American bisons, living and extinct

HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

LIBRARY

OF THE

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY.
a

GIFT OF

() Keven Sb. \e yb -

|

Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zodlogn,
AT HARVARD COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
, Vou. IV. No. 10.

. . THE AMERICAN BISONS,

ee LIVING AND EXTINCT.

s By J. A. ALLEN.
r
: =
% a {
fg
j ‘ ‘ PUBLISHED BY PERMISSION OF N.S. SHALER, DIRECTOR OF THE KENTUCKY
GHOLOGICAL SURVEY.
i
+ | WITH TWELVE PLATES AND A MAP.

UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE:
WELCH, BIGELOW, & CO.
ise.

PRELIMINARY NOTE.

Tus Memoir of Mr. Allen was prepared for the Kentucky Geological
Survey, with special reference to the large collection of fossil Bison remains
found at Big Bone Lick, and now in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy
at Harvard University. This collection was made by me in 1868 and
1869. A part of the expense of the costly excavations whence the speci-
mens were taken was kindly borne by Mr. James M. Barnard, of Boston,
Mass.

The revival of the Kentucky Geological Survey has made it possible to
begin the study of the remains from this renowned locality, with a view
to their complete elucidation. Mr. Allen, having been for some time en-
gaged in the study of the American Bisons, generously offered to undertake
the study of the remains of these animals from Big Bone Lick.

As this work was soon found to be intimately connected with the whole
history of the Buffalo, it has seemed to me best, for the interests of the
Survey and of science generally, to have this Memoir include the whole of
Mr. Allen’s admirable studies on the subject.

The Act of 1874, providing for the continuance of the geological survey,
allows “that the scientific results of the Survey may be published in any
scientific journal, by permission of the Director.” Although this monograph
will form the second part of the first volume of the Memoirs of the Ken-
tucky Geological Survey, it seems to me highly desirable that it should
secure the wider circulation that will be given it by simultaneous publica-
tion in the Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, at the same
time the Survey is fortunate in being able, by this arrangement, to repay
in part the large debt it owes to the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy for
aid in every step of its scientific work.

N. §. SHALER,
Director of the Kentucky Geological Survey.

INTRODUCTION.

Tux following monograph consists essentially of two quite distinct parts.
The first embraces descriptions of the species, while the second is devoted to
the consideration of the geographical distribution of Bison americanus. The.
first part of Part I, or that portion relating to the extinct species, is the least
satisfactory, owing to the scantiness of the materials for their description.
It has been my good fortune, however, to have the opportunity of examining
nearly all the material thus far described from the United States relating to
these interesting forms, including the original specimens of Bison datifrons and
Bison antiquus, as well as the later-described bison remains from California.
The specimens from Eschscholtz Bay, described by Richardson, I have not
had an opportunity of seeing, but I have had access to a few remains of ©
the extinct bison from other Alaskan localities.

In the following pages two extinct species are recognized, which differ
quite widely from each other, the one (Bison latifrons Leidy) being much
larger than the other (Bison antiquus Leidy = Bison crassicornis Richardson),
with disproportionately larger horn-cores. Neither of the species is as yet
known from satisfactory material, although enough of their remains have
been found to indicate the existence of two widely differing forms. Without
knowing positively more of Bison datifrons than the three cranial fragments
thus far discovered represent, it is difficult to assign some other specimens
to the one species rather than to the other, owing to our lack of knowledge
of the sexual difference in size this large species may present. The female
of the larger extinct species, judging from the sexual differences seen in the
living species, would apparently about equal in size the male of the smaller
one, and hence it is difficult to positively specifically assign such specimens
as detached teeth or single bones of ‘the extremities. Again, the female of
the smaller extinct species being of about the size of the male of Bison
americanus (perhaps a little smaller) still further complicates the problem. _

vi INTRODUCTION.

The material for the description of Bison americanus, and for its comparison
with the aurochs (Bison bonasus), has, on the other hand, been nearly all that
could be desired, far exceeding that ever before brought together. To com-
plete, in a measure, the history of this species, several pages are devoted to
an account of its habits, based mainly on personal observation; while Part
Il1—embracing by far the greater part of the paper — has been devoted
entirely to the subject of its geographical distribution, including a history of
its extirpation from the greater part of its former vast habitat. As bearing
upon this general subject, a chapter has been devoted to an account of its
products, another to the means and methods used for its destruction, not only
by the different Indian tribes, but also by white men, and a third to the few
attempts that have been made for its domestication. The preparation of this
part of the paper has been very time-taking, the necessary research having
absorbed the leisure time of many months. Although extended to so great
a length, it cannot be considered as an exhaustive essay on the subject, but
it is believed that the conclusions reached will not be much affected by
future investigations, though many important details respecting particular
districts may yet be added.

The problem of the best manner of presenting the historical part of the
subject has offered many difficulties. I have, however, deemed it best to
give the data in full, at the risk of prolixity, rather than to briefly sum- |
marize the facts, without giving the basis for the conclusions reached. I
have hence often made copious quotations, verbatim, instead of giving simple
references to authorities, thereby presenting in full whatever bears upon
the special points at issue. As a geographical arrangement of the matter
seemed clearest and most logical I have adopted that method of presenta-
tion, dividing the area under discussion into several minor geographical
regions. After stating in a somewhat general way the boundaries of the
habitat of the American bison at the time when the different regions of
the continent were first explored by Europeans (as indicated by the facts
presented in the pages which follow), every portion of this boundary is after-
wards discussed in detail, since the original limits of its range in different
directions has been more or less the subject of discrepant opinions. Its
original limit to the eastward has especially been a matter of dispute, or at
least of conflicting statements, and to a less degree also its original limita-
tion to the southward and westward. Taking, for instance, that portion of
the United States east of the Mississippi River, — the first region treated in

INTRODUCTION. vii

Part II, — it was found necessary to examine in detail the alleged evidences
of its former existence along the whole Atlantic seaboard from New Eng-
land to Florida, over which many writers have assumed that it formerly
ranged, — as well as southward to the Gulf coast, —but which a critical
examination of the evidence fails to substantiate. Its actual eastern limit |
at the time of the first exploration of the Atlantic slope by Europeans being
settled with as much certainty as available evidence will allow, the region

of the Ohio Valley is next considered, where its former limits and relative
abundance are traced with considerable fulness, together with its gradual total
extirpation therefrom. Subsequently its former range and final extirpation
over the trans-Rocky Mountain region is similarly treated. An effort is
then made to define its former range south of the Rio Grande. A brief
sketch is then given of its extirpation over the greater part of the vast
region included between the Rio Grande on the south, the Platte River on
the north, the Mississippi River on the east, and the Rocky Mountains on
the west, with a definition of its present limited range within this area.
The region lying between the Platte River on the south, the United States
and British boundary on the north, the Mississippi River on the east, and
the Rocky Mountains on*the west, is next similarly treated. Finally its
former vast range to the northward of the United States is defined, with a
history of its extirpation over much of this area, and the limits of its present
circumscribed range in the region north of the Platte River.

The accompanying map is designed to show not only the extreme limits
of the known range of the buffalo (which was presumably about its range at
the middle of the eighteenth century), but also its range at several different
subsequent periods, as well as its habitat at the present time. The outer
border of the blue area shows the extreme known range of the buffalo, while
the space colored blue represents the area over which this animal had disap-
peared prior to the year 1800. The outer border of the pink area shows
approximately its extreme limits of distribution at this date, and the area
colored pink the portion of country over which it disappeared during the
succeeding twenty-five years. The portion colored green represents in like
manner its restriction during the next succeeding twenty-five years, or
between the years 1825 and 1850. The yellow area similarly shows its
restriction between the years 1850 and 1875, and the orange spaces the
limited areas over which it still exists. Other tints indicate the localities
at which the remains of the extinct species have been found. The boun-

Vill INTRODUCTION.

daries given cannot, of course, be more than approximate, but are believed
to be as nearly correct as the data extant will permit.

.No indigenous animal has perhaps figured so prominently in the history
of Kentucky as the buffalo. It not only formed for a time the chief sub-—
sistence of some of the early pioneers of this State, but its fossil remains
form large deposits at several localities about its numerous Salt Licks;
while it is only in this State that any efforts for its domestication worthy
of the name have as yet been made. Both of the extinct species were also
first described from remains found in Kentucky ; and it is to the great valley
of the Ohio that we must mainly still look for further materials to furnish us
with a clew to their fuller histories and distinctive characters.

In Part IT will be found not only references to narratives of stclotien
and the records of the early settlement of the country, but also much matter
hitherto unpublished. While due credit is given in each case for the infor-
mation received from my many correspondents, — the name of the con-
tributor being always given as the authority for the facts communicated, —
it gives me pleasure to mention here a few of those to whom I am especially
indebted for valuable contributions, Among these are Dr. F. V. Hayden,
Geologist-in-charge of the United States Geographical and Geological Survey
of the Territories ; Dr. Elliott Coues, U.S. A., Naturalist of the United States
and British Boundary Commission; Prof. S. F. Baird, Assistant Secretary of
the Smithsonian Institution ; Professor George M. Dawson of McGill College;
Montreal; J. 8. Taylor, Esq., late U. S. Consul at Winnipeg, B. N. A.; Hon.
Wm. N. Byers, Editor of the Rocky Mountain News; Mr. W. H. Dall, Assist-
ant United States Coast Survey; Dr. W. S. Tremaine, U.S. A., of Fort Dodge,
Kansas; Mr, J. Boll of Dallas, Texas; Dr. W. J. Hoffman, late Assistant
Surgeon U. 8. A.; Prof. B. F. Mudge of Kansas; Professor O. C. Marsh of
New Haven, Conn.; Dr. J. G. Cooper of California; Mr. C. E. Aiken of
Colorado Springs, Col.; Prof. J. R. Loomis of Lewisburg, Pa.; Mr. C. W.
Pritchett of Glasgow, Mo.; Mr. George Graham of Cincinnati, Ohio; E. T.
Bowen, Esq., late General Superintendent of the Kansas Pacific Railway ;
C. F. Morse, Esq., Superintendent of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé
Railroad ; E. P. Vining, Esq., General Freight Agent of the Union Pacific
Railroad ; and to various officers of the United States Army.

I am also especially indebted for the use of material to the Museum of
Comparative Zodlogy, Cambridge, without access to whose collections the
preparation of this monograph would have been impossible. Also to the

INTRODUCTION. 1x

Smithsonian Institution, Washington ; to the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia ; to the California Academy of Sciences; to the Boston
Society. of Natural History; and to Mrs. Romeo Elton of Boston, for the
use of valuable specimens. Finally I wish to express my gratitude to Mr.
N. S. Shaler, Director of the ‘Geological Survey of Kentucky, and to Mr.
Alexander Agassiz, Curator of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, for their
liberality in providing for the accompanying plates and map, and to the
former for valuable suggestions and information. I also wish to return
thanks to Mr. Louis Trouvelot and to Mr. Paul Roetter for the careful
manner in which they have executed the map and plates.

An unexpected delay in the completion of the plates having occurred,
several months have elapsed since the main part of the paper was put in
type, which has afforded an opportunity to include in the Appendix several
valuable communications which were received too late to be inserted in their
proper connection. . These relate chiefly to the occurrence of the buffalo in
Union County, Pennsylvania, and to the date of its extirpation in the Ohio
Valley. Matter is also added in respect to the southern limit of the buffalo
east of the Mississippi River, especially south of the Tennessee River, which
somewhat modify statements made respecting this point in the main body
of the paper. Hence the attention of the reader is especially called to these
supplemental notes. In the Appendix will also be found an important
communication by Mr. Shaler, “On the Age of the Bison in the Ohio
Valley.”

