 Section 25 of THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. Section 25 of THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. Although the existence of a few widely scattered individuals enables us to say that the Bison is not yet absolutely extinct in the 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 wherever 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 today. Under the restrictions of the law removed now every one of those animals would be killed within three months. Their heads alone are worth from twenty-five to fifty dollars each to taxidermists and for this reason every buffalo is a prize worth the hunters 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 Ray 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 the 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 roundup. 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 seventy-five 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, three miles from the town of Oaks in Dickie 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 Stevenson of the United States Army wrote me as follows from Pilot Butte about thirty miles north of Rock Springs, Wyoming. There are undoubtedly buffalo within fifty or sixty miles of here, two having been killed out of a band of eighteen some ten days since by cowboys and another band of four being seen near there. I hear from cattlemen of there being seen every year north and northeast of here. This band was seen once in 1888. In February 1889 Honorable 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 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. Corey 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 buffaloes 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 Panhandle country between the two forks of the Canadian River. In 1886 about two hundred heads survived, which number by the summer of 1887 had been reduced to one hundred or less. In the hunting season of 1887-88 a ranch man 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 Panhandle 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 10th, 1888, Mr. Miller Christie quotes all of the available positive evidence bearing on this point, and I gladly avail myself of the opportunity to reproduce it here. The Honorable Dr. Schultz, in the recent debate on the Mackenzie River Basin in the Canadian Senate, quoted Senator Hardesty 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 to 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 one hundred and fifty 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 sixty degrees, and also between the Peace and Athabasca Rivers. He states that they are larger than the prairie buffalo, and their 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. Schultz 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 eighteen seventy 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 seven hundred 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 twenty-second, eighteen eighty-seven, 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 anyone 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, Professor John McCoon 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 eighteen seventy-five, were confined to the country lying between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers north of latitude fifty-seven degrees thirty minutes, or chiefly in the Birch Hills. They were also said to be in some abundance on the Salt and Hay Rivers, running into the Slave 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 favour of the existence of any live buffaloes between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers is in the form of very old rumours, most of them nearly fifteen years old, time enough for the Indians to have procured firearms in abundance and killed all those buffaloes two or three times over. Mr. Miller Christie 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 Panhandle of Texas, twenty-five. In Colorado, twenty. In Southern Wyoming, twenty-six. In the Muscle Shell Country, Montana, ten. In Western Dakota, four. Total number in the United States, eighty-five. In Athabasca, Northwest Territory, estimated, five hundred and fifty. Total in all of North America, six hundred and thirty-five. Add to the above the total number already recorded in captivity, two hundred and fifty-six. And those under government protection in the Yellowstone Park, two hundred, and the whole number of individuals of bison Americanus now living, is one thousand ninety-one. 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 ten miles above Bismarck, near the town of Painted Woods, and ran on in a southwesternly 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 heads 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 most prolific mammalian species that ever existed so far as we know. Section 26 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. Recording by Avahi in December 2014. The Extermination of the American Bison by William T. Hornaday. Part 2 Chapter 6 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 ones of the red man, and it costs several millions of dollars annually to accomplish a 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. Sue, 30,561. Crow, 3,226. Pigan, Blood and Blackfeet, 2,026. Cheyenne, 3,477. Grauventre, 856. Arikary, 570. Mandan, 283. Banek and Shoshone, 2001. Nesperset, 1,460. Assini Boine, 1,688. Kayawas and Comanches, 2,756. Arapahose, 1,217. Apache, 332. UT, 978. Omaha, 1,160. Pony, 998. Winnebago, 1,222. Toto, 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 anyone 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 close those 54,758 Indians? How is it with the Indians of the British possessions today? Professor John Macon 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 black feet were dying of starvation in 1879. During the winter of 1886 through 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 the 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 29 Cree Indians was reduced to three in the winter of 1886. Of the fort Chippewaian Indians between 20 and 30 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 Chippewaians 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. Hard-rending stories of suffering and cannibalism continue to come in from what was once the Buffalo Plains. 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 dreamt he ever could be. End of section 26. Section 27 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. Recording by Avae in December 2014. The Extermination of the American Bison by William T. Hornaday. Part 2, Chapter 7. 