 8. 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 first 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 first seal by shooting them in the water will not desist for the telling, then they must buy the compelling. The first 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, Tong, $0.20, meat of hindquarters, $2, bones, horns and hooves, $0.25, 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 $0.50 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, A, 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 20 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 Messers J. and A. Boscovitz 105 Green Street, New York, paid out the enormous sum of $923,070, nearly $1 million, for roves and hides, and that in a single year, 1882, another firm, that of Joseph Ollman 165 Mercer Street, New York, paid out $216,250 for roves 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 today 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. Accepting this, nothing is known definitely. Fortunately, enough facts and figures were recorded during the hunting operations of the Red River Halfbreeds 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 worthwhile to spend money in preserving our characteristic game animals. In Ross's Red River Settlement, pages 242 to 273, and Schoolcraft's North American Indians, Part 4, pages 101 to 110, are given detailed accounts of the conduct and results of two hunting expeditions by the Halfbreeds, 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 and utilizing the products of the chase, we find that while, quote, not less than 2,500 animals were killed, unquote, out of that number only 375 bags of pemicam 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, end quote. A bundle of dried meat weighs 60 to 70 pounds and a bag of pemicam 100 to 110 pounds. If economically worked up, a whole buffalo cow yields half a bag of pemicam, about 55 pounds, and three-fourths of a bundle of dried meat, say 45 pounds. The most economical calculate that from 8 to 10 cows are required to load a single Red River cart. The proceeds of 1,776 cows once formed 228 bags of pemicam, 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 dollars. 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 in both sexes. Allowing is 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 dollars, the total value of the buffalo 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 Halfbreeds. In 1820 there were 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 eyewitnesses that for every buffalo killed, two and one third buffaloes are wasted or eaten on the spot, and that every loaded cart represented 39 dead buffaloes which were worth when utilized $5 each, we have the following series of totals. From 1820 to 1825, 5 expeditions of 610 carts each killed 118,950 buffaloes worth $594,750. From 1825 to 1830, 5 expeditions of 750 carts each killed 146,250 buffaloes worth $731,250. From 1830 to 1835, 5 expeditions of 895 carts each killed 174,525 buffaloes worth $872,625. From 1835 to 1840, 5 expeditions of 1,090 carts each killed 212,550 buffaloes worth $1,062,750. Total number of buffaloes killed in 20 years, 652,275. Total value of buffaloes killed in 20 years, $3,261,375. Total value of the product utilized and added to the wealth of the settlements, $978,412. The Eskimo has his seal which yields nearly everything that he requires. The Korak of Siberia depends on 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 ones 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 in its environment. Of the many different uses to which the buffalo and its 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. Pemecan, 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, snowshoe webs, etc. Hair, which was sometimes made into belts and ornaments. Buffalo chips, which formed of 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, whiskey, firearms 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. 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 firearms 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 warpath at any time and live on buffalo indefinitely. Now the case is very different. The last time Sitting Bull went on the warpath 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 warpath 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 ranch men are no man's game. Therefore, while we no longer have to pay for an annual campaign and 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 men can never be calculated, nor even fairly estimated. In 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 Messers J and A Boscovitz is of a special 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 Messers Boscovitz, who devoted considerable time and labor to the careful compilation of the annex statement of their business in buffalo skins. Table, memorandum of buffalo robes and hides, bought by Messers J and A Boscovitz, 101-105 Green Street, New York, and 202 Lake Street, Chicago, from 1876 to 1884. Year, 1876, buffalo robes, number 31838, cost $39620. Buffalo hides, number none, cost blank. Year, 1877, buffalo robes, number 9353, cost $35560. Buffalo hides, number none, cost blank. Year, 1878, buffalo robes, number 41268, cost $150,600. Buffalo hides, number none, cost blank. Year, 1879, buffalo robes, number 28613, cost $110,420. Buffalo hides, number none, cost blank. Year, 1880, buffalo robes, number 34901, cost $176200. Buffalo hides, number 4570, cost $13140. Year, 1881, buffalo robes, number 23355, cost $151,800. Buffalo hides, number 26601, cost $89,030. Year, 1882, buffalo robes, number 2124, cost $15600. Buffalo hides, number 15464, cost $44140. Year, 1883, buffalo robes, number 6,690, cost $29,770. Buffalo hides, number 21869, cost $67,190. Year, 1884, buffalo robes, number none, cost blank. Buffalo hides, number 529, cost $1,720. Total, buffalo robes, number 177,142, cost $709,570. Buffalo hides, number 69033, cost $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 Ollman, 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 to me by Mr. Joseph Ollman on November 12th, 1887, for which I am greatly indebted. Quote, In as much 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 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, St. Paul, Minnesota, to Joseph Olman, 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, fizz-robe hides, which were such as had a good crop of fur and were serviceable for rope 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 rope tanners, while the latter were sold for leather purposes to various hide tanners throughout the United States and Canada, and brought five-and-a-half to eight-and-a-half cents per pound. A very large proportion of these latter were tanned by the Wilcox Tanding 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 price 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 $0.75, 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 Olman 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 Messers Boscovitz, and four years on that of Mr. Joseph Olman, 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 million. 