J. A. ALLEN.

Musrum or Comparative ZooLoay, Campripcr, Mass., May 24, 1876.

THE AMERICAN BISONS.

fA Lol:

1. — DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS AND AFFINITIES OF THE
BISONS.

Genus BISON Sith.

Bos (in part) of many authors.
Bison H. Smauru, Griffith’s Cuvier’s An. King., V, 373, 1827.
Urus Bosaxus, Nov. Act. Acad. Nat. Cur., XIII, 2, 427, 1827. — Owen, Rep. British Assoc., 1843, 232.
Harlanus Owen, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1846, 94.
Bisontina RUvimEYeER, Verhandl. d. naturforsch. Gesells. in Basel, IV, iii, 335, 1865.

Tux bisons are easily distinguished osteologically from the other members
of the bovine family by the peculiar conformation of the skull. These dis-
tinctive features, as Cuvier * long since pointed out, consist in the forehead
of the ox being flat or slightly concave, while that of the bison is convex,
though somewhat less so than in the buffalo; in the ox the forehead is also
quadrate, its length being equal to its breadth, while in the bisons the
breadth, measured at ‘the same point, exceeds the height in the proportion
of three to two; in the ox the horns are attached to the extremity of the
highest salient line of the head, or that which separates the forehead from
the occiput, while in the bisons the horns are placed considerably in front
of this line; finally in the ox the plane of the occiput is quadrangular, and |
forms an acute angle with the forehead, while in the bison it is semicircular
and forms an obtuse angle with the forehead. The genus Bison, as Dr. J. E.
Gray ¢ was the first to point out, differs also from Bos in the peculiar form
of the intermaxillaries, which, as in the genera Poéphagus and Bibos, are short,
triangular, and acute behind, not reaching to the nasals, as they do in Bos,
Bubalus, and Anoa. They gradually decrease in length from Potphagus to
Bison, in which latter genus they are much shorter than in the others.

* See Ossem. Foss., troisieme édition, Tome IV, p. 109, 1825.
+ Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., Vol. VIII, p. 229, 1846; Cat. Mam. Brit. Mus., Part ITI, p. 16, 1852.

2 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Prof. Owen * later made this the chief distinction between the bison and
the ox. In the bisons the short premaxillaries do not rise to join the
nasals, and therefore six bones enter into the formation of the external nasal
opening instead of four, as is the case in Bos and Bubalus. Owen also calls
attention to the projecting orbital processes, which with the lachrymal and
malar processes form a projecting orbital cylinder. The ribs, Owen also
says, “never exceed in number thirteen pairs in any species of Bos proper ;
[while] the European bison or aurochs has fourteen, and the American bison
fifteen pairs of ribs.” The last statement, however, is erroneous, the Ameri-
can bison having the same number of pairs of ribs and the same number
of lumbar vertebree as the European, notwithstanding numerous statements

to the contrary. ft

* Descrip. Cat. Ost. Series in Mus. Roy. Coll. Surgeons of England, p. 622, 1853.

+ This oft-repeated misstatement affords a striking instance of the persistency of error. In this case
‘the error had a singular origin, and its repetition is to some degree justifiable. The first skeleton of the
American bison known in Europe was that obtained from a living specimen received at the Paris
Menagerie in 1819, and which was described by Cuvier in his Ossemens Fossiles (tome IV, p. 118, of
third edition). This specimen — one instance probably in thousands — chanced to have jifteen pairs of
ribs, and consequently but four lumbar vertebra. Cuvier of course called attention to this fact as afford-
ing an important distinction between the American and European bisons. Says Cuvier: “ Quant au reste
du squelette, la femelle envoyée d’Amerique par M. Milbert a quinze paires de cétes, tandis que V’aurochs
de Pologne n’en a que quatorze, et les autres beeufs treize seulement. Cette femelle n’a en revanche que
quatre vertébres lombaires, tandis que P’aurochs en a cinq, et les autres beufs six.” It is hence not strange
that mere compilers, and even authorities of some eminence, should for a time perpetuate the error, espe-
cially since it was many years before a second skeleton of the American bison fell under the eye of a
comparative anatomist. Yet it seems a little strange to find it repeated by leading English anatomists
and zodlogists for many years after several of the leading museums of Great Britain contained skeletons
of the American bison. Owen, as late as 1866, in his great work on the Comparative Anatomy of the
Vertebrates (Vol. II, p. 462), says: ‘The European bison has fourteen dorsal and five lumbar vertebre ;
the American bison has fifteen dorsal and four lumbar, and this is the extreme reached, in the Ruminant
order, of movable ribs, equalling in number those of the Hippopotamus.”

Hamilton Smith in Griffith’s Cuvier (Vol. IV, p. 404 and Vol. V, p. 374), published in 1825, of course
gave the same number as Cuvier, as did also Fischer, in 1828, in his Synopsis Mammalium (p. 496) ;
and Wagner (Suppl. to Schreber’s Sauget., V, 472), in 1855. Dr. J. E. Gray, in 1852, in his Catalogue of
the Mammalia of the British Museum (Part III, Ungulata Furcipeda, p. 35), says under Bison, “ Ribs
fourteen or fifteen pairs,” although there were then two skeletons in the British Museum. Edward
Blythe, in Orr’s translation of Cuvier’s Animal Kingdom (p. 143), in 1846 and in 1851, reiterated the
same error, as did Owen in 1846, in his British Fossil Mammals and Birds, as above cited, and in the
Proceedings of the Zodlogical Society of London for 1848 (p. 130), as it was also by authors of lesser fame.
Gerrard, in 1862, in his Catalogue of the Bones of Mammals in the British Museum (p. 230), gave for
the first time the correct number. Lilljeborg, in 1874 (Fauna 6fver Sveriges och Norges Ryggradsdjur),
refers to Owen’s statement on this point, and cites the number given by Gerrard. Riitimeyer in 1867
also refers to a skeleton in Amsterdam which presented only fourteen pairs of ribs and five lumbar ver-

tebree (Versuch einer Natiiralischen Geschichte des Rindes, IJ, p. 68).

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 3

As compared with the species of Bos proper, the bisons also differ in their
more slender limbs, smaller ribs, and less massive bones, as well as in
their much longer dorsal spines, and relatively longer canon-bones of the
hind limbs as compared with those of the fore limbs. Externally they differ
in having the head heavily clothed with long bushy hair; they also possess
a heavy barb, and the fore legs are heavily fringed with coarse long hair.
The clothing hair of the body also differs from that of the representatives
of the restricted genus Bos and most of its allies in consisting mainly of
short, curled, crisp wool in place of straight hairs. On the whole the bisons
proper, or the restricted genus Bison, form a strongly marked natural group,
the different members of which exhibit a close interrelation. Their nearest
ally is probably the yac (Poéphagus grunniens), which was considered by
Turner as congeneric with the bisons, though by others as more allied to
the musk ox. The other nearest allies of the bisons are the gaurs (Bibos
gaurus and Bibos frontalis), but none of these forms very closely approach
the bisons.

The name Bison was first applied to this group in a generic sense by Ham-
ilton Smith in 1827. In the same year Bojanus used the name Urus for the
designation of the aurochs and the larger extinct bisons. Prof Owen in
1843 also used the name Urus in a generic sense for the designation of this
group. The name Harlanus, given to a supposed new tapiroid pachyderm,
was based on what proved on later investigation to be an imperfect ramus
of an extinct bison, the teeth of which had become so much worn as to ob-
scure their true character. Ritimeyer has recently used the name Besontina

in a super-generic sense for the same group.

2. GENERAL HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE REMAINS OF EXTINCT
BISONS HITHERTO FOUND IN NortH AMERICA.

As introductory to the following pages, a brief historical notice of the
hitherto known remains of extinct North American bisons may not be
wholly out of place.

The first remains of an extinct bison discovered in North America * were

* The first-discovered remains of a fossil bison seem to have been the skull obtained near Dantzic, and
described by Klein in 1732 Gn Philosoph. Transact., XXXVI, No. 426, figs. 1-3). In 1803 Faujas, and

later Brocchi and Cuvier described others from Northern Italy and the valley of the Rhine, and numerous

4 . THE AMERICAN BISONS.

found in the bed of a small creek about a dozen miles north of Big-bone
Lick, Kentucky, and consisted of a part of a cranium with a considerable
portion of one horn-core attached. This specimen was presented by Samuel
Brown of Kentucky to the American Philosophical Society, and was first
described and figured by Rembrandt Peale, in a paper entitled “ Account
of Some Remains of a Species of gigantic Oxen found in America and other
parts of the World.”* This specimen Peale believed indicated a species of
the ox tribe of gigantic proportions whose horns must have had a spread of
nearly twelve feet, — a conjecture that subsequent discoveries have proved
well founded.

This fragment, now deposited in the Museum of the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia, was repeatedly figured and described by different
authors during the next thirty years, and has hence acquired great historic
interest, being also the only remains of the larger extinct bison recognized
from this continent for nearly half a century. Mr. Peale presented a plas-
ter cast of this specimen to the Museum of Natural History of Paris at about
the time of the publication of his essay on the subject of fossil oxen, and it
was hence noticed almost simultaneously by M. Faujas-Saint-Fond,t who
believed it specifically identical with a younger specimen discovered on the
banks of the Rhine near Bonn, which he describes and figures in the same
paper, without, however, giving the species a distinctive name.{ Peale’s
specimen was next noticed by Cuvier§ in 1808, who redescribed and figured
it from the cast sent by Mr. Peale to the Paris Museum. Cuvier regarded
it as not only identical with the fossil bison of Europe, but referred both to
the living aurochs (Bison bonasus), from which the fossil animal seemed to

others were subsequently made known by other writers from many other localities. In 1832 Hermann
von Meyer was able to give measurements of numerous skulls and a figure and description of the pelvis.
J. F. Brandt, in his Zoographische und Palaeontologische Beitrige, published in 1867, gave a list of the
localities at which its remains have been found, from which it appears to have been already met with in
nearly every country of Europe and in Siberia. The most southerly point at which its remains have
been found is in Upper Italy, skulls having been obtained near Pavia, on the Po. They have also been
found in France, Switzerland, the British Islands, in Holland, Belgium, and Germany, especially about
Mannheim on the Rhine, as well as in Sweden, Poland, Hungary, European Russia, and Greece. They
have also been found at several localities in Asiatic Russia.

* Philosophical Magazine, Vol. XV, pp. 825-327, pl. vi, 1803.

t Ann. du Museum, Vol. I, p. 190, 1803.

} It forms the “ Premitre Espéce ” of his essay, and is placed under the descriptive heading, “Baeuf fos-

sil & cornes disposées presque horizontalement,” etc.
§ Ann. du Museum, Vol. XII, p. 382, pl. xxxiv, fig. 2.

¥

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 5

him to differ only in its somewhat larger size and longer, less curved horns.
Cuvier repeated his figure and description of the American specimen in the
first and subsequent editions of his “Ossemens Fossiles,’ and retained the

same opinion respecting the affinities of the living and extinct bisons until

the edition of 1825, when he admitted, in view of the slight differences
which distinguish the aurochs from the American bison (Bison americanus),
the fossil bison as a third species.*

In 1825 the same specimen was also described by Dr. Richard Harlan,t
who, believing it to be a species distinct from the aurochs, gave it the name
of Bos latifrons, which, as will be shown later, forms the first systematic name
any of the extinct species received. In 1827 Bojanus,t in his memoir on
fossil oxen, in the description of his Urus priscus (seu Urus nostras), cites the
specimen “ex America septentrionalis” described by Cuvier; it is also
referred to by H. v. Meyer in 1832, as well as by other authors, being
always regarded as specifically identical with the European fossil bison (Bos
priscus, seu Bison priseus auct.).