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 foothold 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 buffalos would be one of the very first results. If the park is properly maintained however, it is to be hoped that the buffalos now in it will remain there and increase indefinitely. As yet, there are only two captive buffalos in the possession of the government, that is, those in the department of living animals of the National Museum presented by the honorable E.G. Blackford of New York. The buffalos 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 hour oaks and the forests of Lithuania are decreasing in size and in number from this cause. With private owners of captive buffalos the temptations to produce crossbreeds will be so great that it is more than likely the breeding of pure blood buffalos will be neglected. Indeed, unless some stockman like Mr. C.J. Jones takes particular pains to protect his full blood buffalos and keep the breed absolutely pure, in 20 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 cannot be otherwise than highly gratifying to every American citizen and every friend of science throughout the world. The 50th 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. At least eight or 10 buffalos 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 inbreeding 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, Boss Urus, warn us what to expect with the American bison and the similar circumstances. Of the 14 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 inbreeding. The five herds remaining are those at Summerford Park, Blickling Hall, Woodpastwick, Chartley and Chillingham. End of section 27. Section 28 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. Recording by Jen Mitchell. The Extermination of the American Bison by William T. Hornaday. Part 3. The Smithsonian Expedition for Museum Specimens. Chapter 1. The Exploration. During the first three months of the year, 1886, it was ascertained by the rider, 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 300. 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, Professor 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 80 and 100 specimens of various kinds of which from 20 to 30 should be skins, an equal number should be complete skeletons, and of skulls at least 50. 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 pellage. 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 panhandle of Texas there came reports of the existence there in small scattered hands of about 200 head. The buffalo known to be in Dakota were far too few a 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 Fort Skeo, McGinnis, and McKinney, such field transportation, escort, and camp equipage as might be necessary, and also to sell the party such commissary stores as might be required at cost price plus 10%. 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 Thompson 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 Rider Left Washington on May 6th, accompanied by A.H. Forney, assistant in the Department of Taxidermy, and George H. Headley 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 9th. A diligent inquiry in Miles City and at Fort Keough, two 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 anymore 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 McGinnis 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 L.U. 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 13th, 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-meal team, which, like the escort, was ordered out for 20 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 Keough. During the first two days' travel through the Badlands 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 sagebrush, 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 winter hair is completely shed, it falls off in handfuls at the slightest pressure, leaving the skin clad only with the thin growth of new, moose-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, eight miles above the LU bar ranch and four 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 35 head of buffalo ranged in the badlands between Phillips Creek and the Mussel Shell River and south of the Big Dry. This tractive country was about 40 miles long from east to west by 25 miles wide and therefore of about 1,000 square miles in area. Accepting 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 35 buffaloes alluded to had been seen first on Sand Creek, then at the head of the Big Porcupine, again near the Mussel Shell, 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 Keough 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 roundup, 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 a scout and a 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 cut 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 fifteen 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 hare had been entirely replaced by the new, although the two coats were so matted together that the old hare clung in tangled masses to the other. The old hare was brown and weather-beaten, but the new, which was from three to six inches long, had a peculiar bluish-gray appearance. On the head the new hare 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 hare. 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 hare, 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. The specimen was a large one, measuring five feet four inches in height. In as much 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 35 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 Keough. 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 Keough arrived, and we immediately returned to Myles 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 Myles City, we hastily packed and shipped our collection, and taking the calf with us, returned at once to Washington. End of Section 28 Recording by Jen Mitchell Chapter 2 The Hunt On September 24, I arrived at Myles City a second time, fully equipped for a protracted hunt for buffalo, of 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 Ellis Russell, Messers Boyd and Russell were in Myles 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 goodwill of the officers at Fort Keough, 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 month's 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 Myles City into the heart of the Buffalo Country for our ten horses. For such workers 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 two thousand 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 Myles City, our outfit was complete, and we crossed the Yellowstone and started up the Sunday Greek Trail. We had from Fort Keough a six-mule team, and as called of four men, in charge of Sergeant Bayless and an old veteran of more than twenty years' service from the Fifth Infantry, Private Patrick McCann, whose detail to act as cook and camp guard wore our party during our stay in the field. On September 29th we reached Toe'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 ninety miles from Myles City, and 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 our freight stored at the HV Ranch, we loaded the remainder upon our own wagon and started up Sand Creek. 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. In as much 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 Piney 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 three miles square, which by common consent we called the High Divide. It's the highest ground anywhere between the Big Dry and the Yellow Stone, 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 Yellow Stone, and westward into the Muscle Shell. 