Latest / Extermination of the American Bison / 032 - Part III Chapter 4 The Smithsonian Expedition for Museum Specimens The Mounted Group in the National

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032 - Part III Chapter 4 The Smithsonian Expedition for Museum Specimens The Mounted Group in the National · Extermination of the American Bison

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  Speaker 1: Part three, Section three of the Extermination of the American Bison.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Matthew Hinman at Voices
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  Speaker 1: of Texas dot com. The Extermination of the American Bison
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  Speaker 1: by William T. Hornaday. The mounted group in the National Museum,
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  Speaker 1: the result of the Smithsonian Expedition for Bison, which appeals
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  Speaker 1: most strongly to the general public, is the huge group
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  Speaker 1: of six choice specimens of both sexes and all ages,
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  Speaker 1: mounted with natural surroundings and displayed in a superb mahogany case.
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  Speaker 1: The dimensions of the group are as follows, length sixteen feet,
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  Speaker 1: width twelve feet, and height ten feet. The subjoint illustration
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  Speaker 1: is a very fair representation of the principle one of
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  Speaker 1: its four sides, and the following admirable description by mister
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  Speaker 1: Harry P. Godwin from the Washington Star of March tenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight, is both graphic and accurate. A scene
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  Speaker 1: from Montana. Six of mister Hornaday's buffaloes form a picturesque
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  Speaker 1: group a bit of the wild West reproduced at the
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  Speaker 1: National Museum, something novel in the way of taxidermy. Real
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  Speaker 1: buffalo grass, real Montana dirt, and real buffaloes. A little
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  Speaker 1: bit of Montana, a small square patch from the wildest
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  Speaker 1: part of the wild West, has been transferred to the
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  Speaker 1: National Museum. It is so little that Montana will never
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  Speaker 1: miss it, but enough to enable one who has the
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  Speaker 1: faintest glimmer of imagination to see it all for himself.
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  Speaker 1: The hummocky prairie, the buffalo grass, the sage brush, and
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  Speaker 1: the buffalo. It is as though a little group of
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  Speaker 1: buffalo that have come to drink at a pool had
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  Speaker 1: been suddenly motionless by some magic spell, each in a
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  Speaker 1: natural latitude. And then the section of prairie, pool, buffalo
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  Speaker 1: and all had been carefully cut out and brought to
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  Speaker 1: the National Museum. All this is in a huge glass case,
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  Speaker 1: the largest ever made for the Museum. This case, in
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  Speaker 1: the space about it at the south end of the
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  Speaker 1: South Hall, has been enclosed by high screens for many
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  Speaker 1: days while the taxidermist and his assistance have been at work.
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  Speaker 1: The finishing touches were put on today and the screens
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  Speaker 1: will be removed Monday, exposing to view what is regarded
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  Speaker 1: as a triumph of the taxidermist art. The group with
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  Speaker 1: its accessories has been prepared so as to tell an
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  Speaker 1: attractive way to the general visitor to the museum the
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  Speaker 1: story of the buffalo, but care has been taken at
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  Speaker 1: the same time to secure an accuracy of detail that
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  Speaker 1: will satisfy the critical scrutiny of the most technical naturalist.
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  Speaker 1: The accessories. The pool of water is a typical alkaline
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  Speaker 1: water hole, such as are found on the Great Northern
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  Speaker 1: Range of Bison, and are resorted to for water by
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  Speaker 1: wild animals in the fall, when the small streams are dry.
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  Speaker 1: The pool is in a depression in the dry bed
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  Speaker 1: of a coulee or small creek. A little mound that
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  Speaker 1: rises beside the creek has been partially washed away by
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  Speaker 1: the water, leaving a crumbling bank which shows the strata
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  Speaker 1: of the earth, a very thin layer of vegetable soil
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  Speaker 1: beneath a stratum of grayish earth, and a layer of
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  Speaker 1: gravel from which protrude a fossil bone or two. The
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  Speaker 1: whole bank shows the marks of erosion by water. Near
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  Speaker 1: By the pool, the small section of the bank has fallen.
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  Speaker 1: A buffalo trail passes by the pool. In front. This
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  Speaker 1: is a narrow path, well beaten down, depressed, and bare
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  Speaker 1: of grass. Such paths were made by herds of bison
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  Speaker 1: all over their pasture region as they traveled down water
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  Speaker 1: courses in single file, searching for water. In the grass.
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  Speaker 1: Some distance from the pool lie the bleaching skulls of
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  Speaker 1: two buffalo who have fallen victims to hunters who have
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  Speaker 1: cruelly lain in wait to get a shot at the
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  Speaker 1: animals as they come to drink. Such relics, strown all
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  Speaker 1: over the plain, tell the story of the extermination of
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  Speaker 1: the American bison. About the pool and the sloping mound
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  Speaker 1: grow the low buffalo grass, tufts of tall bunch grass
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  Speaker 1: and sagebrush, and a species of prickly pear. The pool
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  Speaker 1: is clear and tranquil. About its edges is a white
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  Speaker 1: deposit of alkali. These are the scenic accessories of the
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  Speaker 1: buffalo group, but they have an interest almost equal to
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  Speaker 1: that of the buffaloes themselves, for they form really and
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  Speaker 1: literally a genuine bit of the West. The homesick Montana cowboy,
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  Speaker 1: far from his wild haunts, here can gaze upon his
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  Speaker 1: native sod again, For the sod the earth that forms
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  Speaker 1: the face of the bank. The sage brush and all
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  Speaker 1: were brought from Montana. I'll except the pool. The pool
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  Speaker 1: is a glassy delusion and very perfect in its way.
