breeding operations Mr. Jones writes: “My oldest [bull] +buffaloes are now three years old, and I am breeding one hundred +domestic cows to them this year. Am breeding the Galloway cows quite +extensively; also some Shorthorns, Herefords, and Texas cows. I expect +best results from the Galloways. If I can get the black luster of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_460" id="page_460">[Pg 460]</a></span> +latter and the fur of a buffalo, I will have a robe that will bring more +money than we get for the average range steer.”</p> + +<p>In November, 1888, Mr. Jones purchased Mr. Bedson’s entire herd, and in +the following mouth proceeded to ship a portion of it to Kansas City. +Thirty-three head were separated from the remainder of the herd on the +prairie near Stony Mountain, 12 miles from Winnipeg, and driven to the +railroad. Several old bulls broke away en route and ran back to the +herd, and when the remainder were finally corraled in the pens at the +stock-yards “they began to fight among themselves, and some fierce +encounters were waged between the old bulls. The younger cattle were +raised on the horns of their seniors, thrown in the air, and otherwise +gored.” While on the way to St. Paul three of the half-breed buffaloes +were killed by their companions. On reaching Kansas City and unloading +the two cars, 13 head broke away from the large force of men that +attempted to manage them, stampeded through the city, and finally took +refuge in the low-lands along the river. In due time, however, all were +recaptured.</p> + +<p>Since the acquisition of this northern herd and the subsequent press +comment that it has evoked, Mr. Jones has been almost overwhelmed with +letters of inquiry in regard to the whole subject of buffalo breeding, +and has found it necessary to print and distribute a circular giving +answers to the many inquiries that have been made.</p> + +<p><i>Herd of Mr. Charles Allard, Flathead Indian Reservation, +Montana.</i>—This herd was visited in the autumn of 1888 by Mr. G. O. +Shields, of Chicago, who reports that it consists of thirty-five head of +pure-blood buffaloes, of which seven are calves of 1888, six are +yearlings, and six are two-year olds. Of the adult animals, four cows +and two bulls are each fourteen years old, “and the beards of the bulls +almost sweep the ground as they walk.”</p> + +<p><i>Herd of Hon. W. F. Cody (“Buffalo Bill”).</i>—The celebrated “Wild West +Show” has, ever since its organization, numbered amongst its leading +attractions a herd of live buffaloes of all ages. At present this herd +contains eighteen head, of which fourteen were originally purchased of +Mr. H. T. Groome, of Wichita, Kansas, and have made a journey to London +and back. As a proof of the indomitable persistence of the bison in +breeding under most unfavorable circumstances, the fact that four of the +members of this herd are calves which were born in 1888 in London, at +the American Exposition, is of considerable interest.</p> + +<p>This herd is now (December, 1888) being wintered on General Beale’s +farm, near the city of Washington. In 1886-’87, while the Wild West Show +was at Madison Square Garden, New York City, its entire herd of twenty +buffaloes was carried off by pleuro-pneumonia. It is to be greatly +feared that sooner or later in the course of its travels the present +herd will also disappear, either through disease or accident.</p> + +<p><i>Herd of Mr. Charles Goodnight, Clarendon, Texas.</i>—Mr. Goodnight writes +that he has “been breeding buffaloes in a small way for the past <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_461" id="page_461">[Pg 461]</a></span>ten +years,” but without giving any particular attention to it. At present +his herd consists of thirteen head, of which two are three-year old +bulls and four are calves. There are seven cows of all ages, one of +which is a half-breed.</p> + +<p><i>Herd at the Zoological Society’s Gardens, Philadelphia, Arthur E. +Brown, superintendent.</i>—This institution is the fortunate possessor of +a small herd of ten buffaloes, of which four are males and six females. +Two are calves of 1877. In 1886 the Gardens sold an adult bull and cow +to Hon. W. F. Cody for $300.</p> + +<p><i>Herd at Bismarck Grove, Kansas, owned by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa +Fé Railroad Company.</i>—A small herd of buffaloes has for several years +past been kept at Bismarck Grove as an attraction to visitors. At +present it contains ten head, one of which is a very large bull, another +in a four-year-old bull, six are cows of various ages, and two are +two-year olds. In 1885 a large bull belonging to this herd grew so +vicious and dangerous that it was necessary to kill him.</p> + +<p>The following interesting account of this herd was published in the +Kansas City Times of December 8, 1888:</p> + +<p>“Thirteen years ago Colonel Stanton purchased a buffalo bull calf for $8 +and two heifers for $25. The descendants of these three buffaloes now +found at Bismarck Grove, where all were born, number in all ten. There +were seventeen, but the rest have died, with the exception of one, which +was given away. They are kept in an inclosure containing about 30 acres +immediately adjoining the park, and there may be seen at any time. The +sight is one well worth a trip and the slight expense that may attach to +it, especially to one who has never seen the American bison in his +native state.</p> + +<p>“The present herd includes two fine bull calves dropped last spring, two +heifers, five cows, and a bull six years old and as handsome as a +picture. The latter has been named Cleveland, after the colonel’s +favorite Presidential candidate. The entire herd is in as fine condition +as any beef cattle, though they were never fed anything but hay and are +never given any shelter. In fact they don’t take kindly to shelter, and +whether a blizzard is blowing, with the mercury 20 degrees below zero, +or the sun pouring down his scorching rays, with the thermometer 110 +degrees above, they set their heads resolutely toward storm or sun and +take their medicine as if they liked it. Hon. W. F. Cody, “Buffalo +Bill,” tried to buy the whole herd two years ago to take to Europe with +his Wild West Show, but they were not for sale at his own figures, and, +indeed, there is no anxiety to dispose of them at any figures. The +railroad company has been glad to furnish them pasturage for the sake of +adding to the attractions of the park, in which there are also +forty-three head of deer, including two as fine bucks as ever trotted +over the national deer trail toward the salt-licks in northern Utah.</p> + +<p>“While the bison at Bismark Grove are splendid specimens of their class, +“Cleveland” is decidedly the pride of the herd, and as grand a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_462" id="page_462">[Pg 462]</a></span>creature +as ever trod the soil of Kansas on four legs. He is just six years old +and is a perfect specimen of the kings of the plains. There is royal +blood in his veins, and his coat is finer than the imperial purple. It +is not possible to get at him to measure his stature and weight. He must +weigh fully 3,000 pounds, and it is doubtful if there is to-day living +on the face of the earth a handsomer buffalo bull than he. “Cleveland’s” +disposition is not so ugly as old Barney’s was, but at certain seasons +he is very wild, and there is no one venturesome enough to go into the +inclosure. It is then not altogether safe to even look over the high and +heavy board fence at him, for he is likely to make a run for the +visitor, as the numerous holes in the fence where he has knocked off the +boards will testify.”</p> + +<p><i>Herd of Mr. Frederick Dupree, Cheyenne Indian Agency, near Fort +Bennett, Dakota.</i>—This herd contains at present nine pure-blood +buffaloes, five of which are cows and seven mixed bloods. Of the former, +there are two adult bulls and four adult cows. Of the mixed blood +animals, six are half-breeds and one a quarter-breed buffalo.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dupree obtained the nucleus of his herd in 1882, at which time he +captured five wild calves about 100 miles west of Fort Bennett. Of +these, two died after two months of captivity and a third was killed by +an Indian in 1885.</p> + +<p>Mr. D. F. Carlin, of the Indian service, at Fort Bennett, has kindly +furnished me the following information respecting this herd, under date +of November 1, 1888:</p> + +<p>“The animals composing this herd are all in fine condition and are quite +tame. They keep by themselves most of the time, except the oldest bull +(six years old), who seems to appreciate the company of domestic cattle +more than that of his own family. Mr. Dupree has kept one half-breed +bull as an experiment; he thinks it will produce a hardy class of +cattle. His half-breeds are all black, with one exception, and that is a +roan; but they are all built like the buffalo, and when young they grunt +more like a hog than like a calf, the same as a full-blood buffalo.</p> + +<p>“Mr. Dupree has never lost a [domestic] cow in giving birth to a +half-breed calf, as was supposed by many people would be the case. There +have been no sales from this herd, although the owner has a standing +offer of $650 for a cow and bull. The cows are not for sale at any +price.”</p> + +<p><i>Herd at Lincoln Park, Chicago, Mr. W. P. Walker, superintendent.</i>—This +very interesting and handsomely-kept herd is composed of seven +individuals of the following character: One bull eight years old, one +bull four years old, two cows eight years old, two cows two years old in +the spring of 1888, and one female calf born in the spring of 1888.</p> + +<p><i>Zoological Gardens, Cincinnati, Ohio.</i>—This collection contains four +bison, an adult bull and cow, and one immature specimen.</p> + +<p><i>Dr. V. T. McGillicuddy, Rapid City, Dakota</i>, has a herd of four pure +buffaloes and one half-breed. Of the former, the two adults, a bull and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_463" id="page_463">[Pg 463]</a></span> +cow seven years old, were caught by Sioux Indians near the Black Hills +for the owner in the spring of 1882. The Indians drove two milch cows to +the range to nourish the calves when caught. These have produced two +calves, one of which, a bull, is now three years old, and the other is a +yearling heifer.</p> + +<p><i>Central Park Menagerie, New York, Dr. W. A. Conklin, director.</i>—This +much-visited collection contains four bison, an adult bull and cow, a +two-year-old calf, and a yearling.</p> + +<p><i>Mr. John H. Starin, Glen Inland, near New York City.</i>—There are four +buffaloes at this summer resort.</p> + +<p><i>The U. S. National Museum, Washington, District of Columbia.</i>—The +collection of the department of living animals at this institution +contains two fine young buffaloes; a bull four years old in July, 1888, +and a cow three years old in May of the same year. These animals were +captured in western Nebraska, when they were calves, by H. R. Jackett, +of Ogalalla, and kept by him on his ranch until 1885. In April, 1888, +Hon. Eugene G. Blackford, of New York, purchased them of Mr. Frederick +D. Nowell, of North Platte, Nebraska, for $100 for the pair, and +presented them to the National Museum, in the hope that they might form +the nucleus of a herd to be owned and exhibited by the United States +Government in or near the city of Washington. The two animals were +received in Ogalalla by Mr. Joseph Palmer, of the National Museum, and +by him they were brought on to Washington in May, in fine condition. +Since their arrival they have been exhibited to the public in a +temporary inclosure on the Smithsonian Grounds, and have attracted much +attention.</p> + +<p><i>Mr. B. C. Winston, of Hamline, Minnesota</i>, owns a pair of buffaloes, +one of which, a young bull, was caught by him in western Dakota in the +spring of 1886, soon after its birth. The cow was purchased at Rosseau, +Dakota Territory, a year later, for $225.</p> + +<p><i>Mr. I. P. Butler, of Colorado, Texas</i>, is the owner of a young bull +buffalo and a half-breed calf.</p> + +<p><i>Mr. Jesse Huston, of Miles City, Montana</i>, owns a fine five-year-old +bull buffalo.</p> + +<p><i>Mr. L. F. Gardner, of Bellwood, Oregon</i>, is the owner of a large adult +bull.</p> + +<p><i>The Riverside Ranch Company, south of Mandan, Dakota</i>, owns a pair of +full-blood buffaloes.</p> + +<p><i>In Dakota</i>, in the hands of parties unknown, there are four full-blood +buffaloes.</p> + +<p><i>Mr. James R. Hitch, of Optima, Indian Territory</i>, has a pair of young +buffaloes, which he has offered for sale for $750.</p> + +<p><i>Mr. Joseph A. Hudson, of Estell, Nebraska</i>, owns a three-year-old bull +buffalo, which is for sale.</p> + +<p>In other countries there are live specimens of <i>Bison americanus</i> +reported as follows: two at Belleview Gardens, Manchester, England; <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_464" id="page_464">[Pg 464]</a></span>one +at the Zoological Gardens, London; one at Liverpool, England (purchased +of Hon. W. F. Cody in 1888); two at the Zoological Gardens, Dresden; one +at the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta.</p> + +<p><br /></p> +<h4><i>Statistics of full-blood buffaloes in captivity January 1, 1889.</i></h4> +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="in captivity"> +<tr><td align="left">Number kept for breeding purposes</td><td align="right"><tt>216</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Number kept for exhibition</td><td align="right"><tt> 40</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right"><tt>---</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Total pure-blood buffaloes in captivity</td><td align="right"><tt>256</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td align="right"><tt>===</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Wild buffaloes under Government protection in the Yellowstone Park </td><td align="right"><tt>200</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Number of mixed-breed buffalo-domestics</td><td align="right"><tt> 40</tt></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><br /></p> + +<p>There are, without doubt, a few half-breeds in Manitoba of which I have +no account. It is probable there are also a very few more captive +buffaloes scattered singly here and there which will be heard of later, +but the total will be a very small number, I am sure.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2><a name="part_ii_the_extermination" id="part_ii_the_extermination"></a>PART II.—THE EXTERMINATION.</h2> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="i_causes_of_the_extermination" id="i_causes_of_the_extermination"></a>I. Causes of the Extermination.</h2> + + +<p>The causes which led to the practical extinction (in a wild state, at +least) of the most economically valuable wild animal that ever inhabited +the American continent, are by no means obscure. It is well that we +should know precisely what they were, and by the sad fate of the buffalo +be warned in time against allowing similar causes to produce the same +results with our elk, antelope, deer, moose, caribou, mountain sheep, +mountain goat, walrus, and other animals. It will be doubly deplorable +if the remorseless slaughter we have witnessed during the last twenty +years carries with it no lessons for the future. A continuation of the +record we have lately made as wholesale game butchers will justify +posterity in dating us back with the mound-builders and cave-dwellers, +when man’s only known function was to slay and eat.</p> + +<p>The primary cause of the buffalo’s extermination, and the one which +embraced all others, was the descent of civilization, with all its +elements of destructiveness, upon the whole of the country inhabited by +that animal. From the Great Slave Lake to the Rio Grande the home of the +buffalo was everywhere overrun by the man with a gun; and, as has ever +been the case, the wild creatures were gradually swept away, the largest +and most conspicuous forms being the first to go.</p> + +<p>The secondary causes of the extermination of the buffalo may be +catalogued as follows:</p> + +<p>(1) Man’s reckless greed, his wanton destructiveness, and improvidence +in not husbanding such resources as come to him from the hand of nature +ready made.</p> + +<p>(2) The total and utterly inexcusable absence of protective measures and +agencies on the part of the National Government and of the West States +and Territories.</p> + +<p>(3) The fatal preference on the part of hunters generally, both white <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_465" id="page_465">[Pg 465]</a></span> +and red, for the robe and flesh of the cow over that furnished by the +bull.</p> + +<p>(4) The phenomenal stupidity of the animals themselves, and their +indifference to man.</p> + +<p>(5) The perfection of modern breech-loading rifles and other sporting +fire-arms in general.</p> + +<p>Each of these causes acted against the buffalo with its fall force, to +offset which there was <i>not even one</i> restraining or preserving +influence, and it is not to be wondered at that the species went down +before them. Had any one of these conditions been eliminated the result +would have been reached far less quickly. Had the buffalo, for example, +possessed one-half the fighting qualities of the grizzly bear he would +have fared very differently, but his inoffensiveness and lack of courage +almost leads one to doubt the wisdom of the economy of nature so far as +it relates to him.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="ii_methods_of_slaughter" id="ii_methods_of_slaughter"></a>II. Methods of Slaughter.</h2> + + +<p><a name="ii_ii_1" id="ii_ii_1"></a>1. <i>The still-hunt.</i>—Of all the deadly methods of buffalo slaughter, +the still-hunt was the deadliest. Of all the methods that were +unsportsmanlike, unfair, ignoble, and utterly reprehensible, this was in +every respect the lowest and the worst. Destitute of nearly every +element of the buoyant excitement and spice of danger that accompanied +genuine buffalo hunting on horseback, the still-hunt was mere butchery +of the tamest and yet most cruel kind. About it there was none of the +true excitement of the chase; but there was plenty of greedy eagerness +to “down” as many “head” as possible every day, just as there is in +every slaughter-house where the killers are paid so much per head. +Judging from all accounts, it was about as exciting and dangerous work +as it would be to go out now and shoot cattle on the Texas or Montana +ranges. The probabilities are, however, that shooting Texas cattle would +be the most dangerous; for, instead of running from a man on foot, as +the buffalo used to do, range cattle usually charge down upon him, from +motives of curiosity, perhaps, and not infrequently place his life in +considerable jeopardy.</p> + +<p>The buffalo owes his extermination very largely to his own unparalleled +stupidity; for nothing else could by any possibility have enabled the +still-hunters to accomplish what they did in such an incredibly short +time. So long as the chase on horseback was the order of the day, it +ordinarily required the united efforts of from fifteen to twenty-five +hunters to kill a thousand buffalo in a single season; but a single +still-hunter, with a long-range breech-loader, who knew how to make a +“sneak” and get “a stand on a bunch,” often succeeded in killing from +one to three thousand in one season by his own unaided efforts. Capt. +Jack Brydges, of Kansas, who was one of the first to begin the final +slaughter of the southern herd, killed, by contract, one thousand one +hundred and forty-two buffaloes in six weeks.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_466" id="page_466">[Pg 466]</a></span></p> +<p>So long as the buffalo remained in large herds their numbers gave each +individual a feeling of dependence upon his fellows and of general +security from harm, even in the presence of strange phenomena which he +could not understand. When he heard a loud report and saw a little cloud +of white smoke rising from a gully, a clump of sage-brash, or the top of +a ridge, 200 yards away, he wondered what it meant, and held himself in +readiness to follow his leader in case she should run away. But when the +leader of the herd, usually the oldest cow, fell bleeding upon the +ground, and no other buffalo promptly assumed the leadership of the +herd, instead of acting independently and fleeing from the alarm, he +merely did as he saw the others do, and waited his turn to be shot. +Latterly, however, when the herds were totally broken up, when the few +survivors were scattered in every direction, and it became a case of +every buffalo for himself, they became wild and wary, ever ready to +start off at the slightest alarm, and run indefinitely. Had they shown +the same wariness seventeen years ago that the survivors have manifested +during the last three or four years, there would now be a hundred +thousand head alive instead of only about three hundred in a wild and +unprotected state.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the merciless war that had been waged against the +buffalo for over a century by both whites and Indians, and the steady +decrease of its numbers, as well as its range, there were several +million head on foot, not only up to the completion of the Union Pacific +Railway, but as late as the year 1870. Up to that time the killing done +by white men had been chiefly for the sake of meat, the demand for robes +was moderate, and the Indians took annually less than one hundred +thousand for trading. Although half a million buffaloes were killed by +Indians, half-breeds, and whites, the natural increase was so very +considerable as to make it seem that the evil day of extermination was +yet far distant.</p> + +<p>But by a coincidence which was fatal to the buffalo, with the building +of three lines of railway through the most populous buffalo country +there came a demand for robes and hides, backed up by an unlimited +supply of new and marvellously accurate breech-loading rifles and fixed +ammunition. And then followed a wild rush of hunters to the buffalo +country, eager to destroy as many head as possible in the shortest time. +For those greedy ones the chase on horseback was “too slow” and too +unfruitful. That was a retail method of killing, whereas they wanted to +kill by wholesale. From their point of view, the still-hunt or “sneak” +hunt was the method <i>par excellence</i>. If they could have obtained +Gatling guns with which to mow down a whole herd at a time, beyond a +doubt they would have gladly used them.</p> + +<p>The still-hunt was seen at its very worst in the years 1871, 1872, and +1873, on the southern buffalo range, and ten years later at its best in +Montana, on the northern. Let us first consider it at its best, which in +principle was bad enough.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_467" id="page_467">[Pg 467]</a></span></p> + +<p>The great rise in the price of robes which followed the blotting out of +the great southern herd at once put buffalo-hunting on a much more +comfortable and respectable business basis in the North than it had ever +occupied in the South, where prices had all along been phenomenally low.</p> + +<p>In Montana it was no uncommon thing for a hunter to invest from $1,000 +to $2,000 in his “outfit” of horses, wagons, weapons, ammunition, +provisions, and sundries.</p> + +<p>One of the men who accompanied the Smithsonian Expedition for Buffalo, +Mr. James McNaney, of Miles City, Montana, was an ex-buffalo banter, who +had spent three seasons on the northern range, killing buffalo for their +robes, and his standing as a hunter was of the best. A brief description +of his outfit and its work during its last season on the range +(1882-’83) may fairly be taken as a typical illustration of the life and +work of the still-hunter at its best. The only thing against it was the +extermination of the buffalo.</p> + +<p>During the winters of 1880 and 1881 Mr. McNaney had served in Maxwell’s +outfit as a hunter, working by the month, but his success in killing was +such that he decided to work the third year on his own account. Although +at that time only seventeen years of age, he took an elder brother as a +partner, and purchased an outfit in Miles City, of which the following +were the principal items: Two wagons, 2 four-horse teams, 2 +saddle-horses, 2 wall-tents, 1 cook-stove with pipe, 1 40-90 Sharp’s +rifle (breech-loading), 1 45-70 Sharps rifle (breech-loading), 1 45-120 +Sharps rifle (breech-loading), 50 pounds gunpowder, 550 pounds lead, +4,500 primers, 600 brass shells, 4 sheets patch-paper, 60 Wilson +skinning knives, 3 butcher’s steels, 1 portable grindstone, flour, +bacon, baking-powder, coffee, sugar, molasses, dried apples, canned +vegetables, beans, etc., in quantity.</p> + +<p>The entire cost of the outfit was about $1,400. Two men were hired for +the season at $50 per month, and the party started from Miles City on +November 10, which was considered a very late start. The usual time of +setting out for the range was about October 1.</p> + +<p>The outfit went by rail northeastward to Terry, and from thence across +country south and east about 100 miles, around the head of O’Fallon +Creek to the head of Beaver Creek, a tributary of the Little Missouri. A +good range was selected, without encroachment upon the domains of the +hunters already in the field, and the camp was made near the bank of the +creek, close to a supply of wood and water, and screened from distant +observation by a circle of hills and ridges. The two rectangular +wall-tents were set up end to end, with the cook-stove in the middle, +where the ends came together. In one tent the cooking and eating was +done, and the other contained the beds.</p> + +<p>It was planned that the various members of the party should cook turn +about, a week at a time, but one of them soon developed such a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_468" id="page_468">[Pg 468]</a></span>rare and +conspicuous talent for bread-making and general cookery that he was +elected by acclamation to cook during the entire season. To the other +three members fell the hunting. Each man hunted separately from the +others, and skinned all the animals that his rifle brought down.</p> + +<p>There were buffalo on the range when the hunters arrived, and the +killing began at once. At daylight the still-hunter sallied forth on +foot, carrying in his hand his huge Sharps rifle, weighing from 16 to 19 +pounds, with from seventy-five to one hundred loaded cartridges in his +two belts or his pockets. At his side, depending from his belt, hung his +“hunter’s companion,” a flat leather scabbard, containing a ripping +knife, a skinning knife, and a butcher’s steel upon which to sharpen +them. The total weight carried was very considerable, seldom less than +36 pounds, and often more.</p> + +<p>Inasmuch as it was highly important to move camp as seldom as possible +in the course of a season’s work, the hunter exercised the greatest +precaution in killing his game, and had ever before his mind the +necessity of doing his killing without frightening away the survivors.</p> + +<p>With ten thousand buffaloes on their range, it was considered the height +of good luck to find a “bunch” of fifty head in a secluded “draw” or +hollow, where it was possible to “make a kill” without disturbing the +big herd.</p> + +<p>The still-hunter usually went on foot, for when buffaloes became so +scarce as to make it necessary for him to ride his occupation was +practically gone. At the time I speak of, the hunter seldom had to walk +more than 3 miles from camp to find buffalo, in case there were any at +all on his range, and it was usually an advantage to be without a horse. +From the top of a ridge or high butte the country was carefully scanned, +and if several small herds were in sight the one easiest to approach was +selected as the one to attack. It was far better to find a herd lying +down or quietly grazing, or sheltering from a cold wind, than to find it +traveling, for while a hard run of a mile or two often enabled the +hunter to “head off” a moving herd and kill a certain number of animals +out of it, the net results were never half so satisfactory as with herds +absolutely at rest.</p> + +<p>Having decided upon an attack, the hunter gets to leeward of his game, +and approaches it according to the nature of the ground. If it is in a +hollow, he secures a position at the top of the nearest ridge, as close +as he can get. If it is in a level “flat,” he looks for a gully up which +he can skulk until within good rifle-shot. If there is no gully, he may +be obliged to crawl half a mile on his hands and knees, often through +snow or amongst beds of prickly pear, taking advantage of even such +scanty cover as sage-brush affords. Some Montana still-hunters adopted +the method of drawing a gunny-sack over the entire upper half of the +body, with holes cut for the eyes and arms, which simple but +unpicturesque arrangement often enabled the hunter to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_469" id="page_469">[Pg 469]</a></span>approach his +game much more easily and more closely than would otherwise have been +possible.</p> + +<p><a name="still" id="still"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/017.jpg" + alt="STILL-HUNTING BUFFALOES ON THE NORTHERN RANGE." title="STILL-HUNTING BUFFALOES ON THE NORTHERN RANGE." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Still-hunting Buffaloes on the Northern Range.</span><br />From a +painting by J. H. Moser, in the National Museum.</h4> + +<p>Having secured a position within from 100 to 250 yards of his game +(often the distance was much greater), the hunter secures a comfortable +rest for his huge rifle, all the time keeping his own person thoroughly +hidden from view, estimates the distance, carefully adjusts his sights, +and begins business. If the herd is moving, the animal in the lead is +the first one shot, close behind the fore leg and about a foot above the +brisket, which sends the ball through the lungs. If the herd is at rest, +the oldest cow is always supposed to be the leader, and she is the one +to kill first. The noise startles the buffaloes, they stare at the +little cloud of white smoke and feel inclined to run, but seeing their +leader hesitate they wait for her. She, when struck, gives a violent +start forward, but soon stops, and the blood begins to run from her +nostrils in two bright crimson streams. In a couple of minutes her body +sways unsteadily, she staggers, tries hard to keep her feet, but soon +gives a lurch sidewise and falls. Some of the other members of the herd +come around her and stare and sniff in wide-eyed wonder, and one of the +more wary starts to lead the herd away. But before she takes half a +dozen steps “bang!” goes the hidden rifle again, and her leadership is +ended forever. Her fall only increases the bewilderment of the survivors +over a proceeding which to them is strange and unaccountable, because +the danger is not visible. They cluster around the fallen ones, sniff at +the warm blood, bawl aloud in wonderment, and do everything but run +away.</p> + +<p>The policy of the hunter is to not fire too rapidly, but to attend +closely to business, and every time a buffalo attempts to make off, +shoot it down. One shot per minute was a moderate rate of firing, but +under pressure of circumstances two per minute could be discharged with +deliberate precision. With the most accurate hunting rifle ever made, a +“dead rest,” and a large mark practically motionless, it was no wonder +that nearly every shot meant a dead buffalo. The vital spot on a buffalo +which stands with its side to the hunter is about a foot in diameter, +and on a full-grown bull is considerably more. Under such conditions as +the above, which was called getting “a stand,” the hunter nurses his +victims just as an angler plays a big fish with light tackle, and in the +most methodical manner murders them one by one, either until the last +one falls, his cartridges are all expended, or the stupid brutes come to +their senses and run away. Occasionally the poor fellow was troubled by +having his rifle get too hot to use, but if a snow-bank was at hand he +would thrust the weapon into it without ceremony to cool it off.</p> + +<p>A success in getting a stand meant the slaughter of a good-sized herd. A +hunter whom I met in Montana, Mr. Harry Andrews, told me that he once +fired one hundred and fifteen shots from one spot and killed sixty-three +buffalo in less than an hour. The highest number Mr. McNaney ever knew +of being killed in one stand was ninety-one head, but <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_470" id="page_470">[Pg 470]</a></span>Colonel Dodge +once counted one hundred and twelve carcasses of buffalo “inside of a +semicircle of 200 yards radius, all of which were killed by one man from +the same spot, and in less than three-quarters of an hour.”</p> + +<p>The “kill” being completed, the hunter then addressed himself to the +task of skinning his victims. The northern hunters were seldom guilty of +the reckless carelessness and lack of enterprise in the treatment of +robes which at one time was so prominent a feature of work on the +southern range. By the time white men began to hunt for robes on the +northern range, buffalo were becoming comparatively scarce, and robes +were worth from $2 to $4 each. The fur-buyers had taught the hunters, +with the potent argument of hard cash, that a robe carefully and neatly +taken off, stretched, and kept reasonably free from blood and dirt, was +worth more money in the market than one taken off in a slovenly manner, +and contrary to the nicer demands of the trade. After 1880, buffalo on +the northern range were skinned with considerable care, and amongst the +robe-hunters not one was allowed to become a loss when it was possible +to prevent it. Every full-sized cow robe was considered equal to $3.50 +in hard cash, and treated accordingly. The hunter, or skinner, always +stretched every robe out on the ground to its fullest extent while it +was yet warm, and cut the initials of his employer in the thin +subcutaneous muscle which always adhered to the inside of the skin. A +warm skin is very elastic, and when stretched upon the ground the hair +holds it in shape until it either dries or freezes, and so retains its +full size. On the northern range skins were so valuable that many a +dispute arose between rival outfits over the ownership of a dead +buffalo, some of which produced serious results.</p> + +<p><a name="ii_ii_2" id="ii_ii_2"></a>2. <i>The chase on horseback or “running buffalo.”</i>—Next to the +still-hunt the method called “running buffalo” was the most fatal to the +race, and the one most universally practiced. To all hunters, save +greedy white men, the chase on horseback yielded spoil sufficient for +every need, and it also furnished sport of a superior kind—manly, +exhilarating, and well spiced with danger. Even the horses shared the +excitement and eagerness of their riders.</p> + +<p>So long as the weapons of the Indian consisted only of the bow and arrow +and the spear, he was obliged to kill at close quarters or not at all. +And even when fire-arms were first placed in his hands their caliber was +so small, the charge so light, and the Indian himself so poor a marksman +at long range, that his best course was still to gallop alongside the +herd on his favorite “buffalo horse” and kill at the shortest possible +range. From all accounts, the Red River half-breeds, who hunted almost +exclusively with fire-arms, never dreamed of the deadly still hunt, but +always killed their game by “running” it.</p> + +<p>In former times even the white men of the plains did the most of their +buffalo hunting on horseback, using the largest-sized Colt’s revolver, +sometimes one in each hand, until the repeating-rifle made its <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_471" id="page_471">[Pg 471]</a></span> +appearance, which in a great measure displaced the revolver in running +buffalo. But about that time began the mad warfare for “robes” and +“hides,” and the only fair and sportsmanlike method of hunting was +declared too slow for the greedy buffalo-skinners.</p> + +<p>Then came the cold-blooded butchery of the still-hunt. From that time on +the buffalo as a game animal steadily lost caste. It soon came to be +universally considered that there was no sport in hunting buffalo. True +enough of still-hunting, where the hunter sneaks up and shoots them down +one by one at such long range the report of his big rifle does not even +frighten them away. So far as sportsmanlike fairness is concerned, that +method was not one whit more elevated than killing game by poison.</p> + +<p>Bat the chase on horseback was a different thing. Its successful +prosecution demanded a good horse, a bold rider, a firm seat, and +perfect familiarity with weapons. The excitement of it was intense, the +dangers not to be despised, and, above all, the buffalo had a fair show +for his life, or partially so, at least. The mode of attack is easily +described.</p> + +<p>Whenever the hunters discovered a herd of buffalo, they usually got to +leeward of it and quietly rode forward in a body, or stretched out in a +regular skirmish line, behind the shelter of a knoll, perhaps, until +they had approached the herd as closely as could be done without +alarming it. Usually the unsuspecting animals, with a confidence due +more to their great numbers than anything else, would allow a party of +horsemen to approach within from 200 to 400 yards of their flankers, and +then they would start off on a slow trot. The hunters then put spurs to +their horses and dashed forward to overtake the herd as quickly as +possible. Once up with it, each hunter chooses the best animal within +his reach, chases him until his flying steed carries him close +alongside, and then the arrow or the bullet is sent into his vitals. The +fatal spot is from 12 to 18 inches in circumference, and lies +immediately back of the fore leg, with its lowest point on a line with +the elbow.</p> + +<p>This, the true chase of the buffalo, was not only exciting, but +dangerous. It often happened that the hunter found himself surrounded by +the flying herd, and in a cloud of dust, so that neither man nor horse +could see the ground before them. Under such circumstances fatal +accidents to both men and horses were numerous. It was not an uncommon +thing for half-breeds to shoot each other in the excitement of the +chase; and, while now and then a wounded bull suddenly turned upon his +pursuer and overthrew him, the greatest number of casualties were from +falls.</p> + +<p>Of the dangers involved in running buffalo Colonel Dodge writes as +follows:<a name="fnanchor_52_52" id="fnanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<p>“The danger is not so much from the buffalo, which rarely makes an +effort to injure his pursuer, as from the fact that neither man nor +horse <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_472" id="page_472">[Pg 472]</a></span>can see the ground, which may be rough and broken, or perforated +with prairie-dog or gopher holes. This danger is so imminent, that a man +who runs into a herd of buffalo may be said to take his life in his +hand. I have never known a man hurt by a buffalo in such a chase. I have +known of at least six killed, and a very great many more or less +injured, some very severely, by their horses falling with them.”</p> + +<p>On this point Catlin declares that to engage in running buffalo is “at +the hazard of every bone in one’s body, to feel the fine and thrilling +exhilaration of the chase for a moment, and then as often to upbraid and +blame himself for his folly and imprudence.”</p> + +<p>Previous to my first experience in “running buffalo” I had entertained a +mortal dread of ever being called upon to ride a chase across a +prairie-dog town. The mouth of a prairie-dog’s burrow is amply large to +receive the hoof of a horse, and the angle at which the hole descends +into the earth makes it just right for the leg of a running horse to +plunge into up to the knee and bring down both horse and rider +instantly; the former with a broken leg, to say the least of it. If the +rider sits loosely, and promptly resigns his seat, he will go flying +forward, as if thrown from a catapult, for 20 feet or so, perhaps to +escape with a few broken bones, and perhaps to have his neck broken, or +his skull fractured on the hard earth. If he sticks tightly to his +saddle, his horse is almost certain to fall upon him, and perhaps kill +him. Judge, then, my feelings when the first bunch of buffalo we started +headed straight across the largest prairie-dog town I had ever seen up +to that time. And not only was the ground honey-combed with gaping round +holes, but it was also crossed here and there by treacherous ditch-like +gullies, cut straight down into the earth to an uncertain depth, and so +narrow as to be invisible until it was almost time to leap across them.</p> + +<p>But at such a time, with the game thundering along a few rods in +advance, the hunter thinks of little else except getting up to it. He +looks as far ahead as possible, and helps his horse to avoid dangers, +but to a great extent the horse must guide himself. The rider plies his +spurs and looks eagerly forward, almost feverish with excitement and +eagerness, but at the same time if he is wise he <i>expects</i> a fall, and +holds himself in readiness to take the ground with as little damage as +he can.</p> + +<p>Mr. Catlin gives a most graphic description of a hunting accident, which +may fairly be quoted in full as a type of many such. I must say that I +fully sympathize with M. Chardon in his estimate of the hardness of the +ground he fell upon, for I have a painful recollection of a fall I had +from which I arose with the settled conviction that the ground in +Montana is the hardest in the world! It seemed more like falling upon +cast-iron than prairie turf.</p> + +<p>“I dashed along through the thundering mass as they swept away over the +plain, scarcely able to tell whether I was on a buffalo’s back or my +horse, hit and hooked and jostled about, till at length I found myself +alongside my game, when I gave him a shot as I passed him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_473" id="page_473">[Pg 473]</a></span></p> + +<p><a name="chase" id="chase"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/018.jpg" + alt="THE CHASE ON HORSEBACK." title="THE CHASE ON HORSEBACK." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">The Chase on Horseback.</span><br />From a painting in the National +Museum by George Catlin.</h4> + +<p>I saw guns flash about me in several directions, but I heard them +not. Amidst the trampling throng Mons. Chardon had wounded a stately +bull, and at this moment was passing him with his piece leveled for +another shot. They were both at full speed and I also, within the +reach of the muzzle of my gun, when the bull instantly turned, +receiving the horse upon his horns, and the ground received poor +Chardon, who made a frog’s leap of some 20 feet or more over the +bull’s back and almost under my horse’s heels. I wheeled my horse as +soon as possible and rode back where lay poor Chardon, gasping to +start his breath again, and within a few paces of him his huge +victim, with his heels high in the air, and the horse lying across +him. I dismounted instantly, but Chardon was raising himself on his +hands, with his eyes and mouth full of dirt, and feeling for his gun, +which lay about 30 feet in advance of him. ‘Heaven spare you! are you +hurt, Chardon?’ ‘Hi-hic—hic—hic—hic—no;—hic—no—no, I believe +not. Oh, this is not much, Mons. Cataline—this is nothing new—but +this is a d—d hard piece of ground here—hic—oh! hic!’ At this the +poor fellow fainted, but in a few moments arose, picked up his gun, +took his horse by the bit, which then opened <i>its</i> eyes, and with a +<i>hic</i> and a ugh—<i>ughk!</i>—sprang upon its feet, shook off the dirt, +and here we were, all upon our legs again, save the bull, whose fate +had been more sad than that of either.”<a name="fnanchor_53_53" id="fnanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>The following passage from Mr. Alexander Ross’s graphic description of a +great hunt,<a name="fnanchor_54_54" id="fnanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> in which about four hundred hunters made an onslaught +upon a herd, affords a good illustration of the dangers in running +buffalo:</p> + +<p>“On this occasion the surface was rocky and full of badger-holes. +Twenty-three horses and riders were at one moment all sprawling on the +ground; one horse, gored by a bull, was killed on the spot; two more +were disabled by the fall; one rider broke his shoulder-blade; another +burst his gun and lost three of his fingers by the accident; and a third +was struck on the knee by an exhausted ball. These accidents will not be +thought overnumerous, considering the result, for in the evening no less +than thirteen hundred and seventy-five tongues were brought into camp.”</p> + +<p>It really seems as if the horses of the plains entered willfully and +knowingly into the war on the doomed herds. But for the willingness and +even genuine eagerness with which the “buffalo horses” of both white men +and Indians entered into the chase, hunting on horseback would have been +attended with almost insurmountable difficulties, and the results would +have been much less fatal to the species. According to all accounts the +horses of the Indians and half-breeds were far better trained than those +of their white rivals, no doubt owing to the fact that the use of the +bow, which required the free use of both hands, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_474" id="page_474">[Pg 474]</a></span>was only possible when +the horse took the right coarse of his own free will or else could be +guided by the pressure of the knees. If we may believe the historians of +that period, and there is not the slightest reason to doubt them, the +“buffalo horses” of the Indians displayed almost as much intelligence +and eagerness in the chase as did their human riders. Indeed, in +“running buffalo” with only the bow and arrow, nothing but the willing +co-operation of the horse could have possibly made this mode of hunting +either satisfactory or successful.</p> + +<p>In Lewis and Clarke’s Travels, volume II, page 387, appears the +following record:</p> + +<p>“He [Sergeant Pryor] had found it almost impossible with two men to +drive on the remaining horses, for as soon as they discovered a herd of +buffaloes the loose horses immediately set off in pursuit of them, and +surrounded the buffalo herd with almost as much skill as their riders +could have done. At last he was obliged to send one horseman forward and +drive all the buffaloes from the route.”</p> + +<p>The Hon. H. H. Sibley, who once accompanied the Red River half-breeds on +their annual hunt, relates the following<a name="fnanchor_55_55" id="fnanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a>:</p> + +<p>“One of the hunters fell from his saddle, and was unable to overtake his +horse, which continued the chase as if he of himself could accomplish +great things, so much do these animals become imbued with a passion for +this sport! On another occasion a half-breed left his favorite steed at +the camp, to enable him to recruit his strength, enjoining upon his wife +the necessity of properly securing the animal, which was not done. Not +relishing the idea of being left behind, he started after us and soon +was alongside, and thus he continued to keep pace with the hunters in +their pursuit of the buffalo, seeming to await with impatience the fall +of some of them to the earth. The chase ended, he came neighing to his +master, whom he soon singled out, although the men were dispersed here +and there for a distance of miles.”</p> + +<p>Col. R. I. Dodge, in his Plains of the Great West, page 129, describes a +meeting with two Mexican buffalo-hunters whose horses were so fleet and +so well trained that whenever a herd of buffalo came in sight, instead +of shooting their game wherever they came up with it, the one having the +best horse would dash into the herd, cut out a fat two-year old, and, +with the help of his partner, then actually drive it to their camp +before shooting it down. “They had a fine lot of meat and a goodly pile +of skins, and they said that every buffalo had been driven into camp and +killed as the one I saw. ‘It saves a heap of trouble packing the meat to +camp,’ said one of them, naively.”</p> + +<p>Probably never before in the history of the world, until civilized man +came in contact with the buffalo, did whole armies of men march out in +true military style, with officers, flags, chaplains, and rules of war, +and make war on wild animals. No wonder the buffalo has been +exterminated. So long as they existed north of the Missouri in any +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_475" id="page_475">[Pg 475]</a></span>considerable number, the half-breeds and Indians of the Manitoba Red +River settlement used to gather each year in a great army, and go with +carts to the buffalo range. On these great hunts, which took place every +year from about the 15th of June to the 1st of September, vast numbers +of buffalo were killed, and the supply was finally exhausted. As if +Heaven had decreed the extirpation of the species, the half-breed +hunters, like their white robe-hunting rivals farther south, always +killed <i>cows</i> in preference to bulls so long as a choice was possible, +the very course best calculated to exterminate any species in the +shortest possible time.</p> + +<p>The army of half-breeds and Indians which annually went forth from the +Red River settlement to make war on the buffalo was often far larger +than the army with which Cortez subdued a great empire. As early as 1846 +it had become so great, that it was necessary to divide it into two +divisions, one of which, the White Horse Plain division, was accustomed +to go west by the Assinniboine River to the “rapids crossing-place,” and +from there in a southwesterly direction. The Red River division went +south to Pembina, and did the most of their hunting in Dakota. The two +divisions sometimes met (says Professor Hind), but not intentionally. In +1849 a Mr. Flett took a census of the White Horse Plain division, in +Dakota Territory, and found that it contained 603 carts, 700 +half-breeds, 200 Indians, 600 horses, 200 oxen, 400 dogs, and 1 cat.</p> + +<p>In his “Red River Settlement” Mr. Alexander Ross gives the following +census of the number of carts assembled in camp for the buffalo hunt at +five different-periods:</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h4><i>Number of carts assembled for the first trip.</i></h4> +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="number carts"> +<tr><td align="left">In <tt>1820</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>540</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">In <tt>1825</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>680</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">In <tt>1830</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>820</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">In <tt>1835</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>970</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">In <tt>1840</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>1,210</tt></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><br /></p> + +<p>The expedition which was accompanied by Rev. Mr. Belcourt, a Catholic +priest, whose account is set forth in the Hon. Mr. Sibley’s paper on the +buffalo,<a name="fnanchor_56_56" id="fnanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> was a comparatively small one, which started from Pembina, +and very generously took pains not to spoil the prospects of the great +Red River division, which was expected to take the field at the same +time. This, therefore, was a small party, like others which had already +reached the range; but it contained 213 carts, 55 hunters and their +families, making 60 lodges in all. This party killed 1,776 cows (bulls +not counted, many of which were killed, though “not even a tongue was +taken”), which yielded 228 bags of pemmican, 1,213 bales of dried meat, +166 sacks of tallow, and 556 bladders full of marrow. But this was very +moderate slaughter, being about 33 buffalo to each family. Even as late +as 1872, when buffalo were getting scarce, Mr. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_476" id="page_476">[Pg 476]</a></span>Grant<a name="fnanchor_57_57" id="fnanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> met a +half-breed family on the Qu’Appelle, consisting of man, wife, and seven +children, whose six carts were laden with the meat and robes yielded by +<i>sixty</i> buffaloes; that number representing this one hunter’s share of +the spoils of the hunt.</p> + +<p>To afford an idea of the truly military character of those Red River +expeditions, I have only to quote a page from Prof. Henry Youle +Hind:<a name="fnanchor_58_58" id="fnanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> + +<p>“After the start from the settlement has been well made, and all +stragglers or tardy hunters have arrived, a great council is held and a +president elected. A number of captains are nominated by the president +and people jointly. The captains then proceed to appoint their own +policemen, the number assigned to each not exceeding ten. Their duties +are to see that the laws of the hunt are strictly carried out. In 1840, +if a man ran a buffalo without permission before the general hunt began, +his saddle and bridle were cut to pieces for the first offense; for the +second offense his clothes were cut off his back. At the present day +these punishments are changed to a fine of 20 shillings for the first +offense. No gun is permitted to be fired when in the buffalo country +before the ‘race’ begins. A priest sometimes goes with the hunt, and +mass is then celebrated in the open prairies.</p> + +<p>“At night the carts are placed in the form of a circle, with the horses +and cattle inside the ring, and it is the duty of the captains and their +policemen to see that this is rightly done. All laws are proclaimed in +camp, and relate to the hunt alone. All camping orders are given by +signal, a flag being carried by the guides, who are appointed by +election. Each guide has his tarn of one day, and no man can pass a +guide on duty without subjecting himself to a fine of 5 shillings. No +hunter can leave the camp to return home without permission, and no one +is permitted to stir until any animal or property of value supposed to +be lost is recovered. The policemen, at the order of their captains, can +seize any cart at night-fall and place it where they choose for the +public safety, but on the following morning they are compelled to bring +it back to the spot from which they moved it the previous evening. This +power is very necessary, in order that the horses may not be stampeded +by night attacks of the Sioux or other Indian tribes at war with the +half-breeds. A heavy fine is imposed in case of neglect in extinguishing +fires when the camp is broken up in the morning.</p> + +<p>“In sight of buffalo all the hunters are drawn up in line, the +president, captains, and police being a few yards in advance, +restraining the impatient hunters. ‘Not yet! Not yet!’ is the subdued +whisper of the president. The approach to the herd is cautiously made. +‘Now!’ the president exclaims; and as the word leaves his lips the +charge is made, and in a few minutes the excited half-breeds are amongst +the bewildered buffalo.”</p> + +<p>“After witnessing one buffalo hunt,” says Prof. John Macoun, “I can not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_477" id="page_477">[Pg 477]</a></span>blame the half-breed and the Indian for leaving the farm and wildly +making for the plains when it is reported that buffalo have crossed the +border.”</p> + +<p>The “great fall hunt” was a regular event with about all the Indian +tribes living within striking distance of the buffalo, in the course of +which great numbers of buffalo were killed, great quantities of meat +dried and made into pemmican, and all the skins taken were tanned in +various ways to suit the many purposes they were called upon to serve.</p> + +<p>Mr. Francis La Flesche informs me that during the presence of the +buffalo in western Nebraska and until they were driven south by the +Sioux, the fall hunt of the Omahas was sometimes participated in by +three hundred lodges, or about 3,000 people all told, six hundred of +whom were warriors, and each of whom generally killed about ten +buffaloes. The laws of the hunt were very strict and inexorable. In +order that all participants should have an equal chance, it was decreed +that any hunter caught “still-hunting” should be soundly flogged. On one +occasion an Indian was discovered in the act, but not caught. During the +chase which was made to capture him many arrows were fired at him by the +police, but being better mounted than his pursuers he escaped, and kept +clear of the camp during the remainder of the hunt. On another occasion +an Omaha, guilty of the same offense, was chased, and in his effort to +escape his horse fell with him in a coulée and broke one of his legs. In +spite of the sad plight of the Omaha, his pursuers came up and flogged +him, just as if nothing had happened.</p> + +<p>After the invention of the Colt’s revolver, and breech-loading rifles +generally, the chase on horseback speedily became more fatal to the +bison than it ever had been before. With such weapons, it was possible +to gallop into the midst of a flying herd and, during the course of a +run of 2 or 3 miles, discharge from twelve to forty shots at a range of +only a few yards, or even a few feet. In this kind of hunting the heavy +Navy revolver was the favorite weapon, because it could be held in one +hand and fired with far greater precision than could a rifle held in +both hands. Except in the hands of an expert, the use of the rifle was +limited, and often attended with risk to the hunter; but the revolver +was good for all directions; it could very often be used with deadly +effect where a rifle could not have been used at all, and, moreover, it +left the bridle-hand free. Many cavalrymen and hunters were able to use +a revolver with either hand, or one in each hand. Gen. Lew. Wallace +preferred the Smith and Wesson in 1867, which he declared to be “the +best of revolvers” then.</p> + +<p>It was his marvelous skill in shooting buffaloes with a rifle, from the +back of a galloping horse, that earned for the Hon. W. F. Cody the +sobriquet by which he is now familiarly known to the world—“Buffalo +Bill.” To the average hunter on horseback the galloping of the horse +makes it easy for him to aim at the heart of a buffalo and shoot clear +over its back. No other shooting is so difficult, or requires such +consummate<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_478" id="page_478">[Pg 478]</a></span> dexterity as shooting with any kind of a gun, especially a +rifle, from the back of a running horse. Let him who doubts this +statement try it for himself and he will doubt no more. It was in the +chase of the buffalo on horseback, armed with a rifle, that “Buffalo +Bill” acquired the marvelous dexterity with the rifle which he has since +exhibited in the presence of the people of two continents. I regret that +circumstances have prevented my obtaining the exact figures of the great +kill of buffaloes that Mr. Cody once made in a single run, in which he +broke all previous records in that line, and fairly earned his title. In +1867 he entered into a contract with the Kansas Pacific Railway, then in +course of construction through western Kansas, at a monthly salary of +$500, to deliver all the buffalo meat that would be required by the army +of laborers engaged in building the road. In eighteen mouths he killed +4,280 buffaloes.</p> + +<p><a name="ii_ii_3" id="ii_ii_3"></a>3. <i>Impounding or Killing in Pens.</i>—At first thought it seems hard to +believe that it was ever possible for Indians to build pens and drive +wild buffaloes into them, as cowboys now corral their cattle, yet such +wholesale catches were of common occurrence among the Plains Crees of +the south Saskatchewan country, and the same general plan was pursued, +with slight modifications, by the Indians of the Assinniboine, +Blackfeet, and Gros Ventres, and other tribes of the Northwest. Like the +keddah elephant-catching operations in India, this plan was feasible +only in a partially wooded country, and where buffalo were so numerous +that their presence could be counted upon to a certainty. The “pound” +was simply a circular pen, having a single entrance; but being unable to +construct a gate of heavy timbers, such as is made to drop and close the +entrance to an elephant pen, the Indians very shrewdly got over the +difficulty by making the opening at the edge of a perpendicular bank 10 +or 12 feet high, easy enough for a buffalo to jump down, but impossible +for him to scale afterward. It is hardly probable that Indians who were +expert enough to attack and kill buffalo on foot would have been tempted +to undertake the labor that building a pound always involved, had it not +been for the wild excitement attending captures made in this way, and +which were shared to the fullest possible extent by warriors, women, and +children alike.</p> + +<p>The best description of this method which has come under our notice is +that of Professor Hind, who witnessed its practice by the Plains Crees, +on the headwaters of the Qu’Appelle River, in 1858. He describes the +pound he saw as a fence, constructed of the trunks of trees laced +together with green withes, and braced on the outside by props, +inclosing a circular space about 120 feet in diameter. It was placed in +a pretty dell between sand-hills, and leading from it in two diverging +rows (like the guiding wings of an elephant pen) were the two rows of +bushes which the Indians designate “dead men,” which serve to guide the +buffalo into the pound. The “dead men” extended a distance of 4 miles +into the prairie. They were placed about 50 feet apart, and the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_479" id="page_479">[Pg 479]</a></span>two +rows gradually diverged until at their extremities they were from 1½ +to 2 miles apart.</p> + +<p><a name="cree" id="cree"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/019.jpg" + alt="CREE INDIANS IMPOUNDING BUFFALOES." title="CREE INDIANS IMPOUNDING BUFFALOES." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Cree Indians Impounding Buffaloes.</span><br />Reproduced from Prof. +H. Y. Hind’s—“Red River, Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Expedition.”</h4> + +<p>“When the skilled hunters are about to bring in a herd of buffalo from +the prairie,” says Professor Hind, “they direct the course of the gallop +of the alarmed animals by confederates stationed in hollows or small +depressions, who, when the buffalo appear inclined to take a direction +leading from the space marked out by the ‘dead men,’ show themselves for +a moment and wave their robes, immediately hiding again. This serves to +turn the buffalo slightly in another direction, and when the animals, +having arrived between the rows of ‘dead men,’ endeavor to pass through +them, Indians stationed here and there behind a ‘dead man’ go through +the same operation, and thus keep the animals within the narrowing +limits of the converging lines. At the entrance to the pound there is a +strong trunk of a tree placed about a foot from the ground, and on the +inner side an excavation is made sufficiently deep to prevent the +buffalo from leaping back when once in the pound. As soon as the animals +have taken the fatal spring, they begin to gallop round and round the +ring fence, looking for a chance to escape, but with the utmost silence +women and children on the outside hold their robes before every orifice +until the whole herd is brought in; then they climb to the top of the +fence, and, with the hunters who have followed closely in the rear of +the buffalo, spear or shoot with bows and arrows or fire-arms at the +bewildered animals, rapidly becoming frantic with rage and terror, +within the narrow limits of the pound.</p> + +<p>“A dreadful scene of confusion and slaughter then begins; the oldest and +strongest animals crush and toss the weaker; the shouts and screams of +the excited Indians rise above the roaring of the bulls, the bellowing +of the cows, and the piteous moaning of the calves. The dying struggles +of so many huge and powerful animals crowded together create a revolting +and terrible scene, dreadful from the excess of its cruelty and waste of +life, but with occasional displays of wonderful brute strength and rage; +while man in his savage, untutored, and heathen state shows both in deed +and expression how little he is superior to the noble beasts he so +wantonly and cruelly destroys.”<a name="fnanchor_59_59" id="fnanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> + +<p>The last scene of the bloody tragedy is thus set forth a week later:</p> + +<p>“Within the circular fence ... lay, tossed in every conceivable +position, over two hundred dead buffalo. [The exact number was 240.] +From old bulls to calves of three months’ old, animals of every age were +huddled together in all the forced attitudes of violent death. Some lay +on their backs, with eyes starting from their heads and tongue thrust +out through clotted gore. Others were impaled on the horns of the old +and strong bulls. Others again, which had been tossed, were lying with +broken backs, two and three deep. One little calf hung suspended on the +horns of a bull which had impaled it in the wild race round and round +the pound. The Indians looked upon the dreadful and sickening <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_480" id="page_480">[Pg 480]</a></span>sight +with evident delight, and told how such and such a bull or cow had +exhibited feats of wonderful strength in the death-struggle. The flesh +of many of the cows had been taken from them, and was drying in the sun +on stages near the tents. It is needless to say that the odor was +overpowering, and millions of large blue flesh-flies, humming and +buzzing over the putrefying bodies, was not the least disgusting part of +the spectacle.”</p> + +<p>It is some satisfaction to know that when the first “run” was made, ten +days previous, the herd of two hundred buffaloes was no sooner driven +into the pound than a wary old bull espied a weak spot in the fence, +charged it at full speed, and burst through to freedom and the prairie, +followed by the entire herd.</p> + +<p>Strange as it may seem to-day, this wholesale method of destroying +buffalo was once practiced in Montana. In his memoir on “The American +Bison,” Mr. J. A. Allen states that as late as 1873, while journeying +through that Territory in charge of the Yellowstone Expedition, he +“several times met with the remains of these pounds and their converging +fences in the region above the mouth of the Big Horn River.” Mr. Thomas +Simpson states that in 1840 there were three camps of Assinniboine +Indians in the vicinity of Carlton House, each of which had its buffalo +pound into which they drove forty or fifty animals daily.</p> + +<p><a name="ii_ii_4" id="ii_ii_4"></a>4. <i>The “Surround.”</i>—During the last forty years the final +extermination of the buffalo has been confidently predicted by not only +the observing white man of the West, but also nearly all the Indians and +half-breeds who formerly depended upon this animal for the most of the +necessities, as well as luxuries, of life. They have seen the great +herds driven westward farther and farther, until the plains were left +tenantless, and hunger took the place of feasting on the choice tid-bits +of the chase. And is it not singular that during this period the Indian +tribes were not moved by a common impulse to kill sparingly, and by the +exercise of a reasonable economy in the chase to make the buffalo last +as long as possible.</p> + +<p>But apparently no such thoughts ever entered their minds, so far as +<i>they themselves</i> were concerned. They looked with jealous eyes upon the +white hunter, and considered him as much of a robber as if they had a +brand on every buffalo. It has been claimed by some authors that the +Indians killed with more judgment and more care for the future than did +the white man, but I fail to find any evidence that such was ever the +fact. They all killed wastefully, wantonly, and always about five times +as many head as were really necessary for food. It was always the same +old story, whenever a gang of Indians needed meat a whole herd was +slaughtered, the choicest portions of the finest animals were taken, and +about 75 per cent of the whole left to putrefy and fatten the wolves. +And now, as we read of the appalling slaughter, one can scarcely repress +the feeling of grim satisfaction that arises when we also read that many +of the ex-slaughterers are almost starving for the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_481" id="page_481">[Pg 481]</a></span>millions of pounds +of fat and juicy buffalo meat they wasted a few years ago. Verily, the +buffalo is in a great measure avenged already.</p> + +<p>The following extract from Mr. Catlin’s “North American Indians,”<a name="fnanchor_60_60" id="fnanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> I, +page 199-200, serves well to illustrate not only a very common and very +deadly Indian method of wholesale slaughter—the “surround”—but also +to show the senseless destructiveness of Indians even when in a state of +semi-starvation, which was brought upon them by similar acts of +improvidence and wastefulness.</p> + +<p>“The Minatarees, as well as the Mandans, had suffered for some months +past for want of meat, and had indulged in the most alarming fears that +the herds of buffalo were emigrating so far off from them that there was +great danger of their actual starvation, when it was suddenly announced +through the village one morning at an early hour that a herd of +buffaloes was in sight. A hundred or more young men mounted their +horses, with weapons in hand, and steered their course to the prairies. +* * *</p> + +<p>“The plan of attack, which in this country is familiarly called a +surround, was explicitly agreed upon, and the hunters, who were all +mounted on their ‘buffalo horses’ and armed with bows and arrows or long +lances, divided into two columns, taking opposite directions, and drew +themselves gradually around the herd at a mile or more distance from +them, thus forming a circle of horsemen at equal distances apart, who +gradually closed in upon them with a moderate pace at a signal given. +The unsuspecting herd at length ‘got the wind’ of the approaching enemy +and fled in a mass in the greatest confusion. To the point where they +were aiming to cross the line the horsemen were seen, at full speed, +gathering and forming in a column, brandishing their weapons, and +yelling in the most frightful manner, by which they turned the black and +rushing mass, which moved off in an opposite direction, where they were +again met and foiled in a similar manner, and wheeled back in utter +confusion; by which time the horsemen had closed in from all directions, +forming a continuous line around them, whilst the poor affrighted +animals were eddying about in a crowded and confused mass, hooking and +climbing upon each other, when the work of death commenced. I had rode +up in the rear and occupied an elevated position at a few rods’ +distance, from which I could (like the general of a battlefield) survey +from my horse’s back the nature and the progress of the grand <i>mêlée</i>, +but (unlike him) without the power of issuing a command or in any way +directing its issue.</p> + +<p>“In this grand turmoil [see illustration] a cloud of dust was soon +raised, which in parts obscured the throng where the hunters were +galloping their horses around and driving the whizzing arrows or their +long lances to the hearts of these noble animals; which in many +instances, becoming infuriated with deadly wounds in their sides, +erected their shaggy manes over their bloodshot eyes and furiously +plunged forward at the sides of their assailants’ horses, sometimes +goring them to death at a lunge and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_482" id="page_482">[Pg 482]</a></span>putting their dismounted riders to +flight for their lives. Sometimes their dense crowd was opened, and the +blinded horsemen, too intent on their prey amidst the cloud of dust, +were hemmed and wedged in amidst the crowding beasts, over whose backs +they were obliged to leap for security, leaving their horses to the fate +that might await them in the results of this wild and desperate war. +Many were the bulls that turned upon their assailants and met them with +desperate resistance, and many were the warriors who were dismounted and +saved themselves by the superior muscles of their legs; some who were +closely pursued by the bulls wheeled suddenly around, and snatching the +part of a buffalo robe from around their waists, threw it over the horns +and eyes of the infuriated beast, and darting by its side drove the +arrow or the lance to its heart; others suddenly dashed off upon the +prairie by the side of the affrighted animals which had escaped from the +throng, and closely escorting them for a few rods, brought down their +heart’s blood in streams and their huge carcasses upon the green and +enameled turf.</p> + +<p>“In this way this grand hunt soon resolved itself into a desperate +battle, <i>and in the space of fifteen minutes resulted in the total +destruction of the whole herd</i>, which in all their strength and fury +were doomed, like every beast and living thing else, to fall before the +destroying hands of mighty man.</p> + +<p>“I had sat in trembling silence upon my horse and witnessed this +extraordinary scene, which allowed not one of these animals to escape +out of my sight. Many plunged off upon the prairie for a distance, but +were overtaken and killed, and although I could not distinctly estimate +the number that were slain, yet I am sure that some hundreds of these +noble animals fell in this grand <i>mêlée</i>. * * * Amongst the poor +affrighted creatures that had occasionally dashed through the ranks of +their enemy and sought safety in flight upon the prairie (and in some +instances had undoubtedly gained it), I saw them stand awhile, looking +back, when they turned, and, as if bent on their own destruction, +retraced their steps, and mingled themselves and their deaths with those +of the dying throng. Others had fled to a distance on the prairies, and +for want of company, of friends or of foes, had stood and gazed on till +the battle-scene was over, seemingly taking pains to stay and hold their +lives in readiness for their destroyers until the general destruction +was over, when they fell easy victims to their weapons, making the +slaughter complete.”</p> + +<p>It is to be noticed that <i>every animal</i> of this entire herd of several +hundred was slain on the spot, and there is no room to doubt that at +least half (possibly much more) of the meat thus taken was allowed to +become a loss. People who are so utterly senseless as to wantonly +destroy their own source of food, as the Indians have done, certainly +deserve to starve.</p> + +<p>This “surround” method of wholesale slaughter was also practiced <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_483" id="page_483">[Pg 483]</a></span>by +the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Sioux, Pawnees, Ornabas, and probably many +other tribes.</p> + +<p><a name="surround" id="surround"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/020.jpg" + alt="THE SURROUND. From a painting in the National Museum by George Catlin." title="THE SURROUND. From a painting in the National Museum by George Catlin." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">The Surround.</span><br />From a painting in the National Museum by George Catlin.</h4> + +<p><a name="ii_ii_5" id="ii_ii_5"></a>5. <i>Decoying and Driving.</i>—Another method of slaughtering by wholesale +is thus described by Lewis and Clarke, I, 235. The locality indicated +was the Missouri River, in Montana, just above the mouth of Judith +River:</p> + +<p>“On the north we passed a precipice about 120 feet high, under which lay +scattered the fragments of at least one hundred carcasses of buffaloes, +although the water which had washed away the lower part of the hill, +must have carried off many of the dead. These buffaloes had been chased +down a precipice in a way very common on the Missouri, and by which vast +herds are destroyed in a moment. The mode of hunting is to select one of +the most active and fleet young men, who is disguised by a buffalo skin +round his body; the skin of the head with the ears and horns fastened on +his own head in such a way as to deceive the buffaloes. Thus dressed, he +fixes himself at a convenient distance between a herd of buffaloes and +any of the river precipices, which sometimes extend for some miles.</p> + +<p>“His companions in the mean time get in the rear and side of the herd, +and at a given signal show themselves, and advance towards the +buffaloes. They instantly take alarm, and, finding the hunters beside +them, they run toward the disguised Indian or decoy, who leads them on +at full speed toward the river, when, suddenly securing himself in some +crevice of the cliff which he had previously fixed on, the herd is left +on the brink of the precipice; it is then in vain for the foremost to +retreat or even to stop; they are pressed on by the hindmost rank, who, +seeing no danger but from the hunters, goad on those before them till +the whole are precipitated and the shore is strewed with their dead +bodies. Sometimes in this perilous seduction the Indian is himself +either trodden under foot by the rapid movements of the buffaloes, or, +missing his footing in the cliff, is urged down the precipice by the +falling herd. The Indians then select as much meat as they wish, and the +rest is abandoned to the wolves, and creates a most dreadful stench.”</p> + +<p>Harper’s Magazine, volume 38, page 147, contains the following from the +pen of Theo. E. Davis, in an article entitled “The Buffalo Range:”</p> + +<p>“As I have previously stated, the best hunting on the range is to be +found between the Platte and Arkansas Rivers. Here I have seen the +Indians have recourse to another method of slaughtering buffalo in a +very easy, but to me a cruel way, for where one buffalo is killed +several are sure to be painfully injured; but these, too, are soon +killed by the Indians, who make haste to lance or shoot the cripples.</p> + +<p>“The mode of hunting is somewhat as follows: A herd is discovered +grazing on the table-lands. Being thoroughly acquainted with the +country, the Indians are aware of the location of the nearest point +where the table land is broken abruptly by a precipice which descends a +hundred or more feet. Toward this ‘devil-jump’ the Indians head the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_484" id="page_484">[Pg 484]</a></span> +herd, which is at once driven pell mell to and over the precipice. +Meanwhile a number of Indians have taken their way by means of routes +known to them, and succeed in reaching the cañon through which the +crippled buffalo are running in all directions. These are quickly +killed, so that out of a very considerable band of buffalo but few +escape, many having been killed by the fall and others dispatched while +limping off. This mode of hunting is sometimes indulged in by +harum-scarum white men, but it is done more for deviltry than anything +else. I have never known of its practice by army officers or persons who +professed to hunt buffalo as a sport.”</p> + +<p><a name="ii_ii_6" id="ii_ii_6"></a>6. <i>Hunting on Snow-shoes.</i>—“In the dead of the winters,” says Mr. +Catlin,<a name="fnanchor_61_61" id="fnanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> “which are very long and severely cold in this country, +where horses can not be brought into the chase with any avail, the +Indian runs upon the surface of the snow by aid of his snow-shoes, which +buoy him up, while the great weight of the buffaloes sinks them down to +the middle of their sides, and, completely stopping their progress, +insures them certain and easy victims to the bow or lance of their +pursuers. The snow in these regions often lies during the winter to the +depth of 3 and 4 feet, being blown away from the tops and sides of the +hills in many places, which are left bare for the buffaloes to graze +upon, whilst it is drifted in the hollows and ravines to a very great +depth, and rendered almost entirely impassable to these huge animals, +which, when closely pursued by their enemies, endeavor to plunge through +it, but are soon wedged in and almost unable to move, where they fall an +easy prey to the Indian, who runs up lightly upon his snow-shoes and +drives his lance to their hearts. The skins are then stripped off, to be +sold to the fur traders, and the carcasses left to be devoured by the +wolves. [Owing to the fact that the winter’s supply of meat was procured +and dried in the summer and fall months, the flesh of all buffalo killed +in winter was allowed to become a total loss.] This is the season in +which the greatest number of these animals are destroyed for their +robes; they are most easily killed at this time, and their hair or fur, +being longer and more abundant, gives greater value to the robe.”</p> + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="iii_progress_of_the_extermination" id="iii_progress_of_the_extermination"></a>III. Progress of the Extermination.</h2> + +<h3 class="sc"><a name="ii_iii_a" id="ii_iii_a"></a>A. The Period of Desultory Destruction, from 1730 to 1830.</h3> + +<p><a name="indians" id="indians"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/021.jpg" + alt="INDIANS ON SNOW-SHOES HUNTING BUFFALOES." title="INDIANS ON SNOW-SHOES HUNTING BUFFALOES." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Indians on Snow-shoes Hunting Buffaloes.</span><br />From a painting +in the National Museum by George Catlin.</h4> + +<p>The disappearance of the buffalo from all the country east of the +Mississippi was one of the inevitable results of the advance of +civilization. To the early pioneers who went forth into the wilderness +to wrestle with nature for the necessities of life, this valuable animal +might well have seemed a gift direct from the hand of Providence. During +the first few years of the early settler’s life in a new country, the +few domestic animals he had brought with him were far too valuable<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_485" id="page_485">[Pg 485]</a></span> to +be killed for food, and for a long period he looked to the wild animals +of the forest and the prairie for his daily supply of meat. The time was +when no one stopped to think of the important part our game animals +played in the settlement of this country, and even now no one has +attempted to calculate the lessened degree of rapidity with which the +star of empire would have taken its westward way without the bison, +deer, elk, and antelope. The Western States and Territories pay little +heed to the wanton slaughter of deer and elk now going on in their +forests, but the time will soon come when the “grangers” will enter +those regions and find the absence of game a very serious matter.</p> + +<p>Although the bison was the first wild species to disappear before the +advance of civilization, he served a good purpose at a highly critical +period. His huge bulk of toothsome flesh fed many a hungry family, and +his ample robe did good service in the settler’s cabin and sleigh in +winter weather. By the time game animals had become scarce, domestic +herds and flocks had taken their place, and hunting became a pastime +instead of a necessity.</p> + +<p>As might be expected, from the time the bison was first seen by white +men he has always been a conspicuous prize, and being the largest of the +land quadrupeds, was naturally the first to disappear. Every man’s hand +has been against him. While his disappearance from the eastern United +States was, in the main, due to the settler who killed game as a means +of subsistence, there were a few who made the killing of those animals a +regular business. This occurred almost exclusively in the immediate +vicinity of salt springs, around which the bison congregated in great +numbers, and made their wholesale slaughter of easy accomplishment. Mr. +Thomas Ashe<a name="fnanchor_62_62" id="fnanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> has recorded some very interesting facts and +observations on this point. In speaking of an old man who in the latter +part of the last century built a log house for himself “on the immediate +borders of a salt spring,” in western Pennsylvania, for the purpose of +killing buffaloes out of the immense droves which frequented that spot, +Mr. Ashe says:</p> + +<p>“In the first and second years this old man, with some companions, +killed from six to seven hundred of these noble creatures merely for the +sake of their skins, which to them were worth only 2 shillings each; and +after this ‘work of death’ they were obliged to leave the place till the +following season, or till the wolves, bears, panthers, eagles, rooks, +ravens, etc., had devoured the carcasses and abandoned the place for +other prey. In the two following years the same persons killed great +numbers out of the first droves that arrived, skinned them, and left +their bodies exposed to the sun and air; but they soon had reason to +repent of this, for the remaining droves, as they came up in succession, +stopped, gazed on the mangled and putrid bodies, sorrowfully moaned or +furiously lowed aloud, and returned instantly to the wilderness in an +unusual run, without tasting their favorite spring or licking the +impregnated<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_486" id="page_486">[Pg 486]</a></span> earth, which was also once their most agreeable occupation; +nor did they nor any of their race ever revisit the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>“The simple history of this spring is that of every other in the settled +parts of this Western World; the carnage of beasts was everywhere the +same. I met with a man who had killed two thousand buffaloes with his +own hand, and others no doubt have done the same thing. In consequence +of such proceedings not one buffalo is at this time to be found east of +the Mississippi, except a few domesticated by the curious, or carried +through the country on a public show.”</p> + +<p>But, fortunately, there is no evidence that such slaughter as that +described by Mr. Ashe was at all common, and there is reason for the +belief that until within the last forty years the buffalo was sacrificed +in ways conducive to the greatest good of the greatest number.</p> + +<p>From Coronado to General Frémont there has hardly been an explorer of +United States territory who has not had occasion to bless the bison, and +its great value to mankind can hardly be overestimated, although by many +it can readily be forgotten.</p> + +<p>The disappearance of the bison from the eastern United States was due to +its consumption as food. It was very gradual, like the march of +civilization, and, under the circumstances, absolutely inevitable. In a +country so thickly peopled as this region speedily became, the mastodon +could have survived extinction about as easily as the bison. Except when +the latter became the victim of wholesale slaughter, there was little +reason to bemoan his fate, save upon grounds that may be regarded purely +sentimental. He served a most excellent purpose in the development of +the country. Even as late as 1875 the farmers of eastern Kansas were in +the habit of making trips every fall into the western part of that State +for wagon loads of buffalo meat as a supply for the succeeding winter. +The farmers of Texas, Nebraska, Dakota, and Minnesota also drew largely +upon the buffalo as long as the supply lasted.</p> + +<p>The extirpation of the bison west of the Rocky Mountains was due to +legitimate hunting for food and clothing rather than for marketable +peltries. In no part of that whole region was the species ever numerous, +although in the mountains themselves, notably in Colorado, within easy +reach of the great prairies on the east, vast numbers were seen by the +early explorers and pioneers. But to the westward, away from the +mountains, they were very rarely met with, and their total destruction +in that region was a matter of easy accomplishment. According to Prof. +J. A. Allen the complete disappearance of the bison west of the Rocky +Mountains took place between 1838 and 1840.</p> + +<h3 class="sc"><a name="ii_iii_b" id="ii_iii_b"></a>B. The Period of Systematic Slaughter, from 1830 to 1838.</h3> + +<p>We come now to a history which I would gladly leave unwritten. Its +record is a disgrace to the American people in general, and the +Territorial, State, and General Government in particular. It will cause <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_487" id="page_487">[Pg 487]</a></span> +succeeding generations to regard us as being possessed of the leading +characteristics of the savage and the beast of prey—cruelty and greed. +We will be likened to the blood-thirsty tiger of the Indian jungle, who +slaughters a dozen bullocks at once when he knows he can eat only one.</p> + +<p>In one respect, at least, the white men who engaged in the systematic +slaughter of the bison were savages just as much as the Piegan Indians, +who would drive a whole herd over a precipice to secure a week’s rations +of meat for a single village. The men who killed buffaloes for their +tongues and those who shot them from the railway trains for sport were +murderers. In no way does civilized man so quickly revert to his former +state as when he is alone with the beasts of the field. Give him a gun +and something which he may kill without getting himself in trouble, and, +presto! he is instantly a savage again, finding exquisite delight in +bloodshed, slaughter, and death, if not for gain, then solely for the +joy and happiness of it. There is no kind of warfare against game +animals too unfair, too disreputable, or too mean for white men to +engage in if they can only do so with safety to their own precious +carcasses. They will shoot buffalo and antelope from running railway +trains, drive deer into water with hounds and cut their throats in cold +blood, kill does with fawns a week old, kill fawns by the score for +their spotted skins, slaughter deer, moose, and caribou in the snow at a +pitiful disadvantage, just as the wolves do; exterminate the wild ducks +on the whole Atlantic seaboard with punt guns for the metropolitan +markets; kill off the Rocky Mountain goats for hides worth only 50 cents +apiece, destroy wagon loads of trout with dynamite, and so on to the end +of the chapter.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most gigantic task ever undertaken on this continent in the +line of game-slaughter was the extermination of the bison in the great +pasture region by the hide-hunters. Probably the brilliant rapidity and +success with which that lofty undertaking was accomplished was a matter +of surprise even to those who participated in it. The story of the +slaughter is by no means a long one.</p> + +<p>The period of systematic slaughter of the bison naturally begins with +the first organized efforts in that direction, in a business-like, +wholesale way. Although the species had been steadily driven westward +for a hundred years by the advancing settlements, and had during all +that time been hunted for the meat and robes it yielded, its +extermination did not begin in earnest until 1820, or thereabouts. As +before stated, various persons had previous to that time made buffalo +killing a business in order to sell their skins, but such instances were +very exceptional. By that time the bison was totally extinct in all the +region lying east of the Mississippi River except a portion of +Wisconsin, where it survived until about 1830. In 1820 the first +organized buffalo hunting expedition on a grand scale was made from the +Red River settlement, Manitoba, in which five hundred and forty carts +proceeded to the range. Previous to that time the buffaloes were found +near enough <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_488" id="page_488">[Pg 488]</a></span>to the settlements around Fort Garry that every settler +could hunt independently; but as the herds were driven farther and +farther away, it required an organized effort and a long journey to +reach them.</p> + +<p>The American Fur Company established trading posts along the Missouri +River, one at the mouth of the Tetón River and another at the mouth of +the Yellowstone. In 1826 a post was established at the eastern base of +the Rocky Mountains, at the head of the Arkansas River, and in 1832 +another was located in a corresponding situation at the head of the +South Fork of the Platte, close to where Denver now stands. Both the +latter were on what was then the western border of the buffalo range. +Elsewhere throughout the buffalo country there were numerous other +posts, always situated as near as possible to the best hunting ground, +and at the same time where they would be most accessible to the hunters, +both white and red.</p> + +<p>As might be supposed, the Indians were encouraged to kill buffaloes for +their robes, and this is what Mr. George Catlin wrote at the mouth of +the Tetón River (Pyatt County, Dakota) in 1832 concerning this +trade:<a name="fnanchor_63_63" id="fnanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> + +<p>“It seems hard and cruel (does it not?) that we civilized people, with +all the luxuries and comforts of the world about us, should be drawing +from the backs of these useful animals the skins for our luxury, leaving +their carcasses to be devoured by the wolves; that we should draw from +that country some one hundred and fifty or two hundred thousand of their +robes annually, the greater part of which are taken from animals that +are killed expressly for the robe, at a season when the meat is not +cured and preserved, and for each of which skins the Indian has received +but a pint of whisky! Such is the fact, and that number, or near it, are +annually destroyed, in addition to the number that is necessarily killed +for the subsistence of three hundred thousand Indians, who live chiefly +upon them.”</p> + +<p>The author further declared that the fur trade in those “great western +realms” was then limited chiefly to the purchase of buffalo robes.</p> + +<p><a name="ii_iii_b_1" id="ii_iii_b_1"></a>1. <i>The Red River half-breeds.</i>—In June, 1840, when the Red River +half-breeds assembled at Pembina for their annual expedition against the +buffalo, they mustered as follows:</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="they mustered"> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2">Carts</td><td align="right"><tt>1,210</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Hunters</td><td align="right"><tt>620</tt></td><td align="right" rowspan="3"><tt>1,630</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Women</td><td align="right"><tt>650</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Boys and girls</td><td align="right"><tt>360</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2">Horses (buffalo runners)</td><td align="right"><tt>403</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2">Dogs</td><td align="right"><tt>542</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2">Cart horses</td><td align="right"><tt>655</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2">Draught oxen</td><td align="right"><tt>586</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2">Skinning knives</td><td align="right"><tt>1,240</tt></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>The total value of the property employed in this expedition and the +working time occupied by it (two months) amounted to the enormous sum of +£24,000.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_489" id="page_489">[Pg 489]</a></span></p><p>Although the bison formerly ranged to Fort Garry (near Winnipeg), they +had been steadily killed off and driven back, and in 1840 none were +found by the expedition until it was 250 miles from Pembina, which is +situated on the Red River, at the international boundary. At that time +the extinction of the species from the Red River to the Cheyenne was +practically complete. The Red River settlers, aided, of course, by the +Indians of that region, are responsible for the extermination of the +bison throughout northeastern Dakota as far as the Cheyenne River, +northern Minnesota, and the whole of what is now the province of +Manitoba. More than that; as the game grew scarce and retired farther +and farther, the half-breeds, who despised agriculture as long as there +was a buffalo to kill, extended their hunting operations westward along +the Qu’Appelle until they encroached upon the hunting-grounds of the +Plain Crees, who lived in the Saskatchewan country.</p> + +<p>Thus was an immense inroad made in the northern half of the herd which +had previously covered the entire pasture region from the Great Slave +Lake to central Texas. This was the first visible impression of the +systematic killing which began in 1820. Up to 1840 it is reasonably +certain, as will be seen by figures given elsewhere, that by this +business-like method of the half-breeds, at least 652,000 buffaloes were +destroyed by them alone.</p> + +<p>Even as early as 1840 the Red River hunt was prosecuted through Dakota +southwestwardly to the Missouri River and a short distance beyond it. +Here it touched the wide strip of territory, bordering that stream, +which was even then being regularly drained of its animal resources by +the Indian hunters, who made the river their base of operations, and +whose robes were shipped on its steam-boats.</p> + +<p>It is certain that these annual Red River expeditions into Dakota were +kept up as late as 1847, and as long thereafter as buffaloes were to be +found in any number between the Cheyenne and the Missouri. At the same +time, the White Horse Plains division, which hunted westward from Fort +Garry, did its work of destruction quite as rapidly and as thoroughly as +the rival expedition to the United States.</p> + +<p>In 1857 the Plains Crees, inhabiting the country around the headwaters +of the Qu’Appelle River (250 miles due west from Winnipeg), assembled in +council, and “determined that in consequence of promises often made and +broken by the white men and half-breeds, and the rapid destruction by +them of the buffalo they fed on, they would not permit either white men +or half-breeds to hunt in their country, or travel through it, except +for the purpose of trading for their dried meat, pemmican, skins and +robes.”</p> + +<p>In 1858 the Crees reported that between the two branches of the +Saskatchewan buffalo were “very scarce.” Professor Hind’s expedition saw +only one buffalo in the whole course of their journey from Winnipeg +until they reached Sand Hill Lake, at the head of the Qu’Appelle, near +the south branch of the Saskatchewan, where the first herd was <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_490" id="page_490">[Pg 490]</a></span> +encountered. Although the species was not totally extinct on the +Qu’Appelle at that time, it was practically so.</p> + +<p><a name="ii_iii_b_2" id="ii_iii_b_2"></a>2. <i>The country of the Sioux.</i>—The next territory completely +depopulated of buffaloes by systematic hunting was very nearly the +entire southern half of Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, and northern +Nebraska as far as the North Platte. This vast region, once the favorite +range for hundreds of thousands of buffaloes, had for many years been +the favorite hunting ground of the Sioux Indians of the Missouri, the +Pawnees, Omahas, and all other tribes of that region. The settlement of +Iowa and Minnesota presently forced into this region the entire body of +Mississippi Sioux from the country west of Prairie du Chien and around +Fort Snelling, and materially hastened the extermination of all the game +animals which were once so abundant there. It is absolutely certain that +if the Indians had been uninfluenced by the white traders, or, in other +words, had not been induced to take and prepare a large number of robes +every year for the market, the species would have survived very much +longer than it did. But the demand quickly proved to be far greater than +the supply. The Indians, of course, found it necessary to slaughter +annually a great number of buffaloes for their own wants—for meat, +robes, leather, teepees, etc. When it came to supplementing this +necessary slaughter by an additional fifty thousand or more every year +for marketable robes, it is no wonder that the improvident savages soon +found, when too late, that the supply of buffaloes was not +inexhaustible. Naturally enough, they attributed their disappearance to +the white man, who was therefore a robber, and a proper subject for the +scalping-knife. Apparently it never occurred to the minds of the Sioux +that they themselves were equally to blame; it was always <i>the paleface</i> +who killed the buffaloes; and it was always <i>Sioux</i> buffaloes that they +killed. The Sioux seemed to feel that they held a chattel mortgage on +all the buffaloes north of the Platte, and it required more than one +pitched battle to convince them otherwise.</p> + +<p>Up to the time when the great Sioux Reservation was established in +Dakota (1875-’77), when 33,739 square miles of country, or nearly the +whole southwest quarter of the Territory, was set aside for the +exclusive occupancy of the Sioux, buffaloes were very numerous +throughout that entire region. East of the Missouri River, which is the +eastern boundary of the Sioux Reservation, from Bismarck all the way +down, the species was practically extinct as early as 1870. But at the +time when it became unlawful for white hunters to enter the territory of +the Sioux nation there were tens of thousands of buffaloes upon it, and +their subsequent slaughter is chargeable to the Indians alone, save as +to those which migrated into the hunting grounds of the whites.</p> + +<p><a name="ii_iii_b_3" id="ii_iii_b_3"></a>3. <i>Western railways, and their part in the extermination of the +buffalo.</i>—The building of a railroad means the speedy extermination of +all the big game along its line. In its eagerness to attract the public +and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_491" id="page_491">[Pg 491]</a></span>build up “a big business,” every new line which traverses a country +containing game does its utmost, by means of advertisements and posters, +to attract the man with a gun. Its game resorts are all laid bare, and +the market hunters and sportsmen swarm in immediately, slaying and to +slay.</p> + +<p>Within the last year the last real retreat for our finest game, the only +remaining stronghold for the mountain sheep, goat, caribou, elk, and +deer—northwestern Montana, northern Idaho, and thence westward—has +been laid open to the very heart by the building of the St. Paul, +Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway, which runs up the valley of the Milk +River to Fort Assinniboine, and crosses the Rocky Mountains through Two +Medicine Pass. Heretofore that region has been so difficult to reach +that the game it contains has been measurably secure from general +slaughter; but now it also must “go.”</p> + +<p>The marking out of the great overland trail by the Argonauts of ’49 in +their rush for the gold fields of California was the foreshadowing of +the great east-and-west breach in the universal herd, which was made +twenty years later by the first transcontinental railway.</p> + +<p>The pioneers who “crossed the plains” in those days killed buffaloes for +food whenever they could, and the constant harrying of those animals +experienced along the line of travel, soon led them to retire from the +proximity of such continual danger. It was undoubtedly due to this cause +that the number seen by parties who crossed the plains in 1849 and +subsequently, was surprisingly small. But, fortunately for the +buffaloes, the pioneers who would gladly have halted and turned aside +now and then for the excitement of the chase, were compelled to hurry +on, and accomplish the long journey while good weather lasted. It was +owing to this fact, and the scarcity of good horses, that the buffaloes +found it necessary to retire only a few miles from the wagon route to +get beyond the reach of those who would have gladly hunted them.</p> + +<p>Mr. Allen Varner, of Indianola, Illinois, has kindly furnished me with +the following facts in regard to the presence of the buffalo, as +observed by him during his journey westward, over what was then known as +the Oregon Trail.</p> + +<p>“The old Oregon trail ran from Independence, Missouri, to old Fort +Laramie, through the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, and thence up to +Salt Lake City. We left Independence on May C, 1849, and struck the +Platte River at Grand Island. The trail had been traveled but very +little previous to that year. We saw no buffaloes whatever until we +reached the forks of the Platte, on May 20, or thereabouts. There we saw +seventeen head. From that time on we saw small bunches now and then; +never more than forty or fifty together. We saw no great herds anywhere, +and I should say we did not see over five hundred head all told. The +most western point at which we saw buffaloes was about due north of +Laramie Peak, and it must have been about the 20th of June. We killed +several head for meat during our <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_492" id="page_492">[Pg 492]</a></span>trip, and found them all rather thin +in flesh. Plainsmen who claimed to know, said that all the buffaloes we +saw had wintered in that locality, and had not had time to get fat. The +annual migration from the south had not yet begun, or rather had not yet +brought any of the southern buffaloes that far north.”</p> + +<p>In a few years the tide of overland travel became so great, that the +buffaloes learned to keep away from the dangers of the trail, and many a +pioneer has crossed the plains without ever seeing a live buffalo.</p> + +<p><a name="ii_iii_b_4" id="ii_iii_b_4"></a>4. <i>The division of the universal herd.</i>—Until the building of the +first transcontinental railway made it possible to market the “buffalo +product,” buffalo hunting as a business was almost wholly in the hands +of the Indians. Even then, the slaughter so far exceeded the natural +increase that the narrowing limits of the buffalo range was watched with +anxiety, and the ultimate extinction of the species confidently +predicted. Even without railroads the extermination of the race would +have taken place eventually, but it would have been delayed perhaps +twenty years. With a recklessness of the future that was not to be +expected of savages, though perhaps perfectly natural to civilized white +men, who place the possession of a dollar above everything else, the +Indians with one accord singled out the <i>cows</i> for slaughter, because +their robes and their flesh better suited the fastidious taste of the +noble redskin. The building of the Union Pacific Railway began at Omaha +in 1865, and during that year 40 miles were constructed. The year +following saw the completion of 265 miles more, and in 1867 245 miles +were added, which brought it to Cheyenne. In 1868, 350 miles were built, +and in 1869 the entire line was open to traffic.</p> + +<p>In 1867, when Maj. J. W. Powell and Prof. A. H. Thompson crossed the +plains by means of the Union Pacific Railway as far as it was +constructed and thence onward by wagon, they saw during the entire trip +only one live buffalo, a solitary old bull, wandering aimlessly along +the south bank of the Platte River.</p> + +<p>The completion of the Union Pacific Railway divided forever the +buffaloes of the United States into two great herds, which thereafter +became known respectively as the northern and southern herds. Both +retired rapidly and permanently from the railway, and left a strip of +country over 50 miles wide almost uninhabited by them. Although many +thousand buffaloes were killed by hunters who made the Union Pacific +Railway their base of operations, the two great bodies retired north and +south so far that the greater number were beyond striking distance from +that line.</p> + +<p><a name="ii_iii_b_5" id="ii_iii_b_5"></a>5. <i>The destruction of the southern herd.</i>—The geographical center of +the great southern herd during the few years of its separate existence +previous to its destruction was very near the present site of Garden +City, Kansas. On the east, even as late as 1872, thousands of buffaloes +ranged within 10 miles of Wichita, which was then the headquarters <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_493" id="page_493">[Pg 493]</a></span>of a +great number of buffalo-hunters, who plied their occupation vigorously +during the winter. On the north the herd ranged within 25 miles of the +Union Pacific, until the swarm of hunters coming down from the north +drove them farther and farther south. On the west, a few small bands +ranged as far as Pike’s Peak and the South Park, but the main body +ranged east of the town of Pueblo, Colorado. In the southwest, buffaloes +were abundant as far as the Pecos and the Staked Plains, while the +southern limit of the herd was about on a line with the southern +boundary of New Mexico. Regarding this herd, Colonel Dodge writes as +follows: “Their most prized feeding ground was the section of country +between the South Platte and Arkansas rivers, watered by the Republican, +Smoky, Walnut, Pawnee, and other parallel or tributary streams, and +generally known as the Republican country. Hundreds of thousands went +south from here each winter, but hundreds of thousands remained. It was +the chosen home of the buffalo.”</p> + +<p>Although the range of the northern herd covered about twice as much +territory as did the southern, the latter contained probably twice as +many buffaloes. The number of individuals in the southern herd in the +year 1871 must have been at least three millions, and most estimates +place the total much higher than that.</p> + +<p>During the years from 1866 to 1871, inclusive, the Atchison, Topeka and +Santa Fé Railway and what is now known as the Kansas Pacific, or Kansas +division of the Union Pacific Railway, were constructed from the +Missouri River westward across Kansas, and through the heart of the +southern buffalo range. The southern herd was literally cut to pieces by +railways, and every portion of its range rendered easily accessible. +There had always been a market for buffalo robes at a fair price, and as +soon as the railways crossed the buffalo country the slaughter began. +The rush to the range was only surpassed by the rush to the gold mines +of California in earlier years. The railroad builders, teamsters, +fortune-seekers, “professional” hunters, trappers, guides, and every one +out of a job turned out to hunt buffalo for hides and meat. The +merchants who had already settled in all the little towns along the +three great railways saw an opportunity to make money out of the buffalo +product, and forthwith began to organize and supply hunting parties with +arms, ammunition, and provisions, and send them to the range. An immense +business of this kind was done by the merchants of Dodge City (Fort +Dodge), Wichita, and Leavenworth, and scores of smaller towns did a +corresponding amount of business in the same line. During the years 1871 +to 1874 but little else was done in that country except buffalo killing. +Central depots were established in the best buffalo country, from whence +hunting parties operated in all directions. Buildings were erected for +the curing of meat, and corrals were built in which to heap up the +immense piles of buffalo skins that accumulated. At Dodge City, as late +as 1878, Professor Thompson saw a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_494" id="page_494">[Pg 494]</a></span>lot of baled buffalo skins in a +corral, the solid cubical contents of which he calculated to equal 120 +cords.</p> + +<p>At first the utmost wastefulness prevailed. Every one wanted to kill +buffalo, and no one was willing to do the skinning and curing. Thousands +upon thousands of buffaloes were killed for their tongues alone, and +never skinned. Thousands more were wounded by unskillful marksmen and +wandered off to die and become a total loss. But the climax of +wastefulness and sloth was not reached until the enterprising +buffalo-butcher began to skin his dead buffaloes by horse-power. The +process is of interest, as showing the depth of degradation to which a +man can fall and still call himself a hunter. The skin of the buffalo +was ripped open along the belly and throat, the legs cut around at the +knees, and ripped up the rest of the way. The skin of the neck was +divided all the way around at the back of the head, and skinned back a +few inches to afford a start. A stout iron bar, like a hitching post, +was then driven through the skull and about 18 inches into the earth, +after which a rope was tied very firmly to the thick skin of the neck, +made ready for that purpose. The other end of this rope was then hitched +to the whiffletree of a pair of horses, or to the rear axle of a wagon, +the horses were whipped up, and the skin was forthwith either torn in +two or torn off the buffalo with about 50 pounds of flesh adhering to +it. It soon became apparent to even the most enterprising buffalo +skinner that this method was not an unqualified success, and it was +presently abandoned.