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 IG Baker and Company of Fort Benton, P. B. Weir and Company, Chicago, Oberon Hussick and Company, Chicago and St. Paul, Martin Bates and Company, and Messers Shearer Nichols and Company, now Holbert, Shearer, and Sanford of New York. There were also many others whose names I am now unable to recall. In the British possessions in Canada, the frontier business was largely monopolized by the Hudson's Bay Fur Company, although the annual quote-unquote 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 IG Baker and Company 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. End of Section 11. Section 12 of the Extermination of the American Bison. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Extermination of the American Bison by William T. Hornaday. Section 12. Utilization of the Buffalo by Whiteman. 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 first of February, chiefly by giving the hair a bleached and weathered appearance. By the middle of February the pellet 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 hunters 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 chalk 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 eight inches above the hoof, and the skin of the leg ripped open from that point along the inside of 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. Figure one shows a dead bull from a photograph by L.A. Huffman. Figure two shows 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 and to 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, volume 38, page 163. The author describes the process as follows, quote, 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, end quote. 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 slay robes and wraps and forbidding 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 recognize 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 1200 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 four 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've 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 1200 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 cents. On the northern range from 1881 to 1883 the prices paid were much higher ranging from $2.50 to $4. Figure one shows five minutes work or about nine dead buffalo laying on the range photographed by LA Huffman. Figure two shows a scene on the northern buffalo range again showing several dead buffalo photographed by LA 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 pellage necessary to a robe and were therefore fit only for conversion into leather. Of these the greater portion consisted of the skins of old bowls 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 lightweight robe. The remaining portion of the hides marketed were from buffaloes killed in spring and summer when the body and hindquarters were 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 planes. 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 Fe 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 planes had 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 of 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 two to three cents per pound in the market and many reasons combined to render the trade and fresh buffalo meat anything but profitable. Probably not more than 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 in Montana and the beef it produces is certainly entitled to a rank with the best. There are many persons who claim to recognize the 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 anyone 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 11 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 hindquarter produced results that were undeniably tough and not particularly good, but it was an unfair way to cook any kind of meat and maybe guaranteed to spoil the finest beef in the world. Humped 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 short horn 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 short horn 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. Pemican. Out of the enormous waste of good buffalo flesh one product stands forth as a redeeming feature Pemican. 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 the 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 Pemican was sufficient food to constitute a meal when provisions were at all scarce. The price of Pemican 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 Pemican made. H. M. Robinson states that in 1878 Pemican was worth 1s3d per pound. The manufacture of Pemican as performed by the Red River half breeds was thus described by the Reverend Mr. Belcourt a Catholic priest who once accompanied one of the great buffalo hunting expeditions. Quote, Other portions which are destined to be made into Pemican or Pemican 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 Pemican. In some cases dried fruits such as the prairie pear and cherry are intermixed which forms what is called seed Pemican. The lovers of good eating judge the first described to be very palatable the second better the third excellent. A torian of Pemican 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 Pemican and three fours of a bundle of dried meat so that the most economical calculate from that eight to ten cows are required for the load of a single vehicle. End quote. It is quite evident from the testimony of disinterested travelers that ordinary Pemican 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 sagebrush 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. Quote. 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 latticework prepared for that purpose to dry. This latticework 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 trepids. 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 secce. 