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029 - Part III Chapter 1 The Smithsonian Expedition for Museum Specimens The Exploration · Extermination of the American Bison

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty eight 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 Jen Mitchell. The Extermination
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  Speaker 1: of the American Bison by William T. Hornaday, Part three,
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  Speaker 1: the Smithsonian Expedition for Museum Specimens, Chapter one the exploration.
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  Speaker 1: During the first three months of the year eighteen eighty six,
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  Speaker 1: it was ascertained by the writer, then Chief Taxidermist of
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  Speaker 1: the National Museum, that the extermination of the American bison
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  Speaker 1: had made most alarming progress. By extensive correspondence, it was
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  Speaker 1: learned that the destruction of all the large herds, both
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  Speaker 1: north and south, was already an accomplished fact. While it
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  Speaker 1: was generally supposed that at least a few thousand and
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  Speaker 1: individuals still inhabited the more remote and inaccessible regions of
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  Speaker 1: what once constituted the Great Northern Buffalo Range, it was
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  Speaker 1: found that the actual number remaining in the whole United
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  Speaker 1: States was probably less than three hundred. By some authorities
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  Speaker 1: who were consulted, it was considered an impossibility to procure
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  Speaker 1: a large series of specimens anywhere in this country. While
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  Speaker 1: others asserted positively that there were no wild buffaloes south
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  Speaker 1: of the British possessions save those in the Yellowstone National Park,
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  Speaker 1: Canadian authorities asserted with equal positiveness that none remained in
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  Speaker 1: their territory. A careful inventory of the specimens in the
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  Speaker 1: collection of the National Museum revealed the fact that, with
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  Speaker 1: the exception of one mounted female skin, another unmounted, and
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  Speaker 1: one mounted skeleton of a male buffalo, the museum was
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  Speaker 1: actually without presentable specimens of this most important and interesting mammal.
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  Speaker 1: Besides those mentioned above, the collection contained only two old,
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  Speaker 1: badly mounted and dilapidated skins, one of which had been
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  Speaker 1: taken in summer and therefore was not representative and incomplete skeleton,
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  Speaker 1: some fragmentary skulls of no value, and two mounted heads.
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  Speaker 1: Thus it appeared that the Museum was enabled to show
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  Speaker 1: a series of specimens good or bad, or even one
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  Speaker 1: presentable male of good size. In view of this alarming
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  Speaker 1: state of affairs, coupled with the already declared extinction of
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  Speaker 1: bison AMERICANUS, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Professor Spencer F. Baird,
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  Speaker 1: determined to send a party into the field at once
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  Speaker 1: to find wild buffalo if any were still living, and
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  Speaker 1: in case any were found, to collect a number of specimens.
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  Speaker 1: Since it seemed highly uncertain whether any other institution or
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  Speaker 1: any private individual would have the opportunity to collect alert
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  Speaker 1: supply of specimens before it became too late, it was
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  Speaker 1: decided by the Secretary that the Smithsonian Institution should undertake
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  Speaker 1: the task of providing for the future as liberally as possible,
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  Speaker 1: for the benefit of the smaller scientific museums of the
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  Speaker 1: country and for others which will come into existence during
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  Speaker 1: the next half century. It was resolved to collect at
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  Speaker 1: all hazards in case buffalo could be found, between eighty
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  Speaker 1: and one hundred specimens of various kinds, of which from
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  Speaker 1: twenty to thirty should be skins, an equal numbers should
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  Speaker 1: be complete skeletons, and of skulls at least fifty. In
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  Speaker 1: view of the great scarcity of buffalo, and the general
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  Speaker 1: belief that it might be a work of some months
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  Speaker 1: to find any specimens, even if it were possible to
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  Speaker 1: find any at all, it was determined not to risk
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  Speaker 1: the success of the undertaking by delaying it into the
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  Speaker 1: regular autumn hunting season, but to send a party into
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  Speaker 1: the field at once to prosecute a search. It was
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  Speaker 1: resolved to discover at all hazards the whereabouts of any
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  Speaker 1: buffalo that might still remain in this country in a
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  Speaker 1: wild state, and if possible, to reach them before the
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  Speaker 1: shedding of their winter pellage. It very soon became apparent, however,
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  Speaker 1: that the latter would prove an utter impossibility. Late in
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  Speaker 1: the month of April, a letter was received from doctor J. C. Merrill,
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  Speaker 1: United States Army, dated at Huntley, Montana, giving information of
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  Speaker 1: reports that buffalo were still to be found in three
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  Speaker 1: localities in the northwest, viz. On the headwaters of the
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  Speaker 1: Powder River, Wyoming, in Judith Base in Montana, and on
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  Speaker 1: Big Dry Creek, also in Montana. The reports in regard
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  Speaker 1: to the first two localities proved to be erroneous. It
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  Speaker 1: was ascertained to a reasonable certainty that there still existed
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  Speaker 1: in southwestern Dakota a small band of six or eight
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  Speaker 1: wild buffaloes, while from the Panhandle of Texas there came
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  Speaker 1: reports of the existence there in small scattered hands of
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  Speaker 1: about two hundred head. The buffalo known to be in
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  Speaker 1: Dakota were far too few in number to justify a
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  Speaker 1: long and expensive search, while those in Texas on the
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  Speaker 1: Canadian River were too difficult to reach to make it
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  Speaker 1: advisable to hunt them save as a last resort. It
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  Speaker 1: was therefore decided to investigate the localities named in the Northwest.