</p> + +<p>The slaughter which began in 1871 was prosecuted with great vigor and +enterprise in 1872, and reached its heighten 1873. By that time, the +buffalo country fairly swarmed with hunters, each, party putting forth +its utmost efforts to destroy more buffaloes than its rivals. By that +time experience had taught the value of thorough organization, and the +butchering was done in a more business-like way. By a coincidence that +proved fatal to the bison, it was just at the beginning of the slaughter +that breech-loading, long-range rifles attained what was practically +perfection. The Sharps 40-90 or 45-120, and the Remington were the +favorite weapons of the buffalo-hunter, the former being the one in most +general use. Before the leaden hail of thousands of these deadly +breech-loaders the buffaloes went down at the rate of several thousand +daily during the hunting season.</p> + +<p>During the years 1871 and 1872 the most wanton wastefulness prevailed. +Colonel Dodge declares that, though hundreds of thousands of skins were +sent to market, they scarcely indicated the extent of the slaughter. +Through want of skill in shooting and want of knowledge in preserving +the hides of those slain by green hunters, <i>one hide sent to market +represented three, four, or even five dead buffalo</i>. The skinners and +curers knew so little of the proper mode of curing hides, that at least +half of those actually taken were lost. In the summer and fall of 1872 +one hide sent to market represented at least <i>three</i> dead buffalo. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_495" id="page_495">[Pg 495]</a></span>This +condition of affairs rapidly improved; but such was the furor for +slaughter, and the ignorance of all concerned, that every hide sent to +market in 1871 represented no less than <i>five</i> dead buffalo.</p> + +<p>By 1873 the condition of affairs had somewhat improved, through better +organization of the hunting parties and knowledge gained by experience +in curing. For all that, however, buffaloes were still so exceedingly +plentiful, and shooting was so much easier than skinning, the latter was +looked upon as a necessary evil and still slighted to such an extent +that every hide actually sold and delivered represented two dead +buffaloes.</p> + +<p>In 1874 the slaughterers began to take alarm at the increasing scarcity +of buffalo, and the skinners, having a much smaller number of dead +animals to take care of than ever before, were able to devote more time +to each subject and do their work properly. As a result, Colonel Dodge +estimated that during 1874, and from that time on, one hundred skins +delivered represented not more than one hundred and twenty-five dead +buffaloes; but that “no parties have ever got the proportion lower than +this.”</p> + +<p>The great southern herd was slaughtered by still-hunting, a method which +has already been fully described. A typical hunting party is thus +described by Colonel Dodge:<a name="fnanchor_64_64" id="fnanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p>“The most approved party consisted of four men—one shooter, two +skinners, and one man to cook, stretch hides, and take care of camp. +Where buffalo were very plentiful the number of skinners was increased. +A light wagon, drawn by two horses or mules, takes the outfit into the +wilderness, and brings into camp the skins taken each day. The outfit is +most meager: a sack of flour, a side of bacon, 5 pounds of coffee, tea, +and sugar, a little salt, and possibly a few beans, is a month’s supply. +A common or “A” tent furnishes shelter; a couple of blankets for each +man is a bed. One or more of Sharps or Remington’s heaviest sporting +rifles, and an unlimited supply of ammunition, is the armament; while a +coffee-pot, Dutch-oven, frying-pan, four tin plates, and four tin cups +constitute the kitchen and table furniture.</p> + +<p>“The skinning knives do duty at the platter, and ‘fingers were made +before forks.’ Nor must be forgotten one or more 10-gallon kegs for +water, as the camp may of necessity be far away from a stream. The +supplies are generally furnished by the merchant for whom the party is +working, who, in addition, pays each of the party a specified percentage +of the value of the skins delivered. The shooter is carefully selected +for his skill and knowledge of the habits of the buffalo. He is captain +and leader of the party. When all is ready, he plunges into the +wilderness, going to the center of the best buffalo region known to him, +not already occupied (for there are unwritten regulations recognized as +laws, giving to each hunter certain rights of discovery and occupancy). +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_496" id="page_496">[Pg 496]</a></span>Arrived at the position, he makes his camp in some hidden ravine or +thicket, and makes all ready for work.”</p> + +<p>Of course the slaughter was greatest along the lines of the three great +railways—the Kansas Pacific, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé, and the +Union Pacific, about in the order named. It reached its height in the +season of 1873. During that year the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé +Railroad carried out of the buffalo country 251,443 robes, 1,017,600 +pounds of meat, and 2,743,100 pounds of bones. The end of the southern +herd was then near at hand. Could the southern buffalo range have been +roofed over at that time it would have made one vast charnel-house. +Putrifying carcasses, many of them with the hide still on, lay thickly +scattered over thousands of square miles of the level prairie, poisoning +the air and water and offending the sight. The remaining herds had +become mere scattered bands, harried and driven hither and thither by +the hunters, who now swarmed almost as thickly as the buffaloes. A +cordon of camps was established along the Arkansas River, the South +Platte, the Republican, and the few other streams that contained water, +and when the thirsty animals came to drink they were attacked and driven +away, and with the most fiendish persistency kept from slaking their +thirst, so that they would again be compelled to seek the river and come +within range of the deadly breech-loaders. Colonel Dodge declares that +in places favorable to such warfare, as the south bank of the Platte, a +herd of buffalo has, by shooting at it by day and by lighting fires and +firing guns at night, been kept from water until it has been entirely +destroyed. In the autumn of 1873, when Mr. William Blackmore traveled +for some 30 or 40 miles along the north bank of the Arkansas River to +the east of Port Dodge, “there was a continuous line of putrescent +carcasses, so that the air was rendered pestilential and offensive to +the last degree. The hunters had formed a line of camps along the banks +of the river, and had shot down the buffalo, night and morning, as they +came to drink. In order to give an idea of the number of these +carcasses, it is only necessary to mention that I counted sixty-seven on +one spot not covering 4 acres.”</p> + +<p>White hunters were not allowed to hunt in the Indian Territory, but the +southern boundary of the State of Kansas was picketed by them, and a +herd no sooner crossed the line going north than it was destroyed. Every +water-hole was guarded by a camp of hunters, and whenever a thirsty herd +approached, it was promptly met by rifle-bullets.</p> + +<p>During this entire period the slaughter of buffaloes was universal. The +man who desired buffalo meat for food almost invariably killed five +times as many animals as he could utilize, and after cutting from each +victim its very choicest parts—the <i>tongue alone</i>, possibly, or perhaps +the hump and hind quarters, one or the other, or both—fully four-fifths +of the really edible portion of the carcass would be left to the wolves. +It was no uncommon thing for a man to bring in two barrels of salted +buffalo tongues, without another pound of meat or a solitary <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_497" id="page_497">[Pg 497]</a></span>robe. The +tongues were purchased at 25 cents each and sold in the markets farther +east at 50 cents. In those days of criminal wastefulness it was a very +common thing for buffaloes to be slaughtered for their tongues alone. +Mr. George Catlin<a name="fnanchor_65_65" id="fnanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> relates that a few days previous to his arrival at +the mouth of the Tetón River (Dakota), in 1832, “an immense herd of +buffaloes had showed themselves on the opposite side of the river,” +whereupon a party of five or six hundred Sioux Indians on horseback +forded the river, attacked the herd, recrossed the river about sunset, +and came into the fort with fourteen hundred fresh buffalo tongues, +which were thrown down in a mass, and for which they required only a few +gallons of whisky, which was soon consumed in “a little harmless +carouse.” Mr. Catlin states that from all that he could learn not a skin +or a pound of meat, other than the tongues, was saved after this awful +slaughter.</p> + +<p>Judging from all accounts, it is making a safe estimate to say that +probably no fewer than fifty thousand buffaloes have been killed for +their tongues alone, and the most of these are undoubtedly chargeable +against white men, who ought to have known better.</p> + +<p>A great deal has been said about the slaughter of buffaloes by foreign +sportsmen, particularly Englishmen; but I must say that, from all that +can be ascertained on this point, this element of destruction has been +greatly exaggerated and overestimated. It is true that every English +sportsman who visited this country in the days of the buffalo always +resolved to have, and did have, “a buffalo hunt,” and usually under the +auspices of United States Army officers. Undoubtedly these parties did +kill hundreds of buffaloes, but it is very doubtful whether the +aggregate of the number slain by foreign sportsmen would run up higher +than ten thousand. Indeed, for myself, I am well convinced that there +are many old ex-still-hunters yet living, each of whom is accountable +for a greater number of victims than all buffaloes killed by foreign +sportsmen would make added together. The professional butchers were very +much given to crying out against “them English lords,” and holding up +their hands in holy horror at buffaloes killed by them for their heads, +instead of for hides to sell at a dollar apiece; but it is due the +American public to say that all this outcry was received at its true +value and deceived very few. By those in possession of the facts it was +recognized as “a blind,” to divert public opinion from the real +culprits.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless it is very true that many men who were properly classed as +sportsmen, in contradistinction from the pot-hunters, did engage in +useless and inexcusable slaughter to an extent that was highly +reprehensible, to say the least. A sportsman is not supposed to kill +game wantonly, when it can be of no possible use to himself or any one +else, but a great many do it for all that. Indeed, the sportsman who <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_498" id="page_498">[Pg 498]</a></span> +kills sparingly and conscientiously is rather the exception than the +rule. Colonel Dodge thus refers to the work of some foreign sportsmen:</p> + +<p>“In the fall of that year [1872] three English gentlemen went out with +me for a short hunt, and in their excitement bagged more buffalo than +would have supplied a brigade.” As a general thing, however, the +professional sportsmen who went out to have a buffalo hunt for the +excitement of the chase and the trophies it yielded, nearly always found +the bison so easy a victim, and one whose capture brought so little +glory to the hunter, that the chase was voted very disappointing, and +soon abandoned in favor of nobler game. In those days there was no more +to boast of in killing a buffalo than in the assassination of a Texas +steer.</p> + +<p>It was, then, the hide-hunters, white and red, but especially white, who +wiped out the great southern herd in four short years. The prices +received for hides varied considerably, according to circumstances, but +for the green or undressed article it usually ranged from 50 cents for +the skins of calves to $1.25 for those of adult animals in good +condition. Such prices seem ridiculously small, but when it is +remembered that, when buffaloes were plentiful it was no uncommon thing +for a hunter to kill from forty to sixty head in a day, it will readily +be seen that the <i>chances</i> of making very handsome profits were +sufficient to tempt hunters to make extraordinary exertions. Moreover, +even when the buffaloes were nearly gone, the country was overrun with +men who had absolutely nothing else to look to as a means of livelihood, +and so, no matter whether the profits were great or small, so long as +enough buffaloes remained to make it possible to get a living by their +pursuit, they were hunted down with the most determined persistency and +pertinacity.</p> + +<p><a name="ii_iii_b_6" id="ii_iii_b_6"></a>6. <i>Statistics of the slaughter.</i>—The most careful and reliable +estimate ever made of results of the slaughter of the southern buffalo +herd is that of Col. Richard Irving Dodge, and it is the only one I know +of which furnishes a good index of the former size of that herd. +Inasmuch as this calculation was based on actual statistics, +supplemented by personal observations and inquiries made in that region +during the great slaughter, I can do no better than to quote Colonel +Dodge almost in full.<a name="fnanchor_66_66" id="fnanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<p>The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad furnished the following +statistics of the buffalo product carried by it during the years 1872, +1873, and 1874:</p> + +<h4><i>Buffalo product.</i></h4> +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Buffalo product"> +<tr><td align="center">Year.</td><td align="center">No. of skins carried.</td><td align="center">Meat carried.</td><td align="center">Bone carried.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"> </td><td> </td><td align="center">Pounds.</td><td align="center">Pounds.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><tt>1872</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>165,721</tt></td><td align="right">…</td><td align="right"><tt>1,135,300</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><tt>1873</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>251,443</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>1,617,600</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>2,743,100</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center"><tt>1874</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>42,289</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>632,800</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>6,914,950</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">Total</td><td align="right"><tt>459,453</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>2,250,400</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>10,793,350</tt></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_499" id="page_499">[Pg 499]</a></span></p> +<p>The officials of the Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific railroads either +could not or would not furnish any statistics of the amount of the +buffalo product carried by their lines during this period, and it became +necessary to proceed without the actual figures in both cases. Inasmuch +as the Kansas Pacific road cuts through a portion of the buffalo country +which was in every respect as thickly inhabited by those animals as the +region traversed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé, it seemed +absolutely certain that the former road hauled out fully as many hides +as the latter, if not more, and its quota is so set down. The Union +Pacific line handled a much smaller number of buffalo hides than either +of its southern rivals, but Colonel Dodge believes that this, “with the +smaller roads which touch the buffalo region, taken together, carried +about as much as either of the two principal buffalo roads.”</p> + +<p>Colonel Dodge considers it reasonably certain that the statistics +furnished by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé road represent only +one-third of the entire buffalo product, and there certainly appears to +be good ground for this belief. It is therefore in order to base further +calculations upon these figures.</p> + +<p>According to evidence gathered on the spot by Colonel Dodge during the +period of the great slaughter, one hide sent to market in 1872 +represented three dead buffaloes, in 1873 two, and in 1874 one hundred +skins delivered represented one hundred and twenty-five dead animals. +The total slaughter by white men was therefore about as below:</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="hides shipped"> +<tr><td align="center">Year.</td><td align="center">Hides shipped by<br />A., T. and S. F.<br />railway.</td><td align="center">Hides shipped by<br />other roads, same<br />period (estimated).</td><td align="center">Total number<br />of buffaloes<br />utilized.</td><td align="center">Total number<br />killed and<br />wasted.</td><td align="center">Total of buffaloes<br />slaughtered<br />by whites.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><tt>1872</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>165,721</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>331,442</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>497,163</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>994,326</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>1,491,489</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><tt>1873</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>251,443</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>502,886</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>754,329</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>754,329</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>1,508,658</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><tt>1874</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>42,289</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>84,578</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>126,867</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>31,716</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>158,583</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center">Total</td><td align="right"><tt>459,453</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>918,906</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>1,378,359</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>1,780,481</tt></td><td align="right"><tt>3,158,730</tt></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>During all this time the Indians of all tribes within striking distance +of the herds killed an immense number of buffaloes every year. In the +summer they killed for the hairless hides to use for lodges and for +leather, and in the autumn they slaughtered for robes and meat, but +particularly robes, which were all they could offer the white trader in +exchange for his goods. They were too lazy and shiftless to cure much +buffalo meat, and besides it was not necessary, for the Government fed +them. In regard to the number of buffaloes of the southern herd killed +by the Indians, Colonel Dodge arrives at an estimate, as follows:</p> + +<p>“It is much more difficult to estimate the number of dead buffalo +represented by the Indian-tanned skins or robes sent to market. This +number varies with the different tribes, and their greater or less +contact with the whites. Thus, the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Kiowas of +the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_500" id="page_500">[Pg 500]</a></span>southern plains, having less contact with whites, use skins for +their lodges, clothing, bedding, par-fléches, saddles, lariats, for +almost everything. The number of robes sent to market represent only +what we may call the foreign exchange of these tribes, and is really not +more than one-tenth of the skins taken. To be well within bounds I will +assume that one robe sent to market by these Indians represents six dead +buffaloes.</p> + +<p>“Those bands of Sioux who live at the agencies, and whose peltries are +taken to market by the Union Pacific Railroad, live in lodges of cotton +cloth furnished by the Indian Bureau. They use much civilized clothing, +bedding, boxes, ropes, etc. For these luxuries they must pay in robes, +and as the buffalo range is far from wide, and their yearly ‘crop’ +small, more than half of it goes to market.”</p> + +<p>Leaving out of the account at this point all consideration of the +killing done north of the Union Pacific Railroad, Colonel Dodge’s +figures are as follows:</p> + +<h4><i>Southern buffaloes slaughtered by southern Indians.</i></h4> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="indians"> +<tr><td align="center">Indians.</td><td align="center">Sent to market.</td><td align="center">No. of dead buffaloes represented.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Kiowas, Comanches, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and other Indians<br /> whose robes go over the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad</td><td align="center"><tt>19,000</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>114,000</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Sioux at agencies, Union Pacific Railroad</td><td align="center"><tt>10,000</tt></td><td align="center"><tt> 16,000</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Total slaughtered per annum</td><td align="center"><tt>29,000</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>130,000</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Total for the three years 1872-1874</td><td><tt>…</tt></td><td align="center"><tt>390,000</tt></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Reference has already been made to the fact that during those years an +immense number of buffaloes were killed by the farmers of eastern Kansas +and Nebraska for their meat. Mr. William Mitchell, of Wabaunsee, Kansas, +stated to the writer that “in those days, when buffaloes were plentiful +in western Kansas, pretty much everybody made a trip West in the fall +and brought back a load of buffalo meat. Everybody had it in abundance +as long as buffaloes remained in any considerable number. Very few skins +were saved; in fact, hardly any, for the reason that nobody knew how to +tan them, and they always spoiled. At first a great many farmers tried +to dress the green hides that they brought back, but they could not +succeed, and finally gave up trying. Of course, a great deal of the meat +killed was wasted, for only the best parts were brought back.”</p> + +<p>The Wichita (Kansas) <i>World</i> of February 9, 1889, contains the following +reference:</p> + +<p>“In 1871 and 1872 the buffalo ranged within 10 miles of Wichita, and +could be counted by the thousands. The town, then in its infancy, was +the headquarters for a vast number of buffalo-hunters, who plied their +occupation vigorously during the winter. The buffalo were killed <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_501" id="page_501">[Pg 501]</a></span> +principally for their hides, and daily wagon trains arrived in town +loaded with them. Meat was very cheap in those days; fine, tender +buffalo steak selling from 1 to 2 cents per pound. * * * The business +was quite profitable for a time, but a sudden drop in the price of hides +brought them down as low as 25 and 50 cents each. * * * It was a very +common thing in those days for people living in Wichita to start out in +the morning and return by evening with a wagon load of buffalo meat.”</p> + +<p>Unquestionably a great many thousand buffaloes were killed annually by +the settlers of Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, and +the mountain Indians living west of the great range. The number so slain +can only be guessed at, for there is absolutely no data on which to +found an estimate. Judging merely from the number of people within reach +of the range, it may safely be estimated that the total number of +buffaloes slaughtered annually to satisfy the wants of this +heterogeneous element could not have been less than fifty thousand, and +probably was a much higher number. This, for the three years, would make +one hundred and fifty thousand, and the grand total would therefore be +about as follows:</p> + +<h4><i>The slaughter of the southern herd.</i></h4> +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="killed by professionals"> +<tr><td align="left">Killed by “professional” white hunters in 1872, 1873, and 1874 </td><td align="right"><tt>3,158,730</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Killed by Indians, same period</td><td align="right"><tt>390,000</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Killed by settlers and mountain Indians</td><td align="right"><tt>150,000</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Total slaughter in three years</td><td align="right"><tt>3,098,730</tt></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>These figures seem incredible, but unfortunately there is not the +slightest reason for believing they are too high. There are many men now +living who declare that during the great slaughter they each killed from +twenty-five hundred to three thousand buffaloes every year. With +thousands of hunters on the range, and such possibilities of slaughter +before each, it is, after all, no wonder that an average of nearly a +million and a quarter of buffaloes fell each year during that bloody +period.</p> + +<p>By the close of the hunting season of 1875 the great southern herd had +ceased to exist. As a body, it had been utterly annihilated. The main +body of the survivors, numbering about ten thousand head, fled +southwest, and dispersed through that great tract of wild, desolate, and +inhospitable country stretching southward from the Cimarron country +across the “Public Land Strip,” the Pan-handle of Texas, and the Llano +Estacado, or Staked Plain, to the Pecos River. A few small bands of +stragglers maintained a precarious existence for a few years longer on +the headwaters of the Republican River and in southwestern Nebraska, +near Ogalalla, where calves were caught alive as late as 1885. Wild +buffaloes were seen in southwestern Kansas for the last time in 1886, +and the two or three score of individuals still living in the Canadian +River country of the Texas Pan-handle are the last wild survivors of the +great Southern herd.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_502" id="page_502">[Pg 502]</a></span></p> +<p>The main body of the fugitives which survived the great slaughter of +1871-’74 continued to attract hunters who were very “hard up,” who +pursued them, often at the risk of their own lives, even into the +terrible Llano Estacado. In Montana in 1886 I met on a cattle ranch an +ex-buffalo-hunter from Texas, named Harry Andrews, who from 1874 to 1876 +continued in pursuit of the scattered remnants of the great southern +herd through the Pan-handle of Texas and on into the Staked Plain +itself. By that time the market had become completely overstocked with +robes, and the prices received by Andrews and other hunters was only 65 +cents each for cow robes and $1.15 each for bull robes, delivered on the +range, the purchaser providing for their transportation to the railway. +But even at those prices, which were so low as to make buffalo killing +seem like downright murder, Mr. Andrews assured me that he “made big +money.” On one occasion, when he “got a stand” on a large bunch of +buffalo, he fired one hundred and fifteen shots from one spot, and +killed sixty-three buffaloes in about an hour.</p> + +<p>In 1880 buffalo hunting as a business ceased forever in the Southwest, +and so far as can be ascertained, but one successful hunt for robes has +been made in that region since that time. That occurred in the fall and +winter of 1887, about 100 miles north of Tascosa, Texas, when two +parties, one of which was under the leadership of Lee Howard, attacked +the only band of buffaloes left alive in the Southwest, and which at +that time numbered about two hundred head. The two parties killed +fifty-two buffaloes, of which ten skins were preserved entire for +mounting. Of the remaining forty-two, the heads were cut off and +preserved for mounting and the skins were prepared as robes. The +mountable skins were finally sold at the following prices: Young cows, +$50 to $60; adult cows, $75 to $100; adult bull, $150. The unmounted +heads sold as follows: Young bulls, $25 to $30; adult bulls, $50; young +cows, $10 to $12; adult cows, $15 to $25. A few of the choicest robes +sold at $20 each, and the remainder, a lot of twenty eight, of prime +quality and in excellent condition, were purchased by the Hudson’s Bay +Fur Company for $350.</p> + +<p>Such was the end of the great southern herd. In 1871 it contained +certainly no fewer than three million buffaloes, and by the beginning of +1875 its existence as a herd had utterly ceased, and nothing but +scattered, fugitive bands remained.</p> + +<p><a name="ii_iii_b_7" id="ii_iii_b_7"></a>7. <i>The Destruction of the Northern Herd.</i>—Until the building of the +Northern Pacific Railway there were but two noteworthy outlets for the +buffalo robes that were taken annually in the Northwestern Territories +of the United States. The principal one was the Missouri River, and the +Yellowstone River was the other. Down these streams the hides were +transported by steam-boats to the nearest railway shipping point. For +fifty years prior to the building of the Northern Pacific Railway in +1880-’82, the number of robes marketed every year by way of these +streams was estimated variously at from fifty to one hundred <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_503" id="page_503">[Pg 503]</a></span>thousand. +A great number of hides taken in the British Possessions fell into the +hands of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and found a market in Canada.</p> + +<p>In May, 1881, the Sioux City (Iowa) <i>Journal</i> contained the following +information in regard to the buffalo robe “crop” of the previous hunting +season—the winter of 1880-’81:</p> + +<p>“It is estimated by competent authorities that one hundred thousand +buffalo hides will be shipped out of the Yellowstone country this +season. Two firms alone are negotiating for the transportation of +twenty-five thousand hides each. * * * Most of our citizens saw the big +load of buffalo hides that the <i>C. K. Peck</i> brought down last season, a +load that hid everything about the boat below the roof of the hurricane +deck. There were ten thousand hides in that load, and they were all +brought out of the Yellowstone on one trip and transferred to the <i>C. K. +Peck</i>. How such a load could have been piled on the little <i>Terry</i> not +even the men on the boat appear to know. It hid every part of the boat, +barring only the pilot-house and smoke-stacks. But such a load will not +be attempted again. For such boats as ply the Yellowstone there are at +least fifteen full loads of buffalo hides and other pelts. Reckoning one +thousand hides to three car loads, and adding to this fifty cars for the +other pelts, it will take at least three hundred and fifty box-cars to +carry this stupendous bulk of peltry East to market. These figures are +not guesses, but estimates made by men whose business it is to know +about the amount of hides and furs awaiting shipment.</p> + +<p>“Nothing like it has ever been known in the history of the fur trade. +Last season the output of buffalo hides was above the average, and last +year only about thirty thousand hides came out of the Yellowstone +country, or less than a third of what is there now awaiting shipment The +past severe winter caused the buffalo to bunch themselves in a few +valleys where there was pasturage, and there the slaughter went on all +winter. There was no sport about it, simply shooting down the +famine-tamed animals as cattle might be shot down in a barn-yard. To the +credit of the Indians it can be said that they killed no more than they +could save the meat from. The greater part of the slaughter was done by +white hunters, or butchers rather, who followed the business of killing +and skinning buffalo by the mouth, leaving the carcasses to rot.”</p> + +<p>At the time of the great division made by the Union Pacific Railway the +northern body of buffalo extended from the valley of the Platte River +northward to the southern shore of Great Slave Lake, eastward almost to +Minnesota, and westward to an elevation of 8,000 feet in the Rocky +Mountains. The herds were most numerous along the central portion of +this region (see map), and from the Platte Valley to Great Slave Lake +the range was continuous. The buffalo population of the southern half of +this great range was, according to all accounts, nearly three times as +great as that of the northern half. At that time, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_504" id="page_504">[Pg 504]</a></span>or, let us say, 1870, +there were about four million buffaloes south of the Platte River, and +probably about one million and a half north of it. I am aware that the +estimate of the number of buffaloes in the great northern herd is +usually much higher than this, but I can see no good grounds for making +it so. To my mind, the evidence is conclusive that, although the +northern herd ranged over such an immense area, it was numerically less +than half the size of the overwhelming multitude which actually crowded +the southern range, and at times so completely consumed the herbage of +the plains that detachments of the United States Army found it difficult +to find sufficient grass for their mules and horses.<a name="fnanchor_67_67" id="fnanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> + +<p>The various influences which ultimately led to the complete blotting out +of the great northern herd were exerted about as follows:</p> + +<p>In the British Possessions, where the country was immense and game of +all kinds except buffalo very scarce indeed; where, in the language of +Professor Kenaston, the explorer, “there was a great deal of country +around every wild animal,” the buffalo constituted the main dependence +of the Indians, who would not cultivate the soil at all, and of the +half-breeds, who would not so long as they could find buffalo. Under +such circumstances the buffaloes of the British Possessions were hunted +much more vigorously and persistently than those of the United States, +where there was such an abundant supply of deer, elk, antelope, and +other game for the Indians to feed upon, and a paternal government to +support them with annuities besides. Quite contrary to the prevailing +idea of the people of the United States, viz., that there were great +herds of buffaloes in existence in the Saskatchewan country long after +ours had all been destroyed, the herds of British America had been +almost totally exterminated by the time the final slaughter of our +northern herd was inaugurated by the opening of the Northern Pacific +Railway in 1880. The Canadian Pacific Railway played no part whatever in +the extermination of the bison in the British Possessions, for it had +already taken place. The half-breeds of Manitoba, the Plains Crees of +Qu’Appelle, and the Blackfeet of the South Saskatchewan country swept +bare a great belt of country stretching east and west between the Rocky +Mountains and Manitoba. The Canadian Pacific Railway found only +bleaching bones in the country through which it passed. The buffalo had +disappeared from that entire region before 1879 and left the Blackfeet +Indians on the verge of starvation. A few thousand buffaloes still +remained in the country around the headwaters of the Battle River, +between the North and South Saskatchewan, but they were surrounded and +attacked from all sides, and their numbers diminished very rapidly until +all were killed.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_505" id="page_505">[Pg 505]</a></span></p> +<p>The latest information I have been able to obtain in regard to the +disappearance of this northern band has been kindly furnished by Prof. +C. A. Kenaston, who in 1881, and also in 1883, made a thorough +exploration of the country between Winnipeg and Fort Edmonton for the +Canadian Pacific Railway Company. His four routes between the two points +named covered a vast scope of country, several hundred miles in width. +In 1881, at Moose Jaw, 75 miles southeast of The Elbow of the South +Saskatchewan, he saw a party of Cree Indians, who had just arrived from +the northwest with several carts laden with fresh buffalo meat. At Fort +Saskatchewan, on the North Saskatchewan River, just above Edmonton, he +saw a party of English sportsmen who had recently been hunting on the +Battle and Red Deer Rivers, between Edmonton and Fort Kalgary, where +they had found buffaloes, and killed as many as they cared to slaughter. +In one afternoon they killed fourteen, and could have killed more had +they been more blood-thirsty. In 1883 Professor Kenaston found the fresh +trail of a band of twenty-five or thirty buffaloes at The Elbow of the +South Saskatchewan. Excepting in the above instances he saw no further +traces of buffalo, nor did he hear of the existence of any in all the +country he explored. In 1881 he saw many Cree Indians at Fort Qu’Appelle +in a starving condition, and there was no pemmican or buffalo meat at +the fort. In 1883, however, a little pemmican found its way to Winnipeg, +where it sold at 15 cents per pound; an exceedingly high price. It had +been made that year, evidently in the mouth of April, as he purchased it +in May for his journey.</p> + +<p>The first really alarming impression made on our northern herd was by +the Sioux Indians, who very speedily exterminated that portion of it +which had previously covered the country lying between the North Platte +and a line drawn from the center of Wyoming to the center of Dakota. All +along the Missouri River from Bismarck to Fort Benton, and along the +Yellowstone to the head of navigation, the slaughter went bravely on. +All the Indian tribes of that vast region—Sioux, Cheyennes, Crows, +Blackfeet, Bloods, Piegans, Assinniboines, Gros Ventres, and +Shoshones—found their most profitable business and greatest pleasure +(next to scalping white settlers) in hunting the buffalo. It took from +eight to twelve buffalo hides to make a covering for one ordinary +teepee, and sometimes a single teepee of extra size required from twenty +to twenty-five hides.</p> + +<p>The Indians of our northwestern Territories marketed about seventy-five +thousand buffalo robes every year so long as the northern herd was large +enough to afford the supply. If we allow that for every skin sold to +white traders four others were used in supplying their own wants, which +must be considered a very moderate estimate, the total number of +buffaloes slaughtered annually by those tribes must have been about +three hundred and seventy-five thousand.</p> + +<p>The end which so many observers had for years been predicting <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_506" id="page_506">[Pg 506]</a></span>really +began (with the northern herd) in 1876, two years after the great +annihilation which had taken place in the South, although it was not +until four years later that the slaughter became universal over the +entire range. It is very clearly indicated in the figures given in a +letter from Messrs. I. G. Baker & Co., of Fort Benton, Montana, to the +writer, dated October 6, 1887, which reads as follows:</p> + +<p>“There were sent East from the year 1876 from this point about +seventy-five thousand buffalo robes. In 1880 it had fallen to about +twenty thousand, in 1883 not more than five thousand, and in 1884 none +whatever. We are sorry we can not give you a better record, but the +collection of hides which exterminated the buffalo was from the +Yellowstone country on the Northern Pacific, instead of northern +Montana.”</p> + +<p>The beginning of the final slaughter of our northern herd may be dated +about 1880, by which time the annual robe crop of the Indians had +diminished three-fourths, and when summer killing for hairless hides +began on a large scale. The range of this herd was surrounded on three +sides by tribes of Indians, armed with breech-loading rifles and +abundantly supplied with fixed ammunition. Up to the year 1880 the +Indians of the tribes previously mentioned killed probably three times +as many buffaloes as did the white hunters, and had there not been a +white hunter in the whole Northwest the buffalo would have been +exterminated there just as surely, though not so quickly by perhaps ten +years, as actually occurred. Along the north, from the Missouri River to +the British line, and from the reservation in northwestern Dakota to the +main divide of the Rocky Mountains, a distance of 550 miles as the crow +flies, the country was one continuous Indian reservation, inhabited by +eight tribes, who slaughtered buffalo in season and out of season, in +winter for robes and in summer for hides and meat to dry. In the +Southeast was the great body of Sioux, and on the Southwest the Crows +and Northern Cheyennes, all engaged in the same relentless warfare. It +would have required a body of armed men larger than the whole United +States Army to have withstood this continuous hostile pressure without +ultimate annihilation.</p> + +<p>Let it be remembered, therefore, that the American Indian is as much +responsible for the extermination of our northern herd of bison as the +American citizen. I have yet to learn of an instance wherein an Indian +refrained from excessive slaughter of game through motives of economy, +or care for the future, or prejudice against wastefulness. From all +accounts the quantity of game killed by an Indian has always been +limited by two conditions only—lack of energy to kill more, or lack of +more game to be killed. White men delight in the chase, and kill for the +“sport” it yields, regardless of the effort involved. Indeed, to a +genuine sportsman, nothing in hunting is “sport” which is not obtained +at the cost of great labor. An Indian does not view the matter in that +light, and when he has killed enough to supply his wants, he stops, +because he sees no reason why he should exert himself any further. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_507" id="page_507">[Pg 507]</a></span>This +has given rise to the statement, so often repeated, that the Indian +killed only enough buffaloes to supply his wants. If an Indian ever +attempted, or even showed any inclination, to husband the resources of +nature in any way, and restrain wastefulness on <i>the part of Indians</i>, +it would be gratifying to know of it.</p> + +<p>The building of the Northern Pacific Railway across Dakota and Montana +hastened the end that was fast approaching; but it was only an incident +in the annihilation of the northern herd. Without it the final result +would have been just the same, but the end would probably not have been +reached until about 1888.</p> + +<p>The Northern Pacific Railway reached Bismarck, Dakota, on the Missouri +River, in the year 1876, and from that date onward received for +transportation eastward all the buffalo robes and hides that came down +the two rivers, Missouri and Yellowstone.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately the Northern Pacific Railway Company kept no separate +account of its buffalo product business, and is unable to furnish a +statement of the number of hides and robes it handled. It is therefore +impossible to even make an estimate of the total number of buffaloes +killed on the northern range during the six years which ended with the +annihilation of that herd.</p> + +<p>In regard to the business done by the Northern Pacific Railway, and the +precise points from whence the bulk of the robes were shipped, the +following letter from Mr. J. M. Hannaford, traffic manager of the +Northern Pacific Railroad, under date of September 3, 1887, is of +interest.</p> + +<p>“Your communication, addressed to President Harris, has been referred to +me for the information desired.</p> + +<p>“I regret that our accounts are not so kept as to enable me to furnish +you accurate data; but I have been able to obtain the following general +information, which may prove of some value to you:</p> + +<p>“From the years 1876 and 1880 our line did not extend beyond Bismarck, +which was the extreme easterly shipping point for buffalo robes and +hides, they being brought down the Missouri River from the north for +shipment from that point. In the years 1876, 1877, 1878, and 1879 there +were handled at that point yearly from three to four thousand bales of +robes, about one-half the bales containing ten robes and the other half +twelve robes each. During these years practically no hides were shipped. +In 1880 the shipment of hides, dry and untanned, commenced,<a name="fnanchor_68_68" id="fnanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> and in +1881 and 1882 our line was extended west, and the shipping points +increased, reaching as far west as Terry and Sully Springs, in Montana. +During these years, 1880, 1881, and 1882, which practically finished the +shipments of hides and robes, it is impossible <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_508" id="page_508">[Pg 508]</a></span>for me to give you any +just idea of the number shipped. The only figures obtainable are those +of 1881, when over seventy-five thousand dry and untanned buffalo hides +came down the river for shipment from Bismarck. Some robes were also +shipped from this point that year, and a considerable number of robes +and hides were shipped from several other shipping points.</p> + +<p>“The number of pounds of buffalo meat shipped over our line has never +cut any figure, the bulk of the meat having been left on the prairie, as +not being of sufficient value to pay the cost of transportation.</p> + +<p>“The names of the extreme eastern and western stations from which +shipments were made are as follows: In 1880, Bismarck was the only +shipping point. In 1881, Glendive, Bismarck, and Beaver Creek. In 1882, +Terry and Sully Springs, Montana, were the chief shipping points, and in +the order named, so far as numbers and amount of shipments are +concerned. Bismarck on the east and Forsyth on the west were the two +extremities.</p> + +<p>“Up to the year 1880, so long as buffalo were killed only for robes, the +bands did not decrease very materially; but beginning with that year, +when they were killed for their hides as well, a most indiscriminate +slaughter commenced, and from that time on they disappeared very +rapidly. Up to the year 1881 there were two large bands, one south of +the Yellowstone and the other north of that river. In the year mentioned +those south of the river were driven north and never returned, having +joined the northern band, and become practically extinguished.</p> + +<p>“Since 1882 there have, of course, been occasional shipments both of +hides and robes, but in such small quantities and so seldom that they +cut practically no figure, the bulk of them coming probably from north +Missouri points down the river to Bismarck.”</p> + +<p>In 1880 the northern buffalo range embraced the following streams; The +Missouri and all its tributaries, from Port Shaw, Montana, to Fort +Bennett, Dakota, and the Yellowstone and all its tributaries. Of this +region, Miles City, Montana, was the geographical center. The grass was +good over the whole of it, and the various divisions of the great herd +were continually shifting from one locality to another, often making +journeys several hundred miles at a time. Over the whole of this vast +area their bleaching bones lie scattered (where they have not as yet +been gathered up for sale) from the Upper Marias and Milk Rivers, near +the British boundary, to the Platte, and from the James River, in +central Dakota, to an elevation of 8,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains. +Indeed, as late as October, 1887, I gathered up on the open common, +within half a mile of the Northern Pacific Railway depot at the city of +Helena, the skull, horns, and numerous odd bones of a large bull buffalo +which had been killed there.</p> + +<p><a name="where" id="where"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/022.jpg" + alt="WHERE THE MILLIONS HAVE GONE." title="WHERE THE MILLIONS HAVE GONE." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Where the Millions Have Gone.</span> From a painting by J. H. +Moser in the National Museum.</h4> + +<p>Over many portions of the northern range the traveler may even now ride +for days together without once being out of sight of buffalo <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_509" id="page_509">[Pg 509]</a></span> +carcasses, or bones. Such was the case in 1886 in the country lying +between the Missouri and the Yellowstone, northwest of Miles City. Go +wherever we might, on divides, into bad lands, creek bottoms, or on the +highest plateaus, we always found the inevitable and omnipresent grim +and ghastly skeleton, with hairy head, dried-up and shriveled nostrils, +half-skinned legs stretched helplessly upon the gray turf, and the bones +of the body bleached white as chalk.</p> + +<p>The year 1881 witnessed the same kind of a stampede for the northern +buffalo range that occurred just ten years previously in the south. At +that time robes were worth from two to three times as much as they ever +had been in the south, the market was very active, and the successful +hunter was sure to reap a rich reward as long as the buffaloes lasted. +At that time the hunters and hide-buyers estimated that there were five +hundred thousand buffaloes within a radius of 150 miles of Miles City, +and that there were still in the entire northern herd not far from one +million head. The subsequent slaughter proved that these estimates were +probably not far from the truth. In that year Fort Custer was so nearly +overwhelmed by a passing herd that a detachment of soldiers was ordered +out to turn the herd away from the post. In 1882 an immense herd +appeared on the high, level plateau on the north side of the Yellowstone +which overlooks Miles City and Fort Keogh in the valley below. A squad +of soldiers from the Fifth Infantry was sent up on the bluff, and in +less than an hour had killed enough buffaloes to load six four-mule +teams with meat. In 1886 there were still about twenty bleaching +skeletons lying in a group on the edge of this plateau at the point +where the road from the ferry reaches the level, but all the rest had +been gathered up.</p> + +<p>In 1882 there were, so it is estimated by men who were in the country, +no fewer than five thousand white hunters and skinners on the northern +range. Lieut. J. M. T. Partello declares that “a cordon of camps, from +the Upper Missouri, where it bends to the west, stretched toward the +setting sun as far as the dividing line of Idaho, completely blocking in +the great ranges of the Milk River, the Musselshell, Yellowstone, and +the Marias, and rendering it impossible for scarcely a single bison to +escape through the chain of sentinel camps to the Canadian northwest. +Hunters of Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado drove the poor hunted animals +north, directly into the muzzles of the thousands of repeaters ready to +receive them. * * * Only a few short years ago, as late as 1883, a herd +of about seventy-five thousand crossed the Yellowstone River a few miles +south of here [Fort Keogh], scores of Indians, pot-hunters, and white +butchers on their heels, bound for the Canadian dominions, where they +hoped to find a haven of safety. Alas! not five thousand of that mighty +mass ever lived to reach the British border line.”</p> + +<p>It is difficult to say (at least to the satisfaction of old hunters) +which were the most famous hunting grounds on the northern range. +Lieutenant Partello states that when he hunted in the great triangle +bounded <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_510" id="page_510">[Pg 510]</a></span>by the three rivers, Missouri, Musselshell, and Yellowstone, it +contained, to the best of his knowledge and belief, two hundred and +fifty thousand buffaloes. Unquestionably that region yielded an immense +number of buffalo robes, and since the slaughter <i>thousands of tons</i> of +bones have been gathered up there. Another favorite locality was the +country lying between the Powder River and the Little Missouri, +particularly the valleys of Beaver and O’Fallon Creeks. Thither went +scores of “outfits” and hundreds of hunters and skinners from the +Northern Pacific Railway towns from Miles City to Glendive. The hunters +from the towns between Glendive and Bismarck mostly went south to Cedar +Creek and the Grand and Moreau Rivers. But this territory was also the +hunting ground of the Sioux Indians from the great reservation farther +south.</p> + +<p>Thousands upon thousands of buffaloes were killed on the Milk and Marias +Rivers, in the Judith Basin, and in northern Wyoming.</p> + +<p>The method of slaughter has already been fully described under the head +of “the still-hunt,” and need not be recapitulated. It is some +gratification to know that the shocking and criminal wastefulness which +was so marked a feature of the southern butchery was almost wholly +unknown in the north. Robes were worth from $1.50 to $3.50, according to +size and quality, and were removed and preserved with great care. Every +one hundred robes marketed represented not more than one hundred and ten +dead buffaloes, and even this small percentage of loss was due to the +escape of wounded animals which afterward died and were devoured by the +wolves. After the skin was taken off the hunter or skinner stretched it +carefully upon the ground, inside uppermost, cut his initials in the +adherent subcutaneous muscle, and left it until the season for hauling +in the robes, which was always done in the early spring, immediately +following the hunt.</p> + +<p>As was the case in the south, it was the ability of a single hunter to +destroy an entire bunch of buffalo in a single day that completely +annihilated the remaining thousands of the northern herd before the +people of the United States even learned what was going on. For example, +one hunter of my acquaintance, Vic. Smith, the most famous hunter in +Montana, killed one hundred and seven buffaloes in one “stand,” in about +one hour’s time, and without shifting his point of attack. This occurred +in the Red Water country, about 100 miles northeast of Miles City, in +the winter of 1881-’82. During the same season another hunter, named +“Doc.” Aughl, killed eighty-five buffaloes at one “stand,” and John +Edwards killed seventy-five. The total number that Smith claims to have +killed that season is “about five thousand.” Where buffaloes were at all +plentiful, every man who called himself a hunter was expected to kill +between one and two thousand during the hunting season—from November to +February—and when the buffaloes were to be found it was a comparatively +easy thing to do.</p> + +<p>During the year 1882 the thousands of bison that still remained alive <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_511" id="page_511">[Pg 511]</a></span> +on the range indicated above, and also marked out on the accompanying +map, were distributed over that entire area very generally. In February +of that year a Fort Benton correspondent of <i>Forest and Stream</i> wrote as +follows: “It is truly wonderful how many buffalo are still left. +Thousands of Indians and hundreds of white men depend on them for a +living. At present nearly all the buffalo in Montana are between Milk +River and Bear Paw Mountains. There are only a few small bands between +the Missouri and the Yellowstone.” There were plenty of buffalo on the +Upper Marias River in October, 1882. In November and December there were +thousands between the Missouri and the Yellowstone Rivers. South of the +Northern Pacific Railway the range during the hunting season of 1882-’83 +was thus defined by a hunter who has since written out the “Confessions +of a Buffalo Butcher” for <i>Forest and Stream</i> (vol. xxiv, p. 489): “Then +[October, 1882] the western limit was defined in a general way by Powder +River, and extending eastward well toward the Missouri and south to +within 60 or 70 miles of the Black Hills. It embraces the valleys of all +tributaries to Powder River from the east, all of the valleys of Beaver +Creek, O’Fallon Creek, and the Little Missouri and Moreau Rivers, and +both forks of the Cannon Ball for almost half their length. This immense +territory, lying almost equally in Montana and Dakota, had been occupied +during the winters by many thousands of buffaloes from time immemorial, +and many of the cows remained during the summer and brought forth their +young undisturbed.”</p> + +<p>The three hunters composing the party whose record is narrated in the +interesting sketch referred to, went out from Miles City on October 23, +1882, due east to the bad lands between the Powder River and O’Fallon +Creek, and were on the range all winter. They found comparatively few +buffaloes, and secured only two hundred and eighty-six robes, which they +sold at an average price of $2.20 each. They saved and marketed a large +quantity of meat, for which they obtained 3 cents per pound. They found +the whole region in which they hunted fairly infested with Indians and +half-breeds, all hunting buffalo.</p> + +<p>The hunting season which began in October, 1882, and ended in February, +1883, finished the annihilation of the great northern herd, and left but +a few small bauds of stragglers, numbering only a very few thousand +individuals all told. A noted event of the season was the retreat +northward across the Yellowstone of the immense herd mentioned by +Lieutenant Partello as containing seventy-five thousand head; others +estimated the number at fifty thousand; and the event is often spoken of +to-day by frontiersmen who were in that region at the time. Many think +that the whole great body went north into British territory, and that +there is still a goodly remnant of it in some remote region between the +Peace River and the Saskatchewan, or somewhere there, which will yet +return to the United States. Nothing could be more illusory than this +belief. In the first place, the herd never reached the British line, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_512" id="page_512">[Pg 512]</a></span> +and, if it had, it would have been promptly annihilated by the hungry +Blackfeet and Cree Indians, who were declared to be in a half-starved +condition, through the disappearance of the buffalo, as early as 1879.</p> + +<p>The great herd that “went north” was utterly extinguished by the white +hunters along the Missouri River and the Indians living north of it. The +only vestige of it that remained was a band of about two hundred +individuals that took refuge in the labyrinth of ravines and creek +bottoms that lie west of the Musselshell between Flat Willow and Box +Elder Creeks, and another band of about seventy-five which settled in +the bad lands between the head of the Big Dry and Big Porcupine Creeks, +where a few survivors were found by the writer in 1886.</p> + +<p>South of the Northern Pacific Railway, a band of about three hundred +settled permanently in and around the Yellowstone National Park, but in +a very short time every animal outside of the protected limits of the +park was killed, and whenever any of the park buffaloes strayed beyond +the boundary they too were promptly killed for their heads and hides. At +present the number remaining in the park is believed by Captain Harris, +the superintendent, to be about two hundred; about one-third of which is +due to breeding in the protected territory.</p> + +<p>In the southeast the fate of that portion of the herd is well known. The +herd which at the beginning of the hunting season of 1883 was known to +contain about ten thousand head, and ranged in western Dakota, about +half way between the Black Hills and Bismarck, between the Moreau and +Grand Rivers, was speedily reduced to about one thousand head. Vic. +Smith, who was “in at the death,” says there were eleven hundred, others +say twelve hundred. Just at this juncture (October, 1883) Sitting Bull +and his whole band of nearly one thousand braves arrived from the +Standing Sock Agency, and in two days’ time slaughtered the entire herd. +Vic. Smith and a host of white hunters took part in the killing of this +last ten thousand, and he declares that “when we got through the hunt +there was not a hoof left. That wound up the buffalo in the Far West, +only a stray bull being seen here and there afterwards.”</p> + +<p>Curiously enough, not even the buffalo hunters themselves were at the +time aware of the fact that the end of the hunting season of 1882-’83 +was also the end of the buffalo, at least as an inhabitant of the plains +and a source of revenue. In the autumn of 1883 they nearly all outfitted +as usual, often at an expense of many hundreds of dollars, and blithely +sought “the range” that had up to that time been so prolific in robes. +The end was in nearly every case the same—total failure and bankruptcy. +It was indeed hard to believe that not only the millions, but also the +thousands, had actually gone, and forever.</p> + +<p>I have found it impossible to ascertain definitely the number of robes +and hides shipped from the northern range during the last years of the +slaughter, and the only reliable estimate I have obtained was made for +me, alter much consideration and reflection, by Mr. J. N. Davis, of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_513" id="page_513">[Pg 513]</a></span>Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mr. Davis was for many years a buyer of furs, +robes, and hides on a large scale throughout our Northwestern +Territories, and was actively engaged in buying up buffalo robes as long +as there were any to buy. In reply to a letter asking for statistics, he +wrote me as follows, on September 27, 1887:</p> + +<p>“It is impossible to give the exact number of robes and hides shipped +out of Dakota and Montana from 1876 to 1883, or the exact number of +buffalo in the northern herd; but I will give you as correct an account +as any one can. In 1876 it was estimated that there were half a million +buffaloes within a radius of 150 miles of Miles City. In 1881 the +Northern Pacific Railroad was built as far west as Glendive and Miles +City. At that time the whole country was a howling wilderness, and +Indians and wild buffalo were too numerous to mention. The first +shipment of buffalo robes, killed by white men, was made that year, and +the stations on the Northern Pacific Railroad between Miles City and +Mandan sent out about fifty thousand hides and robes. In 1882 the number +of hides and robes bought and shipped was about two hundred thousand, +and in 1883 forty thousand. In 1884 I shipped from Dickinson, Dakota +Territory, the only car load of robes that went East that year, and it +was the last shipment ever made.”</p> + +<p>For a long time the majority of the ex-hunters cherished the fond +delusion that the great herd had only “gone north” into the British +Possessions, and would eventually return in great force. Scores of +rumors of the finding of herds floated about, all of which were eagerly +believed at first. But after a year or two had gone by without the +appearance of a single buffalo, and likewise without any reliable +information of the existence of a herd of any size, even in British +territory, the butchers of the buffalo either hung up their old Sharps +rifles, or sold them for nothing to the gun-dealers, and sought other +means of livelihood. Some took to gathering up buffalo bones and selling +them by the ton, and others became cowboys.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="iv_congressional_legislation_for_the_protection_of_the_bison" id="iv_congressional_legislation_for_the_protection_of_the_bison"></a>IV. Congressional Legislation for the Protection of the Bison.</h2> + + +<p>The slaughter of the buffalo down to the very point of extermination has +been so very generally condemned, and the general Government has been so +unsparingly blamed for allowing such a massacre to take place on the +public domain, it is important that the public should know all the facts +in the case. To the credit of Congress it must be said that several very +determined efforts were made between the years 1871 and 1876 looking +toward the protection of the buffalo. The failure of all those +well-meant efforts was due to our republican form of Government. Had +this Government been a monarchy the buffalo would have been protected; +but unfortunately in this case (perhaps the only one on record wherein a +king could have accomplished more than the representatives of the +people) the necessary act of Congress was so hedged in and beset <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_514" id="page_514">[Pg 514]</a></span>by +obstacles that it never became an accomplished fact. Even when both +houses of Congress succeeded in passing a suitable act (June 23, 1874) +it went to the President in the last days of the session only to be +pigeon-holed, and die a natural death.</p> + +<p>The following is a complete history of Congressional legislation in +regard to the protection of the buffalo from wanton slaughter and +ultimate extinction. The first step taken in behalf of this persecuted +animal was on March 13, 1871, when Mr. McCormick, of Arizona, introduced +a bill (H. R. 157), which was ordered to be printed. Nothing further was +done with it. It read as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p><i>Be it enacted, etc.</i>, That, excepting for the purpose of using the meat +for food or preserving the akin, it shall be unlawful for any person to +kill the bison, or buffalo, found anywhere upon the public lands of the +United States; and for the violation of this law the offender shall, +upon conviction before any court of competent jurisdiction, be liable to +a fine of $100 for each animal killed, one-half of which sum shall, upon +its collection, be paid to the informer.</p></blockquote> + +<p>On February 14, 1872, Mr. Cole, of California, introduced in the Senate +the following resolution, which was considered by unanimous consent and +agreed to:</p> + +<blockquote><p><i>Resolved</i>, That the Committee on Territories be directed to inquire +into the expediency of enacting a law for the protection of the buffalo, +elk, antelope, and other useful animals running wild in the Territories +of the United States against indiscriminate slaughter and extermination, +and that they report by bill or otherwise.</p></blockquote> + +<p>On February 16, 1872, Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, introduced a bill in +the Senate (S. 655) restricting the killing of the buffalo upon the +public lauds; which was read twice by its title and referred to the +Committee on Territories.</p> + +<p>On April 5, 1872, Mr. B. C. McCormick, of Arizona, made a speech in the +House of Representatives, while it was in Committee of the Whole, on the +restriction of the killing of buffalo.</p> + +<p>He mentioned a then recent number of <i>Harper’s Weekly</i>, in which were +illustrations of the slaughter of buffalo, and also read a partly +historical extract in regard to the same. He related how, when he was +once snow-bound upon the Kansas Pacific Railroad, the buffalo furnished +food for himself and fellow-passengers. Then he read the bill introduced +by him March 13, 1871, and also copies of letters furnished him by Henry +Bergh, president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty +to Animals, which were sent to the latter by General W. B. Hazen, Lieut. +Col. A. G. Brackett, and E. W. Wynkoop. He also read a statement by +General Hazen to the effect that he knew of a man who killed ninety-nine +buffaloes with his own hand in one day. He also spoke on the subject of +cross-breeding the buffalo with common cattle, and read an extract in +regard to it from the San Francisco <i>Post</i>.<a name="fnanchor_69_69" id="fnanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p> + +<p>On April 6, 1872, Mr. McCormick asked leave to have printed in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_515" id="page_515">[Pg 515]</a></span> +Globe some remarks he had prepared regarding restricting the killing of +buffalo, which was granted.<a name="fnanchor_70_70" id="fnanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p> + +<p>On January 5, 1874, Mr. Fort, of Illinois, introduced a bill (H. R. 921) +to prevent the useless slaughter of buffalo within the Territories of +the United States; which was read and referred to the Committee on the +Territories.<a name="fnanchor_71_71" id="fnanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> + +<p>On March 10, 1874, this bill was reported to the House from the +Committee on the Territories, with a recommendation that it be +passed.<a name="fnanchor_72_72" id="fnanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> + +<p>The first section of the bill provided that it shall be unlawful for any +person, who is not an Indian, to kill, wound, or in any way destroy any +female buffalo of any age, found at large within the boundaries of any +of the Territories of the United States.</p> + +<p>The second section provided that it shall be, in like manner, unlawful +for any such person to kill, wound, or destroy in said Territories any +greater number of male buffaloes than are needed for food by such +person, or than can be used, cured, or preserved for the food of other +persons, or for the market. It shall in like manner be unlawful for any +such person, or persons, to assist, or be in any manner engaged or +concerned in or about such unlawful killing, wounding, or destroying of +any such buffaloes; that any person who shall violate the provisions of +the act shall, on conviction, forfeit and pay to the United States the +sum of $100 for each offense (and each buffalo so unlawfully killed, +wounded, or destroyed shall be and constitute a separate offense), and +on a conviction of a second offense may be committed to prison for a +period not exceeding thirty days; and that all United States judges, +justices, courts, and legal tribunals in said Territories shall have +jurisdiction in cases of the violation of the law.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cox said he had been told by old hunters that it was impossible to +tell the sex of a running buffalo; and he also stated that the bill gave +preference to the Indians.</p> + +<p>Mr. Fort said the object was to prevent early extermination; that +thousands were annually slaughtered for skins alone, and thousands for +their tongues alone; that perhaps hundreds of thousands are killed every +year in utter wantonness, with no object for such destruction. He had +been told that the sexes could be distinguished while they were +running.<a name="fnanchor_73_73" id="fnanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p> + +<p>This bill does not prohibit any person joining in a reasonable chase and +hunt of the buffalo.</p> + +<p>Said Mr. Fort, “So far as I am advised, gentlemen upon this floor +representing all the Territories are favorable to the passage of this +bill.”</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_516" id="page_516">[Pg 516]</a></span></p> +<p>Mr. Cox wanted the clause excepting the Indians from the operations of +the bill stricken out, and stated that the Secretary of the Interior had +already said to the House that the civilization of the Indian was +Impossible while the buffalo remained on the plains.</p> + +<p>The Clerk read for Mr. McCormick the following extract from the <i>New +Mexican</i>, a paper published in Santa Fé:</p> + +<blockquote><p>The buffalo slaughter, which has been going on the past few years on the +plains, and which increases every year, is wantonly wicked, and should +be stopped by the most stringent enactments and most vigilant +enforcements of the law. Killing these noble animals for their hides +simply, or to gratify the pleasure of some Russian duke or English lord, +is a species of vandalism which can not too quickly be checked. United +States surveying parties report that there are two thousand hunters on +the plains killing these animals for their hides. One party of sixteen +hunters report having killed twenty-eight thousand buffaloes during the +past summer. It seems to us there is quite as much reason why the +Government should protect the buffaloes as the Indians.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. McCormick considered the subject important, and had not a doubt of +the fearful slaughter. He read the following extract from a letter that +he had received from General Hazen:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I know a man who killed with his own hand ninety-nine buffaloes in one +day, without taking a pound of the meat. The buffalo for food has an +intrinsic value about equal to an average Texas beef, or say $20. There +are probably not less than a million of these animals on the western +plains. If the Government owned a herd of a million oxen they would at +least take steps to prevent this wanton slaughter. The railroads have +made the buffalo so accessible as to present a case not dissimilar.</p></blockquote> + +<p>He agreed with Mr. Cox that some features of the bill would probably be +impracticable, and moved to amend it. He did not believe any bill would +entirely accomplish the purpose, but he desired that such wanton +slaughter should be stopped.</p> + +<p>Said he, “It would have been well both for the Indians and the white men +if an enactment of this kind had been placed on our statute-books years +ago. * * * I know of no one act that would gratify the red men more.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Holman expressed surprise that Mr. Cox should make any objection to +parts of the measure. The former regarded the bill as “an effort in a +most commendable direction,” and trusted that it would pass.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cox said he would not have objected to the bill but from the fact +that it was partial in its provisions. He wanted a bill that would +impose a penalty on every man, red, white, or black, who may wantonly +kill these buffaloes.</p> + +<p>Mr. Potter desired to know whether more buffaloes were slaughtered by +the Indians than by white men.</p> + +<p>Mr. Fort thought the white men were doing the greatest amount of +killing.</p> + +<p>Mr. Eldridge thought there would be just as much propriety in killing +the fish in our rivers as in destroying the buffalo in order to compel +the Indians to become civilized.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conger said: “As a matter of fact, every man knows the range of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_517" id="page_517">[Pg 517]</a></span>the +buffalo has grown more and more confined year after year; that they have +been driven westward before advancing civilization.” But he opposed the +bill!</p> + +<p>Mr. Hawley, of Connecticut, said: “I am glad to see this bill. I am in +favor of this law, and hope it will pass.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Lowe favored the bill, and thought that the buffalo ought to be +protected for proper utility.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cobb thought they ought to be protected for the settlers, who +depended partly on them for food.</p> + +<p>Mr. Parker, of Missouri, intimated that the policy of the Secretary of +the Interior was a sound one, and that the buffaloes ought to be +exterminated, to prevent difficulties in civilizing the Indians.</p> + +<p>Said Mr. Conger, “I do not think the measure will tend at all to protect +the buffalo.”</p> + +<p>Mr. McCormick replied: “This bill will not prevent the killing of +buffaloes for any useful purpose, but only their wanton destruction.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Kasson said: “I wish to say one word in support of this bill, +because I have had some experience as to the manner in which these +buffaloes are treated by hunters. The buffalo is a creature of vast +utility, * * *. This animal ought to be protected; * * *.”</p> + +<p>The question being taken on the passage of the bill, there were—ayes +132, noes not counted.</p> + +<p>So the bill was passed.</p> + +<p>On June 23, 1874, this bill (H. R. 921) came up in the Senate.<a name="fnanchor_74_74" id="fnanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Harvey moved, as an amendment, to strike out the words “who is not +an Indian.”</p> + +<p>Said Mr. Hitchcock, “That will defeat the bill.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Frelinghuysen said: “That would prevent the Indians from killing the +buffalo on their own ground. I object to the bill.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Sargent said: “I think we can pass the bill in the right shape +without objection. Let us take it up. It is a very important one.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Frelinghuysen withdrew his objection.</p> + +<p>Mr. Harvey thought it was a very important bill, and withdrew his +amendment.</p> + +<p>The bill was reported to the Senate, ordered to a third reading, read +the third time, and passed. It went to President Grant for signature, +and expired in his hands at the adjournment of that session of Congress.</p> + +<p>On February 2, 1874, Mr. Fort introduced a bill (H. R. 1689) to tax +buffalo hides; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.</p> + +<p>On June 10, 1874, Mr. Dawes, from the Committee on Ways and Means, +reported back the bill adversely, and moved that it be laid on the +table.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_518" id="page_518">[Pg 518]</a></span></p> +<p>Mr. Fort asked to have the bill referred to the Committee of the +Whole, and it was so referred.</p> + +<p>On February 2, 1874, Mr. R. C. McCormick, of Arizona, introduced in the +House a bill (H. R. 1728) restricting the killing of the bison, or +buffalo, on the public lands; which was referred to the Committee on the +Public Lands, and never heard of more.</p> + +<p>On January 31, 1876, Mr. Fort introduced a bill (H. R. 1719) to prevent +the useless slaughter of buffaloes within the Territories of the United +States, which was referred to the Committee on the Territories.<a name="fnanchor_75_75" id="fnanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p> + +<p>The Committee on the Territories reported back the bill without +amendment on February 23, 1876.<a name="fnanchor_76_76" id="fnanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> Its provisions were in every respect +identical with those of the bill introduced by Mr. Fort in 1874, and +which passed both houses.</p> + +<p>In support of it Mr. Fort said: “The intention and object of this bill +is to preserve them [the buffaloes] for the use of the Indians, whose +homes are upon the public domain, and to the frontiersmen, who may +properly use them for food. * * * They have been and are now being +slaughtered in large numbers. * * * Thousands of these noble brutes are +annually slaughtered out of mere wontonness. * * * This bill, just as it +is now presented, passed the last Congress. It was not vetoed, but fell, +as I understand, merely for want of time to consider it after having +passed both houses.” He also intimated that the Government was using a +great deal of money for cattle to furnish the Indians, while the buffalo +was being wantonly destroyed, whereas they might be turned to their +good.</p> + +<p>Mr. Crounse wanted the words “who is not an Indian” struck out, so as to +make the bill general. He thought Indians were to blame for the wanton +destruction.</p> + +<p>Mr. Fort thought the amendment unnecessary, and stated that he was +informed that the Indians did not destroy the buffaloes wantonly.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dunnell thought the bill one of great importance.</p> + +<p>The Clerk read for him a letter from A. G. Brackett, lieutenant-colonel, +Second United States Cavalry, stationed at Omaha Barracks, in which was +a very urgent request to have Congress interfere to prevent the +wholesale slaughter then going on.</p> + +<p>Mr. Reagan thought the bill proper and right. He knew from personal +experience how the wanton slaughtering was going on, and also that the +Indians were <i>not</i> the ones who did it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Townsend, of New York, saw no reason why a white man should not be +allowed to kill a female buffalo as well as an Indian. He said it would +be impracticable to have a separate law for each.</p> + +<p>Mr. Maginnis did not agree with him. He thought the bill ought to pass +as it stood.</p> + +<p>Mr. Throckmorton thought that while the intention of the bill was a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_519" id="page_519">[Pg 519]</a></span> +good one, yet it was mischievous and difficult to enforce, and would +also work hardship to a large portion of our frontier people. He had +several objections. He also thought a cow buffalo could not be +distinguished at a distance.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hancock, of Texas, thought the bill an impolicy, and that the sooner +the buffalo was exterminated the better.</p> + +<p>Mr. Fort replied by asking him why all the game—deer, antelope, +etc.—was not slaughtered also. Then he went on to state that to +exterminate the buffalo would be to starve innocent children of the red +man, and to make the latter more wild and savage than he was already.</p> + +<p>Mr. Baker, of Indiana, offered the following amendment as a substitute +for the one already offered:</p> + +<blockquote><p><i>Provided</i>, That any white person who shall employ, hire, or procure, +directly or indirectly, any Indian to kill any buffalo forbidden to be +killed by this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and punished +in the manner provided in this act.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Fort stated that a certain clause in his bill covered the object of +the amendment.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jenks offered the following amendment:</p> + +<blockquote><p>Strike out in the fourth line of the second section the word “can” and +insert “shall;” and in the second line of the same section insert the +word “wantonly” before “kill;” so that the clause will read:</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p>“That it shall be in like manner unlawful for any such person to +wantonly kill, wound, or destroy in the said Territories any greater +number of male buffaloes than are needed for food by such person, or +than shall be used, cured, or preserved for the food of other persons, +or for the market.”</p></blockquote> + +<p>Mr. Conger said: “I think the whole bill is unwise. I think it is a +useless measure.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Hancock said: “I move that the bill and amendment be laid on the +table.”</p> + +<p>The motion to lay the bill upon the table was defeated, and the +amendment was rejected.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conger called for a division on the passage of the bill. The House +divided, and there were—ayes 93, noes 48. He then demanded tellers, and +they reported—ayes 104, noes 36. So the bill was passed.</p> + +<p>On February 25, 1876, the bill was reported to the Senate, and referred +to the Committee on Territories, from whence it never returned.</p> + +<p>On March 20, 1876, Mr. Fort introduced a bill (H. R. 2767) to tax +buffalo hides; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, +and never heard of afterward.</p> + +<p>This was the last move made in Congress in behalf of the buffalo. The +philanthropic friends of the frontiersman, the Indian, and of the +buffalo himself, despaired of accomplishing the worthy object for which +they had so earnestly and persistently labored, and finally gave up the +fight. At the very time the effort in behalf of buffalo protection was +abandoned the northern herd still flourished, and might have been +preserved from extirpation.</p> + +<p>At various times the legislatures of a few of the Western States and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_520" id="page_520">[Pg 520]</a></span> +Territories enacted laws vaguely and feebly intended to provide some +sort of protection to the fast disappearing animals. One of the first +was the game law of Colorado, passed in 1872, which declared that the +killers of game should not leave any flesh to spoil. The western game +laws of those days amounted to about as much as they do now; practically +nothing at all. I have never been able to learn of a single instance, +save in the Yellowstone Park, wherein a western hunter was prevented by +so simple and innocuous a thing as a game law from killing game. Laws +were enacted, but they were always left to enforce themselves. The idea +of the frontiersman (the average, at least) has always been to kill as +much game as possible before some other fellow gets a chance at it, <i>and +before it is all killed off</i>! So he goes at the game, and as a general +thing kills all he can while it lasts, and with it feeds himself and +family, his dogs, and even his hogs, to repletion. I knew one Montana +man north of Miles City who killed for his own use twenty-six black-tail +deer in one season, and had so much more venison than he could consume +or give away that a great pile of carcasses lay in his yard until spring +and spoiled.</p> + +<p>During the existence of the buffalo it was declared by many an +impossibility to stop or prevent the slaughter. Such an accusation of +weakness and imbecility on the part of the General Government is an +insult to our strength and resources. The protection of game is now and +always has been simply a question of money. A proper code of game laws +and a reasonable number of salaried game-wardens, sworn to enforce them +and punish all offenses against them, would have afforded the buffalo as +much protection as would have been necessary to his continual existence. +To be sure, many buffaloes would have been killed on the sly in spite of +laws to the contrary, but it was wholesale slaughter that wrought the +extermination, and that could easily have been prevented. A tax of 50 +cents each on buffalo robes would have maintained a sufficient number of +game-wardens to have reasonably regulated the killing, and maintained +for an indefinite period a bountiful source of supply of food, and also +raiment for both the white man of the plains and the Indian. By +judicious management the buffalo could have been made to yield an annual +revenue equal to that we now receive from the fur-seals—$100,000 per +year.</p> + +<p>During the two great periods of slaughter—1870-’75 and 1880-’84—the +principal killing grounds were as well known as the stock-yards of +Chicago. Had proper laws been enacted, and had either the general or +territorial governments entered with determination upon the task of +restricting the killing of buffaloes to proper limits, their enforcement +would have been, in the main, as simple and easy as the collection of +taxes. Of course the solitary hunter in a remote locality would have +bowled over his half dozen buffaloes in secure defiance of the law; but +such desultory killing could not have made much impression on the great +mass for many years. The business-like, wholesale slaughter, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_521" id="page_521">[Pg 521]</a></span>wherein +one hunter would openly kill five thousand buffaloes and market perhaps +two thousand hides, could easily have been stopped forever. Buffalo +hides could not have been dealt in clandestinely, for many reasons, and +had there been no sale for ill-gotten spoils the still-hunter would have +gathered no spoils to sell. It was an undertaking of considerable +magnitude, and involving a cash outlay of several hundred dollars to +make up an “outfit” of wagons, horses, arms and ammunition, food, etc., +for a trip to “the range” after buffaloes. It was these wholesale +hunters, both in the North and the South, who exterminated the species, +and to say that all such undertakings could not have been effectually +prevented by law is to accuse our law-makers and law-officers of +imbecility to a degree hitherto unknown. There is nowhere in this +country, nor in any of the waters adjacent to it, a living species of +any kind which the United States Government can not fully and +perpetually protect from destruction by human agencies if it chooses to +do so. The destruction of the buffalo was a loss of wealth perhaps +twenty times greater than the sum it would have cost to conserve it, and +this stupendous waste of valuable food and other products was committed +by one class of the American people and permitted by another with a +prodigality and wastefulness which even in the lowest savages would be +inexcusable.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="v_completeness_of_the_extermination" id="v_completeness_of_the_extermination"></a>V. Completeness of the Extermination.</h2> + +<p class="center">(May 1, 1889.)</p> + +<p>Although the existence of a few widely-scattered individuals enables us +to say that the bison is not yet absolutely extinct in a wild state, +there is no reason to hope that a single wild and unprotected individual +will remain alive ten years hence. The nearer the species approaches to +complete extermination, the more eagerly are the wretched fugitives +pursued to the death whenever found. Western hunters are striving for +the honor (?) of killing the last buffalo, which, it is to be noted, has +already been slain about a score of times by that number of hunters.</p> + +<p>The buffaloes still alive in a wild state are so very few, and have been +so carefully “marked down” by hunters, it is possible to make a very +close estimate of the total number remaining. In this enumeration the +small herd in the Yellowstone National Park is classed with other herds +in captivity and under protection, for the reason that, had it not been +for the protection afforded by the law and the officers of the Park, not +one of these buffaloes would be living to-day. Were the restrictions of +the law removed now, every one of those animals would be killed within +three months. Their heads alone are worth from $25 to $50 each to +taxidermists, and for this reason every buffalo is a prize worth the +hunter’s winning. Had it not been for stringent laws, and a rigid +enforcement of them by Captain Harris, the last of the Park buffaloes +would have been shot years ago by Vic. Smith, the Rea Brothers, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_522" id="page_522">[Pg 522]</a></span> +other hunters, of whom there is always an able contingent around the +Park.</p> + +<p>In the United States the death of a buffalo is now such an event that it +is immediately chronicled by the Associated Press and telegraphed all +over the country. By reason of this, and from information already in +hand, we are able to arrive at a very fair understanding of the present +condition of the species in a wild state.</p> + +<p>In December, 1886, the Smithsonian expedition left about fifteen +buffaloes alive in the bad lands of the Missouri-Yellowstone divide, at +the head of Big Porcupine Creek. In 1887 three of these were killed by +cowboys, and in 1888 two more, the last death recorded being that of an +old bull killed near Billings. There are probably eight or ten +stragglers still remaining in that region, hiding in the wildest and +most broken tracts of the bad lands, as far as possible from the cattle +ranches, and where even cowboys seldom go save on a round-up. From the +fact that no other buffaloes, at least so far as can be learned, have +been killed in Montana during the last two years, I am convinced that +the bunch referred to are the last representatives of the species +remaining in Montana.</p> + +<p>In the spring of 1886 Mr. B. C. Winston, while on a hunting trip about +75 miles west of Grand Rapids, Dakota, saw seven buffaloes—five adult +animals and two calves; of which he killed one, a large bull, and caught +a calf alive. On September 11, 1888, a solitary bull was killed 3 miles +from the town of Oakes, in Dickey County. There are still three +individuals in the unsettled country lying between that point and the +Missouri, which are undoubtedly the only wild representatives of the +race east of the Missouri River.</p> + +<p>On April 28, 1887, Dr. William Stephenson, of the United States Army, +wrote me as follows from Pilot Butte, about 30 miles north of Rock +Springs, Wyoming:</p> + +<p>“There are undoubtedly buffalo within 50 or 60 miles of here, two having +been killed out of a band of eighteen some ten days since by cowboys, +and another band of four seen near there. I hear from cattlemen of their +being seen every year north and northeast of here.”</p> + +<p>This band was seen once in 1888. In February, 1889, Hon. Joseph M. +Carey, member of Congress from Wyoming, received a letter informing him +that this band of buffaloes, consisting of twenty-six head, had been +seen grazing in the Red Desert of Wyoming, and that the Indians were +preparing to attack it. At Judge Carey’s request the Indian Bureau +issued orders which it was hoped would prevent the slaughter. So, until +further developments, we have the pleasure of recording the presence of +twenty-six wild buffaloes in southern Wyoming.</p> + +<p>There are no buffaloes whatever in the vicinity of the Yellowstone Park, +either in Wyoming, Montana, or Idaho, save what wander out of that +reservation, and when any do, they are speedily killed.</p> + +<p>There is a rumor that there are ten or twelve mountain buffaloes still <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_523" id="page_523">[Pg 523]</a></span> +on foot in Colorado, in a region called Lost Park, and, while it lacks +confirmation, we gladly accept it as a fact. In 1888 Mr. C. B. Cory, of +Boston, saw in Denver, Colorado, eight fresh buffalo skins, which it was +said had come from the region named above. In 1885 there was a herd of +about forty “mountain buffalo” near South Park, and although some of the +number may still survive, the indications are that the total number of +wild buffaloes in Colorado does not exceed twenty individuals.</p> + +<p>In Texas a miserable remnant of the great southern herd still remains in +the “Pan-handle country,” between the two forks of the Canadian River. +In 1886 about two hundred head survived, which number by the summer of +1887 had been reduced to one hundred, or less. In the hunting season of +1887-’88 a ranchman named Lee Howard fitted out and led a strong party +into the haunts of the survivors, and killed fifty-two of them. In May, +1888, Mr. C. J. Jones again visited this region for the purpose of +capturing buffaloes alive. His party found, from first to last, +thirty-seven buffaloes, of which they captured eighteen head, eleven +adult cows and seven calves; the greatest feat ever accomplished in +buffalo-hunting. It is highly probable that Mr. Jones and his men saw +about all the buffaloes now living in the Pan-handle country, and it +therefore seems quite certain that not over twenty-five individuals +remain. These are so few, so remote, and so difficult to reach, it is to +be hoped no one will consider them worth going after, and that they will +be left to take care of themselves. It is greatly to be regretted that +the State of Texas does not feel disposed to make a special effort for +their protection and preservation.</p> + +<p>In regard to the existence of wild buffaloes in the British Possessions, +the statements of different authorities are at variance, by far the +larger number holding the opinion that there are in all the Northwest +Territory only a few almost solitary stragglers. But there is still good +reason for the hope, and also the belief, that there still remain in +Athabasca, between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers, at least a few +hundred “wood buffalo.” In a very interesting and well-considered +article in the London <i>Field</i> of November 10, 1888, Mr. Miller Christy +quotes all the available positive evidence bearing on this point, and I +gladly avail myself of the opportunity to reproduce it here:</p> + +<p>“The Hon. Dr. Schulz, in the recent debate on the Mackenzie River basin, +in the Canadian senate, quoted Senator Hardisty, of Edmonton, of the +Hudson’s Bay Company, to the effect that the wood buffalo still existed +in the region in question. ‘It was,’ he said, ‘difficult to estimate how +many; but probably five or six hundred still remain in scattered bands.’ +There had been no appreciable difference in their numbers, he thought, +during the last fifteen years, as they could not be hunted on horseback, +on account of the wooded character of the country, and were, therefore, +very little molested. They are larger than the buffalo of the great +plains, weighing at least 150 pounds more. They are also coarser haired +and straighter horned.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_524" id="page_524">[Pg 524]</a></span></p><p>“The doctor also quoted Mr. Frank Oliver, of Edmonton, to the effect +that the wood buffalo still exists in small numbers between the Lower +Peace and Great Slave Rivers, extending westward from the latter to the +Salt River in latitude 60 degrees, and also between the Peace and +Athabasca Rivers. He states that ‘they are larger than the prairie +buffalo, and the fur is darker, but practically they are the same +animal.’ ...Some buffalo meat is brought in every winter to the Hudson’s +Bay Company’s posts nearest the buffalo ranges.</p> + +<p>“Dr. Schulz further stated that he had received the following testimony +from Mr. Donald Ross, of Edmonton: The wood buffalo still exists in the +localities named. About 1870 one was killed as far west on Peace River +as Port Dunvegan. They are quite different from the prairie buffalo, +being nearly double the size, as they will dress fully 700 pounds.”</p> + +<p>It will be apparent to most observers, I think, that Mr. Ross’s +statement in regard to the size of the wood buffalo is a random shot.</p> + +<p>In a private letter to the writer, under date of October 22, 1887, Mr. +Harrison S. Young, of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post at Edmonton, +writes as follows:</p> + +<p>“The buffalo are not yet extinct in the Northwest. There are still some +stray ones on the prairies away to the south of this, but they must be +very few. I am unable to find any one who has personal knowledge of the +killing of one during the last two years, though I have since the +receipt of your letter questioned a good many half-breeds on the +subject. In our district of Athabasca, along the Salt River, there are +still a few wood buffalo killed every year, but they are fast +diminishing in numbers and are also becoming very shy.”</p> + +<p>In his “Manitoba and the Great Northwest” Prof. John Macoun has this to +say regarding the presence of the wood buffalo in the region referred +to:</p> + +<p>“The wood buffalo, when I was on the Peace River in 1875, were confined +to the country lying between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers north of +latitude 57° 30', or chiefly in the Birch Hills. They were also said to +be in some abundance on the Salt and Hay Rivers, running into the Save +River north of Peace River. The herds thirteen years ago [now nineteen] +were supposed to number about one thousand, all told. I believe many +still exist, as the Indians of that region eat fish, which are much +easier procured than either buffalo or moose, and the country is much +too difficult for white men.”</p> + +<p>All this evidence, when carefully considered, resolves itself into +simply this and no more: The only evidence in favor of the existence of +any live buffaloes between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers is in the form +of very old rumors, most of them nearly fifteen years old; time enough +for the Indians to have procured fire-arms in abundance and killed all +those buffaloes two or three times over.</p> + +<p>Mr. Miller Christy takes “the mean of the estimates,” and assumes <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_525" id="page_525">[Pg 525]</a></span>that +there are now about five hundred and fifty buffaloes in the region +named. If we are to believe in the existence there of any stragglers his +estimate is a fair one, and we will gladly accept it. The total is +therefore as follows:</p> + +<h4><i>Number of American bison running wild and unprotected on January 1, 1889.</i></h4> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="number running wild"> +<tr><td align="left">In the Pan-handle of Texas</td><td align="center"><tt> 25</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">In Colorado</td><td align="center"><tt> 20</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">In southern Wyoming</td><td align="center"><tt> 26</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">In the Musselshell country, Montana</td><td align="center"><tt> 10</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">In western Dakota</td><td align="center"><tt> 4</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Total number in the United States</td><td align="center"><tt> 85</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">In Athabasca, Northwest Territory (estimated) </td><td align="center"><tt>550</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"> Total in all North America</td><td align="center"><tt>635</tt></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Add to the above the total number already recorded in captivity (256) +and those under Government protection in the Yellowstone Park (200), and +the whole number of individuals of <i>Bison americanus</i> now living is +1,091.</p> + +<p>From this time it is probable that many rumors of the sudden appearance +of herds of buffaloes will become current. Already there have been three +or four that almost deserve special mention. The first appeared in +March, 1887, when various Western newspapers published a circumstantial +account of how a herd of about three hundred buffaloes swam the Missouri +River about 10 miles above Bismarck, near the town of Painted Woods, and +ran on in a southwesterly direction. A letter of inquiry, addressed to +Mr. S. A. Peterson, postmaster at Painted Woods, elicited the following +reply:</p> + +<p>“The whole rumor is false, and without any foundation. I saw it first in +the —— newspaper, where I believe it originated.”</p> + +<p>In these days of railroads and numberless hunting parties, there is not +the remotest possibility of there being anywhere in the United States a +herd of a hundred, or even fifty, buffaloes which has escaped +observation. Of the eighty-five head still existing in a wild state it +may safely be predicted that not even one will remain alive five years +hence. A buffalo is now so great a prize, and by the ignorant it is +considered so great an honor(!) to kill one, that extraordinary +exertions will be made to find and shoot down without mercy the “last +buffalo.”</p> + +<p>There is no possible chance for the race to be perpetuated in a wild +state, and in a few years more hardly a bone will remain above ground to +mark the existence of the must prolific mammalian species that ever +existed, so far as we know.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="vi_effects_of_the_extermination" id="vi_effects_of_the_extermination"></a>VI. Effects of the Extermination.</h2> + + +<p>The buffalo supplied the Indian with food, clothing, shelter, bedding, +saddles, ropes, shields, and innumerable smaller articles of use and +ornament In the United States a paternal government takes the place <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_526" id="page_526">[Pg 526]</a></span>of +the buffalo in supplying all these wants of the red man, and it costs +several millions of dollars annually to accomplish the task.</p> + +<p>The following are the tribes which depended very largely—some almost +wholly—upon the buffalo for the necessities, and many of the luxuries, +of their savage life until the Government began to support them:</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="tribes"> +<tr><td align="left">Sioux</td><td align="right"><tt>30,561</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Crow</td><td align="right"><tt>3,226</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Piegan, Blood, and Blackfeet </td><td align="right"><tt>2,026</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Cheyenne</td><td align="right"><tt>3,477</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Gros Ventres</td><td align="right"><tt>856</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Arickaree</td><td align="right"><tt>517</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Mandan</td><td align="right"><tt>283</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Bannack and Shoshone</td><td align="right"><tt>2,001</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Nez Percé</td><td align="right"><tt>1,460</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Assinniboine</td><td align="right"><tt>1,688</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Kiowas and Comanches</td><td align="right"><tt>2,756</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Arapahoes</td><td align="right"><tt>1,217</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Apache</td><td align="right"><tt>332</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Ute</td><td align="right"><tt>978</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Omaha</td><td align="right"><tt>1,160</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Pawnee</td><td align="right"><tt>998</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Winnebago</td><td align="right"><tt>1,222</tt></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">Total </td><td align="right"><tt>54,758</tt></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>This enumeration (from the census of 1886) leaves entirely out of +consideration many thousands of Indians living in the Indian Territory +and other portions of the Southwest, who drew an annual supply of meat +and robes from the chase of the buffalo, notwithstanding the fact that +their chief dependence was upon agriculture.</p> + +<p>The Indians of what was once the buffalo country are not starving and +freezing, for the reason that the United States Government supplies them +regularly with beef and blankets in lieu of buffalo. Does any one +imagine that the Government could not have regulated the killing of +buffaloes, and thus maintained the supply, for far less money than it +now costs to feed and clothe those 54,758 Indians!</p> + +<p>How is it with the Indians of the British Possessions to-day?</p> + +<p>Prof. John Maconn writes as follows in his “Manitoba and the Great +Northwest,” page 342:</p> + +<p>“During the last three years [prior to 1883] the great herds have been +kept south of our boundary, and, as the result of this, our Indians have +been on the verge of starvation. When the hills were covered with +countless thousands [of buffaloes] in 1877, the Blackfeet were dying of +starvation in 1879.”</p> + +<p>During the winter of 1886-’87, destitution and actual starvation +prevailed to an alarming extent among certain tribes of Indians in the +Northwest Territory who once lived bountifully on the buffalo. A +terrible tale of suffering in the Athabasca and Peace River country has +recently (1888) come to the minister of the interior of the Canadian +government, in the form of a petition signed by the bishop of that +diocese, six clergymen and missionaries, and several justices of the +peace. It sets forth that “owing to the destruction of game, the +Indians, both last winter and last summer, have been in a state of +starvation. They are now in a complete state of destitution, and are +utterly unable to provide themselves with clothing, shelter, ammunition, +or food for the coming winter.” The petition declares that on account of +starvation, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_527" id="page_527">[Pg 527]</a></span>consequent cannibalism, a party of twenty-nine Cree +Indians was reduced to three in the winter of 1886.<a name="fnanchor_77_77" id="fnanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> Of the Fort +Chippewyan Indians, between twenty and thirty starved to death last +winter, and the death of many more was hastened by want of food and by +famine diseases. Many other Indians—Crees, Beavers, and Chippewyans—at +almost all points where there are missions or trading posts, would +certainly have starved to death but for the help given them by the +traders and missionaries at those places. It is now declared by the +signers of the memorial that scores of families, having lost their heads +by starvation, are now perfectly helpless, and during the coming winter +must either starve to death or eat one another unless help comes. +Heart-rending stories of suffering and cannibalism continue to come in +from what was once the buffalo plains.</p> + +<p>If ever thoughtless people were punished for their reckless +improvidence, the Indians and half-breeds of the Northwest Territory are +now paying the penalty for the wasteful slaughter of the buffalo a few +short years ago. The buffalo is his own avenger, to an extent his +remorseless slayers little dreamed he ever could be.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="vii_preservation_of_the_species_from_absolute_extinction" id="vii_preservation_of_the_species_from_absolute_extinction"></a>VII. Preservation of the Species from Absolute Extinction.</h2> + + +<p>There is reason to fear that unless the United States Government takes +the matter in hand and makes a special effort to prevent it, the +pure-blood bison will be lost irretrievably through mixture with +domestic breeds and through in-and-in breeding.</p> + +<p>The fate of the Yellowstone Park herd is, to say the least, highly +uncertain. A distinguished Senator, who is deeply interested in +legislation for the protection of the National Park reservation, has +declared that the pressure from railway corporations, which are seeking +a foot-hold in the park, has become so great and so aggressive that he +fears the park will “eventually be broken up.” In any such event, the +destruction of the herd of park buffaloes would be one of the very first +results. If the park is properly maintained, however, it is to be hoped +that the buffaloes now in it will remain there and increase +indefinitely.</p> + +<p>As yet there are only two captive buffaloes in the possession of the +Government, viz, those in the Department of Living Animals of the +National Museum, presented by Hon. E. G. Blackford, of New York. The +buffaloes now in the Zoological Gardens of the country are but few in +number, and unless special pains be taken to prevent it, by means of +judicious exchanges, from time to time, these will rapidly deteriorate +in size, and within a comparatively short time run out entirely, through +continued in-and-in breeding. It is said that even the wild aurochs in +the forests of Lithuania are decreasing in size and, in number from this +cause.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_528" id="page_528">[Pg 528]</a></span></p> +<p>With private owners of captive buffaloes, the temptations to produce +cross-breeds will be so great that it is more than likely the breeding +of pure-blood buffaloes will be neglected. Indeed, unless some stockman +like Mr. C. J. Jones takes particular pains to protect his full blood +buffaloes, and keep the breed absolutely pure, in twenty years there +will not be a pure-blood animal of that species on any stock farm in +this country. Under existing conditions, the constant tendency of the +numerous domestic forms is to absorb and utterly obliterate the few wild +ones.</p> + +<p>If we may judge from the examples set as by European governments, it is +clearly the duty of our Government to act in this matter, and act +promptly, with a degree of liberality and promptness which can not be +otherwise than highly gratifying to every American citizen and every +friend of science throughout the world. The Fiftieth Congress, at its +last session, responded to the call made upon it, and voted $200,000 for +the establishment of a National Zoological Park in the District of +Columbia on a grand scale. One of the leading purposes it is destined to +serve is the preservation and breeding in comfortable, and so far as +space is concerned, luxurious captivity of a number of fine specimens of +every species of American quadruped now threatened with +extermination.<a name="fnanchor_78_78" id="fnanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p> + +<p>At least eight or ten buffaloes of pure breed should be secured very +soon by the Zoological Park Commission, by gift if possible, and cared +for with special reference to keeping the breed absolutely pure, and +<i>keeping the herd from deteriorating and dying out through in-and-in +breeding</i>.</p> + +<p>The total expense would be trifling in comparison with the importance of +the end to be gained, and in that way we might, in a small measure, +atone for our neglect of the means which would have protected the great +herds from extinction. In this way, by proper management, it will be not +only possible but easy to preserve fine living representatives of this +important species for centuries to come.