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 hollers, 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 High Divide to Calf Creek, where we found a hole of wretchedly bad water and went into permanent camp. We consider 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 twenty miles east of the Muscle Shell River, forty miles south of the Missouri, and about one hundred and thirty-five 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 Messers J.H. Conrad and Company, and eighteen 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. From 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 two or three miles. Being mounted an all-tired horse, which was unequal to the demands of a chase, he was finally distanced by the herd, which took a straight course and ran due south. As it was then early 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 rider were mounted on our best horses and on our way through the Badlands 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 scoria, and the hooves of our horses sank into it halfway 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 network 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 sagebrush, or else grease wood, was everywhere present for the horses to struggle through. And when it came to dragging a loaded wagon across that twelve-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 the 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 twenty 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 a binocular, discovered the buffaloes lying at rest on the level top of a small butte two miles away. The original bunch of seven had been joined by an equal number. We crept up to within two hundred 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, honeycombed 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 two 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, the 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 five miles from the scene of the first attack, and then two miles farther on a yearling calf was killed. The fourth buffalo, an immense old bull, was chased fully twelve miles before he was finally brought down. The largest bull fell about eight miles from our temporary camp, in the opposite direction from that in which our permanent camp lay, and at about three o'clock in the afternoon, there not being time enough in which to skin him completely and reach our rendezvous before dark, Messers 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 dobbed 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 L. U. Bar Ranch a few days later, and so we learned subsequently it was then composed of eleven Braves who claimed to be Asinoboins, and were therefore believed to be Pigans, the most notorious horse and cattle thieves in the Northwest. On October 22nd 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 another 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, Messers 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 the two groups of hills and which was the only water within a radius of about fifteen 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 hare, 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 thirty-first of October Mr. Boyd and I discovered a buffalo cow and yearling calf in the ravines north of the high divide within three miles of our camp and killed them both. The next day private West arrived with a six mule team from Fort Keough in charge of corporal claffer and three men. This wagon brought us another two thousand pounds of oats and various commissary stores. When it started back on November 3rd we sent by at 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 buffalos in the badlands south of the high divide, which brought our total number up to fourteen. On the night of the third the weather turned very cold and on the day following we experienced our first snowstorm. 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 canyon 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 the 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 canyon with an easy reach of an inexhaustible supply of good water and also within reach of a fair supply of dry firewood which we found half a mile below. This became our last permanent camp and its advantages made up for the bareness and discomfort of our camp on Calf Creek. Immediately south of us and two miles distant there rose a lofty conical butte about six hundred feet high which forms a very conspicuous landmark from the south. We were told that it was visible from forty 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 fifteen 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 McKenna and West to take care of the camp we alerted a small assortment of general equippage into the wagon and pulled about twenty-five miles due west to the Muscle Shell River. We found a fine stream of clear water flowing over sand and pebbles with heavy cottonwood timber and thick corpses of willow along its banks which afforded cover for whitetail deer. In the rugged breaks which led from the level river bottom into a labyrinth of ravines and gullies, ridges and hogbacks 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 whitetails 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 wax wings and a magpie for their skeletons. We made one trip of several miles up the mussel shell 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 mummer are registering six 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 Messers 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 twenty miles distant, McNaney killed one cow and two others went off wounded. Of course the cowboys gave chase. About twelve miles from the starting point one of the wounded cows left her companions was headed off by Boyd and killed. About six 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 sat 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 twenty-five miles from the spot where the first one fell. End of Section 29. Section 30 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 Smithsonian Expedition for Museum Specimens. Part 3. Chapter 3. The Hunt. Part 2. 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 five 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 badlands west of the Buffalo Buttes, which I felt must contain some buffalo. Mr. Russell went northeast, and Mr. McNaney accompanied me. About four 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 five feet, six 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 occasion by the death of our 20th Buffalo, which occurred on November 20, precisely two months from the date of our leaving Washington, to collect twenty Buffalo, if possible, caused us all to be caught in a snowstorm which burst upon us from the northwest. The wagon had to be abandoned about twelve miles from camp in the badlands. Mr. Brown packed the bedding on one of his horses and rode the other. He and Boyd reaching camp at about nine o'clock that night in a blinding snowstorm. Of course 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 cannot refrain from recording the fact that the service is 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 in poorly sheltered we would have suffered, but as 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 Keough as soon as possible with a request for transportation. By the third day, November 23rd, 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 ten miles the first day and stop at the end-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 L. U. Bar Ranch, his second stopping place. The distance was about twenty-five 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 six inches deep, the most of it having been blown into drifts and tollows. But although the coolies were all filled level to the top, our courier was a man of experience and would know how to avoid them. The twenty-fifth day of November was the most severe day of the storm, the mercury in our sheltered canyon sinking to minus sixteen 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 the 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 third of December, but they did not come that day nor within the next three. By the sixth the snow had melted off sufficiently, but 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 the buffalo and as he turned toward me I gave him a shot through the shoulder, breaking the foreleg 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 thirty 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 notebook. 