In 1831 Buckland, in his list of the vertebrate fossils brought by Captain
Beechey from the ice-cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay, enumerates the remains of
“fossil oxen,” some of which he refers to a “Bos urus” (probably meaning the
Bison priscus of other authors), and which constitute the first remains of an
extinct bison found in America after the original specimen described by
Peale. They received no further notice, however, for many years.

In 1846 the greater portion of the skull of a large extinct bison was dis-
covered on the Brazos River, near San Felipe, Texas, together with a molar
tooth. These were described by Dr. W. M. Carpenter,§ and formed the
second specimens discovered in the United States. The skull seems to have
lacked only a part of the facial bones, and the horn-cores were nearly entire.
The specimen was of the same gigantic proportions as the one made known
by Mr. Peale.

In 1852 Dr. Leidy || described five molar teeth of a fossil bison, discovered
near Natchez, Mississippi, “in association with remains of Mastodon, Equus,

* Oss. Fos., 3d Ed., Vol. IV, p. 148.

+ Fauna Amer., p. 273.

t Nov. Acta, Acad. Nat. Cur., XTII, 2.

§ Amer. Journ. Sci., 2d Ser., I, 245.

|| Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1852, p. 117. — Memoir on the Extinct Species of American Ox, p. 9,

pl. ii, figs. 2-7.

6 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Ursus, Cervus, Megalonyx, and Mylodon” ; and also a humerus, tibia, atlas, and
metatarsus, found in excavating the Brunswick Canal, in Georgia. A frag-
ment of a jaw, with the teeth very much worn, belonging to the same col-
lection, was subsequently identified as belonging to an extinct bison, though
in the mean time wrongly referred by Harlan and Owen to other genera.
In 1852 Dr. Leidy * also described the greater part of a right horn-core, hav-
ing a small fragment of the frontal bone attached, found at Big-bone Lick,
Kentucky, which he “with some hesitation” described as belonging to a new
species (Bison antiquus Leidy), but which he later regarded as the female of
the larger form (Bison latifrons).

In 1854 the fossil bison remains from the ice-cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay col-
lected by Captain Beechey, together with others collected later by Captain
Kellet, were described by Sir John Richardson,* who believed them to repre-
sent two species. One of these he regarded as new (Bison crasstcornis Rich-
ardson), while he regarded the other as doubtfully identical with the fossil
bison of Europe (Bison priscus auct.). Altogether the fossil bison remains
from this locality included portions of several skulls, several additional horn-
cores, most of the bones of the limbs, and the greater part of the vertebra.
None of-the skulls, however, embraced the facial portions of the cranium.

In 1860 Dr. Leidy ¢ described and figured a second premolar tooth from .
the post-pliocene formation of the Ashley River, South Carolina, which he
believed to be referable to B. latifrons. In 1867 the same writer § described
a skull from Pilarcitos Valley, California, and also several teeth from the
same State, which he redescribed and figured in 1873.|| He also described
and figured at the same time a molar tooth found at Pittston, on the Sus-
quehanna River, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and another molar from
a crevice in the lead-bearing rocks of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, both of
which he also referred, though somewhat doubtfully, to the same species.

It thus appears that the hitherto described remains of extinct bisons
known from the United States consist of three or four very imperfect
skulls, (none of them embracing the very characteristic facial portions,) an
atlas, a tibia and humerus and a few detached molar teeth. The remains

* Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1852, 117.

+ Zodlozy of the Voyage of the Herald.

{ Holmes’s Post-Pliocene Fossils of South Carolina, p. 109, pl. xxii. figs. 15, 16, 1860.

§ Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1867, p. 85.

| Contrib. to Extinct Vert. Faun. Western Territories, pp. 253, 318, pl. xxviii, figs. 4-8.

PE UAOEUSRUD IEE cc

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 7

from other parts of North America consist of the specimens already men-
tioned as obtained from the ice-cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay. These, however,
as well as those from California, belong mainly, as will be shown later,
to a smaller animal than the remains from which Bison latifrons was first
described.

In addition to the above there are described in the following paper several
fragments of lower jaws and a skull from California, a horn-core from the
Tatlo River, Alaska, an imperfect skull, and a metacarpus from the valley
of the Yukon, and two entire horn-cores from Adams County, Ohio. The
latter belong to the large species first described by Peale, the others to
the smaller extinct bison of Western and Northwestern North America.

3.— DESCRIPTION OF THE EXtTINcT SPECIES.

BISON LATIFRONS (Haran) Lerpy.

Great Extinct American Bison.

Bos latifrons HARLAN, Fauna Americana, 273, 1825; Edinb. New Philos. Journ. XVII, 359, 1834; Med.
and Phys. Res., 276, 1835; Trans. Geol. Soc. Penna. 1835, 71.— Cooprr, Month. Am. Journ,
Geol., 1831, 174. — DeKay, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, 1828, 286; New York Faun. Zool.,
Pt. I. 10, 1842. (Not the Bos laiifrons of Fiscuxr, Bull. Soc. Imp. des Nat. de Moscow, 1830, p. 81,
based wholly on Siberian specimens.)

Bison latifrons Luipy, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1852, 117; 1854, 89, 210; 1867, 85; Mem. Ext. Sp.
Amer. Ox, in Smith Contrib., 1852, 8 (pls. i, ii, in part only); Wailes’s Rep. Agric. and Geol. Mis-
sissippi, 286, 1854; Holmes’s Post-pliocene Fos. of South Carolina, 109, pl. xvii, figs. 15, 16, 1860
(doubtfully referable to B. latifrons); Ext. Mam. N. Amer. (Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. Soc., 2d
Ser., VII), 371, 1869 (in part only) ; Contr. Ext. Vert. Faun. Western Territories, 253, 318, pl. xxviii,
fies 4-8, 1873, (in part only).

Urus priscus Bosanus, Nov. Act. Acad. Nat. Cur., XII, ii, 427, 1827; Owen, Rep. British Assoc.,
1843, 232. — Cat. Fos. Mam. etc., Mus. Roy. Col. Surg., 271, 1845 (the American reference only).

Bos (Bison) priscus MEYER, Paleologica, 96, 1832.

Bos priscus Muyrr, Noy. Act. Acad. Nat Cur., 141, 1835 (in part only). — Grepex, Fauna der Vorwelt,
153, 1847 (in part only).— RUrimeyer, Verhand. Naturf. Gesells. in Berlin, IV, m1, 339, 1865
(in part only).

Bos bonasus LiLLJEBORG,. Fauna ofver Sveriges och Norges Ryvoradsdjur, I, 877, 1874 (in part only).

eles)

? Bos, Couper, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1842, 190, 216. Owen, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 2d

Ser., I, 18, 1847.
Taurus gigas RAFINESQUE, Enumeration of Remark. Natural Objects, etc., 1831.
Taurus latifrons RAFINESQUE, Enumeration of Remark. Nat. Obj., etc., 1831; Atlantic Journ., 1832 — 33, 28.
? Sus americana HARLAN, Amer. Journ. Sci. & Arts, XLIII, 148, pl. iii, fig. 1, 1842. — Couper, Proc.
Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1842, 190, 216.

8 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

2? Lophiodon bathygnathus OWEN, Cat. Fos. Mam. etc. Mus. Roy. Col. Surg., 197, 1845.

2? Harlanus americanus OWEN, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1846, 96; Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., I, 18,
pl. vi, 1847; Amer. Journ. Sci. & Arts, 2d Ser., IM, 125, 1847.

Great Indian Buffalo, Pnave, Philos. Mag., 1803, 825; Hist. Disq. on the Mammoth, 84, 1803.

Aurochs, Cuvier, Ann. du Mus. @’Hist. Nat., XII, 382, pl. xxxiv, fig. 2, 1808; Ossem. Fos., IV, 50, pl. iii,
fig. 2, 1812; 2d. Ed., 1824; 3d Ed., 143, pl. xii, fig 2, 1825; 4th Ed., VI, 287, pl. xxii, fig. 2, 1835
(the American specimen only).

Great Fossil Ox, sp. latifrons, GopMAM, Am. Nat. Hist., I, 248, pl., 1828.

Fossil Ox, CARPENTER, Amer. Journ. Sci. & Arts, 2d Ser., I, 245, figs. 1, 2, 1846; 3d Ser., X, p. 386,
1875.

? Ox, CourER, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1842, 217.

Beuf fossile & cornes disposces presque horizontalement, etc., Fausas, Ann. du Mus., II, 190, 1803; Essais

de Géolovie, I. 329, pl. xvii (only the reference to the American specimen).

The present species of Bison seems to be well distinguished from all others
of the genus, either living or extinct, by its gigantic size, far exceeding
even the Bison priscus of the Old World. Our knowledge of it rests at pres-
ent on portions of three skulls. Other remains have been attributed to it,
but most of them apparently improperly. For a long time the species was
known only from the original specimen first made known by Peale, and sub-
sequently redescribed by Harlan and Leidy, under the names respectively of
Bos lalifrons and Bison latifrons. The second specimen was found in Texas
and described by Dr. Carpenter in 1846, simply as the skull of an extinct
ox. Dr. Leidy subsequently referred it to the Bison latifrons. The third
specimen, consisting of a pair of horn-cores, found together but disconnected,
was recently dug up in Adams County, Ohio, and was first noticed in
the American Journal of Science (November, 1875), as the remains of a
gigantic extinct ox. Dr. Leidy has described and figured at different times
several molar teeth that seem to have belonged to the same species, but
other remains latterly doubtfully attributed to the same form belong to a
smaller species.

Dr. Leidy’s very excellent description of the first specimen is as follows:
“The Bison latifrons is established upon the fragment of cranium before re-
ferred to, presented by Dr. Samuel Brown to the American Philosophical
Society. The specimen consists of the hinder portion of the cranium with
a fragment fourteen inches in length of the left horn-core, and indicates a
species as large as the existing arnee, or buffalo (Budalus buffelus Gray), of
India and Java. The sutures of the remaining bones of the specimen are
anchylosed; but the positions of the frontal and fronto-parietal sutures
are yet distinguishable as slightly elevated zigzag lines. The form of

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 9

the cranial fragment with its attached portion of horn-core is almost a
repetition of the corresponding part of the skull of the buffalo. The base
of the horn-core is situated five inches in a curved line outwards and for-
wards, or two inches and a half in a straight line, in advance of the position
of the occipito-parictal crest. The forehead is slightly more flat antero-
posteriorly than in the buffalo, arising from the occipito-parietal crest being
a little less below its level. The lateral margins of the inion are broken
away in the specimen, but the remaining portion exhibits the same appear-
ances in detail as the buffalo, though in an exaggerated degree correspond-
ing to its much greater size. The base of the specimen is very much broken,
but that which is preserved indicates the form to have been the same as in
the last-mentioned animal. The occipital condyles are alike in both, and,
at their anterior part, advance in a concave manner to the posterior muscular
protuberances of the basilar process. Between the condyles and paramas-
toid, a large deep fossa exists, having at its inner side the foramen condy-
loideum. The foramen magnum occipitis is slightly wider than high, being
two inches one line by one inch eleven lines. The basilar process in the
fossil, at its posterior muscular protuberances, is four inches wide and two
inches and a quarter at those joining the body of the sphenoid. The os
tympanica has been large and inflated, as in the buffalo, and a portion of one
glenoid articulation remaining in the specimen presents the same form as in
the latter.”
The additional measurements given by Dr. Leidy are as follows : —

Breadth of forehead between the bases of the horn-cores, 15 inches, or 380 mm.
Height of the inion from the upper edge of the occipital foramen, 54 inches, or 140 mm.
Circumference of the horn-core at its base, 20} inches, or 520 mm.