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. End quote. In the northwest territories dried meat which formerly sold at 2d per pound was worth in 1878 10d 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 extractive beef it is quite good and better to the taste than ordinary pemican. The Indians formally 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 today produces our popular dried beef. Mr. Allen states that quote a single hunter at Hayes City shipped annually for some years several hundred barrels thus prepared which the consumers probably bought for ordinary beef end quote. 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 Colonel William Byrd records the fact that garments were made of this material as follows quote 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 woven to a sort of camlet. Some people have stockings knit of it that would have served in Israelite during his 40 years march through the wilderness end quote. In 1637 Thomas Morton published in his new English Canon page 98 the following reference to the Indians who live on the southern shore of Lake Erochoise supposed to be Lake Ontario quote these beasts buffaloes undoubtedly are of the bigness of a cow their flesh being very good food their hides good leather their fleece is very useful being a kind of wool as fine as the wool of the beaver and the salvages do make garments thereof end quote. 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. 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 pages 69 to 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 wool and 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 quote 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 end quote a large number of skilled workmen of various kinds were procured from England and also a plan 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 one s 60 per pound and cloth which it cost the company two pounds ten s per yard to produce was worth only four s 60 per yard in England the historian states that universal drunkenness on the part of all concerned aided very materially and bringing about the total failure of the enterprise in a very short time 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 saleable 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 there is coarse as the coarsest sheep's wool would produce with the above are also displayed a rope like lariat made by the Comanche Indians in a smaller braided lasso seemingly a sample more than a full grown lariat made by the Otto 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 planes 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 firewood is unobtainable and thousands of frontiersmen have a million times founded 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 porous timber it is infinitely better than sagebrush which in the absence of chips is often the travelers 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 roundup the surveyor or hunter who must camp out pitches his tent in the grassy kool-aid or narrow creek bottom his first care is to start out with his largest gunning bag to wrestle 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 and providing for his own imperative once end of section 12 section 13 of the extermination of the american bison this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit the LibriVox.org the extermination of the american bison by william t. Hornaday 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 formally 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 mannequin town 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 wycliffe of lexington kentucky and continued by him for upwards of 30 years quite recently the buffalo breeding operations of mr s l bettson of stony mountain manitoba and mr c j jones of garden city cancels 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 bettson whose experiments and to date those of mr jones by several years are of the greatest interest to western cattle growers indeed unless the stock of pure bred buffaloes now remaining proves insufficient for the purpose i fully believe that we will gradually see a great change rot 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 one 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 two the domestic cow produces a half-breed calf successfully three the progeny of the two species is fertile to any extent yielding half-breeds quarter three quarter breeds and so on for 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 thousands or even several hundred head of cattle to provide hay for them even during the severest portion of the winter season and consequently that 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 the 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 snowfall is universal but not more than a few inches in depth the cattle paw through it here and there and eat out a subsistence on quarter rations it may be until a friendly chinok 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 weak in and weak 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 that 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 to 1887 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% 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 hearty 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 crossbreeding 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 planes 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 four quarters are clothed with hide and here 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 will equality which constitutes the best possible protection against cold that him who does the warmth of a good buffalo row try to weather a blizzard with something else and then try the road 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 food and survive with the best range steer with literally freeze on foot both upright as hundreds did in the winter of 1886 to 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 stockman 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 subjoint illustration from a photograph kindly furnished by mr cj jones represents a 10 months old half breed calf male the product of a buffalo bowl and domestic cow the pre potency 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 accepting 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 when the shoulder hair is always decidedly longer than the 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 proclaimed her origin the accompanying plate also from a photograph supplied by mr jones accurately represents a half breed cow six years old weighing about 1800 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 but not nearly so high as the pure buffalo cow the hair on the forequarters 