</p> + +<p>The result of continuing in-breeding is certain extinction. Its progress +may be so slow as to make no impression upon the mind of a herd-owner, +but the end is only a question of time. The fate of a majority of the +herds of British wild cattle (<i>Bos urus</i>) warn us what to expect with +the American bison under similar circumstances. Of the fourteen herds of +wild cattle which were in existence in England and Scotland during the +early part of the present century, direct descendants of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_529" id="page_529">[Pg 529]</a></span>wild herds +found in Great Britain, nine have become totally extinct through in +breeding.</p> + +<p>The five herds remaining are those at Somerford Park, Blickling Hall, +Woodbastwick, Chartley, and Chillingham.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2><a name="part_iii_the_smithsonian_expedition_for_museum_specimens" id="part_iii_the_smithsonian_expedition_for_museum_specimens"></a>PART III.—THE SMITHSONIAN EXPEDITION FOR MUSEUM SPECIMENS.</h2> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="i_the_exploration" id="i_the_exploration"></a>I. The Exploration.</h2> + + +<p>During the first three months of the year 1886 it was ascertained by the +writer, then chief taxidermist of the National Museum, that the +extermination of the American bison had made most alarming progress. By +extensive correspondence it was learned that the destruction of all the +large herds, both North and South, was already an accomplished fact. +While it was generally supposed that at least a few thousand individuals +still inhabited the more remote and inaccessible regions of what once +constituted the great northern buffalo range, it was found that the +actual number remaining in the whole United States was probably less +than three hundred.</p> + +<p>By some authorities who were consulted it was considered an +impossibility to procure a large series of specimens anywhere in this +country, while others asserted positively that there were no wild +buffaloes south of the British possessions save those in the Yellowstone +National Park. Canadian authorities asserted with equal positiveness +that none remained in their territory.</p> + +<p>A careful inventory of the specimens in the collection of the National +Museum revealed the fact that, with the exception of one mounted female +skin, another unmounted, and one mounted skeleton of a male buffalo, the +Museum was actually without presentable specimens of this most important +and interesting mammal.</p> + +<p>Besides those mentioned above, the collection contained only two old, +badly mounted, and dilapidated skins, (one of which had been taken in +summer, and therefore was not representative), an incomplete skeleton, +some fragmentary skulls of no value, and two mounted heads. Thus it +appeared that the Museum was unable to show a series of specimens, good +or bad, or even one presentable male of good size.</p> + +<p>In view of this alarming state of affairs, coupled with the already +declared extinction of <i>Bison americanus</i>, the Secretary of the +Smithsonian Institution, Prof. Spencer F. Baird, determined to send a +party into the field at once to find wild buffalo, if any were still +living, and in case any were found to collect a number of specimens. +Since it seemed highly uncertain whether any other institution, or any +private individual, would have the opportunity to collect a large supply +of specimens before it became too late, it was decided by the Secretary +that the Smithsonian Institution should undertake the task of providing +for the future as liberally as possible. For the benefit of the smaller +scientific <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_530" id="page_530">[Pg 530]</a></span>museums of the country, and for others which will come into +existence during the next half century, it was resolved to collect at +all hazards, in case buffalo could be found, between eighty and one +hundred specimens of various kinds, of which from twenty to thirty +should be skins, an equal number should be complete skeletons, and of +skulls at least fifty.</p> + +<p>In view of the great scarcity of buffalo and the general belief that it +might be a work of some months to find any specimens, even if it were +possible to find any at all, it was determined not to risk the success +of the undertaking by delaying it until the regular autumn hunting +season, but to send a party into the field at once to prosecute a +search. It was resolved to discover at all hazards the whereabouts of +any buffalo that might still remain in this country in a wild state, +and, if possible, to reach them before the shedding of their winter +pelage. It very soon became apparent, however, that the latter would +prove an utter impossibility.</p> + +<p>Late in the month of April a letter was received from Dr. J. C. Merrill, +United States Army, dated at Huntley, Montana, giving information of +reports that buffalo were still to be found in three localities in the +Northwest, viz: on the headwaters of the Powder River, Wyoming; in +Judith Basin, Montana; and on Big Dry Creek, also in Montana. The +reports in regard to the first two localities proved to be erroneous. It +was ascertained to a reasonable certainty that there still existed in +southwestern Dakota a small band of six or eight wild buffaloes, while +from the Pan-handle of Texas there came reports of the existence there, +in small scattered hands, of about two hundred head. The buffalo known +to be in Dakota were far too few in number to justify a long and +expensive search, while those in Texas, on the Canadian River, were too +difficult to reach to make it advisable to hunt them save as a last +resort. It was therefore decided to investigate the localities named in +the Northwest.</p> + +<p>Through the courtesy of the Secretary of War, an order was sent to the +officer commanding the Department of Dakota, requesting him to furnish +the party, through the officers in command at Forts Keogh, Maginnis, and +McKinney, such field transportation, escort, and camp equipage as might +be necessary, and also to sell to the party such commissary stores as +might be required, at cost price, plus 10 per cent. The Secretary of the +Interior also favored the party with an order, directing all Indian +agents, scouts, and others in the service of the Department to render +assistance as far as possible when called upon.</p> + +<p>In view of the public interest attaching to the results of the +expedition, the railway transportation of the party to and from Montana +was furnished entirely without cost to the Smithsonian Institution. For +these valuable courtesies we gratefully acknowledge our obligations to +Mr. Frank Thomson, of the Pennsylvania Railroad; Mr. Roswell Miller, of +the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul; and Mr. Robert Harris, of the +Northern Pacific.</p> + +<p>Under orders from the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_531" id="page_531">[Pg 531]</a></span> +writer left Washington on May 6, accompanied by A. H. Forney, assistant +in the department of taxidermy, and George H. Hedley, of Medina, New +York. It had been decided that Miles City, Montana, might properly be +taken as the first objective point, and that town was reached on May 9.</p> + +<p>Diligent inquiry in Miles City and at Fort Keogh, 2 miles distant, +revealed the fact that no one knew of the presence of any wild buffalo +anywhere in the Northwest, save within the protected limits of the +Yellowstone Park. All inquiries elicited the same reply: “There are no +buffalo any more, and you can’t get any anywhere.” Many persons who were +considered good authority declared most positively that there was not a +live buffalo in the vicinity of Big Dry Creek, nor anywhere between the +Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. An army officer from Fort Maginnis +testified to the total absence of buffalo in the Judith Basin, and +ranchmen from Wyoming asserted that none remained in the Powder River +country.</p> + +<p>Just at this time it was again reported to us, and most opportunely +confirmed by Mr. Henry E. Phillips, owner of the <b>LU</b>-bar ranch on +Little Dry Creek, that there still remained a chance to find a few +buffalo in the country lying south of the Big Dry. On the other hand, +other persons who seemed to be fully informed regarding that very region +and the animal life it contained, assured us that not a single buffalo +remained there, and that a search in that direction would prove +fruitless. But the balance of evidence, however, seemed to lie in favor +of the Big Dry country, and we resolved to hunt through it with all +possible dispatch.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of May 13 we crossed the Yellowstone and started +northwest up the trail which leads along Sunday Creek. Our entire party +consisted of the two assistants already mentioned, a non-commissioned +officer, Sergeant Garone, and four men from the Fifth Infantry acting as +escort; Private Jones, also from the Fifth Infantry, detailed to act as +our cook, and a teamster. Our conveyance consisted of a six-mule team, +which, like the escort, was ordered out for twenty days only, and +provided accordingly. Before leaving Miles City we purchased two +saddle-horses for use in hunting, the equipments for which were +furnished by the ordnance department at Fort Keogh.</p> + +<p>During the first two days’ travel through the bad lands north of the +Yellowstone no mammals were seen save prairie-dogs and rabbits. On the +third day a few antelope were seen, but none killed. It is to be borne +in mind that this entire region is absolutely treeless everywhere save +along the margins of the largest streams. Bushes are also entirely +absent, with the exception of sage-brush, and even that does not occur +to any extent on the divides.</p> + +<p>On the third day two young buck antelopes were shot at the Red Buttes. +One had already commenced to shed his hair, but the other had not quite +reached that point. We prepared the skin of the first specimen and the +skeleton of the other. This was the only good <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_532" id="page_532">[Pg 532]</a></span>antelope skin we obtained +in the spring, those of all the other specimens taken being quite +worthless on account of the looseness of the hair. During the latter +part of May, and from that time on until the long winter hair is +completely shed, it falls off in handfuls at the slightest pressure, +leaving the skin clad only with a thin growth of new, mouse-colored hair +an eighth of an inch long.</p> + +<p>After reaching Little Dry Creek and hunting through the country on the +west side of it nearly to its confluence with the Big Dry we turned +southwest, and finally went into permanent camp on Phillips Creek, 8 +miles above the <b>LU</b>-bar ranch and 4 miles from the Little Dry. At that +point we were about 80 miles from Miles City.</p> + +<p>From information furnished us by Mr. Phillips and the cowboys in his +employ, we were assured that about thirty-five head of buffalo ranged in +the bad lands between Phillips Creek and the Musselshell River and south +of the Big Dry. This tract of country was about 40 miles long from east +to west by 25 miles wide, and therefore of about 1,000 square miles in +area. Excepting two temporary cowboy camps it was totally uninhabited by +man, treeless, without any running streams, save in winter and spring, +and was mostly very hilly and broken.</p> + +<p>In this desolate and inhospitable country the thirty-five buffaloes +alluded to had been seen, first on Sand Creek, then at the head of the +Big Porcupine, again near the Musselshell, and latest near the head of +the Little Dry. As these points were all from 15 to 30 miles distant +from each other, the difficulty of finding such a small herd becomes +apparent.</p> + +<p>Although Phillips Creek was really the eastern boundary of the buffalo +country, it was impossible for a six-mule wagon to proceed beyond it, at +least at that point. Having established a permanent camp, the Government +wagon and its escort returned to Fort Keogh, and we proceeded to hunt +through the country between Sand Creek and the Little Dry. The absence +of nearly all the cowboys on the spring round-up, which began May 20, +threatened to be a serious drawback to us, as we greatly needed the +services of a man who was acquainted with the country. We had with us as +a scout and guide a Cheyenne Indian, named Dog, but it soon became +apparent that he knew no more about the country than we did. +Fortunately, however, we succeeded in occasionally securing the services +of a cowboy, which was of great advantage to us.</p> + +<p>It was our custom to ride over the country daily, each day making a +circuit through a new locality, and covering as much ground as it was +possible to ride over in a day. It was also our custom to take trips of +from two to four days in length, during which we carried our blankets +and rations upon our horses and camped wherever night overtook us, +provided water could be found.</p> + +<p>Our first success consisted in the capture of a buffalo calf, which from +excessive running had become unable to keep up with its mother, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_533" id="page_533">[Pg 533]</a></span>and had +been left behind. The calf was caught alive without any difficulty, and +while two of the members of our party carried it to camp across a horse, +the other two made a vigorous effort to discover the band of adult +animals. The effort was unsuccessful, for, besides the calf, no other +buffaloes were seen.</p> + +<p>Ten days after the above event two bull buffaloes were met with on the +Little Dry, 15 miles above the <b>LU</b>-bar ranch, one of which was +overtaken and killed, but the other got safely away. The shedding of the +winter coat was in full progress. On the head, neck, and shoulders the +old hair had been entirely replaced by the new, although the two coats +were so matted together that the old hair clung in tangled masses to the +other. The old hair was brown and weather-beaten, but the new, which was +from 3 to 6 inches long, had a peculiar bluish-gray appearance. On the +head the new hair was quite black, and contrasted oddly with the lighter +color. On the body and hind quarters there were large patches of skin +which were perfectly bare, between which lay large patches of old, +woolly, brown hair. This curious condition gave the animal a very +unkempt and “seedy” appearance, the effect of which was heightened by +the long, shaggy locks of old, weather beaten hair which clung to the +new coat of the neck and shoulders like tattered signals of distress, +ready to be blown away by the first gust of wind.</p> + +<p>This specimen was a large one, measuring 5 feet 4 inches in height. +Inasmuch as the skin was not in condition to mount, we took only the +skeleton, entire, and the skin of the head and neck.</p> + +<p>The capture of the calf and the death of this bull proved conclusively +that there were buffaloes in that region, and also that they were +breeding in comparative security. The extent of the country they had to +range over made it reasonably certain that their number would not be +diminished to any serious extent by the cowboys on the spring round-up, +although it was absolutely certain that in a few months the members of +that band would all be killed. The report of the existence of a herd of +thirty-five head was confirmed later by cowboys, who had actually seen +the animals, and killed two of them merely for sport, as usual. They +saved a few pounds of hump meat, and all the rest became food for the +wolves and foxes.</p> + +<p>It was therefore resolved to leave the buffaloes entirely unmolested +until autumn, and then, when the robes would be in the finest condition, +return for a hunt on a liberal scale. Accordingly, it was decided to +return to Washington without delay, and a courier was dispatched with a +request for transportation to carry our party back to Fort Keogh.</p> + +<p>While awaiting the arrival of the wagons, a cowboy in the employ of the +Phillips Land and Cattle Company killed a solitary bull buffalo about 15 +miles west of our camp, near Sand Creek. This animal had completely shed +the hair on his body and hind quarters. In addition to the preservation +of his entire skeleton, we prepared the skin also, as an example of the +condition of the buffalo immediately after shedding.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_534" id="page_534">[Pg 534]</a></span></p> + +<p>On June 6 the teams from Fort Keogh arrived, and we immediately returned +to Miles City, taking with us our live buffalo calf, two fresh buffalo +skeletons, three bleached skeletons, seven skulls, one skin entire, and +one head skin, in addition to a miscellaneous collection of skins and +skeletons of smaller mammals and birds. On reaching Miles City we +hastily packed and shipped our collection, and, taking the calf with us, +returned at once to Washington.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="ii_the_hunt" id="ii_the_hunt"></a>II. The Hunt.</h2> + + +<p>On September 24 I arrived at Miles City a second time, fully equipped +for a protracted hunt for buffalo; this time accompanied only by W. +Harvey Brown, a student of the University of Kansas, as field assistant, +having previously engaged three cowboys as guides and hunters—Irwin +Boyd, James McNaney, and L. S. Russell. Messrs. Boyd and Russell were in +Miles City awaiting my arrival, and Mr. McNaney joined us in the field a +few days later. Mr. Boyd acted as my foreman during the entire hunt, a +position which he filled to my entire satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Thanks to the energy and good-will of the officers at Fort Keogh, of +which Lieutenant-Colonel Cochran was then in command, our +transportation, camp equipage, and stores were furnished without an +hour’s delay. We purchased two months’ supplies of commissary stores, a +team, and two saddle-horses, and hired three more horses, a light wagon, +and a set of double harness. Each of the cowboys furnished one horse; so +that in our outfit we had ten head, a team, and two good saddle-horses +for each hunter. The worst feature of the whole question of subsistence +was the absolute necessity of hauling a supply of grain from Miles City +into the heart of the buffalo country for our ten horses. For such work +as they had to encounter it was necessary to feed them constantly and +liberally with oats in order to keep them in condition to do their work. +We took with us 2,000 pounds of oats, and by the beginning of November +as much more had to be hauled up to us.</p> + +<p>Thirty six hours after our arrival in Miles City our outfit was +complete, and we crossed the Yellowstone and started up the Sunday Creek +trail. We had from Fort Keogh a six-mule team, an escort of four men, in +charge of Sergeant Bayliss, and an old veteran of more than twenty +years’ service, from the Fifth Infantry, Private Patrick McCanna, who +was detailed to act as cook and camp-guard for our party during our stay +in the field.</p> + +<p>On September 29 we reached Tow’s ranch, the <b>HV</b>, on Big Dry Creek +(erroneously called Big Timber Creek on most maps of Montana), at the +mouth of Sand Creek, which here flows into it from the southwest. This +point is said to be 90 miles from Miles City. Here we received our +freight from the six-mule wagon, loaded it with bleached skeletons and +skulls of buffalo, and started it back to the post. One member of the +escort, Private C. S. West, who was then on two months’ furlough, +elected to join our party for the hunt, and accordingly remained with us +to its <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_535" id="page_535">[Pg 535]</a></span>close. Leaving half of our freight stored at the <b>HV</b> ranch, we +loaded the remainder upon our own wagon, and started up Sand Creek.</p> + +<p><a name="map" id="map"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/023.jpg" + alt=" Sketch map of the hunt for buffalo. Montana 1886." title=" Sketch map of the hunt for buffalo. Montana 1886." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Sketch Map of the Hunt for Buffalo. Montana 1886.</span></h4> + +<p>At this point the hunt began. As the wagon and extra horses proceeded up +the Sand Creek trail in the care of W. Harvey Brown, the three cowboys +and I paired off, and while two hunted through the country along the +south side of the creek, the others took the north. The whole of the +country bordering Sand Creek, quite up to its source, consists of rugged +hills and ridges, which sometimes rise to considerable height, cut +between by great yawning ravines and hollows, such as persecuted game +loves to seek shelter in. Inasmuch as the buffalo we were in search of +had been seen hiding in those ravines, it became necessary to search +through them with systematic thoroughness; a proceeding which was very +wearing upon our horses. Along the south side of Sand Creek, near its +source, the divide between it and Little Dry Creek culminates in a chain +of high, flat-topped buttes, whose summits bear a scanty growth of +stunted pines, which serve to make them conspicuous landmarks. On some +maps these insignificant little buttes are shown as mountains, under the +name of “Piny Buttes.”</p> + +<p>It was our intention to go to the head of Sand Creek, and beyond, in +case buffaloes were not found earlier. Immediately westward of its +source there is a lofty level plateau, about 3 miles square, which, by +common consent, we called the High Divide. It is the highest ground +anywhere between the Big Dry and the Yellowstone, and is the starting +point of streams that run northward into the Missouri and Big Dry, +eastward into Sand Creek and the Little Dry, southward into Porcupine +Creek and the Yellowstone, and westward into the Musselshell. On three +sides—north, east, and south—it is surrounded by wild and rugged butte +country, and its sides are scored by intricate systems of great yawning +ravines and hollows, steep-sided and very deep, and bad lands of the +worst description.</p> + +<p>By the 12th of October the hunt had progressed up Sand Creek to its +source, and westward across the High Divide to Calf Creek, where we +found a hole of wretchedly bad water and went into permanent camp. We +considered that the spot we selected would serve us as a key to the +promising country that lay on three sides of it, and our surmise that +the buffalo were in the habit of hiding in the heads of those great +ravines around the High Divide soon proved to be correct. Our camp at +the head of Calf Creek was about 20 miles east of the Musselshell River, +40 miles south of the Missouri, and about 135 miles from Miles City, as +the trail ran. Four miles north of us, also on Calf Creek, was the line +camp of the <b>STV</b> ranch, owned by Messrs. J. H. Conrad & Co., and 18 +miles east, near the head of Sand Creek, was the line camp of the +<b>N</b>-bar ranch, owned by Mr. Newman. At each of these camps there were +generally from two to four cowboys. From all these gentlemen we received +the utmost courtesy and hospitality on all occasions, and all the +information in regard to buffalo which it was in their power to give. On +many <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_536" id="page_536">[Pg 536]</a></span>occasions they rendered us valuable assistance, which is hereby +gratefully acknowledged.</p> + +<p>We saw no buffalo, nor any signs of any, until October 13. On that day, +while L. S. Russell was escorting our second load of freight across the +High Divide, he discovered a band of seven buffaloes lying in the head +of a deep ravine. He fired upon them, but killed none, and when they +dashed away he gave chase and followed them 2 or 3 miles. Being mounted +on a tired horse, which was unequal to the demands of the chase, he was +finally distanced by the herd, which took a straight course and ran due +south. As it was then nearly night, nothing further could be done that +day except to prepare for a vigorous chase on the morrow. Everything was +got in perfect readiness for an early start, and by daybreak the +following morning the three cowboys and the writer were mounted on our +best horses, and on our way through the bad lands to take up the trail +of the seven buffaloes.</p> + +<p>Shortly after sunrise we found the trail, not far from the head of Calf +Creek, and followed it due south. We left the rugged butte region behind +us, and entered a tract of country quite unlike anything we had found +before. It was composed of a succession of rolling hills and deep +hollows, smooth enough on the surface, to all appearances, but like a +desert of sand-hills to traverse. The dry soil was loose and crumbly, +like loose ashes or scoriæ, and the hoofs of our horses sank into it +half-way to the fetlocks at every step. But there was another feature +which was still worse. The whole surface of the ground was cracked and +seamed with a perfect net-work of great cracks, into which our horses +stepped every yard or so, and sank down still farther, with many a +tiresome wrench of the joints. It was terrible ground to go over. To +make it as bad as possible, a thick growth of sage-brush or else +grease-wood was everywhere present for the horses to struggle through, +and when it came to dragging a loaded wagon across that 12-mile stretch +of “bad grounds” or “gumbo ground,” as it was called, it was killing +work.</p> + +<p>But in spite of the character of this ground, in one way it was a +benefit to us. Owing to its looseness on the surface we were able to +track the buffaloes through it with the greatest ease, whereas on any +other ground in that country it would have been almost impossible. We +followed the trail due south for about 20 miles, which brought us to the +head of a small stream called Taylor Creek. Here the bad grounds ended, +and in the grassy country which lay beyond, tracking was almost +impossible. Just at noon we rode to a high point, and on scanning the +hills and hollows with the binocular discovered the buffaloes lying at +rest on the level top of a small butte 2 miles away. The original bunch +of seven had been joined by an equal number.</p> + +<p>We crept up to within 200 yards of the buffaloes, which was as close as +we could go, fired a volley at them just as they lay, and did not even +kill a calf! Instantly they sprang up and dashed away at astonishing <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_537" id="page_537">[Pg 537]</a></span> +speed, heading straight for the sheltering ravines around the High +Divide.</p> + +<p>We had a most exciting and likewise dangerous chase after the herd +through a vast prairie-dog town, honey-combed with holes just right for +a running horse to thrust a leg in up to the knee and snap it off like a +pipe-stem, and across fearfully wide gullies that either had to be +leaped or fallen into. McNaney killed a fine old bull and a beautiful +two year old, or “spike” bull, out of this herd, while I managed to kill +a cow and another large old bull, making four for that day, all told. +This herd of fourteen head was the largest that we saw during the entire +hunt.</p> + +<p>Two days later, when we were on the spot with the wagon to skin our game +and haul in the hides, four more buffaloes were discovered within 2 +miles of us, and while I worked on one of the large bull skins to save +it from spoiling, the cowboys went after the buffalo, and by a really +brilliant exploit killed them all. The first one to fall was an old cow, +which was killed at the beginning of the chase, the next was an old +bull, who was brought down about 5 miles from the scene of the first +attack, then 2 miles farther on a yearling calf was killed. The fourth +buffalo, an immense old bull, was chased fully 12 miles before he was +finally brought down.</p> + +<p>The largest bull fell about 8 miles from our temporary camp, in the +opposite direction from that in which our permanent camp lay, and at +about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. There not being time enough in which +to skin him completely and reach our rendezvous before dark, Messrs. +McNaney and Boyd dressed the carcass to preserve the meat, partly +skinned the legs, and came to camp.</p> + +<p>As early as possible the next morning we drove to the carcass with the +wagon, to prepare both skin and skeleton and haul them in. When we +reached it we found that during the night a gang of Indians had robbed +us of our hard-earned spoil. They had stolen the skin and all the +eatable meat, broken up the leg-bones to get at the marrow, and even cut +out the tongue. And to injury the skulking thieves had added insult. +Through laziness they had left the head unskinned, but on one side of it +they had smeared the hair with red war-paint, the other side they had +daubed with yellow, and around the base of one horn they had tied a +strip of red flannel as a signal of defiance. Of course they had left +for parts unknown, and we never saw any signs of them afterward. The +gang visited the <b>LU</b>-bar ranch a few days later, so we learned +subsequently. It was then composed of eleven braves(!), who claimed to +be Assinniboines, and were therefore believed to be Piegans, the most +notorious horse and cattle thieves in the Northwest.</p> + +<p>On October 22d Mr. Russell ran down in a fair chase a fine bull buffalo, +and killed him in the rough country bordering the High Divide on the +south. This was the ninth specimen. On the 26th we made an other trip +with the wagon to the Buffalo Buttes, as, for the sake of convenience, +we had named the group of buttes near which eight head had <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_538" id="page_538">[Pg 538]</a></span>already been +taken. While Mr. Brown and I were getting the wagon across the bad +grounds, Messrs. McNaney and Boyd discovered a solitary bull buffalo +feeding in a ravine within a quarter of a mile of our intended camping +place, and the former stalked him and killed him at long range. The +buffalo had all been attracted to that locality by some springs which +lay between two groups of hills, and which was the only water within a +radius of about 15 miles. In addition to water, the grass around the +Buffalo Buttes was most excellent.</p> + +<p>During all this time we shot antelope and coyotes whenever an +opportunity offered, and preserved the skins and skeletons of the finest +until we had obtained a very fine series of both. At this season the +pelts of these animals were in the finest possible condition, the hair +having attained its maximum length and density, and, being quite new, +had lost none of its brightness of color, either by wear or the action +of the weather. Along Sand Creek and all around the High Divide antelope +were moderately plentiful (but really scarce in comparison with their +former abundance), so much so that had we been inclined to slaughter we +could have killed a hundred head or more, instead of the twenty that we +shot as specimens and for their flesh. We have it to say that from first +to last not an antelope was killed which was not made use of to the +fullest extent.</p> + +<p>On the 31st of October, Mr. Boyd and I discovered a buffalo cow and +yearling calf in the ravines north of the High Divide, within 3 miles of +our camp, and killed them both. The next day Private West arrived with a +six mule team from Fort Keogh, in charge of Corporal Clafer and three +men. This wagon brought us another 2,000 pounds of oats and various +commissary stores. When it started back, on November 3, we sent by it +all the skins and skeletons of buffalo, antelope, etc., which we had +collected up to that date, which made a heavy load for the six mules. On +this same day Mr. McNaney killed two young cow buffaloes in the bad +lands south of the High Divide, which brought our total number up to +fourteen.</p> + +<p>On the night of the 3d the weather turned very cold, and on the day +following we experienced our first snow-storm. By that time the water in +the hole, which up to that time had supplied our camp, became so thick +with mud and filth that it was unendurable; and having discovered a fine +pool of pure water in the bottom of a little cañon on the southern slope +of the High Divide we moved to it forthwith. It was really the upper +spring of the main fork of the Big Porcupine, and a finer situation for +a camp does not exist in that whole region. The spot which nature made +for us was sheltered on all sides by the high walls of the cañon, within +easy reach of an inexhaustible supply of good water, and also within +reach of a fair supply of dry fire-wood, which we found half a mile +below. This became our last permanent camp, and its advantages made up +for the barrenness and discomfort of our camp on Calf Creek. Immediately +south of us, and 2 miles <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_539" id="page_539">[Pg 539]</a></span>distant there rose a lofty conical butte about +600 feet high, which forms a very conspicuous landmark from the south. +We were told that it was visible from 40 miles down the Porcupine. +Strange to say, this valuable landmark was without a name, so far as we +could learn; so, for our own convenience, we christened it Smithsonian +Butte.</p> + +<p>The two buffalo cows that Mr. McNaney killed just before we moved our +camp seemed to be the last in the country, for during the following week +we scouted for 15 miles in three directions, north, east, and south, +without finding as much as a hoof-print. At last we decided to go away +and give that country absolute quiet for a week, in the hope that some +more buffalo would come into it. Leaving McCanna and West to take care +of the camp, we loaded a small assortment of general equipage into the +wagon and pulled about 25 miles due west to the Musselshell River.</p> + +<p>We found a fine stream of clear water, flowing over sand and pebbles, +with heavy cottonwood timber and thick copses of willow along its banks, +which afforded cover for white-tailed deer. In the rugged brakes, which +led from the level river bottom into a labyrinth of ravines and gullies, +ridges and hog-backs, up to the level of the high plateau above, we +found a scanty growth of stunted cedars and pines, which once sheltered +great numbers of mule deer, elk, and bear. Now, however, few remain, and +these are very hard to find. Even when found, the deer are nearly always +young. Although we killed five mule deer and five white-tails, we did +not kill even one fine buck, and the only one we saw on the whole trip +was a long distance off. We saw fresh tracks of elk, and also grizzly +bear, but our most vigorous efforts to discover the animals themselves +always ended in disappointment. The many bleaching skulls and antlers of +elk and deer, which we found everywhere we went, afforded proof of what +that country had been as a home for wild animals only a few years ago. +We were not a little surprised at finding the fleshless carcasses of +three head of cattle that had been killed and eaten by bears within a +few months.</p> + +<p>In addition to ten deer, we shot three wild geese, seven sharp-tailed +grouse, eleven sage grouse, nine Bohemian waxwings, and a magpie, for +their skeletons. We made one trip of several miles up the Musselshell, +and another due west, almost to the Bull Mountains, but no signs of +buffalo were found. The weather at this time was quite cold, the +thermometer registering 6 degrees below zero; but, in spite of the fact +that we were without shelter and had to bivouac in the open, we were, +generally speaking, quite comfortable.</p> + +<p>Having found no buffalo by the 17th, we felt convinced that we ought to +return to our permanent camp, and did so on that day. Having brought +back nearly half a wagon-load of specimens in the flesh or half skinned, +it was absolutely necessary that I should remain at camp all the next +day. While I did so, Messrs. McNaney and Boyd rode over <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_540" id="page_540">[Pg 540]</a></span>to the Buffalo +Buttes, found four fine old buffalo cows, and, after a hard chase, +killed them all.</p> + +<p>Under the circumstances, this was the most brilliant piece of work of +the entire hunt. As the four cows dashed past the hunters at the Buffalo +Buttes, heading for the High Divide, fully 20 miles distant, McNaney +killed one cow, and two others went off wounded. Of course the cowboys +gave chase. About 12 miles from the starting-point one of the wounded +cows left her companions, was headed off by Boyd, and killed. About 6 +miles beyond that one, McNaney overhauled the third cow and killed her, +but the fourth one got away for a short time. While McNaney skinned the +third cow and dressed the carcass to preserve the meat, Boyd took their +now thoroughly exhausted horses to camp and procured fresh mounts. On +returning to McNaney they set out in pursuit of the fourth cow, chased +her across the High Divide, within a mile or so of our camp, and into +the ravines on the northern slope, where she was killed. She met her +death nearly if not quite 25 miles from the spot where the first one +fell.</p> + +<p>The death of these four cows brought our number of buffaloes up to +eighteen, and made us think about the possibilities of getting thirty. +As we were proceeding to the Buffalo Buttes on the day after the “kill” +to gather in the spoil, Mr. Brown and I taking charge of the wagon, +Messrs. McNaney and Boyd went ahead in order to hunt. When within about +5 miles of the Buttes we came unexpectedly upon our companions, down in +a hollow, busily engaged in skinning another old cow, which they had +discovered traveling across the bad grounds, waylaid, and killed.</p> + +<p>We camped that night on our old ground at the Buffalo Buttes, and +although we all desired to remain a day or two and hunt for more +buffalo, the peculiar appearance of the sky in the northwest, and the +condition of the atmosphere, warned us that a change of weather was +imminent. Accordingly, the following morning we decided without +hesitation that it was best to get back to camp that day, and it soon +proved very fortunate for us that we so decided.</p> + +<p>Feeling that by reason of my work on the specimens I had been deprived +of a fair share of the chase, I arranged for Mr. Boyd to accompany the +wagon on the return trip, that I might hunt through the bad lands west +of the Buffalo Buttes, which I felt must contain some buffalo. Mr. +Russell went northeast and Mr. McNaney accompanied me. About 4 miles +from our late camp we came suddenly upon a fine old solitary bull, +feeding in a hollow between two high and precipitous ridges. After a +short but sharp chase I succeeded in getting a fair shot at him, and +killed him with a ball which broke his left humerus and passed into his +lungs. He was the only large bull killed on the entire trip by a single +shot. He proved to be a very fine specimen, measuring 5 feet 6 inches in +height at the shoulders. The wagon was overtaken and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_541" id="page_541">[Pg 541]</a></span>called back to get +the skin, and while it was coming I took a complete series of +measurements and sketches of him as he lay.</p> + +<p>Although we removed the skin very quickly, and lost no time in again +starting the wagon to our permanent camp, the delay occasioned by the +death of our twentieth buffalo,—which occurred on November 20, +precisely two months from the date of our leaving Washington to collect +twenty buffalo, it possible,—caused us all to be caught in a +snow-storm, which burst upon us from the northwest. The wagon had to be +abandoned about 12 miles from camp in the bad lands. Mr. Brown packed +the bedding on one of the horses and rode the other, he and Boyd +reaching camp about 9 o’clock that night in a blinding snow-storm. Of +coarse the skins in the wagon were treated with preservatives and +covered up. It proved to be over a week that the wagon and its load had +to remain thus abandoned before it was possible to get to it and bring +it to camp, and even then the task was one of great difficulty. In this +connection I can not refrain from recording the fact that the services +rendered by Mr. W. Harvey Brown on all such trying occasions as the +above were invaluable. He displayed the utmost zeal and intelligence, +not only in the more agreeable kinds of work and sport incident to the +hunt, but also in the disagreeable drudgery, such as team-driving and +working on half-frozen specimens in bitter cold weather.</p> + +<p>The storm which set in on the 20th soon developed into a regular +blizzard. A fierce and bitter cold wind swept down from the northwest, +driving the snow before it in blinding gusts. Had our camp been poorly +sheltered we would have suffered, but at it was we were fairly +comfortable.</p> + +<p>Having thus completed our task (of getting twenty buffaloes), we were +anxious to get out of that fearful country before we should get caught +in serious difficulties with the weather, and it was arranged that +Private C. S. West should ride to Fort Keogh as soon as possible, with a +request for transportation. By the third day, November 23, the storm had +abated sufficiently that Private West declared his willingness to start. +It was a little risky, but as he was to make only 10 miles the first day +and stop at the <b>N</b>-bar camp on Sand Creek, it was thought safe to let +him go. He dressed himself warmly, took my revolver, in order not to be +hampered with a rifle, and set out.</p> + +<p>The next day was clear and fine, and we remarked it as an assurance of +Mr. West’s safety during his ride from Sand Creek to the <b>LU</b>-bar ranch, +his second stopping-place. The distance was about 25 miles, through bad +lands all the way, and it was the only portion of the route which caused +me anxiety for our courier’s safety. The snow on the levels was less +than 6 inches deep, the most of it having been blown into drifts and +hollows; but although the coulées were all filled level to the top, our +courier was a man of experience and would know how to avoid them.</p> + +<p>The 25th day of November was the most severe day of the storm, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_542" id="page_542">[Pg 542]</a></span> +mercury in our sheltered cañon sinking to -16 degrees. We had hoped to +kill at least five more buffaloes by the time Private West should arrive +with the wagons; but when at the end of a week the storm had spent +itself, the snow was so deep that hunting was totally impossible save in +the vicinity of camp, where there was nothing to kill. We expected the +wagons by the 3d of December, but they did not come that day nor within +the next three. By the 6th the snow had melted off sufficiently that a +buffalo hunt was once more possible, and Mr. McNaney and I decided to +make a final trip to the Buffalo Buttes. The state of the ground made it +impossible for us to go there and return the same day, so we took a +pack-horse and arranged to camp out.</p> + +<p>When a little over half-way to our old rendezvous we came upon three +buffaloes in the bad grounds, one of which was an enormous old bull, the +next largest was an adult cow, and the third a two-year-old heifer. Mr. +McNaney promptly knocked down the old cow, while I devoted my attention +to the bull; but she presently got up and made off unnoticed at the +precise moment Mr. McNaney was absorbed in watching my efforts to bring +down the old bull. After a short chase my horse carried me alongside my +buffalo, and as he turned toward me I gave him a shot through the +shoulder, breaking the fore leg and bringing him promptly to the ground. +I then turned immediately to pursue the young cow, but by that time she +had got on the farther side of a deep gully which was filled with snow, +and by the time I got my horse safely across she had distanced me. I +then rode back to the old bull. When he saw me coming he got upon his +feet and ran a short distance, but was easily overtaken. He then stood +at bay, and halting within 30 yards of him I enjoyed the rare +opportunity of studying a live bull buffalo of the largest size on foot +on his native heath. I even made an outline sketch of him in my +note-book. Having studied his form and outlines as much as was really +necessary, I gave him a final shot through the lungs, which soon ended +his career.</p> + +<p>This was a truly magnificent specimen in every respect. He was a +“stub-horn” bull, about eleven years old, much larger every way than any +of the others we collected. His height at the shoulder was 5 feet 8 +inches perpendicular, or 2 inches more than the next largest of our +collection. His hair was in remarkably fine condition, being long, fine, +thick, and well colored. The hair in his frontlet is 16 inches in +length, and the thick coat of shaggy, straw-colored tufts which covered +his neck and shoulders measured 4 inches. His girth behind the fore leg +was 8 feet 4 inches, and his weight was estimated at 1,600 pounds.</p> + +<p><a name="trophies" id="trophies"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/024.jpg" + alt="TROPHIES OF THE HUNT." title="TROPHIES OF THE HUNT." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Trophies of the Hunt.</span><br />Mounted by the author in the U. S. +National Museum.<br />Reproduced from the <i>Cosmopolitan Magazine</i>, by +permission of the publishers.</h4> + +<p>I was delighted with our remarkably good fortune in securing such a +prize, for, owing to the rapidity with which the large buffaloes are +being found and killed off these days, I had not hoped to capture a +really old individual. Nearly every adult bull we took carried old +bullets in his body, and from this one we took four of various sizes +that had been fired <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_543" id="page_543">[Pg 543]</a></span>into him on various occasions. One was found +sticking fast in one of the lumbar vertebræ.<a name="fnanchor_79_79" id="fnanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p> + +<p>After a chase of several miles Mr. McNaney finally overhauled his cow +and killed her, which brought the number of buffaloes taken on the fall +hunt up to twenty-two. We spent the night at the Buffalo Buttes and +returned to camp the next day. Neither on that day nor the one following +did the wagons arrive, and on the evening of the 8th we learned from the +cowboys of the <b>N</b>-bar camp on Sand Creek that our courier, Private West, +had not been seen or heard from since he left their camp on November 24, +and evidently had got lost and frozen to death in the bad lands.</p> + +<p>The next day we started out to search for Private West, or news of him, +and spent the night with Messrs. Brodhurst and Andrews, at their camp on +Sand Creek. On the 10th, Mr. McNaney and I hunted through the bad lands +over the course our courier should have taken, while Messrs. Russell and +Brodhurst looked through the country around the head of the Little Dry. +When McNaney and I reached the <b>LU</b>-bar ranch that night we were greatly +rejoiced at finding that West was alive, although badly frost-bitten, +and in Fort Keogh.</p> + +<p>It appears that instead of riding due east to the <b>LU</b>-bar ranch, he +lost his way in the bad lands, where the buttes all look alike when +covered with snow, and rode southwest. It is at all times an easy matter +for even a cowboy to get lost in Montana if the country is new to him, +and when there is snow on the ground the difficulty of finding one’s way +is increased tenfold. There is not only the danger of losing one’s way, +but the still greater danger of getting ingulfed in a deep coulée full +of loose snow, which may easily cause both horse and rider to perish +miserably. Even the most experienced riders sometimes ride into coulées +which are level full of snow and hidden from sight.</p> + +<p>Private West’s experience was a terrible one, and also a wonderful case +of self-preservation. It shows what a man with a cool head and plenty of +grit can go through and live. When he left us he wore two undershirts, a +heavy blanket shirt, a soldier’s blouse and overcoat, two pairs of +drawers, a pair of soldier’s woolen trousers, and a pair of overalls. On +his feet he wore three pairs of socks, a pair of <i>low shoes</i> with canvas +leggins, and he started with his feet tied up in burlaps. His head and +hands were also well protected. He carried a 38-caliber revolver, but, +by a great oversight, only six matches. When he left the <b>N</b>-bar camp, +instead of going due east toward the <b>LU</b>-bar ranch, he swung around and +went southwest, clear around the head of the Little Dry, and finally +struck the Porcupine south of our camp. The first night out he made a +fire with sage-brush, and kept it going all night. The second night he +also had a fire, but it took his last match to make it. During the first +three days he had no food, but on the fourth he <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_544" id="page_544">[Pg 544]</a></span>shot a sage-cock with +his revolver, and ate it raw. This effort, however, cost him his last +cartridge. Through hard work and lack of food his pony presently gave +out, and necessitated long and frequent stops for rest. West’s feet +threatened to freeze, and he cut off the skirts of his overcoat to wrap +them with, in place of the gunny sacking, that had been worn to rags. +Being afraid to go to sleep at night, he slept by snatches in the +warmest part of the day, while resting his horse.</p> + +<p>On the 5th day he began to despair of succor, although he still toiled +southward through the bad lands toward the Yellowstone, where people +lived. On the envelopes which contained my letters he kept a diary of +his wanderings, which could tell his story when the cowboys would find +his body on the spring round-up.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of the sixth day he found a trail and followed it until +nearly night, when he came to Cree’s sheep ranch, and found the solitary +ranchman at home. The warm-hearted frontiersman gave the starving +wanderers, man and horse, such a welcome as they stood in need of. West +solemnly declares that in twenty-four hours he ate a whole sheep. After +two or three days of rest and feeding both horse and rider were able to +go on, and in course of time reached Fort Keogh.</p> + +<p>Without the loss of a single day Colonel Gibson started three teams and +an escort up to us, and notwithstanding his terrible experience, West +had the pluck to accompany them as guide. His arrival among us once more +was like the dead coming to life again. The train reached our camp on +the 13th, and on the 15th we pulled out for Miles City, loaded to the +wagon-bows with specimens, forage, and camp plunder.</p> + +<p>From our camp down to the <b>HV</b> ranch, at the mouth of Sand Creek, the +trail was in a terrible condition. But, thanks to the skill and judgment +of the train-master, Mr. Ed. Haskins, and his two drivers, who also knew +their business well, we got safely and in good time over the dangerous +part of our road. Whenever our own tired and overloaded team got stuck +in the mud, or gave out, there was always a pair of mules ready to hitch +on and help us out. As a train-master, Mr. Haskins was a perfect model, +skillful, pushing, good-tempered, and very obliging.</p> + +<p>From the <b>HV</b> ranch to Miles City the trail was in fine condition, and +we went in as rapidly as possible, fearing to be caught in the +snow-storm which threatened us all the way in. We reached Miles City on +December 20, with our collection complete and in fine condition, and the +next day a snow-storm set in which lasted until the 25th, and resulted +in over a foot of snow. The ice running in the Yellowstone stopped all +the ferry-boats, and it was with good reason that we congratulated +ourselves on the successful termination of our hunt at that particular +time. Without loss of time Mr. Brown and I packed our collection, which +tilled twenty-one large cases, turned in our equipage at Fort Keogh, +sold our horses, and started on our homeward journey. In due course of +time the collection reached the Museum in good <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_545" id="page_545">[Pg 545]</a></span>condition, and a series +of the best specimens it contains has already been mounted.</p> + +<p>At this point it is proper to acknowledge our great indebtedness to the +Secretary of War for the timely co-operation of the War Department, +which rendered the expedition possible. Our thanks are due to the +officers who were successively in command at Fort Keogh during our work, +Col. John D. Wilkins, Col. George M. Gibson, and Lieut. Col. M. A. +Cochran, and their various staff officers; particularly Lieut. C. B. +Thompson, quartermaster, and Lieut. H. K. Bailey, adjutant. It is due +these officers to state that everything we asked for was cheerfully +granted with a degree of promptness which contributed very greatly to +the success of the hunt, and lightened its labors very materially.</p> + +<p>I have already acknowledged our indebtedness to the officers of the +Pennsylvania; the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul; and Northern Pacific +railways for the courtesies so liberally extended in our emergency. I +take pleasure in adding that all the officers and employés of the +Northern Pacific Railway with whom we had any relations, particularly +Mr. C. S. Fee, general passenger and ticket agent, treated our party +with the utmost kindness and liberality throughout the trip. We are in +like manner indebted to the officers of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. +Paul Railway for valuable privileges granted with the utmost cordiality.</p> + +<p>Our thanks are also due to Dr. J. C. Merrill, and to Mr. Henry R. +Phillips, of the Phillips Land and Cattle Company, on Little Dry Creek, +for valuable information at a critical moment, and to the latter for +hospitality and assistance in various ways, at times when both were +keenly appreciated.</p> + +<p>Counting the specimens taken in the spring, our total catch of buffalo +amounted to twenty-five head, and constituted as complete and fine a +series as could be wished for. I am inclined to believe that in size and +general quality of pelage the adult bull and cow selected and mounted +for our Museum group are not to be surpassed, even if they are ever +equaled, by others of their kind.</p> + +<p>The different ages and sexes were thus represented in our collection: 10 +old bulls, 1 young bull, 7 old cows, 4 young cows, 2 yearling calves, 1 +three-months calf<a name="fnanchor_80_80" id="fnanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a>; total, 25 specimens.</p> + +<p>Our total collection of specimens of <i>Bison americanus</i>, including +everything taken, contained the following: 24 fresh skins, 1 head skin, +8 fresh skeletons, 8 dry skeletons, 51 dry skulls, 2 fœtal young; +total, 94 specimens.</p> + +<p>Our collection as a whole also included a fine series of skins and +skeletons of antelope, deer of two species, coyotes, jack rabbits, sage +grouse (of which we prepared twenty-four rough skeletons for the +Department of Comparative Anatomy), sharp tailed grouse, and specimens +of all the other species of birds and small mammals to be found in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_546" id="page_546">[Pg 546]</a></span>that +region at that season. From this <i>matériel</i> we now have on exhibition +besides the group of buffaloes, a family group of antelope, another of +coyotes, and another of prairie dogs, all with natural surroundings.</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> +<h2 class="sc"><a name="iii_the_mounted_group_in_the_national_museum" id="iii_the_mounted_group_in_the_national_museum"></a>III. The Mounted Group in the National Museum.</h2> + + +<p>The result of the Smithsonian expedition for bison which appeals most +strongly to the general public is the huge group of six choice specimens +of both sexes and all ages, mounted with natural surroundings, and +displayed in a superb mahogany case. The dimensions of the group are as +follows: Length, 16 feet; width, 12 feet, and height, 10 feet. The +subjoined illustration is a very fair representation of the principal +one of its four sides, and the following admirable description (by Mr. +Harry P. Godwin), from the Washington <i>Star</i> of March 10, 1888, is both +graphic and accurate:</p> + +<blockquote><p>A SCENE FROM MONTANA—SIX OF MR. HORNADAY’S BUFFALOES FORM A PICTURESQUE +GROUP—A BIT OF THE WILD WEST REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL +MUSEUM—SOMETHING NOVEL IN THE WAY OF TAXIDERMY—REAL BUFFALO-GRASS, +REAL MONTANA DIRT, AND REAL BUFFALOES.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><p>A little bit of Montana—a small square patch from the wildest part of +the wild West—has been transferred to the National Museum. It is so +little that Montana will never miss it, but enough to enable one who has +the faintest glimmer of imagination to see it all for himself—the +hummocky prairie, the buffalo-grass, the sage-brush, and the buffalo. It +is as though a little group of buffalo that have come to drink at a pool +had been suddenly struck motionless by some magic spell, each in a +natural attitude, and then the section of prairie, pool, buffalo, and +all had been carefully cut out and brought to the National Museum. All +this is in a huge glass case, the largest ever made for the Museum. This +case and the space about it, at the south end of the south hall, has +been inclosed by high screens for many days while the taxidermist and +his assistants have been at work. The finishing touches were put on +to-day, and the screens will be removed Monday, exposing to view what is +regarded as a triumph of the taxidermist’s art. The group, with its +accessories, has been prepared so as to tell in an attractive way to the +general visitor to the Museum the story of the buffalo, but care has +been taken at the same time to secure an accuracy of detail that will +satisfy the critical scrutiny of the most technical naturalist.</p></blockquote> + +<h4>THE ACCESSORIES.</h4> + +<blockquote><p>The pool of water is a typical alkaline water-hole, such as are found on +the great northern range of bison, and are resorted to for water by wild +animals in the fall when the small streams are dry. The pool is in a +depression in the dry bed of a coulée or small creek. A little mound +that rises beside the creek has been partially washed away by the water, +leaving a crumbling bank, which shows the strata of the earth, a very +thin layer of vegetable soil, beneath a stratum of grayish earth, and a +layer of gravel, from which protrude a fossil bone or two. The whole +bank shows the marks of erosion by water. Near by the pool a small +section of the bank has fallen. A buffalo trail passes by the pool in +front. This is a narrow path, well beaten down, depressed, and bare of +grass. Such paths were made by herds of bison all over their pasture +region as they traveled down water-courses, in single file, searching +for water. In the grass some distance from the pool lie the bleaching +skulls of two buffalo who have fallen victims to hunters who have +cruelly lain in wait to get a shot at the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_547" id="page_547">[Pg 547]</a></span>animals as they come to +drink. Such relics, strewn all over the plain, tell the story of the +extermination of the American bison. About the pool and the sloping +mound grow the low buffalo-grass, tufts of tall bunch-grass and +sage-brush, and a species of prickly pear. The pool is clear and +tranquil. About its edges is a white deposit of alkali. These are the +scenic accessories of the buffalo group, but they have an interest +almost equal to that of the buffaloes themselves, for they form really +and literally a genuine bit of the West. The homesick Montana cowboy, +far from his wild haunts, can here gaze upon his native sod again; for +the sod, the earth that forms the face of the bank, the sage-brush, and +all were brought from Montana—all except the pool. The pool is a glassy +delusion, and very perfect in its way. One sees a plant growing beneath +the water, and in the soft, oozy bottom, near the edge, are the deep +prints made by the fore feet of a big buffalo bull. About the soft, +moist earth around the pool, and in the buffalo trail are the +foot-tracks of the buffalo that have tramped around the pool, some of +those nearest the edge having filled with water.</p></blockquote> + + +<h4>THE SIX BUFFALOES.</h4> + +<blockquote><p>The group comprises six buffaloes. In front of the pool, as if just +going to drink, is the huge buffalo bull, the giant of his race, the +last one that was secured by the Smithsonian party in 1888, and the one +that is believed to be the largest specimen of which there is authentic +record. Near by is a cow eight years old, a creature that would be +considered of great dimensions in any other company than that of the big +bull. Near the cow is a suckling calf, four months old. Upon the top of +the mound is a “spike” bull, two and a half years old; descending the +mound away from the pool is a young cow three years old, on one side, +and on the other a male calf a year and a half old. All the members of +the group are disposed in natural attitudes. The young cow is snuffing +at a bunch of tall grass; the old bull and cow are turning their heads +in the same direction apparently, as if alarmed by something +approaching; the others, having slaked their thirst, appear to be moving +contentedly away. The four months’ old calf was captured alive and +brought to this city. It lived for some days in the Smithsonian grounds, +but pined for its prairie home, and finally died. It is around the great +bull that the romance and main interest of the group centers.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<blockquote><p>It seemed as if Providence had ordained that this splendid animal, +perfect in limb, noble in size, should be saved to serve as a monument +to the greatness of his race, that once roamed the prairies in myriads. +Bullets found in his body showed that he had been chased and hunted +before, but fate preserved him for the immortality of a Museum exhibit. +His vertical height at the shoulders is 5 feet 8 inches. The thick hair +adds enough to his height to make it full 6 feet. The length of his head +and body is 9 feet 2 inches, his girth 8 feet 4 inches and his weight +is, or was, about 1,600 pounds.</p></blockquote> + + +<h4>THE TAXIDERMIST’S OBJECT LESSONS.</h4> + +<blockquote><p>This group, with its accessories, is, in point of size, about the +biggest thing ever attempted by a taxidermist. It was mounted by Mr. +Hornaday, assisted by Messrs. J. Palmer and A. H. Forney. It represents +a new departure in mounting specimens for museums. Generally such +specimens have been mounted singly, upon a flat surface. The American +mammals, collected by Mr. Hornaday, will be mounted in a manner that +will make each piece or group an object lesson, telling something of the +history and the habits of the animal. The first group produced as one of +the results of the Montana hunt comprised three coyotes. Two of them are +struggling, and one might almost say snarling, over a bone. They do not +stand on a painted board, but on a little patch of soil. Two other +groups designed by Mr. Hornaday, and executed by Mr. William Palmer, are +about to be placed in the Museum. One of these represents a family of +prairie-dogs. They are disposed about a prairie-dog mound. One <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_548" id="page_548">[Pg 548]</a></span>sits on +its haunches eating; others are running about. Across the mouth of the +burrow, just ready to disappear into it, is another one, startled for +the moment by the sudden appearance of a little burrowing owl that has +alighted on one side of the burrow. The owl and the dog are good friends +and live together in the same burrow, but there appears to be strained +relations between the two for the moment.</p></blockquote> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_549" id="page_549">[Pg 549]</a></span></p> + +<p><a name="map2" id="map2"></a></p> + +<div class="center"> + <img src="images/025.jpg" + alt="MAP ILLUSTRATING THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON PREPARED BY +W. T. HORNADAY." title="MAP ILLUSTRATING THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON PREPARED BY +W. T. HORNADAY." /> +</div> +<h4><span class="sc">Map Illustrating the Extermination of the American Bison.</span><br />Prepared by +W. T. Hornaday.</h4> + +<hr class="medium" /> + + + +<h3>FOOTNOTES.</h3> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_1_1" id="footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#fnanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Davis’ Spanish Conquest of New Mexico. 1869. P. 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_2_2" id="footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#fnanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico. Davis. 1869. Pp. 206-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_3_3" id="footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#fnanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Purchas: His Pilgrimes. (1625.) Vol. IV, p. 1765. “A letter of +Sir Samuel Argoll touching his Voyage to Virginia, and actions there. +Written to Master Nicholas Hawes, June, 1613.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_4_4" id="footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#fnanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Westover Manuscript. Col. William Byrd. Vol. I, p. 178.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_5_5" id="footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#fnanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Vol. II, pp. 24, 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_6_6" id="footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#fnanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Ib.</i>, p. 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_7_7" id="footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#fnanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Charles Burr Todd’s “Story of Washington,” p. 18. New York, +1889.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_8_8" id="footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#fnanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Long’s Expedition to the Source of the St. Peter’s River, 1823, +II, p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_9_9" id="footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#fnanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Coll. Georgia Hist. Soc., I, p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_10_10" id="footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#fnanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Ibid., I, p. 51.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_11_11" id="footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#fnanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Hist. Coll. of Louisiana and Florida, B. F. French, 1869, +first series, p. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_12_12" id="footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#fnanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Ibid., pp. 88-91.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_13_13" id="footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#fnanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Hist. Coll. of Louisiana and Florida, French, second series, +p. 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_14_14" id="footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#fnanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Mississippi as a Province, Territory, and State, p. 484.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_15_15" id="footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#fnanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> The American Bisons, Living and Extinct, p. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_16_16" id="footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#fnanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> The American Bisons, pp. 129-130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_17_17" id="footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#fnanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Sabine, Zoological Appendix to “Franklin’s Journey,” p. 668.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_18_18" id="footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#fnanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. 1, p, 279-280.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_19_19" id="footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#fnanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> American Naturalist, xi, p. 624.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_20_20" id="footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#fnanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> J. A. Allen’s <i>American Bisons</i>, p. 107.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_21_21" id="footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#fnanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> All who are especially interested in the life history of the +buffalo, both scientific and economical, will do well to consult Mr. +Allen’s monograph, “The American Bisons, Living and Extinct,” if it be +accessible. Unfortunately it is a difficult matter for the general +reader to obtain it. A reprint of the work as originally published, but +omitting the map, plates, and such of the subject-matter as relates to +the extinct species, appears in Hayden’s “Report of the Geological +Survey of the Territories,” for 1875 (pp. 443-587), but the volume has +for several years been out of print. +</p><p> +The memoir as originally published has the following titles: +</p><p> +<i>Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Kentucky.| N. S. Shaler, Director.| +Vol. I. Part II.|—| The American Bisons,| living and extinct.| By J. A. +Allen.| With twelve plates and map.|—| University press, Cambridge:| +Welch, Bigelow & Co.| 1876.</i> +</p><p> +<i>Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology,| at Harvard College, +Cambridge, Mass.| Vol. IV. No. 10.|—| The American Bisons,| living and +extinct.| By J. A. Allen.| Published by permission of N. S. Shaler, +Director of the Kentucky| Geological Survey.| With twelve plates and a +map.| University press, Cambridge:| Welch, Bigelow & Co.| 1876.|</i> +</p><p> +<i>4to., pp. i-ix, 1-246, 1 col’d map, 12 pl., 13 ll. explanatory, 2 +wood-cuts in text.</i> +</p><p> +These two publications were simultaneous, and only differed in the +titles. Unfortunately both are of greater rarity than the reprint +referred to above.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_22_22" id="footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#fnanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Lewis and Clark’s Exped., II, p. 395.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_23_23" id="footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#fnanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> On the plains of Dakota, the Rev. Mr. Belcourt (Schoolcraft’s +N. A. Indians, IV, p. 108) once counted two hundred and twenty-eight +buffaloes, a part of a great herd, feeding on a single acre of ground. +This of course was an unusual occurrence with buffaloes not stampeding, +but practically at rest. It is quite possible also that the extent of +the ground may have been underestimated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_24_24" id="footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#fnanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Plains of the Great West, p. xvi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_25_25" id="footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#fnanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Catlin’s North American Indians, II, p. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_26_26" id="footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#fnanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Our captive had, in some way, bruised the skin on his +forehead, and in June all the hair came off the top of his head, leaving +it quite bald. We kept the skin well greased with porpoise oil, and by +the middle of July a fine coat of black hair had grown out all over the +surface that had previously been bare.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_27_27" id="footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#fnanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> North American Indians, I, 255.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_28_28" id="footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#fnanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Plains of the Great West, pp. 124, 125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_29_29" id="footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#fnanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Quadrupeds of North America, vol. II, pp. 38, 39.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_30_30" id="footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#fnanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> In testimony whereof the following extract from a letter +written by General Stewart Van Vliet, on March 10, 1897, to Professor +Baird, is of interest: +</p><p> +“MY DEAR PROFESSOR: On the receipt of your letter of the 6th instant I +saw General Sheridan, and yesterday we called on your taxidermist and +examined the buffalo bull he is setting up for the Museum. I don’t think +I have ever seen a more splendid specimen in my life. General Sheridan +and I have seen millions of buffalo on the plains in former times. I +have killed hundreds, but I never killed a larger animal than the one in +the possession of your taxidermist.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_31_31" id="footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#fnanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Quadrupeds of North America, vol. II, p. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_32_32" id="footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#fnanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Plains of the Great West, p. 144.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_33_33" id="footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#fnanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Red River, Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Expedition, II p. +104-105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_34_34" id="footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#fnanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Plains of the Great West, p. 144-147.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_35_35" id="footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#fnanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Foot-note by William Blackmore: “The author is in error here, +as in a point of the Tarryall range of mountains, between Pike’s Peak +and the South Park, in the autumn of 1871, two mountain buffaloes were +killed in one afternoon. The skin of the finer was presented to Dr. +Frank Buckland.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_36_36" id="footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#fnanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> North American Indians, vol. I, p. 249, 250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_37_37" id="footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#fnanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> In the District of Columbia work-house we have a counterpart +of this in the public bath-tub, wherein forty prisoners were seen by a +<i>Star</i> reporter to bathe one after another in the same water!</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_38_38" id="footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#fnanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Travels in America in 1806. London, 1808.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_39_39" id="footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#fnanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> On page 248 of his “North American Indians,” vol. I, Mr. +Catlin declares pointedly that “these animals are, truly speaking, +gregarious, but not migratory; they graze in immense and almost +incredible numbers at times, and roam about and over vast tracts of +country from east to west and from west to east as often as from north +to south, which has often been supposed they naturally and habitually +did to accommodate themselves to the temperature of the climate in the +different latitudes.” Had Mr. Catlin resided continuously in any one +locality on the great buffalo range, he would have found that the +buffalo had decided migratory habits. The abundance of proof on this +point renders it unnecessary to eater fully into the details of the +subject.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_40_40" id="footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#fnanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Our Wild Indians, p. 283, <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_41_41" id="footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#fnanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> American Field, July 24, 1886, p. 78.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_42_42" id="footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#fnanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Plains of the Great West, p. 125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_43_43" id="footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#fnanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> By the Red River half-breeds only.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_44_44" id="footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#fnanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> On one occasion, which is doubtless still remembered with +bitterness by many a Crow of the Custer Agency, my old friend Jim +McNaney backed his horse Ogalalla against the horses of the whole Crow +tribe. The Crows forthwith formed a pool, which consisted of a huge pile +of buffalo robes, worth about $1,200, and with it backed their best +race-horse. He was forthwith “beaten out of sight” by Ogalalla, and +another grievance was registered against the whites.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_45_45" id="footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#fnanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Schoolcraft’s History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian +Tribes, iv, p. 107.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_46_46" id="footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#fnanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Westover MSS., i, p. 172.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_47_47" id="footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#fnanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Quoted by Professor Allen, “American Bisons,” p. 107.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_48_48" id="footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#fnanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> The American Bison, p. 197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_49_49" id="footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#fnanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> For a full account of Mr. Wickliffe’s experiments, written +by himself, see Audubon and Bachman’s “Quadrupeds of North America,” +vol. ii, pp. 52-54.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_50_50" id="footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#fnanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> On nearly all the great cattle ranches of the United States +it is absolutely impossible, and is not even attempted.—W. T. H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_51_51" id="footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#fnanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> In summing up the total number of buffaloes and mixed-breeds +now alive in captivity, I have been obliged to strike an average on this +lot of calves “mixed and pure,” and have counted twelve as being of pure +breed and five mixed, which I have reason to believe is very near the +truth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_52_52" id="footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#fnanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Plains of the Great West, p. 127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_53_53" id="footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#fnanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> North American Indians, I, pp. 25-26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_54_54" id="footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#fnanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Red River Settlement, p. 256.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_55_55" id="footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#fnanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Schoolcraft’s “North American Indians,” 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_56_56" id="footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#fnanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Schoolcraft, pp. 101-110.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_57_57" id="footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#fnanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Ocean to Ocean, p. 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_58_58" id="footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#fnanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Assinniboine and Saskatch. Exp. Exped., II, p. 111.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_59_59" id="footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#fnanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Expedition, p. 358.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_60_60" id="footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#fnanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> H. Mis. 600, pt. 2-31</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_61_61" id="footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#fnanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> North American Indians, I, 253.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_62_62" id="footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#fnanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Travels in America in 1806. London, 1808.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_63_63" id="footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#fnanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> North American Indians, I, p. 263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_64_64" id="footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#fnanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Plains of the Great West, p. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_65_65" id="footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#fnanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> North American Indians, I, 256.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_66_66" id="footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#fnanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Plains of the Great West, pp. 139-144.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_67_67" id="footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#fnanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> As an instance of this, see <i>Forest and Stream</i>, vol. II, +p. 184: “Horace Jones, the interpreter here [Fort Sill], says that on +his first trip along the line of the one hundredth meridian, in 1859, +accompanying Major Thomas—since our noble old general—they passed +continuous herds for over 60 miles, which left so little grass behind +them that Major Thomas was seriously troubled about his horses.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_68_68" id="footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#fnanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> It is to be noted that hairless hides, <i>taken from buffaloes +killed in summer</i>, are what the writer refers to. It was not until 1881, +when the end was very near, that hunting buffalo in summer as well as +winter became a wholesale business. What hunting can be more disgraceful +than the slaughter of females and young <i>in summer</i>, when skins are +almost worthless.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_69_69" id="footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#fnanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> Congressional Globe (Appendix), second session +Forty-second Congress.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_70_70" id="footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#fnanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Congressional Globe, April 6, 1872, Forty-second Congress, +second session.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_71_71" id="footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#fnanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Congressional Record, vol. 2, part 1, Forty-third Congress, +p. 371.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_72_72" id="footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#fnanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Congressional Record, vol. 2, part 3, Forty-third Congress, +first session, pp. 2105, 2109.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_73_73" id="footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#fnanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> I know of no greater affront that could be offered to the +intelligence of a genuine buffalo-hunter than to accuse him of not +knowing enough to tell the sex of a buffalo “on the run” by its form +alone.—W. T. H.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_74_74" id="footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#fnanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Congressional Globe, Vol. 2, part 6, Forty-third Congress, +first session.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_75_75" id="footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#fnanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Forty-fourth Congress, first session, vol. 4, part 2, pp. +1237-1241.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_76_76" id="footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#fnanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Forty-fourth Congress first session, vol. 4, part 1, p. 773.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_77_77" id="footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#fnanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> It was the Cree Indians who used to practice impounding +buffaloes, slaughtering a penful of two hundred head at a time with most +fiendish glee, and leaving all but the very choicest of the meat to +putrefy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_78_78" id="footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#fnanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> It is indeed an unbounded satisfaction to be able to now +record the fact that this important task, in which every American +citizen has a personal interest, is actually to be undertaken. Last year +we could only way it ought to be undertaken. In its accomplishment, the +Government expects the co-operation of private individuals all over the +country in the form of gifts of desirable living animals, for no +government could afford to purchase all the animals necessary for a +great Zoological Garden, provide for their wants in a liberal way, and +yet give the public free access to the collection, as is to be given to +the National Zoological Park.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_79_79" id="footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#fnanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> This specimen is now the commanding figure of the group of +buffalo which has recently been placed on exhibition in the Museum.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="footnote_80_80" id="footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#fnanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Caught alive, but died in captivity July 26, 1886, and now in +the mounted group.</p></div> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<h2><a name="index" id="index">INDEX.</a></h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +A.<br /> +<br /> +Abundance of the American bison, <a href="#page_387">387</a>-<a href="#page_393">393</a>.<br /> +Accidents to bison herds, <a href="#page_420">420</a>.<br /> +Affection, instinct of, in the bison, <a href="#page_433">433</a>.<br /> +<i>Agropyrum</i>, <a href="#page_429">429</a>.<br /> +Alabama, <a href="#page_380">380</a>.<br /> +Albinism in the bison, <a href="#page_411">411</a>.<br /> +Allard, Mr. Charles, <a href="#page_461">461</a>.<br /> +Allen, Mr. J. A., on the American bison, <a href="#page_377">377</a>, <a href="#page_381">381</a>, <a href="#page_385">385</a>, <a href="#page_387">387</a>, <a href="#page_450">450</a>, <a href="#page_480">480</a>.<br /> +“American Field,” quotation from, <a href="#page_433">433</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">Fur Company, <a href="#page_488">488</a>.</span><br /> +Andrews, Mr. Harry, <a href="#page_502">502</a>.<br /> +<i>Andropogon provincialis</i>, <a href="#page_427">427</a>, <a href="#page_429">429</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em"><i>scoparius</i>, <a href="#page_429">429</a>.</span><br /> +Argoll, Capt. Sam’l, discovery of bison by, <a href="#page_375">375</a>, <a href="#page_378">378</a>.<br /> +Arkansas, <a href="#page_375">375</a>.<br /> +<i>Aristida purpurea</i>, <a href="#page_428">428</a><br /> +Ashe, Mr. Thomas, on the buffalo, <a href="#page_420">420</a>, <a href="#page_485">485</a>.<br /> +<i>Astragalus molissimus</i>, <a href="#page_429">429</a>.<br /> +Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railway, <a href="#page_493">493</a>, <a href="#page_496">496</a>, <a href="#page_498">498</a>, <a href="#page_499">499</a>.<br /> +Athabasca, buffaloes in, <a href="#page_523">523</a>-<a href="#page_524">524</a>.<br /> +<i>Atriplex canescens</i>, <a href="#page_429">429</a>.<br /> +Audubon and Bachman, observations by, <a href="#page_400">400</a>.<br /> +Aurochs, or European bison, <a href="#page_394">394</a>.<br /> +<br /> +B.<br /> +<br /> +Bailey, Lieut. H. K., <a href="#page_545">545</a>.<br /> +Baird, Prof. S. F., expedition for buffaloes, sent out by, <a href="#page_529">529</a>.<br /> +Baker & Co., Messrs. I. G., <a href="#page_411">411</a>, <a href="#page_506">506</a>.<br /> +Bedson, Mr. S. L., buffalo-breeding by, <a href="#page_452">452</a>, <a href="#page_454">454</a>-<a href="#page_456">456</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">herd owned by, <a href="#page_458">458</a>, <a href="#page_460">460</a>.</span><br /> +Berlandier, Dr., on bison in Mexico, <a href="#page_381">381</a>.<br /> +Bismark Grove, Kans., buffaloes at, <a href="#page_461">461</a>.<br /> +Bison, the American.<br /> +<span class="in1em">abundance of, <a href="#page_387">387</a>-<a href="#page_393">393</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">accidents to herds of, <a href="#page_420">420</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">adult bull of, <a href="#page_402">402</a>-<a href="#page_406">406</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">cow of, <a href="#page_406">406</a>, <a href="#page_436">436</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">affection in the <a href="#page_433">433</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">albinism in the, <a href="#page_414">414</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">as a beast of burden, <a href="#page_457">457</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">bones of the, <a href="#page_445">445</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">breeding habits of, <a href="#page_425">425</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">season of, <a href="#page_396">396</a>, <a href="#page_415">415</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">calf of the, <a href="#page_366">366</a>-<a href="#page_401">401</a>, <a href="#page_425">425</a>, <a href="#page_433">433</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">change of form in, <a href="#page_377">377</a>, <a href="#page_394">394</a>, <a href="#page_409">409</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">character of, <a href="#page_393">393</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">color of, <a href="#page_396">396</a>-<a href="#page_403">403</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">courage of, <a href="#page_432">432</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">cow of, <a href="#page_406">406</a>-<a href="#page_436">436</a>.</span><br /> +Bison, cross-breeding, <a href="#page_451">451</a>-<a href="#page_458">458</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">domestication of, <a href="#page_379">379</a>, <a href="#page_451">451</a>-<a href="#page_458">458</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">fear in <a href="#page_432">432</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">food of, <a href="#page_426">426</a>-<a href="#page_429">429</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">habits of, <a href="#page_415">415</a>-<a href="#page_426">426</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in2em">in running, <a href="#page_422">422</a>, <a href="#page_430">430</a>-<a href="#page_431">431</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in2em">in winter, <a href="#page_423">423</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in2em">when wounded, <a href="#page_426">426</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">hair of, <a href="#page_449">449</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">“hide” of, <a href="#page_445">445</a>, <a href="#page_505">505</a>-<a href="#page_507">507</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">horns of, <a href="#page_405">405</a>, <a href="#page_406">406</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">hunting the, <a href="#page_405">405</a>, <a href="#page_470">470</a>, <a href="#page_478">478</a>, <a href="#page_480">480</a>, <a href="#page_483">483</a>, <a href="#page_484">484</a>, <a href="#page_536">536</a>-<a href="#page_542">542</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">meat of, <a href="#page_446">446</a>, <a href="#page_448">448</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">mental capacity of, <a href="#page_429">429</a>-<a href="#page_434">434</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">migrations of, <a href="#page_389">389</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>, <a href="#page_424">424</a>-<a href="#page_429">429</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">monograph of, by J. A. Allen, <a href="#page_387">387</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">“mountain” form of, <a href="#page_407">407</a>-<a href="#page_412">412</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">mounted skins of, <a href="#page_396">396</a>, <a href="#page_412">412</a>, <a href="#page_546">546</a>-<a href="#page_548">548</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">pelage of, <a href="#page_412">412</a>-<a href="#page_414">414</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">protection of, possible, <a href="#page_435">435</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">rank of, with other <i>Bovidæ</i>, <a href="#page_393">393</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">reasoning powers of, <a href="#page_429">429</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">robe of, <a href="#page_441">441</a>-<a href="#page_415">415</a>, <a href="#page_453">453</a>, <a href="#page_470">470</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">shedding of pelage of, <a href="#page_412">412</a>-<a href="#page_414">414</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">size of, <a href="#page_405">405</a>, <a href="#page_407">407</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">slaughter of the, <a href="#page_486">486</a>-<a href="#page_513">513</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">Smithsonian expedition for, <a href="#page_529">529</a>-<a href="#page_546">546</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">“spike bull” of, <a href="#page_401">401</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">“wood” variety of, <a href="#page_407">407</a>-<a href="#page_412">412</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">“yearling” of, <a href="#page_401">401</a>.</span><br /> +Blackford, Mr. E. G., buffaloes presented by, <a href="#page_463">463</a>, <a href="#page_527">527</a>.<br /> +Bones, buffalo, utilization of, <a href="#page_445">445</a>.<br /> +Boskowitz, Messrs. J. & A., <a href="#page_394">394</a>.<br /> +<i>Bouteloua oligostachya</i>, <a href="#page_427">427</a>, <a href="#page_428">428</a>.<br /> +Boyd, Mr. Irvin, <a href="#page_534">534</a>, <a href="#page_537">537</a>, <a href="#page_538">538</a>, <a href="#page_540">540</a>.<br /> +Breeding of the buffalo, <a href="#page_390">390</a>, <a href="#page_415">415</a>, <a href="#page_425">425</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">with domestic cattle, <a href="#page_452">452</a>-<a href="#page_458">458</a>, <a href="#page_528">528</a>.</span><br /> +British Possessions, buffalo in the <a href="#page_384">384</a>, <a href="#page_408">408</a>, <a href="#page_489">489</a>, <a href="#page_504">504</a>, <a href="#page_523">523</a>.<br /> +Brown, Mr. W. Harvey, <a href="#page_534">534</a>, <a href="#page_535">535</a>, <a href="#page_541">541</a>.<br /> +<i>Buchloë dactyloides</i>, <a href="#page_428">428</a>.<br /> +Buffalo (see Bison, American.)<br /> +Buffalo Bill (see Cody, Hon. W. F.)<br /> +Buffalo Buttes, <a href="#page_538">538</a>, <a href="#page_540">540</a>, <a href="#page_542">542</a>.<br /> +Buffalo “chips,” <a href="#page_541">541</a>.<br /> +Buffalo grass, <a href="#page_427">427</a>, <a href="#page_428">428</a>.<br /> +Byrd, Col. William, <a href="#page_376">376</a>, <a href="#page_449">449</a>.<br /> +<br /> +C.<br /> +<br /> +Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nuñez, <a href="#page_373">373</a>.<br /> +Calf of the buffalo, <a href="#page_396">396</a>-<a href="#page_401">401</a>, <a href="#page_425">425</a>, <a href="#page_433">433</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">pelage of, <a href="#page_396">396</a>-<a href="#page_398">398</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">capture of a, <a href="#page_532">532</a>.</span><br /> +Calf Creek, Montana, <a href="#page_535">535</a>, <a href="#page_536">536</a>.<br /> +Canadian Pacific Railway, <a href="#page_504">504</a>.<br /> +Captivity, list of buffaloes in, <a href="#page_458">458</a>-<a href="#page_464">464</a>.<br /> +Carey, Hon. Joseph M., <a href="#page_522">522</a>.<br /> +Carolina, North, <a href="#page_376">376</a>, <a href="#page_379">379</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">South, <a href="#page_379">379</a>.</span><br /> +Castañeda, description of American bison by, <a href="#page_374">374</a>.<br /> +Catlin, George, on buffalo calves, <a href="#page_398">398</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">on buffalo hunting, <a href="#page_472">472</a>, <a href="#page_481">481</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">on extermination of the buffalo, <a href="#page_488">488</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">on habits of the buffalo, <a href="#page_419">419</a>, <a href="#page_423">423</a>, <a href="#page_434">434</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">stopped by herd, <a href="#page_392">392</a>.</span><br /> +Cattle-growers, value of bison to, <a href="#page_451">451</a>-<a href="#page_458">458</a>.<br /> +Cattle, Western range, <a href="#page_452">452</a>.<br /> +Central Park menagerie, New York, <a href="#page_463">463</a>.<br /> +Change of form in American bison, <a href="#page_377">377</a>, <a href="#page_394">394</a>, <a href="#page_409">409</a>.<br /> +Character of the American bison, <a href="#page_393">393</a>.<br /> +Chase of the buffalo, on horseback, <a href="#page_470">470</a>-<a href="#page_478">478</a>.<br /> +Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, courtesies extended by, <a href="#page_530">530</a>.<br /> +“Chips,” buffalo, <a href="#page_451">451</a>.<br /> +Christy, Mr. Miller, on the buffalo, <a href="#page_523">523</a>.<br /> +Cochran, Lieut. Col. M. A., <a href="#page_534">534</a>, <a href="#page_545">545</a>.<br /> +Cody, Hon. W. F., <a href="#page_460">460</a>, <a href="#page_477">477</a>.<br /> +Cole, the Hon. Mr., of California, <a href="#page_514">514</a>.<br /> +Color of the American bison, <a href="#page_396">396</a>, <a href="#page_403">403</a>.<br /> +Colorado, <a href="#page_488">488</a>, <a href="#page_523">523</a>.<br /> +Completeness of the bison’s extermination, <a href="#page_521">521</a>-<a href="#page_525">525</a>.<br /> +Conger, the Hon. Mr., <a href="#page_516">516</a>, <a href="#page_517">517</a>, <a href="#page_519">519</a>.<br /> +Congress, National Zoological Park established by, <a href="#page_528">528</a>.<br /> +Congressional legislation to protect the bison, <a href="#page_513">513</a>-<a href="#page_521">521</a>.<br /> +Cory, Mr. C. B., <a href="#page_523">523</a>.<br /> +Coronado, penetration of buffalo range by, <a href="#page_374">374</a>, <a href="#page_383">383</a>.<br /> +Cortez, American bison first seen by, <a href="#page_373">373</a>.<br /> +Courage, instinct of, in the bison, <a href="#page_432">432</a>.<br /> +Cow, the adult buffalo, <a href="#page_406">406</a>, <a href="#page_436">436</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">young buffalo, <a href="#page_406">406</a>.</span><br /> +Cox, Hon. S. S., <a href="#page_515">515</a>, <a href="#page_516">516</a>.<br /> +Cree Indians, <a href="#page_478">478</a>, <a href="#page_489">489</a>, <a href="#page_504">504</a>, <a href="#page_505">505</a>, <a href="#page_527">527</a>.<br /> +Cross-breeding between the buffalo and domestic cattle, <a href="#page_451">451</a>-<a href="#page_458">458</a>.<br /> +<br /> +D.<br /> +<br /> +Dakota, <a href="#page_389">389</a>, <a href="#page_489">489</a>, <a href="#page_490">490</a>, <a href="#page_512">512</a>.<br /> +Davis, Mr. J. N., <a href="#page_512">512</a>.<br /> +Davis, Mr. Theo. R., <a href="#page_483">483</a>.<br /> +Davis, Mr. W. W., records of Coronado’s march, by, <a href="#page_383">383</a>.<br /> +Dawes, Hon. Henry L., <a href="#page_517">517</a>.<br /> +Decoying and driving buffaloes, <a href="#page_483">483</a>.<br /> +De Solis, description of bison, by, <a href="#page_373">373</a>.<br /> +Destruction of the southern herd, <a href="#page_492">492</a>-<a href="#page_502">502</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">northern herd, <a href="#page_502">502</a>-<a href="#page_513">513</a>.</span><br /> +Discovery of the American bison:<br /> +<span class="in1em">in captivity, by Cortez, <a href="#page_373">373</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in2em">eastern North America, by Argoll, <a href="#page_375">375</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in2em">Illinois, by Father Hennepin, <a href="#page_375">375</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in2em">Texas, by Cabeza de Vaca, <a href="#page_373">373</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in3em">Coronado, <a href="#page_373">373</a>, <a href="#page_383">383</a>.</span><br /> +District of Columbia, <a href="#page_375">375</a>, <a href="#page_378">378</a>.<br /> +Distribution of the American bison, <a href="#page_376">376</a>-<a href="#page_383">383</a>, <a href="#page_402">402</a>, <a href="#page_503">503</a>, <a href="#page_508">508</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">geographical center of, <a href="#page_388">388</a>.</span><br /> +Division of the great buffalo range, <a href="#page_492">492</a>.<br /> +Dodge, Col. R. I., observations on the buffalo, by, <a href="#page_389">389</a>, <a href="#page_392">392</a>, +<a href="#page_400">400</a>-<a href="#page_409">409</a>, <a href="#page_424">424</a>, <a href="#page_433">433</a>, <a href="#page_471">471</a>, <a href="#page_474">474</a>, <a href="#page_493">493</a>, <a href="#page_495">495</a>, <a href="#page_498">498</a>.<br /> +Domestication of the American bison, <a href="#page_379">379</a>, <a href="#page_452">452</a>-<a href="#page_458">458</a>, <a href="#page_528">528</a>.<br /> +Dry Creek, Big, <a href="#page_512">512</a>, <a href="#page_530">530</a>, <a href="#page_534">534</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">Little, <a href="#page_532">532</a>, <a href="#page_533">533</a>, <a href="#page_535">535</a>.</span><br /> +Dupree. Mr. F., buffaloes owned by, <a href="#page_462">462</a>.<br /> +<br /> +E.<br /> +<br /> +Eldridge, the Hon. Mr., <a href="#page_516">516</a>.<br /> +Estimate of buffaloes, <a href="#page_391">391</a>, <a href="#page_504">504</a>, <a href="#page_509">509</a>.<br /> +Expedition for bison sent by the Smithsonian, <a href="#page_522">522</a>, <a href="#page_529">529</a>-<a href="#page_546">546</a>.<br /> +Expeditions of the Red River half-breeds, <a href="#page_436">436</a>, <a href="#page_437">437</a>, <a href="#page_474">474</a>.<br /> +Extermination of the American bison:<br /> +<span class="in1em">cause of the, <a href="#page_454">454</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">completeness of the, <a href="#page_521">521</a>-<a href="#page_525">525</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">effects of the, <a href="#page_525">525</a>-<a href="#page_527">527</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">methods employed in the, <a href="#page_465">465</a>, <a href="#page_470">470</a>, <a href="#page_478">478</a>, <a href="#page_480">480</a>, <a href="#page_483">483</a>, <a href="#page_484">484</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">north of Union Pacific Railway, <a href="#page_502">502</a>-<a href="#page_513">513</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">progress of the, <a href="#page_484">484</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">share of the Indians in the, <a href="#page_478">478</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">south of the Union Pacific Railway, <a href="#page_498">498</a>-<a href="#page_502">502</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">west of the Rocky Mountains, <a href="#page_486">486</a>.</span><br /> +Extermination of American quadrupeds, <a href="#page_487">487</a>, <a href="#page_491">491</a>, <a href="#page_502">502</a>.<br /> +<br /> +F.<br /> +<br /> +Fear, instinct of, in the bison, <a href="#page_432">432</a>.<br /> +Fee, Mr. C. S., favors extended by, <a href="#page_545">545</a>.<br /> +<i>Festuca scabrella</i>, <a href="#page_429">429</a>.<br /> +“Field,” the London, quotation from, <a href="#page_523">523</a>.<br /> +Fleet, Henry, mention of bison on the Potomac, by, <a href="#page_378">378</a>.<br /> +Food of the bison, <a href="#page_426">426</a>-<a href="#page_434">434</a>.<br /> +“Forest and Stream,” quotations from, <a href="#page_411">411</a>, <a href="#page_511">511</a>.<br /> +Forney, Mr. A. H., <a href="#page_531">531</a>.<br /> +Fort Keogh, buffaloes near, <a href="#page_509">509</a>.<br /> +Fort, the Hon. Mr., of Illinois, <a href="#page_515">515</a>, <a href="#page_516">516</a>, <a href="#page_517">517</a>, <a href="#page_518">518</a>, <a href="#page_519">519</a>.<br /> +<br /> +G.<br /> +<br /> +Gaur, or Indian bison, <a href="#page_393">393</a>.<br /> +Geographical distribution of the bison, <a href="#page_376">376</a>-<a href="#page_388">388</a>, <a href="#page_492">492</a>.<br /> +Georgia, <a href="#page_379">379</a>.<br /> +Gibson, Col. Geo. M., <a href="#page_544">544</a>, <a href="#page_545">545</a>.<br /> +Godwin, Mr. Harry P., <a href="#page_546">546</a>.<br /> +Goode, Prof. G. Brown, <a href="#page_379">379</a>.<br /> +Goodnight, Mr. Charles, buffaloes owned by, <a href="#page_460">460</a>.<br /> +Great Slave Lake, <a href="#page_384">384</a>, <a href="#page_408">408</a>.<br /> +Group of buffaloes in the National Museum. <a href="#page_546">546</a>-<a href="#page_548">548</a>.<br /> +<br /> +H.<br /> +<br /> +Habits of the bison, <a href="#page_415">415</a>-<a href="#page_426">426</a>.<br /> +Hair of the buffalo, uses of the, <a href="#page_449">449</a>.<br /> +Half-breeds of the Northwest Territories, <a href="#page_436">436</a>, <a href="#page_474">474</a>, <a href="#page_488">488</a>, <a href="#page_504">504</a>.<br /> +Hannaford, Mr. J. M., letter from, <a href="#page_507">507</a>.<br /> +“Harper’s Magazine,” quotation from, <a href="#page_483">483</a>.<br /> +Harris, Capt. Moses, <a href="#page_521">521</a>.<br /> +Harris, Mr. Robert, courtesies extended by, <a href="#page_530">530</a>.<br /> +Haskins, Mr. Edward, train-master, <a href="#page_544">544</a>.<br /> +Hawley, Hon. J. R., <a href="#page_517">517</a>.<br /> +Hazen, General W. B., on buffalo slaughter, <a href="#page_514">514</a>, <a href="#page_516">516</a>.<br /> +Hedley, Mr. George H., with expedition for bison <a href="#page_531">531</a>.<br />Hennepin, Father, bison seen in Illinois by, <a href="#page_388">388</a>.<br /> +Herds, list of captive bison, <a href="#page_458">458</a>-<a href="#page_464">464</a>.<br /> +Hides, buffalo, <a href="#page_445">445</a>, <a href="#page_505">505</a>, <a href="#page_506">506</a>, <a href="#page_507">507</a>.<br /> +High Divide, <a href="#page_535">535</a>, <a href="#page_536">536</a>, <a href="#page_538">538</a>, <a href="#page_542">542</a>.<br /> +Hind, Prof. H. Y., <a href="#page_407">407</a>, <a href="#page_476">476</a>, <a href="#page_478">478</a>.<br /> +Holman, Hon. W. S., <a href="#page_516">516</a>.<br /> +Hornaday, W. T., group of bison by, <a href="#page_546">546</a>-<a href="#page_548">548</a>.<br /> +Horns of the American bison, <a href="#page_405">405</a>, <a href="#page_407">407</a>.<br /> +Huguenot settlers, domestication of bison by, <a href="#page_379">379</a>, <a href="#page_451">451</a>.<br /> +Hunting the buffalo, method of<br /> +<span class="in1em">decoying and driving, <a href="#page_483">483</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">horseback, <a href="#page_470">470</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">impounding, <a href="#page_478">478</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">on snow shoes, <a href="#page_484">484</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">“still-hunt,” <a href="#page_465">465</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">“surround,” <a href="#page_480">480</a>.</span><br /> +Hunting on the Musselshell River, <a href="#page_539">539</a>.<br /> +Hybrid, the buffalo-domestic, <a href="#page_454">454</a>-<a href="#page_457">457</a>.<br /> +<br /> +I.<br /> +<br /> +Idaho, <a href="#page_383">383</a>.<br /> +Illinois, <a href="#page_385">385</a>-<a href="#page_388">388</a>.<br /> +Impounding buffaloes, <a href="#page_478">478</a>.<br /> +Indiana, <a href="#page_385">385</a>.<br /> +Indians:<br /> +<span class="in1em">responsibility of, for buffalo slaughter, <a href="#page_506">506</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">robes marketed by northern, <a href="#page_505">505</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">share of the, in buffalo destruction, <a href="#page_478">478</a>, <a href="#page_480">480</a>, <a href="#page_483">483</a>, <a href="#page_484">484</a>, +<a href="#page_489">489</a>, <a href="#page_490">490</a>, <a href="#page_500">500</a>, <a href="#page_505">505</a>, <a href="#page_506">506</a>, <a href="#page_512">512</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">starving for lack of the buffalo, <a href="#page_526">526</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">who subsisted on the buffalo, <a href="#page_526">526</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +J.<br /> +<br /> +Jones, Mr. C. J., breeding of buffaloes, by, <a href="#page_452">452</a>, <a href="#page_454">454</a>, <a href="#page_456">456</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">buffaloes captured by, <a href="#page_458">458</a>, <a href="#page_523">523</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">buffalo herd owned by, <a href="#page_458">458</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +K.<br /> +<br /> +Kansas, <a href="#page_391">391</a>, <a href="#page_424">424</a>, <a href="#page_496">496</a>, <a href="#page_501">501</a>.<br /> +Kasson, Hon. J. A., <a href="#page_517">517</a>.<br /> +Kenaston, Prof. C. A., <a href="#page_505">505</a>.<br /> +Kentucky, <a href="#page_388">388</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>.<br /> +Keogh, Fort, <a href="#page_509">509</a>, <a href="#page_531">531</a>.<br /> +<i>Kœleria cristata</i>, <a href="#page_429">429</a>.<br /> +<br /> +L.<br /> +<br /> +Lewis and Clark, buffaloes seen by, <a href="#page_389">389</a>, <a href="#page_483">483</a>.<br /> +Lincoln Park, Chicago, buffaloes in, <a href="#page_462">462</a>.