66

« ten inches from its base, 174 inches, or 445 mm.

This specimen is still in the museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia. Through the kindness of the curators of the Museum I was
enabled recently to examine the specimen at my leisure. I found the cir-
cumference of the horn-core fourteen inches from the base (the point at
which it is broken off) to be sixteen inches, or only four inches and a half less
than at the base, and three and a half inches less than at ten inches from
the base. Mr. Peale, in his description of the same specimen nearly three

fourths of a century avo, expressed his belief that “the horn itself could not

have been less than six feet in length,” and thought it “a reasonable con-

10 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

jecture that the buffalo to which it belonged was about ten or eleven feet
high.” *

The least breadth of the forehead (at the narrowest point between the
orbits and horn-cores) is fifteen inches, or about two inches greater than the
corresponding measurement of old males of Bison americanus. The occipital
condyles show that the skull would require an atlas having an articular cup
with a transverse axis of not less than seven and a half to eight inches, or
more than two inches (more than one third) greater than that of the fossil
atlas from Darien, Georgia, doubtfully referred by Dr. Leidy to Bison latyfrons.
If referable to that species it must be considered as having belonged to a
female, the skull above described being undoubtedly that of a male.

The second skull referable to Bison latifrons is that described by Dr. Car-
penter from the banks of the Brazos River, near San Felipe, Texas. Dr.
Carpenter’s description is as follows : —

“ Fossil Ox.—This specimen consists of the frontal bone, with portions of
the bony nuclei of the horns. The frontal portion of the orbit of one eye
is nearly entire; the margins of the other are broken. None of the bones
of the lower portions of the head are left, being replaced by a conglomerate
mass of sand and pebbles. ... . The frontal bone is nearly plane ante-
riorly, and the horns arise laterally from a level with this plane; but the
bone bulges about two and one half inches in the occipital portion above the
horns, as shown in the figure.” The figure is a rude wood-cut, representing
the specimen “ one sixteenth its linear dimensions.”

According to Dr. Carpenter’s measurements this specimen nearly equalled
in size the one described by Dr. Leidy. The circumference of the horn-cores
at the base was seventeen inches, or about three and a half inches less, if
measured actually around the base of the horn-core and not around the neck
of the horn-core. This measurement in Dr. Leidy’s specimen is only eighteen
inches, or one inch greater than the measurement given by Dr. Carpenter.
The circumference of the horn-core of Carpenter’s specimen, at the distance
of eighteen inches from the base, is given as fourteen and a half inches,
which indicates a size at this point fully as great as Dr. Leidy’s specimen
could have had. In Dr. Carpenter's specimen considerable portions of the
horn-cores were still attached to the skull, namely, eighteen inches of the left
horn-core and two feet of the right horn-core. “The bones of the horns,”

says Dr. Carpenter, “are nearly round, and they have a slight curvature

* Historical Disquisition on the Mammoth, etc., pp. 84, 85.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. ii

upwards and forwards (sic) [backward, as shown in the figure]; and when
entire the bony parts must have measured, at a reasonable estimate, about
four feet; and allowing the increase in length by the addition of the horny
parts to have been only a foot, it would give a probable distance between the
tips of the horns to be at least eleven feet.”

Dr. Carpenter also figures “the second true molar of the left upper jaw,”
found with the skull but not attached to it, which measured along the crown
one inch and six tenths by one inch and two tenths. The specimen, how-
ever, is too much worn to show any distinctive features. In size it corre-
sponds with the teeth from Natchez, Mississippi, described by Dr. Leidy.

The third specimen of cranial remains thus far known to me as unques-
tionably referable to the Bison latifrons consists of two nearly perfect horn-
cores, with small fragments of the frontal bones attached. These remains
were exhumed about three years since, in Adams County, Ohio, in digging
in the gravel on Brush Creek, preparatory to laying the abutments of a
bridge, and were first brought to the notice of the scientific world by Dr.
O. D. Norton, to whom I am indebted for a small photograph of them, and
for the subjoined measurements. They were found about eighteen feet below
the surface with remains of the mastodon, and are now in the museum of
the Natural History Society of Cincinnati. These horn-cores are nearly
entire (see Plate I), lacking only a little of the apical portions, and give

the following measurements : —

Total length measured along the upper or concave side, 82 inches, or 813 mm.
c c S lower or convex side, 34 inches, or 853 mm.
Circumference at base, 20 inches, or 510 mm.
« ten inches from the base, 16 inches, or 407 mm.
: fourteen inches from the base, 144 inches, or 368 mm.
« twenty-four inches from the base, 94 inches, or 240 mm.

Width of skull between bases of horn-cores (estimated), 16 inches, or 407 mm.

They thus about equal in size the specimens above described, and undoubt-
edly represent the same species. They indicate also a species so immensely
superior in size to the Bison priscus of the Old World as to leave little reason
for questioning their distinctness. The largest specimens of the latter rarely
exceed a breadth of three to three and a half feet between the tips of the
horn-cores, while the same breadth in Bison latifrons must have exceeded
twice those dimensions, with proportionally greater thickness. If the proxi-

mal two feet of the horn-core were to be removed, the remaining portion

12 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

would just about equal in length and thickness the average size of the horn-
cores of the adult male of either the aurochs or the American bison.

Several teeth that apparently belong to this species have been described
by Dr. Leidy, together with some that represent a smaller species. The five
molar teeth from Natchez, Mississippi, found in association with the remains
of Mastodon, Equus, Ursus, Cervus, Megalonyx, and Mylodon, are the largest teeth
belonging to any known species of Bison, being considerably larger than those
of Bison priscus described by H. von Meyer, from Mannheim, Germany, as
well as much larger than those from California, which are referable to the
species next described in the present paper. The specimens from Natchez
Dr. Leidy thus describes: “In the upper molars the external side exhibits six
folds, relatively not more prominent than in the common ox. Internally,
between the principal lobes, the accessory column is very well developed and
robust. The crescentic enamel pits or islands of the grinding surface are
more simple than in the ox, and appear relatively more capacious as a result
of their greater simplicity or less degree of inversion of the sides of the pits
[a difference common to all the members of the bison group, as compared
with the representatives of the restricted genus Bos]. The last lower molar
also presents a well-developed accessory column between the anterior pair of
the principal lobes externally, and in the worn-down specimen, upon the trit-
urating surface forms a correspondingly larger fold. In the unworn speci-
men the summit of the posterior lobe bifurcates anteriorly, one portion
joining the postero-internal fold of the middle lobe, the other the postero-
external angle of the same lobe.”

These are the only teeth thus far described that seem to me to be referable
to the Bison latifrons. ‘Those described by Dr. Leidy, from California,* evi-
dently belong to the smaller western form (Bison antiquus), of which Dr.
Leidy has also figured and described the skull. The tooth from Pittston,
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania,t found with remains of Mastodon americanus
and Equus major, seems to wholly lack the accessory column, judging from the
figure, “the oval islet” being apparently mot formed by the wearing down of
the accessory column. In other respects the tooth also resembles the corre-
sponding tooth of Ovibos, and it seems to me is undoubtedly referable to the
extinct musk-ox and not to any form of Bison. It is in any case too small
for a tooth of Bison latifrons.

* Ext. Vert. Fauna, ete., p. 254, pl. xxviii, figs. 6, 7.
{ Ibid., p. 255, pl. xxviii, fig. 8.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 13

The tooth from the lead-bearing crevices of Elizabeth, Jo Daviess County,
Illinois,* is undoubtedly, it appears to me, a tooth of Bison americanus, as Dr.
Leidy himself deemed “not improbable.”

A second upper premolar tooth from the post-pliocene beds of the Ashley
River, South Carolina,t is described by Dr. Leidy as presenting “nothing
characteristically different from the corresponding tooth of the recent bison,”
but is provisionally referred by him to Bison latifrons. It is, however, not
larger than the corresponding tooth of Bison americanus, and it seems to me
may have belonged to this species, or—and perhaps with greater proba-
bility —to the domestic ox, other remains identified as such by Dr. Leidy
having been found in the same beds. +

The bison remains from Darien, Georgia, consisting of an atlas, part of a
humerus, a tibia and a metatarsal bone, referred by Dr. Leidy to Bison lat-
frons, nearly correspond in size with the remains of the smaller extinct bison
from the ice-cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay and California, and are hence too small
to belong to the male of the large Bison latifrons, but they may. perhaps be
regarded as representing the female of that species. The atlas is one third
too small to fit the condyles of the original specimen of B. dadifrons. Since,
however, the Georgia remains indicate an animal about one tenth larger
than the species represented by the remains from Eschscholtz Bay, described
by Dr. Richardson’ they are here provisionally referred to Bison latifrons,
although it seems almost equally probable that they may belong to B. anti
quus. The following detailed description and the accompanying measure-
ments and figures (see Plate II) will perhaps aid in determining the
matter whenever additional material is discovered.

The atlas from Georgia is a little larger than the largest atlas described
by Richardson, and referred by him to his Bison crassicornis ; it, however,
closely resembles it in form, apparently not differing more from it than
atlases of different individuals of the same species often differ. There is
only one important discrepancy, namely, the length of the centrum measured
on the dorsal aspect, which is disproportionately short, being scarcely longer
than that of a female B. americanus. Neither the Georgia specimen nor that
referred by Richardson to B. crassicornis differs much in form or proportions
from the atlas of Bison americanus, though materially in some respects from
that of Bison bonasus. All the atlases of the bisons of which measurements

* Ext. Vert. Fauna, etc., p. 355, pl. xxxvii, fig. 4.

t Holmes’s Post-pliocene Fossils, p. 109, pl. xvii, figs. 15, 16.
# Wbid:, p. 110.

14 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

are given in the subjoined table differ from the atlases of domestic cattle
in the very much greater size of the articular cup, and in the form of the
pleurapophyses or “wings” of the atlas.

TABLE I.*

MEASUREMENTS OF ATLASES.

a 2 3 4 5 6 a | 8

i | See
Transverse axis of = of articular cup Fo oe 133] 137) 133) 128) 115) 117) 1168) 113

Giermo- dorsal ce ee: 70 65 62| 60 54 57 61 58

Transv eo axis - a ati SUINACE =. 136] 126) 130] 119} 112} 102) 128) 114

Greates e breadth of atlas... .-......-...5...... 940 215) 227) 200|...., 170, 237) 204

ein eomiih Semanal ce ne a a atlis.:.-.:-. TOO, FO. 116) 96). 2) So 105) 97

Greatest length near the lateral edge of wing.....-..------ 127) 120) 130\ 1151 | 110) 135) 116

Lengt sth of centr, mesial line of sor aspect Sek ee 59) 51) 50} 55} 54) 50) 53) 47
TSA Oe es ee S84. 58 © 60...) 66 @4)....

* The measurements in this and all the following tables are given in millimetres.