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 closed the forearm 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 regarding the general character of the half breed buffalo and is heard in general mr bedson writes me as follows in a leather dated september 12 1888 the nucleus of my herd consisted of a young buffalo bull and four hypha 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 contented by many that although the cow might be the cat from the buffalo yet it would be at the expense of her life owing to the hump on a buffalo 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 this low a temperature as 20 degrees below zero and the calves were sturdy and healthy the half breed resulting from the cross as above mentioned has been again crossed with a 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 cow drops 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 wrestled on the prairie and no shelter at all in nearly all the ranching parts of North America fathering and housing of cattle is imperative in a more or less degree creating an item of expense felt by all interested in cattle raising but the buffalo half breed retains all its native hardy hood needs no housing forages in the deepest snows for its own food yet becomes easily domesticated and consequently needs but little hurting therefore the progeny of the buffalo is easily reared cheaply fed and requires no housing in winter three very essential points in stock raising 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 a buffalo bull enter hem 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 common cattle for our range cattle for the northern climate all 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 the common grade of cows while i believe across with the gallow ways 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 honorary cj jones of garden city kansas whose years of experience with the buffalo's both as old-time hunter catcher and breeder has earned for him the sobriquet of buffalo jones which 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 68 buffalo calves and 11 adult cows with which to start a herd in a short article published in the farmer's review chicago august 22 1888 mr. jones gives his views on the value of the buffalo in crossbreeding as follows in all my meanderings i have not found a place but i could count more caucuses 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 one we want an animal that is hardy two we want an animal with nerve and endurance three we want an animal that faces the blizzards and endures the storms four we want an animal that will rustle the prairies and not yield to discouragement five we want an animal that will fill the above bill and make good beef and plenty of it all the points above could easily be found in the buffalo except 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 1000 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 the second calf that gave promise of great results the cow had never been fed but depended all together on the range and when i saw her in the fall of 1883 i estimated her weight at 1800 pounds she was a brindle and had a handsome robe even in september she had as good hind quarters as ordinary cattle her four parts 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 the 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 tartices from starvation exhaustion and lack of nerve as in years gone by end of section 13 section 14 of the extermination of the american bison this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the extermination of the american bison by William T. Hornaday the present value of the bison to cattle growers part two 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 yolk 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 mild city montana i heard of a german granger who worked a small farm on the tongue river valley and who once had a pair of cow buffaloes trained to the oak 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 had strong 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 serve 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 weikliffe states that train 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 drought 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 sl bedson stony mountain and atoba in 1877 mr bedson purchased five buffalo calves one bull and four hyphers for which he paid $1,000 in 1888 his herd consisted of 23 full blood bulls 35 cows three half-breed cows five half-breed bulls and 17 calves mixed and pure making a total of 83 head these were all produced from the original five no purchases having been made nor any additions made in any other way besides the 83 head constituting the herb when it was sold five were killed and nine given away which would otherwise make a total of 97 had produced since 1877 in november 1888 this entire herd was purchased for $50,000 by mr cj jones and added to the already large herd owned by that gentleman in kansas herd of mr cj jones garden city kansas 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 100 to 200 head which represented the last remnant of the great southern herd each of these expeditions involved a very considerable outlay in money an elaborate outfit of men horses vehicles camp equipment and lastly but most of all a herd of a dozen fresh milk 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 planes and the superior speed of the running horses always enabled the hunters to overtake a herd whenever one was sited and to cut out and lasso and lasso two three or four of its calves the degree of skill and daring displayed in the several expeditions are worthy of the highest admiration and completely surpassed 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 11 adult cows of which somewhere lassoed in full career on the prairie throwed 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 weariness 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 five died six survived 1886 14 calves captured seven died seven survived 1887 36 calves captured six died 30 survived 1888 seven 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 seven of which two are males and five females two year olds four of which are all males yearling 28 of which 15 are males and 13 females calves seven of which three are males and four 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 100 domestic cows to them this year and breeding the galloway cows quite extensively also some short horns herford's and texas cows i expect great results from the galloways if