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026 - Part II Chapter 5 Completeness of the Extermination · Extermination of the American Bison

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty five 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 Maria Casper. The Extermination
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  Speaker 1: of the American Bison by William T. Hornaday, Part two,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter five, Completeness of the Extermination, May one, eighteen eighty nine.
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  Speaker 1: Although the existence of a few widely scattered individuals enables
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  Speaker 1: us to say that the bison is not yet absolutely
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  Speaker 1: extinct in the wild state, there is no reason to
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  Speaker 1: hope that a single wild and unprotected individual will remain
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  Speaker 1: alive ten years. Hence, the nearer the species approaches to
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  Speaker 1: complete extermination, the more eagerly are the wretched fugitives pursued
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  Speaker 1: to the death wherever found. Western hunters are striving for
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  Speaker 1: the honor of killing the last buffalo, which it is
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  Speaker 1: to be noted, has already been slain about a score
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  Speaker 1: of times by that number of hunters. The buffaloes still
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  Speaker 1: alive in a wild state are so very few, and
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  Speaker 1: have been so carefully marked down by hunters, it is
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  Speaker 1: possible to make a very close estimate of the total
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  Speaker 1: number remaining. In this enumeration. The small herd in the
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  Speaker 1: Yellowstone National Park is classed with other herds in captivity
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  Speaker 1: and under protection, for the reason that, had it not
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  Speaker 1: been for the protection afforded by the law and the
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  Speaker 1: officers of the park, not one of these buffaloes would
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  Speaker 1: be living to day. Were the restrictions of the law removed. Now,
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  Speaker 1: every one of those animals would be killed within three months.
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  Speaker 1: Their heads alone are worth from twenty five to fifty
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  Speaker 1: dollars each to taxidermists, and for this reason every buffalo
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  Speaker 1: is a prize worth the hunter's winning. Had it not
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  Speaker 1: been for stringent laws and a rigid enforcement of them
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  Speaker 1: by Captain Harris, the last of the park buffaloes would
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  Speaker 1: have been shot years ago by Vic Smith, the Ray Brothers,
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  Speaker 1: and other hunters of whom there is always enable contingent
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  Speaker 1: around the park. In the United States, the death of
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  Speaker 1: a buffalo is now such an event that it is
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  Speaker 1: immediately chronicled by the associated press and telegraphed all over
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  Speaker 1: the country. By reason of this, and from information already
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  Speaker 1: in hand, we are able to arrive at a very
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  Speaker 1: fair understanding of the present condition of the species in
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  Speaker 1: the wild State. In December eighteen eighty six, the Smithsonian
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  Speaker 1: expedition left about fifteen buffaloes alive in the badlands of
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  Speaker 1: the Missouri Yellowstone Divide at the head of Big Porcupine Creek.
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  Speaker 1: In eighteen eighty seven, three of these were killed by cowboys,
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  Speaker 1: and in eighteen eighty eight two more, the last death
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  Speaker 1: recorded being that of an old bull killed near Billings.