<br /> +Loco weed not eaten by the buffalo, <a href="#page_429">429</a>.<br /> +Louisiana, <a href="#page_380">380</a>.<br /> +<br /> +M.<br /> +<br /> +Macoun, Prof. John, <a href="#page_524">524</a>, <a href="#page_526">526</a>.<br /> +“Manitoba and the great Northwest,” <a href="#page_524">524</a>, <a href="#page_526">526</a>.<br /> +Maryland, <a href="#page_378">378</a>.<br /> +McCormick, Hon. R. C., <a href="#page_514">514</a>, <a href="#page_516">516</a>, <a href="#page_518">518</a>.<br /> +McGillycuddy, Dr. V. T., buffaloes owned by, <a href="#page_462">462</a>.<br /> +McNaney, Mr. James, <a href="#page_421">421</a>, <a href="#page_424">424</a>, <a href="#page_467">467</a>, <a href="#page_534">534</a>, <a href="#page_537">537</a>, <a href="#page_538">538</a>, <a href="#page_540">540</a>, <a href="#page_542">542</a>.<br /> +Meat of the buffalo, <a href="#page_446">446</a>, <a href="#page_448">448</a>.<br /> +Mental capacity of the American bison, <a href="#page_429">429</a>-<a href="#page_434">434</a>.<br /> +Merrill, Dr. J. C., <a href="#page_530">530</a>, <a href="#page_545">545</a>.<br /> +Mexico, <a href="#page_381">381</a>.<br /> +Migrating habits of the buffalo, <a href="#page_389">389</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>, <a href="#page_424">424</a>-<a href="#page_425">425</a>.<br /> +Miles City, Montana, <a href="#page_531">531</a>, <a href="#page_534">534</a>, <a href="#page_541">541</a>.<br /> +Miller, Mr. Roswell, courtesies extended by, <a href="#page_530">530</a>.<br /> +Minnesota, <a href="#page_385">385</a>.<br /> +Mississippi, <a href="#page_380">380</a>.<br /> +Monograph on “The American Bison,” <a href="#page_387">387</a>.<br /> +Montana, <a href="#page_421">421</a>, <a href="#page_508">508</a>, <a href="#page_509">509</a>, <a href="#page_510">510</a>, <a href="#page_511">511</a>.<br /> +“Mountain buffalo,” <a href="#page_407">407</a>-<a href="#page_412">412</a>.<br /> +Mounted skins of buffaloes, <a href="#page_396">396</a>, <a href="#page_412">412</a>, <a href="#page_546">546</a>-<a href="#page_548">548</a>.<br /> +Museum, National, <a href="#page_395">395</a>, <a href="#page_527">527</a>, <a href="#page_546">546</a>.<br /> +Musselshell River, <a href="#page_535">535</a>, <a href="#page_539">539</a>.<br /> +<br /> +N.<br /> +<br /> +National Museum, live buffaloes at the, <a href="#page_395">395</a>, <a href="#page_463">463</a>, <a href="#page_527">527</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">mounted buffaloes in the, <a href="#page_396">396</a>, <a href="#page_397">397</a>, <a href="#page_401">401</a>, <a href="#page_402">402</a>, <a href="#page_405">405</a>, <a href="#page_406">406</a>, <a href="#page_407">407</a>, +<a href="#page_546">546</a>-<a href="#page_548">548</a>.</span><br /> +Nelson, Mr. E. W., <a href="#page_385">385</a>.<br /> +New Mexico, <a href="#page_383">383</a>.<br /> +New York, <a href="#page_385">385</a>.<br /> +Northern herd, destruction of the, <a href="#page_502">502</a>-<a href="#page_513">513</a>.<br /> +Northern Pacific Railway, <a href="#page_502">502</a>, <a href="#page_507">507</a>, <a href="#page_511">511</a>, <a href="#page_513">513</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">courtesies extended by, <a href="#page_530">530</a>.</span><br /> +Northwest Territories (British), <a href="#page_384">384</a>, <a href="#page_408">408</a>, <a href="#page_489">489</a>, <a href="#page_523">523</a>.<br /> +<br /> +O.<br /> +<br /> +Ohio, <a href="#page_385">385</a>.<br /> +Omaha Indians, buffalo hunting by, <a href="#page_477">477</a>.<br /> +Oregon, <a href="#page_389">389</a>.<br /> +Oregon trail, <a href="#page_491">491</a>.<br /> +<br /> +P.<br /> +<br /> +Partello, Lieut. J. M. T., <a href="#page_509">509</a>.<br /> +Peace River, buffaloes on the, <a href="#page_524">524</a>.<br /> +Pelage of the American bison, <a href="#page_396">396</a>, <a href="#page_414">414</a>, <a href="#page_415">415</a>, <a href="#page_442">442</a>, <a href="#page_453">453</a>.<br /> +Pemmican, <a href="#page_447">447</a>.<br /> +Pennsylvania, the buffalo in, <a href="#page_386">386</a>, <a href="#page_387">387</a>, <a href="#page_420">420</a>, <a href="#page_485">485</a>.<br /> +Pennsylvania Railway, courtesies extended by, <a href="#page_530">530</a>.<br /> +Phillips, Mr. Henry R., courtesies extended by, <a href="#page_531">531</a>, <a href="#page_545">545</a>.<br /> +“Plains of the Great West,” <a href="#page_389">389</a>, <a href="#page_391">391</a>, <a href="#page_409">409</a>.<br /> +<i>Poa tenuifolia</i>, <a href="#page_429">429</a>.<br /> +Porcupine Creek, buffaloes on, <a href="#page_512">512</a>, <a href="#page_522">522</a>, <a href="#page_532">532</a>.<br /> +Products of the buffalo, <a href="#page_434">434</a>-<a href="#page_451">451</a>.<br /> +Protection of American animals, <a href="#page_435">435</a>, <a href="#page_520">520</a>, <a href="#page_521">521</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">the bison possible, <a href="#page_435">435</a>, <a href="#page_520">520</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +R.<br /> +<br /> +Ranch, LU-bar, <a href="#page_532">532</a>, <a href="#page_543">543</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">the HV, <a href="#page_534">534</a>, <a href="#page_544">544</a>.</span><br /> +Railways, influence of the, in buffalo slaughter, <a href="#page_490">490</a>-<a href="#page_493">493</a>, <a href="#page_507">507</a>.<br /> +Rank of the American bison, <a href="#page_393">393</a>.<br /> +Reasoning faculty of the bison, <a href="#page_429">429</a>-<a href="#page_430">430</a>.<br /> +Recuperative power of the bison, <a href="#page_426">426</a>.<br /> +Red Buttes, <a href="#page_531">531</a>.<br /> +Red River half-breeds, <a href="#page_474">474</a>, <a href="#page_488">488</a>.<br /> +“Red River Settlement,” <a href="#page_436">436</a>, <a href="#page_450">450</a>, <a href="#page_474">474</a>, <a href="#page_475">475</a>.<br /> +Regan, the Hon. Mr., <a href="#page_518">518</a>.<br /> +Robe of the American bison, <a href="#page_441">441</a>-<a href="#page_445">445</a>, <a href="#page_453">453</a>, <a href="#page_470">470</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">best season for taking, <a href="#page_442">442</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">preparation of the, <a href="#page_442">442</a>, <a href="#page_443">443</a>, <a href="#page_470">470</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">trade in, <a href="#page_513">513</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">utilization of, <a href="#page_411">411</a>, <a href="#page_505">505</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">value of, <a href="#page_394">394</a>, <a href="#page_444">444</a>, <a href="#page_445">445</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">varieties and classification of, <a href="#page_443">443</a>, <a href="#page_444">444</a>.</span><br /> +Ross, Mr. Alexander (<i>see</i> “Red River Settlement.”)<br /> +“Running” buffaloes, <a href="#page_470">470</a>.<br /> +Running power and habits of the buffalo, <a href="#page_422">422</a>, <a href="#page_430">430</a>, <a href="#page_431">431</a>.<br /> +Russell, Mr. L. S., <a href="#page_534">534</a>, <a href="#page_536">536</a>, <a href="#page_537">537</a>, <a href="#page_538">538</a>.<br /> +<br /> +S.<br /> +<br /> +Sage brush, <a href="#page_547">547</a>.<br /> +Sand Creek, Montana, <a href="#page_534">534</a>, <a href="#page_535">535</a>, <a href="#page_538">538</a>.<br /> +Schulz, Dr., on the buffalo in Athabasca, <a href="#page_523">523</a>-<a href="#page_524">524</a>.<br /> +Secretary of War, favors extended by, <a href="#page_530">530</a>-<a href="#page_545">545</a>.<br /> +Shufeldt, Dr. R. W., on mountain buffaloes, <a href="#page_411">411</a>.<br /> +Sibley, Hon. H. H., <a href="#page_474">474</a>.<br /> +“Sioux City Journal,” quotation from, <a href="#page_503">503</a>.<br /> +Sioux Indiana, destruction of buffaloes by, <a href="#page_490">490</a>, <a href="#page_497">497</a>, <a href="#page_500">500</a>, <a href="#page_505">505</a>.<br /> +Slaughter of the buffalo, <a href="#page_486">486</a>-<a href="#page_513">513</a>.<br /> +Smith, Mr. V., <a href="#page_510">510</a>, <a href="#page_512">512</a>.<br /> +Smithsonian Butte, <a href="#page_539">539</a>.<br /> +Smithsonian Institution expedition for buffaloes, <a href="#page_522">522</a>, <a href="#page_529">529</a>-<a href="#page_546">546</a>.<br /> +Snow-shoes, hunting buffaloes on, <a href="#page_484">484</a>.<br /> +Southern buffalo herd, destruction of, <a href="#page_492">492</a>-<a href="#page_502">502</a>.<br /> +“Spike” bull buffalo, <a href="#page_401">401</a>.<br /> +“Star, Washington,” description from the, <a href="#page_546">546</a>-<a href="#page_548">548</a>.<br /> +Starin, Mr. J. H., buffaloes owned by, <a href="#page_463">463</a>.<br /> +Statistics of the slaughter of the southern herd, <a href="#page_498">498</a>-<a href="#page_502">502</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">buffaloes now living, <a href="#page_458">458</a>-<a href="#page_461">461</a>, <a href="#page_525">525</a>.</span><br /> +Stephenson, Dr. William, <a href="#page_522">522</a>.<br /> +Still hunt, <a href="#page_465">465</a>-<a href="#page_510">510</a>.<br /> +<i>Stipa comata</i>, <a href="#page_429">429</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em"><i>sparica</i>, <a href="#page_428">428</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em"><i>viridula</i>, <a href="#page_429">429</a>.</span><br /> +Stub-horn bull, killed by author, <a href="#page_542">542</a>.<br /> +<br /> +T.<br /> +<br /> +Tepee, hides required for a, <a href="#page_505">505</a>.<br /> +Temper of the bison, <a href="#page_434">434</a>.<br /> +Tennessee, <a href="#page_388">388</a>.<br /> +Texas, existence the bison in, <a href="#page_374">374</a>, <a href="#page_381">381</a>, <a href="#page_501">501</a>, <a href="#page_502">502</a>.<br /> +Thompson, Lieut. C. B., <a href="#page_545">545</a>.<br /> +Thompson, Mr. Frank, courtesies extended by, <a href="#page_530">530</a>.<br /> +“Times, Kansas City,” quotation from, <a href="#page_461">461</a>.<br /> +<br /> +U.<br /> +<br /> +Ullman, Mr. Joseph buffalo product handled by, <a href="#page_394">394</a>.<br /> +Utah, <a href="#page_383">383</a>.<br /> +Utilization of the buffalo, <a href="#page_437">437</a>.<br /> +<br /> +V.<br /> +<br /> +Value of the bison to man, <a href="#page_434">434</a>-<a href="#page_451">451</a>, <a href="#page_526">526</a>.<br /> +Value of a single bison on the range, <a href="#page_435">435</a>, <a href="#page_436">436</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">buffalo to cattle-growers, <a href="#page_451">451</a>, <a href="#page_458">458</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">buffalo-robe, <a href="#page_498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in2em">products handled by two firms, <a href="#page_439">439</a>-<a href="#page_440">440</a>.</span><br /> +Varner, Mr. Allen, <a href="#page_491">491</a>.<br /> +Virginia, the buffalo in, <a href="#page_376">376</a>, <a href="#page_378">378</a>, <a href="#page_379">379</a>.<br /> +<br /> +W.<br /> +<br /> +Wastefulness in buffalo slaughter, <a href="#page_494">494</a>, <a href="#page_496">496</a>-<a href="#page_498">498</a>, <a href="#page_510">510</a>.<br /> +Weapons used in buffalo hunting, <a href="#page_466">466</a>, <a href="#page_467">467</a>, <a href="#page_470">470</a>, <a href="#page_477">477</a>.<br /> +West, Mr. C. S., <a href="#page_534">534</a>, <a href="#page_538">538</a>, <a href="#page_541">541</a>, <a href="#page_543">543</a>.<br /> +Wichita (Kansas) “World,” <a href="#page_500">500</a>.<br /> +Wilkins, Col. John D., <a href="#page_545">545</a>.<br /> +Wilson, the Hon. Mr., <a href="#page_514">514</a>.<br /> +Winston, Mr. B. C., <a href="#page_463">463</a>, <a href="#page_522">522</a>.<br /> +Winter habits of the buffalo, <a href="#page_423">423</a>.<br /> +Wisconsin, <a href="#page_385">385</a>.<br /> +Wood buffaloes, <a href="#page_407">407</a>-<a href="#page_412">412</a>.<br /> +Wounded bison, habits of, <a href="#page_426">426</a>.<br /> +Wyoming, <a href="#page_522">522</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Y.<br /> +<br /> +Yearling of the buffalo, <a href="#page_401">401</a>.<br /> +Yellowstone Park, buffaloes in, <a href="#page_512">512</a>, <a href="#page_521">521</a>, <a href="#page_522">522</a>, <a href="#page_527">527</a>.<br /> +Yellowstone Rivers, <a href="#page_531">531</a>, <a href="#page_544">544</a>.<br /> +Young Mr. Harrison, S., <a href="#page_524">524</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Z.<br /> +<br /> +Zoological Garden of Cincinnati, <a href="#page_462">462</a>.<br /> +<span class="in1em">Philadelphia, <a href="#page_461">461</a>.</span><br /> +<span class="in1em">Park at Washington, establishment of, by Congress, <a href="#page_528">528</a>.</span><br /> +</p> +<hr class="wide" /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Extermination of the American Bison, by +William T. 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Hornaday + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States +and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it +under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this +eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not +located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this ebook. + + +Title: The Extermination of the American Bison + +Author: William T. Hornaday + +Release Date: February 10, 2006 [EBook #17748] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXTERMINATION OF THE *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Tony Browne and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + +[Illustration: (Inscription) Mr. Theodore Roosevelt. Author of "Hunting +Trips of a Ranchman," With the compliments of The Author, W.T. Hornaday.] + +SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. + +UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. + + * * * * * + +THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. + +BY + +WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, + +_Superintendent of the National Zoological Park._ + + * * * * * + +From the Report of the National Museum, 1886-'87, pages 369-548, and +plates I-XXII. + + * * * * * + +WASHINGTON + +GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. + +1889. + +[Illustration: GROUP OF AMERICAN BISONS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. +Collected and mounted by W. T. Hornaday.] + + + + +CONTENTS. + +PREFATORY NOTE + +PART I.--THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE BISON + + I. Discovery of the species + II. Geographical distribution + III. Abundance + IV. Character of the species + 1. The buffalo's rank amongst ruminants + 2. Change of form in captivity + 3. Mounted specimens in museums + 4. The calf + 5. The yearling + 6. The spike bull + 7. The adult bull + 8. The cow in the third year + 9. The adult cow + 10. The "Wood" or "Mountain Buffalo" + 11. The shedding of the winter pelage + V. Habits of the buffalo + VI. The food of the buffalo + VII. Mental capacity and disposition of the buffalo + VIII. Value to mankind + IX. Economic value of the bison to Western + cattle-growers + 1. The bison in captivity and domestication + 2. Need of an improvement in range cattle + 3. Character of the buffalo-domestic hybrid + 4. The bison as a beast of burden + 5. List of bison herds and individuals + in captivity + +PART II.--THE EXTERMINATION + + I. Causes of the extermination + II. Methods of slaughter + 1. The "still hunt" + 2. The chase on horseback + 3. Impounding + 4. The surround + 5. Decoying and driving + 6. Hunting on snow-shoes + III. Progress of the extermination + A. The period of desultory destruction + B. The period of systematic slaughter + 1. The Red River half-breeds + 2. The country of the Sioux + 3. Western railways, and their part + in the extermination of the buffalo + 4. The division of the universal herd + 5. The destruction of the southern herd + 6. Statistics of the slaughter + 7. The destruction of the northern herd + IV. Legislation to prevent useless slaughter + V. Completeness of the wild buffalo's extirpation + VI. Effects of the disappearance of the bison + VII. Preservation of the species from absolute extinction + +PART III.--THE SMITHSONIAN EXPEDITION FOR SPECIMENS + + I. The exploration for specimens + II. The hunt + III. The mounted group in the National Museum + +INDEX + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + +Group of buffaloes in the National Museum +Head of bull buffalo +Slaughter of buffalo on Kansas Pacific Railroad +Buffalo cow, calf, and yearling +Spike bull +Bull buffalo +Bull buffalo, rear view +The development of the buffalo's horns +A dead bull +Buffalo skinners at work +Five minutes' work +Scene on the northern buffalo range +Half-breed calf +Half-breed buffalo (domestic) cow +Young half-breed bull +The still-hunt +The chase on horseback +Cree Indians impounding buffalo +The surround +Indians on snow-shoes hunting buffaloes +Where the millions have gone +Trophies of the hunt + +MAPS. + +Sketch map of the hunt for buffalo +Map illustrating the extermination of the American bison + + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE. + +It is hoped that the following historical account of the discovery, +partial utilization, and almost complete extermination of the great +American bison may serve to cause the public to fully realize the folly +of allowing all our most valuable and interesting American mammals to be +wantonly destroyed in the same manner. The wild buffalo is practically +gone forever, and in a few more years, when the whitened bones of the +last bleaching skeleton shall have been picked up and shipped East for +commercial uses, nothing will remain of him save his old, well-worn +trails along the water-courses, a few museum specimens, and regret for +his fate. If his untimely end fails even to point a moral that shall +benefit the surviving species of mammals _which are now being +slaughtered in like manner_, it will be sad indeed. + +Although _Bison americanus_ is a true bison, according to scientific +classification, and not a buffalo, the fact that more than sixty +millions of people in this country unite in calling him a "buffalo," and +know him by no other name, renders it quite unnecessary for me to +apologize for following, in part, a harmless custom which has now become +so universal that all the naturalists in the world could not change it +if they would. + +W. T. H. + +THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON, + +By WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, + +_Superintendent of the National Zoological Park._ + + + + +PART I.--LIFE HISTORY OF THE BISON. + + + + +I. DISCOVERY OF THE SPECIES. + + +The discovery of the American bison, as first made by Europeans, +occurred in the menagerie of a heathen king. + +In the year 1521, when Cortez reached Anahuac, the American bison was +seen for the first time by civilized Europeans, if we may be permitted +to thus characterize the horde of blood thirsty plunder seekers who +fought their way to the Aztec capital. With a degree of enterprise that +marked him as an enlightened monarch, Montezuma maintained, for the +instruction of his people, a well-appointed menagerie, of which the +historian De Solis wrote as follows (1724): + +"In the second Square of the same House were the Wild Beasts, which were +either presents to Montezuma, or taken by his Hunters, in strong Cages +of Timber, rang'd in good Order, and under Cover: Lions, Tygers, Bears, +and all others of the savage Kind which New-Spain produced; among which +the greatest Rarity was the Mexican Bull; a wonderful composition of +divers Animals. It has crooked Shoulders, with a Bunch on its Back like +a Camel; its Flanks dry, its Tail large, and its Neck cover'd with Hair +like a Lion. It is cloven footed, its Head armed like that of a Bull, +which it resembles in Fierceness, with no less strength and Agility." + +Thus was the first seen buffalo described. The nearest locality from +whence it could have come was the State of Coahuila, in northern Mexico, +between 400 and 500 miles away, and at that time vehicles were unknown +to the Aztecs. But for the destruction of the whole mass of the written +literature of the Aztecs by the priests of the Spanish Conquest, we +might now be reveling in historical accounts of the bison which would +make the oldest of our present records seem of comparatively recent +date. + +Nine years after the event referred to above, or in 1530, another +Spanish explorer, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza, afterwards called Cabeza de +Vaca--or, in other words "Cattle Cabeza," the prototype of our own +distinguished "Buffalo Bill"--was wrecked on the Gulf coast, west of +the delta of the Mississippi, from whence he wandered westward through +what is now the State of Texas. In southeastern Texas he discovered the +American bison on his native heath. So far as can be ascertained, this +was the earliest discovery of the bison in a wild state, and the +description of the species as recorded by the explorer is of historical +interest. It is brief and superficial. The unfortunate explorer took +very little interest in animated nature, except as it contributed to the +sum of his daily food, which was then the all-important subject of his +thoughts. He almost starved. This is all he has to say:[1] + +[Note 1: Davis' Spanish Conquest of New Mexico. 1869. P. 67.] + +"Cattle come as far as this. I have seen them three times, and eaten of +their meat. I think they are about the size of those in Spain. They have +small horns like those of Morocco, and the hair long and flocky, like +that of the merino. Some are light brown (_pardillas_) and others black. +To my judgment the flesh is finer and sweeter than that of this country +[Spain]. The Indians make blankets of those that are not full grown, and +of the larger they make shoes and bucklers. They come as far as the +sea-coast of Florida [now Texas], and in a direction from the north, and +range over a district of more than 400 leagues. In the whole extent of +plain over which they roam, the people who live bordering upon it +descend and kill them for food, and thus a great many skins are +scattered throughout the country." + +Coronado was the next explorer who penetrated the country of the +buffalo, which he accomplished from the west, by way of Arizona and New +Mexico. He crossed the southern part of the "Pan-handle" of Texas, to +the edge of what is now the Indian Territory, and returned through the +same region. It was in the year 1542 that he reached the buffalo +country, and traversed the plains that were "full of crooke-backed oxen, +as the mountaine Serena in Spaine is of sheepe." This is the description +of the animal as recorded by one of his followers, Castañeda, and +translated by W. W. Davis:[2] + +[Note 2: The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico. Davis. 1869. Pp. 206-7.] + +"The first time we encountered the buffalo, all the horses took to +flight on seeing them, for they are horrible to the sight. + +"They have a broad and short face, eyes two palms from each other, and +projecting in such a manner sideways that they can see a pursuer. Their +beard is like that of goats, and so long that it drags the ground when +they lower the head. They have, on the anterior portion of the body, a +frizzled hair like sheep's wool; it is very fine upon the croup, and +sleek like a lion's mane. Their horns are very short and thick, and can +scarcely be seen through the hair. They always change their hair in May, +and at this season they really resemble lions. To make it drop more +quickly, for they change it as adders do their skins, they roll among +the brush-wood which they find in the ravines. + +"Their tail is very short, and terminates in a great tuft. When they run +they carry it in the air like scorpions. When quite young they are +tawny, and resemble our calves; but as age increases they change color +and form. + +"Another thing which struck us was that all the old buffaloes that we +killed had the left ear cloven, while it was entire in the young; we +could never discover the reason of this. + +"Their wool is so fine that handsome clothes would certainly be made of +it, but it can not be dyed for it is tawny red. We were much surprised +at sometimes meeting innumerable herds of bulls without a single cow, +and other herds of cows without bulls." + +Neither De Soto, Ponce de Leon, Vasquez de Ayllon, nor Pamphilo de +Narvaez ever saw a buffalo, for the reason that all their explorations +were made south of what was then the habitat of that animal. At the time +De Soto made his great exploration from Florida northwestward to the +Mississippi and into Arkansas (1539-'41) he did indeed pass through +country in northern Mississippi and Louisiana that was afterward +inhabited by the buffalo, but at that time not one was to be found +there. Some of his soldiers, however, who were sent into the northern +part of Arkansas, reported having seen buffalo skins in the possession +of the Indians, and were told that live buffaloes were to be found 5 or +6 leagues north of their farthest point. + +The earliest discovery of the bison in Eastern North America, or indeed +anywhere north of Coronado's route, was made somewhere near Washington, +District of Columbia, in 1612, by an English navigator named Samuel +Argoll,[3] and narrated as follows: + +"As soon as I had unladen this corne, I set my men to the felling of +Timber, for the building of a Frigat, which I had left half finished at +Point Comfort, the 19. of March: and returned myself with the ship into +Pembrook [Potomac] River, and so discovered to the head of it, which is +about 65 leagues into the Land, and navigable for any ship. And then +marching into the Countrie, I found great store of Cattle as big as +Kine, of which the Indians that were my guides killed a couple, which we +found to be very good and wholesome meate, and are very easie to be +killed, in regard they are heavy, slow, and not so wild as other beasts +of the wildernesse." + +[Note 3: Purchas: His Pilgrimes. (1625.) Vol. IV, p. 1765. "A letter of +Sir Samuel Argoll touching his Voyage to Virginia, and actions there. +Written to Master Nicholas Hawes, June, 1613."] + +It is to be regretted that the narrative of the explorer affords no clew +to the precise locality of this interesting discovery, but since it is +doubtful that the mariner journeyed very far on foot from the head of +navigation of the Potomac, it seems highly probable that the first +American bison seen by Europeans, other than the Spaniards, was found +within 15 miles, or even less, of the capital of the United States, and +possibly within the District of Columbia itself. + +The first meeting of the white man with the buffalo on the northern +boundary of that animal's habitat occurred in 1679, when Father +Hennepin ascended the St. Lawrence to the great lakes, and finally +penetrated the great wilderness as far as western Illinois. + +The next meeting with the buffalo on the Atlantic slope was in October, +1729, by a party of surveyors under Col. William Byrd, who were engaged +in surveying the boundary between North Carolina and Virginia. + +As the party journeyed up from the coast, marking the line which now +constitutes the interstate boundary, three buffaloes were seen on +Sugar-Tree Creek, but none of them were killed. + +On the return journey, in November, a bull buffalo was killed on +Sugar-Tree Creek, which is in Halifax County, Virginia, within 5 miles +of Big Buffalo Creek; longitude 78° 40' W., and 155 miles from the +coast.[4] "It was found all alone, tho' Buffaloes Seldom are." The meat +is spoken of as "a Rarity," not met at all on the expedition up. The +animal was found in thick woods, which were thus feelingly described: +"The woods were thick great Part of this Day's Journey, so that we were +forced to scuffle hard to advance 7 miles, being equal in fatigue to +double that distance of Clear and Open Ground." One of the creeks which +the party crossed was christened Buffalo Creek, and "so named from the +frequent tokens we discovered of that American Behemoth." + +[Note 4: Westover Manuscript. Col. William Byrd. Vol. I, p. 178.] + +In October, 1733, on another surveying expedition, Colonel Byrd's party +had the good fortune to kill another buffalo near Sugar-Tree Creek, +which incident is thus described:[5] + +[Note 5: Vol. II, pp. 24, 25.] + +"We pursued our journey thro' uneven and perplext woods, and in the +thickest of them had the Fortune to knock down a Young Buffalo 2 years +old. Providence threw this vast animal in our way very Seasonably, just +as our provisions began to fail us. And it was the more welcome, too, +because it was change of dyet, which of all Varietys, next to that of +Bed-fellows, is the most agreeable. We had lived upon Venison and Bear +till our stomachs loath'd them almost as much as the Hebrews of old did +their Quails. Our Butchers were so unhandy at their Business that we +grew very lank before we cou'd get our Dinner. But when it came, we +found it equal in goodness to the best Beef. They made it the longer +because they kept Sucking the Water out of the Guts in imitation of the +Catauba Indians, upon the belief that it is a great Cordial, and will +even make them drunk, or at least very Gay." + +A little later a solitary bull buffalo was found, _but spared_,[6] the +earliest instance of the kind on record, and which had few successors to +keep it company. + +[Note 6: _Ib._, p. 28.] + + + + +II. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. + + +The range of the American bison extended over about one-third of the +entire continent of North America. Starting almost at tide-water on the +Atlantic coast, it extended westward through a vast tract of dense +forest, across the Alleghany Mountain system to the prairies along the +Mississippi, and southward to the Delta of that great stream. Although +the great plains country of the West was the natural home of the +species, where it flourished most abundantly, it also wandered south +across Texas to the burning plains of northeastern Mexico, westward +across the Rocky Mountains into New Mexico, Utah, and Idaho, and +northward across a vast treeless waste to the bleak and inhospitable +shores of the Great Slave Lake itself. It is more than probable that had +the bison remained unmolested by man and uninfluenced by him, he would +eventually have crossed the Sierra Nevadas and the Coast Range and taken +up his abode in the fertile valleys of the Pacific slope. + +Had the bison remained for a few more centuries in undisturbed +possession of his range, and with liberty to roam at will over the North +American continent, it is almost certain that several distinctly +recognizable varieties would have been produced. The buffalo of the hot +regions in the extreme south would have become a short-haired animal +like the gaur of India and the African buffalo. The individuals +inhabiting the extreme north, in the vicinity of Great Slave Lake, for +example, would have developed still longer hair, and taken on more of +the dense hairyness of the musk ox. In the "wood" or "mountain buffalo" +we already have a distinct foreshadowing of the changes which would have +taken place in the individuals which made their permanent residence upon +rugged mountains. + +It would be an easy matter to fill a volume with facts relating to the +geographical distribution of _Bison americanus_ and the dates of its +occurrence and disappearance in the multitude of different localities +embraced within the immense area it once inhabited. The capricious +shiftings of certain sections of the great herds, whereby large areas +which for many years had been utterly unvisited by buffaloes suddenly +became overrun by them, could be followed up indefinitely, but to little +purpose. In order to avoid wearying the reader with a mass of dates and +references, the map accompanying this paper has been prepared to show at +a glance the approximate dates at which the bison finally disappeared +from the various sections of its habitat. In some cases the date given +is coincident with the death of the last buffalo known to have been +killed in a given State or Territory; in others, where records are +meager, the date given is the nearest approximation, based on existing +records. In the preparation of this map I have drawn liberally from Mr. +J. A. Allen's admirable monograph of "The American Bison," in which the +author has brought together, with great labor and invariable accuracy, a +vast amount of historical data bearing upon this subject. In this +connection I take great pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness to +Professor Allen's work. + +While it is inexpedient to include here all the facts that might be +recorded with reference to the discovery, existence, and ultimate +extinction of the bison in the various portions of its former habitat, +it is yet worth while to sketch briefly the extreme limits of its range. +In doing this, our starting point will be the Atlantic slope east of the +Alleghanies, and the reader will do well to refer to the large map. + +DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.--There is no indisputable evidence that the bison +ever inhabited this precise locality, but it is probable that it did. In +1612 Captain Argoll sailed up the "Pembrook River" to the head of +navigation (Mr. Allen believes this was the James River, and not the +Potomac) and marched inland a few miles, where he discovered buffaloes, +some of which were killed by his Indian guides. If this river was the +Potomac, and most authorities believe that it was, the buffaloes seen by +Captain Argoll might easily have been in what is now the District of +Columbia. + +Admitting the existence of a reasonable doubt as to the identity of the +Pembrook River of Captain Argoll, there is yet another bit of history +which fairly establishes the fact that in the early part of the +seventeenth century buffaloes inhabited the banks of the Potomac between +this city and the lower falls. In 1624 an English fur trader named Henry +Fleet came hither to trade with the Anacostian Indians, who then +inhabited the present site of the city of Washington, and with the +tribes of the Upper Potomac. In his journal (discovered a few years +since in the Lambeth Library, London) Fleet gave a quaint description of +the city's site as it then appeared. The following is from the +explorer's journal: + +"Monday, the 25th June, we set sail for the town of Tohoga, where we +came to an anchor 2 leagues short of the falls. * * * This place, +without question, is the most pleasant and healthful place in all this +country, and most convenient for habitation, the air temperate in summer +and not violent in winter. It aboundeth with all manner of fish. The +Indians in one night commonly will catch thirty sturgeons in a place +where the river is not above 12 fathoms broad, and as for deer, +buffaloes, bears, turkeys, the woods do swarm with them. * * * The 27th +of June I manned my shallop and went up with the flood, the tide rising +about 4 feet at this place. We had not rowed above 3 miles, but we might +hear the falls to roar about 6 miles distant."[7] + +[Note 7: Charles Burr Todd's "Story of Washington," p. 18. New York, +1889.] + +MARYLAND.--There is no evidence that the bison ever inhabited Maryland, +except what has already been adduced with reference to the District of +Columbia. If either of the references quoted may be taken as conclusive +proof, and I see no reason for disputing either, then the fact that the +bison once ranged northward from Virginia into Maryland is fairly +established. There is reason to expect that fossil remains of _Bison +americanus_ will yet be found both in Maryland and the District of +Columbia, and I venture to predict that this will yet occur. + +VIRGINIA.--Of the numerous references to the occurrence of the bison in +Virginia, it is sufficient to allude to Col. William Byrd's meetings +with buffaloes in 1620, while surveying the southern boundary of the +State, about 155 miles from the coast, as already quoted; the references +to the discovery of buffaloes on the eastern side of the Virginia +mountains, quoted by Mr. Allen from Salmon's "Present State of +Virginia," page 14 (London, 1737), and the capture _and domestication_ +of buffaloes in 1701 by the Huguenot settlers at Manikintown, which was +situated on the James River, about 14 miles above Richmond. Apparently, +buffaloes were more numerous in Virginia than in any other of the +Atlantic States. + +NORTH CAROLINA.--Colonel Byrd's discoveries along the interstate +boundary between Virginia and North Carolina fixes the presence of the +bison in the northern part of the latter State at the date of the +survey. The following letter to Prof. G. Brown Goode, dated Birdsnest +post-office, Va., August 6, 1888, from Mr. C. R. Moore, furnishes +reliable evidence of the presence of the buffalo at another point in +North Carolina: "In the winter of 1857 I was staying for the night at +the house of an old gentleman named Houston. I should judge he was +seventy then. He lived near Buffalo Ford, on the Catawba River, about 4 +miles from Statesville, N. C. I asked him how the ford got its name. He +told me that his grandfather told him that when he was a boy the buffalo +crossed there, and that when the rocks in the river were bare they would +eat the moss that grew upon them." The point indicated is in longitude +81° west and the date not far from 1750. + +SOUTH CAROLINA.--Professor Allen cites numerous authorities, whose +observations furnish abundant evidence of the existence of the buffalo +in South Carolina during the first half of the eighteenth century. From +these it is quite evident that in the northwestern half of the State +buffaloes were once fairly numerous. Keating declares, on the authority +of Colhoun, "and we know that some of those who first settled the +Abbeville district in South Carolina, in 1756, found the buffalo +there."[8] This appears to be the only definite locality in which the +presence of the species was recorded. + +[Note 8: Long's Expedition to the Source of the St. Peter's River, 1823, +II, p. 26.] + +GEORGIA.--The extreme southeastern limit of the buffalo in the United +States was found on the coast of Georgia, near the mouth of the Altamaha +River, opposite St. Simon's Island. Mr. Francis Moore, in his "Voyage to +Georgia," made in 1736 and reported upon in 1744,[9] makes the following +observation: + +[Note 9: Coll. Georgia Hist. Soc., I, p. 117.] + +"The island [St. Simon's] abounds with deer and rabbits. There are no +buffalo in it, though there are large herds upon the main." Elsewhere in +the same document (p. 122) reference is made to buffalo-hunting by +Indians on the main-land near Darien. + +In James E. Oglethorpe's enumeration (A. D. 1733) of the wild beasts of +Georgia and South Carolina he mentions "deer, elks, bears, wolves, and +buffaloes."[10] + +[Note 10: Ibid., I, p. 51.] + +Up to the time of Moore's voyage to Georgia the interior was almost +wholly unexplored, and it is almost certain that had not the "large +herds of buffalo on the main-land" existed within a distance of 20 or 30 +miles or less from the coast, the colonists would have had no knowledge +of them; nor would the Indians have taken to the war-path against the +whites at Darien "under pretense of hunting buffalo." + +ALABAMA.--Having established the existence of the bison in northwestern +Georgia almost as far down as the center of the State, and in +Mississippi down to the neighborhood of the coast, it was naturally +expected that a search of historical records would reveal evidence that +the bison once inhabited the northern half of Alabama. A most careful +search through all the records bearing upon the early history and +exploration of Alabama, to be found in the Library of Congress, failed +to discover the slightest reference to the existence of the species in +that State, or even to the use of buffalo skins by any of the Alabama +Indians. While it is possible that such a hiatus really existed, in this +instance its existence would be wholly unaccountable. I believe that the +buffalo once inhabited the northern half of Alabama, even though history +fails to record it. + +LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI.--At the beginning of the eighteenth century, +buffaloes were plentiful in southern Mississippi and Louisiana, not only +down to the coast itself, from Bay St. Louis to Biloxi, but even in the +very Delta of the Mississippi, as the following record shows. In a +"Memoir addressed to Count de Pontchartrain," December 10, 1697, the +author, M. de Remonville, describes the country around the mouth of the +Mississippi, now the State of Louisiana, and further says:[11] + +"A great abundance of wild cattle are also found there, which might be +domesticated by rearing up the young calves." Whether these animals were +buffaloes might be considered an open question but for the following +additional information, which affords positive evidence: "The trade in +furs and peltry would be immensely valuable and exceedingly profitable. +We could also draw from thence a great quantity of buffalo hides every +year, as the plains are filled with the animals." + +In the same volume, page 47, in a document entitled "Annals of Louisiana +from 1698 to 1722, by M. Penicaut" (1698), the author records the +presence of the buffalo on the Gulf coast on the banks of the Bay St. +Louis, as follows: "The next day we left Pea Island, and passed through +the Little Rigolets, which led into the sea about three leagues from the +Bay of St. Louis. We encamped at the entrance of the bay, near a +fountain of water that flows from the hills, and which was called at +this time Belle Fountain. We hunted during several days upon the coast +of this bay, and filled our boats with the meat of the deer, buffaloes, +and other wild game which we had killed, and carried it to the fort +(Biloxi)." + +[Note 11: Hist. Coll. of Louisiana and Florida, B. F. French, 1869, +first series, p. 2.] + +The occurrence of the buffalo at Natchez is recorded,[12] and also (p. +115) at the mouth of Red River, as follows: "We ascended the Mississippi +to Pass Manchac, where we killed fifteen buffaloes. The next day we +landed again, and killed eight more buffaloes and as many deer." + +[Note 12: Ibid., pp. 88-91.] + +The presence of the buffalo in the Delta of the Mississippi was observed +and recorded by D'Iberville in 1699.[13] + +[Note 13: Hist. Coll. of Louisiana and Florida, French, second series, +p. 58.] + +According to Claiborne,[14] the Choctaws have an interesting tradition +in regard to the disappearance of the buffalo from Mississippi. It +relates that during the early part of the eighteenth century a great +drought occurred, which was particularly severe in the prairie region. +For three years not a drop of rain fell. The Nowubee and Tombigbee +Rivers dried up and the forests perished. The elk and buffalo, which up +to that time had been numerous, all migrated to the country beyond the +Mississippi, and never returned. + +[Note 14: Mississippi as a Province, Territory, and State, p. 484.] + +TEXAS.--It will be remembered that it was in southeastern Texas, in all +probability within 50 miles of the present city of Houston, that the +earliest discovery of the American bison on its native heath was made in +1530 by Cabeza de Vaca, a half-starved, half-naked, and wholly wretched +Spaniard, almost the only surviving member of the celebrated expedition +which burned its ships behind it. In speaking of the buffalo in Texas at +the earliest periods of which we have any historical record, Professor +Allen says: "They were also found in immense herds on the coast of +Texas, at the Bay of St. Bernard (Matagorda Bay), and on the lower part +of the Colorado (Rio Grande, according to some authorities), by La +Salle, in 1685, and thence northwards across the Colorado, Brazos, and +Trinity Rivers." Joutel says that when in latitude 28° 51' "the sight +of abundance of goats and bullocks, differing in shape from ours, and +running along the coast, heightened our earnestness to be ashore." They +afterwards landed in St. Louis Bay (now called Matagorda Bay), where +they found buffaloes in such numbers on the Colorado River that they +called it La Rivière aux Boeufs.[15] According to Professor Allen, the +buffalo did not inhabit the coast of Texas east of the mouth of the +Brazos River. + +[Note 15: The American Bisons, Living and Extinct, p. 132.] + +It is a curious coincidence that the State of Texas, wherein the +earliest discoveries and observations upon the bison were made, should +also now furnish a temporary shelter for one of the last remnants of the +great herd. + +MEXICO.--In regard to the existence of the bison south of the Rio +Grande, in old Mexico, there appears to be but one authority on record, +Dr. Berlandier, who at the time of his death left in MS. a work on the +mammals of Mexico. At one time this MS. was in the Smithsonian +Institution, but it is there no longer, nor is its fate even +ascertainable. It is probable that it was burned in the fire that +destroyed a portion of the Institution in 1865. Fortunately Professor +Allen obtained and published in his monograph (in French) a copy of that +portion of Dr. Berlandier's work relating to the presence of the bison +in Mexico,[16] of which the following is a translation: + +[Note 16: The American Bisons, pp. 129-130.] + +"In Mexico, when the Spaniards, ever greedy for riches, pushed their +explorations to the north and northeast, it was not long before they met +with the buffalo. In 1602 the Franciscan monks who discovered Nuevo Leon +encountered in the neighborhood of Monterey numerous herds of these +quadrupeds. They were also distributed in Nouvelle Biscaye (States of +Chihuahua and Durango), and they sometimes advanced to the extreme south +of that country. In the eighteenth century they concentrated more and +more toward the north, but still remained very abundant in the +neighborhood of the province of Bexar. At the commencement of the +nineteenth century we see them recede gradually in the interior of the +country to such an extent that they became day by day scarcer and +scarcer about the settlements. Now, it is not in their periodical +migrations that we meet them near Bexar. Every year in the spring, in +April or May, they advance toward the north, to return again to the +southern regions in September and October. The exact limits of these +annual migrations are unknown; it is, however, probable that in the +north they never go beyond the banks of the Rio Bravo, at least in the +States of Cohahuila and Texas. Toward the north, not being checked by +the currents of the Missouri, they progress even as far as Michigan, and +they are found in summer in the Territories and interior States of the +United States of North America. The route which these animals follow in +their migrations occupies a width of several miles, and becomes so +marked that, besides the verdure destroyed, one would believe that the +fields had been covered with manure. + +"These migrations are not general, for certain bands do not seem to +follow the general mass of their kin, but remain stationary throughout +the whole year on the prairies covered with a rich vegetation on the +banks of the Rio de Guadelupe and the Rio Colorado of Texas, not far +from the shores of the Gulf, to the east of the colony of San Felipe, +precisely at the same spot where La Salle and his traveling companions +saw them two hundred years before. The Rev. Father Damian Mansanet saw +them also as in our days on the shores of Texas, in regions which have +since been covered with the habitations, hamlets, and villages of the +new colonists, and from whence they have disappeared since 1828." + +[Illustration: HEAD OF BUFFALO BULL From specimen in the National Museum +Group. Reproduced from the _Cosmopolitan Magazine_, by permission of the +publishers.] + +"From the observations made on this subject we may conclude that the +buffalo inhabited the temperate zone of the New World, and that they +inhabited it at all times. In the north they never advanced beyond the +48th or 58th degree of latitude, and in the south, although they may +have reached as low as 25°, they scarcely passed beyond the 27th or +28th degree (north latitude), at least in the inhabited and known +portions of the country." + +NEW MEXICO.--In 1542 Coronado, while on his celebrated march, met with +vast herds of buffalo on the Upper Pecos River, since which the presence +of the species in the valley of the Pecos has been well known. In +describing the journey of Espejo down the Pecos River in the year 1584, +Davis says (Spanish Conquest of New Mexico, p. 260): "They passed down a +river they called _Rio de las Vacas_, or the River of Oxen [the river +Pecos, and the same Cow River that Vaca describes, says Professor +Allen], and was so named because of the great number of buffaloes that +fed upon its banks. They traveled down this river the distance of 120 +leagues, all the way passing through great herds of buffaloes." + +Professor Allen locates the western boundary of the buffalo in New +Mexico even as far west as the western side of Rio Grande del Norte. + +UTAH.--It is well known that buffaloes, though in very small numbers, +once inhabited northeastern Utah, and that a few were killed by the +Mormon settlers prior to 1840 in the vicinity of Great Salt Lake. In the +museum at Salt Lake City I was shown a very ancient mounted head of a +buffalo bull which was said to have been killed in the Salt Lake Valley. +It is doubtful that such was really fact. There is no evidence that the +bison ever inhabited the southwestern half of Utah, and, considering the +general sterility of the Territory as a whole previous to its +development by irrigation, it is surprising that any buffalo in his +senses would ever set foot in it at all. + +IDAHO.--The former range of the bison probably embraced the whole of +Idaho. Fremont states that in the spring of 1824 "the buffalo were +spread in immense numbers over the Green River and Bear River Valleys, +and through all the country lying between the Colorado, or Green River +of the Gulf of California, and Lewis' Fork of the Columbia River, the +meridian of Fort Hall then forming the western limit of their range." +[In J. K. Townsend's "Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky +Mountains," in 1834, he records the occurrence of herds near the Mellade +and Boise and Salmon Rivers, ten days' journey--200 miles--west of Fort +Hall.] The buffalo then remained for many years in that country, and +frequently moved down the valley of the Columbia, on both sides of the +river, as far as the Fishing Falls. Below this point they never +descended in any numbers. About 1834 or 1835 they began to diminish very +rapidly, and continued to decrease until 1838 or 1840, when, with the +country we have just described, they entirely abandoned all the waters +of the Pacific north of Lewis's Fork of the Columbia [now called Snake] +River. At that time the Flathead Indians were in the habit of finding +their buffalo on the heads of Salmon River and other streams of the +Columbia. + +OREGON.--The only evidence on record of the occurrence of the bison in +Oregon is the following, from Professor Allen's memoir (p. 119): +"Respecting its former occurrence in eastern Oregon, Prof. O. C. Marsh, +under date of New Haven, February 7, 1875, writes me as follows: 'The +most western point at which I have myself observed remains of the +buffalo was in 187 on Willow Creek, eastern Oregon, among the foot hills +of the eastern side of the Blue Mountains. This is about latitude 44°. +The bones were perfectly characteristic, although nearly decomposed.'" + +The remains must have been those of a solitary and very enterprising +straggler. + +THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES (British).--At two or three points only did +the buffaloes of the British Possessions cross the Rocky Mountain +barrier toward British Columbia. One was the pass through which the +Canadian Pacific Railway now runs, 200 miles north of the international +boundary. According to Dr. Richardson, the number of buffaloes which +crossed the mountains at that point were sufficiently noticeable to +constitute a feature of the fauna on the western side of the range. It +is said that buffaloes also crossed by way of the Kootenai Pass, which +is only a few miles north of the boundary line, but the number which did +so must have been very small. + +As might be expected from the character of the country, the favorite +range of the bison in British America was the northern extension of the +great pasture region lying between the Missouri River and Great Slave +Lake. The most northerly occurrence of the bison is recorded as an +observation of Franklin in 1820 at Slave Point, on the north side of +Great Slave Lake. "A few frequent Slave Point, on the north side of the +lake, but this is the most northern situation in which they were +observed by Captain Franklin's party."[17] + +[Note 17: Sabine, Zoological Appendix to "Franklin's Journey," p. 668.] + +Dr. Richardson defined the eastern boundary of the bison's range in +British America as follows: "They do not frequent any of the districts +formed of primitive rocks, and the limits of their range to the +eastward, within the Hudson's Bay Company's territories, may be +correctly marked on the map by a line commencing in longitude 97°, on +the Red River, which flows into the south end of Lake Winnipeg, crossing +the Saskatchewan to the westward of the Basquian Hill, and running +thence by the Athapescow to the east end of Great Slave Lake." Their +migrations westward were formerly limited to the Rocky Mountain range, +and they are still unknown in New Caledonia and on the shores of the +Pacific to the north of the Columbia River; but of late years they have +found out a passage across the mountains near the sources of the +Saskatchewan, and their numbers to the westward are annually +increasing.[18] + +[Note 18: Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. 1, p, 279-280.] + +_Great Slave Lake._--That the buffalo inhabited the southern shore of +this lake as late as 1871 is well established by the following letter +from Mr. E. W. Nelson to Mr. J. A. Allen, under date of July 11, +1877:[19] "I have met here [St. Michaels, Alaska] two gentlemen who +crossed the mountains from British Columbia and came to Fort Yukon +through British America, from whom I have derived some information about +the buffalo (_Bison americanus_) which will be of interest to you. These +gentlemen descended the Peace River, and on about the one hundred and +eighteenth degree of longitude made a portage to Hay River, directly +north. On this portage they saw thousands of buffalo skulls, and old +trails, in some instances 2 or 3 feet deep, leading east and west. They +wintered on Hay River near its entrance into Great Slave Lake, and here +found the buffalo still common, occupying a restricted territory along +the southern border of the lake. This was in 1871. They made inquiry +concerning the large number of skulls seen by them on the portage, and +learned that about fifty years before, snow fell to the estimated depth +of 14 feet, and so enveloped the animals that they perished by +thousands. It is asserted that these buffaloes are larger than those of +the plains." + +[Note 19: American Naturalist, xi, p. 624.] + +MINNESOTA AND WISCONSIN.--A line drawn from Winnipeg to Chicago, curving +slightly to the eastward in the middle portion, will very nearly define +the eastern boundary of the buffalo's range in Minnesota and Wisconsin. + +ILLINOIS AND INDIANA.--The whole of these two States were formerly +inhabited by the buffalo, the fertile prairies of Illinois being +particularly suited to their needs. It is doubtful whether the range of +the species extended north of the northern boundary of Indiana, but +since southern Michigan was as well adapted to their support as Ohio or +Indiana, their absence from that State must have been due more to +accident than design. + +OHIO.--The southern shore of Lake Erie forms part of the northern +boundary of the bison's range in the eastern United States. La Hontan +explored Lake Erie in 1687 and thus describes its southern shore: "I can +not express what quantities of Deer and Turkeys are to be found in these +Woods, and in the vast Meads that lye upon the South side of the Lake. +At the bottom of the Lake we find beeves upon the Banks of two pleasant +Rivers that disembogue into it, without Cataracts or Rapid +Currents."[20] It thus appears that the southern shore of Lake Erie +forms part of the northern boundary of the buffalo's range in the +eastern United States. + +[Note 20: J. A. Allen's _American Bisons_, p. 107.] + +NEW YORK.--In regard to the presence of the bison in any portion of the +State of New York, Professor Allen considers the evidence as fairly +conclusive that it once existed in western New York, not only in the +vicinity of the eastern end of Lake Erie, where now stands the city of +Buffalo, at the mouth of a large creek of the same name, but also on the +shore of Lake Ontario, probably in Orleans County. In his monograph of +"The American Bisons," page 107, he gives the following testimony and +conclusions on this point: + +"The occurrence of a stream in western New York, called Buffalo Creek, +which empties into the eastern end of Lake Erie, is commonly viewed as +traditional evidence of its occurrence at this point, but positive +testimony to this effect has thus far escaped me. + +"This locality, if it actually came so far eastward, must have formed +the eastern limit of its range along the lakes. I have found only highly +questionable allusions to the occurrence of buffaloes along the southern +shore of Lake Ontario. Keating, on the authority of Colhoun, however, +has cited a passage from Morton's "New English Canaan" as proof of their +former existence in the neighborhood of this lake. Morton's statement is +based on Indian reports, and the context gives sufficient evidence of +the general vagueness of his knowledge of the region of which he was +speaking. The passage, printed in 1637 is as follows: They [the Indians] +have also made descriptions of great heards of well growne beasts that +live about the parts of this lake [Erocoise] such as the Christian world +(untill this discovery) hath not bin made acquainted with. These Beasts +are of the bignesse of a Cowe, their flesh being very good foode, their +hides good lether, their fleeces very usefull, being a kinde of wolle as +fine almost as the wolle of the Beaver, and the Salvages doe make +garments thereof. It is tenne yeares since first the relation of these +things came to the eares of the English.' The 'beast' to which allusion +is here made [says Professor Allen] is unquestionably the buffalo, but +the locality of Lake 'Erocoise' is not so easily settled. Colhoun +regards it, and probably correctly, as identical with Lake Ontario. * * +* The extreme northeastern limit of the former range of the buffalo +seems to have been, as above stated, in western New York, near the +eastern end of Lake Erie. That it probably ranged thus far there is fair +evidence." + +PENNSYLVANIA.--From the eastern end of Lake Erie the boundary of the +bison's habitat extends south into western Pennsylvania, to a marsh +called Buffalo Swamp on a map published by Peter Kalm in 1771. Professor +Allen says it "is indicated as situated between the Alleghany River and +the West Branch of the Susquehanna, near the heads of the Licking and +Toby's Creeks (apparently the streams now called Oil Creek and Clarion +Creek)." In this region there were at one time thousands of buffaloes. +While there is not at hand any positive evidence that the buffalo ever +inhabited the southwestern portion of Pennsylvania, its presence in the +locality mentioned above, and in West Virginia generally, on the south, +furnishes sufficient reason for extending the boundary so as to include +the southwestern portion of the State and connect with our starting +point, the District of Columbia. + + + + +III. ABUNDANCE. + + +Of all the quadrupeds that have lived upon the earth, probably no other +species has ever marshaled such innumerable hosts as those of the +American bison. It would have been as easy to count or to estimate the +number of leaves in a forest as to calculate the number of buffaloes +living at any given time during the history of the species previous to +1870. Even in South Central Africa, which has always been exceedingly +prolific in great herds of game, it is probable that all its quadrupeds +taken together on an equal area would never have more than equaled the +total number of buffalo in this country forty years ago. + +To an African hunter, such a statement may seem incredible, but it +appears to be fully warranted by the literature of both branches of the +subject. + +Not only did the buffalo formerly range eastward far into the forest +regions of western New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the Carolinas, and +Georgia, but in some places it was so abundant as to cause remark. In +Mr. J. A. Allen's valuable monograph[21] appear a great number of +interesting historical references on this subject, as indeed to every +other relating to the buffalo, a few of which I will take the liberty of +quoting. + +[Note 21: All who are especially interested in the life history of the +buffalo, both scientific and economical, will do well to consult Mr. +Allen's monograph, "The American Bisons, Living and Extinct," if it be +accessible. Unfortunately it is a difficult matter for the general +reader to obtain it. A reprint of the work as originally published, but +omitting the map, plates, and such of the subject-matter as relates to +the extinct species, appears in Hayden's "Report of the Geological +Survey of the Territories," for 1875 (pp. 443-587), but the volume has +for several years been out of print. + +The memoir as originally published has the following titles: + +_Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Kentucky.| N. S. Shaler, Director.| +Vol. I. Part II.|--| The American Bisons,| living and extinct.| By J. A. +Allen.| With twelve plates and map.|--| University press, Cambridge:| +Welch, Bigelow & Co.| 1876._ + +_Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology,| at Harvard College, +Cambridge, Mass.| Vol. IV. No. 10.|--| The American Bisons,| living and +extinct.| By J. A. Allen.| Published by permission of N. S. Shaler, +Director of the Kentucky| Geological Survey.| With twelve plates and a +map.| University press, Cambridge:| Welch, Bigelow & Co.| 1876.|_ + +_4to., pp. i-ix, 1-246, 1 col'd map, 12 pl., 13 ll. explanatory, 2 +wood-cuts in text._ + +These two publications were simultaneous, and only differed in the +titles. Unfortunately both are of greater rarity than the reprint +referred to above.] + +In the vicinity of the spot where the town of Clarion now stands, in +northwestern Pennsylvania, Mr. Thomas Ashe relates that one of the first +settlers built his log cabin near a salt spring which was visited by +buffaloes in such numbers that "he supposed there could not have been +less than two thousand in the neighborhood of the spring." During the +first years of his residence there, the buffaloes came in droves of +about three hundred each. + +Of the Blue Licks in Kentucky, Mr. John Filson thus wrote, in 1784: "The +amazing herds of buffaloes which resort thither, by their size and +number, fill the traveller with amazement and terror, especially when +he beholds the prodigious roads they have made from all quarters, as if +leading to some populous city; the vast space of land around these +springs desolated as if by a ravaging enemy, and hills reduced to +plains; for the land near these springs is chiefly hilly. * * * I have +heard a hunter assert he saw above one thousand buffaloes at the Blue +Licks at once; so numerous were they before the first settlers had +wantonly sported away their lives." Col. Daniel Boone declared of the +Red River region in Kentucky, "The buffaloes were more frequent than I +have seen cattle in the settlements, browzing on the leaves of the cane, +or cropping the herbage of those extensive plains, fearless because +ignorant of the violence of man. Sometimes we saw hundreds in a drove, +and the numbers about the salt springs were amazing." + +According to Ramsey, where Nashville now stands, in 1770 there were +"immense numbers of buffalo and other wild game. The country was crowded +with them. Their bellowings sounded from the hills and forest." Daniel +Boone found vast herds of buffalo grazing in the valleys of East +Tennessee, between the spurs of the Cumberland mountains. + +Marquette declared that the prairies along the Illinois River were +"covered with buffaloes." Father Hennepin, in writing of northern +Illinois, between Chicago and the Illinois River, asserted that "there +must be an innumerable quantity of wild bulls in that country, since the +earth is covered with their horns. * * * They follow one another, so +that you may see a drove of them for above a league together. * * * +Their ways are as beaten as our great roads, and no herb grows therein." + +Judged by ordinary standards of comparison, the early pioneers of the +last century thought buffalo were abundant in the localities mentioned +above. But the herds which lived east of the Mississippi were +comparatively only mere stragglers from the innumerable mass which +covered the great western pasture region from the Mississippi to the +Rocky Mountains, and from the Rio Grande to Great Slave Lake. The town +of Kearney, in south central Nebraska, may fairly be considered the +geographical center of distribution of the species, as it originally +existed, but ever since 1800, and until a few years ago, the center of +population has been in the Black Hills of southwestern Dakota. + +Between the Rocky Mountains and the States lying along the Mississippi +River on the west, from Minnesota to Louisiana, the whole country was +one vast buffalo range, inhabited by millions of buffaloes. One could +fill a volume with the records of plainsmen and pioneers who penetrated +or crossed that vast region between 1800 and 1870, and were in turn +surprised, astounded, and frequently dismayed by the tens of thousands +of buffaloes they observed, avoided, or escaped from. They lived and +moved as no other quadrupeds ever have, in great multitudes, like grand +armies in review, covering scores of square miles at once. They were so +numerous they frequently stopped boats in the rivers, threatened to +overwhelm travelers on the plains, and in later years derailed +locomotives and cars, until railway engineers learned by experience the +wisdom of stopping their trains whenever there were buffaloes crossing +the track. On this feature of the buffalo's life history a few detailed +observations may be of value. + +Near the mouth of the White River, in southwestern Dakota, Lewis and +Clark saw (in 1806) a herd of buffalo which caused them to make the +following record in their journal: + +"These last animals [buffaloes] are now so numerous that from an +eminence we discovered more than we had ever seen before at one time; +and if it be not impossible to calculate the moving multitude, which +darkened the whole plains, we are convinced that twenty thousand would +be no exaggerated number." + +When near the mouth of the Yellowstone, on their way down the Missouri, +a previous record had been made of a meeting with other herds: + +"The buffalo now appear in vast numbers. A herd happened to be on their +way across the river [the Missouri]. Such was the multitude of these +animals that although the river, including an island over which they +passed, was a mile in length, the herd stretched as thick as they could +swim completely from one side to the other, and the party was obliged to +stop for an hour. They consoled themselves for the delay by killing four +of the herd, and then proceeded till at the distance of 45 miles they +halted on an island, below which two other herds of buffalo, as numerous +as the first, soon after crossed the river."[22] + +[Note 22: Lewis and Clark's Exped., II, p. 395.] + +Perhaps the most vivid picture ever afforded of the former abundance of +buffalo is that given by Col. R. I. Dodge in his "Plains of the Great +West," p. 120, _et seq._ It is well worth reproducing entire: + +"In May, 1871, I drove in a light wagon from Old Fort Zara to Fort +Larned, on the Arkansas, 34 miles. At least 25 miles of this distance +was through one immense herd, composed of countless smaller herds of +buffalo then on their journey north. The road ran along the broad level +'bottom,' or valley, of the river. * * * + +"The whole country appeared one great mass of buffalo, moving slowly to +the northward; and it was only when actually among them that it could be +ascertained that the apparently solid mass was an agglomeration of +innumerable small herds, of from fifty to two hundred animals, separated +from the surrounding herds by greater or less space, but still +separated. The herds in the valley sullenly got out of my way, and, +turning, stared stupidly at me, sometimes at only a few yards' distance. +When I had reached a point where the hills were no longer more than a +mile from the road, the buffalo on the hills, seeing an unusual object +in their rear, turned, stared an instant, then started at full speed +directly towards me, stampeding and bringing with them the numberless +herds through which they passed, and pouring down upon me all the herds, +no longer separated, but one immense compact mass of plunging animals, +mad with fright, and as irresistible as an avalanche. + +"The situation was by no means pleasant. Reining up my horse (which was +fortunately a quiet old beast that had been in at the death of many a +buffalo, so that their wildest, maddest rush only caused him to cock his +ears in wonder at their unnecessary excitement), I waited until the +front of the mass was within 50 yards, when a few well-directed shots +from my rifle split the herd, and sent it pouring off in two streams to +my right and left. When all had passed me they stopped, apparently +perfectly satisfied, though thousands were yet within reach of my rifle +and many within less than 100 yards. Disdaining to fire again, I sent my +servant to cut out the tongues of the fallen. This occurred so +frequently within the next 10 miles, that when I arrived at Fort Larned +I had twenty-six tongues in my wagon, representing the greatest number +of buffalo that my conscience can reproach me for having murdered on any +single day. I was not hunting, wanted no meat, and would not voluntarily +have fired at these herds. I killed only in self-preservation and fired +almost every shot from the wagon." + +At my request Colonel Dodge has kindly furnished me a careful estimate +upon which to base a calculation of the number of buffaloes in that +great herd, and the result is very interesting. In a private letter, +dated September 21, 1887, he writes as follows: + +"The great herd on the Arkansas through which I passed could not have +averaged, _at rest_, over fifteen or twenty individuals to the acre, but +was, from my own observation, not less than 25 miles wide, and from +reports of hunters and others it was about five days in passing a given +point, or not less than 50 miles deep. From the top of Pawnee Rock I +could see from 6 to 10 miles in almost every direction. This whole vast +space was covered with buffalo, looking at a distance like one compact +mass, the visual angle not permitting the ground to be seen. I have seen +such a sight a great number of times, but never on so large a scale. + +"That was the last of the great herds." + +With these figures before us, it is not difficult to make a calculation +that will be somewhere near the truth of the number of buffaloes +actually seen in one day by Colonel Dodge on the Arkansas River during +that memorable drive, and also of the number of head in the entire herd. + +According to his recorded observation, the herd extended along the river +for a distance of 25 miles, which was in reality the width of the vast +procession that was moving north, and back from the road as far as the +eye could reach, on both sides. It is making a low estimate to consider +the extent of the visible ground at 1 mile on either side. This gives a +strip of country 2 miles wide by 25 long, or a total of 50 square miles +covered with buffalo, averaging from fifteen to twenty to the acre.[23] +Taking the lesser number, in order to be below the truth rather than +above it, we find that the number actually seen on that day by Colonel +Dodge was in the neighborhood of 480,000, not counting the additional +number taken in at the view from the top of Pawnee Rock, which, if +added, would easily bring the total up to a round half million! + +[Note 23: On the plains of Dakota, the Rev. Mr. Belcourt (Schoolcraft's +N. A. Indians, IV, p. 108) once counted two hundred and twenty-eight +buffaloes, a part of a great herd, feeding on a single acre of ground. +This of course was an unusual occurrence with buffaloes not stampeding, +but practically at rest. It is quite possible also that the extent of +the ground may have been underestimated.] + +If the advancing multitude had been at all points 50 miles in length (as +it was known to have been in some places at least) by 25 miles in width, +and still averaged fifteen head to the acre of ground, it would have +contained the enormous number of 12,000,000 head. But, judging from the +general principles governing such migrations, it is almost certain that +the moving mass advanced in the shape of a wedge, which would make it +necessary to deduct about two-third from the grand total, which would +leave 4,000,000 as our estimate of the actual number of buffaloes in +this great herd, which I believe is more likely to be below the truth +than above it. + +No wonder that the men of the West of those days, both white and red, +thought it would be impossible to exterminate such a mighty multitude. +The Indians of some tribes believed that the buffaloes issued from the +earth continually, and that the supply was necessarily inexhaustible. +And yet, in four short years the southern herd was almost totally +annihilated. + +With such a lesson before our eyes, confirmed in every detail by living +testimony, who will dare to say that there will be an elk, moose, +caribou, mountain sheep, mountain goat, antelope, or black-tail deer +left alive in the United States in a wild state fifty years from this +date, ay, or even twenty-five? + +Mr. William Blackmore contributes the following testimony to the +abundance of buffalo in Kansas:[24] + +[Note 24: Plains of the Great West, p. xvi.] + +"In the autumn of 1868, whilst crossing the plains on the Kansas Pacific +Railroad, for a distance of upwards of 120 miles, between Ellsworth and +Sheridan, we passed through an almost unbroken herd of buffalo. The +plains were blackened with them, and more than once the train had to +stop to allow unusually large herds to pass. * * * In 1872, whilst on a +scout for about a hundred miles south of Fort Dodge to the Indian +Territory, we were never out of sight of buffalo." + +Twenty years hence, when not even a bone or a buffalo-chip remains above +ground throughout the West to mark the presence of the buffalo, it may +be difficult for people to believe that these animals ever existed in +such numbers as to constitute not only a serious annoyance, but very +often a dangerous menace to wagon travel across the plains, and also to +stop railway trains, and even throw them off the track. The like has +probably never occurred before in any country, and most assuredly never +will again, if the present rate of large game destruction all over the +world can be taken as a foreshadowing of the future. In this connection +the following additional testimony from Colonel Dodge ("Plains of the +Great West," p. 121) is of interest: + +"The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad was then [in 1871-'72] in +process of construction, and nowhere could the peculiarity of the +buffalo of which I am speaking be better studied than from its trains. +If a herd was on the north side of the track, it would stand stupidly +gazing, and without a symptom of alarm, although the locomotive passed +within a hundred yards. If on the south side of the track, even though +at a distance of 1 or 2 miles from it, the passage of a train set the +whole herd in the wildest commotion. At full speed, and utterly +regardless of the consequences, it would make for the track on its line +of retreat. If the train happened not to be in its path, it crossed the +track and stopped satisfied. If the train was in its way, each +individual buffalo went at it with the desperation of despair, plunging +against or between locomotive and cars, just as its blind madness +chanced to direct it. Numbers were killed, but numbers still pressed on, +to stop and stare as soon as the obstacle had passed. After having +trains thrown off the track twice in one week, conductors learned to +have a very decided respect for the idiosyncrasies of the buffalo, and +when there was a possibility of striking a herd 'on the rampage' for the +north side of the track, the train was slowed up and sometimes stopped +entirely." + +The accompanying illustration, reproduced from the "Plains of the Great +West," by the kind permission of the author, is, in one sense, ocular +proof that collisions between railway trains and vast herds of buffaloes +were so numerous that they formed a proper subject for illustration. In +regard to the stoppage of trains and derailment of locomotives by +buffaloes, Colonel Dodge makes the following allusion in the private +letter already referred to: "There are at least a hundred reliable +railroad men now employed on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad +who were witnesses of, and sometimes sufferers from, the wild rushes of +buffalo as described on page 121 of my book. I was at the time stationed +at Fort Dodge, and I was personally cognizant of several of these +'accidents.'" + +[Illustration: SLAUGHTER OF BUFFALO ON THE KANSAS PACIFIC RAILROAD. +Reproduced from "The Plains of the Great West," by permission of the +author, Col. R. I. Dodge.] + +The following, from the ever pleasing pen of Mr. Catlin, is of decided +interest in this connection: + +"In one instance, near the mouth of White River, we met the most immense +herd crossing the Missouri River [in Dakota], and from an imprudence got +our boat into imminent danger amongst them, from which we were highly +delighted to make our escape. It was in the midst of the 'running +season,' and we had heard the 'roaring' (as it is called) of the herd +when we were several miles from them. When we came in sight, we were +actually terrified at the immense numbers that were streaming down the +green hills on one side of the river, and galloping up and over the +bluffs on the other. The river was filled, and in parts blackened with +their heads and horns, as they were swimming about, following up their +objects, and making desperate battle whilst they were swimming. I deemed +it imprudent for our canoe to be dodging amongst them, and ran it ashore +for a few hours, where we laid, waiting for the opportunity of seeing +the river clear, but we waited in vain. Their numbers, however, got +somewhat diminished at last, and we pushed off, and successfully made +our way amongst them. From the immense numbers that had passed the river +at that place, they had torn down the prairie bank of 15 feet in height, +so as to form a sort of road or landing place, where they all in +succession clambered up. Many in their turmoil had been wafted below +this landing, and unable to regain it against the swiftness of the +current, had fastened themselves along in crowds, hugging close to the +high bank under which they were standing. As we were drifting by these, +and supposing ourselves out of danger, I drew up my rifle and shot one +of them in the head, which tumbled into the water, and brought with him +a hundred others, which plunged in, and in a moment were swimming about +our canoe, and placing it in great danger. No attack was made upon us, +and in the confusion the poor beasts knew not, perhaps, the enemy that +was amongst them; but we were liable to be sunk by them, as they were +furiously hooking and climbing on to each other. I rose in my canoe, and +by my gestures and hallooing kept them from coming in contact with us +until we were out of their reach."[25] + +[Note 25: Catlin's North American Indians, II, p. 13.] + + + + +IV. CHARACTER OF THE SPECIES. + + +1. _The buffaloes rank amongst ruminants._--With the American people, +and through them all others, familiarity with the buffalo has bred +contempt. The incredible numbers in which the animals of this species +formerly existed made their slaughter an easy matter, so much so that +the hunters and frontiersmen who accomplished their destruction have +handed down to us a contemptuous opinion of the size, character, and +general presence of our bison. And how could it be otherwise than that a +man who could find it in his heart to murder a majestic bull bison for a +hide worth only a dollar should form a one-dollar estimate of the +grandest ruminant that ever trod the earth? Men who butcher African +elephants for the sake of their ivory also entertain a similar estimate +of their victims. + +With an acquaintance which includes fine living examples of all the +larger ruminants of the world except the musk-ox and the European bison, +I am sure that the American bison is the grandest of them all. His only +rivals for the kingship are the Indian bison, or gaur (_Bos gaurus_), of +Southern India, and the aurochs, or European bison, both of which +really surpass him in height, if not in actual balk also. The aurochs is +taller, and possesses a larger pelvis and heavier, stronger +hindquarters, but his body is decidedly smaller in all its proportions, +which gives him a lean and "leggy" look. The hair on the head, neck, and +forequarters of the aurochs is not nearly so long or luxuriant as on the +same parts of the American bison. This covering greatly magnifies the +actual bulk of the latter animal. Clothe the aurochs with the wonderful +pelage of our buffalo, give him the same enormous chest and body, and +the result would be a magnificent bovine monster, who would indeed stand +without a rival. But when first-class types of the two species are +placed side by side it seems to me that _Bison americanus_ will easily +rank his European rival. + +The gaur has no long hair upon any part of his body or head. What little +hair he has is very short and thin, his hindquarters being almost naked. +I have seen hundreds of these animals at short range, and have killed +and skinned several very fine specimens, one of which stood 5 feet 10 +inches in height at the shoulders. But, despite his larger bulk, his +appearance is not nearly so striking and impressive as that of the male +American bison. He seems like a huge ox running wild. + +The magnificent dark brown frontlet and beard of the buffalo, the shaggy +coat of hair upon the neck, hump, and shoulders, terminating at the +knees in a thick mass of luxuriant black locks, to say nothing of the +dense coat of finer fur on the body and hindquarters, give to our +species not only an apparent height equal to that of the gaur, but a +grandeur and nobility of presence which are beyond all comparison +amongst ruminants. + +The slightly larger bulk of the gaur is of little significance in a +comparison of the two species; for if size alone is to turn the scale, +we must admit that a 500-pound lioness, with no mane whatever, is a more +majestic looking animal than a 450-pound lion, with a mane which has +earned him his title of king of beasts. + +2. _Change of form in captivity._--By a combination of unfortunate +circumstances, the American bison is destined to go down to posterity +shorn of the honor which is his due, and appreciated at only half his +worth. The hunters who slew him were from the very beginning so absorbed +in the scramble for spoils that they had no time to measure or weigh +him, nor even to notice the majesty of his personal appearance on his +native heath. + +In captivity he fails to develop as finely as in his wild state, and +with the loss of his liberty he becomes a tame-looking animal. He gets +fat and short-bodied, and the lack of vigorous and constant exercise +prevents the development of bone and muscle which made the prairie +animal what he was. + +From observations made upon buffaloes that have been reared in +captivity, I am firmly convinced that confinement and +semi-domestication are destined to effect striking changes in the form +of _Bison americanus_. While this is to be expected to a certain extent +with most large species, the changes promise to be most conspicuous in +the buffalo. The most striking change is in the body between the hips +and the shoulders. As before remarked, it becomes astonishingly short +and rotund, and through liberal feeding and total lack of exercise the +muscles of the shoulders and hindquarters, especially the latter, are +but feebly developed. + +The most striking example of the change of form in the captive buffalo +is the cow in the Central Park Menagerie, New York. Although this animal +is fully adult, and has given birth to three fine calves, she is small, +astonishingly short-bodied, and in comparison with the magnificently +developed cows taken in 1886 by the writer in Montana, she seems almost +like an animal of another species. + +Both the live buffaloes in the National Museum collection of living +animals are developing the same shortness of body and lack of muscle, +and when they attain their full growth will but poorly resemble the +splendid proportions of the wild specimens in the Museum mounted group, +each of which has been mounted from a most careful and elaborate series +of post-mortem measurements. It may fairly be considered, however, that +the specimens taken by the Smithsonian expedition were in every way more +perfect representatives of the species than have been usually taken in +times past, for the simple reason that on account of the muscle they had +developed in the numerous chases they had survived, and the total +absence of the fat which once formed such a prominent feature of the +animal, they were of finer form, more active habit, and keener +intelligence than buffaloes possessed when they were so numerous. Out of +the millions which once composed the great northern herd, those +represented the survival of the fittest, and their existence at that +time was chiefly due to the keenness of their senses and their splendid +muscular powers in speed and endurance. + +Under such conditions it is only natural that animals of the highest +class should be developed. On the other hand, captivity reverses all +these conditions, while yielding an equally abundant food supply. + +In no feature is the change from natural conditions to captivity more +easily noticeable than in the eye. In the wild buffalo the eye is always +deeply set, well protected by the edge of the bony orbit, and perfect in +form and expression. The lids are firmly drawn around the ball, the +opening is so small that the white portion of the eyeball is entirely +covered, and the whole form and appearance of the organ is as shapely +and as pleasing in expression as the eye of a deer. + +In the captive the various muscles which support and control the eyeball +seem to relax and thicken, and the ball protrudes far beyond its normal +plane, showing a circle of white all around the iris, and bulging out in +a most unnatural way. I do not mean to assert that this is common in +captive buffaloes generally, but I have observed it to be disagreeably +conspicuous in many. + +Another change which takes place in the form of the captive buffalo is +an arching of the back in the middle, which has a tendency to make the +hump look lower at the shoulders and visibly alters the outline of the +back. This tendency to "hump up" the back is very noticeable in domestic +cattle and horses during rainy weather. While a buffalo on his native +heath would seldom assume such an attitude of dejection and misery, in +captivity, especially if it be anything like close confinement, it is +often to be observed, and I fear will eventually become a permanent +habit. Indeed, I think it may be confidently predicted that the time +will come when naturalists who have never seen a wild buffalo will +compare the specimens composing the National Museum group with the +living representatives to be seen in captivity and assert that the +former are exaggerations in both form and size. + +3. _Mounted Specimens in Museums._--Of the "stuffed" specimens to be +found in museums, all that I have ever seen outside of the National +Museum and even those within that institution up to 1886, were "stuffed" +in reality as well as in name. The skins that have been rammed full of +straw or excelsior have lost from 8 to 12 inches in height at the +shoulders, and the high and sharp hump of the male has become a huge, +thick, rounded mass like the hump of a dromedary, and totally unlike the +hump of a bison. It is impossible for any taxidermist to stuff a +buffalo-skin with loose materials and produce a specimen which fitly +represents the species. The proper height and form of the animal can be +secured and retained only by the construction of a manikin, or statue, +to carry the skin. In view of this fact, which surely must be apparent +to even the most casual observer, it is to be earnestly hoped that here +no one in authority will ever consent to mount or have mounted a +valuable skin of a bison in any other way than over a properly +constructed manikin. + +4. _The Calf._--The breeding season of the buffalo is from the 1st of +July to the 1st of October. The young cow does not breed until she is +three years old, and although two calves are sometimes produced at a +birth, one is the usual number. The calves are born in April, May, and +June, and sometimes, though rarely, as late as the middle of August. The +calf follows its mother until it is a year old, or even older. In May, +1886, the Smithsonian expedition captured a calf alive, which had been +abandoned by its mother because it could not keep up with her. The +little creature was apparently between two and three weeks old, and was +therefore born about May 1. Unlike the young of nearly all other +_Bovidæ_, the buffalo calf during the first months of its existence is +clad with hair of a totally different color from that which covers him +during the remainder of his life. His pelage is a luxuriant growth of +rather long, wavy hair, of a uniform brownish-yellow or "sandy" color +(cinnamon, or yellow ocher, with a shade of Indian yellow) all over the +head, body, and tail, in striking contrast with the darker colors of the +older animals. On the lower half of the leg it is lighter, shorter, and +straight. On the shoulders and hump the hair is longer than on the +other portions, being 11/2 inches in length, more wavy, and already +arranges itself in the tufts, or small bunches, so characteristic in the +adult animal. + +On the extremity of the muzzle, including the chin, the hair is very +short, straight, and as light in color as the lower portions of the leg. +Starting on the top of the nose, an inch behind the nostrils, and +forming a division between the light yellowish muzzle and the more +reddish hair on the remainder of the head, there is an irregular band of +dark, straight hair, which extends down past the corner of the mouth to +a point just back of the chin, where it unites. From the chin backward +the dark band increases in breadth and intensity, and continues back +half way to the angle of the jaw. At that point begins a sort of under +mane of wavy, dark-brown hair, nearly 3 inches long, and extends back +along the median line of the throat to a point between the fore legs, +where it abruptly terminates. From the back of the head another streak +of dark hair extends backward along the top of the neck, over the hump, +and down to the lumbar region, where it fades out entirely. These two +dark bands are in sharp contrast to the light sandy hair adjoining. + +The tail is densely haired. The tuft on the end is quite luxuriant, and +shows a center of darker hair. The hair on the inside of the ear is +dark, but that on the outside is sandy. + +The naked portion of the nose is light Vandyke-brown, with a pinkish +tinge, and the edge of the eyelid the same. The iris is dark brown. The +horn at three months is about 1 inch in length, and is a mere little +black stub. In the male, the hump is clearly defined, but by no means so +high in proportion as in the adult animal. The hump of the calf from +which this description is drawn is of about the same relative angle and +height as that of an adult cow buffalo. The specimen itself is well +represented in the accompanying plate. + +The measurements of this specimen in the flesh were as follows: + ++---------------------------------------------------------+ +| BISON AMERICANUS. (Male; four months old.) | ++---------------------------------------------------------+ +| (_No. 15503, National Museum collection._) | ++---------------------------------------------------------+ +| |Feet.|Inches.| +|Height at shoulders | 2 | 8 | +|Length, head and body to insertion of tail | 3 | 101/2 | +|Depth of chest | 1 | 4 | +|Depth of flank | | 10 | +|Girth behind fore leg | 3 | 1/2 | +|From base of horns around end of nose | 1 | 71/2 | +|Length of tail vertebræ | | 7 | ++---------------------------------------------------------+ + +The calves begin to shed their coat of red hair about the beginning of +August. The first signs of the change, however, appear about a month +earlier than that, in the darkening of the mane under the throat, and +also on the top of the neck.[26] + +[Note 26: Our captive had, in some way, bruised the skin on his +forehead, and in June all the hair came off the top of his head, leaving +it quite bald. We kept the skin well greased with porpoise oil, and by +the middle of July a fine coat of black hair had grown out all over the +surface that had previously been bare.] + +By the 1st of August the red hair on the body begins to fall off in +small patches, and the growth of fine, new, dark hair seems to actually +crowd off the old. As is the case with the adult animals, the shortest +hair is the first to be shed, but the change of coat takes place in +about half the time that it occupies in the older animals. + +By the 1st of October the transformation is complete, and not even a +patch of the old red hair remains upon the new suit of brown. This is +far from being the case with the old bulls and cows, for even up to the +last week in October we found them with an occasional patch of the old +hair still clinging to the new, on the back or shoulders. + +Like most young animals, the calf of the buffalo is very easily tamed, +especially if taken when only a few weeks old. The one captured in +Montana by the writer, resisted at first as stoutly as it was able, by +butting with its head, but after we had tied its legs together and +carried it to camp, across a horse, it made up its mind to yield +gracefully to the inevitable, and from that moment became perfectly +docile. It very soon learned to drink milk in the most satisfactory +manner, and adapted itself to its new surroundings quite as readily as +any domestic calf would have done. Its only cry was a low-pitched, +pig-like grunt through the nose, which was uttered only when hungry or +thirsty. + +I have been told by old frontiersmen and buffalo-hunters that it used to +be a common practice for a hunter who had captured a young calf to make +it follow him by placing one of his fingers in its mouth, and allowing +the calf to suck at it for a moment. Often a calf has been induced in +this way to follow a horseman for miles, and eventually to join his camp +outfit. It is said that the same result has been accomplished with +calves by breathing a few times into their nostrils. In this connection +Mr. Catlin's observations on the habits of buffalo calves are most +interesting. + +"In pursuing a large herd of buffaloes at the season when their calves +are but a few weeks old, I have often been exceedingly amused with the +curious maneuvers of these shy little things. Amidst the thundering +confusion of a throng of several hundreds or several thousands of these +animals, there will be many of the calves that lose sight of their dams; +and being left behind by the throng, and the swift-passing hunters, they +endeavor to secrete themselves, when they are exceedingly put to it on a +level prairie, where naught can be seen but the short grass of 6 or 8 +inches in height, save an occasional bunch of wild sage a few inches +higher, to which the poor affrighted things will run, and dropping on +their knees, will push their noses under it and into the grass, where +they will stand for hours, with their eyes shut, imagining themselves +securely hid, whilst they are standing up quite straight upon their hind +feet, and can easily be seen at several miles distance. It is a familiar +amusement with us, accustomed to these scenes, to retreat back over the +ground where we have just escorted the herd, and approach these little +trembling things, which stubbornly maintain their positions, with +their noses pushed under the grass and their eyes strained upon us, us +we dismount from our horses and are passing around them. From this fixed +position they are sure not to move until hands are laid upon them, and +then for the shins of a novice we can extend our sympathy; or if he can +preserve the skin on his bones from the furious buttings of its head, we +know how to congratulate him on his signal success and good luck. + +[Illustration: From photograph of group in National Museum. Engraved by +R. H. Carson. BUFFALO COW, CALF (FOUR MONTHS OLD), AND YEARLING. +Reproduced from the _Cosmopolitan Magazine_, by permission of the +publishers.] + +"In these desperate struggles for a moment, the little thing is +conquered, and makes no further resistance. And I have often, in +concurrence with a known custom of the country, held my hands over the +eyes of the calf and breathed a few strong breaths into its nostrils, +after which I have, with my hunting companions, rode several miles into +our encampment with the little prisoner busily following the heels of my +horse the whole way, as closely and as affectionately as its instinct +would attach it to the company of its dam. + +"This is one of the most extraordinary things that I have met with in +the habits of this wild country, and although I had often heard of it, +and felt unable exactly to believe it, I am now willing to bear +testimony to the fact from the numerous instances which I have witnessed +since I came into the country. During the time that I resided at this +post [mouth of the Tetón River] in the spring of the year, on my way up +the river, I assisted (in numerous hunts of the buffalo with the fur +company's men) in bringing in, in the above manner, several of these +little prisoners, which sometimes followed for 5 or 6 miles close to our +horse's heels, and even into the fur company's fort, and into the stable +where our horses were led. In this way, before I left the headwaters of +the Missouri, I think we had collected about a dozen, which Mr. Laidlaw +was successfully raising with the aid of a good milch cow."[27] + +[Note 27: North American Indians, I, 255.] + +It must be remembered, however, that such cases as the above were +exceptional, even with the very young calves, which alone exhibited the +trait described. Such instances occurred only when buffaloes existed in +such countless numbers that man's presence and influence had not +affected the character of the animal in the least. No such instances of +innocent stupidity will ever be displayed again, even by the youngest +calf. The war of extermination, and the struggle for life and security +have instilled into the calf, even from its birth, a mortal fear of both +men and horses, and the instinct to fly for life. The calf captured by +our party was not able to run, but in the most absurd manner it butted +our horses as soon as they came near enough, and when Private Moran +attempted to lay hold of the little fellow it turned upon him, struck +him in the stomach with its head, and sent him sprawling into the +sage-brush. If it had only possessed the strength, it would have led us +a lively chase. + +During 1886 four other buffalo calves were either killed or caught by +the cowboys on the Missouri-Yellowstone divide, in the Dry Creek +region. All of them ran the moment they discovered their enemies. Two +were shot and killed. One was caught by a cowboy named Horace Brodhurst, +ear marked, and turned loose. The fifth one was caught in September on +the Porcupine Creek round-up. He was then about five months old, and +being abundantly able to travel he showed a clean pair of heels. It took +three fresh horses, one after another, to catch him, and his final +capture was due to exhaustion, and not to the speed of any of his +pursuers. The distance covered by the chase, from the point where his +first pursuer started to where the third one finally lassoed him, was +considered to be at least 15 miles. But the capture came to naught, for +on the following day the calf died from overexertion and want of milk. + +Colonel Dodge states that the very young calves of a herd have to depend +upon the old bulls for protection, and seldom in vain. The mothers +abandon their offspring on slight provocation, and even none at all +sometimes, if we may judge from the condition of the little waif that +fell into our hands. Had its mother remained with it, or even in its +neighborhood, we should at least have seen her, but she was nowhere +within a radius of 5 miles at the time her calf was discovered. Nor did +she return to look for it, as two of us proved by spending the night in +the sage-brush at the very spot where the calf was taken. Colonel Dodge +declares that "the cow seems to possess scarcely a trace of maternal +instinct, and, when frightened, will abandon and run away from her calf +without the slightest hesitation. * * * When the calves are young they +are always kept in the center of each small herd, while the bulls +dispose themselves on the outside."[28] + +[Note 28: Plains of the Great West, pp. 124, 125.] + +Apparently the maternal instinct of the cow buffalo was easily mastered +by fear. That it was often manifested, however, is proven by the +following from Audubon and Bachman:[29] + +[Note 29: Quadrupeds of North America, vol. II, pp. 38, 39.] + +"Buffalo calves are drowned from being unable to ascend the steep banks +of the rivers across which they have just swam, as the cows cannot help +them, although they stand near the bank, and will not leave them to +their fate unless something alarms them. + +"On one occasion Mr. Kipp, of the American Fur Company, caught eleven +calves, their dams all the time standing near the top of the bank. +Frequently, however, the cows leave the young to their fate, when most +of them perish. In connection with this part of the subject, we may add +that we were informed, when on the Upper Missouri River, that when the +banks of that river were practicable for cows, and their calves could +not follow them, they went down again, after having gained the top, and +would remain by them until forced away by the cravings of hunger. When +thus forced by the necessity of saving themselves to quit their young, +they seldom, if ever, return to them. When a large herd of these wild +animals are crossing a river, the calves or yearlings manage to get on +the backs of the cows, and are thus conveyed safely over." + +5. _The Yearling._--During the first five months of his life, the calf +changes its coat completely, and becomes in appearance a totally +different animal. By the time he is six months old he has taken on all +the colors which distinguish him in after life, excepting that upon his +fore quarters. The hair on the head has started out to attain the +luxuriant length and density which is so conspicuous in the adult, and +its general color is a rich dark brown, shading to black under the chin +and throat. The fringe under the neck is long, straight, and black, and +the under parts, the back of the fore arm, the outside of thigh, and the +tail-tuft are all black. + +The color of the shoulder, the side, and upper part of the hind quarter +is a peculiar smoky brown ("broccoli brown" of Ridgway), having in +connection with the darker browns of the other parts a peculiar faded +appearance, quite as if it were due to the bleaching power of the sun. +On the fore quarters there is none of the bright straw color so +characteristic of the adult animal. Along the top of the neck and +shoulders, however, this color has at last begun to show faintly. The +hair on the body is quite luxuriant, both in length and density, in both +respects quite equaling, if not even surpassing, that of the finest +adults. For example, the hair on the side of the mounted yearling in the +Museum group has a length of 2 to 21/2 inches, while that on the same +region of the adult bull, whose pelage is particularly fine, is recorded +as being 2 inches only. + +The horn is a straight, conical spike from 4 to 6 inches long, according +to age, and perfectly black. The legs are proportionally longer and +larger in the joints than those of the full-grown animal. The +countenance of the yearling is quite interesting. The sleepy, helpless, +innocent expression of the very young calf has given place to a +wide-awake, mischievous look, and he seems ready to break away and run +at a second's notice. + +The measurements of the yearling in the Museum group are as follows: + ++----------------------------------------------------------------+ +|BISON AMERICANUS. (Male yearling, taken Oct. 31, 1886. Montana.)| ++----------------------------------------------------------------+ +| (_No. 15694, National Museum collection._) | ++----------------------------------------------------------------+ +| | Feet.| Inches. | +|Height at shoulders | 3 | 5 | +|Length, head and body to insertion of tail | 5 | | +|Depth of chest | 1 | 11 | +|Depth of flank | 1 | 1 | +|Girth behind fore leg | 4 | 3 | +|From base of horns around end of nose | 2 | 11/2 | +|Length of tail vertebræ | | 10 | ++----------------------------------------------------------------+ + +6. _The Spike Bull._--In hunters' parlance, the male buffalo between the +"yearling" age and four years is called a "spike" bull, in recognition +of the fact that up to the latter period the horn is a spike, either +perfectly straight, or with a curve near its base, and a straight point +the rest of the way up. The curve of the horn is generally hidden in +the hair, and the only part visible is the straight, terminal spike. +Usually the spike points diverge from each other, but often they are +parallel, and also perpendicular. In the fourth year, however, the +points of the horns begin to curve inward toward each other, describing +equal arcs of the same circle, as if they were going to meet over the +top of the head. + +In the handsome young "spike" bull in the Museum group, the hair on the +shoulders has begun to take on the length, the light color, and tufted +appearance of the adult, beginning at the highest point of the hump and +gradually spreading. Immediately back of this light patch the hair is +long, but dark and woolly in appearance. The leg tufts have doubled in +length, and reveal the character of the growth that may be finally +expected. The beard has greatly lengthened, as also has the hair upon +the bridge of the nose, the forehead, ears, jaws, and all other portions +of the head except the cheeks. + +The "spike" period of a buffalo is a most interesting one. Like a +seventeen-year-old boy, the young bull shows his youth in so many ways +it is always conspicuous, and his countenance is so suggestive of a +half-bearded youth it fixes the interest to a marked degree. He is +active, alert, and suspicious, and when he makes up his mind to run the +hunter may as well give up the chase. + +By a strange fatality, our spike bull appears to be the only one in any +museum, or even in preserved existence, as far as can be ascertained. +Out of the twenty-five buffaloes killed and preserved by the Smithsonian +expedition, ten of which were adult bulls, this specimen was the only +male between the yearling and the adult ages. An effort to procure +another entire specimen of this age from Texas yielded only two spike +heads. It is to be sincerely regretted that more specimens representing +this very interesting period of the buffalo's life have not been +preserved, for it is now too late to procure wild specimens. + +The following are the post-mortem dimensions of our specimen: + ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +| BISON AMERICANUS. | ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +|("Spike" bull, two years old; taken October 14, 1886. Montana.)| ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +| (_No. 15685, National Museum collection._) | ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +| | Feet.| Inches. | +|Height at shoulders | 4 | 2 | +|Length, head and body to insertion of tail | 7 | 7 | +|Depth of chest | 2 | 3 | +|Depth of flank | 1 | 7 | +|Girth behind fore leg | 6 | 8 | +|From base of horns around end of nose | 2 | 81/2 | +|Length of tail vertebræ | 1 | | ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ + +7. _The Adult Bull._--In attempting to describe the adult male in the +National Museum group, it is difficult to decide which feature is most +prominent, the massive, magnificent head, with its shaggy frontlet and +luxuriant black beard, or the lofty hump, with its showy covering of +straw-yellow hair, in thickly-growing locks 4 inches long. But the head +is irresistible in its claims to precedence. + +[Illustration: SPIKE BULL. From the group in the National Museum. +Reproduced from the _Cosmopolitan Magazine_, by permission of the +publishers.] + +It must be observed at this point that in many respects this animal is +an exceptionally fine one. In actual size of frame, and in quantity and +quality of pelage, it is far superior to the average, even of wild +buffaloes when they were most numerous and at their best.[30] In one +respect, however, that of actual bulk, it is believed that this specimen +may have often been surpassed. When buffaloes were numerous, and not +required to do any great amount of running in order to exist, they were, +in the autumn months, very fat. Audubon says: "A large bison bull will +generally weigh nearly 2,000 pounds, and a fat cow about 1,200 pounds. +We weighed one of the bulls killed by our party, and found it to reach +1,727 pounds, although it had already lost a good deal of blood. This +was an old bull, and not fat. It had probably weighed more at some +previous period."