i can get the black luster of the lather and the fur of a buffalo i will have a row 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 month proceeded to ship a portion of it to kansas city 33 head were separated from the remainder of the herd on the prairie near stony mountain 12 miles from moonebeck and driven to the railroad several old bulls broke away enroute and ran back to the herd and when the remainder were finally crewed out in the pens at the stockyards 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 rebuff those were killed by their companions on reaching kansas city and unrolling 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 lowlands 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 the letters of inquiry in regard to the whole subject of buffalo reading and has found it necessary to print and distribute a circular giving answers to the many inquiries that have been made heard 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 35 heads 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 14 years old and the beards of the bulls almost sweep the ground as they walk herd of honorary wf kodi 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 18 head of which 14 were originally purchased by mr. ht groom 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 is now december 1888 being wintered on general bill's farm near the city of washington in 1886 to 87 while the wild west show was at madison square garden new york city its entire herd of 20 buffaloes was carried off by plural 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 heard of mr. trials goodnight clarendon texas mr. goodnight writes that he has been breeding buffaloes in a small way for the past 10 years but without giving any particular attention to it at present his herd consists of 13 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 heard at the zoological society's gardens philadelphia arthur e brown superintendent this institution is the fortunate possessor of a small herd of 10 buffaloes of which four are males and six females two are calves of 1877 in 1886 the garden sold on adalpo and cow to honorary wf codie for 300 dollars heard at biz mark rove kansas owned by the etchinson topica and centiphe railroad company a small herd of buffaloes has for several years past been kept at biz mark rove as an attraction to visitors at present it contains 10 head one of which is a very large bull another in the 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 13 years ago colonel stanton purchased a buffalo bull calf for eight dollars and two hyphers for 25 dollars the descendants of these three buffaloes now found at biz mark rove where all were born number in all 10 there were 17 but the rest have died with the exception of one which was given away they are kept in an enclosure containing about 30 acres immediately adjoining the park and there may be seen at any time the site 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 hyphers five cows and the bull six years old and is handsome as a picture the latter have 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 a thermometer 110 degrees above they set their heads resolutely towards storm or sun and take their medicine as if they liked it honorary wf codie 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 passage for the sake of adding to the attractions of the park in which there are also 43 head of deer including two as fine bucks as ever trodded over the national deer trail toward the salt lakes in northern utah while the bison at bidsmark grove are splendid specimens of their class cleveland is decidedly the pride of the herd and his grand the creature has 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 planes 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 today living on the face of the earth a handsomer buffalo pole then he cleveland's disposition is not so ugly as old barnes was but at certain seasons he is very wild and there is no one venerable enough to go into the enclosure 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 is knocked off the boards will testify heard of mr. frederick dupree jane and dean agency near fort bennett dakota this herd contains at present nine pure blood buffalos 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 reeds and one a quarter breed buffalo mr. dupree obtained a 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 the third was killed by an indian in 1885 mr. df 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 rowan but they are all built like the buffalo and when young they grant 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 dollars 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 amateur 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 sui Indians near the black hills for the owner in the spring of 1882 the Indians drove two milch cows to the range to nurse the calves when caught these have reduced two calves one of which a bull is now three years old and the other is a yearling hyfer 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. Starran glenn 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 both 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 where they were calves by h. r. Jacket of oga lala and kept by him on his ranch until 1885 in april 1888 honorary Eugene G. Blackford of new york purchased them of mr. Frederick D. Noel of north platt nebraska for one hundred dollars 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 oga lala 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 enclosure on the smith solian grounds and have attracted much attention mr. bc 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 rossio dakota territory a year later for 225 mr. ip butler of colorado texas is the owner of a young bull buffalo and a half breed calf mr. jesse hudson of mild city montana owns a fine five-year-old bull buffalo mr. lf gardener of bellwood oregon is the owner of a large adult bull the riverside ranch company south of manton 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 dollars mr. joseph a hudson of vestal 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 bellville gardens manchester england one at the zoological gardens london one at leverpool england purchased by honorary wf codie in 1888 two at the zoological gardens dresden one at the zoological gardens calcala 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 a doubt a few half breeds in manitoba of which i have no accounts 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 end of section 14