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  Speaker 1: There are probably eight or ten stragglers still remaining in
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  Speaker 1: that region, hiding in the wildest and most broken tracts
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  Speaker 1: of the bad lands, as far as possible from the
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  Speaker 1: cattle ranches, and where even cowboys seldom go save on
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  Speaker 1: a round up. From the fact that no other buffaloes,
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  Speaker 1: at least so far as can be learned, have been
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  Speaker 1: killed in Montana during the last two years, I am
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  Speaker 1: convinced that the bunch referred to are the last representatives
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  Speaker 1: of the species remaining in Montana. In the spring of
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  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty six, mister B. C. Winston, while on a
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  Speaker 1: hunting trip about seventy five miles away west of Grand Rapids, Dakota,
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  Speaker 1: saw seven buffaloes, five adult animals and two calves, of
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  Speaker 1: which he killed one a large bull and caught a
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  Speaker 1: calf alive. On September eleventh, eighteen eighty eight, a solitary
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  Speaker 1: bull was killed three miles from the town of Oaks
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  Speaker 1: in Dickey County. There are still three individuals in the
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  Speaker 1: unsettled country lying between that point and the Missouri, which
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  Speaker 1: are undoubtedly the only wild representatives of the race east
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  Speaker 1: of the Missouri River. On April twenty eighth, eighteen eighty seven,
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  Speaker 1: doctor William Stevenson of the United States Army wrote me
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  Speaker 1: as follows, from Pilot Butte, about thirty miles north of
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  Speaker 1: Rock Springs, Wyoming. There are undoubtedly buffalo within fifty or
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  Speaker 1: sixty miles of here, two having been killed out of
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  Speaker 1: a band of eighteen some ten days since by cowboys,
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  Speaker 1: and another band of four being seen near there. I
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  Speaker 1: hear from cattlemen of their being seen every year north
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  Speaker 1: and northeast of here. This band was seen once in
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  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight. In February eighteen eighty nine, Honorable Joseph M. Carey,
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  Speaker 1: member of Congress from Wyoming, received a letter informing him
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  Speaker 1: that this band of buffaloes, consisting of twenty six head,
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  Speaker 1: had been seen grazing in the red desert of Wyoming,
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  Speaker 1: and that the Indians were preparing to attack it. At
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  Speaker 1: Judge Carrey's request, the Indian Bureau issued orders which it
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  Speaker 1: hoped would prevent the slaughter. So until further developments, we
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  Speaker 1: have the pleasure of recording the presence of twenty six
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  Speaker 1: wild buffaloes in southern Wyoming. There are no buffaloes whatever
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  Speaker 1: in the vicinity of the Yellowstone Park, either in one Wyoming, Montana,
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  Speaker 1: or Idaho, save what wander out of that reservation, and
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  Speaker 1: when any dew they are speedily killed. There is a
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  Speaker 1: rumor that there are ten or twelve mountain buffaloes still
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  Speaker 1: on foot in Colorado, in a region called Lost Park,
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  Speaker 1: and while it lacks conformation, we gladly accept it as
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  Speaker 1: a fact. In eighteen eighty eight, mister C. B. Cory
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  Speaker 1: of Boston saw in Denver, Colorado, eight fresh buffalo skins,
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  Speaker 1: which it was said had come from the region named above.
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  Speaker 1: In eighteen eighty five, there was a herd of about
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  Speaker 1: forty mountain buffalo near South Park, and although some of
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  Speaker 1: the number may still survive, the indications are that the
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  Speaker 1: total number of wild buffaloes in Colorado does not exceed
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  Speaker 1: twenty individuals. In Texas, a miserable remnant of the great
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  Speaker 1: Southern herd still remains in the Panhandle Country between the
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  Speaker 1: two forks of the Canadian River. In eighteen eighty six,
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  Speaker 1: about two hundred heads survived, which number by the summer
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  Speaker 1: of eighteen eighty seven had been reduced to one hundred
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  Speaker 1: or less. In the hunting season of eighteen eighty seven
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  Speaker 1: eighty eight, a ranchman named Lee Howard fitted out and
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  Speaker 1: led a strong party into the haunts of the survivors
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  Speaker 1: and killed fifty two of them. In May eighteen eighty eight,
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  Speaker 1: mister C. J. Jones again visited this region for the
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  Speaker 1: purpose of capturing buffaloes alive. His party found, from first
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  Speaker 1: to last, thirty seven buffaloes, of which they captured eighteen head,
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  Speaker 1: eleven adult cows, and seven calves, the greatest feat ever
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  Speaker 1: accomplished in buffalo hunting. It is highly probable that mister
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  Speaker 1: Jones and his men saw about all the buffaloes now
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  Speaker 1: living in the Panhand Country, and it therefore seems quite
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  Speaker 1: certain that not over twenty five individuals remain. These are
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  Speaker 1: so few, so remote, and so difficult to reach, it
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  Speaker 1: is to be hoped no one will consider them worth
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  Speaker 1: going after, and that they will be left to take
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  Speaker 1: care of themselves. It is greatly to be regretted that
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  Speaker 1: the State of Texas does not feel disposed to make
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  Speaker 1: a special effort for their protection and preservation. In regard
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  Speaker 1: to the existence of wild buffaloes in the British possessions,
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  Speaker 1: the statements of different authorities are at variance by far
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  Speaker 1: the larger number holding the opinion that there are in
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  Speaker 1: all the Northwest Territory only a few almost solitary stragglers.