[31] Our specimen when killed (by the writer, December +6, 1886) was in full vigor, superbly muscled, and well fed, but he +carried not a single pound of fat. For years the never-ceasing race for +life had utterly prevented the secretion of useless and cumbersome fat, +and his "subsistence" had gone toward the development of useful muscle. +Having no means by which to weigh him, we could only estimate his +weight, in which I called for the advice of my cowboys, all of whom were +more or less familiar with the weight of range cattle, and one I +regarded as an expert. At first the estimated weight of the animal was +fixed at 1,700 pounds, but with a constitutional fear of estimating over +the truth, I afterward reduced it to 1,600 pounds. This I am now well +convinced was an error, for I believe the first figure to have been +nearer the truth. + +[Note 30: In testimony whereof the following extract from a letter +written by General Stewart Van Vliet, on March 10, 1897, to Professor +Baird, is of interest: + +"MY DEAR PROFESSOR: On the receipt of your letter of the 6th instant I +saw General Sheridan, and yesterday we called on your taxidermist and +examined the buffalo bull he is setting up for the Museum. I don't think +I have ever seen a more splendid specimen in my life. General Sheridan +and I have seen millions of buffalo on the plains in former times. I +have killed hundreds, but I never killed a larger animal than the one in +the possession of your taxidermist."] + +[Note 31: Quadrupeds of North America, vol. II, p. 44.] + +In mounting the skin of this animal, we endeavored by every means in our +power, foremost of which were three different sets of measurements, +taken from the dead animal, one set to check another, to reproduce him +when mounted in exactly the same form he possessed in life--muscular, +but not fat. + +The color of the body and hindquarters of a buffalo is very peculiar, +and almost baffles intelligent description. Audubon calls it "between a +dark umber and liver-shining brown." I once saw a competent artist +experiment with his oil-colors for a quarter of an hour before he +finally struck the combination which exactly matched the side of our +large bull. To my eyes, the color is a pale gray-brown or smoky gray. +The range of individual variation is considerable, some being uniformly +darker than the average type, and others lighter. While the under parts +of most adults are dark brown or blackish brown, others are actually +black. The hair on the body and hinder parts is fine, wavy on the +outside, and woolly underneath, and very dense. Add to this the +thickness of the skin itself, and the combination forms a covering that +is almost impervious to cold. + +The entire fore quarter region, _e. g._, the shoulders, the hump, and +the upper part of the neck, is covered with a luxuriant growth of pale +yellow hair (Naples yellow + yellow ocher), which stands straight out in +a dense mass, disposed in handsome tufts. The hair is somewhat woolly in +its nature, and the ends are as even as if the whole mass had lately +been gone over with shears and carefully clipped. This hair is 4 inches +in length. As the living animal moved his head from side to side, the +hair parted in great vertical furrows, so deep that the skin itself +seemed almost in sight. As before remarked, to comb this hair would +utterly destroy its naturalness, and it should never be done under any +circumstances. Standing as it does between the darker hair of the body +on one side and the almost black mass of the head on the other, this +light area is rendered doubly striking and conspicuous by contrast. It +not only covers the shoulders, but extends back upon the thorax, where +it abruptly terminates on a line corresponding to the sixth rib. + +From the shoulder-joint downward, the color shades gradually into a dark +brown until at the knee it becomes quite black. The huge fore-arm is +lost in a thick mass of long, coarse, and rather straight hair 10 inches +in length. This growth stops abruptly at the knee, but it hangs within 6 +inches of the hoof. The front side of this mass is blackish brown, but +it rapidly shades backward and downward into jet-black. + +The hair on the top of the head lies in a dense, matted mass, forming a +perfect crown of rich brown (burnt sienna) locks, 16 inches in length, +hanging over the eyes, almost enveloping both horns, and spreading back +in rich, dark masses upon the light-colored neck. + +On the cheeks the hair is of the same blackish brown color, but +comparatively short, and lies in beautiful waves. On the bridge of the +nose the hair is about 6 inches in length and stands out in a thick, +uniform, very curly mass, which always looks as if it had just been +carefully combed. + +Immediately around the nose and mouth the hair is very short, straight +and stiff, and lies close to the skin, which leaves the nostrils and +lips fully exposed. The front part of the chin is similarly clad, and +its form is perfectly flat, due to the habit of the animal in feeding +upon the short, crisp buffalo grass, in the course of which the chin is +pressed flat against the ground. The end of the muzzle is very massive, +measuring 2 feet 2 inches in circumference just back of the nostrils. + +The hair of the chin-beard is coarse, perfectly straight, jet black, and +111/2 inches in length on our old bull. + +Occasionally a bull is met with who is a genuine Esau amongst his kind. +I once saw a bull, of medium size but fully adult, whose hair was a +wonder to behold. I have now in my possession a small lock of hair which +I plucked from his forehead, and its length is 221/2 inches. His horns +were entirely concealed by the immense mass of long hair that nature had +piled upon his head, and his beard was as luxuriant as his frontlet. + +[Illustration: BULL BUFFALO IN NATIONAL MUSEUM GROUP. Drawn by Ernest E. +Thompson.] + +The nostril opening is large and wide. The color of the hairless +portions of the nose and mouth is shiny Vandyke brown and black, with a +strong tinge of bluish-purple, but this latter tint is not noticeable +save upon close examination, and the eyelid is the same. The iris is of +an irregular pear-shaped outline, 1-5/16 inches in its longest diameter, +very dark, reddish brown in color, with a black edging all around it. +Ordinarily no portion of the white eyeball is visible, but the broad +black band surrounding the iris, and a corner patch of white, is +frequently shown by the turning of the eye. The tongue is bluish purple, +as are the lips inside. + +The hoofs and horns are, in reality, jet black throughout, but the horn +often has at the base a scaly, dead appearance on the outside, and as +the wrinkles around the base increase with age and scale up and gather +dirt, that part looks gray. The horns of bulls taken in their prime are +smooth, glossy black, and even look as if they had been half polished +with oil. + +As the bull increases in age, the outer layers of the horn begin to +break off at the tip and pile up one upon another, until the horn has +become a thick, blunt stub, with only the tip of what was once a neat +and shapely point showing at the end. The bull is then known as a +"stub-horn," and his horns increase in roughness and unsightliness as he +grows older. From long rubbing on the earth, the outer curve of each +horn is gradually worn flat, which still further mars its symmetry. + +The horns serve as a fair index of the age of a bison. After he is three +years old, the bison adds each year a ring around the base of his horns, +the same as domestic cattle. If we may judge by this, the horn begins to +break when the bison is about ten or eleven years old, and the stubbing +process gradually continues during the rest of his life. Judging by the +teeth, and also the oldest horns I have seen, I am of the opinion that +the natural life time of the bison is about twenty-five years; certainly +no less. + ++--------------------------------------------------------+ +| BISON AMERICANUS. | +| (Male, eleven years old. | +| Taken December 6, 1866. Montana.) | +| (_No. 15703, National Museum collection._) | ++--------------------------------------------------------+ +| |Feet.|Inches.| +|Height at shoulders to the skin | 5 | 8 | +|Height at shoulders to top of hair | 6 | -- | +|Length, head and body to insertion of tail| 10 | 2 | +|Depth of chest | 3 | 10 | +|Depth of flank | 2 | 0 | +|Girth behind fore leg | 8 | 4 | +|From base of horns around end of nose | 3 | 6 | +|Length of tail vertebræ | 1 | 3 | +|Circumference of muzzle back of nostrils | 2 | 2 | ++--------------------------------------------------------+ + +8. _The Cow in the third year._--The young cow of course possesses the +same youthful appearance already referred to as characterizing the +"spike" bull. The hair on the shoulders has begun to take on the light +straw-color, and has by this time attained a length which causes it to +arrange itself in tufts, or locks. The body colors have grown darker, +and reached their permanent tone. Of course the hair on the head has by +no means attained its full length, and the head is not at all handsome. + +The horns are quite small, but the curve is well defined, and they +distinctly mark the sex of the individual, even at the beginning of the +third year. + ++------------------------------------------------------------+ +| BISON AMERICANUS. | +|(Young cow, in third year. Taken October 14, 1886. Montana.)| ++------------------------------------------------------------+ +| (_No. 15686, National Museum collection._) | ++------------------------------------------------------------+ +| |Feet.| Inches. | +|Height at shoulders | 4 | 5 | +|Length, head and body to insertion of tail| 7 | 7 | +|Depth of chest | 2 | 4 | +|Depth of flank | 1 | 4 | +|Girth behind fore leg | 5 | 4 | +|From base of horns around end of nose | 2 | 81/2 | +|Length of tail vertebræ | 1 | .. | ++------------------------------------------------------------+ + +9. _The adult Cow._--The upper body color of the adult cow in the +National Museum group (see Plate) is a rich, though not intense, Vandyke +brown, shading imperceptibly down the sides into black, which spreads +over the entire under parts and inside of the thighs. The hair on the +lower joints of the leg is in turn lighter, being about the same shade +as that on the loins. The fore-arm is concealed in a mass of almost +black hair, which gradually shades lighter from the elbow upward and +along the whole region of the humerus. On the shoulder itself the hair +is pale yellow or straw-color (Naples yellow + yellow ocher), which +extends down in a point toward the elbow. From the back of the head a +conspicuous baud of curly, dark-brown hair extends back like a mane +along the neck and to the top of the hump, beyond which it soon fades +out. + +The hair on the head is everywhere a rich burnt-sienna brown, except +around the corners of the mouth, where it shades into black. + +The horns of the cow bison are slender, but solid for about two-thirds +of their length from the tip, ringed with age near their base, and quite +black. Very often they are imperfect in shape, and out of every five +pairs at least one is generally misshapen. Usually one horn is +"crumpled," _e. g._, dwarfed in length and unnaturally thickened at the +base, and very often one horn is found to be merely an unsightly, +misshapen stub. + +[Illustration: From a photograph. Engraved by Frederick Juengling. BULL +BUFFALO. (REAR VIEW.) Reproduced from the _Cosmopolitan Magazine_, by +permission of the publishers.] + +The udder of the cow bison is very small, as might be expected of an +animal which must do a great deal of hard traveling, but the milk is +said to be very rich. Some authorities declare that it requires the +milk of two domestic cows to satisfy one buffalo calf, but this, I +think, is an error. Our calf began in May to consume 6 quarts of +domestic milk daily, which by June 10 had increased to 8, and up to July +10, 9 quarts was the utmost it could drink. By that time it began to eat +grass, but the quantity of milk disposed of remained about the same. + ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +| BISON AMERICANUS. | +|(Adult cow, eight years old. Taken November 18, 1886. Montana.)| ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +| (_No. 15767, National Museum collection._) | ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +| | Feet.| Inches. | +|Height at shoulders | 4 | 10 | +|Length, head and body to insertion of tail| 8 | 6 | +|Depth of chest | 3 | 7 | +|Depth of flank | 1 | 7 | +|Girth behind fore leg | 6 | 10 | +|From base of horns around end of nose | 3 | | +|Length of tail vertebræ | 1 | | ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ + +10. _The "Wood," or "Mountain" Buffalo._--Having myself never seen a +specimen of the so called "mountain buffalo" or "wood buffalo," which +some writers accord the rank of a distinct variety, I can only quote the +descriptions of others. While most Rocky Mountain hunters consider the +bison of the mountains quite distinct from that of the plains, it must +be remarked that no two authorities quite agree in regard to the +distinguishing characters of the variety they recognize. Colonel Dodge +states that "His body is lighter, whilst his legs are shorter, but much +thicker and stronger, than the plains animal, thus enabling him to +perform feats of climbing and tumbling almost incredible in such a huge +and unwieldy beast."[32] + +[Note 32: Plains of the Great West, p. 144.] + +The belief in the existence of a distinct mountain variety is quite +common amongst hunters and frontiersmen all along the eastern slope the +Rocky Mountains as far north as the Peace River. In this connection the +following from Professor Henry Youle Hind[33] is of general interest: + +[Note 33: Red River, Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Expedition, II p. +104-105.] + +"The existence of two kinds of buffalo is firmly believed by many +hunters at Red River; they are stated to be the prairie buffalo and the +buffalo of the woods. Many old hunters with whom I have conversed on +this subject aver that the so-called wood buffalo is a distinct species, +and although they are not able to offer scientific proofs, yet the +difference in size, color, hair, and horns, are enumerated as the +evidence upon which they base their statement. Men from their youth +familiar with these animals in the great plains, and the varieties which +are frequently met with in large herds, still cling to this opinion. The +buffalo of the plains are not always of the dark and rich bright brown +which forms their characteristic color. They are sometimes seen from +white to almost black, and a gray buffalo is not at all uncommon. +Buffalo emasculated by wolves are often found on the prairies, where +they grow to an immense size; the skin of the buffalo ox is recognized +by the shortness of the wool and by its large dimensions. The skin of +the so-called wood buffalo is much larger than that of the common +animal, the hair is very short, mane or hair about the neck short and +soft, and altogether destitute of curl, which is the common feature in +the hair or wool of the prairie animal. Two skins of the so-called wood +buffalo, which I saw at Selkirk Settlement, bore a very close +resemblance to the skin of the Lithuanian bison, judging from the +specimens of that species which I have since had an opportunity of +seeing in the British Museum. + +"The wood buffalo is stated to be very scarce, and only found north of +the Saskatchewan and on the flanks of the Rocky Mountains. It never +ventures into the open plains. The prairie buffalo, on the contrary, +generally avoids the woods in summer and keeps to the open country; but +in winter they are frequently found in the woods of the Little Souris, +Saskatchewan, the Touchwood Hills, and the aspen groves on the +Qu'Appelle. There is no doubt that formerly the prairie buffalo ranged +through open woods almost as much as he now does through the prairies." + +Mr. Harrison S. Young, an officer of the Hudson's Bay Fur Company, +stationed at Fort Edmonton, writes me as follows in a letter dated +October 22, 1887: "In our district of Athabasca, along the Salt River, +there are still a few wood buffalo killed every year; but they are fast +diminishing in numbers, and are also becoming very shy." + +In Prof. John Macoun's "Manitoba and the Great Northwest," page 342, +there occurs the following reference to the wood buffalo: "In the winter +of 1870 the last buffalo were killed north of Peace River; but in 1875 +about one thousand head were still in existence between the Athabasca +and Peace Rivers, north of Little Slave Lake. These are called wood +buffalo by the hunters, but diner only in size from those of the plain." + +In the absence of facts based on personal observations, I may be +permitted to advance an opinion in regard to the wood buffalo. There is +some reason for the belief that certain changes of form may have taken +place in the buffaloes that have taken up a permanent residence in +rugged and precipitous mountain regions. Indeed, it is hardly possible +to understand how such a radical change in the habitat of an animal +could fail, through successive generations, to effect certain changes in +the animal itself. It seems to me that the changes which would take +place in a band of plains buffaloes transferred to a permanent mountain +habitat can be forecast with a marked degree of certainty. The changes +that take place under such conditions in cattle, swine, and goats are +well known, and similar causes would certainly produce similar results +in the buffalo. + +The scantier feed of the mountains, and the great waste of vital energy +called for in procuring it, would hardly produce a larger buffalo than +the plains-fed animal, who acquires an abundance of daily food of the +best quality with but little effort. + +We should expect to see the mountain buffalo smaller in body than the +plains animal, with better leg development, and particularly with +stronger hind quarters. The pelvis of the plains buffalo is surprisingly +small and weak for so large an animal. Beyond question, constant +mountain climbing is bound to develop a maximum of useful muscle and +bone and a minimum of useless fat. If the loss of mane sustained by the +African lions who live in bushy localities may be taken as an index, we +should expect the bison of the mountains, especially the "wood buffalo," +to lose a great deal of his shaggy frontlet and mane on the bushes and +trees which surrounded him. Therefore, we would naturally expect to find +the hair on those parts shorter and in far less perfect condition than +on the bison of the treeless prairies. By reason of the more shaded +condition of his home, and the decided mitigation of the sun's +fierceness, we should also expect to see his entire pelage of a darker +tone. That he would acquire a degree of agility and strength unknown in +his relative of the plain is reasonably certain. In the course of many +centuries the change in his form might become well defined, constant, +and conspicuous; but at present there is apparently not the slightest +ground for considering that the "mountain buffalo" or "wood buffalo" is +entitled to rank even as a variety of _Bison americanus_. + +Colonel Dodge has recorded some very interesting information in regard +to the "mountain, or wood buffalo," which deserves to be quoted +entire.[34] + +[Note 34: Plains of the Great West, p. 144-147.] + +"In various portions of the Rocky Mountains, especially in the region of +the parks, is found an animal which old mountaineers call the 'bison.' +This animal bears about the same relation to a plains buffalo as a +sturdy mountain pony does to an American horse. His body is lighter, +whilst his legs are shorter, but much thicker and stronger, than the +plains animal, thus enabling him to perform feats of climbing and +tumbling almost incredible in such a huge and apparently unwieldy beast. + +"These animals are by no means plentiful, and are moreover excessively +shy, inhabiting the deepest, darkest defiles, or the craggy, almost +precipitous, sides of mountains inaccessible to any but the most +practiced mountaineers. + +"From the tops of the mountains which rim the parks the rains of ages +have cut deep gorges, which plunge with brusque abruptness, but +nevertheless with great regularity, hundreds or even thousands of feet +to the valley below. Down the bottom of each such gorge a clear, cold +stream of purest water, fertilizing a narrow belt of a few feet of +alluvial, and giving birth and growth, to a dense jungle of spruce, +quaking asp, and other mountain trees. One side of the gorge is +generally a thick forest of pine, while the other side is a meadow-like +park, covered with splendid grass. Such gorges are the favorite haunt of +the mountain buffalo. Early in the morning he enjoys a bountiful +breakfast of the rich nutritious grasses, quenches his thirst with the +finest water, and, retiring just within the line of jungle, where, +himself unseen, he can scan the open, he crouches himself in the long +grass and reposes in comfort and security until appetite calls him to +his dinner late in the evening. Unlike their plains relative, there is +no stupid staring at an intruder. At the first symptom of danger they +disappear like magic in the thicket, and never stop until far removed +from even the apprehension of pursuit. I have many times come upon their +fresh tracks, upon the beds from which they had first sprung in alarm, +but I have never even seen one. + +"I have wasted much time and a great deal of wind in vain endeavors to +add one of these animals to my bag. My figure is no longer adapted to +mountain climbing, and the possession of a bison's head of my own +killing is one of my blighted hopes. + +"Several of my friends have been more fortunate, but I know of no +sportsman who has bagged more than one.[35] + +[Note 35: Foot-note by William Blackmore: "The author is in error here, +as in a point of the Tarryall range of mountains, between Pike's Peak +and the South Park, in the autumn of 1871, two mountain buffaloes were +killed in one afternoon. The skin of the finer was presented to Dr. +Frank Buckland."] + +"Old mountaineers and trappers have given me wonderful accounts of the +number of these animals in all the mountain region 'many years ago;' and +I have been informed by them, that their present rarity is due to the +great snow-storm of 1844-'45, of which I have already spoken as +destroying the plains buffalo in the Laramie country. + +"One of my friends, a most ardent and pertinacious sportsman, determined +on the possession of a bison's head, and, hiring a guide, plunged into +the mountain wilds which separate the Middle from South Park. After +several days fresh tracks were discovered. Turning their horses loose on +a little gorge park, such as described, they started on foot on the +trail; for all that day they toiled and scrambled with the utmost +caution--now up, now down, through deep and narrow gorges and pine +thickets, over bare and rocky crags, sleeping where night overtook them. +Betimes next morning they pushed on the trail, and about 11 o'clock, +when both were exhausted and well-nigh disheartened, their route was +intercepted by a precipice. Looking over, they descried, on a projecting +ledge several hundred feet below, a herd of about 20 bisons lying down. +The ledge was about 300 feet at widest, by probably 1,000 feet long. Its +inner boundary was the wall of rock on the top of which they stood; its +outer appeared to be a sheer precipice of at least 200 feet. This ledge +was connected with the slope of the mountain by a narrow neck. The wind +being right, the hunters succeeded in reaching this neck unobserved. My +friend selected a magnificent head, that of a fine bull, young but full +grown, and both fired. At the report the bisons all ran to the far end +of the ledge and plunged over. + +"Terribly disappointed, the hunters ran to the spot, and found that they +had gone down a declivity, not actually a precipice, but so steep that +the hunters could not follow them. + +"At the foot lay a bison. A long, a fatiguing detour brought them to the +spot, and in the animal lying dead before him my friend recognized his +bull--his first and last mountain buffalo. Hone but a true sportsman can +appreciate his feelings. + +"The remainder of the herd was never seen after the great plunge, down +which it is doubtful if even a dog could have followed unharmed." + +In the issue of Forest and Stream of June 14, 1888, Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, +in an article entitled "The American Buffalo," relates a very +interesting experience with buffaloes which were pronounced to be of the +"mountain" variety, and his observations on the animals are well worth +reproducing here. The animals (eight in number) were encountered on the +northern slope of the Big Horn Mountains, in the autumn of 1877. "We +came upon them during a fearful blizzard of heavy hail, during which our +animals could scarcely retain their feet. In fact, the packer's mule +absolutely lay down on the ground rather than risk being blown down the +mountain side, and my own horse, totally unable to face such a violent +blow and the pelting hail (the stones being as large as big marbles), +positively stood stock-still, facing an old buffalo bull that was not +more than 25 feet in front of me. * * * Strange to say, this fearful +gust did not last more than ten minutes, when it stopped as suddenly as +it had commenced, and I deliberately killed my old buffalo at one shot, +just where he stood, and, separating two other bulls from the rest, +charged them down a rugged ravine. They passed over this and into +another one, but with less precipitous sides and no trees in the way, +and when I was on top of the intervening ridge I noticed that the +largest bull had halted in the bottom. Checking my horse, an excellent +buffalo hunter, I fired down at him without dismounting. The ball merely +barked his shoulder, and to my infinite surprise he turned and charged +me up the hill. * * * Stepping to one side of my horse, with the +charging and infuriated bull not 10 feet to my front, I fired upon him, +and the heavy ball took him square in the chest, bringing him to his +knees, with a gush of scarlet blood from his mouth and nostrils. * * * + +"Upon examining the specimen, I found it to be an old bull, apparently +smaller and very much blacker than the ones I had seen killed on the +plains only a day or so before. Then I examined the first one I had +shot, as well as others which were killed by the packer from the same +bunch, and I came to the conclusion that they were typical +representatives of the variety known as the 'mountain buffalo,' a form +much more active in movement, of slighter limbs, blacker, and far more +dangerous to attack. My opinion in the premises remains unaltered +to-day. In all this I may be mistaken, but it was also the opinion held +by the old buffalo hunter who accompanied me, and who at once remarked +when he saw them that they were 'mountain buffalo,' and not the plains +variety. * * * + +"These specimens were not actually measured by me in either case, and +their being considered smaller only rested upon my judging them by my +eye. But they were of a softer pelage, black, lighter in limb, and when +discovered were in the timber, on the side of the Big Horn Mountains." + +The band of bison in the Yellowstone Park must, of necessity, be of the +so-called "wood" or "mountain" variety, and if by any chance one of its +members ever dies of old age, it is to be hoped its skin may be +carefully preserved and sent to the National Museum to throw some +further light on this question. + +11. _The shedding of the winter pelage._--In personal appearance the +buffalo is subject to striking, and even painful, variations, and the +estimate an observer forms of him is very apt to depend upon the time of +the year at which the observation is made. Toward the end of the winter +the whole coat has become faded and bleached by the action of the sun, +wind, snow, and rain, until the freshness of its late autumn colors has +totally disappeared. The bison takes on a seedy, weathered, and rusty +look. But this is not a circumstance to what happens to him a little +later. Promptly with the coming of the spring, if not even in the last +week of February, the buffalo begins the shedding of his winter coat. It +is a long and difficult task, and with commendable energy he sets about +it at the earliest possible moment. It lasts him more than half the +year, and is attended with many positive discomforts. + +The process of shedding is accomplished in two ways: by the new hair +growing into and forcing off the old, and by the old hair falling off in +great patches, leaving the skin bare. On the heavily-haired +portions--the head, neck, fore quarters, and hump--the old hair stops +growing, dies, and the new hair immediately starts through the skin and +forces it off. The new hair grows so rapidly, and at the same time so +densely, that it forces itself into the old, becomes hopelessly +entangled with it, and in time actually lifts the old hair clear of the +skin. On the head the new hair is dark brown or black, but on the neck, +fore quarters, and hump it has at first, and indeed until it is 2 inches +in length, a peculiar gray or drab color, mixed with brown, totally +different from its final and natural color. The new hair starts first on +the head, but the actual shedding of the old hair is to be seen first +along the lower parts of the neck and between the fore legs. The +heavily-haired parts are never bare, but, on the contrary, the amount of +hair upon them is about the same all the year round. The old and the new +hair cling together with provoking tenacity long after the old coat +should fall, and on several of the bulls we killed in October there were +patches of it still sticking tightly to the shoulders, from which it +had to be forcibly plucked away. Under all such patches the new hair was +of a different color from that around them. + +The other process of shedding takes place on the body and hind quarters, +from which the old hair loosens and drops off in great woolly flakes a +foot square, more or less. The shedding takes place very unevenly, the +old hair remaining much longer in some places than in others. During +April, May, and June the body and hind quarters present a most ludicrous +and even pitiful spectacle. The island-like patches of persistent old +hair alternating with patches of bare brown skin are adorned (?) by +great ragged streamers of loose hair, which flutter in the wind like +signals of distress. Whoever sees a bison at this period is filled with +a desire to assist nature by plucking off the flying streamers of old +hair; but the bison never permits anything of the kind, however good +one's intentions may be. All efforts to dislodge the old hair are +resisted to the last extremity, and the buffalo generally acts as if the +intention were to deprive him of his skin itself. By the end of June, if +not before, the body and hind quarters are free from the old hair, and +as bare as the hide of a hippopotamus. The naked skin has a shiny brown +appearance, and of course the external anatomy of the animal is very +distinctly revealed. But for the long hair on the fore quarters, neck, +and head the bison would lose all his dignity of appearance with his +hair. As it is, the handsome black head, which is black with new hair as +early as the first of May, redeems the animal from utter homeliness. + +After the shedding of the body hair, the naked skin of the buffalo is +burned by the sun and bitten by flies until he is compelled to seek a +pool of water, or even a bed of soft mud, in which to roll and make +himself comfortable. He wallows, not so much because he is so fond of +either water or mud, but in self-defense; and when he emerges from his +wallow, plastered with mud from head to tail, his degradation is +complete. He is then simply not fit to be seen, even by his best +friends. + +By the first of October, a complete and wonderful transformation has +taken place. The buffalo stands forth clothed in a complete new suit of +hair, fine, clean, sleek, and bright in color, not a speck of dirt nor a +lock awry anywhere. To be sure, it is as yet a trifle short on the body, +where it is not over an inch in length, and hardly that; but it is +growing rapidly and getting ready for winter. + +From the 20th of November to the 20th of December the pelage is at its +very finest. By the former date it has attained its full growth, its +colors are at their brightest, and nothing has been lost either by the +elements or by accidental causes. To him who sees an adult bull at this +period, or near it, the grandeur of the animal is irresistibly felt. +After seeing buffaloes of all ages in the spring and summer months the +contrast afforded by those seen in October, November, and December was +most striking and impressive. In the later period, as different +individuals were wounded and brought to bay at close quarters, their +hair was so clean and well-kept, that more than once I was led to +exclaim: "He looks as if he had just been combed." + +It must be remarked, however, that the long hair of the head and fore +quarters is disposed in locks or tufts, and to comb it in reality would +utterly destroy its natural and characteristic appearance. + +Inasmuch as the pelage of the domesticated bison, the only +representatives of the species which will be found alive ten years +hence, will in all likelihood develop differently from that of the wild +animal, it may some time in the future be of interest to know the +length, by careful measurement, of the hair found on carefully-selected +typical wild specimens. To this end the following measurements are +given. It must be borne in mind that these specimens were not chosen +because their pelage was particularly luxuriant, but rather because they +are fine average specimens. + +The hair of the adult bull is by no means as long as I have seen on a +bison, although perhaps not many have greatly surpassed it. It is with +the lower animals as with man--the length of the hairy covering is an +individual character only. I have in my possession a tuft of hair, from +the frontlet of a rather small bull bison, which measures 221/2 inches +in length. The beard on the specimen from which this came was +correspondingly long, and the entire pelage was of wonderful length and +density. + +LENGTH OF THE HAIR OF BISON AMERICANUS. + +[Measurements, in inches, of the pelage of the specimens composing the +group in the National Museum.] + ++-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +| |Old |Old |Spike |Young |Yearling|Young | +| |bull, |cow, |bull, |cow, |calf, |calf, | +| |killed |killed |killed |killed |killed |four | +| |Dec. 6.|Nov. 18.|Oct. 14.|Oct. 14.|Oct. 31.|months| +|Length of: | | | | | |old. | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|hair on the shoulder| | | | | | | +|(over scapula) | 33/4 | 43/4 | 31/2 | 31/4 | 3 | 11/2 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|hair on top of hump | 61/2 | 7 | 51/4 | 51/2 | 41/2 | 2 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|hair on the middle | | | | | | | +|of the side | 2 | 11/2 | 21/2 | 11/2 | 21/4 | 11/4 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|hair on the | | | | | | | +|hind quarter | 13/4 | 11/4 | 3/4 | 3/4 | 2 | 1 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|hair on the | | | | | | | +|forehead | 16 | 81/2 | 61/2 | 5 | 31/2 | 1/2 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|the chin beard | 111/2 | 91/2 | 63/4 | 5 | 5 | 0 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|the breast tuft | 8 | 81/2 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 3 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|tuft on fore leg | 101/2 | 8 | 8 | 41/2 | 3 | 11/2 | ++--------------------+-------+--------+--------+--------+--------+------+ +|the tail tuft | 19 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 71/2 | 41/2 | ++-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ + +_Albinism._--Cases of albinism in the buffalo were of extremely rare +occurrence. I have met many old buffalo hunters, who had killed +thousands and seen scores of thousands of buffaloes, yet never had seen +a white one. From all accounts it appears that not over ten or eleven +white buffaloes, or white buffalo skins, were ever seen by white men. +Pied individuals were occasionally obtained, but even they were rare. +Albino buffaloes were always so highly prized that not a single one, so +far as I can learn, ever had the good fortune to attain adult size, +their appearance being so striking, in contrast with the other members +of the herd, as to draw upon them an unusual number of enemies, and +cause their speedy destruction. + +At the New Orleans Exposition, in 1884-'85, the Territory of Dakota +exhibited, amongst other Western quadrupeds, the mounted skin of a +two-year-old buffalo which might fairly be called an albino. Although +not really white, it was of a uniform dirty cream-color, and showed not +a trace of the bison's normal color on any part of its body. + +Lieut. Col. S. C. Kellogg, U. S. Army, has on deposit in the National +Museum a tanned skin which is said to have come from a buffalo. It is +from an animal about one year old, and the hair upon it, which is short, +very curly or wavy, and rather coarse, is pure white. In length and +texture the hair does not in any one respect resemble the hair of a +yearling buffalo save in one particular,--along the median line of the +neck and hump there is a rather long, thin mane of hair, which has the +peculiar woolly appearance of genuine buffalo hair on those parts. On +the shoulder portions of the skin the hair is as short as on the hind +quarters. I am inclined to believe this rather remarkable specimen came +from a wild half-breed calf, the result of a cross between a white +domestic cow and a buffalo bull. At one time it was by no means uncommon +for small bunches of domestic cattle to enter herds of buffalo and +remain there permanently. + +I have been informed that the late General Marcy possessed a white +buffalo skin. If it is still in existence, and is really _white_, it is +to be hoped that so great a rarity may find a permanent abiding place in +some museum where the remains of _Bison americanus_ are properly +appreciated. + + + + +V. THE HABITS OF THE BUFFALO. + + +The history of the buffalo's daily life and habits should begin with the +"running season." This period occupied the months of August and +September, and was characterized by a degree of excitement and activity +throughout the entire herd quite foreign to the ease-loving and even +slothful nature which was so noticeable a feature of the bison's +character at all other times. + +The mating season occurred when the herd was on its summer range. The +spring calves were from two to four months old. Through continued +feasting on the new crop of buffalo-grass and bunch-grass--the most +nutritious in the world, perhaps--every buffalo in the herd had grown +round-sided, fat, and vigorous. The faded and weather-beaten suit of +winter hair had by that time fallen off and given place to the new coat +of dark gray and black, and, excepting for the shortness of his hair, +the buffalo was in prime condition. + +During the "running season," as it was called by the plainsmen, the +whole nature of the herd was completely changed. Instead of being broken +up into countless small groups and dispersed over a vast extent of +territory, the herd came together in a dense and confused mass of many +thousand individuals, so closely congregated as to actually blacken the +face of the landscape. As if by a general and irresistible impulse, +every straggler would be drawn to the common center, and for miles on +every side of the great herd the country would be found entirely +deserted. + +At this time the herd itself became a seething mass of activity and +excitement. As usual under such conditions, the bulls were half the time +chasing the cows, and fighting each other during the other half. These +actual combats, which were always of short duration and over in a few +seconds after the actual collision took place, were preceded by the +usual threatening demonstrations, in which the bull lowers his head +until his nose almost touches the ground, roars like a fog-horn until +the earth seems to fairly tremble with the vibration, glares madly upon +his adversary with half-white eyeballs, and with his forefeet paws up +the dry earth and throws it upward in a great cloud of dust high above +his back. At such times the mingled roaring--it can not truthfully be +described as lowing or bellowing--of a number of huge bulls unite and +form a great volume of sound like distant thunder, which has often been +heard at a distance of from 1 to 3 miles. I have even been assured by +old plainsmen that under favorable atmospheric conditions such sounds +have been heard five miles. + +Notwithstanding the extreme frequency of combats between the bulls +during this season, their results were nearly always harmless, thanks to +the thickness of the hair and hide on the head and shoulders, and the +strength of the neck. + +Under no conditions was there ever any such thing as the pairing off or +mating of male and female buffaloes for any length of time. In the +entire process of reproduction the bison's habits were similar to those +of domestic cattle. For years the opinion was held by many, in some +cases based on misinterpreted observations, that in the herd the +identity of each family was partially preserved, and that each old bull +maintained an individual harem and group of progeny of his own. The +observations of Colonel Dodge completely disprove this very interesting +theory; for at best it was only a picturesque fancy, ascribing to the +bison a degree of intelligence which he never possessed. + +At the close of the breeding season the herd quickly settles down to its +normal condition. The mass gradually resolves itself into the numerous +bands or herdlets of from twenty to a hundred individuals, so +characteristic of bison on their feeding grounds, and these gradually +scatter in search of the best grass until the herd covers many square +miles of country. + +In his search for grass the buffalo displayed but little intelligence or +power of original thought. Instead of closely following the divides +between water courses where the soil was best and grass most abundant, +he would not hesitate to wander away from good feeding-grounds into +barren "bad lands," covered with sage-brush, where the grass was very +thin and very poor. In such broken country as Montana, Wyoming, and +southwestern Dakota, the herds, on reaching the best grazing grounds on +the divides, would graze there day after day until increasing thirst +compelled them to seek for water. Then, actuated by a common impulse, +the search for a water-hole was begun in a business-like way. The leader +of a herd, or "bunch," which post was usually filled by an old cow, +would start off down the nearest "draw," or stream-heading, and all the +rest would fall into line and follow her. From the moment this start was +made there was no more feeding, save as a mouthful of grass could be +snatched now and then without turning aside. In single file, in a line +sometimes half a mile long and containing between one and two hundred +buffaloes, the procession slowly marched down the coulée, close +alongside the gully as soon as the water-course began to cut a pathway +for itself. When the gully curved to right or left the leader would +cross its bed and keep straight on until the narrow ditch completed its +wayward curve and came back to the middle of the coulée. The trail of a +herd in search of water is usually as good a piece of engineering as +could be executed by the best railway surveyor, and is governed by +precisely the same principles. It always follows the level of the +valley, swerves around the high points, and crosses the stream +repeatedly in order to avoid climbing up from the level. The same trail +is used again and again by different herds until the narrow path, not +over a foot in width, is gradually cut straight down into the soil to a +depth of several inches, as if it had been done by a 12-inch +grooving-plane. By the time the trail has been worn down to a depth of 6 +or 7 inches, without having its width increased in the least, it is no +longer a pleasant path to walk in, being too much like a narrow ditch. +Then the buffaloes abandon it and strike out a new one alongside, which +is used until it also is worn down and abandoned. + +To day the old buffalo trails are conspicuous among the very few classes +of objects which remain as a reminder of a vanished race. The herds of +cattle now follow them in single file just as the buffaloes did a few +years ago, as they search for water in the same way. In some parts of +the West, in certain situations, old buffalo trails exist which the wild +herds wore down to a depth of 2 feet or more. + +Mile after mile marched the herd, straight down-stream, bound for the +upper water-hole. As the hot summer drew on, the pools would dry up one +by one, those nearest the source being the first to disappear. Toward +the latter part of summer, the journey for water was often a long one. +Hole after hole would be passed without finding a drop of water. At last +a hole of mud would be found, below that a hole with a little muddy +water, and a mile farther on the leader would arrive at a shallow pool +under the edge of a "cut bank," a white, snow-like deposit of alkali on +the sand encircling its margin, and incrusting the blades of grass and +rushed that grew up from the bottom. The damp earth around the pool was +cut up by a thousand hoof-prints, and the water was warm, strongly +impregnated with alkali, and yellow with animal impurities, but it was +_water_. The nauseous mixture was quickly surrounded by a throng of +thirsty, heated, and eager buffaloes of all ages, to which the oldest +and strongest asserted claims of priority. There was much crowding and +some fighting, but eventually all were satisfied. After such a long +journey to water, a herd would usually remain by it for some hours, +lying down, resting, and drinking at intervals until completely +satisfied. + +Having drunk its fill, the herd would never march directly back to the +choice feeding grounds it had just left, but instead would leisurely +stroll off at a right angle from the course it came, cropping for awhile +the rich bunch grasses of the bottom-lands, and then wander across the +hills in an almost aimless search for fresh fields and pastures new. +When buffaloes remained long in a certain locality it was a common thing +for them to visit the same watering-place a number of times, at +intervals of greater or less duration, according to circumstances. + +When undisturbed on his chosen range, the bison used to be fond of lying +down for an hour or two in the middle of the day, particularly when fine +weather and good grass combined to encourage him in luxurious habits. I +once discovered with the field glass a small herd of buffaloes lying +down at midday on the slope of a high ridge, and having ridden hard for +several hours we seized the opportunity to unsaddle and give our horses +an hour's rest before making the attack. While we were so doing, the +herd got up, shifted its position to the opposite side of the ridge, and +again laid down, every buffalo with his nose pointing to windward. + +Old hunters declare that in the days of their abundance, when feeding on +their ranges in fancied security, the younger animals were as playful as +well-fed domestic calves. It was a common thing to see them cavort and +frisk around with about as much grace as young elephants, prancing and +running to and fro with tails held high in air "like scorpions." + +Buffaloes are very fond of rolling in dry dirt or even in mud, and this +habit is quite strong in captive animals. Not only is it indulged in +during the shedding season, but all through the fall and winter. The two +live buffaloes in the National Museum are so much given to rolling, even +in rainy weather, that it is necessary to card them every few days to +keep them presentable. + +Bulls are much more given to rolling than the cows, especially after +they have reached maturity. They stretch out at full length, rub their +heads violently to and fro on the ground, in which the horn serves as +the chief point of contact and slides over the ground like a +sled-runner. After thoroughly scratching one side on mother earth they +roll over and treat the other in like manner. Notwithstanding his sharp +and lofty hump, a buffalo bull can roll completely over with as much +ease as any horse. + +The vast amount of rolling and side-scratching on the earth indulged in +by bull buffaloes is shown in the worn condition of the horns of every +old specimen. Often a thickness of half an inch is gone from the upper +half of each horn on its outside curve, at which point the horn is worn +quite flat. This is well illustrated in the horns shown in the +accompanying plate, fig. 6. + +[Illustration: DEVELOPMENT OF THE HORNS OF THE AMERICAN BISON. + +1. The Calf. 2. The Yearling. 3. Spike Bull, 2 years old. +4. Spike Bull, 3 years old. 5. Bull, 4 years old. +6. Bull, 11 years old. 7. Old "stub-horn" Bull, 20 years old.] + +Mr. Catlin[36] affords some very interesting and valuable information in +regard to the bison's propensity for wollowing in mad, and also the +origin of the "fairy circles," which have caused so much speculation +amongst travelers: + +[Note 36: North American Indians, vol. I, p. 249, 250.] + +"In the heat of summer, these huge animals, which no doubt suffer very +much with the great profusion of their long and shaggy hair, or fur, +often graze on the low grounds of the prairies, where there is a little +stagnant water lying amongst the grass, and the ground underneath being +saturated with it, is soft, into which the enormous bull, lowered down +upon one knee, will plunge his horns, and at last his head, driving up +the earth, and soon making an excavation in the ground into which the +water filters from amongst the grass, forming for him in a few moments a +cool and comfortable bath, into which he plunges like a hog in his mire. + +"In this delectable laver he throws himself flat upon his side, and +forcing himself violently around, with his horns and his huge hump on +his shoulders presented to the sides, he ploughs up the ground by his +rotary motion, sinking himself deeper and deeper in the ground, +continually enlarging his pool, in which he at length becomes nearly +immersed, and the water and mud about him mixed into a complete mortar, +which changes his color and drips in streams from every part of him as +he rises up upon his feet, a hideous monster of mud and ugliness, too +frightful and too eccentric to be described! + +"It is generally the leader of the herd that takes upon him to make this +excavation, and if not (but another one opens the ground), the leader +(who is conqueror) marches forward, and driving the other from it +plunges himself into it; and, having cooled his sides and changed his +color to a walking mass of mud and mortar, he stands in the pool until +inclination induces him to step out and give place to the next in +command who stands ready, and another, and another, who advance forward +in their turns to enjoy the luxury of the wallow, until the whole band +(sometimes a hundred or more) will pass through it in turn,[37] each one +throwing his body around in a similar manner and each one adding a +little to the dimensions of the pool, while he carries away in his hair +an equal share of the clay, which dries to a gray or whitish color and +gradually falls off. By this operation, which is done perhaps in the +space of half an hour, a circular excavation of fifteen or twenty feet +in diameter and two feet in depth is completed and left for the water to +run into, which soon fills it to the level of the ground. + +[Note 37: In the District of Columbia work-house we have a counterpart +of this in the public bath-tub, wherein forty prisoners were seen by a +_Star_ reporter to bathe one after another in the same water!] + +"To these sinks, the waters lying on the surface of the prairies are +continually draining and in them lodging their vegetable deposits, which +after a lapse of years fill them up to the surface with a rich soil, +which throws up an unusual growth of grass and herbage, forming +conspicuous circles, which arrest the eye of the traveler and are +calculated to excite his surprise for ages to come." + +During the latter part of the last century, when the bison inhabited +Kentucky and Pennsylvania, the salt springs of those States were +resorted to by thousands of those animals, who drank of the saline +waters and licked the impregnated earth. Mr. Thomas Ashe[38] affords us +a most interesting account, from the testimony of an eye witness, of the +behavior of a bison at a salt spring. The description refers to a +locality in western Pennsylvania, where "an old man, one of the first +settlers of this country, built his log house on the immediate borders +of a salt spring. He informed me that for the first several seasons the +buffaloes paid him their visits with the utmost regularity; they +traveled in single files, always following each other at equal +distances, forming droves, on their arrival, of about 300 each. + +[Note 38: Travels in America in 1806. London, 1808.] + +"The first and second years, so unacquainted were these poor brutes with +the use of this man's house or with his nature, that in a few hours they +_rubbed_ the house completely down, taking delight in turning the logs +off with their horns, while he had some difficulty to escape from being +trampled under their feet or crushed to death in his own ruins. At that +period he supposed there could not have been less than 2,000 in the +neighborhood of the spring. They sought for no manner of food, but only +bathed and drank three or four times a day and rolled in the earth, or +reposed with their flanks distended in the adjacent shades; and on the +fifth and sixth days separated into distinct droves, bathed, drank, and +departed in single files, according to the exact order of their arrival. +They all rolled successively in the same hole, and each thus carried +away a coat of mud to preserve the moisture on their skin and which, +when hardened and baked in the sun, would resist the stings of millions +of insects that otherwise would persecute these peaceful travelers to +madness or even death." + +It was a fixed habit with the great buffalo herds to move southward from +200 to 400 miles at the approach of winter. Sometimes this movement was +accomplished quietly and without any excitement, but at other times it +was done with a rush, in which considerable distances would be gone over +on the double quick. The advance of a herd was often very much like that +of a big army, in a straggling line, from four to ten animals abreast. +Sometimes the herd moved forward in a dense mass, and in consequence +often came to grief in quicksands, alkali bogs, muddy crossings, and on +treacherous ice. In such places thousands of buffaloes lost their lives, +through those in the lead being forced into danger by pressure of the +mass coming behind. In this manner, in the summer of 1867, over two +thousand buffaloes, out of a herd of about four thousand, lost their +lives in the quicksands of the Platte River, near Plum Creek, while +attempting to cross. One winter, a herd of nearly a hundred buffaloes +attempted to cross a lake called Lac-qui-parle, in Minnesota, upon the +ice, which gave way, and drowned the entire herd. During the days of the +buffalo it was a common thing for voyagers on the Missouri River to see +buffaloes hopelessly mired in the quicksands or mud along the shore, +either dead or dying, and to find their dead bodies floating down the +river, or lodged on the upper ends of the islands and sand-bars. + +Such accidents as these: it may be repeated, were due to the great +number of animals and the momentum of the moving mass. The forced +marches of the great herds were like the flight of a routed army, in +which helpless individuals were thrust into mortal peril by the +irresistible force of the mass coming behind, which rushes blindly on +after their leaders. In this way it was possible to decoy a herd toward +a precipice and cause it to plunge over en masse, the leaders being +thrust over by their followers, and all the rest following of their own +free will, like the sheep who cheerfully leaped, one after another, +through a hole in the side of a high bridge because their bell-wether +did so. + +But it is not to be understood that the movement of a great herd, +because it was made on a run, necessarily partook of the nature of a +stampede in which a herd sweeps forward in a body. The most graphic +account that I ever obtained of facts bearing on this point was +furnished by Mr. James McNaney, drawn from his experience on the +northern buffalo range in 1882. His party reached the range (on Beaver +Creek, about 100 miles south of Glendive) about the middle of November, +and found buffaloes already there; in fact they had begun to arrive from +the north as early as the middle of October. About the first of December +an immense herd arrived from the north. It reached their vicinity one +night, about 10 o'clock, in a mass that seemed to spread everywhere. As +the hunters sat in their tents, loading cartridges and cleaning their +rifles, a low rumble was heard, which gradually increased to "a +thundering noise," and some one exclaimed, "There! that's a big herd of +buffalo coming in!" All ran out immediately, and hallooed and discharged +rifles to keep the buffaloes from running over their tents. Fortunately, +the horses were picketed some distance away in a grassy coulée, which +the buffaloes did not enter. The herd came at a jog trot, and moved +quite rapidly. "In the morning the whole country was black with +buffalo." It was estimated that 10,000 head were in sight. One immense +detachment went down on to a "flat" and laid down. There it remained +quietly, enjoying a long rest, for about ten days. It gradually broke up +into small bands, which strolled off in various directions looking for +food, and which the hunters quietly attacked. + +A still more striking event occurred about Christmas time at the same +place. For a few days the neighborhood of McNaney's camp had been +entirely deserted by buffaloes, not even one remaining. But one morning +about daybreak a great herd which was traveling south began to pass +their camp. A long line of moving forms was seen advancing rapidly from +the northwest, coming in the direction of the hunters' camp. It +disappeared in the creek valley for a few moments, and presently the +leaders suddenly came in sight again at the top of "a rise" a few +hundred yards away, and came down the intervening slope at full speed, +within 50 yards of the two tents. After them came a living stream of +followers, all going at a gallop, described by the observer as "a long +lope," from four to ten buffaloes abreast. Sometimes there would be a +break in the column of a minute's duration, then more buffaloes would +appear at the brow of the hill, and the column went rushing by as +before. The calves ran with their mothers, and the young stock got over +the ground with much less exertion than the older animals. For about +four hours, or until past 11 o'clock, did this column of buffaloes +gallop past the camp over a course no wider than a village street. Three +miles away toward the south the long dark line of bobbing humps and +hind quarters wound to the right between two hills and disappeared. True +to their instincts, the hunters promptly brought out their rifles, and +began to fire at the buffaloes as they ran. A furious fusilade was kept +up from the very doors of the tents, and from first to last over fifty +buffaloes were killed. Some fell headlong the instant they were hit, but +the greater number ran on until their mortal wounds compelled them to +halt, draw off a little way to one side, and finally fall in their death +struggles. + +Mr. McNaney stated that the hunters estimated the number of buffaloes +_on that portion_ of the range that winter (1881-'82) at 100,000. + +It is probable, and in fact reasonably certain, that such forced-march +migrations as the above were due to snow-covered pastures and a scarcity +of food on the more northern ranges. Having learned that a journey south +will bring him to regions of less snow and more grass, it is but natural +that so lusty a traveler should migrate. The herds or bands which +started south in the fall months traveled more leisurely, with frequent +halts to graze on rich pastures. The advance was on a very different +plan, taking place in straggling lines and small groups dispersed over +quite a scope of country. + +Unless closely pursued, the buffalo never chose to make a journey of +several miles through hilly country on a continuous run. Even when +fleeing from the attack of a hunter, I have often had occasion to notice +that, if the hunter was a mile behind, the buffalo would always walk +when going uphill; but as soon as the crest was gained he would begin to +run, and go down the slope either at a gallop or a swift trot. In former +times, when the buffalo's world was wide, when retreating from an attack +he always ran against the wind, to avoid running upon a new danger, +which showed that he depended more upon his sense of smell than his +eye-sight. During the last years of his existence, however, this habit +almost totally disappeared, and the harried survivors learned to run for +the regions which offered the greatest safety. But even to-day, if a +Texas hunter should go into the Staked Plains, and descry in the +distance a body of animals running against the wind, he would, without a +moment's hesitation, pronounce them buffaloes, and the chances are that +he would be right. + +In winter the buffalo used to face the storms, instead of turning tail +and "drifting" before them helplessly, as domestic cattle do. But at the +same time, when beset by a blizzard, he would wisely seek shelter from +it in some narrow and deep valley or system of ravines. There the herd +would lie down and wait patiently for the storm to cease. After a heavy +fall of snow, the place to find the buffalo was in the flats and creek +bottoms, where the tall, rank bunch-grasses showed their tops above the +snow, and afforded the best and almost the only food obtainable. + +When the snow-fall was unusually heavy, and lay for a long time on the +ground, the buffalo was forced to fast for days together, and sometimes +even weeks. If a warm day came, and thawed the upper surface of the snow +sufficiently for succeeding cold to freeze it into a crust, the outlook +for the bison began to be serious. A man can travel over a crust through +which the hoofs of a ponderous bison cut like chisels and leave him +floundering belly-deep. It was at such times that the Indians hunted him +on snow-shoes, and drove their spears into his vitals as he wallowed +helplessly in the drifts. Then the wolves grew fat upon the victims +which they, also, slaughtered almost without effort. + +Although buffaloes did not often actually perish from hunger and cold +during the severest winters (save in a few very exceptional cases), they +often came out in very poor condition. The old bulls always suffered +more severely than the rest, and at the end of winter were frequently in +miserable plight. + +Unlike most other terrestrial quadrupeds of America, so long as he could +roam at will the buffalo had settled migratory habits.[39] While the elk +and black-tail deer change their altitude twice a year, in conformity +with the approach and disappearance of winter, the buffalo makes a +radical change of latitude. This was most noticeable in the great +western pasture region, where the herds were most numerous and their +movements most easily observed. + +[Note 39: On page 248 of his "North American Indians," vol. I, Mr. +Catlin declares pointedly that "these animals are, truly speaking, +gregarious, but not migratory; they graze in immense and almost +incredible numbers at times, and roam about and over vast tracts of +country from east to west and from west to east as often as from north +to south, which has often been supposed they naturally and habitually +did to accommodate themselves to the temperature of the climate in the +different latitudes." Had Mr. Catlin resided continuously in any one +locality on the great buffalo range, he would have found that the +buffalo had decided migratory habits. The abundance of proof on this +point renders it unnecessary to eater fully into the details of the +subject.] + +At the approach of winter the whole great system of herds which ranged +from the Peace River to the Indian Territory moved south a few hundred +miles, and wintered under more favorable circumstances than each band +would have experienced at its farthest north. Thus it happened that +nearly the whole of the great range south of the Saskatchewan was +occupied by buffaloes even in winter. + +The movement north began with the return of mild weather in the early +spring. Undoubtedly this northward migration was to escape the heat of +their southern winter range rather than to find better pasture; for as a +grazing country for cattle all the year round, Texas is hardly +surpassed, except where it is overstocked. It was with the buffaloes a +matter of choice rather than necessity which sent them on their annual +pilgrimage northward. + +Col. R. I. Dodge, who has made many valuable observations on the +migratory habits of the southern buffaloes, has recorded the +following:[40] + +"Early in spring, as soon as the dry and apparently desert prairie had +begun to change its coat of dingy brown to one of palest green, the +horizon would begin to be dotted with buffalo, single or in groups of +two or three, forerunners of the coming herd. Thicker and thicker and in +larger groups they come, until by the time the grass is well up the +whole vast landscape appears a mass of buffalo, some individuals +feeding, others standing, others lying down, but the herd moving slowly, +moving constantly to the northward. * * * Some years, as in 1871, the +buffalo appeared to move northward in one immense column oftentimes from +20 to 50 miles in width, and of unknown depth from front to rear. Other +years the northward journey was made in several parallel columns, moving +at the same rate, and with their numerous flankers covering a width of a +hundred or more miles. + +"The line of march of this great spring migration was not always the +same, though it was confined within certain limits. I am informed by old +frontiersmen that it has not within twenty-five years crossed the +Arkansas River east of Great Bend nor west of Big Sand Creek. The most +favored routes crossed the Arkansas at the mouth of Walnut Creek, Pawnee +Fork, Mulberry Creek, the Cimarron Crossing, and Big Sand Creek. + +"As the great herd proceeds northward it is constantly depleted, numbers +wandering off to the right and left, until finally it is scattered in +small herds far and wide over the vast feeding grounds, where they pass +the summer. + +"When the food in one locality fails they go to another, and towards +fall, when the grass of the high prairie becomes parched by the heat and +drought, they gradually work their way back to the south, concentrating +on the rich pastures of Texas and the Indian Territory, whence, the same +instinct acting on all, they are ready to start together on the +northward march as soon as spring starts the grass." + +[Note 40: Our Wild Indians, p. 283, _et seq._] + +So long as the bison held undisputed possession of the great plains his +migratory habits were as above--regular, general, and on a scale that +was truly grand. The herds that wintered in Texas, the Indian Territory, +and New Mexico probably spent their summers in Nebraska, southwestern +Dakota, and Wyoming. The winter herds of northern Colorado, Wyoming, +Nebraska, and southern Dakota went to northern Dakota and Montana, while +the great Montana herds spent the summer on the Grand Coteau des +Prairies lying between the Saskatchewan and the Missouri. The two great +annual expeditions of the Red River half-breeds, which always took place +in summer, went in two directions from Winnipeg and Pembina--one, the +White Horse Plain division, going westward along the Qu'Appelle to the +Saskatchewan country, and the other, the Red River division, southwest +into Dakota. In 1840 the site of the present city of Jamestown, Dakota, +was the northeastern limit of the herds that summered in Dakota, and the +country lying between that point and the Missouri was for years the +favorite hunting ground of the Red River division. + +The herds which wintered on the Montana ranges always went north in the +early spring, usually in March, so that during the time the hunters were +hauling in the hides taken on the winter hunt the ranges were entirely +deserted. It is equally certain, however, that a few small bauds +remained in certain portions of Montana throughout the summer. But the +main body crossed the international boundary, and spent the summer on +the plains of the Saskatchewan, where they were hunted by the +half-breeds from the Red River settlements and the Indians of the +plains. It is my belief that in this movement nearly all the buffaloes +of Montana and Dakota participated, and that the herds which spent the +summer in Dakota, where they were annually hunted by the Red River +half-breeds, came up from Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska. + +While most of the calves were born on the summer ranges, many were +brought forth en route. It was the habit of the cows to retire to a +secluded spot, if possible a ravine well screened from observation, +bring forth their young, and nourish and defend them until they were +strong enough to join the herd. Calves were born all the time from March +to July, and sometimes even as late as August. On the summer ranges it +was the habit of the cows to leave the bulls at calving time, and thus +it often happened that small herds were often seen composed of bulls +only. Usually the cow produced but one calf, but twins were not +uncommon. Of course many calves were brought forth in the herd, but the +favorite habit of the cow was as stated. As soon as the young calves +were brought into the herd, which for prudential reasons occurred at the +earliest possible moment, the bulls assumed the duty of protecting them +from the wolves which at all times congregated in the vicinity of a +herd, watching for an opportunity to seize a calf or a wounded buffalo +which might be left behind. A calf always follows its mother until its +successor is appointed and installed, unless separated from her by force +of circumstances. They suck until they are nine months old, or even +older, and Mr. McNaney once saw a lusty calf suck its mother (in +January) on the Montana range several hours after she had been killed +for her skin. + +When a buffalo is wounded it leaves the herd immediately and goes off as +far from the line of pursuit as it can get, to escape the rabble of +hunters, who are sure to follow the main body. If any deep ravines are +at hand the wounded animal limps away to the bottom of the deepest and +most secluded one, and gradually works his way up to its very head, +where he finds himself in a perfect cul-de-sac, barely wide enough to +admit him. Here he is so completely hidden by the high walls and +numerous bends that his pursuer must needs come within a few feet of his +horns before his huge bulk is visible. I have more than once been +astonished at the real impregnability of the retreats selected by +wounded bison. In following up wounded bulls in ravine headings it +always became too dangerous to make the last stage of the pursuit on +horseback, for fear of being caught in a passage so narrow as to insure +a fatal accident to man or horse in case of a sudden discovery of the +quarry. I have seen wounded bison shelter in situations where a single +bull could easily defend himself from a whole pack of wolves, being +completely walled in on both sides and the rear, and leaving his foes no +point of attack save his head and horns. + +Bison which were nursing serious wounds most often have gone many days +at a time without either food or water, and in this connection it may be +mentioned that the recuperative power of a bison is really wonderful. +Judging from the number of old leg wounds, fully healed, which I have +found in freshly killed bisons, one may be tempted to believe that a +bison never died of a broken leg. One large bull which I skeletonized +had had his humerus shot squarely in two, but it had united again more +firmly than ever. Another large bull had the head of his left femur and +the hip socket shattered completely to pieces by a big ball, but he had +entirely recovered from it, and was as lusty a runner as any bull we +chased. We found that while a broken leg was a misfortune to a buffalo, +it always took something more serious than that to stop him. + + + + +VI. THE FOOD OF THE BISON. + + +It is obviously impossible to enumerate all the grasses which served the +bison as food on his native heath without presenting a complete list of +all the plants of that order found in a given region; but it is at least +desirable to know which of the grasses of the great pasture region were +his favorite and most common food. It was the nutritious character and +marvelous abundance of his food supply which enabled the bison to exist +in such absolutely countless numbers as characterized his occupancy of +the great plains. The following list comprises the grasses which were +the bison's principal food, named in the order of their importance: + +_Bouteloua oligostachya_ (buffalo, grama, or mesquite grass).--This +remarkable grass formed the _pièce de résistance_ of the bison's bill +of fare in the days when he flourished, and it now comes to us daily in +the form of beef produced of primest quality and in greatest quantity on +what was until recently the great buffalo range. This grass is the most +abundant and widely distributed species to be found in the great pasture +region between the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains and the +nineteenth degree of west longitude. It is the principal grass of the +plains from Texas to the British Possessions, and even in the latter +territory it is quite conspicuous. To any one but a botanist its first +acquaintance means a surprise. Its name and fame lead the unacquainted +to expect a grass which is tall, rank, and full of "fodder," like the +"blue joint" (_Andropogon provincialis_). The grama grass is very short, +the leaves being usually not more than 2 or 3 inches in length and +crowded together at the base of the stems. The flower stalk is about a +foot in height, but on grazed lands are eaten off and but seldom seen. +The leaves are narrow and inclined to curl, and lie close to the ground. +Instead of developing a continuous growth, this grass grows in small, +irregular patches, usually about the size of a man's hand, with narrow +strips of perfectly bare ground between them. The grass curls closely +upon the ground, in a woolly carpet or cushion, greatly resembling a +layer of Florida moss. Even in spring-time it never shows more color +than a tint of palest green, and the landscape which is dependent upon +this grass for color is never more than "a gray and melancholy waste." +Unlike the soft, juicy, and succulent grasses of the well-watered +portions of the United States, the tiny leaves of the grama grass are +hard, stiff, and dry. I have often noticed that in grazing neither +cattle nor horses are able to bite off the blades, but instead each leaf +is pulled out of the tuft, seemingly by its root. + +Notwithstanding its dry and uninviting appearance, this grass is highly +nutritious, and its fat-producing qualities are unexcelled. The heat of +summer dries it up effectually without destroying its nutritive +elements, and it becomes for the remainder of the year excellent hay, +cured on its own roots. It affords good grazing all the year round, save +in winter, when it is covered with snow, and even then, if the snow is +not too deep, the buffaloes, cattle, and horses paw down through it to +reach the grass, or else repair to wind-swept ridges and hill-tops, +where the snow has been blown off and left the grass partly exposed. +Stock prefer it to all the other grasses of the plains. + +On bottom-lands, where moisture is abundant, this grass develops much +more luxuriantly, growing in a close mass, and often to a height of a +foot or more, if not grazed down, when it is cut for hay, and sometimes +yields 11/2 tons to the acre. In Montana and the north it is generally +known as "buffalo-grass," a name to which it would seem to be fully +entitled, notwithstanding the fact that this name is also applied, and +quite generally, to another species, the next to be noticed. + +_Buchloë dactyloides_ (Southern buffalo-grass).--This species is next +in value and extent of distribution to the grama grass. It also is found +all over the great plains south of Nebraska and southern Wyoming, but +not further north, although in many localities it occurs so sparsely as +to be of little account. A single bunch of it very greatly resembles +_Bouteloua oligostachya_, but its general growth is very different. It +is very short, its general mass seldom rising more than 3 inches above +the ground. It grows in extensive patches, and spreads by means of +stolons, which sometimes are 2 feet in length, with joints every 3 or 4 +inches. Owing to its southern distribution this might well be named the +Southern buffalo grass, to distinguish it from the two other species of +higher latitudes, to which the name "buffalo" has been fastened forever. + +_Stipa spartea_ (Northern buffalo-grass; wild oat).--This grass is found +in southern Manitoba, westwardly across the plains to the Rocky +Mountains, and southward as far as Montana, where it is common in many +localities. On what was once the buffalo range of the British +Possessions this rank grass formed the bulk of the winter pasturage, and +in that region is quite as famous as our grama grass. An allied species +(_Stipa viridula_, bunch-grass) is "widely diffused over our Rocky +Mountain region, extending to California and British America, and +furnishing a considerable part of the wild forage of the region" _Stipa +spartea_ bears an ill name among stockmen on account of the fact that at +the base of each seed is a very hard and sharp-pointed callus, which +under certain circumstances (so it is said) lodges in the cheeks of +domestic animals that feed upon this grass when it is dry, and which +cause much trouble. But the buffalo, like the wild horse and half-wild +range cattle, evidently escaped this annoyance. This grass is one of the +common species over a wide area of the northern plains, and is always +found on soil which is comparatively dry. In Dakota, Minnesota, and +northwest Iowa it forms a considerable portion of the upland prairie +hay. + +Of the remaining grasses it is practically impossible to single out any +one as being specially entitled to fourth place in this list. There are +several species which flourish in different localities, and in many +respects appear to be of about equal importance as food for stock. Of +these the following are the most noteworthy: + +_Aristida purpurea_ (Western beard-grass; purple "bunch-grass" of +Montana).--On the high, rolling prairies of the Missouri-Yellowstone +divide this grass is very abundant. It grows in little solitary bunches, +about 6 inches high, scattered through the curly buffalo-grass +(_Bouteloua oligostachya_). Under more favorable conditions it grows to +a height of 12 to 18 inches. It is one of the prettiest grasses of that +region, and in the fall and winter its purplish color makes it quite +noticeable. The Montana stockmen consider it one of the most valuable +grasses of that region for stock of all kinds. Mr. C. M. Jacobs assured +me that the buffalo used to be very fond of this grass, and that +"wherever this grass grew in abundance there were the best +hunting-grounds for the bison." It appears that _Aristida purpurea_ is +not sufficiently abundant elsewhere in the Northwest to make it an +important food for stock; but Dr. Vesey declares that it is "abundant on +the plains of Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas." + +_Koeleria cristata._--Very generally distributed from Texas and New +Mexico to the British Possessions; sand hills and arid soils; mountains, +up to 8,000 feet. + +_Poa tenuifolia_ (blue-grass of the plains and mountains).--A valuable +"bunch-grass," widely distributed throughout the great pasture region; +grows in all sorts of soils and situations; common in the Yellowstone +Park. + +_Festuca scabrella_ (bunch-grass).--One of the most valuable grasses of +Montana and the Northwest generally; often called the "great +bunch-grass." It furnishes excellent food for horses and cattle, and is +so tall it is cut in large quantities for hay. This is the prevailing +species on the foot-hills and mountains generally, up to an altitude of +7,000 feet, where it is succeeded by _Festuca ovina_. + +_Andropogon provincialis_ (blue stem).--An important species, extending +from eastern Kansas and Nebraska to the foot-hills of the Rocky +Mountains, and from Northern Texas to the Saskatchewan; common in +Montana on alkali flats and bottom lands generally. This and the +preceding species were of great value to the buffalo in winter, when the +shorter grasses were covered with snow. + +_Andropogon scoparius_ (bunch grass; broom sedge; wood-grass).--Similar +to the preceding in distribution and value, but not nearly so tall. + +None of the buffalo grasses are found in the mountains. In the mountain +regions which have been visited by the buffalo and in the Yellowstone +Park, where to-day the only herd remaining in a state of nature is to be +found (though not by the man with a gun), the following are the grasses +which form all but a small proportion of the ruminant food: _Koeleria +cristata_; _Poa tenuifolia_ (Western blue-grass); _Stipa viridula_ +(feather-grass); _Stipa comata_; _Agropyrum divergens_; _Agropyrum +caninum_. + +When pressed by hunger, the buffalo used to browse on certain species of +sage-brush, particularly _Atriplex canescens_ of the Southwest. But he +was discriminating in the matter of diet, and as far as can be +ascertained he was never known to eat the famous and much-dreaded "loco" +weed (_Astragalus molissimus_), which to ruminant animals is a veritable +drug of madness. Domestic cattle and horses often eat this plant; where +it is abundant, and become demented in consequence. + + + + +VII. MENTAL CAPACITY AND DISPOSITION. + + +(1) _Reasoning from cause to effect._--The buffalo of the past was an +animal of a rather low order of intelligence, and his dullness of +intellect was one of the important factors in his phenomenally swift +extermination. He was provokingly slow in comprehending the existence +and nature of the dangers that threatened his life, and, like the stupid +brute that he was, would very often stand quietly and see two or three +score, or even a hundred, of his relatives and companions shot down +before his eyes, with no other feeling than one of stupid wonder and +curiosity. Neither the noise nor smoke of the still-hunter's rifle, the +falling, struggling, nor the final death of his companions conveyed to +his mind the idea of a danger to be fled from, and so the herd stood +still and allowed the still-hunter to slaughter its members at will. + +Like the Indian, and many white men also, the buffalo seemed to feel +that their number was so great it could never be sensibly diminished. +The presence of such a great multitude gave to each of its individuals a +feeling of security and mutual support that is very generally found in +animals who congregate in great herds. The time was when a band of elk +would stand stupidly and wait for its members to be shot down one after +another; but it is believed that this was due more to panic than to a +lack of comprehension of danger. + +The fur seals who cover the "hauling grounds" of St. Paul and St. George +Islands, Alaska, in countless thousands, have even less sense of danger +and less comprehension of the slaughter of thousands of their kind, +which takes place daily, than had the bison. They allow themselves to be +herded and driven off landwards from the hauling-ground for half a mile +to the killing-ground, and, finally, with most cheerful indifference, +permit the Aleuts to club their brains out. + +It is to be added that whenever and wherever seals or sea-lions inhabit +a given spot, with but few exceptions, it is an easy matter to approach +individuals of the herd. The presence of an immense number of +individuals plainly begets a feeling of security and mutual support. And +let not the bison or the seal be blamed for this, for man himself +exhibits the same foolish instinct. Who has not met the woman of mature +years and full intellectual vigor who is mortally afraid to spend a +night entirely alone in her own house, but is perfectly willing to do +so, and often does do so without fear, when she can have the company of +one small and helpless child, or, what is still worse, three or four of +them! But with the approach of extermination, and the utter breaking up +of all the herds, a complete change has been wrought in the character of +the bison. At last, but alas! entirely too late, the crack of the rifle +and its accompanying puff of smoke conveyed to the slow mind of the +bison a sense of deadly danger to himself. At last he recognized man, +whether on foot or horseback, or peering at him from a coulée, as his +mortal enemy. At last he learned to run. In 1886 we found the scattered +remnant of the great northern herd the wildest and most difficult +animals to kill that we had ever hunted in any country. It had been only +through the keenest exercise of all their powers of self-preservation +that those buffaloes had survived until that late day, and we found +them almost as swift as antelopes and far more wary. The instant a +buffalo caught sight of a man, even though a mile distant, he was off at +the top of his speed, and generally ran for some wild region several +miles away. + +In our party was an experienced buffalo-hunter, who in three years had +slaughtered over three thousand head for their hides. He declared that +if he could ever catch a "bunch" at rest he could "get a stand" the same +as he used to do, and kill several head before the rest would run. It so +happened that the first time we found buffaloes we discovered a bunch of +fourteen head, lying in the sun at noon, on the level top of a low +butte, all noses pointing up the wind. We stole up within range and +fired. At the instant the first shot rang out up sprang every buffalo as +if he had been thrown upon his feet by steel springs, and in a second's +time the whole bunch was dashing away from us with the speed of +race-horses. + +Our buffalo-hunter declared that in chasing buffaloes we could count +with certainty upon their always running against the wind, for this had +always been their habit. Although this was once their habit, we soon +found that those who now represent the survival of the fittest have +learned better wisdom, and now run (1) away from their pursuer and (2) +toward the best hiding place. Now they pay no attention whatever to the +direction of the wind, and if a pursuer follows straight behind, a +buffalo may change his course three or four times in a 10-mile chase. An +old bull once led one of our hunters around three-quarters of a circle +which had a diameter of 5 or 6 miles. + +The last buffaloes were mentally as capable of taking care of themselves +as any animals I ever hunted. The power of original reasoning which they +manifested in scattering all over a given tract of rough country, like +hostile Indians when hotly pressed by soldiers, in the Indian-like +manner in which they hid from sight in deep hollows, and, as we finally +proved, in _grazing only in ravines and hollows_, proved conclusively +that _but for the use of fire-arms_ those very buffaloes would have been +actually safe from harm by man, and that they would have increased +indefinitely. As they were then, the Indians' arrows and spears could +never have been brought to bear upon them, save in rare instances, for +they had thoroughly learned to dread man and fly from him for their +lives. Could those buffaloes have been protected from rifles and +revolvers the resultant race would have displayed far more active mental +powers, keener vision, and finer physique than the extinguished race +possessed. + +In fleeing from an enemy the buffalo ran against the wind, in order that +his keen scent might save him from the disaster of running upon new +enemies; which was an idea wholly his own, and not copied by any other +animal so far as known. + +But it must be admitted that the buffalo of the past was very often a +most stupid reasoner. He would deliberately walk into a quicksand, +where hundreds of his companions were already ingulfed and in their +death-struggle. He would quit feeding, run half a mile, and rush +headlong into a moving train of cars that happened to come between him +and the main herd on the other side of the track. He allowed himself to +be impounded and slaughtered by a howling mob in a rudely constructed +pen, which a combined effort on the part of three or four old bulls +would have utterly demolished at any point. A herd of a thousand +buffaloes would allow an armed hunter to gallop into their midst, very +often within arm's-length, when any of the bulls nearest him might +easily have bowled him over and had him trampled to death in a moment. +The hunter who would ride in that manner into a herd of the Cape +buffaloes of Africa (_Bubalus caffer_) would be unhorsed and killed +before he had gone half a furlong. + +(2) _Curiosity._--The buffalo of the past possessed but little +curiosity; he was too dull to entertain many unnecessary thoughts. Had +he possessed more of this peculiar trait, which is the mark of an +inquiring mind, he would much sooner have accomplished a comprehension +of the dangers that proved his destruction. His stolid indifference to +everything he did not understand cost him his existence, although in +later years he displayed more interest in his environment. On one +occasion in hunting I staked my success with an old bull I was pursuing +on the chance that when he reached the crest of a ridge his curiosity +would prompt him to pause an instant to look at me. Up to that moment he +had had only one quick glance at me before he started to run. As he +climbed the slope ahead of me, in full view, I dismounted and made ready +to fire the instant he should pause to look at me. As I expected, he did +come to a fall stop on the crest of the ridge, and turned half around to +look at me. But for his curiosity I should have been obliged to fire at +him under very serious disadvantages. + +(3) _Fear._--With the buffalo, fear of man is now the ruling passion. +Says Colonel Dodge: "He is as timid about his flank and rear as a raw +recruit. When traveling nothing in front stops him, but an unusual +object in the rear will send him to the right-about [toward the main +body of the herd] at the top of his speed." + +(4) _Courage._--It was very seldom that the buffalo evinced any courage +save that of despair, which even cowards possess. Unconscious of his +strength, his only thought was flight, and it was only when brought to +bay that he was ready to fight. Now and then, however, in the chase, the +buffalo turned upon his pursuer and overthrew horse and rider. Sometimes +the tables were completely turned, and the hunter found his only safety +in flight. During the buffalo slaughter the butchers sometimes had +narrow escapes from buffaloes supposed to be dead or mortally wounded, +and a story comes from the great northern range south of Glendive of a +hunter who was killed by an old bull whose tongue he had actually cut +out in the belief that he was dead. + +Sometimes buffalo cows display genuine courage in remaining with their +calves in the presence of danger, although in most cases they left their +offspring to their fate. During a hunt for live buffalo calves, +undertaken by Mr. C. J. Jones of Garden City, Kans., in 1886, and very +graphically described by a staff correspondent of the American Field in +a series of articles in that journal under the title of "The Last of the +Buffalo," the following remarkable incident occurred:[41] + +[Note 41: American Field, July 24, 1886, p. 78.] + +"The last calf was caught by Carter, who roped it neatly as Mr. Jones +cut it out of the herd and turned it toward him. This was a fine heifer +calf, and was apparently the idol of her mother's heart, for the latter +came very near making a casualty the price of the capture. As soon as +the calf was roped, the old cow left the herd and charged on Carter +viciously, as he bent over his victim. Seeing the danger, Mr. Jones rode +in at just the nick of time, and drove the cow off for a moment; but she +returned again and again, and finally began charging him whenever he +came near; so that, much as he regretted it, he had to shoot her with +his revolver, which he did, killing her almost immediately." + +The mothers of the thirteen other calves that were caught by Mr. Jones's +party allowed their offspring to be "cut out," lassoed, and tied, while +they themselves devoted all their energies to leaving them as far behind +as possible. + +(5) _Affection._--While the buffalo cows manifested a fair degree of +affection for their young, the adult bulls of the herd often displayed a +sense of responsibility for the safety of the calves that was admirable, +to say the least. Those who have had opportunities for watching large +herds tell us that whenever wolves approached and endeavored to reach a +calf the old bulls would immediately interpose and drive the enemy away. +It was a well-defined habit for the bulls to form the outer circle of +every small group or section of a great herd, with the calves in the +center, well guarded from the wolves, which regarded them as their most +choice prey. + +Colonel Dodge records a remarkable incident in illustration of the +manner in which the bull buffaloes protected the calves of the herd.[42] + +[Note 42: Plains of the Great West, p. 125.] + +"The duty of protecting the calves devolved almost entirely on the +bulls. I have seen evidences of this many times, but the most remarkable +instance I have ever heard of was related to me by an army surgeon, who +was an eye-witness. + +"He was one evening returning to camp after a day's hunt, when his +attention was attracted by the curious action of a little knot of six or +eight buffalo. Approaching sufficiently near to see clearly, he +discovered that this little knot were all bulls, standing in a close +circle, with their heads outwards, while in a concentric circle at some +12 or 15 paces distant sat, licking their chaps in impatient expectancy, +at least a dozen large gray wolves (excepting man, the most dangerous +enemy of the buffalo). + +"The doctor determined to watch the performance. After a few moments +the knot broke up, and, still keeping in a compact mass, started on a +trot for the main herd, some half a mile oft". To his very great +astonishment, the doctor now saw that the central and controlling figure +of this mass was a poor little calf so newly born as scarcely to be able +to walk. After going 50 or 100 paces the calf laid down, the bulls +disposed themselves in a circle as before, and the wolves, who had +trotted along on each side of their retreating supper, sat down and +licked their chaps again; and though the doctor did not see the finale, +it being late and the camp distant, he had no doubt that the noble +fathers did their whole duty by their offspring, and carried it safely +to the herd." + +(6) _Temper._--I have asked many old buffalo hunters for facts in regard +to the temper and disposition of herd buffaloes, and all agree that they +are exceedingly quiet, peace loving, and even indolent animals at all +times save during the rutting season. Says Colonel Dodge: "The habits of +the buffalo are almost identical with those of the domestic cattle. +Owing either to a more pacific disposition, or to the greater number of +bulls, there, is very little fighting, even at the season when it might +be expected. I have been among them for days, have watched their conduct +for hours at a time, and with the very best opportunities for +observation, but have never seen a regular combat between bulls. They +frequently strike each other with their horns, but this seems to be a +mere expression of impatience at being crowded." + +In referring to the "running season" of the buffalo, Mr. Catlin says: +"It is no uncommon thing at this season, at these gatherings, to see +several thousands in a mass eddying and wheeling about under a cloud of +dust, which is raised by the bulls as they are pawing in the dirt, or +engaged in desperate combats, as they constantly are, plunging and +butting at each other in a most furious manner." + +On the whole, the disposition of the buffalo is anything but vicious. +Both sexes yield with surprising readiness to the restraints of +captivity, and in a remarkably short time become, if taken young, as +fully domesticated as ordinary cattle. Buffalo calves are as easily +tamed as domestic ones, and make very interesting pets. A prominent +trait of character in the captive buffalo is a mulish obstinacy or +headstrong perseverance under certain circumstances that is often very +annoying. When a buffalo makes up his mind to go through a fence, he is +very apt to go through, either peaceably or by force, as occasion +requires. Fortunately, however, the captive animals usually accept a +fence in the proper spirit, and treat it with a fair degree of respect. + + + + +VIII. VALUE OF THE BUFFALO TO MAN. + + +It may fairly be supposed that if the people of this country could have +been made to realize the immense money value of the great buffalo herds +as they existed in 1870, a vigorous and successful effort would have +been made to regulate and restrict the slaughter. The fur seal of +Alaska, of which about 100,000 are killed annually for their skins, +yield an annual revenue to the Government of $100,000 and add $900,000 +more to the actual wealth of the United States. It pays to protect those +seals, and we mean to protect them against all comers who seek their +unrestricted slaughter, no matter whether the poachers be American, +English, Russian, or Canadian. It would be folly to do otherwise, and if +those who would exterminate the fur seal by shooting them in the water +will not desist for the telling, then they must by the compelling. + +The fur seal is a good investment for the United States, and their +number is not diminishing. As the buffalo herds existed in 1870, 500,000 +head of bulls, young and old, could have been killed every year for a +score of years without sensibly diminishing the size of the herds. At a +low estimate these could easily have been made to yield various products +worth $5 each, as follows: Kobe, $2.50; tongue, 20 cents; meat of +hindquarters, $2; bones, horns, and hoofs, 25 cents; total, $5. And the +amount annually added to the wealth of the United States would have been +$2,500,000. + +On all the robes taken for the market, say, 200,000, the Government +could have collected a tax of 50 cents each, which would have yielded a +sum doubly sufficient to have maintained a force of mounted police fully +competent to enforce the laws regulating the slaughter. Had a contract +for the protection of the buffalo been offered at $50,000 per annum, ay, +or even half that sum, an army of competent men would have competed for +it every year, and it could have been carried out to the letter. But, as +yet, the American people have not learned to spend money for the +protection of valuable game; and by the time they do learn it, there +will be no game to protect. + +Even despite the enormous waste of raw material that ensued in the +utilization of the buffalo product, the total cash value of all the +material derived from this source, if it could only be reckoned up, +would certainly amount to many millions of dollars--perhaps twenty +millions, all told. This estimate may, to some, seem high, but when we +stop to consider that in eight years, from 1876 to 1884, a single firm, +that of Messrs. J. & A. Boskowitz, 105 Greene street, New York, paid out +the enormous sum of $923,070 (nearly one million) for robes and hides, +and that in a single year (1882) another firm, that of Joseph Ullman, +165 Mercer street, New York, paid out $216,250 for robes and hides, it +may not seem so incredible. + +Had there been a deliberate plan for the suppression of all statistics +relating to the slaughter of buffalo in the United States, and what it +yielded, the result could not have been more complete barrenness than +exists to-day in regard to this subject. There is only one railway +company which kept its books in such a manner as to show the kind and +quantity of its business at that time. Excepting this, nothing is known +definitely. + +Fortunately, enough facts and figures were recorded during the hunting +operations of the Red River half-breeds to enable us, by bringing them +all together, to calculate with sufficient exactitude the value of the +buffalo to them from 1820 to 1840. The result ought to be of interest to +all who think it is not worth while to spend money in preserving our +characteristic game animals. + +In Ross's "Red River Settlement," pp. 242-273, and Schoolcraft's "North +American Indians," Part iv, pp. 101-110, are given detailed accounts of +the conduct and results of two hunting expeditions by the half-breeds, +with many valuable statistics. On this data we base our calculation. + +Taking the result of one particular day's slaughter as an index to the +methods of the hunters in utilizing the products of the chase, we find +that while "not less than 2,500 animals were killed," out of that number +only 375 bags of pemmican and 240 bales of dried meat were made. "Now," +says Mr. Ross," making all due allowance for waste, 750 animals would +have been ample for such a result. What, then, we might ask, became of +the remaining 1,750! * * * Scarcely one-third in number of the animals +killed is turned to account." + +A bundle of dried meat weighs 60 to 70 pounds, and a bag of pemmican 100 +to 110 pounds. If economically worked up, a whole buffalo cow yields +half a bag of pemmican (about 55 pounds) and three-fourths of a bundle +of dried meat (say 45 pounds). The most economical calculate that from +eight to ten cows are required to load a single Red River cart. The +proceeds of 1,776 cows once formed 228 bags of pemmican, 1,213 bales of +dried meat, 166 sacks of tallow, each weighing 200 pounds, 556 bladders +of marrow weighing 12 pounds each, and the value of the whole was +$8,160. The total of the above statement is 132,057 pounds of buffalo +product for 1,776 cows, or within a fraction of 75 pounds to each cow. +The bulls and young animals killed were not accounted for. + +The expedition described by Mr. Ross contained 1,210 carts and 620 +hunters, and returned with 1,089,000 pounds of meat, making 900 pounds +for each cart, and 200 pounds for each individual in the expedition, of +all ages and both sexes. Allowing, as already ascertained, that of the +above quantity of product every 75 pounds represents one cow saved and +two and one third buffaloes wasted, it means that 14,520 buffaloes were +killed and utilized and 33,250 buffaloes were killed and eaten fresh or +wasted, and 47,770 buffaloes were killed by 620 hunters, or an average +of 77 buffaloes to each hunter. The total number of buffaloes killed for +each cart was 39. + +Allowing, what was actually the case, that every buffalo killed would, +if properly cared for, have yielded meat, fat, and robe worth at least +$5, the total value of the buffaloes slaughtered by that expedition +amounted to $258,850, and of which the various products actually +utilized represented a cash value of $72,001 added to the wealth of the +Red River half-breeds. + +In 1820 there went 540 carts to the buffalo plains; in 1825, 680; in +1830, 820; in 1835, 970; in 1840, 1,210. + +From 1820 to 1825 the average for each year was 610; from 1825 to 1830, +750; from 1830 to 1835, 895; from 1835 to 1840, 1,000. + +Accepting the statements of eye-witnesses that for every buffalo killed +two and one-third buffaloes are wasted or eaten on the spot, and that +every loaded cart represented thirty-nine dead buffaloes which were +worth when utilized $5 each, we have the following series of totals: + +From 1820 to 1825 five expeditions, of 610 carts each, killed 118,950 +buffaloes, worth $594,750. + +From 1825 to 1830 five expeditions, of 750 carts each, killed 146,250 +buffaloes, worth $731,250. + +From 1830 to 1835 five expeditions, of 895 carts each, killed 174,525 +buffaloes, worth $872,625. + +From 1835 to 1840 five expeditions, of 1,090 carts each, killed 212,550 +buffaloes, worth $1,062,750. + +Total number of buffaloes killed in twenty years,[43] $652,275; total +value of buffaloes killed in twenty years,[43] $3,261,375; total value +of the product utilized[43] and added to the wealth of the settlements, +$978,412. + +[Note 43: By the Red River half-breeds only.] + +The Eskimo has his seal, which yields nearly everything that he +requires; the Korak of Siberia depends for his very existence upon his +reindeer; the Ceylon native has the cocoa-nut palm, which leaves him +little else to desire, and the North American Indian had the American, +bison. If any animal was ever designed by the hand of nature for the +express purpose of supplying, at one stroke, nearly all the wants of an +entire race, surely the buffalo was intended for the Indian. + +And right well was this gift of the gods utilized by the children of +nature to whom it came. Up to the time when the United States Government +began to support our Western Indians by the payment of annuities and +furnishing quarterly supplies of food, clothing, blankets, cloth, tents, +etc., the buffalo had been the main dependence of more than 50,000 +Indians who inhabited the buffalo range and its environs. Of the many +different uses to which the buffalo and his various parts were, put by +the red man, the following were the principal ones: + +The body of the buffalo yielded fresh meat, of which thousands of tons +were consumed; dried meat, prepared in summer for winter use; pemmican +(also prepared in summer), of meat, fat, and berries; tallow, made up +into large balls or sacks, and kept in store; marrow, preserved in +bladders; and tongues, dried and smoked, and eaten as a delicacy. + +The skin of the buffalo yielded a robe, dressed with the hair on, for +clothing and bedding; a hide, dressed without the hair, which made a +teepee cover, when a number were sewn together; boats, when sewn +together in a green state, over a wooden framework. Shields, made from +the thickest portions, as rawhide; ropes, made up as rawhide; clothing +of many kinds; bags for use in traveling; coffins, or winding sheets for +the dead, etc. + +Other portions utilized were sinews, which furnished fiber for ropes, +thread, bow-strings, snow-shoe webs, etc.; hair, which was sometimes +made into belts and ornaments; "buffalo chips," which formed a valuable +and highly-prized fuel; bones, from which many articles of use and +ornament were made; horns, which were made into spoons, drinking +vessels, etc. + +After the United States Government began to support the buffalo-hunting +Indians with annuities and supplies, the woolen blanket and canvas tent +took the place of the buffalo robe and the skin-covered teepee, and +"Government beef" took the place of buffalo meat. But the slaughter of +buffaloes went on just the same, and the robes and hides taken were +traded for useless and often harmful luxuries, such as canned +provisions, fancy knickknacks, whisky, fire-arms of the most approved +pattern, and quantities of fixed ammunition. During the last ten years +of the existence of the herds it is an open question whether the buffalo +did not do our Indians more harm than good. Amongst the Crows, who were +liberally provided for by the Government, horse racing was a common +pastime, and the stakes were usually dressed buffalo robes.[44] + +[Note 44: On one occasion, which is doubtless still remembered with +bitterness by many a Crow of the Custer Agency, my old friend Jim +McNaney backed his horse Ogalalla against the horses of the whole Crow +tribe. The Crows forthwith formed a pool, which consisted of a huge pile +of buffalo robes, worth about $1,200, and with it backed their best +race-horse. He was forthwith "beaten out of sight" by Ogalalla, and +another grievance was registered against the whites.] + +The total disappearance of the buffalo has made no perceptible +difference in the annual cost of the Indians to the Government. During +the years when buffaloes were numerous and robes for the purchase of +fire-arms and cartridges were plentiful, Indian wars were frequent, and +always costly to the Government. The Indians were then quite +independent, because they could take the war path at any time and live +on buffalo indefinitely. Now, the case is very different. The last time +Sitting Bull went on the war-path and was driven up into Manitoba, he +had the doubtful pleasure of living on his ponies and dogs until he +became utterly starved out. Since his last escapade, the Sioux have been +compelled to admit that the game is up and the war-path is open to them +no longer. Should they wish to do otherwise they know that they could +survive only by killing cattle, and cattle that are guarded by cowboys +and ranchmen are no man's game. Therefore, while we no longer have to +pay for an annual campaign in force against hostile Indians, the total +absence of the buffalo brings upon the nation the entire support of the +Indian, and the cash outlay each year is as great as ever. + +The value of the American bison to civilized man can never be +calculated, nor even fairly estimated. It may with safety be said, +however, that it has been probably tenfold greater than most persons +have ever supposed. It would be a work of years to gather statistics of +the immense bulk of robes and hides, undoubtedly amounting to millions +in the aggregate; the thousands of tons of meat, and the train-loads of +bones which have been actually utilized by man. Nor can the effect of +the bison's presence upon the general development of the great West ever +be calculated. It has sunk into the great sum total of our progress, and +well nigh lost to sight forever. + +As a mere suggestion of the immense value of "the buffalo product" at +the time when it had an existence, I have obtained from two of our +leading fur houses in New York City, with branches elsewhere, a detailed +statement of their business in buffalo robes and hides during the last +few years of the trade. They not only serve to show the great value of +the share of the annual crop that passed through their hands, but that +of Messrs. J. & A. Boskowitz is of especial value, because, being +carefully itemized throughout, it shows the decline and final failure of +the trade in exact figures. I am under many obligations to both these +firms for their kindness in furnishing the facts I desired, and +especially to the Messrs. Boskowitz, who devoted considerable time and +labor to the careful compilation of the annexed statement of their +business in buffalo skins. + +_Memorandum of buffalo robes and hides bought by Messrs J. & A. +Boskowitz, 101-105 Greene Street, New York, and 202 Lake street, +Chicago, from 1876 to 1884._ + ++----------------------------------------+ +|Year | Buffalo robes. | Buffalo hides. | +| |Number.| Cost. | Number.|Cost. | ++-----+-------+---------+--------+-------+ +|1876 | 31,838| $39,620| None.| ... | +|1877 | 9,353| 35,560| None.| ... | +|1878 | 41,268| 150,600| None.| ... | +|1879 | 28,613| 110,420| None.| ... | +|1880 | 34,901| 176,200| 4,570|$13,140| +|1881 | 23,355| 151,800| 26,601| 89,030| +|1882 | 2,124| 15,600| 15,464| 44,140| +|1883 | 6,690| 29,770| 21,869| 67,190| +|1884 | None.| ...