Explanation of Table I.
Bison latifrons. Darien, Georgia.
Bison “crassicornis.” Eschscholtz Bay. (Measurements from Richardson.)
Bison bonasus. Large adult male. (M. C. Z. No. 165.)
Bison americanus. Large old male. (M.C. Z. No. 10.)
Bison “priscus?” Eschscholtz Bay. (No. 24,576 of Richardson.)
Bison americanus. Adult female. (M. C. Z. No. 105.)
Old domestic bull.
Domestic ox. (Measurements from Richardson.)

on oaunr ONE

From the above table it will be seen that the Georgia specimen is the
largest of the series; that the atlas of B. “ crassicornis” is next in size, while
that of B. bonasus is third, though exceeding in some of its proportions either
of the above-named specimens; the latter differs more from them in its pro-
portions than does the atlas of the male B. americanus. This, though fourth
in size, corresponds quite nearly in form with the fossil specimens. The atlas
of B. bonasus has a considerably greater sterno-dorsal thickness than either
of the others. The atlas of Richardson’s “ Bison priscus ?” it will be noticed,
corresponds very nearly in size with that of the female of B. americanus, being
apparently a little smaller, while from Richardson’s measurements and descrip-
tion it seems to differ but slightly from it in form. All the parts referred
by Richardson to his “B. priscus?” except the skull (No. 24,589 of Richard-
son) and a horn-core (No. 105 of Richardson) correspond in size with similar
parts of Bison americanus, and seem not to differ essentially in any point

from them.

aia

“ene ours

REP ea eiR ea ors

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 19

The imperfect humerus from Georgia is rather larger (about one tenth)
than the humerus from Eschscholtz Bay referred by Dr. Richardson to his
Bison crassicorus, as shown by Dr. Leidy’s measurements. The tibia has
also about the same proportional size as the humerus.

The metatarsal bone from Georgia is also a little stouter than the meta-
tarsal attributed by Dr. Richardson to Bison crassicorms, though of about the
same length, but, as shown by the subjoined table of measurements, neither
differs much in size from the corresponding part of a large old male aurochs,
all of which much exceed in size the metatarsal of an old very large male
Bison americanus.

TABLE Il.

MrasureMents or Meratarsau Bones.

1 2|3 4,516 7\8 5
ee length (2 ee 268) 264) 266) 256) 264} 243] 256 288 “970
test transver se ee of . oximalend.......... 63) 65) 66) 57| 5¢| 44) 68\.... 2.
Ge oe ero-posterior diameter of proximal end..... 61, 62] GO| 55) 50) 40) 63)....|....
Transverse ae ee sha. + Bhi in. from proximal end..| 39) 44| 46] 35; 37, 25] 43/....| 45
Antero-posterior diam. of hale 3h i in. from pro vos end| 39) 44) 35) 40) 39) 28) 42.....|....
Circumference of shaft 34 in. from proximal end....... 142} 145} 130] 124) 133) 92) 147] 130

Explanation of Table Il.

Bison “crassicornis.” “No. 78” of Richardson.

No

. Bison latifrons. Dr. Leidy’s specimen, Darien, Georgia.
Bison bonasus. Large old male. (M. C. Z. No. 165.)
Bison americanus. Large old male. (M. C. Z. No. 10)

a PP Oo

Bison americanus. Specimen (fossil?) from Dubuque, Iowa. (See Wyman, in Whitney’s Rep. on the
Upper Mississippi Lead Region, p. 421.)

Bison americanus. Adult female. (M. C. Z. No. 1735.)

Domestic Bull, “ Baron of Oxford.”

. Bison priscus. Specimen from Clacton, England. Professor Owen’s measurements.

oO OI a

Bison “ bonasus.” “ Sub-fossil” specimen from Lilljeborg’s measurements.

The fragment of a ramus from Georgia is the only portion of the lower
jaw‘ supposed to belong to any of the extinct American bisons thus far
described. The teeth in this fragment being very much worn and their
original characters thereby disguised, the specimen was at first referred to
the genus Sus, and was subsequently made the basis of a new genus for a
Supposed new “ tapiroid pachyderm.” Still later it was determined by Dr.
Leidy to belong to an extinct bison, being referred by him to Bison

16 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

latifrons. Its size, however, as given by Dr. Harlan,* shows it to have been
of about the size of or at least not larger than corresponding parts of Duson
antiquus from California.

As already remarked, the horn-cores of Bison datifrons have fully twice the
dimensions of the largest horn-cores of Bison priscus of Europe, this dis-
crepancy at once indicating the two species to be animals possessing very
diverse characters. In the subjoined table is given in a single comparative
view the measurements of the skulls and cranial fragments.of all the forms
of fossil bisons thus far described, which in the present paper are referred to
three species, namely, Bison antiquus, Bison priscus, and Bison latifrons. The
first-named is the smallest, with relatively small, short, much curved, and
abruptly conoidal horns; the second is but little larger, apparently, in
general size, but has somewhat longer, less curved, slenderer, and ‘more
gradually tapering horns; the third is apparently considerably larger even
than the second, with immensely greater horn-cores, which when covered
by the horns must have had a spread at the tip of between ten and twelve
feet.

TABLE III.

MEASUREMENTS OF SKULLS OF ExTINcT Brsons.

Bison . . Bison
antiquus. Bison priscus. latifrons.
11\2,814'5'61,7'18/9 oe 12/13 /14|15 |16|17|18/19

ae ores of premaxillee to occipi-

tal col s.c| .. | 646] 649] 651 ..-| | |e) we) esi) | | O80) ae

ee 6 00 Occipital crest... |) <-. (S48) 9.0). (9828) see) eel veel 8) cel eel one] eee ee S08 288). eles] cee
Width 2. ae a at narrowest part .

(between orbits and horn-cores).. oleae et el ee OO ee
ne oe ween edges of the one ...| 420] ...| 365/ 360] 369] ...| 374] 379] 341| 340| ...| 351] 368| 380) ...| ...) ---] ...
Distance between bases of horn-cores..}| ...| 332] 380] 383] 355] 303] 360) 437] 404| 307 309| 356| 366| 379, 350) ...| 413) ...| 407
Width of occipu ;--| 882) ...| ...| 297| 292] 269) 291! 310 J70\.. «| 281 i pec were cel eae
Leng f horn-cores, upper side...... ...| 338] ...| ...| 514] 564) 759] 546] 487] 592| 496/2738) 532) 465 ASON ene oss ioe | 2013
Circumference of horn-cores at ba 370| 360] 380] 391] 380] 415] 417| 364| 382) 377] 375] 418) 373] 389 350) ...| 520) 497) 510
Distance between extreme tips of ie n- |

cores . ...| 900] 936] ...|1058) 996, 1382/1236'1032) 1034} 992/1066) 1068 QsiU WUE SE a clcecll anal) Gor
Length of nasals ...-........-seeseeeee eel pool eal) OPIN OPP) coal Gaclk oscil ec dlesscc |) Geol Gul Soul gua ices
Length of Le series of maxilla ...... Bec cool ree ons 188, oie

Explanation of Table III.

1. Bison antiquus Leidy. Big-bone Lick specimen.

2: Bison antiquus. Specimen from California described by Dr. Leidy.

3. Bison antiquus. California. Measurements communicated by Dr. J. G. Cooper.

4. Bison priscus Meyer. Specimen from Bjersjohlm, Scania. Measurements from Nilsson, as quoted
by Dr. Richardson.

* Amer, Journ. Sci. Vol. XLII, p. 148, 1842.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 1%

5. Bison priscus. Specimen from Sandhofen, Province of Mannheim. Measurements from Meyer’s
Ueber fossile Reste von Ochsen (Nov. Act. Acad. Nat. Cur., Vol. XIID), No. 7 of Meyer’s Memoir.
6. Bison priscus. Specimen from Pavia, on the Po. No. 8 of Meyer’s Memoir (1. c.).
7. Bison priscus. Believed to be from Hungary. No. 9 of Meyer’s Memoir (1. c.).
8. Bison priscus. Banks of the Rhine near Erfelden. No. 10 of Meyer’s Memoir (1. c.).
9-15. Bison priscus. Banks of the Rhine. Nos. 11-16 of Meyer’s Memoir (1. c.).
16. Bison priscus. Cast of specimen from Austrian Italy, in the Museum of Parma. (No. 1199 of
Ward's Series of Casts.)
17. Bison latifrons Leidy. Peale’s original specimen.
18. Bison latifrons. San Felipe, Texas. Specimen described by Dr. Carpenter.
19. Bison latifrons. Adams County, Ohio. Measurements communicated by Dr. O. D. Norton.

Synonymy and Nomenclature. — By European writers the remains of the ex-
tinct bisons found in North America have been always referred to the Bison
priscus of the Old World. Dr. Leidy, who is almost the only American
author who has written about them, has always viewed them as not only
distinct from the European, but has at different times regarded them as
belonging to several different , species.

The first specific systematic name, however, bestowed upon any species
of extinct bison was that of (atifrons, given by Dr. Harlan (see the pre-
ceding table of synonymy) in 1825. The specimen described by Harlan
was the now historic one described first by Peale, and subsequently by
Cuvier and Leidy; but Harlan adds, “ Similar fossil skulls have been found
in Europe, on the borders of the Rhine, near to Cracovie, in Bohemia,” etc.
Previously the remains of the fossil bisons had all been universally referred
to the aurochs (Bison bonasus Gray), although in this same year Cuvier, in
the third edition of his “ Ossemens Fossiles,” admitted the fossil bison as a
third species, without, however, giving it a distinctive name.* Two years
later Bojanus applied to the extinct bisons, including the American, the spe-

cific name of priscus (Urus priscus).t

* Dans ma premiere édition, j’avois considéré les cranes fossiles d’Europe comme appartenant 4 l’aurochs
ordinaire, et ceux de Sibérie comme provenant d’une espéce perdue; maintenant que j’ai reconnu les uns
et les autres pour étre de la méme espéce, il s’agiroit de savoir s’ils seroient tous de laurochs; mais comme
je viens de constater aussi qu’ils ne ressemblent pas plus & Vaurochs que celui-ci ne ressemble au bison

d Amérique, et s deux animaux sont distincts par l’espéce, on ne voit pas pourquoi celui qui a produit

les grands cranes fossiles ne seroit pas d’une troisiéme espece, aussi distincte que les deux premieres, et dont
les caractéres .auroient tenu 4 d’autres parties qu’é la téte. La grandeur de ses cornes pourroit déja le
faire soupconner, car les plus vieux bisons et les plus vieux aurochs n’ont que des cornes médiocres. M.
Haequet m’écrit que les plus erands individus n’ont pas de noyaux de cornes de plus d’un pied de long.” —
Ossemens Fossiles, 3d Ed., Tome IV, p. 148.

+ Bojanus’s words are as follows: “ Quam prisci aevi terrarum etiam, a quibus hoe tempore prorsus

18 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

In 1830 Fischer also gave the name Jaéifrons to a species of fossil bison
described from remains found in Siberia, which he appears to have regarded
as new, without, however, apparently being aware that the same name had
been already given to fossil bison remains from America, or that the name-
priscus had been proposed for the extinct bison of Europe, he referring to
only Cuvier’s works in his discussion of the subject.

In 1832 H. v. Meyer, recognizing the fossil bison as a species distinct from
the aurochs, gave references to the literature of the subject, and a list of the
countries in which its remains had been found. He alludes to it under the
name “ Bos ( Bison) priscus Bojanus,” referring it for the first time to Hamilton-
Smith’s “subgenus ”’ Bison. Meyer appears also to have been the first author
who associated the name priscus with either Bos or Bison. Neither of these
generic terms were used by Bojanus in connection with the specific name
priscus, although Bojanus is almost invariably cited as the author of this
association.*

Owen, in 1843, used the name Urus, in a generic sense, for the bison,
without reference, however, to Bojanus, Owen employing it in this sense
entirely independently of any previous author.