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  Speaker 1: Through the courtesy of the Secretary of War, an order
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  Speaker 1: was sent to the Officer commanding the Department of Dakota,
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  Speaker 1: requesting him to furnish the party, through the officers in
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  Speaker 1: command at Forts Killo, mcguinnis and McKinney, such field transportation, escort,
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  Speaker 1: and camp equipage as might be necessary, and also to
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  Speaker 1: sell the party such commissary stores as might be required,
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  Speaker 1: at cost price plus ten percent. The Secretary of the
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  Speaker 1: Interior also favored the party with an order directing all
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  Speaker 1: Indian agents, scouts, and others in the service of the
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  Speaker 1: Department to render assistance as far as possible when called
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  Speaker 1: upon in view of the public interest attaching to the
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  Speaker 1: results of the expedition. The railway transportation of the party
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  Speaker 1: to and from Montana was furnished entirely without cost to
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  Speaker 1: the Smithsonian Institution. For these valuable courtesies, we gratefully acknowledge
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  Speaker 1: our obligations to mister Frank Thompson of the Pennsylvania Railroad,
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  Speaker 1: mister Roswell Miller of the Chicago Milwaukee and Saint Paul
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  Speaker 1: and mister Robert Harris of the Northern Pacific. Under orders
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  Speaker 1: from the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the writer left
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  Speaker 1: Washington on May sixth, accompanied by a H. Forney, assistant
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  Speaker 1: in the Department of Taxidermy, and George H. Hedley of Medina,
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  Speaker 1: New York. It had been decided that Myles City, Montana,
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  Speaker 1: might properly be taken as the first objective point, and
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  Speaker 1: that town was reached on May ninth. A diligent inquiry
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  Speaker 1: in Miles City and at Fort Key, oh two miles distant,
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  Speaker 1: revealed the fact that no one knew of the presence
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  Speaker 1: of any wild buffalo anywhere in the Northwest, save within
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  Speaker 1: the protected limits of the Yellowstone Park. All inquiries of
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  Speaker 1: elicited the same reply, there are no buffalo anymore, and
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  Speaker 1: you can't get any anywhere. Many persons who were considered
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  Speaker 1: good authority declared most positively that there was not a
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  Speaker 1: live buffalo in the vicinity of Big Dry Creek, nor
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  Speaker 1: anywhere between the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers. An army officer
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  Speaker 1: from Fort mc ginnis testified to the total absence of
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  Speaker 1: buffalo in the Judith Basin, and ranchmen from Wyoming asserted
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  Speaker 1: that none remained in the Powder River country. Just at
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  Speaker 1: this time, it was again reported to us, and most
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  Speaker 1: opportunely confirmed by mister Henry E. Phillips, owner of the
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  Speaker 1: l u Bar ranch on Little Dry Creek, that there
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  Speaker 1: still remained a chance to find a few buffalo in
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  Speaker 1: the country lying south of the Big Dry. On the
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  Speaker 1: other hand, other persons, who seemed to be fully informed
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  Speaker 1: regarding that very region and the animal life it contained,
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  Speaker 1: assured us that not a single buffalo remained there, and
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  Speaker 1: that a search in that direction would prove fruitless. But
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  Speaker 1: the balance of evidence, however, seemed to lie in favor
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  Speaker 1: of the Big Dry country, and we resolved to hunt
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  Speaker 1: through it with all possible dispatch. On the afternoon of
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  Speaker 1: May thirteenth, we crossed the Yellowstone and started northwest up
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  Speaker 1: the trail which leads along Sunday Creek. Our entire party
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  Speaker 1: consisted of the two assistants already mentioned, a non commissioned officer,
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  Speaker 1: Sergeant Garone, and four men from the fifth Infantry acting
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  Speaker 1: as escort. Private Jones, also from the fifth Infantry, detailed
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  Speaker 1: to act as our cook and a teamster. Our conveyance
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  Speaker 1: consisted of a six mule team, which, like the escort,
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  Speaker 1: was ordered out for twenty days only and provided accordingly.