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. Now 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 five feet eight inches perpendicular or two 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 sixteen inches in length, and the thick coat of shaggy straw-colored tufts which covered his neck and shoulders measured four inches. His girth behind the foreleg was eight feet four inches, and his weight was estimated at sixteen hundred pounds. 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 vertebrae. 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 eighth we learned from the cowboys of the Enbar camp on Sand Creek that our courier, Private West, had not been seen or heard from since he left their camp on November 24th, and evidently had got lost and frozen to death in the Badlands. The next day we started out to search for Private West or news of him, and spent the night with Messers Broadhurst and Andrews at their camp on Sand Creek. On the tenth Mr. McNaney and I hunted through the Badlands over the course our courier should have taken. While Messers Russell and Broadhurst 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 frostbitten, and in Fort Keough. It appears that instead of riding due east to the LU Bar Ranch, he lost his way in the Badlands where the Buttes all look alike when covered with snow and roads south-west. 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 engulfed in a deep coolly full of loose snow, which may easily cause both horse and rider to perish miserably. Even the most experienced riders sometimes ride into coolies 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 where 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 leggings, 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 in-bar camp, instead of going due east toward the L.U. bar ranch, he swung around and went south-west, 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 sagebrush 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 fifth day he began to despair of succor, although he still toiled southward through the badlands 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 ranch man at home. The warm-hearted frontiersmen 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 Keough. 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 thirteenth and on the fifteenth we pulled out from Myles 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. 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 Myles City the trail was in fine condition and we went as rapidly as possible, fearing to be caught in the snowstorm which threatened us all the way in. We reached Myles City on December 20th with our collection complete and in fine condition, and the next day a snowstorm set in which lasted until the 25th and resulted in over a foot of snow. The ice running in the Yellow Stone 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 filled 21 large cases, turned in our quippage at Fort Kehoe, 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 cooperation of the War Department which rendered the expedition possible. Our thanks are due to the officers who were successively in command at Fort Kehoe during our work, Colonel John D. Wilkins, Colonel George M. Gibson, and Lieutenant Colonel M. A. Cochran and their various staff officers, particularly Lieutenant C. B. Thompson, quartermaster, and Lieutenant H. K. Bailey, adjutant. It is due to 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 labourers very materially. I have already acknowledged our indebtedness to the officers of the Pennsylvania, the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul, and Northern Pacific Railways, or the courtesy so liberally extended in our emergency. I take pleasure in adding that all the officers and employees 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 due 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 final series as could be wished for. I am inclined to believe that in size and general quality of police, 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. Ten old bulls, one young bull, seven old cows, four young cows, two yearling calves, one three-month calf, total twenty-five specimens. Our total collection of specimens of Bison Americanus, including everything taken, contained the following. Twenty-four fresh skins, one head skin, eight fresh skeletons, eight dry skeletons, fifty-one dry skulls, two fetal young, total ninety-four 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 material 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. End of section 30. Part 3, section 3 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. Recording by Matthew Hinman at VoicesOfTexas.com. The extermination of the American Bison by William T. Hornaday, the Mounted Group and 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 sub-joint 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 10th, 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 humickey prairie, the buffalo grass, the sagebrush, 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 enclosed by high screens for many days, while the taxidermist and his assistants have been at work. The finishing touches were put on today, 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 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 waterhole, 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 coulet 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 the 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 disses 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 sagebrush, 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 here can gaze upon his native sod again. For the sod, the earth that forms the face of the bank, the sagebrush, 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 going beneath the water and in the soft oozy bottom near the edge are the deep prints made by the forefeet 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 trapped 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. Nearby 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 spiked 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 stuffing 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 and 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 five feet eight inches. The thick hair adds enough to his height to make it a full six feet. The length of his head and body is nine feet two inches, his girth eight feet four inches, and his weight is, or was, about one thousand six hundred 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 M. J. Palmer and A.H. 40. 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 the 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 strange relations between the two for the moment. End of part three, section three. End of The Extermination of the American Bison by William T. Hornaday