In 1842 Dr. Harlan referred a fragment of jaw, having very much
worn teeth, found in digging the Brunswick Canal, Georgia, to the genus
Sus, believing it to represent a new species of that genus, which he called
_ Sus americanus. The same specimen was afterwards referred to Lopliodon by
Professor Owen, who still later regarded it as forming a new genus, which he

abest, indigenam, Rhinocerotis staturae belluam. Uri prisci nomine, aliis auctoribus iam recepto, desig-
namus.”—WNov. Act. Acad. Nat. Curios, Vol. XII, Part ii, p. 427. ‘The date usually quoted for Bojanus’s
name of priscus is 1825, which is the date of writing ; the volume is dated 1827.

* The phraseology used by Bojanus, as already shown, was “Urus priscus,” but only once have I been
able to find the name Urus priscus Bojanus given among the synonymes of any species of Bison. Meyer,
in 1832, wrote “Bos (Bison) priscus Bojanus,” and in 1835, simply “Bos priscus Bojanus,” evidently citing
Bojanus as the authority for only the specific name. In 1846 Owen, in his synonymy (Brit. Fossil Mam.
and Birds, p. 491) of Bison priscus, wrote “ Bos (Bison) priscus Bojanus, Nov. Act. Acad. Nat. Cur., t.
XU”! In 1854 Richardson said, “ Bojanus, in 1825, bestowed the name of Bos (Bison) priscus on the
fossil species ” (Zool. Voy. Herald, p. 31), while Dr. J. E. Gray, in 1852, in his synonymy of the genus
Bison, cites “ Bison Bojanus, N. Act. Acad. Nat. Cur., XIII”; but Bojanus, as above stated, did not use
the word Bison at all in a generic sense in the article in question. Lilljeborg is the only author who has, so
far as I have seen, given the references to Bojanus properly. In his Fauna éfver Sveriges och Norges
Ryggradsdjur (Upsala, 1874), p. 877, under Bos bonasus Linné, he cites Bojanus as follows: “ Urus
nosiras L. H. Bosanus. De uro nostrate ejusque sccleto, Commentatio; Nova Acta Physico-Medica
Acad. Caesar. Leop. Carol. Nat. Curios., T. XIII, pars Ida, pag. 413, — 1827.” He also gives “ Urus

priscus, IDEM: ibm, pag. 427.”

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 19

named Harlanus, and considered it as a form allied to the tapiroid pachy-
derms. In 1854 Dr. Leidy accidentally came across the same specimen, and
found it to be not only not suiline but to belong to “a true ruminant, and
this the Bison latifrons.” *

In 1846 Professor Owen ¢ wrote respecting the affinities of the fossil bison
with the aurochs as follows: “The remains of the ancient European bisons
attest their larger size, and larger and somewhat less bent horns than are

manifested by the individuals of the present race, but no satisfactory specific
distinction has been detected in the fossils compared with the bones of the .
Lithuanian aurochs.” Later, after comparing the bones of the existing
wild aurochs with “those of the fossil aurochs,’ and pointing out the observ-
able differences, he says: “ Admitting with Cuvier, that such characters are
neither constant nor proper for the distinction of species, we may recognize
in the confined sphere of existence to which the aurochs has been progres-
sively reduced, precisely the conditions calculated to produce a general loss
of size and strength, and a special diminution of the weapons of offence and
defence. I cannot perceive, therefore, any adequate ground for abandoning
the conclusion to which I had arrived from a study of the less perfect mate-
rials available to that end, before the arrival of the entire skeleton of the
Lithuanian aurochs, namely, that this species was contemporary with the
mammoth, the tichorhine rhinoceros, and other extinct mammals of the plio-
cene period.” ¢

Professor Nilsson, in 1847, also considered the fossil and living aurochs as
one and the same species; the living aurochs differing from the extinct
form mainly (as he believed) in its smaller size, he regarded as the degener-
ate descendant of the fossil aurochs. M. Gervais,§ a year or two later, also
took substantially the same view, referring the B. priscus of authors to the
B. bonasus Linn.

Dr. Leidy in 1852 considered the remains of the large extinct bison
found in America as specifically distinct from the European, to which
view he seems to have ever since adhered. He also at this time referred
another specimen, which from its size seemed to represent a smaller animal,
to a second species, which he called Bison antiquus. This he has since

* Proc. Acad. Nat. Sciences, Phila., 1854.

+ Hist. British Fossil Mammals and Birds, p- 493.
i Ubid., p. 515,

§ Zool. et Paléont. Frangaises, I, 73, 1848 - 1852.

20 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

regarded as only the female of B. datifrons, although as late as 1873 he deemed
the question as to the number of species of American fossil oxen as not sat-
isfactorily settled.*
Sir John Richardson, in 1854, in his report on the bison remains from
Eschscholtz Bay, expressed himself as inclined to believe in a greater num-
ber of fossil species of bison than previous writers had been willing to admit.
He had convinced himself, he says, that in the collections from Eschscholtz
Bay were “remains of one, and perhaps two, species of the bison type,
related as closely to the American bison as to the aurochs.’ Again he says
that some of the remains more closely resemble corresponding parts of the
American bison than the aurochs, though differing decidedly from both, and
inclines to the opinion that what he calls “ Bison priscus ?”’ together with the
remains from Big-bone Lick, Dr. Leidy had described and referred doubtfully
to Bison americanus, should be regarded as a distinct species and receive a
new name. The remains from Big-bone Lick referred to by Richardson
prove, however, to belong unquestionably to Bison americanus. The larger
specimens from Eschscholtz Bay Richardson regarded as belonging to a
species distinct from any that had been previously described, to which he
gave the name Bison crassicornis. Most authors have since regarded these
larger specimens as representing only the female of B. datifrons,—a view
| | wholly untenable, as sufficiently shown in the preceding pages.
| In 1854 Dr. Leidy recognized five species of bisons from America as more
or less well established, namely: 1. Bison americanus (recent and_ fossil).
2. Bison latifrons. 38. Bison priscus? Richardson. 4. Bison crassicornis Rich-
ardson. 5. Bison antiquus Leidy. Later, however, as already noticed, he
referred his own B. antiquus, and also B. crassicornis, to B. latifrons. In 1869
he recognized Bison priscus as distinct from B. latifrons, referring to the for-
mer the remains from Eschscholtz Bay, doubtfully referred by Richardson to
B. priscus. In 1873, however, as already stated, he considered the question
as to the number of species of American fossil bisons as still unsettled.

All European writers of note have always regarded the American and Old
World fossil bison remains as pertaining to one and the same species.
Recent authorities, particularly Professor L. Riitimeyer and Dr. J. F. Brandt,
as previously noticed, have regarded this fossil species as the immediate pro-
genitor of the European aurochs and the American bison, Brandtt at the

* Contr. to Ext. Vertebrates, Fauna, etc., p. 253.
+ Zoogeos. und Paleont. Beitrige, pp. 101-152 (Verhandl. mineral. Gesells. St. Petersburg, I, 1865).

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 21

same time regarding all the bisons, recent and fossil, as belonging to the
same species!

Lilljeborg, in 1874, also very strangely referred. all the bisons, both living
and extinct, to the Bos bonasus of Linnzeus, ignoring alike the prominent osteo-
logical as well as external features that distinguish the aurochs from the
American bison, and the enormous differences that distinguish the Bison dati-
frons Leidy, not only from both the B. americanus and B. bonasus, but also
from the other extinct species, B. priscus and B. antiquus, —a thing he could
not have done had he worked from specimens or duly weighed the published

evidence.

BISON ANTIQUUS Lerpy.
The Smaller Extinct American Bison.

Bos urus BucKuanp, Beechey’s Voy. to the Pacific, II, 539, pl. ili, fig. 1- 7, 1831.

Bison antiquus Lurpy, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1852, 117; 1854, 210; 1867, 85; Mem. Ext. Spee.
Amer. Ox, 11, pl. ii, fig. 1, 1852 (Smithsonian Contributions, Vol. II].

Bison priscus ? Ricuarpson, Zool. Voy. of Herald, 83, 139, pls. vi, figs. 5, 6, vii, x, figs. 1 — 6, xiii, fig.
3, 1852 — 54 (female).

Bison priscus Leipy, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1854, 210; Ext. Mam. of North America, 371, 1869
(Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., new Ser., VII).

Bison crassicornis Ricuarpson, Zool. Voy. of Herald, 40, 139, pls. ix, xi, fig. 6, xii, figs. 1-4, xiii, figs.
1, 2, xv, figs. 1-4, 1852-54 (male). — Leipy, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1854, 210.

Bison latifrons Lerpy, Mem. Ext. Spec. Amer, Ox (in part); Extinct Mam. N. Amer., 371, 1869 (in
part) ; Extinct Vertebrate Fauna, 253 (in part), pl. xxviii, figs. 4— 7, 1873.

? Fossil Ox, PErxrns, Amer. Journ. Sci., XLIT, 137, 1842.

Bison, Buffalo, Wurrney, Geol. Surv. California, Geol., I, 252, 1865.

The Bison antiquus of Dr. Leidy was first described from a fragment of horn-
core, having a small portion of the frontal bone attached, found at Big-bone
Lick, Kentucky. It was at first hesitatingly regarded as a distinct species,
Dr. Leidy having suspicions that it might prove to be the female of Bison
latifrons, and in his later notices of the group he has referred it to that
species. The fragment indicates, however, an animal of about the size of the
male of the smaller extinct bison, whose remains have thus far been found
mainly in California and Alaska, and is probably identical with the species de-
scribed by Dr. Richardson under the name Bison erassicornis, based on remains
from the ice-cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay. Of late years all these names have
been regarded by Dr. Leidy—the only author who has really given the

22 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

subject much attention — as synonymes of Bison latifrons, on the supposition
that these remains, notwithstanding other important differences than that of
size existing between them and those of the large Bison latifrons, merely repre-
sented the female of B. latifrons. With the light afforded by additional re-
mains of both forms, a different view now seems tenable, namely, that to the
smaller species are referable not only the original fragment on which B.
antiquus was based, but also other remains from California and Alaska.

Dr. Leidy’s original description of the Big-bone Lick fragment is as
follows :—

“The specimen is rather too small [a fragment] to determine positively
whether it is a distinct species or not from Bison latifrons. It did not belong
to an aged individual, as the suture is still open between the frontal bone
and that portion of the parietal which forms the upper boundary of the
temporal fossa. It belonged to a species of Bison, as indicated by the ad-
vanced position of the horn-core, and resembles more the corresponding part
in the Bison priscus of Europe, as represented by Cuvier and others, than it
does that of Bison latifrons. The horn-core is more abruptly conoidal, and
relatively more curved than in the latter. It is not improbable, however,
that the fragment may have belonged to the female of Bison latifrons. The
only characteristic measurements to be obtained from it are as follows : —

“Length of the fragmént of horn-core, 10 inches [or 255 mm. ].
Circumference on a line with the basal margin inferiorly, 144 inches [or 368 mm.].
« five inches from the basal margin superiorly 10 inches [or 255 mm.].”

In respect to the curvature of the horn-core this fragment bears a strong
resemblance to the corresponding part of Bison crassicornis of Richardson, and
also to specimens from California. So great is this resemblance that Dr.
Leidy at first referred the California form to his Bison antiquus, and the speci-
men he described (now in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia) is still thus labelled.