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  Speaker 1: Before leaving Myles City we purchased two saddle horses for
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  Speaker 1: use in hunting, the equipments for which were furnished by
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  Speaker 1: the Ordnance Department at Fort Keo. During the first two
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  Speaker 1: days travel through the bad lands north of the Yellowstone,
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  Speaker 1: no mammals were seen, save prairie dogs and rabbits. On
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  Speaker 1: the third day a few analop ercene, but none killed.
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  Speaker 1: It is to be borne in mind that this entire
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  Speaker 1: region is absolutely treeless everywhere save along the margins of
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  Speaker 1: the largest streams. Bushes are also entirely absent, with the
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  Speaker 1: exception of sage brush, and even that does not occur
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  Speaker 1: to any extent on the divides. On the third day,
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  Speaker 1: two young buck antelopes were shot at the Red Buttes.
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  Speaker 1: One had already commenced to shed his hair, but the
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  Speaker 1: other had not quite reached that point. We prepared the
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  Speaker 1: skin of the first specimen and the skeleton of the other.
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  Speaker 1: This was the only good antelope skin we obtained in
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  Speaker 1: the spring, those of all the other specimens taken being
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  Speaker 1: quite worthless on account of the looseness of the hair
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  Speaker 1: during the latter part of May, and from that time
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  Speaker 1: on until the winter hair is completely shed. It falls
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  Speaker 1: off in handfuls at the slightest pressure, leaving the skin
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  Speaker 1: clad only with the thin growth of new moose colored
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  Speaker 1: hair and eighth of an in. After reaching Little Dry
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  Speaker 1: Creek and hunting through the country on the west side
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  Speaker 1: of it, nearly to its confluence with the Big Dry,
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  Speaker 1: we turned southwest and finally went into permanent camp on
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  Speaker 1: Phillips Creek, eight miles above the el U Bar Ranch
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  Speaker 1: and four miles from the Little Dry. At that point
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  Speaker 1: we were about eighty miles from Miles City. From information
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  Speaker 1: furnished us by mister Phillips and the cowboys in his
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  Speaker 1: employ we were assured that about thirty five head of
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  Speaker 1: buffalo ranged in the bad lands between Phillips Creek and
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  Speaker 1: the Musselshell River and south of the Big Dry. This
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  Speaker 1: tractive country was about forty miles long from east to west,
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  Speaker 1: by twenty five miles wide, and therefore of about one
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  Speaker 1: thousand square miles in area, excepting two temporary cowboy camps,
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  Speaker 1: It was totally uninhabited by man, treeless, without any running
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  Speaker 1: streams save in winter and spring, and was mostly very
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  Speaker 1: hilly and broken. In this desolate and inhospitable country, the
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  Speaker 1: thirty five buffaloes alluded to had been seen first on
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  Speaker 1: Sand Creek, then at the head of the Big Porcupine,
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  Speaker 1: again near the mussel Shell, and latest near the head
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  Speaker 1: of the Little Dry. As these points were all from
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  Speaker 1: fifteen to thirty miles distant from each other, the difficulty
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  Speaker 1: of finding such a small herd becomes apparent. Although Philip's
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  Speaker 1: Creek was really the eastern boundary of the Buffalo Country,
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  Speaker 1: it was impossible for a six meal wagon to proceed
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  Speaker 1: beyond it, at least at that point. Having established a
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  Speaker 1: permanent camp, the government wagon and its escort returned to
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  Speaker 1: Fort Killo, and we proceeded to hunt through the country
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  Speaker 1: between Sand Creek and the Little Dry. The absence of
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  Speaker 1: nearly all the cowboys on the spring round up, which
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  Speaker 1: began May twentieth, threatened to be a serious drawback to us,
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  Speaker 1: as we greatly needed the services of a man who
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  Speaker 1: was acquainted with the country. We had with us a
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  Speaker 1: scout and a guide, a Cheyenne Indian named Dog, but
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  Speaker 1: it soon became apparent that he knew no more about
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  Speaker 1: the country than we did. Fortunately, however, we succeeded in
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  Speaker 1: occasionally securing the services of a cowboy, which was of
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  Speaker 1: great advantage to us. It was our custom to ride
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  Speaker 1: over the country daily, each day making a circuit through
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  Speaker 1: a new locality and covering as much ground as it
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  Speaker 1: was possible to ride over in a day. It was
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  Speaker 1: also our custom to take trips of from two to
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  Speaker 1: four days in length, during which we carried our blankets
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  Speaker 1: and rations upon our horses, and camped wherever night overtook
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  Speaker 1: us provided water could be found. Our first success consisted
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  Speaker 1: in the capture of a buffalo calf, which, from excessive running,
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  Speaker 1: had become unable to keep up with its mother and
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  Speaker 1: had been left behind. The calf was cut alive without
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  Speaker 1: any difficulty, and while two of the members of our
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  Speaker 1: party carried it to camp across a horse, the other
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  Speaker 1: two made a vigorous effort to discover the band of
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  Speaker 1: adult animals. The effort was unsuccessful, for besides the calf,
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  Speaker 1: no other buffaloes were seen. Ten days after the above event,
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  Speaker 1: two bull buffaloes were met with on the little dry
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  Speaker 1: fifteen miles above the l u Bar ranch, one of
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  Speaker 1: which was overtaken and killed, but the other got safely away.