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  Speaker 1: But there is still good reason for the hope and
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  Speaker 1: also the belief that there still remain in Athabasca, between
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  Speaker 1: the Athabasca and Peace Rivers at least a few hundred
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  Speaker 1: wood buffalo. In a very interesting and well considered article
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  Speaker 1: in the London Field of November tenth, eighteen eighty eight,
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  Speaker 1: mister Miller Christie quotes all of the available positive evidence
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  Speaker 1: bearing on this point, and I gladly avail myself of
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  Speaker 1: the opportunity to reproduce it here. The honorable doctor Schultz,
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  Speaker 1: in the recent debate on the Mackenzie River Basin in
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  Speaker 1: the Canadian Senate, quoted Senator Hardesty of Edmonton, of the
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  Speaker 1: Hudson's Bay Company, to the effect that the wood buffalo
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  Speaker 1: still existed in the region in question. It was, he said,
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  Speaker 1: difficult to estimate how many, but probably five to six
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  Speaker 1: hundred still remain in scattered bands. There had been no
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  Speaker 1: appreciable difference in their numbers, he thought, during the last
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  Speaker 1: fifteen years, as they could not be hunted on horseback
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  Speaker 1: on account of the wooded character of the country, and
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  Speaker 1: were therefore very little molested. They are larger than the
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  Speaker 1: buffalo of the Great Plains, weighing at least one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fifty pounds more. They are also coarser haired and
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  Speaker 1: straighter horned. The doctor also quoted mister Frank Oliver of
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  Speaker 1: Edmonton to the effect that the wood buffalo still exists
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  Speaker 1: in small numbers between the lower Peace and Great Slave Rivers,
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  Speaker 1: extending westward from the latter to the Salt River in
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  Speaker 1: latitude sixty degrees, and also between the Peace and Athabasca rivers.
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  Speaker 1: He states that they are larger than the prairie buffalo,
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  Speaker 1: and their fur is darker, but practically they are the
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  Speaker 1: same animal. Some buffalo meat is brought in every winter
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  Speaker 1: to the Hudson's Bay Company's posts nearest the Buffalo Ranges.
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  Speaker 1: Doctor Schultz further stated that he had received the following
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  Speaker 1: testimony from mister Donald Ross of Edmonton. The wood buffalo
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  Speaker 1: still exists in the localities named. About eighteen seventy one
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  Speaker 1: was killed as far west on Peace River as Port Dunvegan.
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  Speaker 1: They are quite different from the prairie buffalo, being nearly
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  Speaker 1: double the size, as they will dress fully seven hundred pounds.
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  Speaker 1: It will be apparent to most observers. I think that
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  Speaker 1: mister Ross's statement in regard to the size of the
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  Speaker 1: wood buffalo is a random shot. In a private letter
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  Speaker 1: to the writer under date of October twenty second, eighteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty seven, mister Harrison S. Young of the Hudson's Bay
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  Speaker 1: Company's post at Edmonton writes as follows, the buffalo are
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  Speaker 1: not yet extinct in the Northwest. There are still some
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  Speaker 1: stray ones on the prairies away to the south of this,
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  Speaker 1: but they must be very few. I am unable to
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  Speaker 1: find anyone who has personal knowledge of the killing of
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  Speaker 1: one during the last two years, though I have, since
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  Speaker 1: the receipt of your letter, questioned a good many half
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  Speaker 1: breeds on the subject. In our district of Athabasca along
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  Speaker 1: the Salt River, there are still a few wood buffalo
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  Speaker 1: killed every year, but they are fast diminishing in numbers
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  Speaker 1: and are also becoming very shy. In his Manitoba and
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  Speaker 1: the Great Northwest, Professor John mccun has this to say
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  Speaker 1: regarding the presence of the wood buffalo in the region.