Dr. Leidy described the California specimen as approaching “ sufficiently
near in size and form to the corresponding “fragment of a skull from Big-
bone Lick, Kentucky, referred to Bison antiquus, that it might be regarded as
of the same species. Both probably belong,” Dr. Leidy, however, adds, “to
the female of Bison Jatifrons, as originally suggested in relation to the Big-bone
Lick fragment.”* Dr. Leidy later adds that “it [the California specimen]

* Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1867, p. 85.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 23

also sufficiently resembles the fossil from Eschscholtz Bay, described by
Buckland and Richardson, and referred by the latter to an extinct species,
with the name Dison crassicorms, to render it probable that this may have
belonged to the same species”;* and in his table of synonymy published at
this time he refers both B. antiquus and B. erassicornis to B. latifrons.

Respecting the California specimen, in a fuller account of it published
later, with figures,t Dr. Leidy also says: “The specimen resembles the cor-
responding part of the skull of the living buffalo (Dison americanus) so closely
that it will be unnecessary to describe it in detail. Besides being larger,
the horn-cores are especially disproportionately larger, and are more trans-
verse in their direction, or are less inclined backward. The occiput appears
proportionately wider and lower from the less degree of prominence of its
summit. The latter is, however, wider, and is more distinctly defined from
the posterior occipital surface by the rougher and more prominent protu-
berance of attachment for the nuchal ligament. The occipital foramen is
no larger than in the buffalo, and the notch below, between the condyles,
is more contracted. The forehead, near its middle, is rather more protuber-
ant than in the buffalo.” At this time he very properly deemed the material
insufficient to determine whether the remains from this continent of “large
oxen which were contemporaneous with the American mastodon,” and which
had been referred to several distinct species, really pertain to more than one.
He, however, still inclined to the opinion of the specific unity of all the
forms; “the more robust specimens,” he says again, “ probably belonged to
males, and the smaller ones to females.” t

This view, however, as already stated, seems to me untenable, the fossil
bison remains thus far known apparently indicating two quite.distinct extinct
species of bison in North America, the larger very much exceeding in size,
and doubtless otherwise differing from Bison priscus of Europe and Asia, and
the other of about the size of Bison priscus, but differing from it in important
features, and closely resembling in many points the bisons still existing.

The Bison crassicorms of Richardson was based on “ the fragment of a skull
brought home by Captain Beechey, and figured by Dr. Buckland in pl. iii,
fig. 1,”§ and “referred by him [Beechey] to Bos urus, by which is meant,’

* Ext. Mam. of North America, p. 373, 1869.

t Ext. Vert. Faun., p. 253, pl. xxviii, figs. 4, 5, 1873.
t Ibid, p. 253.

§ Beechey’s Voyage to the Pacific, Vol. IL.

24 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

says Richardson, “the aurochs, or Bison priscus of more recent paleon-
tologists.”* To this form Dr. Richardson referred also a large horn-core,
an atlas, several other cervical, dorsal, and lumbar vertebrae, a sacrum,
parts of several innominate bones, two humeri, several radii, several im-
perfect femora, and several metatarsals, chiefly on account of their large
size. These remains, together with other bison remains of smaller size, were
all from the ice-cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay, the smaller remains of this-collec-
tion being provisionally referred by Dr. Richardson to “ Bison priscus?” The
remains referred to Bison crassicornis are described in great detail by Dr.
Richardson (the more important of which are also figured), and seem to
differ in no important particular (except in being somewhat larger) from
the corresponding parts of Bison americanus. Many of the slight differences
he points out as existing between his Bison crassicornis and B. priscus? relate
only to what would normally be included within the range of individual
and sexual variation of representatives of the same species. All of the
remains of his “ Bison priscus?” are smaller, with perhaps the exception of
the fragment of a skull (No. 24,589 of Richardson’s work, figured in his
plate vii), than the corresponding parts of the male of Bison americanus,
some, perhaps of not fully grown individuals, being not larger even than
the corresponding parts of the female of that species. The differences exist-
ing between the remains referred by Richardson to “B. priscus?” and « B.
crassicorms” are not greater than those that obtain between the two sexes of
Bison americanus ; hence it seems possible that all of the bison remains
described, from Eschscholtz Bay may belong to one and the same species,
the larger representing the male and the smaller the female, of the form
Richardson named Bison erassicornis, which is very probably the same as the
B. antiquus of Leidy, and to which the California bison remains may be at
least provisionally referred.

To the same form I at first referred with much hesitation the bison
remains recently discovered by Mr. Dall and others in Alaska. As these
pages are passing through the press an imperfect skull} from the vicinity
of St. Michael’s, Alaska, has also come to hand which seems to confirm the

* Zool. of Voy. of Herald, as cited above.
+ Received for examination from the California Academy of Sciences and labelled “ Bison americanus,
St. Michael’s, Alaska, presented by the Alaska Commercial Company.” It is wholly unmineralized, and

presents merely a weathered appearance, looking as a specimen might after only a few years’ exposure to

the elements.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 25

correctness of this reference. This specimen (see Plate IV) embraces the
upper surface of the skull except the nasal bones, but lacks the occipital and
lower surfaces, including the teeth and the greater portion of the maxille.
It belonged to a rather young or middle-aged animal, in which the sutures
had not closed. This specimen is remarkable for the flatness of the frontal
region, which is not elevated above the plane of the base of the horn-cores.
As this degree of flatness is nearly equalled in recent specimens of B. ameri-
canus, among which the range of variation in respect to the convexity of the
frontal region is very great, it forms a difference of no great importance.
The only prominent difference between it and corresponding specimens of
B. americanus, is in the disproportionately large size of the horn-cores. The
general dimensions of the skull (see Table IV) are not larger than those of
large old male specimens of B. americanus, but the horn-cores are one third to
nearly one half longer and proportionately thicker. The horn-core of a
bison from the Tatlo River, Alaska, obtained by Mr. Dall, almost exactly
corresponds in size with the one from St. Michael’s (compare columns 8 and
7 of Table IV). They agree also very nearly in size with the specimens
doubtfully referred by Dr. Richardson to Bison priscus (see columns 1 and 2
of Table IV). They differ from Richardson’s B. erassicorms very much as
the female of that species might be expected to differ from the other sex.
There are in Alaska certainly the two forms, which may be only male and
female of one and the same species, or quite distinct species, the smaller of
which would present an almost exactly half-way link between the larger B.
“erassicorms”’ of Richardson and the existing B. americanus. If there are two
species we as yet know only the males of each, and it therefore seems more
reasonable to regard the two forms as different sexes of the same species.
Considering the above-mentioned remains as conspecific they seem to in-
dicate a species of much larger size than the existing American bison, but
one not essentially differing from it in form. The older and larger is most
evidently the direct and not very remote progenitor of the existing Ameri-

can bison.

Its affinities are perhaps also as close with the existing aurochs as with
the latter. The chief differences, so far as its few known remains will permit
one to judge, between the species here recognized as Bison antiquus and the
existing species of bison, consist in its larger general size, and in the dispro-
portionately larger size of its horn-cores. As shown by the following table
of comparative measurements of the horn-cores and skulls of all the hitherto

26 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

described species of Bison, it apparently differs but little in size from the true
Bison priscus of the Old World.

TABLE IV.

MEASUREMENTS OF HoRN-CORES AND SKULLS OF EXISTING AND EXTINCT Forms or Bison.

1/2}3/4/5)6]7/s/9 20]12]22/28 |14/ 15 16
Distance from mesial plane of oo |
ut to tip of Ae horn-core. . ©. .|860/325/300/1827)3201., 10.,1890).. 470)... |... ee
Distance eee nos a n-cores 760). JGSO0Go0D6SGLOIOL7)...1...1...|.. |920 1008 .. 1... .|1932
ist. between cele. sO20ln.. (392) 300 450 a.
Least width of pore etn den
orbits and horn-cores) ...-..--|... be O1280 2600/2771 2101278)... 1. . 1... 1386)....1380|.7..)....
Greatest v vidth of occiput .....-.: 276/28 24> 24512 (3 1203|. |... 1. 832 a Saale.
L’eth of horn-core along upper side .. 270 260)210/170/196/190)...|.. ./245/.. ./336) 514)...].... 813
Circumference of horn-core at ee : ae a0. 520) 2445/*510
Cire. of horn-cores 14 in. from base “4 0| 0| 0} 0 O20) 0) 2 ) ¢ | Oo} ? j307| 307) 368

* Estimated.
Explanation of Table IV.
1. “ Bison priscus 2?” Rich. Specimen No. 24,589, Zool. Voy. of Herald, p. 35. (Measurements from

Richardson.)

2. “ Bison priscus?” Rich. Specimen No, 105, Ibid., p. 35. (Measurements from Richardson.)

Bison antiquus. ee from St. Michael's, Alaska.
Bison americanus. Big-bone Lick, Kentucky. (M.C. Z., No. 2050.) This specimen has the

Lal

largest horn-cores I have met with in any specimen of Bison americanus.
Bison americanus. Big-bone Lick, Kentucky. (M. C. Z, No. 2047.)
Bison americanus, adult male. Specimen No. 91, Mus. Comp. Zodlogy.
Bison bonasus, adult male. Specimen No. 195, Mus. Comp. Zoology.

Onan

. “Bison crassicornis,” Rich. Capt. Beechey’s specimen, Zool. Voy. of Herald, p. 41. (Measure-
ments from Richardson.)

9. “ Bison crassicornis,” Rich. Specimen No. 91,— the large horn-core figured and described by Rich-
ardson, l. c. p. 42. Said to have been somewhat reduced in size by abrasion. - (Measurements from
Richardson.)

10. Bison antiquus. ce collected by Mr. W. H. Dall on the Tatlo River, a (No. 7529 of
the National Museum).

11. Bison antiquus Leidy. Original specimen from Big-bone Lick.

12. Bison antiquus. Specimen from California, described by Dr. Leidy.

13. Bison priscus Meyer. Specimen No. 7 of Meyer’s Memoir, 1. ¢.

14. Bison latifrons Leidy. Peale’s original specimen.

15. Bison latifrons. Carpenter’s specimen from Texas.

16. Bison latifrons. Adams Co., Ohio.

From the above measurements it appears that the horn-cores of Bison
“ priscus ?” (— B. antiquus, female) are very much larger than those of even
the males of either Bison americanus or Bison bonasus, but the specimens do

not appear to be in other respects larger; the horn-cores of “ B. erassicornis”

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 27

are one fourth to one third larger than either those of B. americanus or B.
bonasus, about equalling in circumference at base those of B. priscus, but
are only about two thirds as long as those of B. priscus, In none of the
above-enumerated forms, except B. priscus, do the horns exceed a length
of ten to fourteen inches, while in B. datifrons they attain a length of nearly
three feet, or nearly twice the length of those of B. priscus with a correspondingly
greater thickness.

In the foregoing pages, in discussing the affinities of the bison remains
from Georgia, tables of comparative measurements have already been given
which include the measurements of some of the remains described by Rich-
ardson from the ice-cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay. These tables show, as already
noticed, the considerably larger size and heavier character of these remains
as compared with those of Bison americanus and Bison bonasus, and their much
smaller size (especially of the horn-cores and skull) as compared with Bison
latifrons. A few further details are here given, relating more especially to
the dentition, the lower jaw, and the metacarpal bones.

The teeth, as shown by the following table, also indicate that Bison antiquus
is intermediate in size between Bison latifrons and Bison americanus, or about

the size of Bison priscus.