| 529| 1,720| ++-----+-------+---------+--------+-------+ +|Total|177,142|$709,570 | 69,033|215,220| ++----------------------------------------+ + +Total number of buffalo skins handled in nine years, 246,175; total +cost, $924,790. + +I have also been favored with some very interesting facts and figures +regarding the business done in buffalo skins by the firm of Mr. Joseph +Ullman, exporter and importer of furs and robes, of 165-107 Mercer +street, New York, and also 353 Jackson street, St. Paul, Minnesota. The +following letter was written me by Mr. Joseph Ullman on November 12, +1887, for which I am greatly indebted: + +"Inasmuch as you particularly desire the figures for the years 1880-'86, +I have gone through my buffalo robe and hide accounts of those years, +and herewith give you approximate figures, as there are a good many +things to be considered which make it difficult to give exact figures. + +"In 1881 we handled about 14,000 hides, average cost about $3.50, and +12,000 robes, average cost about $7.50. + +"In 1882 we purchased between 35,000 and 40,000 hides, at an average +cost of about $3.50, and about 10,000 robes, at an average cost of about +$8.50. + +"In 1883 we purchased from 6,000 to 7,000 hides and about 1,500 to 2,000 +robes at a slight advance in price against the year previous. + +"In 1884 we purchased less than 2,500 hides, and in my opinion these +were such as were carried over from the previous season in the +Northwest, and were not fresh-slaughtered skins. The collection of robes +this season was also comparatively small, and nominally robes carried +over from 1883. + +"In 1885 the collection of hides amounted to little or nothing. + +"The aforesaid goods were all purchased direct in the Northwest, that is +to say, principally in Montana, and shipped in care of our branch house +at St. Paul, Minnesota, to Joseph Ullman, Chicago. The robes mentioned +above were Indian-tanned robes and were mainly disposed of to the +jobbing trade both East and West. + +"In 1881 and the years prior, the hides were divided into two kinds, +viz, robe hides, which were such as had a good crop of fur and were +serviceable for robe purposes, and the heavy and short-furred bull +hides. The former were principally sold to the John S. Way Manufacturing +Company, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and to numerous small robe tanners, +while the latter were sold for leather purposes to various hide-tanners +throughout the United States and Canada, and brought 51/2 to 81/2 cents per +pound. A very large proportion of these latter were tanned by the Wilcox +Tanning Company, Wilcox, Pennsylvania. + +"About the fall of 1882 we established a tannery for buffalo robes in +Chicago, and from that time forth we tanned all the good hides which we +received into robes and disposed of them in the same manner as the +Indian-tanned robes. + +"I don't know that I am called upon to express an opinion as to the +benefit or disadvantage of the extermination of the buffalo, but +nevertheless take the liberty to say that I think that some proper law +restricting the unpardonable slaughter of the buffalo should have been +enacted at the time. It is a well-known fact that soon after the +Northern Pacific Railroad opened up that portion of the country, thereby +making the transportation of the buffalo hides feasible, that is to say, +reducing the cost of freight, thousands upon thousands of buffaloes were +killed for the sake of the hide alone, while the carcasses were left to +rot on the open plains. + +"The average prices paid the buffalo hunters [from 1880 to 1884] was +about as follows: For cow hides [robes!], $3; bull hides, $2.50; +yearlings, $1.50; calves, 75 cents; and the cost of getting the hides to +market brought the cost up to about $3.50 per hide." + +The amount actually paid out by Joseph Ullman, in four years, for +buffalo robes and hides was about $310,000, and this, too, long after +the great southern herd had ceased to exist, and when the northern herd +furnished the sole supply. It thus appears that during the course of +eight years business (leaving out the small sum paid out in 1884), on +the part of the Messrs. Boskowitz, and four years on that of Mr. Joseph +Ullman, these two firms alone paid out the enormous sum of $1,233,070 +for buffalo robes and hides which they purchased to sell again at a good +profit. By the time their share of the buffalo product reached the +consumers it must have represented an actual money value of about +$2,000,000. + +Besides these two firms there were at that time many others who also +handled great quantities of buffalo skins and hides for which they paid +out immense sums of money. In this country the other leading firms +engaged in this business were I. G. Baker & Co., of Fort Benton; P. B. +Weare & Co., Chicago; Obern, Hoosick & Co., Chicago and Saint Paul; +Martin Bates & Co., and Messrs. Shearer, Nichols & Co. (now Hurlburt, +Shearer & Sanford), of New York. There were also many others whose names +I am now unable to recall. + +In the British Possessions and Canada the frontier business was largely +monopolized by the Hudson's Bay Fur Company, although the annual +"output" of robes and hides was but small in comparison with that +gathered in the United States, where the herds were far more numerous. +Even in their most fruitful locality for robes--the country south of the +Saskatchewan--this company had a very powerful competitor in the firm of +I. G. Baker & Co., of Fort Benton, which secured the lion's share of the +spoil and sent it down the Missouri River. + +It is quite certain that the utilization of the buffalo product, even so +far as it was accomplished, resulted in the addition of several millions +of dollars to the wealth of the people of the United States. That the +total sum, could it be reckoned up, would amount to at least fifteen +millions, seems reasonably certain; and my own impression is that twenty +millions would be nearer the mark. It is much to be regretted that the +exact truth can never be known, for in this age of universal slaughter a +knowledge of the cash value of the wild game of the United States that +has been killed up to date might go far toward bringing about the actual +as well as the theoretical protection of what remains. + + * * * * * + +UTILIZATION OF THE BUFFALO BY WHITE MEN. + +_Robes._--Ordinarily the skin of a large ruminant is of little value in +comparison with the bulk of toothsome flesh it covers. In fattening +domestic cattle for the market, the value of the hide is so +insignificant that it amounts to no more than a butcher's perquisite in +reckoning up the value of the animal. With the buffalo, however, so +enormous was the waste of the really available product that probably +nine-tenths of the total value derived from the slaughter of the animal +came from his skin alone. Of this, about four-fifths came from the +utilization of the furry robe and one-fifth from skins classed as +"hides," which were either taken in the summer season, when the hair was +very short or almost absent, and used for the manufacture of leather and +leather goods, or else were the poorly-furred skins of old bulls. + +The season for robe-taking was from October 15 to February 15, and a +little later in the more northern latitudes. In the United States the +hair of the buffalo was still rather short up to the first of November; +but by the middle of November it was about at its finest as to length, +density, color, and freshness. The Montana hunters considered that the +finest robes were those taken from November 15 to December 15. Before +the former date the hair had not quite attained perfection in length, +and after the latter it began to show wear and lose color. The winter +storms of December and January began to leave their mark upon the robes +by the 1st of February, chiefly by giving the hair a bleached and +weathered appearance. By the middle of February the pelage was decidedly +on the wane, and the robe-hunter was also losing his energy. Often, +however, the hunt was kept up until the middle of March, until either +the deterioration of the quality of the robe, the migration of the herds +northward, or the hunter's longing to return "to town" and "clean up," +brought the hunt to an end. + +On the northern buffalo range, the hunter, or "buffalo skinner," removed +the robe in the following manner: + +When the operator had to do his work alone, which was almost always the +case, he made haste to skin his victims while they were yet warm, if +possible, and before _rigor mortis_ had set in; but, at all hazards, +before they should become hard frozen. With a warm buffalo he could +easily do his work single-handed, but with one rigid or frozen stiff it +was a very different matter. + +His first act was to heave the carcass over until it lay fairly upon its +back, with its feet up in the air. To keep it in that position he +wrenched the head violently around to one side, close against the +shoulder, at the point where the hump was highest and the tendency to +roll the greatest, and used it very effectually as a chock to keep the +body from rolling back upon its side. Having fixed the carcass in +position he drew forth his steel, sharpened his sharp-pointed +"ripping-knife," and at once proceeded to make all the opening cuts in +the skin. Each leg was girdled to the bone, about 8 inches above the +hoof, and the skin of the leg ripped open from that point along the +inside to the median line of the body. A long, straight cut was then +made along the middle of the breast and abdomen, from the root of the +tail to the chin. In skinning cows and young animals, nothing but the +skin of the forehead and nose was left on the skull, the skin of the +throat and cheeks being left on the hide; but in skinning old bulls, on +whose heads the skin was very thick and tough, the whole head was left +unskinned, to save labor and time. The skin of the neck was severed in a +circle around the neck, just behind the ears. It is these huge heads of +bushy brown hair, looking, at a little distance, quite black, in sharp +contrast with the ghastly whiteness of the perfect skeletons behind +them, which gives such a weird and ghostly appearance to the lifeless +prairies of Montana where the bone-gatherer has not yet done his perfect +work. The skulls of the cows and young buffaloes are as clean and bare +as if they had been carefully macerated, and bleached by a skilled +osteologist. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1. A DEAD BULL. From a photograph by L. A. Huffman.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 2. BUFFALO SKINNERS AT WORK. From a photograph by +L. A. Huffman.] + +The opening cuts having been made, the broad-pointed "skinning-knife" +was duly sharpened, and with it the operator fell to work to detach the +skin from the body in the shortest possible time. The tail was always +skinned and left on the hide. As soon as the skin was taken off it was +spread out on a clean, smooth, and level spot of ground, and stretched +to its fullest extent, inside uppermost. On the northern range, very few +skins were "pegged out," _i. e._, stretched thoroughly and held by means +of wooden pegs driven through the edges of the skin into the earth. It +was practiced to a limited extent on the southern range during the +latter part of the great slaughter, when buffaloes were scarce and time +abundant. Ordinarily, however, there was no time for pegging, nor were +pegs available on the range to do the work with. A warm skin stretched +on the curly buffalo-grass, hair side down, sticks to the ground of +itself until it has ample time to harden. On the northern range the +skinner always cut the initials of his outfit in the thin subcutaneous +muscle which was always found adhering to the skin on each side, and +which made a permanent and very plain mark of ownership. + +In the south, the traders who bought buffalo robes on the range +sometimes rigged up a rude press, with four upright posts and a huge +lever, in which robes that had been folded into a convenient size were +pressed into bales, like bales of cotton. These could be transported by +wagon much more economically than could loose robes. An illustration of +this process is given in an article by Theodore R. Davis, entitled "The +Buffalo Range," in _Harper's Magazine_ for January, 1869, Vol. xxxviii, +p. 163. The author describes the process as follows: + +"As the robes are secured, the trader has them arranged in lots of ten +each, with but little regard for quality other than some care that +particularly fine robes do not go too many in one lot. These piles are +then pressed into a compact bale by means of a rudely constructed affair +composed of saplings and a chain." + +On the northern range, skins were not folded until the time came to haul +them in. Then the hunter repaired to the scene of his winter's work, +with a wagon surmounted by a hay-rack (or something like it), usually +drawn by four horses. As the skins were gathered up they were folded +once, lengthwise down the middle, with the hair inside. Sometimes as +many as 100 skins were hauled at one load by four horses. + +On one portion of the northern range the classification of buffalo +peltries was substantially as follows: Under the head _of robes_ was +included all cow skins taken during the proper season, from one year old +upward, and all bull skins from one to three years old. Bull skins over +three years of age were classed as _hides_, and while the best of them +were finally tanned and used as robes, the really poor ones were +converted into leather. The large robes, when tanned, were used very +generally throughout the colder portions of North America as sleigh +robes and wraps, and for bedding in the regions of extreme cold. The +small robes, from the young animals, and likewise many large robes, were +made into overcoats, at once the warmest and the most cumbersome that +ever enveloped a human being. Thousands of old bull robes were tanned +with the hair on, and the body portions were made into overshoes, with +the woolly hair inside--absurdly large and uncouth, but very warm. + +I never wore a pair of buffalo overshoes without being torn by +conflicting emotions--mortification at the ridiculous size of my +combined foot-gear, big boots inside of huge overshoes, and supreme +comfort derived from feet that were always warm. + +Besides the ordinary robe, the hunters and fur buyers of Montana +recognized four special qualities, as follows: + +The "beaver robe," with exceedingly fine, wavy fur, the color of a +beaver, and having long, coarse, straight hairs coming through it. The +latter were of course plucked out in the process of manufacture. These +were very rare. In 1882 Mr. James McNaney took one, a cow robe, the only +one out of 1,200 robes taken that season, and sold it for $75, when +ordinary robes fetched only $3.50. + +The "black-and-tan robe" is described as having the nose, flanks, and +inside of fore legs black-and-tan (whatever that may mean), while the +remainder of the robe is jet black. + +A "buckskin robe" is from what is always called a "white buffalo," and +is in reality a dirty cream color instead of white. A robe of this +character sold in Miles City in 1882 for $200, and was the only one of +that character taken on the northern range during that entire winter. A +very few pure white robes have been taken, so I have been told, chiefly +by Indians, but I have never seen one. + +A "blue robe" or "mouse-colored (?) robe" is one on which the body color +shows a decidedly bluish cast, and at the same time has long, fine fur. +Out of his 1,200 robes taken in 1882, Mr. McNaney picked out 12 which +passed muster as the much sought for blue robes, and they sold at $16 +each. + +As already intimated, the price paid on the range for ordinary buffalo +skins varied according to circumstances, and at different periods, and +in different localities, ranged all the way from 65 cents to $10. The +latter figure was paid in Texas in 1887 for the last lot of "robes" ever +taken. The lowest prices ever paid were during the tremendous slaughter +which annihilated the southern herd. Even as late as 1876, in the +southern country, cow robes brought on the range only from 65 to 90 +cents, and bull robes $1.15. On the northern range, from 1881 to 1883, +the prices paid were much higher, ranging from $2.50 to $4. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1. FIVE MINUTES' WORK. Photographed by L. A. Huffman.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 2. SCENE ON THE NORTHERN BUFFALO RANGE. Photographed +by L. A. Huffman.] + +A few hundred dressed robes still remain in the hands of some of the +largest fur dealers in New York, Chicago, and Montreal, which can be +purchased at prices much lower than one would expect, considering the +circumstances. In 1888, good robes, Indian tanned, were offered in New +York at prices ranging from $15 to $30, according to size and quality, +but in Montreal no first-class robes were obtainable at less than $40. + +_Hides._--Next in importance to robes was the class of skins known +commercially as hides. Under this head were classed all skins which for +any reason did not possess the pelage necessary to a robe, and were +therefore fit only for conversion into leather. Of these, the greater +portion consisted of the skins of old bulls on which the hair was of +poor quality and the skin itself too thick and heavy to ever allow of +its being made into a soft, pliable, and light-weight robe. The +remaining portion of the hides marketed were from buffaloes killed in +spring and summer, when the body and hindquarters ware almost naked. +Apparently the quantity of summer-killed hides marketed was not very +great, for it was only the meanest and most unprincipled ones of the +grand army of buffalo-killers who were mean enough to kill buffaloes in +summer simply for their hides. It is said that at one time +summer-killing was practiced on the southern range to an extent that +became a cause for alarm to the great body of more respectable hunters, +and the practice was frowned upon so severely that the wretches who +engaged in it found it wise to abandon it. + +_Bones._--Next in importance to robes and hides was the bone product, +the utilization of which was rendered possible by the rigorous climate +of the buffalo plains. Under the influence of the wind and sun and the +extremes of heat and cold, the flesh remaining upon a carcass dried up, +disintegrated, and fell to dust, leaving the bones of almost the entire +skeleton as clean and bare as if they had been stripped of flesh by some +powerful chemical process. Very naturally, no sooner did the live +buffaloes begin to grow scarce than the miles of bleaching' bones +suggested the idea of finding a use for them. A market was readily found +for them in the East, and the prices paid per ton were sufficient to +make the business of bone-gathering quite remunerative. The bulk of the +bone product was converted into phosphate for fertilizing purposes, but +much of it was turned into carbon for use in the refining of sugar. + +The gathering of bones became a common industry as early as 1872, during +which year 1,135,300 pounds were shipped over the Atchison, Topeka and +Santa Fé Railroad. In the year following the same road shipped 2,743,100 +pounds, and in 1874 it handled 6,914,950 pounds more. This trade +continued from that time on until the plains have been gleaned so far +back from the railway lines that it is no longer profitable to seek +them. For that matter, however, it is said that south of the Union +Pacific nothing worth the seeking now remains. + +The building of the Northern Pacific Railway made possible the shipment +of immense quantities of dry bones. Even as late as 1886 overland +travelers saw at many of the stations between Jamestown, Dakota, and +Billings, Montana, immense heaps of bones lying alongside the track +awaiting shipment. In 1885 a single firm shipped over 200 tons of bones +from Miles City. + +The valley of the Missouri River was gleaned by teamsters who gathered +bones from as far back as 100 miles and hauled them to the river for +shipment on the steamers. An operator who had eight wagons in the +business informed me that in order to ship bones on the river steamers +it was necessary to crush them, and that for crushed bones, shipped in +bags, a Michigan fertilizer company paid $18 per ton. Uncrushed bones, +shipped by the railway, sold for $12 per ton. + +It is impossible to ascertain the total amount or value of the bone +product, but it is certain that it amounted to many thousand tons, and +in value must have amounted to some hundreds of thousands of dollars. +But for the great number of railroads, river steamers, and sea-going +vessels (from Texas ports) engaged in carrying this product, it would +have cut an important figure in the commerce of the country, but owing +to the many interests between which it was divided it attracted little +attention. + +_Meat._--The amount of fresh buffalo meat cured and marketed was really +very insignificant. So long as it was to be had at all it was so very +abundant that it was worth only from 2 to 3 cents per pound in the +market, and many reasons combined to render the trade in fresh buffalo +meat anything but profitable. Probably not more than one one-thousandth +of the buffalo meat that might have been saved and utilized was saved. +The buffalo carcasses that were wasted on the great plains every year +during the two great periods of slaughter (of the northern and southern +herds) would probably have fed to satiety during the entire time more +than a million persons. + +As to the quality of buffalo meat, it may be stated in general terms +that it differs in no way whatever from domestic beef of the same age +produced by the same kind of grass. Perhaps there is no finer grazing +ground in the world than Montana, and the beef it produces is certainly +entitled to rank with the best. There are many persons who claim to +recognize a difference between the taste of buffalo meat and domestic +beef; but for my part I do not believe any difference really exists, +unless it is that the flesh of the buffalo is a little sweeter and more +juicy. As for myself, I feel certain I could not tell the difference +between the flesh of a three-year old buffalo and that of a domestic +beef of the same age, nor do I believe any one else could, even on a +wager. Having once seen a butcher eat an elephant steak in the belief +that it was beef from his own shop, and another butcher eat _loggerhead +turtle_ steak for beef, I have become somewhat skeptical in regard to +the intelligence of the human palate. + +As a matter of experiment, during our hunt for buffalo we had buffalo +meat of all ages, from one year up to eleven, cooked in as many +different ways as our culinary department could turn out. We had it +broiled, fried with batter, roasted, boiled, and stewed. The last +method, when employed upon slices of meat that had been hacked from a +frozen hind-quarter, produced results that were undeniably tough and not +particularly good. But it was an unfair way to cook any kind of meat, +and may be guarantied to spoil the finest beef in the world. + +Hump meat from a cow buffalo not too old, cut in slices and fried in +batter, _a la cowboy_, is delicious--a dish fit for the gods. We had +tongues in plenty, but the ordinary meat was so good they were not half +appreciated. Of course the tenderloin was above criticism, and even the +round steaks, so lightly esteemed by the epicure, were tender and juicy +to a most satisfactory degree. + +It has been said that the meat of the buffalo has a coarser texture or +"grain" than domestic beef. Although I expected to find such to be the +case, I found no perceptible difference whatever, nor do I believe that +any exists. As to the distribution of fat I am unable to say, for the +reason that our buffaloes were not fat. + +It is highly probable that the distribution of fat through the meat, so +characteristic of the shorthorn breeds, and which has been brought about +only by careful breeding, is not found in either the beef of the buffalo +or common range cattle. In this respect, shorthorn beef no doubt +surpasses both the others mentioned, but in all other points, texture, +flavor, and general tenderness, I am very sure it does not. + +It is a great mistake for a traveler to kill a patriarchal old bull +buffalo, and after attempting to masticate a small portion of him to +rise up and declare that buffalo meat is coarse, tough, and dry. A +domestic bull of the same age would taste as tough. It is probably only +those who have had the bad taste to eat bull-beef who have ever found +occasion to asperse the reputation of _Bison americanus_ as a beef +animal. + +Until people got tired of them, buffalo tongues were in considerable +demand, and hundreds, if not even thousands, of barrels of them were +shipped east from the buffalo country. + +_Pemmican._--Out of the enormous waste of good buffalo flesh one product +stands forth as a redeeming feature--pemmican. Although made almost +exclusively by the half-breeds and Indians of the Northwest it +constituted a regular article of commerce of great value to overland +travelers, and was much sought for as long as it was produced. Its +peculiar "staying powers," due to the process of its manufacture, which +yielded a most nourishing food in a highly condensed form, made it of +inestimable value to the overland traveler who must travel light or not +at all. A handful of pemmican was sufficient food to constitute a meal +when provisions were at all scarce. The price of pemmican in Winnipeg +was once as low as 2d. per pound, but in 1883 a very small quantity +which was brought in sold at 10 cents per pound. This was probably the +last buffalo pemmican made. H. M. Robinson states that in 1878 pemmican +was worth 1s. 3d. per pound. + +The manufacture of pemmican, as performed by the Red River half-breeds, +was thus described by the Rev. Mr. Belcourt, a Catholic priest, who once +accompanied one of the great buffalo-hunting expeditions:[45] + +[Note 45: Schoolcraft's History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian +Tribes, iv, p. 107.] + +"Other portions which are destined to be made into pimikehigan, or +pemmican, are exposed to an ardent heat, and thus become brittle and +easily reducible to small particles by the use of a flail, the +buffalo-hide answering the purpose of a threshing-floor. The fat or +tallow, being cut up and melted in large kettles of sheet iron, is +poured upon this pounded meat, and the whole mass is worked together +with shovels until it is well amalgamated, when it is pressed, while +still warm, into bags made of buffalo skin, which are strongly sewed up, +and the mixture gradually cools and becomes almost as hard as a rock. If +the fat used in this process is that taken from the parts containing the +udder, the meat is called fine pemmican. In some cases, dried fruits, +such as the prairie pear and cherry, are intermixed, which forms what is +called seed pemmican. Tho lovers of good eating judge the first +described to be very palatable; the second, better; the third, +excellent. A taurean of pemmican weighs from 100 to 110 pounds. Some +idea may be formed of the immense destruction of buffalo by these people +when it is stated that a whole cow yields one-half a bag of pemmican and +three fourths of a bundle of dried meat; so that the most economical +calculate that from eight to ten cows are required for the load of a +single vehicle." + +It is quite evident from the testimony of disinterested travelers that +ordinary pemmican was not very palatable to one unaccustomed to it as a +regular article of food. To the natives, however, especially the +Canadian _voyageur_, it formed one of the most valuable food products of +the country, and it is said that the demand for it was generally greater +than the supply. + +_Dried, or "jerked" meat._--The most popular and universal method of +curing buffalo meat was to cut it into thin flakes, an inch or less in +thickness and of indefinite length, and without salting it in the least +to hang it over poles, ropes, wicker-frames, or even clumps of standing +sage brush, and let it dry in the sun. This process yielded the famous +"jerked" meat so common throughout the West in the early days, from the +Rio Grande to the Saskatchewan. Father Belcourt thus described the +curing process as it was practiced by the half-breeds and Indians of the +Northwest: + +"The meat, when taken to camp, is cut by the women into long strips +about a quarter of an inch thick, which are hung upon the lattice-work +prepared for that purpose to dry. This lattice-work is formed of small +pieces of wood, placed horizontally, transversely, and equidistant from +each other, not unlike an immense gridiron, and is supported by wooden +uprights (trepieds). In a few days the meat is thoroughly desiccated, +when it is bent into proper lengths and tied into bundles of 60 or 70 +pounds weight. This is called dried meat (viande seche). To make the +hide into parchment (so called) it is stretched on a frame, and then +scraped on the inside with a piece of sharpened bone and on the outside +with a small but sharp-curved iron, proper to remove the hair. This is +considered, likewise, the appropriate labor of women. The men break the +bones, which are boiled in water to extract the marrow to be used for +frying and other culinary purposes. The oil is then poured into the +bladder of the animal, which contains, when filled, about 12 pounds, +being the yield of the marrow-bones of two buffaloes." + +In the Northwest Territories dried meat, which formerly sold at 2_d._ +per pound, was worth in 1878 10_d._ per pound. + +Although I have myself prepared quite a quantity of jerked buffalo meat, +I never learned to like it. Owing to the absence of salt in its curing, +the dried meat when pounded and made into a stew has a "far away" taste +which continually reminds one of hoofs and horns. For all that, and +despite its resemblance in flavor to Liebig's Extract of Beef, it is +quite good, and better to the taste than ordinary pemmican. + +The Indians formerly cured great quantities of buffalo meat in this +way--in summer, of course, for use in winter--but the advent of that +popular institution called "Government beef" long ago rendered it +unnecessary for the noble red man to exert his squaw in that once +honorable field of labor. + +During the existence of the buffalo herds a few thrifty and enterprising +white men made a business of killing buffaloes in summer and drying the +meat in bulk, in the same manner which to-day produces our popular +"dried beef." Mr. Allen states that "a single hunter at Hays City +shipped annually for some years several hundred barrels thus prepared, +which the consumers probably bought for ordinary beef." + +_Uses of bison's hair._--Numerous attempts have been made to utilize the +woolly hair of the bison in the manufacture of textile fabrics. As early +as 1729 Col. William Byrd records the fact that garments were made of +this material, as follows: + +"The Hair growing upon his Head and Neck is long and Shagged, and so +Soft that it will spin into Thread not unlike Mohair, and might be wove +into a sort of Camlet. Some People have Stockings knit of it, that would +have served an Israelite during his forty Years march thro' the +Wilderness."[46] + +[Note 46: Westover MSS., i, p. 172.] + +In 1637 Thomas Morton published, in his "New English Canaan," p. 98,[47] +the following reference to the Indians who live on the southern shore of +Lake Erocoise, supposed to be Lake Ontario: + +[Note 47: Quoted by Professor Allen, "American Bisons," p. 107.] + +"These Beasts [buffaloes, undoubtedly] are of the bignesse of a Cowe, +their flesh being very good foode, their hides good lether, their +fleeces very usefull, being a kind of wolle, as fine as the wolle of the +Beaver, and the Salvages doe make garments thereof." + +Professor Allen quotes a number of authorities who have recorded +statements in regard to the manufacture of belts, garters, scarfs, +sacks, etc., from buffalo wool by various tribes of Indians.[48] He also +calls attention to the only determined efforts ever made by white men on +a liberal scale for the utilization of buffalo "wool" and its +manufacture into cloth, an account of which appears in Ross's "Red River +Settlement," pp. 69-72. In 1821 some of the more enterprising of the Red +River (British) colonists conceived the idea of making fortunes out of +the manufacture of woolen goods from the fleece of the buffalo, and for +that purpose organized the Buffalo Wool Company, the principal object of +which was declared to be "to provide a substitute for wool, which +substitute was to be the wool of the wild buffalo, which was to be +collected in the plains and manufactured both for the use of the +colonists and for export." A large number of skilled workmen of various +kinds were procured from England, and also a plant of machinery and +materials. When too late, it was found that the supply of buffalo wool +obtainable was utterly insufficient, the raw wool costing the company +1_s._ 6_d._ per pound, and cloth which it cost the company £2 10_s._ +per yard to produce was worth only 4_s._ 6_d._ per yard in England. The +historian states that universal drunkenness on the part of all concerned +aided very materially in bringing about the total failure of the +enterprise in a very short time. + +[Note 48: The American Bison, p. 197.] + +While it is possible to manufacture the fine, woolly fur of the bison +into cloth or knitted garments, provided a sufficient supply of the raw +material could be obtained (which is and always has been impossible), +nothing could be more visionary than an attempt to thus produce salable +garments at a profit. + +Articles of wearing apparel made of buffalo's hair are interesting as +curiosities, for their rarity makes them so, but that is the only end +they can ever serve so long as there is a sheep living. + +In the National Museum, in the section of animal products, there is +displayed a pair of stockings made in Canada from the finest buffalo +wool, from the body of the animal. They are thick, heavy, and full of +the coarse, straight hairs, which it seems can never be entirely +separated from the fine wool. In general texture they are as coarse as +the coarsest sheep's wool would produce. + +With the above are also displayed a rope-like lariat, made by the +Comanche Indians, and a smaller braided lasso, seemingly a sample more +than a full-grown lariat, made by the Otoe Indians of Nebraska. Both of +the above are made of the long, dark-brown hair of the head and +shoulders, and in spite of the fact that they have been twisted as hard +as possible, the ends of the hairs protrude so persistently that the +surface of each rope is extremely hairy. + +_Buffalo chips._--Last, but by no means least in value to the traveler +on the treeless plains, are the droppings of the buffalo, universally +known as "buffalo chips." When over one year old and thoroughly dry, +this material makes excellent fuel. Usually it occurs only where +fire-wood is unobtainable, and thousands of frontiersmen have a million +times found it of priceless value. When dry, it catches easily, burns +readily, and makes a hot fire with but very little smoke, although it is +rapidly consumed. Although not as good for a fire as even the poorest +timber it is infinitely better than sage-brush, which, in the absence of +chips, is often the traveler's last resort. + +It usually happens that chips are most-abundant in the sheltered +creek-bottoms and near the water-holes, the very situations which +travelers naturally select for their camps. In these spots the herds +have gathered either for shelter in winter or for water in summer, and +remained in a body for some hours. And now, when the cowboy on the +round-up, the surveyor, or hunter, who must camp out, pitches his tent +in the grassy coulée or narrow creek-bottom, his first care is to start +out with his largest gunning bag to "rustle some buffalo chips" for a +campfire. He, at least, when he returns well laden with the spoil of his +humble chase, still has good reason to remember the departed herd with +feelings of gratitude. Thus even the last remains of this most useful +animal are utilized by man in providing for his own imperative wants. + + + + +IX. THE PRESENT VALUE OF THE BISON TO CATTLE-GROWERS. + + +_The bison in captivity and domestication._--Almost from time immemorial +it has been known that the American bison takes kindly to captivity, +herds contentedly with domestic cattle, and crosses with them with the +utmost readiness. It was formerly believed, and indeed the tradition +prevails even now to quite an extent, that on account of the hump on the +shoulders a domestic cow could not give birth to a half-breed calf. This +belief is entirely without foundation, and is due to theories rather +than facts. + +Numerous experiments in buffalo breeding have been made, and the subject +is far from being a new one. As early as 1701 the Huguenot settlers at +Manikintown, on the James River, a few miles above Richmond, began to +domesticate buffaloes. It is also a matter of historical record that in +1786, or thereabouts, buffaloes were domesticated and bred in captivity +in Virginia, and Albert Gallatin states that in some of the northwestern +counties the mixed breed was quite common. In 1815 a series of elaborate +and valuable experiments in cross-breeding the buffalo and domestic +cattle was begun by Mr. Robert Wickliffe, of Lexington, Ky., and +continued by him for upwards of thirty years.[49] + +[Note 49: For a full account of Mr. Wickliffe's experiments, written +by himself, see Audubon and Bachman's "Quadrupeds of North America," +vol. ii, pp. 52-54.] + +Quite recently the buffalo-breeding operations of Mr. S. L. Bedson, of +Stony Mountain, Manitoba, and Mr. C. J. Jones, of Garden City, Kans., +have attracted much attention, particularly for the reason that the +efforts of both these gentlemen have been directed toward the practical +improvement of the present breeds of range cattle. For this reason the +importance of the work in which they are engaged can hardly be +overestimated, and the results already obtained by Mr. Bedson, whose +experiments antedate those of Mr. Jones by several years, are of the +greatest interest to western cattle-growers. Indeed, unless the stock of +pure-blood buffaloes now remaining proves insufficient for the purpose, +I fully believe that we will gradually see a great change wrought in the +character of western cattle by the introduction of a strain of buffalo +blood. + +The experiments which have been made thus far prove conclusively that-- + +(1) The male bison crosses readily with the opposite sex of domestic +cattle, but a buffalo cow has never been known to produce a half-breed +calf. + +(2) The domestic cow produces a half-breed calf successfully. + +(3) The progeny of the two species is fertile to any extent, yielding +half-breeds, quarter, three-quarter breeds, and so on. + +(4) The bison breeds in captivity with perfect regularity and success. + +_Need of an improvement in range cattle._--Ever since the earliest days +of cattle-ranching in the West, stockmen have had it in their power to +produce a breed which would equal in beef-bearing qualities the best +breeds to be found upon the plains, and be so much better calculated to +survive the hardships of winter, that their annual losses would have +been very greatly reduced. Whenever there is an unusually severe winter, +such as comes about three times in every decade, if not even oftener, +range cattle perish by thousands. It is an absolute impossibility for +every ranchman who owns several thousand, or even several hundred, head +of cattle to provide hay for them, even during the severest portion of +the winter season, and consequently the cattle must depend wholly upon +their own resources. When the winter is reasonably mild, and the snows +never very deep, nor lying too long at a time on the ground, the cattle +live through the winter with very satisfactory success. Thanks to the +wind, it usually happens that the falling snow is blown off the ridges +as fast as it falls, leaving the grass sufficiently uncovered for the +cattle to feed upon it. If the snow-fall is universal, but not more than +a few inches in depth, the cattle paw through it here and there, and eke +out a subsistence, on quarter rations it may be, until a friendly +chinook wind sets in from the southwest and dissolves the snow as if by +magic in a few hours' time. + +But when a deep snow comes, and lies on the ground persistently, week in +and week out, when the warmth of the sun softens and moistens its +surface sufficiently for a returning cold wave to freeze it into a hard +crust, forming a universal wall of ice between the luckless steer and +his only food, the cattle starve and freeze in immense numbers. Being +totally unfitted by nature to survive such unnatural conditions, it is +not strange that they succumb. + +Under present conditions the stockman simply stakes his cattle against +the winter elements and takes his chances on the results, which are +governed by circumstances wholly beyond his control. The losses of the +fearful winter of 1886-'87 will probably never be forgotten by the +cattlemen of the great Western grazing ground. In many portions of +Montana and Wyoming the cattlemen admitted a loss of 50 per cent of +their cattle, and in some localities the loss was still greater. The +same conditions are liable to prevail next winter, or any succeeding +winter, and we may yet see more than half the range cattle in the West +perish in a single month. + +Yet all this time the cattlemen have had it in their power, by the +easiest and simplest method in the world, to introduce a strain of hardy +native blood in their stock which would have made it capable of +successfully resisting a much greater degree of hunger and cold. It is +really surprising that the desirability of cross-breeding the buffalo +and domestic cattle should for so long a time have been either +overlooked or disregarded. While cattle-growers generally have shown the +greatest enterprise in producing special breeds for milk, for butter, or +for beef, cattle with short horns and cattle with no horns at all, only +two or three men have had the enterprise to try to produce a breed +particularly hardy and capable. + +A buffalo can weather storms and outlive hunger and cold which would +kill any domestic steer that ever lived. When nature placed him on the +treeless and blizzard-swept plains, she left him well equipped to +survive whatever natural conditions he would have to encounter. The most +striking feature of his entire _tout ensemble_ is his magnificent suit +of hair and fur combined, the warmest covering possessed by any +quadruped save the musk-ox. The head, neck, and fore quarters are +clothed with hide and hair so thick as to be almost, if not entirely, +impervious to cold. The hair on the body and hind quarters is long, +fine, very thick, and of that peculiar woolly quality which constitutes +the best possible protection against cold. Let him who doubts the warmth +of a good buffalo robe try to weather a blizzard with something else, +and then try the robe. The very form of the buffalo--short, thick legs, +and head hung very near the ground--suggests most forcibly a special +fitness to wrestle with mother earth for a living, snow or no snow. A +buffalo will flounder for days through deep snow-drifts without a morsel +of food, and survive where the best range steer would literally freeze +on foot, bolt upright, as hundreds did in the winter of 1886-'87. While +range cattle turn tail to a blizzard and drift helplessly, the buffalo +faces it every time, and remains master of the situation. + +It has for years been a surprise to me that Western stockmen have not +seized upon the opportunity presented by the presence of the buffalo to +improve the character of their cattle. Now that there are no longer any +buffalo calves to be had on the plains for the trouble of catching them, +and the few domesticated buffaloes that remain are worth fabulous +prices, we may expect to see a great deal of interest manifested in this +subject, and some costly efforts made to atone for previous lack of +forethought. + +_The character of the buffalo-domestic hybrid._--The subjoined +illustration from a photograph kindly furnished by Mr. C. J. Jones, +represents a ten months' old half-breed calf (male), the product of a +buffalo bull and domestic cow. The prepotency of the sire is apparent at +the first glance, and to so marked an extent that the illustration would +pass muster anywhere as having been drawn from a full-blood buffalo. The +head, neck, and hump, and the long woolly hair that covers them, +proclaim the buffalo in every line. Excepting that the hair on the +shoulders (below the hump) is of the same length as that on the body and +hind quarters, there is, so far as one can judge from an excellent +photograph, no difference whatever observable between this lusty young +half-breed and a full blood buffalo calf of the same age and sex. Mr. +Jones describes the color of this animal as "iron-gray," and remarks: +"You will see how even the fur is, being as long on the hind parts as on +the shoulders and neck, very much unlike the buffalo, which is so shaggy +about the shoulders and so thin farther back." Upon this point it is to +be remarked that the hair on the body of a yearling or two year-old +buffalo is always very much longer in proportion to the hair on the +forward parts than it is later in life, and while the shoulder hair is +always decidedly longer than that back of it, during the first two years +the contrast is by no means so very great. A reference to the memoranda +of hair measurements already given will afford precise data on this +point. + +In regard to half-breed calves, Mr. Bedson states in a private letter +that "the hump does not appear until several months after birth." + +Altogether, the male calf described above so strongly resembles a +pure-blood buffalo as to be generally mistaken for one; the form of the +adult half-blood cow promptly proclaims her origin. The accompanying +plate, also from a photograph supplied by Mr. Jones, accurately +represents a half-breed cow, six years old, weighing about 1,800 pounds. +Her body is very noticeably larger in proportion than that of the cow +buffalo, her pelvis much heavier, broader, and more cow-like, therein +being a decided improvement upon the small and weak hind quarters of the +wild species. The hump is quite noticeable, but is not nearly so high as +in the pure buffalo cow. The hair on the fore quarters, neck, and head +is decidedly shorter, especially on the head; the frontlet and chin +beard being conspicuously lacking. The tufts of long, coarse, black hair +which clothe the fore-arm of the buffalo cow are almost absent, but +apparently the hair on the body and hind quarters has lost but little, +if any, of its length, density, and fine, furry quality. The horns are +decidedly cow-like in their size, length, and curvature. + +[Illustration: HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DOMESTIC) CALF.--HERD OF C. J. JONES, +GARDEN CITY, KANSAS. Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.] + +Regarding the general character of the half-breed buffalo, and his herd +in general, Mr. Bedson writes me as follows, in a letter dated September +12, 1888: + +"The nucleus of my herd consisted of a young buffalo bull and four +heifer calves, which I purchased in 1877, and the increase from these +few has been most rapid, as will be shown by a tabular statement farther +on. + +"Success with the breeding of the pure buffalo was followed by +experiments in crossing with the domestic animal. This crossing has +generally been between a buffalo bull and an ordinary cow, and with the +most encouraging results, since it had been contended by many that +although the cow might breed a calf from the buffalo, yet it would be at +the expense of her life, owing to the hump on a buffalo's shoulder; but +this hump does not appear until several months after birth. This has +been proved a fallacy respecting _this herd_ at least, for calving has +been attended with no greater percentage of losses than would be +experienced in ranching with the ordinary cattle. Buffalo cows and +crosses have dropped calves at as low a temperature as 20° below zero, +and the calves were sturdy and healthy. + +"The half breed resulting from the cross as above mentioned has been +again crossed with the thoroughbred buffalo bull, producing a three +quarter breed animal closely resembling the buffalo, the head and robe +being quite equal, if not superior. The half-breeds are very prolific. +The cows drop a calf annually. They are also very hardy indeed, as they +take the instinct of the buffalo during the blizzards and storms, and do +not drift like native cattle. They remain upon the open prairie during +our severest winters, while the thermometer ranges from 30 to 40 degrees +below zero, with little or no food except what they rustled on the +prairie, and no shelter at all. In nearly all the ranching parts of +North America foddering and housing of cattle is imperative in a more or +less degree,[50] creating an item of expense felt by all interested in +cattle-raising; but the buffalo [half]breed retains all its native +hardihood, needs no housing, forages in the deepest snows for its own +food, yet becomes easily domesticated, and consequently needs but little +herding. Therefore the progeny of the buffalo is easily reared, cheaply +fed, and requires no housing in winter; three very essential points in +stock-raising. + +[Note 50: On nearly all the great cattle ranches of the United States +it is absolutely impossible, and is not even attempted.--W. T. H.] + +"They are always in good order, and I consider the meat of the +half-breed much preferable to domestic animals, while the robe is very +fine indeed, the fur being evened up on the hind parts, the same as on +the shoulders. During the history of the herd, accident and other causes +have compelled the slaughtering of one or two, and in these instances +the carcasses have sold for 18 cents per pound; the hides in their +dressed state for $50 to $75 each. A half-breed buffalo ox (four years +old, crossed with buffalo bull and Durham cow) was killed last winter, +and weighed 1,280 pounds dressed beef. One pure buffalo bull now in my +herd weighs fully 2,000 pounds, and a [half]breed bull 1,700 to 1,800 +pounds. + +"The three-quarter breed is an enormous animal in size, and has an extra +good robe, which will readily bring $40 to $50 in any market where there +is a demand for robes. They are also very prolific, and I consider them +the coming cattle for our range cattle for the Northern climate, while +the half and quarter breeds will be the animals for the more Southern +district. The half and three-quarter breed cows, when really matured, +will weigh from 1,400 to 1,800 pounds. + +"I have never crossed them except with a common grade of cows, while I +believe a cross with the Galloways would produce the handsomest robe +ever handled, and make the best range cattle in the world. I have not +had time to give my attention to my herd, more than to let them range on +the prairies at will. By proper care great results can be accomplished." + +Hon. C. J. Jones, of Garden City, Kans., whose years of experience with +the buffalo, both as old-time hunter, catcher, and breeder, has earned +for him the sobriquet of "Buffalo Jones," five years ago became deeply +interested in the question of improving range cattle by crossing with +the buffalo. With characteristic Western energy he has pursued the +subject from that time until the present, having made five trips to the +range of the only buffaloes remaining from the great southern herd, and +captured sixty-eight buffalo calves and eleven adult cows with which to +start a herd. In a short article published in the Farmers' Review +(Chicago, August 22, 1888), Mr. Jones gives his views on the value of +the buffalo in cross-breeding as follows: + +"In all my meanderings I have not found a place but I could count more +carcasses [of cattle] than living animals. Who has not ridden over some +of the Western railways and counted dead cattle by the thousands? The +great question is, Where can we get a race of cattle that will stand +blizzards, and endure the drifting snow, and will not be driven with the +storms against the railroad fences and pasture fences, there to perish +for the want of nerve to face the northern winds for a few miles, to +where the winter grasses could be had in abundance? Realizing these +facts, both from observation and pocket, we pulled on our 'thinking +cap,' and these points came vividly to our mind: + +"(1) We want an animal that is hardy. + +"(2) We want an animal with nerve and endurance. + +"(3) We want an animal that faces the blizzards and endures the storms. + +"(4) We want an animal that will rustle the prairies, and not yield to +discouragement. + +"(5) We want an animal that will fill the above bill, and make good +beef and plenty of it. + +[Illustration: HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DOMESTIC) COW.--HERD OF C. J. JONES, +GARDEN CITY, KANSAS. Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.] + +"All the points above could easily be found in the buffalo, excepting +the fifth, and even that is more than filled as to the quality, but not +in quantity. Where is the 'old timer' who has not had a cut from the +hump or sirloin of a fat buffalo cow in the fall of the year, and where +is the one who will not make affidavit that it was the best meat he ever +ate? Yes, the fat was very rich, equal to the marrow from the bone of +domestic cattle. * * * + +"The great question remained unsolved as to the quantity of meat from +the buffalo. I finally heard of a half-breed buffalo in Colorado, and +immediately set out to find it. I traveled at least 1,000 miles to find +it, and found a five-year-old half-breed cow that had been bred to +domestic bulls and had brought forth two calves--a yearling and a +sucking calf that gave promise of great results. + +"The cow had never been fed, but depended altogether on the range, and +when I saw her, in the fall of 1883. I estimated her weight at 1,800 +pounds. She was a brindle, and had a handsome robe even in September; +she had as good hind quarters as ordinary cattle; her foreparts were +heavy and resembled the buffalo, yet not near so much of the hump. The +offspring showed but very little of the buffalo, yet they possessed a +woolly coat, which showed clearly that they were more than domestic +cattle. * * * + +"What we can rely on by having one-fourth, one-half, and three-fourths +breeds might be analyzed as follows: + +"We can depend upon a race of cattle unequaled in the world for +hardiness and durability; a good meat-bearing animal; the best and only +fur-bearing animal of the bovine race; the animal always found in a +storm where it is overtaken by it; a race of cattle so clannish as never +to separate and go astray; the animal that can always have free range, +as they exist where no other animal can live; the animal that can water +every third day and keep fat, ranging from 20 to 30 miles from water; in +fact, they are the perfect animal for the plains of North America. +One-fourth breeds for Texas, one-half breeds for Colorado and Kansas, +and three-fourths breeds for more northern country, is what will soon be +sought after more than any living animal. Then we will never be +confronted with dead carcarsses from starvation, exhaustion, and lack of +nerve, as in years gone by." + +_The bison as a beast of burden._--On account of the abundance of horses +for all purposes throughout the entire country, oxen are so seldom used +they almost constitute a curiosity. There never has existed a necessity +to break buffaloes to the yoke and work them like domestic oxen, and so +few experiments have been made in this direction that reliable data on +this subject is almost wholly wanting. While at Miles City, Mont., I +heard of a German "granger" who worked a small farm in the Tongue River +Valley, and who once had a pair of cow buffaloes trained to the yoke. +It was said that they were strong, rapid walkers, and capable of +performing as much work as the best domestic oxen, but they were at +times so uncontrollably headstrong and obstinate as to greatly detract +from their usefulness. The particular event of their career on which +their historian dwelt with special interest occurred when their owner +was hauling a load of potatoes to town with them. In the course of the +long drive the buffaloes grew very thirsty, and upon coming within sight +of the water in the river they started for it in a straight course. The +shouts and blows of the driver only served to hasten their speed, and +presently, when they reached the edge of the high bank, they plunged +down it without the slightest hesitation, wagon, potatoes, and all, to +the loss of everything except themselves and the drink they went after! + +Mr. Robert Wickliffe states that trained buffaloes make satisfactory +oxen. "I have broken them to the yoke, and found them capable of making +excellent oxen; and for drawing wagons, carts, or other heavily laden +vehicles on long journeys they would, I think, be greatly preferable to +the common ox." + +It seems probable that, in the absence of horses, the buffalo would make +a much more speedy and enduring draught animal than the domestic ox, +although it is to be doubted whether he would be as strong. His weaker +pelvis and hind quarters would surely count against him under certain +circumstances, but for some purposes his superior speed and endurance +would more than counterbalance that defect. + +BISON HERDS AND INDIVIDUALS IN CAPTIVITY AND DOMESTICATION, JANUARY 1, +1889. + +_Herd of Mr. S. L. Bedson, Stony Mountain, Manitoba._--In 1877 Mr. +Bedson purchased 5 buffalo calves, 1 bull, and 4 heifers, for which he +paid $1,000. In 1888 his herd consisted of 23 full-blood bulls, 35 cows, +3 half-breed cows, 5 half-breed bulls, and 17 calves, mixed and +pure;[51] making a total of 83 head. These were all produced from the +original 5, no purchases having been made, nor any additions made in any +other way. Besides the 83 head constituting the herd when it was sold, 5 +were killed and 9 given away, which would otherwise make a total of 97 +head produced since 1877. In November, 1888, this entire herd was +purchased, for $50,000, by Mr. C. J. Jones, and added to the already +large herd owned by that gentleman in Kansas. + +[Note 51: In summing up the total number of buffaloes and mixed-breeds +now alive in captivity, I have been obliged to strike an average on this +lot of calves "mixed and pure," and have counted twelve as being of pure +breed and five mixed, which I have reason to believe is very near the +truth.] + +[Illustration: YOUNG HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DOMESTIC) BULL.--HERD OF C. J. +JONES, GARDEN CITY, KANSAS. Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.] + +_Herd of Mr. C. J. Jones, Garden City, Kans._--Mr. Jones's original herd +of 57 buffaloes constitute a living testimonial to his individual +enterprise, and to his courage, endurance, and skill in the chase. The +majority of the individuals composing the herd he himself ran down, +lassoed, and tied with his own hands. For the last five years Mr. Jones +has made an annual trip, in June, to the uninhabited "panhandle" of +Texas, to capture calves out of the small herd of from one hundred to +two hundred head which represented the last remnant of the great +southern herd. Each of these expeditious involved a very considerable +outlay in money, an elaborate "outfit" of men, horses, vehicles, camp +equipage, and lastly, but most important of all, a herd of a dozen fresh +milch cows to nourish the captured calves and keep them from dying of +starvation and thirst. The region visited was fearfully barren, almost +without water, and to penetrate it was always attended by great +hardship. The buffaloes were difficult to find, but the ground was good +for running, being chiefly level plains, and the superior speed of the +running horses always enabled the hunters to overtake a herd whenever +one was sighted, and to "cut out" and lasso two, three, or four of its +calves. The degree of skill and daring displayed in these several +expeditions are worthy of the highest admiration, and completely surpass +anything I have ever seen or read of being accomplished in connection +with hunting, or the capture of live game. The latest feat of Mr. Jones +and his party comes the nearest to being incredible. During the month of +May, 1888, they not only captured seven calves, but also _eleven adult +cows_, of which some were lassoed in full career on the prairie, thrown, +tied, and hobbled! The majority, however, were actually "rounded up," +herded, and held in control until a bunch of tame buffaloes was driven +down to meet them, so that it would thus be possible to drive all +together to a ranch. This brilliant feat can only be appreciated as it +deserves by those who have lately hunted buffalo, and learned by dear +experience the extent of their wariness, and the difficulties, to say +nothing of the dangers, inseparably connected with their pursuit. + +The result of each of Mr. Jones's five expeditions is as follows: In +1884 no calves found; 1885, 11 calves captured, 5 died, 6 survived; +1886, 14 calves captured, 7 died, 7 survived; 1887, 36 calves captured, +6 died, 30 survived; 1888, 7 calves captured, all survived; 1888, 11 old +cows captured, all survived. Total, 79 captures, 18 losses, 57 +survivors. + +The census of the herd is exactly as follows: Adult cows, 11; three-year +olds, 7, of which 2 are males and 5 females; two-year olds, 4, of which +all are males; yearling, 28, of which 15 are males and 13 females; +calves, 7, of which 3 are males and 4 females. Total herd, 57; 24 males +and 33 females. To this, Mr. Jones's original herd, must now be added +the entire herd formerly owned by Mr. Bedson. + +Respecting his breeding operations Mr. Jones writes: "My oldest [bull] +buffaloes are now three years old, and I am breeding one hundred +domestic cows to them this year. Am breeding the Galloway cows quite +extensively; also some Shorthorns, Herefords, and Texas cows. I expect +best results from the Galloways. If I can get the black luster of the +latter and the fur of a buffalo, I will have a robe that will bring more +money than we get for the average range steer." + +In November, 1888, Mr. Jones purchased Mr. Bedson's entire herd, and in +the following mouth proceeded to ship a portion of it to Kansas City. +Thirty-three head were separated from the remainder of the herd on the +prairie near Stony Mountain, 12 miles from Winnipeg, and driven to the +railroad. Several old bulls broke away en route and ran back to the +herd, and when the remainder were finally corraled in the pens at the +stock-yards "they began to fight among themselves, and some fierce +encounters were waged between the old bulls. The younger cattle were +raised on the horns of their seniors, thrown in the air, and otherwise +gored." While on the way to St. Paul three of the half-breed buffaloes +were killed by their companions. On reaching Kansas City and unloading +the two cars, 13 head broke away from the large force of men that +attempted to manage them, stampeded through the city, and finally took +refuge in the low-lands along the river. In due time, however, all were +recaptured. + +Since the acquisition of this northern herd and the subsequent press +comment that it has evoked, Mr. Jones has been almost overwhelmed with +letters of inquiry in regard to the whole subject of buffalo breeding, +and has found it necessary to print and distribute a circular giving +answers to the many inquiries that have been made. + +_Herd of Mr. Charles Allard, Flathead Indian Reservation, +Montana._--This herd was visited in the autumn of 1888 by Mr. G. O. +Shields, of Chicago, who reports that it consists of thirty-five head of +pure-blood buffaloes, of which seven are calves of 1888, six are +yearlings, and six are two-year olds. Of the adult animals, four cows +and two bulls are each fourteen years old, "and the beards of the bulls +almost sweep the ground as they walk." + +_Herd of Hon. W. F. Cody ("Buffalo Bill")._--The celebrated "Wild West +Show" has, ever since its organization, numbered amongst its leading +attractions a herd of live buffaloes of all ages. At present this herd +contains eighteen head, of which fourteen were originally purchased of +Mr. H. T. Groome, of Wichita, Kansas, and have made a journey to London +and back. As a proof of the indomitable persistence of the bison in +breeding under most unfavorable circumstances, the fact that four of the +members of this herd are calves which were born in 1888 in London, at +the American Exposition, is of considerable interest. + +This herd is now (December, 1888) being wintered on General Beale's +farm, near the city of Washington. In 1886-'87, while the Wild West Show +was at Madison Square Garden, New York City, its entire herd of twenty +buffaloes was carried off by pleuro-pneumonia. It is to be greatly +feared that sooner or later in the course of its travels the present +herd will also disappear, either through disease or accident. + +_Herd of Mr. Charles Goodnight, Clarendon, Texas._--Mr. Goodnight writes +that he has "been breeding buffaloes in a small way for the past ten +years," but without giving any particular attention to it. At present +his herd consists of thirteen head, of which two are three-year old +bulls and four are calves. There are seven cows of all ages, one of +which is a half-breed. + +_Herd at the Zoological Society's Gardens, Philadelphia, Arthur E. +Brown, superintendent._--This institution is the fortunate possessor of +a small herd of ten buffaloes, of which four are males and six females. +Two are calves of 1877. In 1886 the Gardens sold an adult bull and cow +to Hon. W. F. Cody for $300. + +_Herd at Bismarck Grove, Kansas, owned by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa +Fé Railroad Company._--A small herd of buffaloes has for several years +past been kept at Bismarck Grove as an attraction to visitors. At +present it contains ten head, one of which is a very large bull, another +in a four-year-old bull, six are cows of various ages, and two are +two-year olds. In 1885 a large bull belonging to this herd grew so +vicious and dangerous that it was necessary to kill him. + +The following interesting account of this herd was published in the +Kansas City Times of December 8, 1888: + +"Thirteen years ago Colonel Stanton purchased a buffalo bull calf for $8 +and two heifers for $25. The descendants of these three buffaloes now +found at Bismarck Grove, where all were born, number in all ten. There +were seventeen, but the rest have died, with the exception of one, which +was given away. They are kept in an inclosure containing about 30 acres +immediately adjoining the park, and there may be seen at any time. The +sight is one well worth a trip and the slight expense that may attach to +it, especially to one who has never seen the American bison in his +native state. + +"The present herd includes two fine bull calves dropped last spring, two +heifers, five cows, and a bull six years old and as handsome as a +picture. The latter has been named Cleveland, after the colonel's +favorite Presidential candidate. The entire herd is in as fine condition +as any beef cattle, though they were never fed anything but hay and are +never given any shelter. In fact they don't take kindly to shelter, and +whether a blizzard is blowing, with the mercury 20 degrees below zero, +or the sun pouring down his scorching rays, with the thermometer 110 +degrees above, they set their heads resolutely toward storm or sun and +take their medicine as if they liked it. Hon. W. F. Cody, "Buffalo +Bill," tried to buy the whole herd two years ago to take to Europe with +his Wild West Show, but they were not for sale at his own figures, and, +indeed, there is no anxiety to dispose of them at any figures. The +railroad company has been glad to furnish them pasturage for the sake of +adding to the attractions of the park, in which there are also +forty-three head of deer, including two as fine bucks as ever trotted +over the national deer trail toward the salt-licks in northern Utah. + +"While the bison at Bismark Grove are splendid specimens of their class, +"Cleveland" is decidedly the pride of the herd, and as grand a creature +as ever trod the soil of Kansas on four legs. He is just six years old +and is a perfect specimen of the kings of the plains. There is royal +blood in his veins, and his coat is finer than the imperial purple. It +is not possible to get at him to measure his stature and weight. He must +weigh fully 3,000 pounds, and it is doubtful if there is to-day living +on the face of the earth a handsomer buffalo bull than he. "Cleveland's" +disposition is not so ugly as old Barney's was, but at certain seasons +he is very wild, and there is no one venturesome enough to go into the +inclosure. It is then not altogether safe to even look over the high and +heavy board fence at him, for he is likely to make a run for the +visitor, as the numerous holes in the fence where he has knocked off the +boards will testify." + +_Herd of Mr. Frederick Dupree, Cheyenne Indian Agency, near Fort +Bennett, Dakota._--This herd contains at present nine pure-blood +buffaloes, five of which are cows and seven mixed bloods. Of the former, +there are two adult bulls and four adult cows. Of the mixed blood +animals, six are half-breeds and one a quarter-breed buffalo. + +Mr. Dupree obtained the nucleus of his herd in 1882, at which time he +captured five wild calves about 100 miles west of Fort Bennett. Of +these, two died after two months of captivity and a third was killed by +an Indian in 1885. + +Mr. D. F. Carlin, of the Indian service, at Fort Bennett, has kindly +furnished me the following information respecting this herd, under date +of November 1, 1888: + +"The animals composing this herd are all in fine condition and are quite +tame. They keep by themselves most of the time, except the oldest bull +(six years old), who seems to appreciate the company of domestic cattle +more than that of his own family. Mr. Dupree has kept one half-breed +bull as an experiment; he thinks it will produce a hardy class of +cattle. His half-breeds are all black, with one exception, and that is a +roan; but they are all built like the buffalo, and when young they grunt +more like a hog than like a calf, the same as a full-blood buffalo. + +"Mr. Dupree has never lost a [domestic] cow in giving birth to a +half-breed calf, as was supposed by many people would be the case. There +have been no sales from this herd, although the owner has a standing +offer of $650 for a cow and bull. The cows are not for sale at any +price." + +_Herd at Lincoln Park, Chicago, Mr. W. P. Walker, superintendent._--This +very interesting and handsomely-kept herd is composed of seven +individuals of the following character: One bull eight years old, one +bull four years old, two cows eight years old, two cows two years old in +the spring of 1888, and one female calf born in the spring of 1888. + +_Zoological Gardens, Cincinnati, Ohio._--This collection contains four +bison, an adult bull and cow, and one immature specimen. + +_Dr. V. T. McGillicuddy, Rapid City, Dakota_, has a herd of four pure +buffaloes and one half-breed. Of the former, the two adults, a bull and +cow seven years old, were caught by Sioux Indians near the Black Hills +for the owner in the spring of 1882. The Indians drove two milch cows to +the range to nourish the calves when caught. These have produced two +calves, one of which, a bull, is now three years old, and the other is a +yearling heifer. + +_Central Park Menagerie, New York, Dr. W. A. Conklin, director._--This +much-visited collection contains four bison, an adult bull and cow, a +two-year-old calf, and a yearling. + +_Mr. John H. Starin, Glen Inland, near New York City._--There are four +buffaloes at this summer resort. + +_The U. S. National Museum, Washington, District of Columbia._--The +collection of the department of living animals at this institution +contains two fine young buffaloes; a bull four years old in July, 1888, +and a cow three years old in May of the same year. These animals were +captured in western Nebraska, when they were calves, by H. R. Jackett, +of Ogalalla, and kept by him on his ranch until 1885. In April, 1888, +Hon. Eugene G. Blackford, of New York, purchased them of Mr. Frederick +D. Nowell, of North Platte, Nebraska, for $100 for the pair, and +presented them to the National Museum, in the hope that they might form +the nucleus of a herd to be owned and exhibited by the United States +Government in or near the city of Washington. The two animals were +received in Ogalalla by Mr. Joseph Palmer, of the National Museum, and +by him they were brought on to Washington in May, in fine condition. +Since their arrival they have been exhibited to the public in a +temporary inclosure on the Smithsonian Grounds, and have attracted much +attention. + +_Mr. B. C. Winston, of Hamline, Minnesota_, owns a pair of buffaloes, +one of which, a young bull, was caught by him in western Dakota in the +spring of 1886, soon after its birth. The cow was purchased at Rosseau, +Dakota Territory, a year later, for $225. + +_Mr. I. P. Butler, of Colorado, Texas_, is the owner of a young bull +buffalo and a half-breed calf. + +_Mr. Jesse Huston, of Miles City, Montana_, owns a fine five-year-old +bull buffalo. + +_Mr. L. F. Gardner, of Bellwood, Oregon_, is the owner of a large adult +bull. + +_The Riverside Ranch Company, south of Mandan, Dakota_, owns a pair of +full-blood buffaloes. + +_In Dakota_, in the hands of parties unknown, there are four full-blood +buffaloes. + +_Mr. James R. Hitch, of Optima, Indian Territory_, has a pair of young +buffaloes, which he has offered for sale for $750. + +_Mr. Joseph A. Hudson, of Estell, Nebraska_, owns a three-year-old bull +buffalo, which is for sale. + +In other countries there are live specimens of _Bison americanus_ +reported as follows: two at Belleview Gardens, Manchester, England; one +at the Zoological Gardens, London; one at Liverpool, England (purchased +of Hon. W. F. Cody in 1888); two at the Zoological Gardens, Dresden; one +at the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta. + ++--------------------------------------------------+ +| _Statistics of full-blood buffaloes | | +| in captivity January 1, 1889._ | | ++---------------------------------------------+----+ +|Number kept for breeding purposes | 216| +|Number kept for exhibition | 40| +| | ---| +| Total pure-blood buffaloes in captivity | 256| +|Wild buffaloes under Government | | +|protection in the Yellowstone Park | 200| +|Number of mixed-breed buffalo-domestics | 40| ++--------------------------------------------------+ + +There are, without doubt, a few half-breeds in Manitoba of which I have +no account. It is probable there are also a very few more captive +buffaloes scattered singly here and there which will be heard of later, +but the total will be a very small number, I am sure. + + + + +PART II.--THE EXTERMINATION. + + + + +I. CAUSES OF THE EXTERMINATION. + + +The causes which led to the practical extinction (in a wild state, at +least) of the most economically valuable wild animal that ever inhabited +the American continent, are by no means obscure. It is well that we +should know precisely what they were, and by the sad fate of the buffalo +be warned in time against allowing similar causes to produce the same +results with our elk, antelope, deer, moose, caribou, mountain sheep, +mountain goat, walrus, and other animals. It will be doubly deplorable +if the remorseless slaughter we have witnessed during the last twenty +years carries with it no lessons for the future. A continuation of the +record we have lately made as wholesale game butchers will justify +posterity in dating us back with the mound-builders and cave-dwellers, +when man's only known function was to slay and eat. + +The primary cause of the buffalo's extermination, and the one which +embraced all others, was the descent of civilization, with all its +elements of destructiveness, upon the whole of the country inhabited by +that animal. From the Great Slave Lake to the Rio Grande the home of the +buffalo was everywhere overrun by the man with a gun; and, as has ever +been the case, the wild creatures were gradually swept away, the largest +and most conspicuous forms being the first to go. + +The secondary causes of the extermination of the buffalo may be +catalogued as follows: + +(1) Man's reckless greed, his wanton destructiveness, and improvidence +in not husbanding such resources as come to him from the hand of nature +ready made. + +(2) The total and utterly inexcusable absence of protective measures and +agencies on the part of the National Government and of the West States +and Territories. + +(3) The fatal preference on the part of hunters generally, both white +and red, for the robe and flesh of the cow over that furnished by the +bull. + +(4) The phenomenal stupidity of the animals themselves, and their +indifference to man. + +(5) The perfection of modern breech-loading rifles and other sporting +fire-arms in general. + +Each of these causes acted against the buffalo with its fall force, to +offset which there was _not even one_ restraining or preserving +influence, and it is not to be wondered at that the species went down +before them. Had any one of these conditions been eliminated the result +would have been reached far less quickly. Had the buffalo, for example, +possessed one-half the fighting qualities of the grizzly bear he would +have fared very differently, but his inoffensiveness and lack of courage +almost leads one to doubt the wisdom of the economy of nature so far as +it relates to him. + + + + +II. METHODS OF SLAUGHTER. + + +1. _The still-hunt._--Of all the deadly methods of buffalo slaughter, +the still-hunt was the deadliest. Of all the methods that were +unsportsmanlike, unfair, ignoble, and utterly reprehensible, this was in +every respect the lowest and the worst. Destitute of nearly every +element of the buoyant excitement and spice of danger that accompanied +genuine buffalo hunting on horseback, the still-hunt was mere butchery +of the tamest and yet most cruel kind. About it there was none of the +true excitement of the chase; but there was plenty of greedy eagerness +to "down" as many "head" as possible every day, just as there is in +every slaughter-house where the killers are paid so much per head. +Judging from all accounts, it was about as exciting and dangerous work +as it would be to go out now and shoot cattle on the Texas or Montana +ranges. The probabilities are, however, that shooting Texas cattle would +be the most dangerous; for, instead of running from a man on foot, as +the buffalo used to do, range cattle usually charge down upon him, from +motives of curiosity, perhaps, and not infrequently place his life in +considerable jeopardy. + +The buffalo owes his extermination very largely to his own unparalleled +stupidity; for nothing else could by any possibility have enabled the +still-hunters to accomplish what they did in such an incredibly short +time. So long as the chase on horseback was the order of the day, it +ordinarily required the united efforts of from fifteen to twenty-five +hunters to kill a thousand buffalo in a single season; but a single +still-hunter, with a long-range breech-loader, who knew how to make a +"sneak" and get "a stand on a bunch," often succeeded in killing from +one to three thousand in one season by his own unaided efforts. Capt. +Jack Brydges, of Kansas, who was one of the first to begin the final +slaughter of the southern herd, killed, by contract, one thousand one +hundred and forty-two buffaloes in six weeks. + +So long as the buffalo remained in large herds their numbers gave each +individual a feeling of dependence upon his fellows and of general +security from harm, even in the presence of strange phenomena which he +could not understand. When he heard a loud report and saw a little cloud +of white smoke rising from a gully, a clump of sage-brash, or the top of +a ridge, 200 yards away, he wondered what it meant, and held himself in +readiness to follow his leader in case she should run away. But when the +leader of the herd, usually the oldest cow, fell bleeding upon the +ground, and no other buffalo promptly assumed the leadership of the +herd, instead of acting independently and fleeing from the alarm, he +merely did as he saw the others do, and waited his turn to be shot. +Latterly, however, when the herds were totally broken up, when the few +survivors were scattered in every direction, and it became a case of +every buffalo for himself, they became wild and wary, ever ready to +start off at the slightest alarm, and run indefinitely. Had they shown +the same wariness seventeen years ago that the survivors have manifested +during the last three or four years, there would now be a hundred +thousand head alive instead of only about three hundred in a wild and +unprotected state. + +Notwithstanding the merciless war that had been waged against the +buffalo for over a century by both whites and Indians, and the steady +decrease of its numbers, as well as its range, there were several +million head on foot, not only up to the completion of the Union Pacific +Railway, but as late as the year 1870. Up to that time the killing done +by white men had been chiefly for the sake of meat, the demand for robes +was moderate, and the Indians took annually less than one hundred +thousand for trading. Although half a million buffaloes were killed by +Indians, half-breeds, and whites, the natural increase was so very +considerable as to make it seem that the evil day of extermination was +yet far distant. + +But by a coincidence which was fatal to the buffalo, with the building +of three lines of railway through the most populous buffalo country +there came a demand for robes and hides, backed up by an unlimited +supply of new and marvellously accurate breech-loading rifles and fixed +ammunition. And then followed a wild rush of hunters to the buffalo +country, eager to destroy as many head as possible in the shortest time. +For those greedy ones the chase on horseback was "too slow" and too +unfruitful. That was a retail method of killing, whereas they wanted to +kill by wholesale. From their point of view, the still-hunt or "sneak" +hunt was the method _par excellence_. If they could have obtained +Gatling guns with which to mow down a whole herd at a time, beyond a +doubt they would have gladly used them. + +The still-hunt was seen at its very worst in the years 1871, 1872, and +1873, on the southern buffalo range, and ten years later at its best in +Montana, on the northern. Let us first consider it at its best, which in +principle was bad enough. + +The great rise in the price of robes which followed the blotting out of +the great southern herd at once put buffalo-hunting on a much more +comfortable and respectable business basis in the North than it had ever +occupied in the South, where prices had all along been phenomenally low. + +In Montana it was no uncommon thing for a hunter to invest from $1,000 +to $2,000 in his "outfit" of horses, wagons, weapons, ammunition, +provisions, and sundries. + +One of the men who accompanied the Smithsonian Expedition for Buffalo, +Mr. James McNaney, of Miles City, Montana, was an ex-buffalo banter, who +had spent three seasons on the northern range, killing buffalo for their +robes, and his standing as a hunter was of the best. A brief description +of his outfit and its work during its last season on the range +(1882-'83) may fairly be taken as a typical illustration of the life and +work of the still-hunter at its best. The only thing against it was the +extermination of the buffalo. + +During the winters of 1880 and 1881 Mr. McNaney had served in Maxwell's +outfit as a hunter, working by the month, but his success in killing was +such that he decided to work the third year on his own account. Although +at that time only seventeen years of age, he took an elder brother as a +partner, and purchased an outfit in Miles City, of which the following +were the principal items: Two wagons, 2 four-horse teams, 2 +saddle-horses, 2 wall-tents, 1 cook-stove with pipe, 1 40-90 Sharp's +rifle (breech-loading), 1 45-70 Sharps rifle (breech-loading), 1 45-120 +Sharps rifle (breech-loading), 50 pounds gunpowder, 550 pounds lead, +4,500 primers, 600 brass shells, 4 sheets patch-paper, 60 Wilson +skinning knives, 3 butcher's steels, 1 portable grindstone, flour, +bacon, baking-powder, coffee, sugar, molasses, dried apples, canned +vegetables, beans, etc., in quantity. + +The entire cost of the outfit was about $1,400. Two men were hired for +the season at $50 per month, and the party started from Miles City on +November 10, which was considered a very late start. The usual time of +setting out for the range was about October 1. + +The outfit went by rail northeastward to Terry, and from thence across +country south and east about 100 miles, around the head of O'Fallon +Creek to the head of Beaver Creek, a tributary of the Little Missouri. A +good range was selected, without encroachment upon the domains of the +hunters already in the field, and the camp was made near the bank of the +creek, close to a supply of wood and water, and screened from distant +observation by a circle of hills and ridges. The two rectangular +wall-tents were set up end to end, with the cook-stove in the middle, +where the ends came together. In one tent the cooking and eating was +done, and the other contained the beds. + +It was planned that the various members of the party should cook turn +about, a week at a time, but one of them soon developed such a rare and +conspicuous talent for bread-making and general cookery that he was +elected by acclamation to cook during the entire season. To the other +three members fell the hunting. Each man hunted separately from the +others, and skinned all the animals that his rifle brought down. + +There were buffalo on the range when the hunters arrived, and the +killing began at once. At daylight the still-hunter sallied forth on +foot, carrying in his hand his huge Sharps rifle, weighing from 16 to 19 +pounds, with from seventy-five to one hundred loaded cartridges in his +two belts or his pockets. At his side, depending from his belt, hung his +"hunter's companion," a flat leather scabbard, containing a ripping +knife, a skinning knife, and a butcher's steel upon which to sharpen +them. The total weight carried was very considerable, seldom less than +36 pounds, and often more. + +Inasmuch as it was highly important to move camp as seldom as possible +in the course of a season's work, the hunter exercised the greatest +precaution in killing his game, and had ever before his mind the +necessity of doing his killing without frightening away the survivors. + +With ten thousand buffaloes on their range, it was considered the height +of good luck to find a "bunch" of fifty head in a secluded "draw" or +hollow, where it was possible to "make a kill" without disturbing the +big herd. + +The still-hunter usually went on foot, for when buffaloes became so +scarce as to make it necessary for him to ride his occupation was +practically gone. At the time I speak of, the hunter seldom had to walk +more than 3 miles from camp to find buffalo, in case there were any at +all on his range, and it was usually an advantage to be without a horse. +From the top of a ridge or high butte the country was carefully scanned, +and if several small herds were in sight the one easiest to approach was +selected as the one to attack. It was far better to find a herd lying +down or quietly grazing, or sheltering from a cold wind, than to find it +traveling, for while a hard run of a mile or two often enabled the +hunter to "head off" a moving herd and kill a certain number of animals +out of it, the net results were never half so satisfactory as with herds +absolutely at rest. + +Having decided upon an attack, the hunter gets to leeward of his game, +and approaches it according to the nature of the ground. If it is in a +hollow, he secures a position at the top of the nearest ridge, as close +as he can get. If it is in a level "flat," he looks for a gully up which +he can skulk until within good rifle-shot. If there is no gully, he may +be obliged to crawl half a mile on his hands and knees, often through +snow or amongst beds of prickly pear, taking advantage of even such +scanty cover as sage-brush affords. Some Montana still-hunters adopted +the method of drawing a gunny-sack over the entire upper half of the +body, with holes cut for the eyes and arms, which simple but +unpicturesque arrangement often enabled the hunter to approach his +game much more easily and more closely than would otherwise have been +possible. + +[Illustration: STILL-HUNTING BUFFALOES ON THE NORTHERN RANGE. +From a painting by J. H. Moser, in the National Museum.] + +Having secured a position within from 100 to 250 yards of his game +(often the distance was much greater), the hunter secures a comfortable +rest for his huge rifle, all the time keeping his own person thoroughly +hidden from view, estimates the distance, carefully adjusts his sights, +and begins business. If the herd is moving, the animal in the lead is +the first one shot, close behind the fore leg and about a foot above the +brisket, which sends the ball through the lungs. If the herd is at rest, +the oldest cow is always supposed to be the leader, and she is the one +to kill first. The noise startles the buffaloes, they stare at the +little cloud of white smoke and feel inclined to run, but seeing their +leader hesitate they wait for her. She, when struck, gives a violent +start forward, but soon stops, and the blood begins to run from her +nostrils in two bright crimson streams. In a couple of minutes her body +sways unsteadily, she staggers, tries hard to keep her feet, but soon +gives a lurch sidewise and falls. Some of the other members of the herd +come around her and stare and sniff in wide-eyed wonder, and one of the +more wary starts to lead the herd away. But before she takes half a +dozen steps "bang!" goes the hidden rifle again, and her leadership is +ended forever. Her fall only increases the bewilderment of the survivors +over a proceeding which to them is strange and unaccountable, because +the danger is not visible. They cluster around the fallen ones, sniff at +the warm blood, bawl aloud in wonderment, and do everything but run +away. + +The policy of the hunter is to not fire too rapidly, but to attend +closely to business, and every time a buffalo attempts to make off, +shoot it down. One shot per minute was a moderate rate of firing, but +under pressure of circumstances two per minute could be discharged with +deliberate precision. With the most accurate hunting rifle ever made, a +"dead rest," and a large mark practically motionless, it was no wonder +that nearly every shot meant a dead buffalo. The vital spot on a buffalo +which stands with its side to the hunter is about a foot in diameter, +and on a full-grown bull is considerably more. Under such conditions as +the above, which was called getting "a stand," the hunter nurses his +victims just as an angler plays a big fish with light tackle, and in the +most methodical manner murders them one by one, either until the last +one falls, his cartridges are all expended, or the stupid brutes come to +their senses and run away. Occasionally the poor fellow was troubled by +having his rifle get too hot to use, but if a snow-bank was at hand he +would thrust the weapon into it without ceremony to cool it off. + +A success in getting a stand meant the slaughter of a good-sized herd. A +hunter whom I met in Montana, Mr. Harry Andrews, told me that he once +fired one hundred and fifteen shots from one spot and killed sixty-three +buffalo in less than an hour. The highest number Mr. McNaney ever knew +of being killed in one stand was ninety-one head, but Colonel Dodge +once counted one hundred and twelve carcasses of buffalo "inside of a +semicircle of 200 yards radius, all of which were killed by one man from +the same spot, and in less than three-quarters of an hour." + +The "kill" being completed, the hunter then addressed himself to the +task of skinning his victims. The northern hunters were seldom guilty of +the reckless carelessness and lack of enterprise in the treatment of +robes which at one time was so prominent a feature of work on the +southern range. By the time white men began to hunt for robes on the +northern range, buffalo were becoming comparatively scarce, and robes +were worth from $2 to $4 each. The fur-buyers had taught the hunters, +with the potent argument of hard cash, that a robe carefully and neatly +taken off, stretched, and kept reasonably free from blood and dirt, was +worth more money in the market than one taken off in a slovenly manner, +and contrary to the nicer demands of the trade. After 1880, buffalo on +the northern range were skinned with considerable care, and amongst the +robe-hunters not one was allowed to become a loss when it was possible +to prevent it. Every full-sized cow robe was considered equal to $3.50 +in hard cash, and treated accordingly. The hunter, or skinner, always +stretched every robe out on the ground to its fullest extent while it +was yet warm, and cut the initials of his employer in the thin +subcutaneous muscle which always adhered to the inside of the skin. A +warm skin is very elastic, and when stretched upon the ground the hair +holds it in shape until it either dries or freezes, and so retains its +full size. On the northern range skins were so valuable that many a +dispute arose between rival outfits over the ownership of a dead +buffalo, some of which produced serious results. + +2. _The chase on horseback or "running buffalo."_--Next to the +still-hunt the method called "running buffalo" was the most fatal to the +race, and the one most universally practiced. To all hunters, save +greedy white men, the chase on horseback yielded spoil sufficient for +every need, and it also furnished sport of a superior kind--manly, +exhilarating, and well spiced with danger. Even the horses shared the +excitement and eagerness of their riders. + +So long as the weapons of the Indian consisted only of the bow and arrow +and the spear, he was obliged to kill at close quarters or not at all. +And even when fire-arms were first placed in his hands their caliber was +so small, the charge so light, and the Indian himself so poor a marksman +at long range, that his best course was still to gallop alongside the +herd on his favorite "buffalo horse" and kill at the shortest possible +range. From all accounts, the Red River half-breeds, who hunted almost +exclusively with fire-arms, never dreamed of the deadly still hunt, but +always killed their game by "running" it. + +In former times even the white men of the plains did the most of their +buffalo hunting on horseback, using the largest-sized Colt's revolver, +sometimes one in each hand, until the repeating-rifle made its +appearance, which in a great measure displaced the revolver in running +buffalo. But about that time began the mad warfare for "robes" and +"hides," and the only fair and sportsmanlike method of hunting was +declared too slow for the greedy buffalo-skinners. + +Then came the cold-blooded butchery of the still-hunt. From that time on +the buffalo as a game animal steadily lost caste. It soon came to be +universally considered that there was no sport in hunting buffalo. True +enough of still-hunting, where the hunter sneaks up and shoots them down +one by one at such long range the report of his big rifle does not even +frighten them away. So far as sportsmanlike fairness is concerned, that +method was not one whit more elevated than killing game by poison. + +Bat the chase on horseback was a different thing. Its successful +prosecution demanded a good horse, a bold rider, a firm seat, and +perfect familiarity with weapons. The excitement of it was intense, the +dangers not to be despised, and, above all, the buffalo had a fair show +for his life, or partially so, at least. The mode of attack is easily +described. + +Whenever the hunters discovered a herd of buffalo, they usually got to +leeward of it and quietly rode forward in a body, or stretched out in a +regular skirmish line, behind the shelter of a knoll, perhaps, until +they had approached the herd as closely as could be done without +alarming it. Usually the unsuspecting animals, with a confidence due +more to their great numbers than anything else, would allow a party of +horsemen to approach within from 200 to 400 yards of their flankers, and +then they would start off on a slow trot. The hunters then put spurs to +their horses and dashed forward to overtake the herd as quickly as +possible. Once up with it, each hunter chooses the best animal within +his reach, chases him until his flying steed carries him close +alongside, and then the arrow or the bullet is sent into his vitals. The +fatal spot is from 12 to 18 inches in circumference, and lies +immediately back of the fore leg, with its lowest point on a line with +the elbow. + +This, the true chase of the buffalo, was not only exciting, but +dangerous. It often happened that the hunter found himself surrounded by +the flying herd, and in a cloud of dust, so that neither man nor horse +could see the ground before them. Under such circumstances fatal +accidents to both men and horses were numerous. It was not an uncommon +thing for half-breeds to shoot each other in the excitement of the +chase; and, while now and then a wounded bull suddenly turned upon his +pursuer and overthrew him, the greatest number of casualties were from +falls. + +Of the dangers involved in running buffalo Colonel Dodge writes as +follows:[52] + +[Note 52: Plains of the Great West, p. 127.] + +"The danger is not so much from the buffalo, which rarely makes an +effort to injure his pursuer, as from the fact that neither man nor +horse can see the ground, which may be rough and broken, or perforated +with prairie-dog or gopher holes. This danger is so imminent, that a man +who runs into a herd of buffalo may be said to take his life in his +hand. I have never known a man hurt by a buffalo in such a chase. I have +known of at least six killed, and a very great many more or less +injured, some very severely, by their horses falling with them." + +On this point Catlin declares that to engage in running buffalo is "at +the hazard of every bone in one's body, to feel the fine and thrilling +exhilaration of the chase for a moment, and then as often to upbraid and +blame himself for his folly and imprudence." + +Previous to my first experience in "running buffalo" I had entertained a +mortal dread of ever being called upon to ride a chase across a +prairie-dog town. The mouth of a prairie-dog's burrow is amply large to +receive the hoof of a horse, and the angle at which the hole descends +into the earth makes it just right for the leg of a running horse to +plunge into up to the knee and bring down both horse and rider +instantly; the former with a broken leg, to say the least of it. If the +rider sits loosely, and promptly resigns his seat, he will go flying +forward, as if thrown from a catapult, for 20 feet or so, perhaps to +escape with a few broken bones, and perhaps to have his neck broken, or +his skull fractured on the hard earth. If he sticks tightly to his +saddle, his horse is almost certain to fall upon him, and perhaps kill +him. Judge, then, my feelings when the first bunch of buffalo we started +headed straight across the largest prairie-dog town I had ever seen up +to that time. And not only was the ground honey-combed with gaping round +holes, but it was also crossed here and there by treacherous ditch-like +gullies, cut straight down into the earth to an uncertain depth, and so +narrow as to be invisible until it was almost time to leap across them. + +But at such a time, with the game thundering along a few rods in +advance, the hunter thinks of little else except getting up to it. He +looks as far ahead as possible, and helps his horse to avoid dangers, +but to a great extent the horse must guide himself. The rider plies his +spurs and looks eagerly forward, almost feverish with excitement and +eagerness, but at the same time if he is wise he _expects_ a fall, and +holds himself in readiness to take the ground with as little damage as +he can. + +Mr. Catlin gives a most graphic description of a hunting accident, which +may fairly be quoted in full as a type of many such. I must say that I +fully sympathize with M. Chardon in his estimate of the hardness of the +ground he fell upon, for I have a painful recollection of a fall I had +from which I arose with the settled conviction that the ground in +Montana is the hardest in the world! It seemed more like falling upon +cast-iron than prairie turf. + +"I dashed along through the thundering mass as they swept away over the +plain, scarcely able to tell whether I was on a buffalo's back or my +horse, hit and hooked and jostled about, till at length I found myself +alongside my game, when I gave him a shot as I passed him. + +[Illustration: THE CHASE ON HORSEBACK. From a painting in the National +Museum by George Catlin.] + +I saw guns flash about me in several directions, but I heard them +not. Amidst the trampling throng Mons. Chardon had wounded a stately +bull, and at this moment was passing him with his piece leveled for +another shot. They were both at full speed and I also, within the +reach of the muzzle of my gun, when the bull instantly turned, +receiving the horse upon his horns, and the ground received poor +Chardon, who made a frog's leap of some 20 feet or more over the +bull's back and almost under my horse's heels. I wheeled my horse as +soon as possible and rode back where lay poor Chardon, gasping to +start his breath again, and within a few paces of him his huge +victim, with his heels high in the air, and the horse lying across +him. I dismounted instantly, but Chardon was raising himself on his +hands, with his eyes and mouth full of dirt, and feeling for his gun, +which lay about 30 feet in advance of him. 'Heaven spare you! are you +hurt, Chardon?' 'Hi-hic--hic--hic--hic--no;--hic--no--no, I believe +not. Oh, this is not much, Mons. Cataline--this is nothing new--but +this is a d--d hard piece of ground here--hic--oh! hic!' At this the +poor fellow fainted, but in a few moments arose, picked up his gun, +took his horse by the bit, which then opened _its_ eyes, and with a +_hic_ and a ugh--_ughk!_--sprang upon its feet, shook off the dirt, +and here we were, all upon our legs again, save the bull, whose fate +had been more sad than that of either."[53] + +[Note 53: North American Indians, I, pp. 25-26.] + +The following passage from Mr. Alexander Ross's graphic description of a +great hunt,[54] in which about four hundred hunters made an onslaught +upon a herd, affords a good illustration of the dangers in running +buffalo: + +[Note 54: Red River Settlement, p. 256.] + +"On this occasion the surface was rocky and full of badger-holes. +Twenty-three horses and riders were at one moment all sprawling on the +ground; one horse, gored by a bull, was killed on the spot; two more +were disabled by the fall; one rider broke his shoulder-blade; another +burst his gun and lost three of his fingers by the accident; and a third +was struck on the knee by an exhausted ball. These accidents will not be +thought overnumerous, considering the result, for in the evening no less +than thirteen hundred and seventy-five tongues were brought into camp." + +It really seems as if the horses of the plains entered willfully and +knowingly into the war on the doomed herds. But for the willingness and +even genuine eagerness with which the "buffalo horses" of both white men +and Indians entered into the chase, hunting on horseback would have been +attended with almost insurmountable difficulties, and the results would +have been much less fatal to the species. According to all accounts the +horses of the Indians and half-breeds were far better trained than those +of their white rivals, no doubt owing to the fact that the use of the +bow, which required the free use of both hands, was only possible when +the horse took the right coarse of his own free will or else could be +guided by the pressure of the knees. If we may believe the historians of +that period, and there is not the slightest reason to doubt them, the +"buffalo horses" of the Indians displayed almost as much intelligence +and eagerness in the chase as did their human riders. Indeed, in +"running buffalo" with only the bow and arrow, nothing but the willing +co-operation of the horse could have possibly made this mode of hunting +either satisfactory or successful. + +In Lewis and Clarke's Travels, volume II, page 387, appears the +following record: + +"He [Sergeant Pryor] had found it almost impossible with two men to +drive on the remaining horses, for as soon as they discovered a herd of +buffaloes the loose horses immediately set off in pursuit of them, and +surrounded the buffalo herd with almost as much skill as their riders +could have done. At last he was obliged to send one horseman forward and +drive all the buffaloes from the route." + +The Hon. H. H. Sibley, who once accompanied the Red River half-breeds on +their annual hunt, relates the following[55]: + +"One of the hunters fell from his saddle, and was unable to overtake his +horse, which continued the chase as if he of himself could accomplish +great things, so much do these animals become imbued with a passion for +this sport! On another occasion a half-breed left his favorite steed at +the camp, to enable him to recruit his strength, enjoining upon his wife +the necessity of properly securing the animal, which was not done. Not +relishing the idea of being left behind, he started after us and soon +was alongside, and thus he continued to keep pace with the hunters in +their pursuit of the buffalo, seeming to await with impatience the fall +of some of them to the earth. The chase ended, he came neighing to his +master, whom he soon singled out, although the men were dispersed here +and there for a distance of miles." + +[Note 55: Schoolcraft's "North American Indians," 108.] + +Col. R. I. Dodge, in his Plains of the Great West, page 129, describes a +meeting with two Mexican buffalo-hunters whose horses were so fleet and +so well trained that whenever a herd of buffalo came in sight, instead +of shooting their game wherever they came up with it, the one having the +best horse would dash into the herd, cut out a fat two-year old, and, +with the help of his partner, then actually drive it to their camp +before shooting it down. "They had a fine lot of meat and a goodly pile +of skins, and they said that every buffalo had been driven into camp and +killed as the one I saw. 'It saves a heap of trouble packing the meat to +camp,' said one of them, naively." + +Probably never before in the history of the world, until civilized man +came in contact with the buffalo, did whole armies of men march out in +true military style, with officers, flags, chaplains, and rules of war, +and make war on wild animals. No wonder the buffalo has been +exterminated. So long as they existed north of the Missouri in any +considerable number, the half-breeds and Indians of the Manitoba Red +River settlement used to gather each year in a great army, and go with +carts to the buffalo range. On these great hunts, which took place every +year from about the 15th of June to the 1st of September, vast numbers +of buffalo were killed, and the supply was finally exhausted. As if +Heaven had decreed the extirpation of the species, the half-breed +hunters, like their white robe-hunting rivals farther south, always +killed _cows_ in preference to bulls so long as a choice was possible, +the very course best calculated to exterminate any species in the +shortest possible time. + +The army of half-breeds and Indians which annually went forth from the +Red River settlement to make war on the buffalo was often far larger +than the army with which Cortez subdued a great empire. As early as 1846 +it had become so great, that it was necessary to divide it into two +divisions, one of which, the White Horse Plain division, was accustomed +to go west by the Assinniboine River to the "rapids crossing-place," and +from there in a southwesterly direction. The Red River division went +south to Pembina, and did the most of their hunting in Dakota. The two +divisions sometimes met (says Professor Hind), but not intentionally. In +1849 a Mr. Flett took a census of the White Horse Plain division, in +Dakota Territory, and found that it contained 603 carts, 700 +half-breeds, 200 Indians, 600 horses, 200 oxen, 400 dogs, and 1 cat. + +In his "Red River Settlement" Mr. Alexander Ross gives the following +census of the number of carts assembled in camp for the buffalo hunt at +five different-periods: + ++--------------------------+ +|_Number of carts assembled| +| for the first trip._ | ++--------------------------+ +|In 1820 | 540| +|In 1825 | 680| +|In 1830 | 820| +|In 1835 | 970| +|In 1840 | 1,210| ++--------------------------+ + +The expedition which was accompanied by Rev. Mr. Belcourt, a Catholic +priest, whose account is set forth in the Hon. Mr. Sibley's paper on the +buffalo,[56] was a comparatively small one, which started from Pembina, +and very generously took pains not to spoil the prospects of the great +Red River division, which was expected to take the field at the same +time. This, therefore, was a small party, like others which had already +reached the range; but it contained 213 carts, 55 hunters and their +families, making 60 lodges in all. This party killed 1,776 cows (bulls +not counted, many of which were killed, though "not even a tongue was +taken"), which yielded 228 bags of pemmican, 1,213 bales of dried meat, +166 sacks of tallow, and 556 bladders full of marrow. But this was very +moderate slaughter, being about 33 buffalo to each family. Even as late +as 1872, when buffalo were getting scarce, Mr. Grant[57] met a +half-breed family on the Qu'Appelle, consisting of man, wife, and seven +children, whose six carts were laden with the meat and robes yielded by +_sixty_ buffaloes; that number representing this one hunter's share of +the spoils of the hunt. + +[Note 56: Schoolcraft, pp. 101-110.] + +[Note 57: Ocean to Ocean, p. 116.] + +To afford an idea of the truly military character of those Red River +expeditions, I have only to quote a page from Prof. Henry Youle +Hind:[58] + +[Note 58: Assinniboine and Saskatch. Exp. Exped., II, p. 111.] + +"After the start from the settlement has been well made, and all +stragglers or tardy hunters have arrived, a great council is held and a +president elected. A number of captains are nominated by the president +and people jointly. The captains then proceed to appoint their own +policemen, the number assigned to each not exceeding ten. Their duties +are to see that the laws of the hunt are strictly carried out. In 1840, +if a man ran a buffalo without permission before the general hunt began, +his saddle and bridle were cut to pieces for the first offense; for the +second offense his clothes were cut off his back. At the present day +these punishments are changed to a fine of 20 shillings for the first +offense. No gun is permitted to be fired when in the buffalo country +before the 'race' begins. A priest sometimes goes with the hunt, and +mass is then celebrated in the open prairies. + +"At night the carts are placed in the form of a circle, with the horses +and cattle inside the ring, and it is the duty of the captains and their +policemen to see that this is rightly done. All laws are proclaimed in +camp, and relate to the hunt alone. All camping orders are given by +signal, a flag being carried by the guides, who are appointed by +election. Each guide has his tarn of one day, and no man can pass a +guide on duty without subjecting himself to a fine of 5 shillings. No +hunter can leave the camp to return home without permission, and no one +is permitted to stir until any animal or property of value supposed to +be lost is recovered. The policemen, at the order of their captains, can +seize any cart at night-fall and place it where they choose for the +public safety, but on the following morning they are compelled to bring +it back to the spot from which they moved it the previous evening. This +power is very necessary, in order that the horses may not be stampeded +by night attacks of the Sioux or other Indian tribes at war with the +half-breeds. A heavy fine is imposed in case of neglect in extinguishing +fires when the camp is broken up in the morning. + +"In sight of buffalo all the hunters are drawn up in line, the +president, captains, and police being a few yards in advance, +restraining the impatient hunters. 'Not yet! Not yet!' is the subdued +whisper of the president. The approach to the herd is cautiously made. +'Now!' the president exclaims; and as the word leaves his lips the +charge is made, and in a few minutes the excited half-breeds are amongst +the bewildered buffalo." + +"After witnessing one buffalo hunt," says Prof. John Macoun, "I can not +blame the half-breed and the Indian for leaving the farm and wildly +making for the plains when it is reported that buffalo have crossed the +border." + +The "great fall hunt" was a regular event with about all the Indian +tribes living within striking distance of the buffalo, in the course of +which great numbers of buffalo were killed, great quantities of meat +dried and made into pemmican, and all the skins taken were tanned in +various ways to suit the many purposes they were called upon to serve. + +Mr. Francis La Flesche informs me that during the presence of the +buffalo in western Nebraska and until they were driven south by the +Sioux, the fall hunt of the Omahas was sometimes participated in by +three hundred lodges, or about 3,000 people all told, six hundred of +whom were warriors, and each of whom generally killed about ten +buffaloes. The laws of the hunt were very strict and inexorable. In +order that all participants should have an equal chance, it was decreed +that any hunter caught "still-hunting" should be soundly flogged. On one +occasion an Indian was discovered in the act, but not caught. During the +chase which was made to capture him many arrows were fired at him by the +police, but being better mounted than his pursuers he escaped, and kept +clear of the camp during the remainder of the hunt. On another occasion +an Omaha, guilty of the same offense, was chased, and in his effort to +escape his horse fell with him in a coulée and broke one of his legs. In +spite of the sad plight of the Omaha, his pursuers came up and flogged +him, just as if nothing had happened. + +After the invention of the Colt's revolver, and breech-loading rifles +generally, the chase on horseback speedily became more fatal to the +bison than it ever had been before. With such weapons, it was possible +to gallop into the midst of a flying herd and, during the course of a +run of 2 or 3 miles, discharge from twelve to forty shots at a range of +only a few yards, or even a few feet. In this kind of hunting the heavy +Navy revolver was the favorite weapon, because it could be held in one +hand and fired with far greater precision than could a rifle held in +both hands. Except in the hands of an expert, the use of the rifle was +limited, and often attended with risk to the hunter; but the revolver +was good for all directions; it could very often be used with deadly +effect where a rifle could not have been used at all, and, moreover, it +left the bridle-hand free. Many cavalrymen and hunters were able to use +a revolver with either hand, or one in each hand. Gen. Lew. Wallace +preferred the Smith and Wesson in 1867, which he declared to be "the +best of revolvers" then. + +It was his marvelous skill in shooting buffaloes with a rifle, from the +back of a galloping horse, that earned for the Hon. W. F. Cody the +sobriquet by which he is now familiarly known to the world--"Buffalo +Bill." To the average hunter on horseback the galloping of the horse +makes it easy for him to aim at the heart of a buffalo and shoot clear +over its back. No other shooting is so difficult, or requires such +consummate dexterity as shooting with any kind of a gun, especially a +rifle, from the back of a running horse. Let him who doubts this +statement try it for himself and he will doubt no more. It was in the +chase of the buffalo on horseback, armed with a rifle, that "Buffalo +Bill" acquired the marvelous dexterity with the rifle which he has since +exhibited in the presence of the people of two continents. I regret that +circumstances have prevented my obtaining the exact figures of the great +kill of buffaloes that Mr. Cody once made in a single run, in which he +broke all previous records in that line, and fairly earned his title. In +1867 he entered into a contract with the Kansas Pacific Railway, then in +course of construction through western Kansas, at a monthly salary of +$500, to deliver all the buffalo meat that would be required by the army +of laborers engaged in building the road. In eighteen mouths he killed +4,280 buffaloes. + +3. _Impounding or Killing in Pens._--At first thought it seems hard to +believe that it was ever possible for Indians to build pens and drive +wild buffaloes into them, as cowboys now corral their cattle, yet such +wholesale catches were of common occurrence among the Plains Crees of +the south Saskatchewan country, and the same general plan was pursued, +with slight modifications, by the Indians of the Assinniboine, +Blackfeet, and Gros Ventres, and other tribes of the Northwest. Like the +keddah elephant-catching operations in India, this plan was feasible +only in a partially wooded country, and where buffalo were so numerous +that their presence could be counted upon to a certainty. The "pound" +was simply a circular pen, having a single entrance; but being unable to +construct a gate of heavy timbers, such as is made to drop and close the +entrance to an elephant pen, the Indians very shrewdly got over the +difficulty by making the opening at the edge of a perpendicular bank 10 +or 12 feet high, easy enough for a buffalo to jump down, but impossible +for him to scale afterward. It is hardly probable that Indians who were +expert enough to attack and kill buffalo on foot would have been tempted +to undertake the labor that building a pound always involved, had it not +been for the wild excitement attending captures made in this way, and +which were shared to the fullest possible extent by warriors, women, and +children alike. + +The best description of this method which has come under our notice is +that of Professor Hind, who witnessed its practice by the Plains Crees, +on the headwaters of the Qu'Appelle River, in 1858. He describes the +pound he saw as a fence, constructed of the trunks of trees laced +together with green withes, and braced on the outside by props, +inclosing a circular space about 120 feet in diameter. It was placed in +a pretty dell between sand-hills, and leading from it in two diverging +rows (like the guiding wings of an elephant pen) were the two rows of +bushes which the Indians designate "dead men," which serve to guide the +buffalo into the pound. The "dead men" extended a distance of 4 miles +into the prairie. They were placed about 50 feet apart, and the two +rows gradually diverged until at their extremities they were from 11/2 +to 2 miles apart. + +[Illustration: CREE INDIANS IMPOUNDING BUFFALOES. Reproduced from Prof. +H. Y. Hind's--"Red River, Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Expedition."] + +"When the skilled hunters are about to bring in a herd of buffalo from +the prairie," says Professor Hind, "they direct the course of the gallop +of the alarmed animals by confederates stationed in hollows or small +depressions, who, when the buffalo appear inclined to take a direction +leading from the space marked out by the 'dead men,' show themselves for +a moment and wave their robes, immediately hiding again. This serves to +turn the buffalo slightly in another direction, and when the animals, +having arrived between the rows of 'dead men,' endeavor to pass through +them, Indians stationed here and there behind a 'dead man' go through +the same operation, and thus keep the animals within the narrowing +limits of the converging lines. At the entrance to the pound there is a +strong trunk of a tree placed about a foot from the ground, and on the +inner side an excavation is made sufficiently deep to prevent the +buffalo from leaping back when once in the pound. As soon as the animals +have taken the fatal spring, they begin to gallop round and round the +ring fence, looking for a chance to escape, but with the utmost silence +women and children on the outside hold their robes before every orifice +until the whole herd is brought in; then they climb to the top of the +fence, and, with the hunters who have followed closely in the rear of +the buffalo, spear or shoot with bows and arrows or fire-arms at the +bewildered animals, rapidly becoming frantic with rage and terror, +within the narrow limits of the pound. + +"A dreadful scene of confusion and slaughter then begins; the oldest and +strongest animals crush and toss the weaker; the shouts and screams of +the excited Indians rise above the roaring of the bulls, the bellowing +of the cows, and the piteous moaning of the calves. The dying struggles +of so many huge and powerful animals crowded together create a revolting +and terrible scene, dreadful from the excess of its cruelty and waste of +life, but with occasional displays of wonderful brute strength and rage; +while man in his savage, untutored, and heathen state shows both in deed +and expression how little he is superior to the noble beasts he so +wantonly and cruelly destroys."