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  Speaker 1: Referred to the wood buffalo when I was on the
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  Speaker 1: Peace River in eighteen seventy five, were confined to the
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  Speaker 1: country lying between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers north of
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  Speaker 1: latitude fifty seven degrees thirty minutes, or chiefly in the
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  Speaker 1: Birch Hills. They were also said to be in some
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  Speaker 1: abundance on the Salt and Hay Rivers running into the
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  Speaker 1: Slave River. North of Peace River, the herds thirteen years
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  Speaker 1: ago now nineteen were supposed to number about one thousand.
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  Speaker 1: All told, I believe may still exist, as the Indians
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  Speaker 1: of that region eat fish, which are much easier procured
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  Speaker 1: than either buffalo or moose, and the country is much
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  Speaker 1: too difficult for white men. All this evidence, when carefully considered,
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  Speaker 1: resolves itself into simply this and no more. The only
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  Speaker 1: evidence in favor of the existence of any live buffaloes
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  Speaker 1: between the Athabasca and Peace Rivers is in the form
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  Speaker 1: of very old rumors, most of them nearly fifteen years old,
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  Speaker 1: time enough for the Indians to have procured firearms in
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  Speaker 1: abundance and killed all those buffaloes two or three times over.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Miller Christie takes the mien of the estimates and
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  Speaker 1: assumes that there are now about five hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 1: buffaloes in the region named. If we are to believe
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  Speaker 1: in the existence there of any stragglers. His estimate is
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  Speaker 1: a fair one, and we will gladly accept it. The
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  Speaker 1: total is therefore as follows. Number of American bison running
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  Speaker 1: wild and unprotected on January first, eighteen eighty nine in
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  Speaker 1: the Panhandle of Texas, twenty five in Colorado, twenty in
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  Speaker 1: southern Wyoming, twenty six in the Musselshell Country, Montana, ten
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  Speaker 1: in western Dakota. Four total number in the United States
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  Speaker 1: eighty five in Athabasca, Northwest Territory estimated five hundred fifty.
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  Speaker 1: Total in all of North America six hundred and thirty five.
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  Speaker 1: Add to the above the total number already recorded in
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  Speaker 1: captivity two hundred and fifty six and those under government
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  Speaker 1: protection in the Yellowstone Park two hundred and d The
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  Speaker 1: whole number of individuals of bison AMERICANUS now living is
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  Speaker 1: one thousand ninety one. From this time, it is probable
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  Speaker 1: that many rumors of the sudden appearance of herds of
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  Speaker 1: buffaloes will become current. Already there have been three or
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  Speaker 1: four that almost deserve special mention. The first appeared in
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  Speaker 1: March eighteen eighty seven, when various Western newspapers published a
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  Speaker 1: circumstantial account of how a herd of about three hundred
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  Speaker 1: buffaloes swam the Missouri River about ten miles above Bismarck,
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  Speaker 1: near the town of Painted Woods, and ran on in
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  Speaker 1: a southwesterly direction. A letter of inquiry addressed to mister s,
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  Speaker 1: a Peterson postmaster at Painted Woods, elicited the following reply,
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  Speaker 1: The whole rumor is false and without any foundation. I
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  Speaker 1: saw it first in the newspaper, where I believe it original.
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  Speaker 1: In these days of railroads and numberless hunting parties, there
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  Speaker 1: is not the remotest possibility of their being anywhere in
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  Speaker 1: the United States. A herd of one hundred or even
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  Speaker 1: fifty buffaloes which has escaped observation of the eighty five
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  Speaker 1: heads still existing in a wild state. It may safely
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  Speaker 1: be predicted that not even one will remain alive five years. Hence,
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  Speaker 1: a buffalo is now so great a prize, and by
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  Speaker 1: the ignorant, it is considered so great an honour to
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  Speaker 1: kill one, that extraordinary exertions will be made to find
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  Speaker 1: and shoot down, without mercy, the last buffalo. There is
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  Speaker 1: no possible chance for the race to be perpetuated in
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  Speaker 1: a wild state, and in a few years more hardly
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  Speaker 1: a bone will remain above ground to mark the existence
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  Speaker 1: of the most prolific mammalian species that ever existed, so
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  Speaker 1: far as we know. End of Section twenty five