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  Speaker 1: The shedding of the winter coat was in full progress.
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  Speaker 1: On the head, neck, and shoulders. The old hair had
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  Speaker 1: been entirely replaced by the new, although the two coats
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  Speaker 1: were so matted together that the old hair clung in
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  Speaker 1: tangled masses to the other. The old hair was brown
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  Speaker 1: and weather beaten, but the new, which was from three
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  Speaker 1: to six inches long, had a peculiar bluish gray appearance.
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  Speaker 1: On the head, the new hair was quite black and
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  Speaker 1: contrasted oddly with the lighter color. On the body and
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  Speaker 1: hind quarters. There were large patches of skin which were
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  Speaker 1: perfectly bare, between which lay large patches of old, wooly
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  Speaker 1: brown hair. This curious condition gave the animal a very
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  Speaker 1: unkempt and seedy appearance, the effect of which was heightened
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  Speaker 1: by the long, shaggy locks of old weather beaten hair
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  Speaker 1: which clung to the new coat of the neck and
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  Speaker 1: shoulders like tattered signals of distress, ready to be blown
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  Speaker 1: away by the first gust of wind. The specimen was
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  Speaker 1: a large one measuring five feet four inches in height.
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  Speaker 1: Inasmuch as the skin was not in condition to mount,
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  Speaker 1: we took only the skeleton entire and the skin of
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  Speaker 1: the head and neck. The capture of the calf and
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  Speaker 1: the death of this bull proved conclusively that there were
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  Speaker 1: buffaloes in that region, and also that they were breeding
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  Speaker 1: in comparative security. The extent of the country they had
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  Speaker 1: to range over made it reasonably certain that their number
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  Speaker 1: would not be diminished to any serious extent by the
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  Speaker 1: cowboys on the spring round up, although it was absolutely
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  Speaker 1: certain that in a few months the members of that
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  Speaker 1: band would all be killed. The report of the existence
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  Speaker 1: of a herd of thirty five head was confirmed later
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  Speaker 1: by cowboys who had actually seen the animal and killed
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  Speaker 1: two of them merely for sport. As usual, they saved
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  Speaker 1: a few pounds of hump meat, and all the rest
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  Speaker 1: became food for the wolves and foxes. It was therefore
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  Speaker 1: resolved to leave the buffaloes entirely unmolested until autumn, and then,
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  Speaker 1: when the robes would be in the finest condition, returned
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  Speaker 1: for a hunt on a liberal scale. Accordingly, it was
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  Speaker 1: decided to return to Washington without delay, and a career
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  Speaker 1: was dispatched with a request for transportation to carry our
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  Speaker 1: party back to Fort Keo. While awaiting the arrival of
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  Speaker 1: the wagons, a cowboy in the employ of the Phillips
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  Speaker 1: Land and Cattle Company killed a solitary bull buffalo about
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  Speaker 1: fifteen miles west of our camp near Sand Creek. This
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  Speaker 1: animal had completely shed the hair on his body and
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  Speaker 1: hind quarters, in addition to the preservation of his entire skeleton.
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  Speaker 1: We prepared the skin also as an example of the
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  Speaker 1: condition of the buffalo immediately after shedding. On June sixth,
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  Speaker 1: the teams from Fort Kio a raw and we immediately
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  Speaker 1: returned to Myles City, taking with us our live buffalo calf,
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  Speaker 1: two fresh buffalo skeletons, three bleached skeletons, seven skulls, one
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  Speaker 1: skin entire, and one head skin, in addition to a
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  Speaker 1: miscellaneous collection of skins and skeletons of smaller mammals and birds.
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  Speaker 1: On reaching Myles City, we hastily packed and shipped our collection,
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  Speaker 1: and taking the calf with us, returned at once to Washington.
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  Speaker 1: End of section twenty eight. Recording by Jen Mitchell