[59] + +[Note 59: Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Expedition, p. 358.] + +The last scene of the bloody tragedy is thus set forth a week later: + +"Within the circular fence ... lay, tossed in every conceivable +position, over two hundred dead buffalo. [The exact number was 240.] +From old bulls to calves of three months' old, animals of every age were +huddled together in all the forced attitudes of violent death. Some lay +on their backs, with eyes starting from their heads and tongue thrust +out through clotted gore. Others were impaled on the horns of the old +and strong bulls. Others again, which had been tossed, were lying with +broken backs, two and three deep. One little calf hung suspended on the +horns of a bull which had impaled it in the wild race round and round +the pound. The Indians looked upon the dreadful and sickening sight +with evident delight, and told how such and such a bull or cow had +exhibited feats of wonderful strength in the death-struggle. The flesh +of many of the cows had been taken from them, and was drying in the sun +on stages near the tents. It is needless to say that the odor was +overpowering, and millions of large blue flesh-flies, humming and +buzzing over the putrefying bodies, was not the least disgusting part of +the spectacle." + +It is some satisfaction to know that when the first "run" was made, ten +days previous, the herd of two hundred buffaloes was no sooner driven +into the pound than a wary old bull espied a weak spot in the fence, +charged it at full speed, and burst through to freedom and the prairie, +followed by the entire herd. + +Strange as it may seem to-day, this wholesale method of destroying +buffalo was once practiced in Montana. In his memoir on "The American +Bison," Mr. J. A. Allen states that as late as 1873, while journeying +through that Territory in charge of the Yellowstone Expedition, he +"several times met with the remains of these pounds and their converging +fences in the region above the mouth of the Big Horn River." Mr. Thomas +Simpson states that in 1840 there were three camps of Assinniboine +Indians in the vicinity of Carlton House, each of which had its buffalo +pound into which they drove forty or fifty animals daily. + +4. _The "Surround."_--During the last forty years the final +extermination of the buffalo has been confidently predicted by not only +the observing white man of the West, but also nearly all the Indians and +half-breeds who formerly depended upon this animal for the most of the +necessities, as well as luxuries, of life. They have seen the great +herds driven westward farther and farther, until the plains were left +tenantless, and hunger took the place of feasting on the choice tid-bits +of the chase. And is it not singular that during this period the Indian +tribes were not moved by a common impulse to kill sparingly, and by the +exercise of a reasonable economy in the chase to make the buffalo last +as long as possible. + +But apparently no such thoughts ever entered their minds, so far as +_they themselves_ were concerned. They looked with jealous eyes upon the +white hunter, and considered him as much of a robber as if they had a +brand on every buffalo. It has been claimed by some authors that the +Indians killed with more judgment and more care for the future than did +the white man, but I fail to find any evidence that such was ever the +fact. They all killed wastefully, wantonly, and always about five times +as many head as were really necessary for food. It was always the same +old story, whenever a gang of Indians needed meat a whole herd was +slaughtered, the choicest portions of the finest animals were taken, and +about 75 per cent of the whole left to putrefy and fatten the wolves. +And now, as we read of the appalling slaughter, one can scarcely repress +the feeling of grim satisfaction that arises when we also read that many +of the ex-slaughterers are almost starving for the millions of pounds +of fat and juicy buffalo meat they wasted a few years ago. Verily, the +buffalo is in a great measure avenged already. + +The following extract from Mr. Catlin's "North American Indians,"[60] I, +page 199-200, serves well to illustrate not only a very common and very +deadly Indian method of wholesale slaughter--the "surround"--but also +to show the senseless destructiveness of Indians even when in a state of +semi-starvation, which was brought upon them by similar acts of +improvidence and wastefulness. + +[Note 60: H. Mis. 600, pt. 2-31] + +"The Minatarees, as well as the Mandans, had suffered for some months +past for want of meat, and had indulged in the most alarming fears that +the herds of buffalo were emigrating so far off from them that there was +great danger of their actual starvation, when it was suddenly announced +through the village one morning at an early hour that a herd of +buffaloes was in sight. A hundred or more young men mounted their +horses, with weapons in hand, and steered their course to the prairies. +* * * + +"The plan of attack, which in this country is familiarly called a +surround, was explicitly agreed upon, and the hunters, who were all +mounted on their 'buffalo horses' and armed with bows and arrows or long +lances, divided into two columns, taking opposite directions, and drew +themselves gradually around the herd at a mile or more distance from +them, thus forming a circle of horsemen at equal distances apart, who +gradually closed in upon them with a moderate pace at a signal given. +The unsuspecting herd at length 'got the wind' of the approaching enemy +and fled in a mass in the greatest confusion. To the point where they +were aiming to cross the line the horsemen were seen, at full speed, +gathering and forming in a column, brandishing their weapons, and +yelling in the most frightful manner, by which they turned the black and +rushing mass, which moved off in an opposite direction, where they were +again met and foiled in a similar manner, and wheeled back in utter +confusion; by which time the horsemen had closed in from all directions, +forming a continuous line around them, whilst the poor affrighted +animals were eddying about in a crowded and confused mass, hooking and +climbing upon each other, when the work of death commenced. I had rode +up in the rear and occupied an elevated position at a few rods' +distance, from which I could (like the general of a battlefield) survey +from my horse's back the nature and the progress of the grand _mêlée_, +but (unlike him) without the power of issuing a command or in any way +directing its issue. + +"In this grand turmoil [see illustration] a cloud of dust was soon +raised, which in parts obscured the throng where the hunters were +galloping their horses around and driving the whizzing arrows or their +long lances to the hearts of these noble animals; which in many +instances, becoming infuriated with deadly wounds in their sides, +erected their shaggy manes over their bloodshot eyes and furiously +plunged forward at the sides of their assailants' horses, sometimes +goring them to death at a lunge and putting their dismounted riders to +flight for their lives. Sometimes their dense crowd was opened, and the +blinded horsemen, too intent on their prey amidst the cloud of dust, +were hemmed and wedged in amidst the crowding beasts, over whose backs +they were obliged to leap for security, leaving their horses to the fate +that might await them in the results of this wild and desperate war. +Many were the bulls that turned upon their assailants and met them with +desperate resistance, and many were the warriors who were dismounted and +saved themselves by the superior muscles of their legs; some who were +closely pursued by the bulls wheeled suddenly around, and snatching the +part of a buffalo robe from around their waists, threw it over the horns +and eyes of the infuriated beast, and darting by its side drove the +arrow or the lance to its heart; others suddenly dashed off upon the +prairie by the side of the affrighted animals which had escaped from the +throng, and closely escorting them for a few rods, brought down their +heart's blood in streams and their huge carcasses upon the green and +enameled turf. + +"In this way this grand hunt soon resolved itself into a desperate +battle, _and in the space of fifteen minutes resulted in the total +destruction of the whole herd_, which in all their strength and fury +were doomed, like every beast and living thing else, to fall before the +destroying hands of mighty man. + +"I had sat in trembling silence upon my horse and witnessed this +extraordinary scene, which allowed not one of these animals to escape +out of my sight. Many plunged off upon the prairie for a distance, but +were overtaken and killed, and although I could not distinctly estimate +the number that were slain, yet I am sure that some hundreds of these +noble animals fell in this grand _mêlée_. * * * Amongst the poor +affrighted creatures that had occasionally dashed through the ranks of +their enemy and sought safety in flight upon the prairie (and in some +instances had undoubtedly gained it), I saw them stand awhile, looking +back, when they turned, and, as if bent on their own destruction, +retraced their steps, and mingled themselves and their deaths with those +of the dying throng. Others had fled to a distance on the prairies, and +for want of company, of friends or of foes, had stood and gazed on till +the battle-scene was over, seemingly taking pains to stay and hold their +lives in readiness for their destroyers until the general destruction +was over, when they fell easy victims to their weapons, making the +slaughter complete." + +It is to be noticed that _every animal_ of this entire herd of several +hundred was slain on the spot, and there is no room to doubt that at +least half (possibly much more) of the meat thus taken was allowed to +become a loss. People who are so utterly senseless as to wantonly +destroy their own source of food, as the Indians have done, certainly +deserve to starve. + +This "surround" method of wholesale slaughter was also practiced by +the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Sioux, Pawnees, Ornabas, and probably many +other tribes. + +[Illustration: THE SURROUND. From a painting in the National Museum by +George Catlin.] + +5. _Decoying and Driving._--Another method of slaughtering by wholesale +is thus described by Lewis and Clarke, I, 235. The locality indicated +was the Missouri River, in Montana, just above the mouth of Judith +River: + +"On the north we passed a precipice about 120 feet high, under which lay +scattered the fragments of at least one hundred carcasses of buffaloes, +although the water which had washed away the lower part of the hill, +must have carried off many of the dead. These buffaloes had been chased +down a precipice in a way very common on the Missouri, and by which vast +herds are destroyed in a moment. The mode of hunting is to select one of +the most active and fleet young men, who is disguised by a buffalo skin +round his body; the skin of the head with the ears and horns fastened on +his own head in such a way as to deceive the buffaloes. Thus dressed, he +fixes himself at a convenient distance between a herd of buffaloes and +any of the river precipices, which sometimes extend for some miles. + +"His companions in the mean time get in the rear and side of the herd, +and at a given signal show themselves, and advance towards the +buffaloes. They instantly take alarm, and, finding the hunters beside +them, they run toward the disguised Indian or decoy, who leads them on +at full speed toward the river, when, suddenly securing himself in some +crevice of the cliff which he had previously fixed on, the herd is left +on the brink of the precipice; it is then in vain for the foremost to +retreat or even to stop; they are pressed on by the hindmost rank, who, +seeing no danger but from the hunters, goad on those before them till +the whole are precipitated and the shore is strewed with their dead +bodies. Sometimes in this perilous seduction the Indian is himself +either trodden under foot by the rapid movements of the buffaloes, or, +missing his footing in the cliff, is urged down the precipice by the +falling herd. The Indians then select as much meat as they wish, and the +rest is abandoned to the wolves, and creates a most dreadful stench." + +Harper's Magazine, volume 38, page 147, contains the following from the +pen of Theo. E. Davis, in an article entitled "The Buffalo Range:" + +"As I have previously stated, the best hunting on the range is to be +found between the Platte and Arkansas Rivers. Here I have seen the +Indians have recourse to another method of slaughtering buffalo in a +very easy, but to me a cruel way, for where one buffalo is killed +several are sure to be painfully injured; but these, too, are soon +killed by the Indians, who make haste to lance or shoot the cripples. + +"The mode of hunting is somewhat as follows: A herd is discovered +grazing on the table-lands. Being thoroughly acquainted with the +country, the Indians are aware of the location of the nearest point +where the table land is broken abruptly by a precipice which descends a +hundred or more feet. Toward this 'devil-jump' the Indians head the +herd, which is at once driven pell mell to and over the precipice. +Meanwhile a number of Indians have taken their way by means of routes +known to them, and succeed in reaching the cañon through which the +crippled buffalo are running in all directions. These are quickly +killed, so that out of a very considerable band of buffalo but few +escape, many having been killed by the fall and others dispatched while +limping off. This mode of hunting is sometimes indulged in by +harum-scarum white men, but it is done more for deviltry than anything +else. I have never known of its practice by army officers or persons who +professed to hunt buffalo as a sport." + +6. _Hunting on Snow-shoes._--"In the dead of the winters," says Mr. +Catlin,[61] "which are very long and severely cold in this country, +where horses can not be brought into the chase with any avail, the +Indian runs upon the surface of the snow by aid of his snow-shoes, which +buoy him up, while the great weight of the buffaloes sinks them down to +the middle of their sides, and, completely stopping their progress, +insures them certain and easy victims to the bow or lance of their +pursuers. The snow in these regions often lies during the winter to the +depth of 3 and 4 feet, being blown away from the tops and sides of the +hills in many places, which are left bare for the buffaloes to graze +upon, whilst it is drifted in the hollows and ravines to a very great +depth, and rendered almost entirely impassable to these huge animals, +which, when closely pursued by their enemies, endeavor to plunge through +it, but are soon wedged in and almost unable to move, where they fall an +easy prey to the Indian, who runs up lightly upon his snow-shoes and +drives his lance to their hearts. The skins are then stripped off, to be +sold to the fur traders, and the carcasses left to be devoured by the +wolves. [Owing to the fact that the winter's supply of meat was procured +and dried in the summer and fall months, the flesh of all buffalo killed +in winter was allowed to become a total loss.] This is the season in +which the greatest number of these animals are destroyed for their +robes; they are most easily killed at this time, and their hair or fur, +being longer and more abundant, gives greater value to the robe." + +[Note 61: North American Indians, I, 253.] + + + * * * * * + + + + +III. PROGRESS OF THE EXTERMINATION. + +A. THE PERIOD OF DESULTORY DESTRUCTION, FROM 1730 TO 1830. + +[Illustration: INDIANS ON SNOW-SHOES HUNTING BUFFALOES. +From a painting in the National Museum by George Catlin.] + + +The disappearance of the buffalo from all the country east of the +Mississippi was one of the inevitable results of the advance of +civilization. To the early pioneers who went forth into the wilderness +to wrestle with nature for the necessities of life, this valuable animal +might well have seemed a gift direct from the hand of Providence. During +the first few years of the early settler's life in a new country, the +few domestic animals he had brought with him were far too valuable to +be killed for food, and for a long period he looked to the wild animals +of the forest and the prairie for his daily supply of meat. The time was +when no one stopped to think of the important part our game animals +played in the settlement of this country, and even now no one has +attempted to calculate the lessened degree of rapidity with which the +star of empire would have taken its westward way without the bison, +deer, elk, and antelope. The Western States and Territories pay little +heed to the wanton slaughter of deer and elk now going on in their +forests, but the time will soon come when the "grangers" will enter +those regions and find the absence of game a very serious matter. + +Although the bison was the first wild species to disappear before the +advance of civilization, he served a good purpose at a highly critical +period. His huge bulk of toothsome flesh fed many a hungry family, and +his ample robe did good service in the settler's cabin and sleigh in +winter weather. By the time game animals had become scarce, domestic +herds and flocks had taken their place, and hunting became a pastime +instead of a necessity. + +As might be expected, from the time the bison was first seen by white +men he has always been a conspicuous prize, and being the largest of the +land quadrupeds, was naturally the first to disappear. Every man's hand +has been against him. While his disappearance from the eastern United +States was, in the main, due to the settler who killed game as a means +of subsistence, there were a few who made the killing of those animals a +regular business. This occurred almost exclusively in the immediate +vicinity of salt springs, around which the bison congregated in great +numbers, and made their wholesale slaughter of easy accomplishment. Mr. +Thomas Ashe[62] has recorded some very interesting facts and +observations on this point. In speaking of an old man who in the latter +part of the last century built a log house for himself "on the immediate +borders of a salt spring," in western Pennsylvania, for the purpose of +killing buffaloes out of the immense droves which frequented that spot, +Mr. Ashe says: + +[Note 62: Travels in America in 1806. London, 1808.] + +"In the first and second years this old man, with some companions, +killed from six to seven hundred of these noble creatures merely for the +sake of their skins, which to them were worth only 2 shillings each; and +after this 'work of death' they were obliged to leave the place till the +following season, or till the wolves, bears, panthers, eagles, rooks, +ravens, etc., had devoured the carcasses and abandoned the place for +other prey. In the two following years the same persons killed great +numbers out of the first droves that arrived, skinned them, and left +their bodies exposed to the sun and air; but they soon had reason to +repent of this, for the remaining droves, as they came up in succession, +stopped, gazed on the mangled and putrid bodies, sorrowfully moaned or +furiously lowed aloud, and returned instantly to the wilderness in an +unusual run, without tasting their favorite spring or licking the +impregnated earth, which was also once their most agreeable occupation; +nor did they nor any of their race ever revisit the neighborhood. + +"The simple history of this spring is that of every other in the settled +parts of this Western World; the carnage of beasts was everywhere the +same. I met with a man who had killed two thousand buffaloes with his +own hand, and others no doubt have done the same thing. In consequence +of such proceedings not one buffalo is at this time to be found east of +the Mississippi, except a few domesticated by the curious, or carried +through the country on a public show." + +But, fortunately, there is no evidence that such slaughter as that +described by Mr. Ashe was at all common, and there is reason for the +belief that until within the last forty years the buffalo was sacrificed +in ways conducive to the greatest good of the greatest number. + +From Coronado to General Frémont there has hardly been an explorer of +United States territory who has not had occasion to bless the bison, and +its great value to mankind can hardly be overestimated, although by many +it can readily be forgotten. + +The disappearance of the bison from the eastern United States was due to +its consumption as food. It was very gradual, like the march of +civilization, and, under the circumstances, absolutely inevitable. In a +country so thickly peopled as this region speedily became, the mastodon +could have survived extinction about as easily as the bison. Except when +the latter became the victim of wholesale slaughter, there was little +reason to bemoan his fate, save upon grounds that may be regarded purely +sentimental. He served a most excellent purpose in the development of +the country. Even as late as 1875 the farmers of eastern Kansas were in +the habit of making trips every fall into the western part of that State +for wagon loads of buffalo meat as a supply for the succeeding winter. +The farmers of Texas, Nebraska, Dakota, and Minnesota also drew largely +upon the buffalo as long as the supply lasted. + +The extirpation of the bison west of the Rocky Mountains was due to +legitimate hunting for food and clothing rather than for marketable +peltries. In no part of that whole region was the species ever numerous, +although in the mountains themselves, notably in Colorado, within easy +reach of the great prairies on the east, vast numbers were seen by the +early explorers and pioneers. But to the westward, away from the +mountains, they were very rarely met with, and their total destruction +in that region was a matter of easy accomplishment. According to Prof. +J. A. Allen the complete disappearance of the bison west of the Rocky +Mountains took place between 1838 and 1840. + +B. THE PERIOD OF SYSTEMATIC SLAUGHTER, FROM 1830 TO 1838. + +We come now to a history which I would gladly leave unwritten. Its +record is a disgrace to the American people in general, and the +Territorial, State, and General Government in particular. It will cause +succeeding generations to regard us as being possessed of the leading +characteristics of the savage and the beast of prey--cruelty and greed. +We will be likened to the blood-thirsty tiger of the Indian jungle, who +slaughters a dozen bullocks at once when he knows he can eat only one. + +In one respect, at least, the white men who engaged in the systematic +slaughter of the bison were savages just as much as the Piegan Indians, +who would drive a whole herd over a precipice to secure a week's rations +of meat for a single village. The men who killed buffaloes for their +tongues and those who shot them from the railway trains for sport were +murderers. In no way does civilized man so quickly revert to his former +state as when he is alone with the beasts of the field. Give him a gun +and something which he may kill without getting himself in trouble, and, +presto! he is instantly a savage again, finding exquisite delight in +bloodshed, slaughter, and death, if not for gain, then solely for the +joy and happiness of it. There is no kind of warfare against game +animals too unfair, too disreputable, or too mean for white men to +engage in if they can only do so with safety to their own precious +carcasses. They will shoot buffalo and antelope from running railway +trains, drive deer into water with hounds and cut their throats in cold +blood, kill does with fawns a week old, kill fawns by the score for +their spotted skins, slaughter deer, moose, and caribou in the snow at a +pitiful disadvantage, just as the wolves do; exterminate the wild ducks +on the whole Atlantic seaboard with punt guns for the metropolitan +markets; kill off the Rocky Mountain goats for hides worth only 50 cents +apiece, destroy wagon loads of trout with dynamite, and so on to the end +of the chapter. + +Perhaps the most gigantic task ever undertaken on this continent in the +line of game-slaughter was the extermination of the bison in the great +pasture region by the hide-hunters. Probably the brilliant rapidity and +success with which that lofty undertaking was accomplished was a matter +of surprise even to those who participated in it. The story of the +slaughter is by no means a long one. + +The period of systematic slaughter of the bison naturally begins with +the first organized efforts in that direction, in a business-like, +wholesale way. Although the species had been steadily driven westward +for a hundred years by the advancing settlements, and had during all +that time been hunted for the meat and robes it yielded, its +extermination did not begin in earnest until 1820, or thereabouts. As +before stated, various persons had previous to that time made buffalo +killing a business in order to sell their skins, but such instances were +very exceptional. By that time the bison was totally extinct in all the +region lying east of the Mississippi River except a portion of +Wisconsin, where it survived until about 1830. In 1820 the first +organized buffalo hunting expedition on a grand scale was made from the +Red River settlement, Manitoba, in which five hundred and forty carts +proceeded to the range. Previous to that time the buffaloes were found +near enough to the settlements around Fort Garry that every settler +could hunt independently; but as the herds were driven farther and +farther away, it required an organized effort and a long journey to +reach them. + +The American Fur Company established trading posts along the Missouri +River, one at the mouth of the Tetón River and another at the mouth of +the Yellowstone. In 1826 a post was established at the eastern base of +the Rocky Mountains, at the head of the Arkansas River, and in 1832 +another was located in a corresponding situation at the head of the +South Fork of the Platte, close to where Denver now stands. Both the +latter were on what was then the western border of the buffalo range. +Elsewhere throughout the buffalo country there were numerous other +posts, always situated as near as possible to the best hunting ground, +and at the same time where they would be most accessible to the hunters, +both white and red. + +As might be supposed, the Indians were encouraged to kill buffaloes for +their robes, and this is what Mr. George Catlin wrote at the mouth of +the Tetón River (Pyatt County, Dakota) in 1832 concerning this +trade:[63] + +"It seems hard and cruel (does it not?) that we civilized people, with +all the luxuries and comforts of the world about us, should be drawing +from the backs of these useful animals the skins for our luxury, leaving +their carcasses to be devoured by the wolves; that we should draw from +that country some one hundred and fifty or two hundred thousand of their +robes annually, the greater part of which are taken from animals that +are killed expressly for the robe, at a season when the meat is not +cured and preserved, and for each of which skins the Indian has received +but a pint of whisky! Such is the fact, and that number, or near it, are +annually destroyed, in addition to the number that is necessarily killed +for the subsistence of three hundred thousand Indians, who live chiefly +upon them." + +The author further declared that the fur trade in those "great western +realms" was then limited chiefly to the purchase of buffalo robes. + +1. _The Red River half-breeds._--In June, 1840, when the Red River +half-breeds assembled at Pembina for their annual expedition against the +buffalo, they mustered as follows: + ++-------------------------------------+ +|Carts |1,210| ++-------------------------+-----+-----+ +|Hunters | 620| | ++-------------------------+-----+ | +|Women | 650|1,630| ++-------------------------+-----+ | +|Boys and girls | 360| | ++-------------------------+-----+-----+ +|Horses (buffalo runners) | 403| ++-------------------------------+-----+ +|Dogs | 542| ++-------------------------------+-----+ +|Cart horses | 655| ++-------------------------------+-----+ +|Draught oxen | 586| ++-------------------------------+-----+ +|Skinning knives |1,240| ++-------------------------------------+ + +The total value of the property employed in this expedition and the +working time occupied by it (two months) amounted to the enormous sum of +£24,000. + +[Note 63: North American Indians, I, p. 263.] + +Although the bison formerly ranged to Fort Garry (near Winnipeg), they +had been steadily killed off and driven back, and in 1840 none were +found by the expedition until it was 250 miles from Pembina, which is +situated on the Red River, at the international boundary. At that time +the extinction of the species from the Red River to the Cheyenne was +practically complete. The Red River settlers, aided, of course, by the +Indians of that region, are responsible for the extermination of the +bison throughout northeastern Dakota as far as the Cheyenne River, +northern Minnesota, and the whole of what is now the province of +Manitoba. More than that; as the game grew scarce and retired farther +and farther, the half-breeds, who despised agriculture as long as there +was a buffalo to kill, extended their hunting operations westward along +the Qu'Appelle until they encroached upon the hunting-grounds of the +Plain Crees, who lived in the Saskatchewan country. + +Thus was an immense inroad made in the northern half of the herd which +had previously covered the entire pasture region from the Great Slave +Lake to central Texas. This was the first visible impression of the +systematic killing which began in 1820. Up to 1840 it is reasonably +certain, as will be seen by figures given elsewhere, that by this +business-like method of the half-breeds, at least 652,000 buffaloes were +destroyed by them alone. + +Even as early as 1840 the Red River hunt was prosecuted through Dakota +southwestwardly to the Missouri River and a short distance beyond it. +Here it touched the wide strip of territory, bordering that stream, +which was even then being regularly drained of its animal resources by +the Indian hunters, who made the river their base of operations, and +whose robes were shipped on its steam-boats. + +It is certain that these annual Red River expeditions into Dakota were +kept up as late as 1847, and as long thereafter as buffaloes were to be +found in any number between the Cheyenne and the Missouri. At the same +time, the White Horse Plains division, which hunted westward from Fort +Garry, did its work of destruction quite as rapidly and as thoroughly as +the rival expedition to the United States. + +In 1857 the Plains Crees, inhabiting the country around the headwaters +of the Qu'Appelle River (250 miles due west from Winnipeg), assembled in +council, and "determined that in consequence of promises often made and +broken by the white men and half-breeds, and the rapid destruction by +them of the buffalo they fed on, they would not permit either white men +or half-breeds to hunt in their country, or travel through it, except +for the purpose of trading for their dried meat, pemmican, skins and +robes." + +In 1858 the Crees reported that between the two branches of the +Saskatchewan buffalo were "very scarce." Professor Hind's expedition saw +only one buffalo in the whole course of their journey from Winnipeg +until they reached Sand Hill Lake, at the head of the Qu'Appelle, near +the south branch of the Saskatchewan, where the first herd was +encountered. Although the species was not totally extinct on the +Qu'Appelle at that time, it was practically so. + +2. _The country of the Sioux._--The next territory completely +depopulated of buffaloes by systematic hunting was very nearly the +entire southern half of Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, and northern +Nebraska as far as the North Platte. This vast region, once the favorite +range for hundreds of thousands of buffaloes, had for many years been +the favorite hunting ground of the Sioux Indians of the Missouri, the +Pawnees, Omahas, and all other tribes of that region. The settlement of +Iowa and Minnesota presently forced into this region the entire body of +Mississippi Sioux from the country west of Prairie du Chien and around +Fort Snelling, and materially hastened the extermination of all the game +animals which were once so abundant there. It is absolutely certain that +if the Indians had been uninfluenced by the white traders, or, in other +words, had not been induced to take and prepare a large number of robes +every year for the market, the species would have survived very much +longer than it did. But the demand quickly proved to be far greater than +the supply. The Indians, of course, found it necessary to slaughter +annually a great number of buffaloes for their own wants--for meat, +robes, leather, teepees, etc. When it came to supplementing this +necessary slaughter by an additional fifty thousand or more every year +for marketable robes, it is no wonder that the improvident savages soon +found, when too late, that the supply of buffaloes was not +inexhaustible. Naturally enough, they attributed their disappearance to +the white man, who was therefore a robber, and a proper subject for the +scalping-knife. Apparently it never occurred to the minds of the Sioux +that they themselves were equally to blame; it was always _the paleface_ +who killed the buffaloes; and it was always _Sioux_ buffaloes that they +killed. The Sioux seemed to feel that they held a chattel mortgage on +all the buffaloes north of the Platte, and it required more than one +pitched battle to convince them otherwise. + +Up to the time when the great Sioux Reservation was established in +Dakota (1875-'77), when 33,739 square miles of country, or nearly the +whole southwest quarter of the Territory, was set aside for the +exclusive occupancy of the Sioux, buffaloes were very numerous +throughout that entire region. East of the Missouri River, which is the +eastern boundary of the Sioux Reservation, from Bismarck all the way +down, the species was practically extinct as early as 1870. But at the +time when it became unlawful for white hunters to enter the territory of +the Sioux nation there were tens of thousands of buffaloes upon it, and +their subsequent slaughter is chargeable to the Indians alone, save as +to those which migrated into the hunting grounds of the whites. + +3. _Western railways, and their part in the extermination of the +buffalo._--The building of a railroad means the speedy extermination of +all the big game along its line. In its eagerness to attract the public +and build up "a big business," every new line which traverses a country +containing game does its utmost, by means of advertisements and posters, +to attract the man with a gun. Its game resorts are all laid bare, and +the market hunters and sportsmen swarm in immediately, slaying and to +slay. + +Within the last year the last real retreat for our finest game, the only +remaining stronghold for the mountain sheep, goat, caribou, elk, and +deer--northwestern Montana, northern Idaho, and thence westward--has +been laid open to the very heart by the building of the St. Paul, +Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway, which runs up the valley of the Milk +River to Fort Assinniboine, and crosses the Rocky Mountains through Two +Medicine Pass. Heretofore that region has been so difficult to reach +that the game it contains has been measurably secure from general +slaughter; but now it also must "go." + +The marking out of the great overland trail by the Argonauts of '49 in +their rush for the gold fields of California was the foreshadowing of +the great east-and-west breach in the universal herd, which was made +twenty years later by the first transcontinental railway. + +The pioneers who "crossed the plains" in those days killed buffaloes for +food whenever they could, and the constant harrying of those animals +experienced along the line of travel, soon led them to retire from the +proximity of such continual danger. It was undoubtedly due to this cause +that the number seen by parties who crossed the plains in 1849 and +subsequently, was surprisingly small. But, fortunately for the +buffaloes, the pioneers who would gladly have halted and turned aside +now and then for the excitement of the chase, were compelled to hurry +on, and accomplish the long journey while good weather lasted. It was +owing to this fact, and the scarcity of good horses, that the buffaloes +found it necessary to retire only a few miles from the wagon route to +get beyond the reach of those who would have gladly hunted them. + +Mr. Allen Varner, of Indianola, Illinois, has kindly furnished me with +the following facts in regard to the presence of the buffalo, as +observed by him during his journey westward, over what was then known as +the Oregon Trail. + +"The old Oregon trail ran from Independence, Missouri, to old Fort +Laramie, through the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, and thence up to +Salt Lake City. We left Independence on May C, 1849, and struck the +Platte River at Grand Island. The trail had been traveled but very +little previous to that year. We saw no buffaloes whatever until we +reached the forks of the Platte, on May 20, or thereabouts. There we saw +seventeen head. From that time on we saw small bunches now and then; +never more than forty or fifty together. We saw no great herds anywhere, +and I should say we did not see over five hundred head all told. The +most western point at which we saw buffaloes was about due north of +Laramie Peak, and it must have been about the 20th of June. We killed +several head for meat during our trip, and found them all rather thin +in flesh. Plainsmen who claimed to know, said that all the buffaloes we +saw had wintered in that locality, and had not had time to get fat. The +annual migration from the south had not yet begun, or rather had not yet +brought any of the southern buffaloes that far north." + +In a few years the tide of overland travel became so great, that the +buffaloes learned to keep away from the dangers of the trail, and many a +pioneer has crossed the plains without ever seeing a live buffalo. + +4. _The division of the universal herd._--Until the building of the +first transcontinental railway made it possible to market the "buffalo +product," buffalo hunting as a business was almost wholly in the hands +of the Indians. Even then, the slaughter so far exceeded the natural +increase that the narrowing limits of the buffalo range was watched with +anxiety, and the ultimate extinction of the species confidently +predicted. Even without railroads the extermination of the race would +have taken place eventually, but it would have been delayed perhaps +twenty years. With a recklessness of the future that was not to be +expected of savages, though perhaps perfectly natural to civilized white +men, who place the possession of a dollar above everything else, the +Indians with one accord singled out the _cows_ for slaughter, because +their robes and their flesh better suited the fastidious taste of the +noble redskin. The building of the Union Pacific Railway began at Omaha +in 1865, and during that year 40 miles were constructed. The year +following saw the completion of 265 miles more, and in 1867 245 miles +were added, which brought it to Cheyenne. In 1868, 350 miles were built, +and in 1869 the entire line was open to traffic. + +In 1867, when Maj. J. W. Powell and Prof. A. H. Thompson crossed the +plains by means of the Union Pacific Railway as far as it was +constructed and thence onward by wagon, they saw during the entire trip +only one live buffalo, a solitary old bull, wandering aimlessly along +the south bank of the Platte River. + +The completion of the Union Pacific Railway divided forever the +buffaloes of the United States into two great herds, which thereafter +became known respectively as the northern and southern herds. Both +retired rapidly and permanently from the railway, and left a strip of +country over 50 miles wide almost uninhabited by them. Although many +thousand buffaloes were killed by hunters who made the Union Pacific +Railway their base of operations, the two great bodies retired north and +south so far that the greater number were beyond striking distance from +that line. + +5. _The destruction of the southern herd._--The geographical center of +the great southern herd during the few years of its separate existence +previous to its destruction was very near the present site of Garden +City, Kansas. On the east, even as late as 1872, thousands of buffaloes +ranged within 10 miles of Wichita, which was then the headquarters of a +great number of buffalo-hunters, who plied their occupation vigorously +during the winter. On the north the herd ranged within 25 miles of the +Union Pacific, until the swarm of hunters coming down from the north +drove them farther and farther south. On the west, a few small bands +ranged as far as Pike's Peak and the South Park, but the main body +ranged east of the town of Pueblo, Colorado. In the southwest, buffaloes +were abundant as far as the Pecos and the Staked Plains, while the +southern limit of the herd was about on a line with the southern +boundary of New Mexico. Regarding this herd, Colonel Dodge writes as +follows: "Their most prized feeding ground was the section of country +between the South Platte and Arkansas rivers, watered by the Republican, +Smoky, Walnut, Pawnee, and other parallel or tributary streams, and +generally known as the Republican country. Hundreds of thousands went +south from here each winter, but hundreds of thousands remained. It was +the chosen home of the buffalo." + +Although the range of the northern herd covered about twice as much +territory as did the southern, the latter contained probably twice as +many buffaloes. The number of individuals in the southern herd in the +year 1871 must have been at least three millions, and most estimates +place the total much higher than that. + +During the years from 1866 to 1871, inclusive, the Atchison, Topeka and +Santa Fé Railway and what is now known as the Kansas Pacific, or Kansas +division of the Union Pacific Railway, were constructed from the +Missouri River westward across Kansas, and through the heart of the +southern buffalo range. The southern herd was literally cut to pieces by +railways, and every portion of its range rendered easily accessible. +There had always been a market for buffalo robes at a fair price, and as +soon as the railways crossed the buffalo country the slaughter began. +The rush to the range was only surpassed by the rush to the gold mines +of California in earlier years. The railroad builders, teamsters, +fortune-seekers, "professional" hunters, trappers, guides, and every one +out of a job turned out to hunt buffalo for hides and meat. The +merchants who had already settled in all the little towns along the +three great railways saw an opportunity to make money out of the buffalo +product, and forthwith began to organize and supply hunting parties with +arms, ammunition, and provisions, and send them to the range. An immense +business of this kind was done by the merchants of Dodge City (Fort +Dodge), Wichita, and Leavenworth, and scores of smaller towns did a +corresponding amount of business in the same line. During the years 1871 +to 1874 but little else was done in that country except buffalo killing. +Central depots were established in the best buffalo country, from whence +hunting parties operated in all directions. Buildings were erected for +the curing of meat, and corrals were built in which to heap up the +immense piles of buffalo skins that accumulated. At Dodge City, as late +as 1878, Professor Thompson saw a lot of baled buffalo skins in a +corral, the solid cubical contents of which he calculated to equal 120 +cords. + +At first the utmost wastefulness prevailed. Every one wanted to kill +buffalo, and no one was willing to do the skinning and curing. Thousands +upon thousands of buffaloes were killed for their tongues alone, and +never skinned. Thousands more were wounded by unskillful marksmen and +wandered off to die and become a total loss. But the climax of +wastefulness and sloth was not reached until the enterprising +buffalo-butcher began to skin his dead buffaloes by horse-power. The +process is of interest, as showing the depth of degradation to which a +man can fall and still call himself a hunter. The skin of the buffalo +was ripped open along the belly and throat, the legs cut around at the +knees, and ripped up the rest of the way. The skin of the neck was +divided all the way around at the back of the head, and skinned back a +few inches to afford a start. A stout iron bar, like a hitching post, +was then driven through the skull and about 18 inches into the earth, +after which a rope was tied very firmly to the thick skin of the neck, +made ready for that purpose. The other end of this rope was then hitched +to the whiffletree of a pair of horses, or to the rear axle of a wagon, +the horses were whipped up, and the skin was forthwith either torn in +two or torn off the buffalo with about 50 pounds of flesh adhering to +it. It soon became apparent to even the most enterprising buffalo +skinner that this method was not an unqualified success, and it was +presently abandoned. + +The slaughter which began in 1871 was prosecuted with great vigor and +enterprise in 1872, and reached its heighten 1873. By that time, the +buffalo country fairly swarmed with hunters, each, party putting forth +its utmost efforts to destroy more buffaloes than its rivals. By that +time experience had taught the value of thorough organization, and the +butchering was done in a more business-like way. By a coincidence that +proved fatal to the bison, it was just at the beginning of the slaughter +that breech-loading, long-range rifles attained what was practically +perfection. The Sharps 40-90 or 45-120, and the Remington were the +favorite weapons of the buffalo-hunter, the former being the one in most +general use. Before the leaden hail of thousands of these deadly +breech-loaders the buffaloes went down at the rate of several thousand +daily during the hunting season. + +During the years 1871 and 1872 the most wanton wastefulness prevailed. +Colonel Dodge declares that, though hundreds of thousands of skins were +sent to market, they scarcely indicated the extent of the slaughter. +Through want of skill in shooting and want of knowledge in preserving +the hides of those slain by green hunters, _one hide sent to market +represented three, four, or even five dead buffalo_. The skinners and +curers knew so little of the proper mode of curing hides, that at least +half of those actually taken were lost. In the summer and fall of 1872 +one hide sent to market represented at least _three_ dead buffalo. This +condition of affairs rapidly improved; but such was the furor for +slaughter, and the ignorance of all concerned, that every hide sent to +market in 1871 represented no less than _five_ dead buffalo. + +By 1873 the condition of affairs had somewhat improved, through better +organization of the hunting parties and knowledge gained by experience +in curing. For all that, however, buffaloes were still so exceedingly +plentiful, and shooting was so much easier than skinning, the latter was +looked upon as a necessary evil and still slighted to such an extent +that every hide actually sold and delivered represented two dead +buffaloes. + +In 1874 the slaughterers began to take alarm at the increasing scarcity +of buffalo, and the skinners, having a much smaller number of dead +animals to take care of than ever before, were able to devote more time +to each subject and do their work properly. As a result, Colonel Dodge +estimated that during 1874, and from that time on, one hundred skins +delivered represented not more than one hundred and twenty-five dead +buffaloes; but that "no parties have ever got the proportion lower than +this." + +The great southern herd was slaughtered by still-hunting, a method which +has already been fully described. A typical hunting party is thus +described by Colonel Dodge:[64] + +"The most approved party consisted of four men--one shooter, two +skinners, and one man to cook, stretch hides, and take care of camp. +Where buffalo were very plentiful the number of skinners was increased. +A light wagon, drawn by two horses or mules, takes the outfit into the +wilderness, and brings into camp the skins taken each day. The outfit is +most meager: a sack of flour, a side of bacon, 5 pounds of coffee, tea, +and sugar, a little salt, and possibly a few beans, is a month's supply. +A common or "A" tent furnishes shelter; a couple of blankets for each +man is a bed. One or more of Sharps or Remington's heaviest sporting +rifles, and an unlimited supply of ammunition, is the armament; while a +coffee-pot, Dutch-oven, frying-pan, four tin plates, and four tin cups +constitute the kitchen and table furniture. + +"The skinning knives do duty at the platter, and 'fingers were made +before forks.' Nor must be forgotten one or more 10-gallon kegs for +water, as the camp may of necessity be far away from a stream. The +supplies are generally furnished by the merchant for whom the party is +working, who, in addition, pays each of the party a specified percentage +of the value of the skins delivered. The shooter is carefully selected +for his skill and knowledge of the habits of the buffalo. He is captain +and leader of the party. When all is ready, he plunges into the +wilderness, going to the center of the best buffalo region known to him, +not already occupied (for there are unwritten regulations recognized as +laws, giving to each hunter certain rights of discovery and occupancy). +Arrived at the position, he makes his camp in some hidden ravine or +thicket, and makes all ready for work." + +[Note 64: Plains of the Great West, p. 134.] + +Of course the slaughter was greatest along the lines of the three great +railways--the Kansas Pacific, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé, and the +Union Pacific, about in the order named. It reached its height in the +season of 1873. During that year the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé +Railroad carried out of the buffalo country 251,443 robes, 1,017,600 +pounds of meat, and 2,743,100 pounds of bones. The end of the southern +herd was then near at hand. Could the southern buffalo range have been +roofed over at that time it would have made one vast charnel-house. +Putrifying carcasses, many of them with the hide still on, lay thickly +scattered over thousands of square miles of the level prairie, poisoning +the air and water and offending the sight. The remaining herds had +become mere scattered bands, harried and driven hither and thither by +the hunters, who now swarmed almost as thickly as the buffaloes. A +cordon of camps was established along the Arkansas River, the South +Platte, the Republican, and the few other streams that contained water, +and when the thirsty animals came to drink they were attacked and driven +away, and with the most fiendish persistency kept from slaking their +thirst, so that they would again be compelled to seek the river and come +within range of the deadly breech-loaders. Colonel Dodge declares that +in places favorable to such warfare, as the south bank of the Platte, a +herd of buffalo has, by shooting at it by day and by lighting fires and +firing guns at night, been kept from water until it has been entirely +destroyed. In the autumn of 1873, when Mr. William Blackmore traveled +for some 30 or 40 miles along the north bank of the Arkansas River to +the east of Port Dodge, "there was a continuous line of putrescent +carcasses, so that the air was rendered pestilential and offensive to +the last degree. The hunters had formed a line of camps along the banks +of the river, and had shot down the buffalo, night and morning, as they +came to drink. In order to give an idea of the number of these +carcasses, it is only necessary to mention that I counted sixty-seven on +one spot not covering 4 acres." + +White hunters were not allowed to hunt in the Indian Territory, but the +southern boundary of the State of Kansas was picketed by them, and a +herd no sooner crossed the line going north than it was destroyed. Every +water-hole was guarded by a camp of hunters, and whenever a thirsty herd +approached, it was promptly met by rifle-bullets. + +During this entire period the slaughter of buffaloes was universal. The +man who desired buffalo meat for food almost invariably killed five +times as many animals as he could utilize, and after cutting from each +victim its very choicest parts--the _tongue alone_, possibly, or perhaps +the hump and hind quarters, one or the other, or both--fully four-fifths +of the really edible portion of the carcass would be left to the wolves. +It was no uncommon thing for a man to bring in two barrels of salted +buffalo tongues, without another pound of meat or a solitary robe. The +tongues were purchased at 25 cents each and sold in the markets farther +east at 50 cents. In those days of criminal wastefulness it was a very +common thing for buffaloes to be slaughtered for their tongues alone. +Mr. George Catlin[65] relates that a few days previous to his arrival at +the mouth of the Tetón River (Dakota), in 1832, "an immense herd of +buffaloes had showed themselves on the opposite side of the river," +whereupon a party of five or six hundred Sioux Indians on horseback +forded the river, attacked the herd, recrossed the river about sunset, +and came into the fort with fourteen hundred fresh buffalo tongues, +which were thrown down in a mass, and for which they required only a few +gallons of whisky, which was soon consumed in "a little harmless +carouse." Mr. Catlin states that from all that he could learn not a skin +or a pound of meat, other than the tongues, was saved after this awful +slaughter. + +[Note 65: North American Indians, I, 256.] + +Judging from all accounts, it is making a safe estimate to say that +probably no fewer than fifty thousand buffaloes have been killed for +their tongues alone, and the most of these are undoubtedly chargeable +against white men, who ought to have known better. + +A great deal has been said about the slaughter of buffaloes by foreign +sportsmen, particularly Englishmen; but I must say that, from all that +can be ascertained on this point, this element of destruction has been +greatly exaggerated and overestimated. It is true that every English +sportsman who visited this country in the days of the buffalo always +resolved to have, and did have, "a buffalo hunt," and usually under the +auspices of United States Army officers. Undoubtedly these parties did +kill hundreds of buffaloes, but it is very doubtful whether the +aggregate of the number slain by foreign sportsmen would run up higher +than ten thousand. Indeed, for myself, I am well convinced that there +are many old ex-still-hunters yet living, each of whom is accountable +for a greater number of victims than all buffaloes killed by foreign +sportsmen would make added together. The professional butchers were very +much given to crying out against "them English lords," and holding up +their hands in holy horror at buffaloes killed by them for their heads, +instead of for hides to sell at a dollar apiece; but it is due the +American public to say that all this outcry was received at its true +value and deceived very few. By those in possession of the facts it was +recognized as "a blind," to divert public opinion from the real +culprits. + +Nevertheless it is very true that many men who were properly classed as +sportsmen, in contradistinction from the pot-hunters, did engage in +useless and inexcusable slaughter to an extent that was highly +reprehensible, to say the least. A sportsman is not supposed to kill +game wantonly, when it can be of no possible use to himself or any one +else, but a great many do it for all that. Indeed, the sportsman who +kills sparingly and conscientiously is rather the exception than the +rule. Colonel Dodge thus refers to the work of some foreign sportsmen: + +"In the fall of that year [1872] three English gentlemen went out with +me for a short hunt, and in their excitement bagged more buffalo than +would have supplied a brigade." As a general thing, however, the +professional sportsmen who went out to have a buffalo hunt for the +excitement of the chase and the trophies it yielded, nearly always found +the bison so easy a victim, and one whose capture brought so little +glory to the hunter, that the chase was voted very disappointing, and +soon abandoned in favor of nobler game. In those days there was no more +to boast of in killing a buffalo than in the assassination of a Texas +steer. + +It was, then, the hide-hunters, white and red, but especially white, who +wiped out the great southern herd in four short years. The prices +received for hides varied considerably, according to circumstances, but +for the green or undressed article it usually ranged from 50 cents for +the skins of calves to $1.25 for those of adult animals in good +condition. Such prices seem ridiculously small, but when it is +remembered that, when buffaloes were plentiful it was no uncommon thing +for a hunter to kill from forty to sixty head in a day, it will readily +be seen that the _chances_ of making very handsome profits were +sufficient to tempt hunters to make extraordinary exertions. Moreover, +even when the buffaloes were nearly gone, the country was overrun with +men who had absolutely nothing else to look to as a means of livelihood, +and so, no matter whether the profits were great or small, so long as +enough buffaloes remained to make it possible to get a living by their +pursuit, they were hunted down with the most determined persistency and +pertinacity. + +6. _Statistics of the slaughter._--The most careful and reliable +estimate ever made of results of the slaughter of the southern buffalo +herd is that of Col. Richard Irving Dodge, and it is the only one I know +of which furnishes a good index of the former size of that herd. +Inasmuch as this calculation was based on actual statistics, +supplemented by personal observations and inquiries made in that region +during the great slaughter, I can do no better than to quote Colonel +Dodge almost in full.[66] + +[Note 66: Plains of the Great West, pp. 139-144.] + +The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad furnished the following +statistics of the buffalo product carried by it during the years 1872, +1873, and 1874: + ++----------------------------------------------------+ +| _Buffalo product._ | ++----------------------------------------------------+ +| | No. of skins | | | +|Year. | carried. | Meat carried. | Bone carried.| ++----------------------------------------------------+ +| | | Pounds. | Pounds. | +|1872 | 165,721 | ... | 1,135,300 | +|1873 | 251,443 | 1,617,600 | 2,743,100 | +|1874 | 42,289 | 632,800 | 6,914,950 | ++------|--------------|---------------|--------------+ +|Total | 459,453 | 2,250,400 | 10,793,350 | ++----------------------------------------------------+ + +The officials of the Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific railroads either +could not or would not furnish any statistics of the amount of the +buffalo product carried by their lines during this period, and it became +necessary to proceed without the actual figures in both cases. Inasmuch +as the Kansas Pacific road cuts through a portion of the buffalo country +which was in every respect as thickly inhabited by those animals as the +region traversed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé, it seemed +absolutely certain that the former road hauled out fully as many hides +as the latter, if not more, and its quota is so set down. The Union +Pacific line handled a much smaller number of buffalo hides than either +of its southern rivals, but Colonel Dodge believes that this, "with the +smaller roads which touch the buffalo region, taken together, carried +about as much as either of the two principal buffalo roads." + +Colonel Dodge considers it reasonably certain that the statistics +furnished by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé road represent only +one-third of the entire buffalo product, and there certainly appears to +be good ground for this belief. It is therefore in order to base further +calculations upon these figures. + +According to evidence gathered on the spot by Colonel Dodge during the +period of the great slaughter, one hide sent to market in 1872 +represented three dead buffaloes, in 1873 two, and in 1874 one hundred +skins delivered represented one hundred and twenty-five dead animals. +The total slaughter by white men was therefore about as below: + ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ +|Year.|Hides |Hides |Total |Total |Total | +| |shipped |shipped |number of |number |of buffaloes| +| |by A., T.|by other |buffaloes |killed and|slaughtered | +| |and S. F.|roads, |utilized. |wasted. |by whites. | +| |railway. |same | | | | +| | |period. | | | | +| | |(estimated)| | | | ++-----+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+------------+ +|1872 | 165,721 | 331,442 | 497,163 | 994,326| 1,491,489 | +|1873 | 251,443 | 502,886 | 754,329 | 754,329| 1,508,658 | +|1874 | 42,289 | 84,578 | 126,867 | 31,716| 158,583 | +|Total| 459,453 | 918,906 |1,378,359 | 1,780,481| 3,158,730 | ++---------------------------------------------------------------+ + +During all this time the Indians of all tribes within striking distance +of the herds killed an immense number of buffaloes every year. In the +summer they killed for the hairless hides to use for lodges and for +leather, and in the autumn they slaughtered for robes and meat, but +particularly robes, which were all they could offer the white trader in +exchange for his goods. They were too lazy and shiftless to cure much +buffalo meat, and besides it was not necessary, for the Government fed +them. In regard to the number of buffaloes of the southern herd killed +by the Indians, Colonel Dodge arrives at an estimate, as follows: + +"It is much more difficult to estimate the number of dead buffalo +represented by the Indian-tanned skins or robes sent to market. This +number varies with the different tribes, and their greater or less +contact with the whites. Thus, the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Kiowas of +the southern plains, having less contact with whites, use skins for +their lodges, clothing, bedding, par-fléches, saddles, lariats, for +almost everything. The number of robes sent to market represent only +what we may call the foreign exchange of these tribes, and is really not +more than one-tenth of the skins taken. To be well within bounds I will +assume that one robe sent to market by these Indians represents six dead +buffaloes. + +"Those bands of Sioux who live at the agencies, and whose peltries are +taken to market by the Union Pacific Railroad, live in lodges of cotton +cloth furnished by the Indian Bureau. They use much civilized clothing, +bedding, boxes, ropes, etc. For these luxuries they must pay in robes, +and as the buffalo range is far from wide, and their yearly 'crop' +small, more than half of it goes to market." + +Leaving out of the account at this point all consideration of the +killing done north of the Union Pacific Railroad, Colonel Dodge's +figures are as follows: + +_Southern buffaloes slaughtered by southern Indians._ + ++-----------------------------------------------------------------+ +| |Sent to |No. of dead | +| Indians. |market. |buffaloes | +| | |represented.| ++-----------------------------------------+----------+------------+ +| | | | +|Kiowas, Comanches, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, | | | +|and other Indians whose robes go over the| | | +|Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad | 19,000 | 114,000 | +|Sioux at agencies, Union Pacific Railroad| 10,000 | 16,000 | +| +----------+------------+ +|Total slaughtered per annum | 29,000 | 130,000 | +|Total for the three years 1872-1874 | ... | 390,000 | ++-----------------------------------------------------------------+ + +Reference has already been made to the fact that during those years an +immense number of buffaloes were killed by the farmers of eastern Kansas +and Nebraska for their meat. Mr. William Mitchell, of Wabaunsee, Kansas, +stated to the writer that "in those days, when buffaloes were plentiful +in western Kansas, pretty much everybody made a trip West in the fall +and brought back a load of buffalo meat. Everybody had it in abundance +as long as buffaloes remained in any considerable number. Very few skins +were saved; in fact, hardly any, for the reason that nobody knew how to +tan them, and they always spoiled. At first a great many farmers tried +to dress the green hides that they brought back, but they could not +succeed, and finally gave up trying. Of course, a great deal of the meat +killed was wasted, for only the best parts were brought back." + +The Wichita (Kansas) _World_ of February 9, 1889, contains the following +reference: + +"In 1871 and 1872 the buffalo ranged within 10 miles of Wichita, and +could be counted by the thousands. The town, then in its infancy, was +the headquarters for a vast number of buffalo-hunters, who plied their +occupation vigorously during the winter. The buffalo were killed +principally for their hides, and daily wagon trains arrived in town +loaded with them. Meat was very cheap in those days; fine, tender +buffalo steak selling from 1 to 2 cents per pound. * * * The business +was quite profitable for a time, but a sudden drop in the price of hides +brought them down as low as 25 and 50 cents each. * * * It was a very +common thing in those days for people living in Wichita to start out in +the morning and return by evening with a wagon load of buffalo meat." + +Unquestionably a great many thousand buffaloes were killed annually by +the settlers of Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, and +the mountain Indians living west of the great range. The number so slain +can only be guessed at, for there is absolutely no data on which to +found an estimate. Judging merely from the number of people within reach +of the range, it may safely be estimated that the total number of +buffaloes slaughtered annually to satisfy the wants of this +heterogeneous element could not have been less than fifty thousand, and +probably was a much higher number. This, for the three years, would make +one hundred and fifty thousand, and the grand total would therefore be +about as follows: + ++------------------------------------------------------+ +| _The slaughter of the southern herd._ | ++------------------------------------------------------+ +|Killed by "professional" white hunters in | | +| 1872, 1873, and 1874 | 3,158,730 | +|Killed by Indians, same period | 390,000 | +|Killed by settlers and mountain Indians | 150,000 | +| | --------- | +| Total slaughter in three years | 3,098,730 | ++------------------------------------------------------+ + +These figures seem incredible, but unfortunately there is not the +slightest reason for believing they are too high. There are many men now +living who declare that during the great slaughter they each killed from +twenty-five hundred to three thousand buffaloes every year. With +thousands of hunters on the range, and such possibilities of slaughter +before each, it is, after all, no wonder that an average of nearly a +million and a quarter of buffaloes fell each year during that bloody +period. + +By the close of the hunting season of 1875 the great southern herd had +ceased to exist. As a body, it had been utterly annihilated. The main +body of the survivors, numbering about ten thousand head, fled +southwest, and dispersed through that great tract of wild, desolate, and +inhospitable country stretching southward from the Cimarron country +across the "Public Land Strip," the Pan-handle of Texas, and the Llano +Estacado, or Staked Plain, to the Pecos River. A few small bands of +stragglers maintained a precarious existence for a few years longer on +the headwaters of the Republican River and in southwestern Nebraska, +near Ogalalla, where calves were caught alive as late as 1885. Wild +buffaloes were seen in southwestern Kansas for the last time in 1886, +and the two or three score of individuals still living in the Canadian +River country of the Texas Pan-handle are the last wild survivors of the +great Southern herd. + +The main body of the fugitives which survived the great slaughter of +1871-'74 continued to attract hunters who were very "hard up," who +pursued them, often at the risk of their own lives, even into the +terrible Llano Estacado. In Montana in 1886 I met on a cattle ranch an +ex-buffalo-hunter from Texas, named Harry Andrews, who from 1874 to 1876 +continued in pursuit of the scattered remnants of the great southern +herd through the Pan-handle of Texas and on into the Staked Plain +itself. By that time the market had become completely overstocked with +robes, and the prices received by Andrews and other hunters was only 65 +cents each for cow robes and $1.15 each for bull robes, delivered on the +range, the purchaser providing for their transportation to the railway. +But even at those prices, which were so low as to make buffalo killing +seem like downright murder, Mr. Andrews assured me that he "made big +money." On one occasion, when he "got a stand" on a large bunch of +buffalo, he fired one hundred and fifteen shots from one spot, and +killed sixty-three buffaloes in about an hour. + +In 1880 buffalo hunting as a business ceased forever in the Southwest, +and so far as can be ascertained, but one successful hunt for robes has +been made in that region since that time. That occurred in the fall and +winter of 1887, about 100 miles north of Tascosa, Texas, when two +parties, one of which was under the leadership of Lee Howard, attacked +the only band of buffaloes left alive in the Southwest, and which at +that time numbered about two hundred head. The two parties killed +fifty-two buffaloes, of which ten skins were preserved entire for +mounting. Of the remaining forty-two, the heads were cut off and +preserved for mounting and the skins were prepared as robes. The +mountable skins were finally sold at the following prices: Young cows, +$50 to $60; adult cows, $75 to $100; adult bull, $150. The unmounted +heads sold as follows: Young bulls, $25 to $30; adult bulls, $50; young +cows, $10 to $12; adult cows, $15 to $25. A few of the choicest robes +sold at $20 each, and the remainder, a lot of twenty eight, of prime +quality and in excellent condition, were purchased by the Hudson's Bay +Fur Company for $350. + +Such was the end of the great southern herd. In 1871 it contained +certainly no fewer than three million buffaloes, and by the beginning of +1875 its existence as a herd had utterly ceased, and nothing but +scattered, fugitive bands remained. + +7. _The Destruction of the Northern Herd._--Until the building of the +Northern Pacific Railway there were but two noteworthy outlets for the +buffalo robes that were taken annually in the Northwestern Territories +of the United States. The principal one was the Missouri River, and the +Yellowstone River was the other. Down these streams the hides were +transported by steam-boats to the nearest railway shipping point. For +fifty years prior to the building of the Northern Pacific Railway in +1880-'82, the number of robes marketed every year by way of these +streams was estimated variously at from fifty to one hundred thousand. +A great number of hides taken in the British Possessions fell into the +hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, and found a market in Canada. + +In May, 1881, the Sioux City (Iowa) _Journal_ contained the following +information in regard to the buffalo robe "crop" of the previous hunting +season--the winter of 1880-'81: + +"It is estimated by competent authorities that one hundred thousand +buffalo hides will be shipped out of the Yellowstone country this +season. Two firms alone are negotiating for the transportation of +twenty-five thousand hides each. * * * Most of our citizens saw the big +load of buffalo hides that the _C. K. Peck_ brought down last season, a +load that hid everything about the boat below the roof of the hurricane +deck. There were ten thousand hides in that load, and they were all +brought out of the Yellowstone on one trip and transferred to the _C. K. +Peck_. How such a load could have been piled on the little _Terry_ not +even the men on the boat appear to know. It hid every part of the boat, +barring only the pilot-house and smoke-stacks. But such a load will not +be attempted again. For such boats as ply the Yellowstone there are at +least fifteen full loads of buffalo hides and other pelts. Reckoning one +thousand hides to three car loads, and adding to this fifty cars for the +other pelts, it will take at least three hundred and fifty box-cars to +carry this stupendous bulk of peltry East to market. These figures are +not guesses, but estimates made by men whose business it is to know +about the amount of hides and furs awaiting shipment. + +"Nothing like it has ever been known in the history of the fur trade. +Last season the output of buffalo hides was above the average, and last +year only about thirty thousand hides came out of the Yellowstone +country, or less than a third of what is there now awaiting shipment The +past severe winter caused the buffalo to bunch themselves in a few +valleys where there was pasturage, and there the slaughter went on all +winter. There was no sport about it, simply shooting down the +famine-tamed animals as cattle might be shot down in a barn-yard. To the +credit of the Indians it can be said that they killed no more than they +could save the meat from. The greater part of the slaughter was done by +white hunters, or butchers rather, who followed the business of killing +and skinning buffalo by the mouth, leaving the carcasses to rot." + +At the time of the great division made by the Union Pacific Railway the +northern body of buffalo extended from the valley of the Platte River +northward to the southern shore of Great Slave Lake, eastward almost to +Minnesota, and westward to an elevation of 8,000 feet in the Rocky +Mountains. The herds were most numerous along the central portion of +this region (see map), and from the Platte Valley to Great Slave Lake +the range was continuous. The buffalo population of the southern half of +this great range was, according to all accounts, nearly three times as +great as that of the northern half. At that time, or, let us say, 1870, +there were about four million buffaloes south of the Platte River, and +probably about one million and a half north of it. I am aware that the +estimate of the number of buffaloes in the great northern herd is +usually much higher than this, but I can see no good grounds for making +it so. To my mind, the evidence is conclusive that, although the +northern herd ranged over such an immense area, it was numerically less +than half the size of the overwhelming multitude which actually crowded +the southern range, and at times so completely consumed the herbage of +the plains that detachments of the United States Army found it difficult +to find sufficient grass for their mules and horses.[67] + +[Note 67: As an instance of this, see _Forest and Stream_, vol. II, +p. 184: "Horace Jones, the interpreter here [Fort Sill], says that on +his first trip along the line of the one hundredth meridian, in 1859, +accompanying Major Thomas--since our noble old general--they passed +continuous herds for over 60 miles, which left so little grass behind +them that Major Thomas was seriously troubled about his horses."] + +The various influences which ultimately led to the complete blotting out +of the great northern herd were exerted about as follows: + +In the British Possessions, where the country was immense and game of +all kinds except buffalo very scarce indeed; where, in the language of +Professor Kenaston, the explorer, "there was a great deal of country +around every wild animal," the buffalo constituted the main dependence +of the Indians, who would not cultivate the soil at all, and of the +half-breeds, who would not so long as they could find buffalo. Under +such circumstances the buffaloes of the British Possessions were hunted +much more vigorously and persistently than those of the United States, +where there was such an abundant supply of deer, elk, antelope, and +other game for the Indians to feed upon, and a paternal government to +support them with annuities besides. Quite contrary to the prevailing +idea of the people of the United States, viz., that there were great +herds of buffaloes in existence in the Saskatchewan country long after +ours had all been destroyed, the herds of British America had been +almost totally exterminated by the time the final slaughter of our +northern herd was inaugurated by the opening of the Northern Pacific +Railway in 1880. The Canadian Pacific Railway played no part whatever in +the extermination of the bison in the British Possessions, for it had +already taken place. The half-breeds of Manitoba, the Plains Crees of +Qu'Appelle, and the Blackfeet of the South Saskatchewan country swept +bare a great belt of country stretching east and west between the Rocky +Mountains and Manitoba. The Canadian Pacific Railway found only +bleaching bones in the country through which it passed. The buffalo had +disappeared from that entire region before 1879 and left the Blackfeet +Indians on the verge of starvation. A few thousand buffaloes still +remained in the country around the headwaters of the Battle River, +between the North and South Saskatchewan, but they were surrounded and +attacked from all sides, and their numbers diminished very rapidly until +all were killed. + +The latest information I have been able to obtain in regard to the +disappearance of this northern band has been kindly furnished by Prof. +C. A. Kenaston, who in 1881, and also in 1883, made a thorough +exploration of the country between Winnipeg and Fort Edmonton for the +Canadian Pacific Railway Company. His four routes between the two points +named covered a vast scope of country, several hundred miles in width. +In 1881, at Moose Jaw, 75 miles southeast of The Elbow of the South +Saskatchewan, he saw a party of Cree Indians, who had just arrived from +the northwest with several carts laden with fresh buffalo meat. At Fort +Saskatchewan, on the North Saskatchewan River, just above Edmonton, he +saw a party of English sportsmen who had recently been hunting on the +Battle and Red Deer Rivers, between Edmonton and Fort Kalgary, where +they had found buffaloes, and killed as many as they cared to slaughter. +In one afternoon they killed fourteen, and could have killed more had +they been more blood-thirsty. In 1883 Professor Kenaston found the fresh +trail of a band of twenty-five or thirty buffaloes at The Elbow of the +South Saskatchewan. Excepting in the above instances he saw no further +traces of buffalo, nor did he hear of the existence of any in all the +country he explored. In 1881 he saw many Cree Indians at Fort Qu'Appelle +in a starving condition, and there was no pemmican or buffalo meat at +the fort. In 1883, however, a little pemmican found its way to Winnipeg, +where it sold at 15 cents per pound; an exceedingly high price. It had +been made that year, evidently in the mouth of April, as he purchased it +in May for his journey. + +The first really alarming impression made on our northern herd was by +the Sioux Indians, who very speedily exterminated that portion of it +which had previously covered the country lying between the North Platte +and a line drawn from the center of Wyoming to the center of Dakota. All +along the Missouri River from Bismarck to Fort Benton, and along the +Yellowstone to the head of navigation, the slaughter went bravely on. +All the Indian tribes of that vast region--Sioux, Cheyennes, Crows, +Blackfeet, Bloods, Piegans, Assinniboines, Gros Ventres, and +Shoshones--found their most profitable business and greatest pleasure +(next to scalping white settlers) in hunting the buffalo. It took from +eight to twelve buffalo hides to make a covering for one ordinary +teepee, and sometimes a single teepee of extra size required from twenty +to twenty-five hides. + +The Indians of our northwestern Territories marketed about seventy-five +thousand buffalo robes every year so long as the northern herd was large +enough to afford the supply. If we allow that for every skin sold to +white traders four others were used in supplying their own wants, which +must be considered a very moderate estimate, the total number of +buffaloes slaughtered annually by those tribes must have been about +three hundred and seventy-five thousand. + +The end which so many observers had for years been predicting really +began (with the northern herd) in 1876, two years after the great +annihilation which had taken place in the South, although it was not +until four years later that the slaughter became universal over the +entire range. It is very clearly indicated in the figures given in a +letter from Messrs. I. G. Baker & Co., of Fort Benton, Montana, to the +writer, dated October 6, 1887, which reads as follows: + +"There were sent East from the year 1876 from this point about +seventy-five thousand buffalo robes. In 1880 it had fallen to about +twenty thousand, in 1883 not more than five thousand, and in 1884 none +whatever. We are sorry we can not give you a better record, but the +collection of hides which exterminated the buffalo was from the +Yellowstone country on the Northern Pacific, instead of northern +Montana." + +The beginning of the final slaughter of our northern herd may be dated +about 1880, by which time the annual robe crop of the Indians had +diminished three-fourths, and when summer killing for hairless hides +began on a large scale. The range of this herd was surrounded on three +sides by tribes of Indians, armed with breech-loading rifles and +abundantly supplied with fixed ammunition. Up to the year 1880 the +Indians of the tribes previously mentioned killed probably three times +as many buffaloes as did the white hunters, and had there not been a +white hunter in the whole Northwest the buffalo would have been +exterminated there just as surely, though not so quickly by perhaps ten +years, as actually occurred. Along the north, from the Missouri River to +the British line, and from the reservation in northwestern Dakota to the +main divide of the Rocky Mountains, a distance of 550 miles as the crow +flies, the country was one continuous Indian reservation, inhabited by +eight tribes, who slaughtered buffalo in season and out of season, in +winter for robes and in summer for hides and meat to dry. In the +Southeast was the great body of Sioux, and on the Southwest the Crows +and Northern Cheyennes, all engaged in the same relentless warfare. It +would have required a body of armed men larger than the whole United +States Army to have withstood this continuous hostile pressure without +ultimate annihilation. + +Let it be remembered, therefore, that the American Indian is as much +responsible for the extermination of our northern herd of bison as the +American citizen. I have yet to learn of an instance wherein an Indian +refrained from excessive slaughter of game through motives of economy, +or care for the future, or prejudice against wastefulness. From all +accounts the quantity of game killed by an Indian has always been +limited by two conditions only--lack of energy to kill more, or lack of +more game to be killed. White men delight in the chase, and kill for the +"sport" it yields, regardless of the effort involved. Indeed, to a +genuine sportsman, nothing in hunting is "sport" which is not obtained +at the cost of great labor. An Indian does not view the matter in that +light, and when he has killed enough to supply his wants, he stops, +because he sees no reason why he should exert himself any further. This +has given rise to the statement, so often repeated, that the Indian +killed only enough buffaloes to supply his wants. If an Indian ever +attempted, or even showed any inclination, to husband the resources of +nature in any way, and restrain wastefulness on _the part of Indians_, +it would be gratifying to know of it. + +The building of the Northern Pacific Railway across Dakota and Montana +hastened the end that was fast approaching; but it was only an incident +in the annihilation of the northern herd. Without it the final result +would have been just the same, but the end would probably not have been +reached until about 1888. + +The Northern Pacific Railway reached Bismarck, Dakota, on the Missouri +River, in the year 1876, and from that date onward received for +transportation eastward all the buffalo robes and hides that came down +the two rivers, Missouri and Yellowstone. + +Unfortunately the Northern Pacific Railway Company kept no separate +account of its buffalo product business, and is unable to furnish a +statement of the number of hides and robes it handled. It is therefore +impossible to even make an estimate of the total number of buffaloes +killed on the northern range during the six years which ended with the +annihilation of that herd. + +In regard to the business done by the Northern Pacific Railway, and the +precise points from whence the bulk of the robes were shipped, the +following letter from Mr. J. M. Hannaford, traffic manager of the +Northern Pacific Railroad, under date of September 3, 1887, is of +interest. + +"Your communication, addressed to President Harris, has been referred to +me for the information desired. + +"I regret that our accounts are not so kept as to enable me to furnish +you accurate data; but I have been able to obtain the following general +information, which may prove of some value to you: + +"From the years 1876 and 1880 our line did not extend beyond Bismarck, +which was the extreme easterly shipping point for buffalo robes and +hides, they being brought down the Missouri River from the north for +shipment from that point. In the years 1876, 1877, 1878, and 1879 there +were handled at that point yearly from three to four thousand bales of +robes, about one-half the bales containing ten robes and the other half +twelve robes each. During these years practically no hides were shipped. +In 1880 the shipment of hides, dry and untanned, commenced,[68] and in +1881 and 1882 our line was extended west, and the shipping points +increased, reaching as far west as Terry and Sully Springs, in Montana. +During these years, 1880, 1881, and 1882, which practically finished the +shipments of hides and robes, it is impossible for me to give you any +just idea of the number shipped. The only figures obtainable are those +of 1881, when over seventy-five thousand dry and untanned buffalo hides +came down the river for shipment from Bismarck. Some robes were also +shipped from this point that year, and a considerable number of robes +and hides were shipped from several other shipping points. + +[Note 68: It is to be noted that hairless hides, _taken from buffaloes +killed in summer_, are what the writer refers to. It was not until 1881, +when the end was very near, that hunting buffalo in summer as well as +winter became a wholesale business. What hunting can be more disgraceful +than the slaughter of females and young _in summer_, when skins are +almost worthless.] + +"The number of pounds of buffalo meat shipped over our line has never +cut any figure, the bulk of the meat having been left on the prairie, as +not being of sufficient value to pay the cost of transportation. + +"The names of the extreme eastern and western stations from which +shipments were made are as follows: In 1880, Bismarck was the only +shipping point. In 1881, Glendive, Bismarck, and Beaver Creek. In 1882, +Terry and Sully Springs, Montana, were the chief shipping points, and in +the order named, so far as numbers and amount of shipments are +concerned. Bismarck on the east and Forsyth on the west were the two +extremities. + +"Up to the year 1880, so long as buffalo were killed only for robes, the +bands did not decrease very materially; but beginning with that year, +when they were killed for their hides as well, a most indiscriminate +slaughter commenced, and from that time on they disappeared very +rapidly. Up to the year 1881 there were two large bands, one south of +the Yellowstone and the other north of that river. In the year mentioned +those south of the river were driven north and never returned, having +joined the northern band, and become practically extinguished. + +"Since 1882 there have, of course, been occasional shipments both of +hides and robes, but in such small quantities and so seldom that they +cut practically no figure, the bulk of them coming probably from north +Missouri points down the river to Bismarck." + +In 1880 the northern buffalo range embraced the following streams; The +Missouri and all its tributaries, from Port Shaw, Montana, to Fort +Bennett, Dakota, and the Yellowstone and all its tributaries. Of this +region, Miles City, Montana, was the geographical center. The grass was +good over the whole of it, and the various divisions of the great herd +were continually shifting from one locality to another, often making +journeys several hundred miles at a time. Over the whole of this vast +area their bleaching bones lie scattered (where they have not as yet +been gathered up for sale) from the Upper Marias and Milk Rivers, near +the British boundary, to the Platte, and from the James River, in +central Dakota, to an elevation of 8,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains. +Indeed, as late as October, 1887, I gathered up on the open common, +within half a mile of the Northern Pacific Railway depot at the city of +Helena, the skull, horns, and numerous odd bones of a large bull buffalo +which had been killed there. + +[Illustration: WHERE THE MILLIONS HAVE GONE. From a painting by J. H. +Moser in the National Museum.] + +Over many portions of the northern range the traveler may even now ride +for days together without once being out of sight of buffalo +carcasses, or bones. Such was the case in 1886 in the country lying +between the Missouri and the Yellowstone, northwest of Miles City. Go +wherever we might, on divides, into bad lands, creek bottoms, or on the +highest plateaus, we always found the inevitable and omnipresent grim +and ghastly skeleton, with hairy head, dried-up and shriveled nostrils, +half-skinned legs stretched helplessly upon the gray turf, and the bones +of the body bleached white as chalk. + +The year 1881 witnessed the same kind of a stampede for the northern +buffalo range that occurred just ten years previously in the south. At +that time robes were worth from two to three times as much as they ever +had been in the south, the market was very active, and the successful +hunter was sure to reap a rich reward as long as the buffaloes lasted. +At that time the hunters and hide-buyers estimated that there were five +hundred thousand buffaloes within a radius of 150 miles of Miles City, +and that there were still in the entire northern herd not far from one +million head. The subsequent slaughter proved that these estimates were +probably not far from the truth. In that year Fort Custer was so nearly +overwhelmed by a passing herd that a detachment of soldiers was ordered +out to turn the herd away from the post. In 1882 an immense herd +appeared on the high, level plateau on the north side of the Yellowstone +which overlooks Miles City and Fort Keogh in the valley below. A squad +of soldiers from the Fifth Infantry was sent up on the bluff, and in +less than an hour had killed enough buffaloes to load six four-mule +teams with meat. In 1886 there were still about twenty bleaching +skeletons lying in a group on the edge of this plateau at the point +where the road from the ferry reaches the level, but all the rest had +been gathered up. + +In 1882 there were, so it is estimated by men who were in the country, +no fewer than five thousand white hunters and skinners on the northern +range. Lieut. J. M. T. Partello declares that "a cordon of camps, from +the Upper Missouri, where it bends to the west, stretched toward the +setting sun as far as the dividing line of Idaho, completely blocking in +the great ranges of the Milk River, the Musselshell, Yellowstone, and +the Marias, and rendering it impossible for scarcely a single bison to +escape through the chain of sentinel camps to the Canadian northwest. +Hunters of Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado drove the poor hunted animals +north, directly into the muzzles of the thousands of repeaters ready to +receive them. * * * Only a few short years ago, as late as 1883, a herd +of about seventy-five thousand crossed the Yellowstone River a few miles +south of here [Fort Keogh], scores of Indians, pot-hunters, and white +butchers on their heels, bound for the Canadian dominions, where they +hoped to find a haven of safety. Alas! not five thousand of that mighty +mass ever lived to reach the British border line." + +It is difficult to say (at least to the satisfaction of old hunters) +which were the most famous hunting grounds on the northern range. +Lieutenant Partello states that when he hunted in the great triangle +bounded by the three rivers, Missouri, Musselshell, and Yellowstone, it +contained, to the best of his knowledge and belief, two hundred and +fifty thousand buffaloes. Unquestionably that region yielded an immense +number of buffalo robes, and since the slaughter _thousands of tons_ of +bones have been gathered up there. Another favorite locality was the +country lying between the Powder River and the Little Missouri, +particularly the valleys of Beaver and O'Fallon Creeks. Thither went +scores of "outfits" and hundreds of hunters and skinners from the +Northern Pacific Railway towns from Miles City to Glendive. The hunters +from the towns between Glendive and Bismarck mostly went south to Cedar +Creek and the Grand and Moreau Rivers. But this territory was also the +hunting ground of the Sioux Indians from the great reservation farther +south. + +Thousands upon thousands of buffaloes were killed on the Milk and Marias +Rivers, in the Judith Basin, and in northern Wyoming. + +The method of slaughter has already been fully described under the head +of "the still-hunt," and need not be recapitulated. It is some +gratification to know that the shocking and criminal wastefulness which +was so marked a feature of the southern butchery was almost wholly +unknown in the north. Robes were worth from $1.50 to $3.50, according to +size and quality, and were removed and preserved with great care. Every +one hundred robes marketed represented not more than one hundred and ten +dead buffaloes, and even this small percentage of loss was due to the +escape of wounded animals which afterward died and were devoured by the +wolves. After the skin was taken off the hunter or skinner stretched it +carefully upon the ground, inside uppermost, cut his initials in the +adherent subcutaneous muscle, and left it until the season for hauling +in the robes, which was always done in the early spring, immediately +following the hunt. + +As was the case in the south, it was the ability of a single hunter to +destroy an entire bunch of buffalo in a single day that completely +annihilated the remaining thousands of the northern herd before the +people of the United States even learned what was going on. For example, +one hunter of my acquaintance, Vic. Smith, the most famous hunter in +Montana, killed one hundred and seven buffaloes in one "stand," in about +one hour's time, and without shifting his point of attack. This occurred +in the Red Water country, about 100 miles northeast of Miles City, in +the winter of 1881-'82. During the same season another hunter, named +"Doc." Aughl, killed eighty-five buffaloes at one "stand," and John +Edwards killed seventy-five. The total number that Smith claims to have +killed that season is "about five thousand." Where buffaloes were at all +plentiful, every man who called himself a hunter was expected to kill +between one and two thousand during the hunting season--from November to +February--and when the buffaloes were to be found it was a comparatively +easy thing to do. + +During the year 1882 the thousands of bison that still remained alive +on the range indicated above, and also marked out on the accompanying +map, were distributed over that entire area very generally. In February +of that year a Fort Benton correspondent of _Forest and Stream_ wrote as +follows: "It is truly wonderful how many buffalo are still left. +Thousands of Indians and hundreds of white men depend on them for a +living. At present nearly all the buffalo in Montana are between Milk +River and Bear Paw Mountains. There are only a few small bands between +the Missouri and the Yellowstone." There were plenty of buffalo on the +Upper Marias River in October, 1882. In November and December there were +thousands between the Missouri and the Yellowstone Rivers. South of the +Northern Pacific Railway the range during the hunting season of 1882-'83 +was thus defined by a hunter who has since written out the "Confessions +of a Buffalo Butcher" for _Forest and Stream_ (vol. xxiv, p. 489): "Then +[October, 1882] the western limit was defined in a general way by Powder +River, and extending eastward well toward the Missouri and south to +within 60 or 70 miles of the Black Hills. It embraces the valleys of all +tributaries to Powder River from the east, all of the valleys of Beaver +Creek, O'Fallon Creek, and the Little Missouri and Moreau Rivers, and +both forks of the Cannon Ball for almost half their length. This immense +territory, lying almost equally in Montana and Dakota, had been occupied +during the winters by many thousands of buffaloes from time immemorial, +and many of the cows remained during the summer and brought forth their +young undisturbed." + +The three hunters composing the party whose record is narrated in the +interesting sketch referred to, went out from Miles City on October 23, +1882, due east to the bad lands between the Powder River and O'Fallon +Creek, and were on the range all winter. They found comparatively few +buffaloes, and secured only two hundred and eighty-six robes, which they +sold at an average price of $2.20 each. They saved and marketed a large +quantity of meat, for which they obtained 3 cents per pound. They found +the whole region in which they hunted fairly infested with Indians and +half-breeds, all hunting buffalo. + +The hunting season which began in October, 1882, and ended in February, +1883, finished the annihilation of the great northern herd, and left but +a few small bauds of stragglers, numbering only a very few thousand +individuals all told. A noted event of the season was the retreat +northward across the Yellowstone of the immense herd mentioned by +Lieutenant Partello as containing seventy-five thousand head; others +estimated the number at fifty thousand; and the event is often spoken of +to-day by frontiersmen who were in that region at the time. Many think +that the whole great body went north into British territory, and that +there is still a goodly remnant of it in some remote region between the +Peace River and the Saskatchewan, or somewhere there, which will yet +return to the United States. Nothing could be more illusory than this +belief. In the first place, the herd never reached the British line, +and, if it had, it would have been promptly annihilated by the hungry +Blackfeet and Cree Indians, who were declared to be in a half-starved +condition, through the disappearance of the buffalo, as early as 1879. + +The great herd that "went north" was utterly extinguished by the white +hunters along the Missouri River and the Indians living north of it. The +only vestige of it that remained was a band of about two hundred +individuals that took refuge in the labyrinth of ravines and creek +bottoms that lie west of the Musselshell between Flat Willow and Box +Elder Creeks, and another band of about seventy-five which settled in +the bad lands between the head of the Big Dry and Big Porcupine Creeks, +where a few survivors were found by the writer in 1886. + +South of the Northern Pacific Railway, a band of about three hundred +settled permanently in and around the Yellowstone National Park, but in +a very short time every animal outside of the protected limits of the +park was killed, and whenever any of the park buffaloes strayed beyond +the boundary they too were promptly killed for their heads and hides. At +present the number remaining in the park is believed by Captain Harris, +the superintendent, to be about two hundred; about one-third of which is +due to breeding in the protected territory. + +In the southeast the fate of that portion of the herd is well known. The +herd which at the beginning of the hunting season of 1883 was known to +contain about ten thousand head, and ranged in western Dakota, about +half way between the Black Hills and Bismarck, between the Moreau and +Grand Rivers, was speedily reduced to about one thousand head. Vic. +Smith, who was "in at the death," says there were eleven hundred, others +say twelve hundred. Just at this juncture (October, 1883) Sitting Bull +and his whole band of nearly one thousand braves arrived from the +Standing Sock Agency, and in two days' time slaughtered the entire herd. +Vic. Smith and a host of white hunters took part in the killing of this +last ten thousand, and he declares that "when we got through the hunt +there was not a hoof left. That wound up the buffalo in the Far West, +only a stray bull being seen here and there afterwards." + +Curiously enough, not even the buffalo hunters themselves were at the +time aware of the fact that the end of the hunting season of 1882-'83 +was also the end of the buffalo, at least as an inhabitant of the plains +and a source of revenue. In the autumn of 1883 they nearly all outfitted +as usual, often at an expense of many hundreds of dollars, and blithely +sought "the range" that had up to that time been so prolific in robes. +The end was in nearly every case the same--total failure and bankruptcy. +It was indeed hard to believe that not only the millions, but also the +thousands, had actually gone, and forever. + +I have found it impossible to ascertain definitely the number of robes +and hides shipped from the northern range during the last years of the +slaughter, and the only reliable estimate I have obtained was made for +me, alter much consideration and reflection, by Mr. J. N. Davis, of +Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mr. Davis was for many years a buyer of furs, +robes, and hides on a large scale throughout our Northwestern +Territories, and was actively engaged in buying up buffalo robes as long +as there were any to buy. In reply to a letter asking for statistics, he +wrote me as follows, on September 27, 1887: + +"It is impossible to give the exact number of robes and hides shipped +out of Dakota and Montana from 1876 to 1883, or the exact number of +buffalo in the northern herd; but I will give you as correct an account +as any one can. In 1876 it was estimated that there were half a million +buffaloes within a radius of 150 miles of Miles City. In 1881 the +Northern Pacific Railroad was built as far west as Glendive and Miles +City. At that time the whole country was a howling wilderness, and +Indians and wild buffalo were too numerous to mention. The first +shipment of buffalo robes, killed by white men, was made that year, and +the stations on the Northern Pacific Railroad between Miles City and +Mandan sent out about fifty thousand hides and robes. In 1882 the number +of hides and robes bought and shipped was about two hundred thousand, +and in 1883 forty thousand. In 1884 I shipped from Dickinson, Dakota +Territory, the only car load of robes that went East that year, and it +was the last shipment ever made." + +For a long time the majority of the ex-hunters cherished the fond +delusion that the great herd had only "gone north" into the British +Possessions, and would eventually return in great force. Scores of +rumors of the finding of herds floated about, all of which were eagerly +believed at first. But after a year or two had gone by without the +appearance of a single buffalo, and likewise without any reliable +information of the existence of a herd of any size, even in British +territory, the butchers of the buffalo either hung up their old Sharps +rifles, or sold them for nothing to the gun-dealers, and sought other +means of livelihood. Some took to gathering up buffalo bones and selling +them by the ton, and others became cowboys. + + + + +IV. CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE BISON. + + +The slaughter of the buffalo down to the very point of extermination has +been so very generally condemned, and the general Government has been so +unsparingly blamed for allowing such a massacre to take place on the +public domain, it is important that the public should know all the facts +in the case. To the credit of Congress it must be said that several very +determined efforts were made between the years 1871 and 1876 looking +toward the protection of the buffalo. The failure of all those +well-meant efforts was due to our republican form of Government. Had +this Government been a monarchy the buffalo would have been protected; +but unfortunately in this case (perhaps the only one on record wherein a +king could have accomplished more than the representatives of the +people) the necessary act of Congress was so hedged in and beset by +obstacles that it never became an accomplished fact. Even when both +houses of Congress succeeded in passing a suitable act (June 23, 1874) +it went to the President in the last days of the session only to be +pigeon-holed, and die a natural death. + +The following is a complete history of Congressional legislation in +regard to the protection of the buffalo from wanton slaughter and +ultimate extinction. The first step taken in behalf of this persecuted +animal was on March 13, 1871, when Mr. McCormick, of Arizona, introduced +a bill (H. R. 157), which was ordered to be printed. Nothing further was +done with it. It read as follows: + +_Be it enacted, etc._, That, excepting for the purpose of using the meat +for food or preserving the akin, it shall be unlawful for any person to +kill the bison, or buffalo, found anywhere upon the public lands of the +United States; and for the violation of this law the offender shall, +upon conviction before any court of competent jurisdiction, be liable to +a fine of $100 for each animal killed, one-half of which sum shall, upon +its collection, be paid to the informer. + +On February 14, 1872, Mr. Cole, of California, introduced in the Senate +the following resolution, which was considered by unanimous consent and +agreed to: + +_Resolved_, That the Committee on Territories be directed to inquire +into the expediency of enacting a law for the protection of the buffalo, +elk, antelope, and other useful animals running wild in the Territories +of the United States against indiscriminate slaughter and extermination, +and that they report by bill or otherwise. + +On February 16, 1872, Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, introduced a bill in +the Senate (S. 655) restricting the killing of the buffalo upon the +public lauds; which was read twice by its title and referred to the +Committee on Territories. + +On April 5, 1872, Mr. B. C. McCormick, of Arizona, made a speech in the +House of Representatives, while it was in Committee of the Whole, on the +restriction of the killing of buffalo. + +He mentioned a then recent number of _Harper's Weekly_, in which were +illustrations of the slaughter of buffalo, and also read a partly +historical extract in regard to the same. He related how, when he was +once snow-bound upon the Kansas Pacific Railroad, the buffalo furnished +food for himself and fellow-passengers. Then he read the bill introduced +by him March 13, 1871, and also copies of letters furnished him by Henry +Bergh, president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty +to Animals, which were sent to the latter by General W. B. Hazen, Lieut. +Col. A. G. Brackett, and E. W. Wynkoop. He also read a statement by +General Hazen to the effect that he knew of a man who killed ninety-nine +buffaloes with his own hand in one day. He also spoke on the subject of +cross-breeding the buffalo with common cattle, and read an extract in +regard to it from the San Francisco _Post_.[69] + +[Note 69: Congressional Globe (Appendix), second session Forty-second +Congress.] + +On April 6, 1872, Mr. McCormick asked leave to have printed in the +Globe some remarks he had prepared regarding restricting the killing of +buffalo, which was granted.[70] + +[Note 70: Congressional Globe, April 6, 1872, Forty-second Congress, +second session.] + +On January 5, 1874, Mr. Fort, of Illinois, introduced a bill (H. R. 921) +to prevent the useless slaughter of buffalo within the Territories of +the United States; which was read and referred to the Committee on the +Territories.[71] + +[Note 71: Congressional Record, vol. 2, part 1, Forty-third Congress, +p. 371.] + +On March 10, 1874, this bill was reported to the House from the +Committee on the Territories, with a recommendation that it be +passed.