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  Speaker 1: One sees a plant growing beneath the water, and in
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  Speaker 1: the soft oozy bottom. Near the edge are the deep
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  Speaker 1: prints made by the fore feet of a big buffalo bull.
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  Speaker 1: About the soft moist earth around the pool, and in
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  Speaker 1: the buffalo trail are the foot tracks of the buffalo
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  Speaker 1: that have tramped around the pool, some of those nearest
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  Speaker 1: the edge having filled with water. The six buffaloes. The
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  Speaker 1: group comprises six buffaloes in front of the pool, as
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  Speaker 1: if just going to drink is the huge buffalo bull,
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  Speaker 1: the giant of his race, the last one that was
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  Speaker 1: secured by the Smithsonian Party in eighteen eighty eight, and
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  Speaker 1: the one that is believed to be the largest specimen
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  Speaker 1: of which there is authentic record. Nearby is a cow
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  Speaker 1: eight years old, a creature that would be considered of
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  Speaker 1: great dimensions in any other company than that of the
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  Speaker 1: big bull. Near the cow is a suckling calf four
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  Speaker 1: months old. Upon the top of the mound is a
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  Speaker 1: spike bull two and a half years old, descending the mound.
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  Speaker 1: Away from the pool is a young cow three years
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  Speaker 1: old on one side, and on the other a male
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  Speaker 1: calf a year and a half old. All the members
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  Speaker 1: of the group are disposed in natural latitudes. The young
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  Speaker 1: cow is stuffing at a bunch of tall grass. The
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  Speaker 1: old bull and cow are turning their heads in the
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  Speaker 1: same direction, apparently as if alarmed by something approaching. The others,
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  Speaker 1: having slaked their thirst, appear to be moving contentedly away.
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  Speaker 1: The four months old calf was captured alive and brought
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  Speaker 1: to this city. It lived for some days in the
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  Speaker 1: Smithsonian grounds, but pined for its prairie home and finally died.
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  Speaker 1: It is around the great bull that the romance and
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  Speaker 1: main interest of the group's centers. It seemed as if
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  Speaker 1: Providence had ordained that this splendid animal, perfect and limb,
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  Speaker 1: noble in size, should be saved to serve is a
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  Speaker 1: monument to the greatness of his race, that once roamed
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  Speaker 1: the prairies and myriads. Bullets found in his body showed
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  Speaker 1: that he had been chased and hunted before, but fate
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  Speaker 1: preserved him for the immortality of a museum exhibit. His
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  Speaker 1: vertical height at the shoulders is five feet eight inches.
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  Speaker 1: The thick hair adds enough to his height to make
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  Speaker 1: it a full six feet. The length of his head
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  Speaker 1: and body is nine feet two inches, is girth eight
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  Speaker 1: feet four inches, and his weight is or was about
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  Speaker 1: one thousand, six hundred pounds the taxidermist's object lessons. This group,
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  Speaker 1: with its accessories is in point of size, about the
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  Speaker 1: biggest thing ever attempted by a taxidermist. It was mounted
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  Speaker 1: by mister Hornaday, assisted by Messieurs J. Palmer and Age forty.
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  Speaker 1: It represents a new departure in mounting specimens for museums.
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  Speaker 1: Generally such specimens have been mounted singly upon a flat surface.
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  Speaker 1: The American mammals collected by mister Hornaday will be mounted
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  Speaker 1: in a manner that will make each piece or group
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  Speaker 1: an object lesson, telling something of the history and the
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  Speaker 1: habits of the animal. The first group, produced as one
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  Speaker 1: of the results of the Montana hunt, comprise three coyotes.
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  Speaker 1: Two of them are struggling and one might almost say
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  Speaker 1: snarling over a bone. They do not stand on a
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  Speaker 1: painted board, but on a little patch of soil. Two
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  Speaker 1: other groups, designed by mister Hornaday and executed by mister
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  Speaker 1: William Palmer are about to be placed in the museum.
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  Speaker 1: One of these represents a family of prairie dogs. They
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  Speaker 1: are disposed about a prairie dog mound. One sits on
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  Speaker 1: its haunches eating, others are running about across the mouth
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  Speaker 1: of the borough. Just ready to disappear into it. Is
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  Speaker 1: another one startled for the moment by the sudden appearance
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  Speaker 1: of the little burrowing owl that has alighted on one
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  Speaker 1: side of the burrow. The owl and the dog are
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  Speaker 1: good friends and live together in the same burrow, but
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  Speaker 1: there appears to be strained relations between the two for
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  Speaker 1: the moment. End of Part three, Section three, End of
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  Speaker 1: the Extermination of the American Bison by William T. Hornaday