[72] + +[Note 72: Congressional Record, vol. 2, part 3, Forty-third Congress, +first session, pp. 2105, 2109.] + +The first section of the bill provided that it shall be unlawful for any +person, who is not an Indian, to kill, wound, or in any way destroy any +female buffalo of any age, found at large within the boundaries of any +of the Territories of the United States. + +The second section provided that it shall be, in like manner, unlawful +for any such person to kill, wound, or destroy in said Territories any +greater number of male buffaloes than are needed for food by such +person, or than can be used, cured, or preserved for the food of other +persons, or for the market. It shall in like manner be unlawful for any +such person, or persons, to assist, or be in any manner engaged or +concerned in or about such unlawful killing, wounding, or destroying of +any such buffaloes; that any person who shall violate the provisions of +the act shall, on conviction, forfeit and pay to the United States the +sum of $100 for each offense (and each buffalo so unlawfully killed, +wounded, or destroyed shall be and constitute a separate offense), and +on a conviction of a second offense may be committed to prison for a +period not exceeding thirty days; and that all United States judges, +justices, courts, and legal tribunals in said Territories shall have +jurisdiction in cases of the violation of the law. + +Mr. Cox said he had been told by old hunters that it was impossible to +tell the sex of a running buffalo; and he also stated that the bill gave +preference to the Indians. + +Mr. Fort said the object was to prevent early extermination; that +thousands were annually slaughtered for skins alone, and thousands for +their tongues alone; that perhaps hundreds of thousands are killed every +year in utter wantonness, with no object for such destruction. He had +been told that the sexes could be distinguished while they were +running.[73] + +[Note 73: I know of no greater affront that could be offered to the +intelligence of a genuine buffalo-hunter than to accuse him of not +knowing enough to tell the sex of a buffalo "on the run" by its form +alone.--W. T. H.] + +This bill does not prohibit any person joining in a reasonable chase and +hunt of the buffalo. + +Said Mr. Fort, "So far as I am advised, gentlemen upon this floor +representing all the Territories are favorable to the passage of this +bill." + +Mr. Cox wanted the clause excepting the Indians from the operations of +the bill stricken out, and stated that the Secretary of the Interior had +already said to the House that the civilization of the Indian was +Impossible while the buffalo remained on the plains. + +The Clerk read for Mr. McCormick the following extract from the _New +Mexican_, a paper published in Santa Fé: + +The buffalo slaughter, which has been going on the past few years on the +plains, and which increases every year, is wantonly wicked, and should +be stopped by the most stringent enactments and most vigilant +enforcements of the law. Killing these noble animals for their hides +simply, or to gratify the pleasure of some Russian duke or English lord, +is a species of vandalism which can not too quickly be checked. United +States surveying parties report that there are two thousand hunters on +the plains killing these animals for their hides. One party of sixteen +hunters report having killed twenty-eight thousand buffaloes during the +past summer. It seems to us there is quite as much reason why the +Government should protect the buffaloes as the Indians. + +Mr. McCormick considered the subject important, and had not a doubt of +the fearful slaughter. He read the following extract from a letter that +he had received from General Hazen: + +I know a man who killed with his own hand ninety-nine buffaloes in one +day, without taking a pound of the meat. The buffalo for food has an +intrinsic value about equal to an average Texas beef, or say $20. There +are probably not less than a million of these animals on the western +plains. If the Government owned a herd of a million oxen they would at +least take steps to prevent this wanton slaughter. The railroads have +made the buffalo so accessible as to present a case not dissimilar. + +He agreed with Mr. Cox that some features of the bill would probably be +impracticable, and moved to amend it. He did not believe any bill would +entirely accomplish the purpose, but he desired that such wanton +slaughter should be stopped. + +Said he, "It would have been well both for the Indians and the white men +if an enactment of this kind had been placed on our statute-books years +ago. * * * I know of no one act that would gratify the red men more." + +Mr. Holman expressed surprise that Mr. Cox should make any objection to +parts of the measure. The former regarded the bill as "an effort in a +most commendable direction," and trusted that it would pass. + +Mr. Cox said he would not have objected to the bill but from the fact +that it was partial in its provisions. He wanted a bill that would +impose a penalty on every man, red, white, or black, who may wantonly +kill these buffaloes. + +Mr. Potter desired to know whether more buffaloes were slaughtered by +the Indians than by white men. + +Mr. Fort thought the white men were doing the greatest amount of +killing. + +Mr. Eldridge thought there would be just as much propriety in killing +the fish in our rivers as in destroying the buffalo in order to compel +the Indians to become civilized. + +Mr. Conger said: "As a matter of fact, every man knows the range of the +buffalo has grown more and more confined year after year; that they have +been driven westward before advancing civilization." But he opposed the +bill! + +Mr. Hawley, of Connecticut, said: "I am glad to see this bill. I am in +favor of this law, and hope it will pass." + +Mr. Lowe favored the bill, and thought that the buffalo ought to be +protected for proper utility. + +Mr. Cobb thought they ought to be protected for the settlers, who +depended partly on them for food. + +Mr. Parker, of Missouri, intimated that the policy of the Secretary of +the Interior was a sound one, and that the buffaloes ought to be +exterminated, to prevent difficulties in civilizing the Indians. + +Said Mr. Conger, "I do not think the measure will tend at all to protect +the buffalo." + +Mr. McCormick replied: "This bill will not prevent the killing of +buffaloes for any useful purpose, but only their wanton destruction." + +Mr. Kasson said: "I wish to say one word in support of this bill, +because I have had some experience as to the manner in which these +buffaloes are treated by hunters. The buffalo is a creature of vast +utility, * * *. This animal ought to be protected; * * *." + +The question being taken on the passage of the bill, there were--ayes +132, noes not counted. + +So the bill was passed. + +On June 23, 1874, this bill (H. R. 921) came up in the Senate.[74] + +[Note 74: Congressional Globe, Vol. 2, part 6, Forty-third Congress, +first session.] + +Mr. Harvey moved, as an amendment, to strike out the words "who is not +an Indian." + +Said Mr. Hitchcock, "That will defeat the bill." + +Mr. Frelinghuysen said: "That would prevent the Indians from killing the +buffalo on their own ground. I object to the bill." + +Mr. Sargent said: "I think we can pass the bill in the right shape +without objection. Let us take it up. It is a very important one." + +Mr. Frelinghuysen withdrew his objection. + +Mr. Harvey thought it was a very important bill, and withdrew his +amendment. + +The bill was reported to the Senate, ordered to a third reading, read +the third time, and passed. It went to President Grant for signature, +and expired in his hands at the adjournment of that session of Congress. + +On February 2, 1874, Mr. Fort introduced a bill (H. R. 1689) to tax +buffalo hides; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. + +On June 10, 1874, Mr. Dawes, from the Committee on Ways and Means, +reported back the bill adversely, and moved that it be laid on the +table. + +Mr. Fort asked to have the bill referred to the Committee of the +Whole, and it was so referred. + +On February 2, 1874, Mr. R. C. McCormick, of Arizona, introduced in the +House a bill (H. R. 1728) restricting the killing of the bison, or +buffalo, on the public lands; which was referred to the Committee on the +Public Lands, and never heard of more. + +On January 31, 1876, Mr. Fort introduced a bill (H. R. 1719) to prevent +the useless slaughter of buffaloes within the Territories of the United +States, which was referred to the Committee on the Territories.[75] + +[Note 75: Forty-fourth Congress, first session, vol. 4, part 2, pp. +1237-1241.] + +The Committee on the Territories reported back the bill without +amendment on February 23, 1876.[76] Its provisions were in every respect +identical with those of the bill introduced by Mr. Fort in 1874, and +which passed both houses. + +[Note 76: Forty-fourth Congress first session, vol. 4, part 1, p. 773.] + +In support of it Mr. Fort said: "The intention and object of this bill +is to preserve them [the buffaloes] for the use of the Indians, whose +homes are upon the public domain, and to the frontiersmen, who may +properly use them for food. * * * They have been and are now being +slaughtered in large numbers. * * * Thousands of these noble brutes are +annually slaughtered out of mere wontonness. * * * This bill, just as it +is now presented, passed the last Congress. It was not vetoed, but fell, +as I understand, merely for want of time to consider it after having +passed both houses." He also intimated that the Government was using a +great deal of money for cattle to furnish the Indians, while the buffalo +was being wantonly destroyed, whereas they might be turned to their +good. + +Mr. Crounse wanted the words "who is not an Indian" struck out, so as to +make the bill general. He thought Indians were to blame for the wanton +destruction. + +Mr. Fort thought the amendment unnecessary, and stated that he was +informed that the Indians did not destroy the buffaloes wantonly. + +Mr. Dunnell thought the bill one of great importance. + +The Clerk read for him a letter from A. G. Brackett, lieutenant-colonel, +Second United States Cavalry, stationed at Omaha Barracks, in which was +a very urgent request to have Congress interfere to prevent the +wholesale slaughter then going on. + +Mr. Reagan thought the bill proper and right. He knew from personal +experience how the wanton slaughtering was going on, and also that the +Indians were _not_ the ones who did it. + +Mr. Townsend, of New York, saw no reason why a white man should not be +allowed to kill a female buffalo as well as an Indian. He said it would +be impracticable to have a separate law for each. + +Mr. Maginnis did not agree with him. He thought the bill ought to pass +as it stood. + +Mr. Throckmorton thought that while the intention of the bill was a +good one, yet it was mischievous and difficult to enforce, and would +also work hardship to a large portion of our frontier people. He had +several objections. He also thought a cow buffalo could not be +distinguished at a distance. + +Mr. Hancock, of Texas, thought the bill an impolicy, and that the sooner +the buffalo was exterminated the better. + +Mr. Fort replied by asking him why all the game--deer, antelope, +etc.--was not slaughtered also. Then he went on to state that to +exterminate the buffalo would be to starve innocent children of the red +man, and to make the latter more wild and savage than he was already. + +Mr. Baker, of Indiana, offered the following amendment as a substitute +for the one already offered: + +_Provided_, That any white person who shall employ, hire, or procure, +directly or indirectly, any Indian to kill any buffalo forbidden to be +killed by this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and punished +in the manner provided in this act. + +Mr. Fort stated that a certain clause in his bill covered the object of +the amendment. + +Mr. Jenks offered the following amendment: + +Strike out in the fourth line of the second section the word "can" and +insert "shall;" and in the second line of the same section insert the +word "wantonly" before "kill;" so that the clause will read: + +"That it shall be in like manner unlawful for any such person to +wantonly kill, wound, or destroy in the said Territories any greater +number of male buffaloes than are needed for food by such person, or +than shall be used, cured, or preserved for the food of other persons, +or for the market." + +Mr. Conger said: "I think the whole bill is unwise. I think it is a +useless measure." + +Mr. Hancock said: "I move that the bill and amendment be laid on the +table." + +The motion to lay the bill upon the table was defeated, and the +amendment was rejected. + +Mr. Conger called for a division on the passage of the bill. The House +divided, and there were--ayes 93, noes 48. He then demanded tellers, and +they reported--ayes 104, noes 36. So the bill was passed. + +On February 25, 1876, the bill was reported to the Senate, and referred +to the Committee on Territories, from whence it never returned. + +On March 20, 1876, Mr. Fort introduced a bill (H. R. 2767) to tax +buffalo hides; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, +and never heard of afterward. + +This was the last move made in Congress in behalf of the buffalo. The +philanthropic friends of the frontiersman, the Indian, and of the +buffalo himself, despaired of accomplishing the worthy object for which +they had so earnestly and persistently labored, and finally gave up the +fight. At the very time the effort in behalf of buffalo protection was +abandoned the northern herd still flourished, and might have been +preserved from extirpation. + +At various times the legislatures of a few of the Western States and +Territories enacted laws vaguely and feebly intended to provide some +sort of protection to the fast disappearing animals. One of the first +was the game law of Colorado, passed in 1872, which declared that the +killers of game should not leave any flesh to spoil. The western game +laws of those days amounted to about as much as they do now; practically +nothing at all. I have never been able to learn of a single instance, +save in the Yellowstone Park, wherein a western hunter was prevented by +so simple and innocuous a thing as a game law from killing game. Laws +were enacted, but they were always left to enforce themselves. The idea +of the frontiersman (the average, at least) has always been to kill as +much game as possible before some other fellow gets a chance at it, _and +before it is all killed off_! So he goes at the game, and as a general +thing kills all he can while it lasts, and with it feeds himself and +family, his dogs, and even his hogs, to repletion. I knew one Montana +man north of Miles City who killed for his own use twenty-six black-tail +deer in one season, and had so much more venison than he could consume +or give away that a great pile of carcasses lay in his yard until spring +and spoiled. + +During the existence of the buffalo it was declared by many an +impossibility to stop or prevent the slaughter. Such an accusation of +weakness and imbecility on the part of the General Government is an +insult to our strength and resources. The protection of game is now and +always has been simply a question of money. A proper code of game laws +and a reasonable number of salaried game-wardens, sworn to enforce them +and punish all offenses against them, would have afforded the buffalo as +much protection as would have been necessary to his continual existence. +To be sure, many buffaloes would have been killed on the sly in spite of +laws to the contrary, but it was wholesale slaughter that wrought the +extermination, and that could easily have been prevented. A tax of 50 +cents each on buffalo robes would have maintained a sufficient number of +game-wardens to have reasonably regulated the killing, and maintained +for an indefinite period a bountiful source of supply of food, and also +raiment for both the white man of the plains and the Indian. By +judicious management the buffalo could have been made to yield an annual +revenue equal to that we now receive from the fur-seals--$100,000 per +year. + +During the two great periods of slaughter--1870-'75 and 1880-'84--the +principal killing grounds were as well known as the stock-yards of +Chicago. Had proper laws been enacted, and had either the general or +territorial governments entered with determination upon the task of +restricting the killing of buffaloes to proper limits, their enforcement +would have been, in the main, as simple and easy as the collection of +taxes. Of course the solitary hunter in a remote locality would have +bowled over his half dozen buffaloes in secure defiance of the law; but +such desultory killing could not have made much impression on the great +mass for many years. The business-like, wholesale slaughter, wherein +one hunter would openly kill five thousand buffaloes and market perhaps +two thousand hides, could easily have been stopped forever. Buffalo +hides could not have been dealt in clandestinely, for many reasons, and +had there been no sale for ill-gotten spoils the still-hunter would have +gathered no spoils to sell. It was an undertaking of considerable +magnitude, and involving a cash outlay of several hundred dollars to +make up an "outfit" of wagons, horses, arms and ammunition, food, etc., +for a trip to "the range" after buffaloes. It was these wholesale +hunters, both in the North and the South, who exterminated the species, +and to say that all such undertakings could not have been effectually +prevented by law is to accuse our law-makers and law-officers of +imbecility to a degree hitherto unknown. There is nowhere in this +country, nor in any of the waters adjacent to it, a living species of +any kind which the United States Government can not fully and +perpetually protect from destruction by human agencies if it chooses to +do so. The destruction of the buffalo was a loss of wealth perhaps +twenty times greater than the sum it would have cost to conserve it, and +this stupendous waste of valuable food and other products was committed +by one class of the American people and permitted by another with a +prodigality and wastefulness which even in the lowest savages would be +inexcusable. + + + + +V. COMPLETENESS OF THE EXTERMINATION. + +(May 1, 1889.) + +Although the existence of a few widely-scattered individuals enables us +to say that the bison is not yet absolutely extinct in a wild state, +there is no reason to hope that a single wild and unprotected individual +will remain alive ten years hence. The nearer the species approaches to +complete extermination, the more eagerly are the wretched fugitives +pursued to the death whenever found. Western hunters are striving for +the honor (?) of killing the last buffalo, which, it is to be noted, has +already been slain about a score of times by that number of hunters. + +The buffaloes still alive in a wild state are so very few, and have been +so carefully "marked down" by hunters, it is possible to make a very +close estimate of the total number remaining. In this enumeration the +small herd in the Yellowstone National Park is classed with other herds +in captivity and under protection, for the reason that, had it not been +for the protection afforded by the law and the officers of the Park, not +one of these buffaloes would be living to-day. Were the restrictions of +the law removed now, every one of those animals would be killed within +three months. Their heads alone are worth from $25 to $50 each to +taxidermists, and for this reason every buffalo is a prize worth the +hunter's winning. Had it not been for stringent laws, and a rigid +enforcement of them by Captain Harris, the last of the Park buffaloes +would have been shot years ago by Vic. Smith, the Rea Brothers, and +other hunters, of whom there is always an able contingent around the +Park. + +In the United States the death of a buffalo is now such an event that it +is immediately chronicled by the Associated Press and telegraphed all +over the country. By reason of this, and from information already in +hand, we are able to arrive at a very fair understanding of the present +condition of the species in a wild state. + +In December, 1886, the Smithsonian expedition left about fifteen +buffaloes alive in the bad lands of the Missouri-Yellowstone divide, at +the head of Big Porcupine Creek. In 1887 three of these were killed by +cowboys, and in 1888 two more, the last death recorded being that of an +old bull killed near Billings. There are probably eight or ten +stragglers still remaining in that region, hiding in the wildest and +most broken tracts of the bad lands, as far as possible from the cattle +ranches, and where even cowboys seldom go save on a round-up. From the +fact that no other buffaloes, at least so far as can be learned, have +been killed in Montana during the last two years, I am convinced that +the bunch referred to are the last representatives of the species +remaining in Montana. + +In the spring of 1886 Mr. B. C. Winston, while on a hunting trip about +75 miles west of Grand Rapids, Dakota, saw seven buffaloes--five adult +animals and two calves; of which he killed one, a large bull, and caught +a calf alive. On September 11, 1888, a solitary bull was killed 3 miles +from the town of Oakes, in Dickey County. There are still three +individuals in the unsettled country lying between that point and the +Missouri, which are undoubtedly the only wild representatives of the +race east of the Missouri River. + +On April 28, 1887, Dr. William Stephenson, of the United States Army, +wrote me as follows from Pilot Butte, about 30 miles north of Rock +Springs, Wyoming: + +"There are undoubtedly buffalo within 50 or 60 miles of here, two having +been killed out of a band of eighteen some ten days since by cowboys, +and another band of four seen near there. I hear from cattlemen of their +being seen every year north and northeast of here." + +This band was seen once in 1888. In February, 1889, Hon. Joseph M. +Carey, member of Congress from Wyoming, received a letter informing him +that this band of buffaloes, consisting of twenty-six head, had been +seen grazing in the Red Desert of Wyoming, and that the Indians were +preparing to attack it. At Judge Carey's request the Indian Bureau +issued orders which it was hoped would prevent the slaughter. So, until +further developments, we have the pleasure of recording the presence of +twenty-six wild buffaloes in southern Wyoming. + +There are no buffaloes whatever in the vicinity of the Yellowstone Park, +either in Wyoming, Montana, or Idaho, save what wander out of that +reservation, and when any do, they are speedily killed. + +There is a rumor that there are ten or twelve mountain buffaloes still +on foot in Colorado, in a region called Lost Park, and, while it lacks +confirmation, we gladly accept it as a fact. In 1888 Mr. C. B. Cory, of +Boston, saw in Denver, Colorado, eight fresh buffalo skins, which it was +said had come from the region named above. In 1885 there was a herd of +about forty "mountain buffalo" near South Park, and although some of the +number may still survive, the indications are that the total number of +wild buffaloes in Colorado does not exceed twenty individuals. + +In Texas a miserable remnant of the great southern herd still remains in +the "Pan-handle country," between the two forks of the Canadian River. +In 1886 about two hundred head survived, which number by the summer of +1887 had been reduced to one hundred, or less. In the hunting season of +1887-'88 a ranchman named Lee Howard fitted out and led a strong party +into the haunts of the survivors, and killed fifty-two of them. In May, +1888, Mr. C. J. Jones again visited this region for the purpose of +capturing buffaloes alive. His party found, from first to last, +thirty-seven buffaloes, of which they captured eighteen head, eleven +adult cows and seven calves; the greatest feat ever accomplished in +buffalo-hunting. It is highly probable that Mr. Jones and his men saw +about all the buffaloes now living in the Pan-handle country, and it +therefore seems quite certain that not over twenty-five individuals +remain. These are so few, so remote, and so difficult to reach, it is to +be hoped no one will consider them worth going after, and that they will +be left to take care of themselves. It is greatly to be regretted that +the State of Texas does not feel disposed to make a special effort for +their protection and preservation. + +In regard to the existence of wild buffaloes in the British Possessions, +the statements of different authorities are at variance, by far the +larger number holding the opinion that there are in all the Northwest +Territory only a few almost solitary stragglers. But there is still good +reason for the hope, and also the belief, that there still remain in +Athabasca, between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers, at least a few +hundred "wood buffalo." In a very interesting and well-considered +article in the London _Field_ of November 10, 1888, Mr. Miller Christy +quotes all the available positive evidence bearing on this point, and I +gladly avail myself of the opportunity to reproduce it here: + +"The Hon. Dr. Schulz, in the recent debate on the Mackenzie River basin, +in the Canadian senate, quoted Senator Hardisty, of Edmonton, of the +Hudson's Bay Company, to the effect that the wood buffalo still existed +in the region in question. 'It was,' he said, 'difficult to estimate how +many; but probably five or six hundred still remain in scattered bands.' +There had been no appreciable difference in their numbers, he thought, +during the last fifteen years, as they could not be hunted on horseback, +on account of the wooded character of the country, and were, therefore, +very little molested. They are larger than the buffalo of the great +plains, weighing at least 150 pounds more. They are also coarser haired +and straighter horned. + +"The doctor also quoted Mr. Frank Oliver, of Edmonton, to the effect +that the wood buffalo still exists in small numbers between the Lower +Peace and Great Slave Rivers, extending westward from the latter to the +Salt River in latitude 60 degrees, and also between the Peace and +Athabasca Rivers. He states that 'they are larger than the prairie +buffalo, and the fur is darker, but practically they are the same +animal.' ...Some buffalo meat is brought in every winter to the Hudson's +Bay Company's posts nearest the buffalo ranges. + +"Dr. Schulz further stated that he had received the following testimony +from Mr. Donald Ross, of Edmonton: The wood buffalo still exists in the +localities named. About 1870 one was killed as far west on Peace River +as Port Dunvegan. They are quite different from the prairie buffalo, +being nearly double the size, as they will dress fully 700 pounds." + +It will be apparent to most observers, I think, that Mr. Ross's +statement in regard to the size of the wood buffalo is a random shot. + +In a private letter to the writer, under date of October 22, 1887, Mr. +Harrison S. Young, of the Hudson's Bay Company's post at Edmonton, +writes as follows: + +"The buffalo are not yet extinct in the Northwest. There are still some +stray ones on the prairies away to the south of this, but they must be +very few. I am unable to find any one who has personal knowledge of the +killing of one during the last two years, though I have since the +receipt of your letter questioned a good many half-breeds on the +subject. In our district of Athabasca, along the Salt River, there are +still a few wood buffalo killed every year, but they are fast +diminishing in numbers and are also becoming very shy." + +In his "Manitoba and the Great Northwest" Prof. John Macoun has this to +say regarding the presence of the wood buffalo in the region referred +to: + +"The wood buffalo, when I was on the Peace River in 1875, were confined +to the country lying between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers north of +latitude 57° 30', or chiefly in the Birch Hills. They were also said to +be in some abundance on the Salt and Hay Rivers, running into the Save +River north of Peace River. The herds thirteen years ago [now nineteen] +were supposed to number about one thousand, all told. I believe many +still exist, as the Indians of that region eat fish, which are much +easier procured than either buffalo or moose, and the country is much +too difficult for white men." + +All this evidence, when carefully considered, resolves itself into +simply this and no more: The only evidence in favor of the existence of +any live buffaloes between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers is in the form +of very old rumors, most of them nearly fifteen years old; time enough +for the Indians to have procured fire-arms in abundance and killed all +those buffaloes two or three times over. + +Mr. Miller Christy takes "the mean of the estimates," and assumes that +there are now about five hundred and fifty buffaloes in the region +named. If we are to believe in the existence there of any stragglers his +estimate is a fair one, and we will gladly accept it. The total is +therefore as follows: + ++-------------------------------------------------+ +| _Number of American bison running wild | +| and unprotected on January 1, 1889._ | ++-------------------------------------------------+ +|In the Pan-handle of Texas | 25| +|In Colorado | 20| +|In southern Wyoming | 26| +|In the Musselshell country, Montana | 10| +|In western Dakota | 4| +| |---| +| Total number in the United States | 85| +|In Athabasca, Northwest Territory (estimated)|550| +| |---| +| Total in all North America |635| ++-------------------------------------------------+ + +Add to the above the total number already recorded in captivity (256) +and those under Government protection in the Yellowstone Park (200), and +the whole number of individuals of _Bison americanus_ now living is +1,091. + +From this time it is probable that many rumors of the sudden appearance +of herds of buffaloes will become current. Already there have been three +or four that almost deserve special mention. The first appeared in +March, 1887, when various Western newspapers published a circumstantial +account of how a herd of about three hundred buffaloes swam the Missouri +River about 10 miles above Bismarck, near the town of Painted Woods, and +ran on in a southwesterly direction. A letter of inquiry, addressed to +Mr. S. A. Peterson, postmaster at Painted Woods, elicited the following +reply: + +"The whole rumor is false, and without any foundation. I saw it first in +the ---- newspaper, where I believe it originated." + +In these days of railroads and numberless hunting parties, there is not +the remotest possibility of there being anywhere in the United States a +herd of a hundred, or even fifty, buffaloes which has escaped +observation. Of the eighty-five head still existing in a wild state it +may safely be predicted that not even one will remain alive five years +hence. A buffalo is now so great a prize, and by the ignorant it is +considered so great an honor(!) to kill one, that extraordinary +exertions will be made to find and shoot down without mercy the "last +buffalo." + +There is no possible chance for the race to be perpetuated in a wild +state, and in a few years more hardly a bone will remain above ground to +mark the existence of the must prolific mammalian species that ever +existed, so far as we know. + + + + +VI. EFFECTS OF THE EXTERMINATION. + + +The buffalo supplied the Indian with food, clothing, shelter, bedding, +saddles, ropes, shields, and innumerable smaller articles of use and +ornament In the United States a paternal government takes the place of +the buffalo in supplying all these wants of the red man, and it costs +several millions of dollars annually to accomplish the task. + +The following are the tribes which depended very largely--some almost +wholly--upon the buffalo for the necessities, and many of the luxuries, +of their savage life until the Government began to support them: + ++------------------------------------+ +|Sioux |30,561| +|Crow | 3,226| +|Piegan, Blood, and Blackfeet | 2,026| +|Cheyenne | 3,477| +|Gros Ventres | 856| +|Arickaree | 517| +|Mandan | 283| +|Bannack and Shoshone | 2,001| +|Nez Percé | 1,460| +|Assinniboine | 1,688| +|Kiowas and Comanches | 2,756| +|Arapahoes | 1,217| +|Apache | 332| +|Ute | 978| +|Omaha | 1,160| +|Pawnee | 998| +|Winnebago | 1,222| +| |------| +| Total |54,758| ++------------------------------------+ + +This enumeration (from the census of 1886) leaves entirely out of +consideration many thousands of Indians living in the Indian Territory +and other portions of the Southwest, who drew an annual supply of meat +and robes from the chase of the buffalo, notwithstanding the fact that +their chief dependence was upon agriculture. + +The Indians of what was once the buffalo country are not starving and +freezing, for the reason that the United States Government supplies them +regularly with beef and blankets in lieu of buffalo. Does any one +imagine that the Government could not have regulated the killing of +buffaloes, and thus maintained the supply, for far less money than it +now costs to feed and clothe those 54,758 Indians! + +How is it with the Indians of the British Possessions to-day? + +Prof. John Maconn writes as follows in his "Manitoba and the Great +Northwest," page 342: + +"During the last three years [prior to 1883] the great herds have been +kept south of our boundary, and, as the result of this, our Indians have +been on the verge of starvation. When the hills were covered with +countless thousands [of buffaloes] in 1877, the Blackfeet were dying of +starvation in 1879." + +During the winter of 1886-'87, destitution and actual starvation +prevailed to an alarming extent among certain tribes of Indians in the +Northwest Territory who once lived bountifully on the buffalo. A +terrible tale of suffering in the Athabasca and Peace River country has +recently (1888) come to the minister of the interior of the Canadian +government, in the form of a petition signed by the bishop of that +diocese, six clergymen and missionaries, and several justices of the +peace. It sets forth that "owing to the destruction of game, the +Indians, both last winter and last summer, have been in a state of +starvation. They are now in a complete state of destitution, and are +utterly unable to provide themselves with clothing, shelter, ammunition, +or food for the coming winter." The petition declares that on account of +starvation, and consequent cannibalism, a party of twenty-nine Cree +Indians was reduced to three in the winter of 1886.[77] Of the Fort +Chippewyan Indians, between twenty and thirty starved to death last +winter, and the death of many more was hastened by want of food and by +famine diseases. Many other Indians--Crees, Beavers, and Chippewyans--at +almost all points where there are missions or trading posts, would +certainly have starved to death but for the help given them by the +traders and missionaries at those places. It is now declared by the +signers of the memorial that scores of families, having lost their heads +by starvation, are now perfectly helpless, and during the coming winter +must either starve to death or eat one another unless help comes. +Heart-rending stories of suffering and cannibalism continue to come in +from what was once the buffalo plains. + +[Note 77: It was the Cree Indians who used to practice impounding +buffaloes, slaughtering a penful of two hundred head at a time with most +fiendish glee, and leaving all but the very choicest of the meat to +putrefy.] + +If ever thoughtless people were punished for their reckless +improvidence, the Indians and half-breeds of the Northwest Territory are +now paying the penalty for the wasteful slaughter of the buffalo a few +short years ago. The buffalo is his own avenger, to an extent his +remorseless slayers little dreamed he ever could be. + + + + +VII. PRESERVATION OF THE SPECIES FROM ABSOLUTE EXTINCTION. + + +There is reason to fear that unless the United States Government takes +the matter in hand and makes a special effort to prevent it, the +pure-blood bison will be lost irretrievably through mixture with +domestic breeds and through in-and-in breeding. + +The fate of the Yellowstone Park herd is, to say the least, highly +uncertain. A distinguished Senator, who is deeply interested in +legislation for the protection of the National Park reservation, has +declared that the pressure from railway corporations, which are seeking +a foot-hold in the park, has become so great and so aggressive that he +fears the park will "eventually be broken up." In any such event, the +destruction of the herd of park buffaloes would be one of the very first +results. If the park is properly maintained, however, it is to be hoped +that the buffaloes now in it will remain there and increase +indefinitely. + +As yet there are only two captive buffaloes in the possession of the +Government, viz, those in the Department of Living Animals of the +National Museum, presented by Hon. E. G. Blackford, of New York. The +buffaloes now in the Zoological Gardens of the country are but few in +number, and unless special pains be taken to prevent it, by means of +judicious exchanges, from time to time, these will rapidly deteriorate +in size, and within a comparatively short time run out entirely, through +continued in-and-in breeding. It is said that even the wild aurochs in +the forests of Lithuania are decreasing in size and, in number from this +cause. + +With private owners of captive buffaloes, the temptations to produce +cross-breeds will be so great that it is more than likely the breeding +of pure-blood buffaloes will be neglected. Indeed, unless some stockman +like Mr. C. J. Jones takes particular pains to protect his full blood +buffaloes, and keep the breed absolutely pure, in twenty years there +will not be a pure-blood animal of that species on any stock farm in +this country. Under existing conditions, the constant tendency of the +numerous domestic forms is to absorb and utterly obliterate the few wild +ones. + +If we may judge from the examples set as by European governments, it is +clearly the duty of our Government to act in this matter, and act +promptly, with a degree of liberality and promptness which can not be +otherwise than highly gratifying to every American citizen and every +friend of science throughout the world. The Fiftieth Congress, at its +last session, responded to the call made upon it, and voted $200,000 for +the establishment of a National Zoological Park in the District of +Columbia on a grand scale. One of the leading purposes it is destined to +serve is the preservation and breeding in comfortable, and so far as +space is concerned, luxurious captivity of a number of fine specimens of +every species of American quadruped now threatened with +extermination.[78] + +[Note 78: It is indeed an unbounded satisfaction to be able to now +record the fact that this important task, in which every American +citizen has a personal interest, is actually to be undertaken. Last year +we could only way it ought to be undertaken. In its accomplishment, the +Government expects the co-operation of private individuals all over the +country in the form of gifts of desirable living animals, for no +government could afford to purchase all the animals necessary for a +great Zoological Garden, provide for their wants in a liberal way, and +yet give the public free access to the collection, as is to be given to +the National Zoological Park.] + +At least eight or ten buffaloes of pure breed should be secured very +soon by the Zoological Park Commission, by gift if possible, and cared +for with special reference to keeping the breed absolutely pure, and +_keeping the herd from deteriorating and dying out through in-and-in +breeding_. + +The total expense would be trifling in comparison with the importance of +the end to be gained, and in that way we might, in a small measure, +atone for our neglect of the means which would have protected the great +herds from extinction. In this way, by proper management, it will be not +only possible but easy to preserve fine living representatives of this +important species for centuries to come. + +The result of continuing in-breeding is certain extinction. Its progress +may be so slow as to make no impression upon the mind of a herd-owner, +but the end is only a question of time. The fate of a majority of the +herds of British wild cattle (_Bos urus_) warn us what to expect with +the American bison under similar circumstances. Of the fourteen herds of +wild cattle which were in existence in England and Scotland during the +early part of the present century, direct descendants of the wild herds +found in Great Britain, nine have become totally extinct through in +breeding. + +The five herds remaining are those at Somerford Park, Blickling Hall, +Woodbastwick, Chartley, and Chillingham. + + + + +PART III.--THE SMITHSONIAN EXPEDITION FOR MUSEUM SPECIMENS. + + + + +I. THE EXPLORATION. + + +During the first three months of the year 1886 it was ascertained by the +writer, then chief taxidermist of the National Museum, that the +extermination of the American bison had made most alarming progress. By +extensive correspondence it was learned that the destruction of all the +large herds, both North and South, was already an accomplished fact. +While it was generally supposed that at least a few thousand individuals +still inhabited the more remote and inaccessible regions of what once +constituted the great northern buffalo range, it was found that the +actual number remaining in the whole United States was probably less +than three hundred. + +By some authorities who were consulted it was considered an +impossibility to procure a large series of specimens anywhere in this +country, while others asserted positively that there were no wild +buffaloes south of the British possessions save those in the Yellowstone +National Park. Canadian authorities asserted with equal positiveness +that none remained in their territory. + +A careful inventory of the specimens in the collection of the National +Museum revealed the fact that, with the exception of one mounted female +skin, another unmounted, and one mounted skeleton of a male buffalo, the +Museum was actually without presentable specimens of this most important +and interesting mammal. + +Besides those mentioned above, the collection contained only two old, +badly mounted, and dilapidated skins, (one of which had been taken in +summer, and therefore was not representative), an incomplete skeleton, +some fragmentary skulls of no value, and two mounted heads. Thus it +appeared that the Museum was unable to show a series of specimens, good +or bad, or even one presentable male of good size. + +In view of this alarming state of affairs, coupled with the already +declared extinction of _Bison americanus_, the Secretary of the +Smithsonian Institution, Prof. Spencer F. Baird, determined to send a +party into the field at once to find wild buffalo, if any were still +living, and in case any were found to collect a number of specimens. +Since it seemed highly uncertain whether any other institution, or any +private individual, would have the opportunity to collect a large supply +of specimens before it became too late, it was decided by the Secretary +that the Smithsonian Institution should undertake the task of providing +for the future as liberally as possible. For the benefit of the smaller +scientific museums of the country, and for others which will come into +existence during the next half century, it was resolved to collect at +all hazards, in case buffalo could be found, between eighty and one +hundred specimens of various kinds, of which from twenty to thirty +should be skins, an equal number should be complete skeletons, and of +skulls at least fifty. + +In view of the great scarcity of buffalo and the general belief that it +might be a work of some months to find any specimens, even if it were +possible to find any at all, it was determined not to risk the success +of the undertaking by delaying it until the regular autumn hunting +season, but to send a party into the field at once to prosecute a +search. It was resolved to discover at all hazards the whereabouts of +any buffalo that might still remain in this country in a wild state, +and, if possible, to reach them before the shedding of their winter +pelage. It very soon became apparent, however, that the latter would +prove an utter impossibility. + +Late in the month of April a letter was received from Dr. J. C. Merrill, +United States Army, dated at Huntley, Montana, giving information of +reports that buffalo were still to be found in three localities in the +Northwest, viz: on the headwaters of the Powder River, Wyoming; in +Judith Basin, Montana; and on Big Dry Creek, also in Montana. The +reports in regard to the first two localities proved to be erroneous. It +was ascertained to a reasonable certainty that there still existed in +southwestern Dakota a small band of six or eight wild buffaloes, while +from the Pan-handle of Texas there came reports of the existence there, +in small scattered hands, of about two hundred head. The buffalo known +to be in Dakota were far too few in number to justify a long and +expensive search, while those in Texas, on the Canadian River, were too +difficult to reach to make it advisable to hunt them save as a last +resort. It was therefore decided to investigate the localities named in +the Northwest. + +Through the courtesy of the Secretary of War, an order was sent to the +officer commanding the Department of Dakota, requesting him to furnish +the party, through the officers in command at Forts Keogh, Maginnis, and +McKinney, such field transportation, escort, and camp equipage as might +be necessary, and also to sell to the party such commissary stores as +might be required, at cost price, plus 10 per cent. The Secretary of the +Interior also favored the party with an order, directing all Indian +agents, scouts, and others in the service of the Department to render +assistance as far as possible when called upon. + +In view of the public interest attaching to the results of the +expedition, the railway transportation of the party to and from Montana +was furnished entirely without cost to the Smithsonian Institution. For +these valuable courtesies we gratefully acknowledge our obligations to +Mr. Frank Thomson, of the Pennsylvania Railroad; Mr. Roswell Miller, of +the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul; and Mr. Robert Harris, of the +Northern Pacific. + +Under orders from the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the +writer left Washington on May 6, accompanied by A. H. Forney, assistant +in the department of taxidermy, and George H. Hedley, of Medina, New +York. It had been decided that Miles City, Montana, might properly be +taken as the first objective point, and that town was reached on May 9. + +Diligent inquiry in Miles City and at Fort Keogh, 2 miles distant, +revealed the fact that no one knew of the presence of any wild buffalo +anywhere in the Northwest, save within the protected limits of the +Yellowstone Park. All inquiries elicited the same reply: "There are no +buffalo any more, and you can't get any anywhere." Many persons who were +considered good authority declared most positively that there was not a +live buffalo in the vicinity of Big Dry Creek, nor anywhere between the +Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. An army officer from Fort Maginnis +testified to the total absence of buffalo in the Judith Basin, and +ranchmen from Wyoming asserted that none remained in the Powder River +country. + +Just at this time it was again reported to us, and most opportunely +confirmed by Mr. Henry E. Phillips, owner of the =LU=-bar ranch on +Little Dry Creek, that there still remained a chance to find a few +buffalo in the country lying south of the Big Dry. On the other hand, +other persons who seemed to be fully informed regarding that very region +and the animal life it contained, assured us that not a single buffalo +remained there, and that a search in that direction would prove +fruitless. But the balance of evidence, however, seemed to lie in favor +of the Big Dry country, and we resolved to hunt through it with all +possible dispatch. + +On the afternoon of May 13 we crossed the Yellowstone and started +northwest up the trail which leads along Sunday Creek. Our entire party +consisted of the two assistants already mentioned, a non-commissioned +officer, Sergeant Garone, and four men from the Fifth Infantry acting as +escort; Private Jones, also from the Fifth Infantry, detailed to act as +our cook, and a teamster. Our conveyance consisted of a six-mule team, +which, like the escort, was ordered out for twenty days only, and +provided accordingly. Before leaving Miles City we purchased two +saddle-horses for use in hunting, the equipments for which were +furnished by the ordnance department at Fort Keogh. + +During the first two days' travel through the bad lands north of the +Yellowstone no mammals were seen save prairie-dogs and rabbits. On the +third day a few antelope were seen, but none killed. It is to be borne +in mind that this entire region is absolutely treeless everywhere save +along the margins of the largest streams. Bushes are also entirely +absent, with the exception of sage-brush, and even that does not occur +to any extent on the divides. + +On the third day two young buck antelopes were shot at the Red Buttes. +One had already commenced to shed his hair, but the other had not quite +reached that point. We prepared the skin of the first specimen and the +skeleton of the other. This was the only good antelope skin we obtained +in the spring, those of all the other specimens taken being quite +worthless on account of the looseness of the hair. During the latter +part of May, and from that time on until the long winter hair is +completely shed, it falls off in handfuls at the slightest pressure, +leaving the skin clad only with a thin growth of new, mouse-colored hair +an eighth of an inch long. + +After reaching Little Dry Creek and hunting through the country on the +west side of it nearly to its confluence with the Big Dry we turned +southwest, and finally went into permanent camp on Phillips Creek, 8 +miles above the =LU=-bar ranch and 4 miles from the Little Dry. At that +point we were about 80 miles from Miles City. + +From information furnished us by Mr. Phillips and the cowboys in his +employ, we were assured that about thirty-five head of buffalo ranged in +the bad lands between Phillips Creek and the Musselshell River and south +of the Big Dry. This tract of country was about 40 miles long from east +to west by 25 miles wide, and therefore of about 1,000 square miles in +area. Excepting two temporary cowboy camps it was totally uninhabited by +man, treeless, without any running streams, save in winter and spring, +and was mostly very hilly and broken. + +In this desolate and inhospitable country the thirty-five buffaloes +alluded to had been seen, first on Sand Creek, then at the head of the +Big Porcupine, again near the Musselshell, and latest near the head of +the Little Dry. As these points were all from 15 to 30 miles distant +from each other, the difficulty of finding such a small herd becomes +apparent. + +Although Phillips Creek was really the eastern boundary of the buffalo +country, it was impossible for a six-mule wagon to proceed beyond it, at +least at that point. Having established a permanent camp, the Government +wagon and its escort returned to Fort Keogh, and we proceeded to hunt +through the country between Sand Creek and the Little Dry. The absence +of nearly all the cowboys on the spring round-up, which began May 20, +threatened to be a serious drawback to us, as we greatly needed the +services of a man who was acquainted with the country. We had with us as +a scout and guide a Cheyenne Indian, named Dog, but it soon became +apparent that he knew no more about the country than we did. +Fortunately, however, we succeeded in occasionally securing the services +of a cowboy, which was of great advantage to us. + +It was our custom to ride over the country daily, each day making a +circuit through a new locality, and covering as much ground as it was +possible to ride over in a day. It was also our custom to take trips of +from two to four days in length, during which we carried our blankets +and rations upon our horses and camped wherever night overtook us, +provided water could be found. + +Our first success consisted in the capture of a buffalo calf, which from +excessive running had become unable to keep up with its mother, and had +been left behind. The calf was caught alive without any difficulty, and +while two of the members of our party carried it to camp across a horse, +the other two made a vigorous effort to discover the band of adult +animals. The effort was unsuccessful, for, besides the calf, no other +buffaloes were seen. + +Ten days after the above event two bull buffaloes were met with on the +Little Dry, 15 miles above the =LU=-bar ranch, one of which was +overtaken and killed, but the other got safely away. The shedding of the +winter coat was in full progress. On the head, neck, and shoulders the +old hair had been entirely replaced by the new, although the two coats +were so matted together that the old hair clung in tangled masses to the +other. The old hair was brown and weather-beaten, but the new, which was +from 3 to 6 inches long, had a peculiar bluish-gray appearance. On the +head the new hair was quite black, and contrasted oddly with the lighter +color. On the body and hind quarters there were large patches of skin +which were perfectly bare, between which lay large patches of old, +woolly, brown hair. This curious condition gave the animal a very +unkempt and "seedy" appearance, the effect of which was heightened by +the long, shaggy locks of old, weather beaten hair which clung to the +new coat of the neck and shoulders like tattered signals of distress, +ready to be blown away by the first gust of wind. + +This specimen was a large one, measuring 5 feet 4 inches in height. +Inasmuch as the skin was not in condition to mount, we took only the +skeleton, entire, and the skin of the head and neck. + +The capture of the calf and the death of this bull proved conclusively +that there were buffaloes in that region, and also that they were +breeding in comparative security. The extent of the country they had to +range over made it reasonably certain that their number would not be +diminished to any serious extent by the cowboys on the spring round-up, +although it was absolutely certain that in a few months the members of +that band would all be killed. The report of the existence of a herd of +thirty-five head was confirmed later by cowboys, who had actually seen +the animals, and killed two of them merely for sport, as usual. They +saved a few pounds of hump meat, and all the rest became food for the +wolves and foxes. + +It was therefore resolved to leave the buffaloes entirely unmolested +until autumn, and then, when the robes would be in the finest condition, +return for a hunt on a liberal scale. Accordingly, it was decided to +return to Washington without delay, and a courier was dispatched with a +request for transportation to carry our party back to Fort Keogh. + +While awaiting the arrival of the wagons, a cowboy in the employ of the +Phillips Land and Cattle Company killed a solitary bull buffalo about 15 +miles west of our camp, near Sand Creek. This animal had completely shed +the hair on his body and hind quarters. In addition to the preservation +of his entire skeleton, we prepared the skin also, as an example of the +condition of the buffalo immediately after shedding. + +On June 6 the teams from Fort Keogh arrived, and we immediately returned +to Miles City, taking with us our live buffalo calf, two fresh buffalo +skeletons, three bleached skeletons, seven skulls, one skin entire, and +one head skin, in addition to a miscellaneous collection of skins and +skeletons of smaller mammals and birds. On reaching Miles City we +hastily packed and shipped our collection, and, taking the calf with us, +returned at once to Washington. + + + + +II. THE HUNT. + + +On September 24 I arrived at Miles City a second time, fully equipped +for a protracted hunt for buffalo; this time accompanied only by W. +Harvey Brown, a student of the University of Kansas, as field assistant, +having previously engaged three cowboys as guides and hunters--Irwin +Boyd, James McNaney, and L. S. Russell. Messrs. Boyd and Russell were in +Miles City awaiting my arrival, and Mr. McNaney joined us in the field a +few days later. Mr. Boyd acted as my foreman during the entire hunt, a +position which he filled to my entire satisfaction. + +Thanks to the energy and good-will of the officers at Fort Keogh, of +which Lieutenant-Colonel Cochran was then in command, our +transportation, camp equipage, and stores were furnished without an +hour's delay. We purchased two months' supplies of commissary stores, a +team, and two saddle-horses, and hired three more horses, a light wagon, +and a set of double harness. Each of the cowboys furnished one horse; so +that in our outfit we had ten head, a team, and two good saddle-horses +for each hunter. The worst feature of the whole question of subsistence +was the absolute necessity of hauling a supply of grain from Miles City +into the heart of the buffalo country for our ten horses. For such work +as they had to encounter it was necessary to feed them constantly and +liberally with oats in order to keep them in condition to do their work. +We took with us 2,000 pounds of oats, and by the beginning of November +as much more had to be hauled up to us. + +Thirty six hours after our arrival in Miles City our outfit was +complete, and we crossed the Yellowstone and started up the Sunday Creek +trail. We had from Fort Keogh a six-mule team, an escort of four men, in +charge of Sergeant Bayliss, and an old veteran of more than twenty +years' service, from the Fifth Infantry, Private Patrick McCanna, who +was detailed to act as cook and camp-guard for our party during our stay +in the field. + +On September 29 we reached Tow's ranch, the =HV=, on Big Dry Creek +(erroneously called Big Timber Creek on most maps of Montana), at the +mouth of Sand Creek, which here flows into it from the southwest. This +point is said to be 90 miles from Miles City. Here we received our +freight from the six-mule wagon, loaded it with bleached skeletons and +skulls of buffalo, and started it back to the post. One member of the +escort, Private C. S. West, who was then on two months' furlough, +elected to join our party for the hunt, and accordingly remained with us +to its close. Leaving half of our freight stored at the =HV= ranch, we +loaded the remainder upon our own wagon, and started up Sand Creek. + +[Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF THE HUNT FOR BUFFALO. MONTANA 1886.] + +At this point the hunt began. As the wagon and extra horses proceeded up +the Sand Creek trail in the care of W. Harvey Brown, the three cowboys +and I paired off, and while two hunted through the country along the +south side of the creek, the others took the north. The whole of the +country bordering Sand Creek, quite up to its source, consists of rugged +hills and ridges, which sometimes rise to considerable height, cut +between by great yawning ravines and hollows, such as persecuted game +loves to seek shelter in. Inasmuch as the buffalo we were in search of +had been seen hiding in those ravines, it became necessary to search +through them with systematic thoroughness; a proceeding which was very +wearing upon our horses. Along the south side of Sand Creek, near its +source, the divide between it and Little Dry Creek culminates in a chain +of high, flat-topped buttes, whose summits bear a scanty growth of +stunted pines, which serve to make them conspicuous landmarks. On some +maps these insignificant little buttes are shown as mountains, under the +name of "Piny Buttes." + +It was our intention to go to the head of Sand Creek, and beyond, in +case buffaloes were not found earlier. Immediately westward of its +source there is a lofty level plateau, about 3 miles square, which, by +common consent, we called the High Divide. It is the highest ground +anywhere between the Big Dry and the Yellowstone, and is the starting +point of streams that run northward into the Missouri and Big Dry, +eastward into Sand Creek and the Little Dry, southward into Porcupine +Creek and the Yellowstone, and westward into the Musselshell. On three +sides--north, east, and south--it is surrounded by wild and rugged butte +country, and its sides are scored by intricate systems of great yawning +ravines and hollows, steep-sided and very deep, and bad lands of the +worst description. + +By the 12th of October the hunt had progressed up Sand Creek to its +source, and westward across the High Divide to Calf Creek, where we +found a hole of wretchedly bad water and went into permanent camp. We +considered that the spot we selected would serve us as a key to the +promising country that lay on three sides of it, and our surmise that +the buffalo were in the habit of hiding in the heads of those great +ravines around the High Divide soon proved to be correct. Our camp at +the head of Calf Creek was about 20 miles east of the Musselshell River, +40 miles south of the Missouri, and about 135 miles from Miles City, as +the trail ran. Four miles north of us, also on Calf Creek, was the line +camp of the =STV= ranch, owned by Messrs. J. H. Conrad & Co., and 18 +miles east, near the head of Sand Creek, was the line camp of the +=N=-bar ranch, owned by Mr. Newman. At each of these camps there were +generally from two to four cowboys. From all these gentlemen we received +the utmost courtesy and hospitality on all occasions, and all the +information in regard to buffalo which it was in their power to give. On +many occasions they rendered us valuable assistance, which is hereby +gratefully acknowledged. + +We saw no buffalo, nor any signs of any, until October 13. On that day, +while L. S. Russell was escorting our second load of freight across the +High Divide, he discovered a band of seven buffaloes lying in the head +of a deep ravine. He fired upon them, but killed none, and when they +dashed away he gave chase and followed them 2 or 3 miles. Being mounted +on a tired horse, which was unequal to the demands of the chase, he was +finally distanced by the herd, which took a straight course and ran due +south. As it was then nearly night, nothing further could be done that +day except to prepare for a vigorous chase on the morrow. Everything was +got in perfect readiness for an early start, and by daybreak the +following morning the three cowboys and the writer were mounted on our +best horses, and on our way through the bad lands to take up the trail +of the seven buffaloes. + +Shortly after sunrise we found the trail, not far from the head of Calf +Creek, and followed it due south. We left the rugged butte region behind +us, and entered a tract of country quite unlike anything we had found +before. It was composed of a succession of rolling hills and deep +hollows, smooth enough on the surface, to all appearances, but like a +desert of sand-hills to traverse. The dry soil was loose and crumbly, +like loose ashes or scoriæ, and the hoofs of our horses sank into it +half-way to the fetlocks at every step. But there was another feature +which was still worse. The whole surface of the ground was cracked and +seamed with a perfect net-work of great cracks, into which our horses +stepped every yard or so, and sank down still farther, with many a +tiresome wrench of the joints. It was terrible ground to go over. To +make it as bad as possible, a thick growth of sage-brush or else +grease-wood was everywhere present for the horses to struggle through, +and when it came to dragging a loaded wagon across that 12-mile stretch +of "bad grounds" or "gumbo ground," as it was called, it was killing +work. + +But in spite of the character of this ground, in one way it was a +benefit to us. Owing to its looseness on the surface we were able to +track the buffaloes through it with the greatest ease, whereas on any +other ground in that country it would have been almost impossible. We +followed the trail due south for about 20 miles, which brought us to the +head of a small stream called Taylor Creek. Here the bad grounds ended, +and in the grassy country which lay beyond, tracking was almost +impossible. Just at noon we rode to a high point, and on scanning the +hills and hollows with the binocular discovered the buffaloes lying at +rest on the level top of a small butte 2 miles away. The original bunch +of seven had been joined by an equal number. + +We crept up to within 200 yards of the buffaloes, which was as close as +we could go, fired a volley at them just as they lay, and did not even +kill a calf! Instantly they sprang up and dashed away at astonishing +speed, heading straight for the sheltering ravines around the High +Divide. + +We had a most exciting and likewise dangerous chase after the herd +through a vast prairie-dog town, honey-combed with holes just right for +a running horse to thrust a leg in up to the knee and snap it off like a +pipe-stem, and across fearfully wide gullies that either had to be +leaped or fallen into. McNaney killed a fine old bull and a beautiful +two year old, or "spike" bull, out of this herd, while I managed to kill +a cow and another large old bull, making four for that day, all told. +This herd of fourteen head was the largest that we saw during the entire +hunt. + +Two days later, when we were on the spot with the wagon to skin our game +and haul in the hides, four more buffaloes were discovered within 2 +miles of us, and while I worked on one of the large bull skins to save +it from spoiling, the cowboys went after the buffalo, and by a really +brilliant exploit killed them all. The first one to fall was an old cow, +which was killed at the beginning of the chase, the next was an old +bull, who was brought down about 5 miles from the scene of the first +attack, then 2 miles farther on a yearling calf was killed. The fourth +buffalo, an immense old bull, was chased fully 12 miles before he was +finally brought down. + +The largest bull fell about 8 miles from our temporary camp, in the +opposite direction from that in which our permanent camp lay, and at +about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. There not being time enough in which +to skin him completely and reach our rendezvous before dark, Messrs. +McNaney and Boyd dressed the carcass to preserve the meat, partly +skinned the legs, and came to camp. + +As early as possible the next morning we drove to the carcass with the +wagon, to prepare both skin and skeleton and haul them in. When we +reached it we found that during the night a gang of Indians had robbed +us of our hard-earned spoil. They had stolen the skin and all the +eatable meat, broken up the leg-bones to get at the marrow, and even cut +out the tongue. And to injury the skulking thieves had added insult. +Through laziness they had left the head unskinned, but on one side of it +they had smeared the hair with red war-paint, the other side they had +daubed with yellow, and around the base of one horn they had tied a +strip of red flannel as a signal of defiance. Of course they had left +for parts unknown, and we never saw any signs of them afterward. The +gang visited the =LU=-bar ranch a few days later, so we learned +subsequently. It was then composed of eleven braves(!), who claimed to +be Assinniboines, and were therefore believed to be Piegans, the most +notorious horse and cattle thieves in the Northwest. + +On October 22d Mr. Russell ran down in a fair chase a fine bull buffalo, +and killed him in the rough country bordering the High Divide on the +south. This was the ninth specimen. On the 26th we made an other trip +with the wagon to the Buffalo Buttes, as, for the sake of convenience, +we had named the group of buttes near which eight head had already been +taken. While Mr. Brown and I were getting the wagon across the bad +grounds, Messrs. McNaney and Boyd discovered a solitary bull buffalo +feeding in a ravine within a quarter of a mile of our intended camping +place, and the former stalked him and killed him at long range. The +buffalo had all been attracted to that locality by some springs which +lay between two groups of hills, and which was the only water within a +radius of about 15 miles. In addition to water, the grass around the +Buffalo Buttes was most excellent. + +During all this time we shot antelope and coyotes whenever an +opportunity offered, and preserved the skins and skeletons of the finest +until we had obtained a very fine series of both. At this season the +pelts of these animals were in the finest possible condition, the hair +having attained its maximum length and density, and, being quite new, +had lost none of its brightness of color, either by wear or the action +of the weather. Along Sand Creek and all around the High Divide antelope +were moderately plentiful (but really scarce in comparison with their +former abundance), so much so that had we been inclined to slaughter we +could have killed a hundred head or more, instead of the twenty that we +shot as specimens and for their flesh. We have it to say that from first +to last not an antelope was killed which was not made use of to the +fullest extent. + +On the 31st of October, Mr. Boyd and I discovered a buffalo cow and +yearling calf in the ravines north of the High Divide, within 3 miles of +our camp, and killed them both. The next day Private West arrived with a +six mule team from Fort Keogh, in charge of Corporal Clafer and three +men. This wagon brought us another 2,000 pounds of oats and various +commissary stores. When it started back, on November 3, we sent by it +all the skins and skeletons of buffalo, antelope, etc., which we had +collected up to that date, which made a heavy load for the six mules. On +this same day Mr. McNaney killed two young cow buffaloes in the bad +lands south of the High Divide, which brought our total number up to +fourteen. + +On the night of the 3d the weather turned very cold, and on the day +following we experienced our first snow-storm. By that time the water in +the hole, which up to that time had supplied our camp, became so thick +with mud and filth that it was unendurable; and having discovered a fine +pool of pure water in the bottom of a little cañon on the southern slope +of the High Divide we moved to it forthwith. It was really the upper +spring of the main fork of the Big Porcupine, and a finer situation for +a camp does not exist in that whole region. The spot which nature made +for us was sheltered on all sides by the high walls of the cañon, within +easy reach of an inexhaustible supply of good water, and also within +reach of a fair supply of dry fire-wood, which we found half a mile +below. This became our last permanent camp, and its advantages made up +for the barrenness and discomfort of our camp on Calf Creek. Immediately +south of us, and 2 miles distant there rose a lofty conical butte about +600 feet high, which forms a very conspicuous landmark from the south. +We were told that it was visible from 40 miles down the Porcupine. +Strange to say, this valuable landmark was without a name, so far as we +could learn; so, for our own convenience, we christened it Smithsonian +Butte. + +The two buffalo cows that Mr. McNaney killed just before we moved our +camp seemed to be the last in the country, for during the following week +we scouted for 15 miles in three directions, north, east, and south, +without finding as much as a hoof-print. At last we decided to go away +and give that country absolute quiet for a week, in the hope that some +more buffalo would come into it. Leaving McCanna and West to take care +of the camp, we loaded a small assortment of general equipage into the +wagon and pulled about 25 miles due west to the Musselshell River. + +We found a fine stream of clear water, flowing over sand and pebbles, +with heavy cottonwood timber and thick copses of willow along its banks, +which afforded cover for white-tailed deer. In the rugged brakes, which +led from the level river bottom into a labyrinth of ravines and gullies, +ridges and hog-backs, up to the level of the high plateau above, we +found a scanty growth of stunted cedars and pines, which once sheltered +great numbers of mule deer, elk, and bear. Now, however, few remain, and +these are very hard to find. Even when found, the deer are nearly always +young. Although we killed five mule deer and five white-tails, we did +not kill even one fine buck, and the only one we saw on the whole trip +was a long distance off. We saw fresh tracks of elk, and also grizzly +bear, but our most vigorous efforts to discover the animals themselves +always ended in disappointment. The many bleaching skulls and antlers of +elk and deer, which we found everywhere we went, afforded proof of what +that country had been as a home for wild animals only a few years ago. +We were not a little surprised at finding the fleshless carcasses of +three head of cattle that had been killed and eaten by bears within a +few months. + +In addition to ten deer, we shot three wild geese, seven sharp-tailed +grouse, eleven sage grouse, nine Bohemian waxwings, and a magpie, for +their skeletons. We made one trip of several miles up the Musselshell, +and another due west, almost to the Bull Mountains, but no signs of +buffalo were found. The weather at this time was quite cold, the +thermometer registering 6 degrees below zero; but, in spite of the fact +that we were without shelter and had to bivouac in the open, we were, +generally speaking, quite comfortable. + +Having found no buffalo by the 17th, we felt convinced that we ought to +return to our permanent camp, and did so on that day. Having brought +back nearly half a wagon-load of specimens in the flesh or half skinned, +it was absolutely necessary that I should remain at camp all the next +day. While I did so, Messrs. McNaney and Boyd rode over to the Buffalo +Buttes, found four fine old buffalo cows, and, after a hard chase, +killed them all. + +Under the circumstances, this was the most brilliant piece of work of +the entire hunt. As the four cows dashed past the hunters at the Buffalo +Buttes, heading for the High Divide, fully 20 miles distant, McNaney +killed one cow, and two others went off wounded. Of course the cowboys +gave chase. About 12 miles from the starting-point one of the wounded +cows left her companions, was headed off by Boyd, and killed. About 6 +miles beyond that one, McNaney overhauled the third cow and killed her, +but the fourth one got away for a short time. While McNaney skinned the +third cow and dressed the carcass to preserve the meat, Boyd took their +now thoroughly exhausted horses to camp and procured fresh mounts. On +returning to McNaney they set out in pursuit of the fourth cow, chased +her across the High Divide, within a mile or so of our camp, and into +the ravines on the northern slope, where she was killed. She met her +death nearly if not quite 25 miles from the spot where the first one +fell. + +The death of these four cows brought our number of buffaloes up to +eighteen, and made us think about the possibilities of getting thirty. +As we were proceeding to the Buffalo Buttes on the day after the "kill" +to gather in the spoil, Mr. Brown and I taking charge of the wagon, +Messrs. McNaney and Boyd went ahead in order to hunt. When within about +5 miles of the Buttes we came unexpectedly upon our companions, down in +a hollow, busily engaged in skinning another old cow, which they had +discovered traveling across the bad grounds, waylaid, and killed. + +We camped that night on our old ground at the Buffalo Buttes, and +although we all desired to remain a day or two and hunt for more +buffalo, the peculiar appearance of the sky in the northwest, and the +condition of the atmosphere, warned us that a change of weather was +imminent. Accordingly, the following morning we decided without +hesitation that it was best to get back to camp that day, and it soon +proved very fortunate for us that we so decided. + +Feeling that by reason of my work on the specimens I had been deprived +of a fair share of the chase, I arranged for Mr. Boyd to accompany the +wagon on the return trip, that I might hunt through the bad lands west +of the Buffalo Buttes, which I felt must contain some buffalo. Mr. +Russell went northeast and Mr. McNaney accompanied me. About 4 miles +from our late camp we came suddenly upon a fine old solitary bull, +feeding in a hollow between two high and precipitous ridges. After a +short but sharp chase I succeeded in getting a fair shot at him, and +killed him with a ball which broke his left humerus and passed into his +lungs. He was the only large bull killed on the entire trip by a single +shot. He proved to be a very fine specimen, measuring 5 feet 6 inches in +height at the shoulders. The wagon was overtaken and called back to get +the skin, and while it was coming I took a complete series of +measurements and sketches of him as he lay. + +Although we removed the skin very quickly, and lost no time in again +starting the wagon to our permanent camp, the delay occasioned by the +death of our twentieth buffalo,--which occurred on November 20, +precisely two months from the date of our leaving Washington to collect +twenty buffalo, it possible,--caused us all to be caught in a +snow-storm, which burst upon us from the northwest. The wagon had to be +abandoned about 12 miles from camp in the bad lands. Mr. Brown packed +the bedding on one of the horses and rode the other, he and Boyd +reaching camp about 9 o'clock that night in a blinding snow-storm. Of +coarse the skins in the wagon were treated with preservatives and +covered up. It proved to be over a week that the wagon and its load had +to remain thus abandoned before it was possible to get to it and bring +it to camp, and even then the task was one of great difficulty. In this +connection I can not refrain from recording the fact that the services +rendered by Mr. W. Harvey Brown on all such trying occasions as the +above were invaluable. He displayed the utmost zeal and intelligence, +not only in the more agreeable kinds of work and sport incident to the +hunt, but also in the disagreeable drudgery, such as team-driving and +working on half-frozen specimens in bitter cold weather. + +The storm which set in on the 20th soon developed into a regular +blizzard. A fierce and bitter cold wind swept down from the northwest, +driving the snow before it in blinding gusts. Had our camp been poorly +sheltered we would have suffered, but at it was we were fairly +comfortable. + +Having thus completed our task (of getting twenty buffaloes), we were +anxious to get out of that fearful country before we should get caught +in serious difficulties with the weather, and it was arranged that +Private C. S. West should ride to Fort Keogh as soon as possible, with a +request for transportation. By the third day, November 23, the storm had +abated sufficiently that Private West declared his willingness to start. +It was a little risky, but as he was to make only 10 miles the first day +and stop at the =N=-bar camp on Sand Creek, it was thought safe to let +him go. He dressed himself warmly, took my revolver, in order not to be +hampered with a rifle, and set out. + +The next day was clear and fine, and we remarked it as an assurance of +Mr. West's safety during his ride from Sand Creek to the =LU=-bar ranch, +his second stopping-place. The distance was about 25 miles, through bad +lands all the way, and it was the only portion of the route which caused +me anxiety for our courier's safety. The snow on the levels was less +than 6 inches deep, the most of it having been blown into drifts and +hollows; but although the coulées were all filled level to the top, our +courier was a man of experience and would know how to avoid them. + +The 25th day of November was the most severe day of the storm, the +mercury in our sheltered cañon sinking to -16 degrees. We had hoped to +kill at least five more buffaloes by the time Private West should arrive +with the wagons; but when at the end of a week the storm had spent +itself, the snow was so deep that hunting was totally impossible save in +the vicinity of camp, where there was nothing to kill. We expected the +wagons by the 3d of December, but they did not come that day nor within +the next three. By the 6th the snow had melted off sufficiently that a +buffalo hunt was once more possible, and Mr. McNaney and I decided to +make a final trip to the Buffalo Buttes. The state of the ground made it +impossible for us to go there and return the same day, so we took a +pack-horse and arranged to camp out. + +When a little over half-way to our old rendezvous we came upon three +buffaloes in the bad grounds, one of which was an enormous old bull, the +next largest was an adult cow, and the third a two-year-old heifer. Mr. +McNaney promptly knocked down the old cow, while I devoted my attention +to the bull; but she presently got up and made off unnoticed at the +precise moment Mr. McNaney was absorbed in watching my efforts to bring +down the old bull. After a short chase my horse carried me alongside my +buffalo, and as he turned toward me I gave him a shot through the +shoulder, breaking the fore leg and bringing him promptly to the ground. +I then turned immediately to pursue the young cow, but by that time she +had got on the farther side of a deep gully which was filled with snow, +and by the time I got my horse safely across she had distanced me. I +then rode back to the old bull. When he saw me coming he got upon his +feet and ran a short distance, but was easily overtaken. He then stood +at bay, and halting within 30 yards of him I enjoyed the rare +opportunity of studying a live bull buffalo of the largest size on foot +on his native heath. I even made an outline sketch of him in my +note-book. Having studied his form and outlines as much as was really +necessary, I gave him a final shot through the lungs, which soon ended +his career. + +This was a truly magnificent specimen in every respect. He was a +"stub-horn" bull, about eleven years old, much larger every way than any +of the others we collected. His height at the shoulder was 5 feet 8 +inches perpendicular, or 2 inches more than the next largest of our +collection. His hair was in remarkably fine condition, being long, fine, +thick, and well colored. The hair in his frontlet is 16 inches in +length, and the thick coat of shaggy, straw-colored tufts which covered +his neck and shoulders measured 4 inches. His girth behind the fore leg +was 8 feet 4 inches, and his weight was estimated at 1,600 pounds. + +[Illustration: TROPHIES OF THE HUNT. Mounted by the author in the U. S. +National Museum. Reproduced from the _Cosmopolitan Magazine_, by +permission of the publishers.] + +I was delighted with our remarkably good fortune in securing such a +prize, for, owing to the rapidity with which the large buffaloes are +being found and killed off these days, I had not hoped to capture a +really old individual. Nearly every adult bull we took carried old +bullets in his body, and from this one we took four of various sizes +that had been fired into him on various occasions. One was found +sticking fast in one of the lumbar vertebræ.[79] + +[Note 79: This specimen is now the commanding figure of the group of +buffalo which has recently been placed on exhibition in the Museum.] + +After a chase of several miles Mr. McNaney finally overhauled his cow +and killed her, which brought the number of buffaloes taken on the fall +hunt up to twenty-two. We spent the night at the Buffalo Buttes and +returned to camp the next day. Neither on that day nor the one following +did the wagons arrive, and on the evening of the 8th we learned from the +cowboys of the =N=-bar camp on Sand Creek that our courier, Private West, +had not been seen or heard from since he left their camp on November 24, +and evidently had got lost and frozen to death in the bad lands. + +The next day we started out to search for Private West, or news of him, +and spent the night with Messrs. Brodhurst and Andrews, at their camp on +Sand Creek. On the 10th, Mr. McNaney and I hunted through the bad lands +over the course our courier should have taken, while Messrs. Russell and +Brodhurst looked through the country around the head of the Little Dry. +When McNaney and I reached the =LU=-bar ranch that night we were greatly +rejoiced at finding that West was alive, although badly frost-bitten, +and in Fort Keogh. + +It appears that instead of riding due east to the =LU=-bar ranch, he +lost his way in the bad lands, where the buttes all look alike when +covered with snow, and rode southwest. It is at all times an easy matter +for even a cowboy to get lost in Montana if the country is new to him, +and when there is snow on the ground the difficulty of finding one's way +is increased tenfold. There is not only the danger of losing one's way, +but the still greater danger of getting ingulfed in a deep coulée full +of loose snow, which may easily cause both horse and rider to perish +miserably. Even the most experienced riders sometimes ride into coulées +which are level full of snow and hidden from sight. + +Private West's experience was a terrible one, and also a wonderful case +of self-preservation. It shows what a man with a cool head and plenty of +grit can go through and live. When he left us he wore two undershirts, a +heavy blanket shirt, a soldier's blouse and overcoat, two pairs of +drawers, a pair of soldier's woolen trousers, and a pair of overalls. On +his feet he wore three pairs of socks, a pair of _low shoes_ with canvas +leggins, and he started with his feet tied up in burlaps. His head and +hands were also well protected. He carried a 38-caliber revolver, but, +by a great oversight, only six matches. When he left the =N=-bar camp, +instead of going due east toward the =LU=-bar ranch, he swung around and +went southwest, clear around the head of the Little Dry, and finally +struck the Porcupine south of our camp. The first night out he made a +fire with sage-brush, and kept it going all night. The second night he +also had a fire, but it took his last match to make it. During the first +three days he had no food, but on the fourth he shot a sage-cock with +his revolver, and ate it raw. This effort, however, cost him his last +cartridge. Through hard work and lack of food his pony presently gave +out, and necessitated long and frequent stops for rest. West's feet +threatened to freeze, and he cut off the skirts of his overcoat to wrap +them with, in place of the gunny sacking, that had been worn to rags. +Being afraid to go to sleep at night, he slept by snatches in the +warmest part of the day, while resting his horse. + +On the 5th day he began to despair of succor, although he still toiled +southward through the bad lands toward the Yellowstone, where people +lived. On the envelopes which contained my letters he kept a diary of +his wanderings, which could tell his story when the cowboys would find +his body on the spring round-up. + +On the afternoon of the sixth day he found a trail and followed it until +nearly night, when he came to Cree's sheep ranch, and found the solitary +ranchman at home. The warm-hearted frontiersman gave the starving +wanderers, man and horse, such a welcome as they stood in need of. West +solemnly declares that in twenty-four hours he ate a whole sheep. After +two or three days of rest and feeding both horse and rider were able to +go on, and in course of time reached Fort Keogh. + +Without the loss of a single day Colonel Gibson started three teams and +an escort up to us, and notwithstanding his terrible experience, West +had the pluck to accompany them as guide. His arrival among us once more +was like the dead coming to life again. The train reached our camp on +the 13th, and on the 15th we pulled out for Miles City, loaded to the +wagon-bows with specimens, forage, and camp plunder. + +From our camp down to the =HV= ranch, at the mouth of Sand Creek, the +trail was in a terrible condition. But, thanks to the skill and judgment +of the train-master, Mr. Ed. Haskins, and his two drivers, who also knew +their business well, we got safely and in good time over the dangerous +part of our road. Whenever our own tired and overloaded team got stuck +in the mud, or gave out, there was always a pair of mules ready to hitch +on and help us out. As a train-master, Mr. Haskins was a perfect model, +skillful, pushing, good-tempered, and very obliging. + +From the =HV= ranch to Miles City the trail was in fine condition, and +we went in as rapidly as possible, fearing to be caught in the +snow-storm which threatened us all the way in. We reached Miles City on +December 20, with our collection complete and in fine condition, and the +next day a snow-storm set in which lasted until the 25th, and resulted +in over a foot of snow. The ice running in the Yellowstone stopped all +the ferry-boats, and it was with good reason that we congratulated +ourselves on the successful termination of our hunt at that particular +time. Without loss of time Mr. Brown and I packed our collection, which +tilled twenty-one large cases, turned in our equipage at Fort Keogh, +sold our horses, and started on our homeward journey. In due course of +time the collection reached the Museum in good condition, and a series +of the best specimens it contains has already been mounted. + +At this point it is proper to acknowledge our great indebtedness to the +Secretary of War for the timely co-operation of the War Department, +which rendered the expedition possible. Our thanks are due to the +officers who were successively in command at Fort Keogh during our work, +Col. John D. Wilkins, Col. George M. Gibson, and Lieut. Col. M. A. +Cochran, and their various staff officers; particularly Lieut. C. B. +Thompson, quartermaster, and Lieut. H. K. Bailey, adjutant. It is due +these officers to state that everything we asked for was cheerfully +granted with a degree of promptness which contributed very greatly to +the success of the hunt, and lightened its labors very materially. + +I have already acknowledged our indebtedness to the officers of the +Pennsylvania; the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul; and Northern Pacific +railways for the courtesies so liberally extended in our emergency. I +take pleasure in adding that all the officers and employés of the +Northern Pacific Railway with whom we had any relations, particularly +Mr. C. S. Fee, general passenger and ticket agent, treated our party +with the utmost kindness and liberality throughout the trip. We are in +like manner indebted to the officers of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. +Paul Railway for valuable privileges granted with the utmost cordiality. + +Our thanks are also due to Dr. J. C. Merrill, and to Mr. Henry R. +Phillips, of the Phillips Land and Cattle Company, on Little Dry Creek, +for valuable information at a critical moment, and to the latter for +hospitality and assistance in various ways, at times when both were +keenly appreciated. + +Counting the specimens taken in the spring, our total catch of buffalo +amounted to twenty-five head, and constituted as complete and fine a +series as could be wished for. I am inclined to believe that in size and +general quality of pelage the adult bull and cow selected and mounted +for our Museum group are not to be surpassed, even if they are ever +equaled, by others of their kind. + +The different ages and sexes were thus represented in our collection: 10 +old bulls, 1 young bull, 7 old cows, 4 young cows, 2 yearling calves, 1 +three-months calf[80]; total, 25 specimens. + +[Note 80: Caught alive, but died in captivity July 26, 1886, and now in +the mounted group.] + +Our total collection of specimens of _Bison americanus_, including +everything taken, contained the following: 24 fresh skins, 1 head skin, +8 fresh skeletons, 8 dry skeletons, 51 dry skulls, 2 foetal young; +total, 94 specimens. + +Our collection as a whole also included a fine series of skins and +skeletons of antelope, deer of two species, coyotes, jack rabbits, sage +grouse (of which we prepared twenty-four rough skeletons for the +Department of Comparative Anatomy), sharp tailed grouse, and specimens +of all the other species of birds and small mammals to be found in that +region at that season. From this _matériel_ we now have on exhibition +besides the group of buffaloes, a family group of antelope, another of +coyotes, and another of prairie dogs, all with natural surroundings. + + + + +III. THE MOUNTED GROUP IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. + + +The result of the Smithsonian expedition for bison which appeals most +strongly to the general public is the huge group of six choice specimens +of both sexes and all ages, mounted with natural surroundings, and +displayed in a superb mahogany case. The dimensions of the group are as +follows: Length, 16 feet; width, 12 feet, and height, 10 feet. The +subjoined illustration is a very fair representation of the principal +one of its four sides, and the following admirable description (by Mr. +Harry P. Godwin), from the Washington _Star_ of March 10, 1888, is both +graphic and accurate: + +A SCENE FROM MONTANA--SIX OF MR. HORNADAY'S BUFFALOES FORM A PICTURESQUE +GROUP--A BIT OF THE WILD WEST REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL +MUSEUM--SOMETHING NOVEL IN THE WAY OF TAXIDERMY--REAL BUFFALO-GRASS, +REAL MONTANA DIRT, AND REAL BUFFALOES. + +A little bit of Montana--a small square patch from the wildest part of +the wild West--has been transferred to the National Museum. It is so +little that Montana will never miss it, but enough to enable one who has +the faintest glimmer of imagination to see it all for himself--the +hummocky prairie, the buffalo-grass, the sage-brush, and the buffalo. It +is as though a little group of buffalo that have come to drink at a pool +had been suddenly struck motionless by some magic spell, each in a +natural attitude, and then the section of prairie, pool, buffalo, and +all had been carefully cut out and brought to the National Museum. All +this is in a huge glass case, the largest ever made for the Museum. This +case and the space about it, at the south end of the south hall, has +been inclosed by high screens for many days while the taxidermist and +his assistants have been at work. The finishing touches were put on +to-day, and the screens will be removed Monday, exposing to view what is +regarded as a triumph of the taxidermist's art. The group, with its +accessories, has been prepared so as to tell in an attractive way to the +general visitor to the Museum the story of the buffalo, but care has +been taken at the same time to secure an accuracy of detail that will +satisfy the critical scrutiny of the most technical naturalist. + +THE ACCESSORIES. + +The pool of water is a typical alkaline water-hole, such as are found on +the great northern range of bison, and are resorted to for water by wild +animals in the fall when the small streams are dry. The pool is in a +depression in the dry bed of a coulée or small creek. A little mound +that rises beside the creek has been partially washed away by the water, +leaving a crumbling bank, which shows the strata of the earth, a very +thin layer of vegetable soil, beneath a stratum of grayish earth, and a +layer of gravel, from which protrude a fossil bone or two. The whole +bank shows the marks of erosion by water. Near by the pool a small +section of the bank has fallen. A buffalo trail passes by the pool in +front. This is a narrow path, well beaten down, depressed, and bare of +grass. Such paths were made by herds of bison all over their pasture +region as they traveled down water-courses, in single file, searching +for water. In the grass some distance from the pool lie the bleaching +skulls of two buffalo who have fallen victims to hunters who have +cruelly lain in wait to get a shot at the animals as they come to +drink. Such relics, strewn all over the plain, tell the story of the +extermination of the American bison. About the pool and the sloping +mound grow the low buffalo-grass, tufts of tall bunch-grass and +sage-brush, and a species of prickly pear. The pool is clear and +tranquil. About its edges is a white deposit of alkali. These are the +scenic accessories of the buffalo group, but they have an interest +almost equal to that of the buffaloes themselves, for they form really +and literally a genuine bit of the West. The homesick Montana cowboy, +far from his wild haunts, can here gaze upon his native sod again; for +the sod, the earth that forms the face of the bank, the sage-brush, and +all were brought from Montana--all except the pool. The pool is a glassy +delusion, and very perfect in its way. One sees a plant growing beneath +the water, and in the soft, oozy bottom, near the edge, are the deep +prints made by the fore feet of a big buffalo bull. About the soft, +moist earth around the pool, and in the buffalo trail are the +foot-tracks of the buffalo that have tramped around the pool, some of +those nearest the edge having filled with water. + + +THE SIX BUFFALOES. + +The group comprises six buffaloes. In front of the pool, as if just +going to drink, is the huge buffalo bull, the giant of his race, the +last one that was secured by the Smithsonian party in 1888, and the one +that is believed to be the largest specimen of which there is authentic +record. Near by is a cow eight years old, a creature that would be +considered of great dimensions in any other company than that of the big +bull. Near the cow is a suckling calf, four months old. Upon the top of +the mound is a "spike" bull, two and a half years old; descending the +mound away from the pool is a young cow three years old, on one side, +and on the other a male calf a year and a half old. All the members of +the group are disposed in natural attitudes. The young cow is snuffing +at a bunch of tall grass; the old bull and cow are turning their heads +in the same direction apparently, as if alarmed by something +approaching; the others, having slaked their thirst, appear to be moving +contentedly away. The four months' old calf was captured alive and +brought to this city. It lived for some days in the Smithsonian grounds, +but pined for its prairie home, and finally died. It is around the great +bull that the romance and main interest of the group centers. + + * * * * * + +It seemed as if Providence had ordained that this splendid animal, +perfect in limb, noble in size, should be saved to serve as a monument +to the greatness of his race, that once roamed the prairies in myriads. +Bullets found in his body showed that he had been chased and hunted +before, but fate preserved him for the immortality of a Museum exhibit. +His vertical height at the shoulders is 5 feet 8 inches. The thick hair +adds enough to his height to make it full 6 feet. The length of his head +and body is 9 feet 2 inches, his girth 8 feet 4 inches and his weight +is, or was, about 1,600 pounds. + + +THE TAXIDERMIST'S OBJECT LESSONS. + +This group, with its accessories, is, in point of size, about the +biggest thing ever attempted by a taxidermist. It was mounted by Mr. +Hornaday, assisted by Messrs. J. Palmer and A. H. Forney. It represents +a new departure in mounting specimens for museums. Generally such +specimens have been mounted singly, upon a flat surface. The American +mammals, collected by Mr. Hornaday, will be mounted in a manner that +will make each piece or group an object lesson, telling something of the +history and the habits of the animal. The first group produced as one of +the results of the Montana hunt comprised three coyotes. Two of them are +struggling, and one might almost say snarling, over a bone. They do not +stand on a painted board, but on a little patch of soil. Two other +groups designed by Mr. Hornaday, and executed by Mr. William Palmer, are +about to be placed in the Museum. One of these represents a family of +prairie-dogs. They are disposed about a prairie-dog mound. One sits on +its haunches eating; others are running about. Across the mouth of the +burrow, just ready to disappear into it, is another one, startled for +the moment by the sudden appearance of a little burrowing owl that has +alighted on one side of the burrow. The owl and the dog are good friends +and live together in the same burrow, but there appears to be strained +relations between the two for the moment. + +MAP ILLUSTRATING THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. +Prepared by W. T. Hornaday. + + + + +INDEX. + +A. + +Abundance of the American bison, 387-393. +Accidents to bison herds, 420. +Affection, instinct of, in the bison, 433. +_Agropyrum_, 429. +Alabama, 380. +Albinism in the bison, 411. +Allard, Mr. Charles, 461. +Allen, Mr. J. A., on the American bison, 377, 381, 385, 387, 450, 480. +"American Field," quotation from, 433. + Fur Company, 488. +Andrews, Mr. Harry, 502. +_Andropogon provincialis_, 427, 429. + _scoparius_, 429. +Argoll, Capt. Sam'l, discovery of bison by, 375, 378. +Arkansas, 375. +_Aristida purpurea_, 428 +Ashe, Mr. Thomas, on the buffalo, 420, 485. +_Astragalus molissimus_, 429. +Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railway, 493, 496, 498, 499. +Athabasca, buffaloes in, 523-524. +_Atriplex canescens_, 429. +Audubon and Bachman, observations by, 400. +Aurochs, or European bison, 394. + +B. + +Bailey, Lieut. H. K., 545. +Baird, Prof. S. F., expedition for buffaloes, sent out by, 529. +Baker & Co., Messrs. I. G., 411, 506. +Bedson, Mr. S. L., buffalo-breeding by, 452, 454-456. + herd owned by, 458, 460. +Berlandier, Dr., on bison in Mexico, 381. +Bismark Grove, Kans., buffaloes at, 461. +Bison, the American. + abundance of, 387-393. + accidents to herds of, 420. + adult bull of, 402-406. + cow of, 406, 436. + affection in the 433. + albinism in the, 414. + as a beast of burden, 457. + bones of the, 445. + breeding habits of, 425. + season of, 396, 415. + calf of the, 366-401, 425, 433. + change of form in, 377, 394, 409. + character of, 393. + color of, 396-403. + courage of, 432. + cow of, 406-436. +Bison, cross-breeding, 451-458. + domestication of, 379, 451-458. + fear in 432. + food of, 426-429. + habits of, 415-426. + in running, 422, 430-431. + in winter, 423. + when wounded, 426. + hair of, 449. + "hide" of, 445, 505-507. + horns of, 405, 406. + hunting the, 405, 470, 478, 480, 483, 484, 536-542. + meat of, 446, 448. + mental capacity of, 429-434. + migrations of, 389, 420, 424-429. + monograph of, by J. A. Allen, 387. + "mountain" form of, 407-412. + mounted skins of, 396, 412, 546-548. + pelage of, 412-414. + protection of, possible, 435. + rank of, with other _Bovidæ_, 393. + reasoning powers of, 429. + robe of, 441-415, 453, 470. + shedding of pelage of, 412-414. + size of, 405, 407. + slaughter of the, 486-513. + Smithsonian expedition for, 529-546. + "spike bull" of, 401. + "wood" variety of, 407-412. + "yearling" of, 401. +Blackford, Mr. E. G., buffaloes presented by, 463, 527. +Bones, buffalo, utilization of, 445. +Boskowitz, Messrs. J. & A., 394. +_Bouteloua oligostachya_, 427, 428. +Boyd, Mr. Irvin, 534, 537, 538, 540. +Breeding of the buffalo, 390, 415, 425. + with domestic cattle, 452-458, 528. +British Possessions, buffalo in the 384, 408, 489, 504, 523. +Brown, Mr. W. Harvey, 534, 535, 541. +_Buchloë dactyloides_, 428. +Buffalo (see Bison, American.) +Buffalo Bill (see Cody, Hon. W. F.) +Buffalo Buttes, 538, 540, 542. +Buffalo "chips," 541. +Buffalo grass, 427, 428. +Byrd, Col. William, 376, 449. + +C. + +Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nuñez, 373. +Calf of the buffalo, 396-401, 425, 433. + pelage of, 396-398. + capture of a, 532. +Calf Creek, Montana, 535, 536. +Canadian Pacific Railway, 504. +Captivity, list of buffaloes in, 458-464. +Carey, Hon. Joseph M., 522. +Carolina, North, 376, 379. + South, 379. +Castañeda, description of American bison by, 374. +Catlin, George, on buffalo calves, 398. + on buffalo hunting, 472, 481. + on extermination of the buffalo, 488. + on habits of the buffalo, 419, 423, 434. + stopped by herd, 392. +Cattle-growers, value of bison to, 451-458. +Cattle, Western range, 452. +Central Park menagerie, New York, 463. +Change of form in American bison, 377, 394, 409. +Character of the American bison, 393. +Chase of the buffalo, on horseback, 470-478. +Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, courtesies extended by, 530. +"Chips," buffalo, 451. +Christy, Mr. Miller, on the buffalo, 523. +Cochran, Lieut. Col. M. A., 534, 545. +Cody, Hon. W. F., 460, 477. +Cole, the Hon. Mr., of California, 514. +Color of the American bison, 396, 403. +Colorado, 488, 523. +Completeness of the bison's extermination, 521-525. +Conger, the Hon. Mr., 516, 517, 519. +Congress, National Zoological Park established by, 528. +Congressional legislation to protect the bison, 513-521. +Cory, Mr. C. B., 523. +Coronado, penetration of buffalo range by, 374, 383. +Cortez, American bison first seen by, 373. +Courage, instinct of, in the bison, 432. +Cow, the adult buffalo, 406, 436. + young buffalo, 406. +Cox, Hon. S. S., 515, 516. +Cree Indians, 478, 489, 504, 505, 527. +Cross-breeding between the buffalo and domestic cattle, 451-458. + +D. + +Dakota, 389, 489, 490, 512. +Davis, Mr. J. N., 512. +Davis, Mr. Theo. R., 483. +Davis, Mr. W. W., records of Coronado's march, by, 383. +Dawes, Hon. Henry L., 517. +Decoying and driving buffaloes, 483. +De Solis, description of bison, by, 373. +Destruction of the southern herd, 492-502. + northern herd, 502-513. +Discovery of the American bison: + in captivity, by Cortez, 373. + eastern North America, by Argoll, 375. + Illinois, by Father Hennepin, 375. + Texas, by Cabeza de Vaca, 373. + Coronado, 373, 383. +District of Columbia, 375, 378. +Distribution of the American bison, 376-383, 402, 503, 508. + geographical center of, 388. +Division of the great buffalo range, 492. +Dodge, Col. R. I., observations on the buffalo, by, 389, 392, + 400-409, 424, 433, 471, 474, 493, 495, 498. +Domestication of the American bison, 379, 452-458, 528. +Dry Creek, Big, 512, 530, 534. + Little, 532, 533, 535. +Dupree. Mr. F., buffaloes owned by, 462. + +E. + +Eldridge, the Hon. Mr., 516. +Estimate of buffaloes, 391, 504, 509. +Expedition for bison sent by the Smithsonian, 522, 529-546. +Expeditions of the Red River half-breeds, 436, 437, 474. +Extermination of the American bison: + cause of the, 454. + completeness of the, 521-525. + effects of the, 525-527. + methods employed in the, 465, 470, 478, 480, 483, 484. + north of Union Pacific Railway, 502-513. + progress of the, 484. + share of the Indians in the, 478. + south of the Union Pacific Railway, 498-502. + west of the Rocky Mountains, 486. +Extermination of American quadrupeds, 487, 491, 502. + +F. + +Fear, instinct of, in the bison, 432. +Fee, Mr. C. S., favors extended by, 545. +_Festuca scabrella_, 429. +"Field," the London, quotation from, 523. +Fleet, Henry, mention of bison on the Potomac, by, 378. +Food of the bison, 426-434. +"Forest and Stream," quotations from, 411, 511. +Forney, Mr. A. H., 531. +Fort Keogh, buffaloes near, 509. +Fort, the Hon. Mr., of Illinois, 515, 516, 517, 518, 519. + +G. + +Gaur, or Indian bison, 393. +Geographical distribution of the bison, 376-388, 492. +Georgia, 379. +Gibson, Col. Geo. M., 544, 545. +Godwin, Mr. Harry P., 546. +Goode, Prof. G. Brown, 379. +Goodnight, Mr. Charles, buffaloes owned by, 460. +Great Slave Lake, 384, 408. +Group of buffaloes in the National Museum. 546-548. + +H. + +Habits of the bison, 415-426. +Hair of the buffalo, uses of the, 449. +Half-breeds of the Northwest Territories, 436, 474, 488, 504. +Hannaford, Mr. J. M., letter from, 507. +"Harper's Magazine," quotation from, 483. +Harris, Capt. Moses, 521. +Harris, Mr. Robert, courtesies extended by, 530. +Haskins, Mr. Edward, train-master, 544. +Hawley, Hon. J. R., 517. +Hazen, General W. B., on buffalo slaughter, 514, 516. +Hedley, Mr. George H., with expedition for bison 531. +Hennepin, Father, bison seen in Illinois by, 388. +Herds, list of captive bison, 458-464. +Hides, buffalo, 445, 505, 506, 507. +High Divide, 535, 536, 538, 542. +Hind, Prof. H. Y., 407, 476, 478. +Holman, Hon. W. S., 516. +Hornaday, W. T., group of bison by, 546-548. +Horns of the American bison, 405, 407. +Huguenot settlers, domestication of bison by, 379, 451. +Hunting the buffalo, method of + decoying and driving, 483. + horseback, 470. + impounding, 478. + on snow shoes, 484. + "still-hunt," 465. + "surround," 480. +Hunting on the Musselshell River, 539. +Hybrid, the buffalo-domestic, 454-457. + +I. + +Idaho, 383. +Illinois, 385-388. +Impounding buffaloes, 478. +Indiana, 385. +Indians: + responsibility of, for buffalo slaughter, 506. + robes marketed by northern, 505. + share of the, in buffalo destruction, 478, 480, 483, 484, + 489, 490, 500, 505, 506, 512. + starving for lack of the buffalo, 526. + who subsisted on the buffalo, 526. + +J. + +Jones, Mr. C. J., breeding of buffaloes, by, 452, 454, 456. + buffaloes captured by, 458, 523. + buffalo herd owned by, 458. + +K. + +Kansas, 391, 424, 496, 501. +Kasson, Hon. J. A., 517. +Kenaston, Prof. C. A., 505. +Kentucky, 388, 420. +Keogh, Fort, 509, 531. +_Koeleria cristata_, 429. + +L. + +Lewis and Clark, buffaloes seen by, 389, 483. +Lincoln Park, Chicago, buffaloes in, 462. +Loco weed not eaten by the buffalo, 429. +Louisiana, 380. + +M. + +Macoun, Prof. John, 524, 526. +"Manitoba and the great Northwest," 524, 526. +Maryland, 378. +McCormick, Hon. R. C., 514, 516, 518. +McGillycuddy, Dr. V. T., buffaloes owned by, 462. +McNaney, Mr. James, 421, 424, 467, 534, 537, 538, 540, 542. +Meat of the buffalo, 446, 448. +Mental capacity of the American bison, 429-434. +Merrill, Dr. J. C., 530, 545. +Mexico, 381. +Migrating habits of the buffalo, 389, 420, 424-425. +Miles City, Montana, 531, 534, 541. +Miller, Mr. Roswell, courtesies extended by, 530. +Minnesota, 385. +Mississippi, 380. +Monograph on "The American Bison," 387. +Montana, 421, 508, 509, 510, 511. +"Mountain buffalo," 407-412. +Mounted skins of buffaloes, 396, 412, 546-548. +Museum, National, 395, 527, 546. +Musselshell River, 535, 539. + +N. + +National Museum, live buffaloes at the, 395, 463, 527. + mounted buffaloes in the, 396, 397, 401, 402, 405, 406, 407, + 546-548. +Nelson, Mr. E. W., 385. +New Mexico, 383. +New York, 385. +Northern herd, destruction of the, 502-513. +Northern Pacific Railway, 502, 507, 511, 513. + courtesies extended by, 530. +Northwest Territories (British), 384, 408, 489, 523. + +O. + +Ohio, 385. +Omaha Indians, buffalo hunting by, 477. +Oregon, 389. +Oregon trail, 491. + +P. + +Partello, Lieut. J. M. T., 509. +Peace River, buffaloes on the, 524. +Pelage of the American bison, 396, 414, 415, 442, 453. +Pemmican, 447. +Pennsylvania, the buffalo in, 386, 387, 420, 485. +Pennsylvania Railway, courtesies extended by, 530. +Phillips, Mr. Henry R., courtesies extended by, 531, 545. +"Plains of the Great West," 389, 391, 409. +_Poa tenuifolia_, 429. +Porcupine Creek, buffaloes on, 512, 522, 532. +Products of the buffalo, 434-451. +Protection of American animals, 435, 520, 521. + the bison possible, 435, 520. + +R. + +Ranch, LU-bar, 532, 543. + the HV, 534, 544. +Railways, influence of the, in buffalo slaughter, 490-493, 507. +Rank of the American bison, 393. +Reasoning faculty of the bison, 429-430. +Recuperative power of the bison, 426. +Red Buttes, 531. +Red River half-breeds, 474, 488. +"Red River Settlement," 436, 450, 474, 475. +Regan, the Hon. Mr., 518. +Robe of the American bison, 441-445, 453, 470. + best season for taking, 442. + preparation of the, 442, 443, 470. + trade in, 513. + utilization of, 411, 505. + value of, 394, 444, 445. + varieties and classification of, 443, 444. +Ross, Mr. Alexander (_see_ "Red River Settlement.") +"Running" buffaloes, 470. +Running power and habits of the buffalo, 422, 430, 431. +Russell, Mr. L. S., 534, 536, 537, 538. + +S. + +Sage brush, 547. +Sand Creek, Montana, 534, 535, 538. +Schulz, Dr., on the buffalo in Athabasca, 523-524. +Secretary of War, favors extended by, 530-545. +Shufeldt, Dr. R. W., on mountain buffaloes, 411. +Sibley, Hon. H. H., 474. +"Sioux City Journal," quotation from, 503. +Sioux Indiana, destruction of buffaloes by, 490, 497, 500, 505. +Slaughter of the buffalo, 486-513. +Smith, Mr. V., 510, 512. +Smithsonian Butte, 539. +Smithsonian Institution expedition for buffaloes, 522, 529-546. +Snow-shoes, hunting buffaloes on, 484. +Southern buffalo herd, destruction of, 492-502. +"Spike" bull buffalo, 401. +"Star, Washington," description from the, 546-548. +Starin, Mr. J. H., buffaloes owned by, 463. +Statistics of the slaughter of the southern herd, 498-502. + buffaloes now living, 458-461, 525. +Stephenson, Dr. William, 522. +Still hunt, 465-510. +_Stipa comata_, 429. + _sparica_, 428. + _viridula_, 429. +Stub-horn bull, killed by author, 542. + +T. + +Tepee, hides required for a, 505. +Temper of the bison, 434. +Tennessee, 388. +Texas, existence the bison in, 374, 381, 501, 502. +Thompson, Lieut. C. B., 545. +Thompson, Mr. Frank, courtesies extended by, 530. +"Times, Kansas City," quotation from, 461. + +U. + +Ullman, Mr. Joseph buffalo product handled by, 394. +Utah, 383. +Utilization of the buffalo, 437. + +V. + +Value of the bison to man, 434-451, 526. +Value of a single bison on the range, 435, 436. + buffalo to cattle-growers, 451, 458. + buffalo-robe, 498. + products handled by two firms, 439-440. +Varner, Mr. Allen, 491. +Virginia, the buffalo in, 376, 378, 379. + +W. + +Wastefulness in buffalo slaughter, 494, 496-498, 510. +Weapons used in buffalo hunting, 466, 467, 470, 477. +West, Mr. C. S., 534, 538, 541, 543. +Wichita (Kansas) "World," 500. +Wilkins, Col. John D., 545. +Wilson, the Hon. Mr., 514. +Winston, Mr. B. C., 463, 522. +Winter habits of the buffalo, 423. +Wisconsin, 385. +Wood buffaloes, 407-412. +Wounded bison, habits of, 426. +Wyoming, 522. + +Y. + +Yearling of the buffalo, 401. +Yellowstone Park, buffaloes in, 512, 521, 522, 527. +Yellowstone Rivers, 531, 544. +Young Mr. Harrison, S., 524. + +Z. + +Zoological Garden of Cincinnati, 462. + Philadelphia, 461. + Park at Washington, establishment of, by Congress, 528. + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Extermination of the American Bison, by +William T. 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