TABLE V.

MpasuReMENTS oF THE MouAR TEETH.

1,/213141516 7

First upper molar, greatest eae = er of a OWN «.-....-..- 38 81) 32
erse ee ee 16

e g oe ie ASC -....-:...-- OE lo .| 29] 24
a a a e length from base of eae tO COW... (slog al cele) oy
at app or a oe ior diameter of Oe 38| 34).. 1...|.--| 39) 34
transverse = —“—i Ct Pe el lee le Le

2 2 “ © & si bes So -. 1 28|),..|...|.... 30) 26

G o «“ length from base of fangs to crown......... WOR ee

Third upper molar, BN Sale opodeiie: — “of as folie Ad| 38|......1.--| 38) 33
TAMSVEESC = |. | Otle. | 16

= “ . . are HC a] 200... || 30...
2 «= dclensth ee oe V6. le eee | 12
“ lower molar, er ees antero- -posterior diameter “of coe Fon eee ...{.--] 80] 380)..<]-..| 29
transverse ee Se) Uc

ce “ oo we ee se Be alec Po || 18
. length from base of fangs to crown ..-.-+----- ot 88
Se cond lower nolan ee ee -posterior diameter of Grown = +7 ...[+--| 89] 86/...)...) 82
oe es eee 23) 23 aoa ud

c a ce oe “« “ at a So . ee as 19
a (o Jen oth from base of fangs 40 Crown «..-----: Peleg ee ie ae eae 68]
Third lower molar, gr ee antero-poste sterior diameter of crown..--------- 52)...| 53] 51) 48]...| 42)
6 66 « 6 4 20 21) 20) 22 14

(a 66 6 a & at PASC << << cs ele lee cle eels tle le we af
Le « & “© Jength from base of fangs to crown-.--....--- GO ci eine. 69]

28 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Explanation of Table V.

Bison latifrons. Specimen from Natchez, Mississippi. (Measurements from Leidy.)

Bison antiquus. Specimen from Pilarcitas Valley, California. (Measurements from Leidy.)
Bison antiquus. Alameda County, California. (Nat. Mus., No. 8,270.)

Bison antiquus. California. (Prof. Whitney’ s Collection.)

Bison antiquus. Darien, Georgia. (Dr. Harlan’s measurements.)

Bison priscus. Specimens from Mannheim, Germany. (Measurements from Meyer.)

NO oO PWN

Bison americanus. Specimens from Big-bone Lick, Kentucky.

In the Museum of Comparative Zoélogy are two jaw fragments from Cali-
fornia belonging to Prof. J. D. Whitney. One of these is 14 mm. in length,
and contains portions of two of the premolars and of the true molars. Its
height at the last molar is but little greater than the corresponding measure- _
ment in a very large old male B. americanus (see Plate III), but its thickness
at the same point is nearly one third greater. The other fragment is
18 mm. in length and embraces the portion of the jaw between the inner
angle and the first true molar. This belonged to a much smaller animal,
perhaps a female, but is still very much larger than the corresponding part
in the largest old males of B. americanus (see Table VI).

TABLE Vi.

MEASUREMENTS OF THE LOWER JAW.

Exireme length trom tipte angle. = AQ0| sales
a at ‘the ANGIG ee ee Q00N ee eee.
lo a ee 76| 780} 800 90

first premolar 7. 0
Thickness ae mola. 23| 40) 360
second molays...-.8. 8 Ses ele ous Atco.
‘ (fst premolars. -0. 6 QA\ 2%) 200). 2a.
Citeumerence . fed ee Be ee ee 185). le
* firs MOWER ee 195) lg
Length of = alveaat space OL Molats) 152). oc |oes 195)*165
iis Grie eh es jrorejeens fooee Ti.

* First premolar added by estimate.

Explanation of Table VI.

1, Old male Bison americanus.
2. Fragment from California (Whitney’s Coll.), 14 mm. long, containing portions of two premolars and

portions of the three true molars.

t
q

THE AMERICAN BISONS. Zo

3. Fragment from California (Whitney’s Coll.), 18 mm. long, — portion extending from the inner angle
to the front edge of first molar.

4, Fragment from California. (National Museum Coll.)

5. Georgia specimen. (Measurements in part from Harlan, and in part from Owen’s figure.)

In the National Museum at Washington there is still another fragment of
a lower jaw (No. 8270 of the National Museum Register), consisting of a
large part of one ramus, from Alameda County, California, presented by Dr.
L. G. Yates.* This specimen is of about the size of the larger of the two
California specimens already described.

Dr. Harlan’s measurements of the Georgia specimen, determined by aid -
of Prof. Owen’s figure,ft are also added to the table. As already stated, it
indicates a species as large as Bison antiquus, the jaw being heavier and
thicker even than in the largest known specimen of that species. The
length of the molar series seems, however, a little less, but this measure-
ment can be only approximately determined.

Of the metacarpal bones of Bison antiquus but a single specimen is
known. This was collected by Mr. J. Lockhart, and is contained in the
National Museum at Washington. It is about one tenth longer than the
largest metacarpal of Bison americanus I have been able to find, and is rela-
tively much stouter. It is also rather longer and stouter than the corre-
sponding part in a very large old male Bison bonasus. It hence about
equals the size of this part in Bison priscus: In Table VII will be found
measurements of this bone as compared with those of the corresponding
part in Bison americanus (male and female), Bison bonasus (male), and of a
large domestic bull.

Having at hand a large series of metacarpal bones of Bison americanus, I
add here a table of measurements showing the range of variation in this
part, resulting from age, sex, and individual differentiation, found in a
series of nearly a hundred specimens. This series shows that some of the
specimens belonging to females are as long as the average of the males, and

* Since the foregoing was put in type I have received a letter from Dr. Yates, dated “ Centreville, Ala-
meda Co., Cal., Jan. 29, 1876,” announcing the recent discovery by him of another skull of the fossil bison in
California, He says: ‘I found a splendid specimen last week which I shall preserve. It consists of the
skull, with three molar teeth on one side, and the greater portion of the horn-cores. It was so soft that I
had to bed it in plaster before I could take it out.” He adds that “the skull was found in post-pliocene
gravel, about ten feet from the spot where I found the skull of a fossil elephant some ten years ago, and in
the same deposit where I have found Mastodon, Equus, Auchenia, etc.”

t Journ, Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 2d Ser., Vol. I, pl. vi.

a 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

TABLE VII.

MEASUREMENTS OF METACARPAL BONES.

Exireme. length... 223} 207] 213) 218] 194] 230
a diameter o proximal end .....-. +++. s esse ee ee eee ‘ 75| 88) 56

istalOn@')... so 84) 84) 82) 76 Oa

Teast ‘ancion of aa oe: 5 5 47\ 52\ 30 8

circumference of shaft... ....:2....-..-6- 3s ios eee 153] 145} 130) 184) 87) 135

Explanation of Table VII.

1. Bison antiquus. Yukon River, Alaska. (No. 6573 of the National Museum Register, J. Lockhart,
collector.) :

2. Bison americanus. Very large old male, — the largest specimen I have ever met with. (No. 12,233
National Museum Register.)

Bison americanus. Very large old male. (Mus. Comp. Zodl., No. 10.)

Bison bonasus. Large old male. (Mus. Comp. Zodl., No. 165.)

Bison americanus. Adult female. (Mus. Comp. Zool., No. 12.)

Large Domestic Bull, “Baron of Oxford.”

AAP w

TABLE VIII.

Measurements or Mrracarpats or BisoN AMERICANUS FROM BrcG-BonE LIckK, Kentucky.

Ep miveme lemet 9) 2 0 174] 188] 193] 184) 198} 183) 192) 203) 213
Tre apes diameter . ee ON se 60) 50) G2) Cli 61) Gy) 75| 69) Ts
tal end. 4 5 ee. 58) 52) 63) 61) 62), 691 73) 70) 73

Teast oe Ce Dee so 35| 80; 35) 37) 39) 45) 48) 45) 45
reu eae o shalt 5.6.56 ee ae .| 98 85) 98} 104/ 110) 120) 128) 116) 128

Explanation of Table VIII.

1. No. 2463. Full-grown female. 6. No. 2489. Adult male.
2, “ 2475. Young female. 7, “% 9459. Adult male.
3. “ 2470. Adult female. 8. “ 2488. Adult male.
4. “ 2476. Adult female. 9. “ 2467. Adult male.

5. “ 2466. Adult female.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 31

exceed some very stout ones that belong to the latter sex. In Table VIII
‘are given measurements of nine specimens, — five male and four female, —
selected to show the extremes of individual variation, and also the sexual
difference in size and form. These specimens are also figured in Plate X.

From this table it appears that the longest metacarpal of a female B.
americanus exceeds by ten millimetres the length of the shortest correspond-
ing bone of a male, and is only twenty millimetres — or less than one
eighth — shorter than that of the largest male, while the transverse diame-
ter of the stoutest male metacarpal is one tiird greater than that of the
smallest female metacarpal. This gives a hint as to the wide differences
that may be looked for in the proportions and size of corresponding parts
of the two sexes in the extinct species.

Synonymy and Nomenclature. — The remains of Bison antiquus were first re-
ferred to under the name of Bos uwrus by Dr. Buckland, in 1831, the speci-
mens being those collected by Captain Beechey, at Eschscholtz Bay. Other
remains were next mentioned under the name Bison antiquus by Dr. Leidy,
in 1852, this specimen being the one from Big-bone Lick, Kentucky.
During the same year Dr. Richardson gave the name crassicormis to remains
from Eschscholtz Bay, at the same time doubtfully referring other speci-
mens to the Bison priscus of Europe. The name antiquus antedates that of
erassicornis by only a few months, but unquestionably has priority. Dr.
Leidy’s paper, in which antiquus was described, was read July 6, 1852, and
published prior to the following October; Dr. Richardson’s brochure, con-
taining his description of B. crassicornis, is dated October 1, 1852, but was
published subsequently to this date. In case future discoveries show that
the name antiquus refers to a different species, or proves to be the female
of B. latifrons, the name crassicornis, of course, then becomes tenable for the
smaller Northern and Western extinct bison.

As already noticed, both the names antiquus and ecrassicornis have been
regarded, even by Dr. Leidy, as synonymes of Bison latifrons, while by all
foreign writers, except Richardson, all the remains of extinct bisons found
in North America have been regarded as identical with the B. priscus of
Europe and Asia, and in some cases as specifically undistinguishable from

the existing aurochs.

39 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

4, — GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND GEOLOGICAL POSITION OF |
THE REMAINS OF THE Extinct Bisons or NoRTH AMERICA.

A. Bison latifrons.

1. Peale’s Specimen. — As previously stated, the original specimen, first
made known by Peale, was discovered in the bed of a small creek, about a
dozen miles north of Big-bone Lick, Kentucky, but whether in association
with other fossils has not been recorded.

2. Adams County, Ohio. — Two entire horn-cores were found a few years
since by some workmen on Brush Creek, in Adams County, Ohio, while en-
gaged in digging, preparatory to laying the foundations of the abutments
ofa bridge. They are said to have been found in gravel eighteen feet below
the surface, whether associated or not with other fossil remains I have
been unable to learn. Although found several years since, they were but
recently brought to the notice of the scientific world, by Dr. O. D. Norton,
through whose efforts they have fortunately been secured for the Natural
History Society of Cincinnati.

3. San Felipe, Texas. — The greater portion of a skull and a molar tooth,
described by Dr. W. M. Carpenter in 1846, were from the banks of the
Brazos River, Texas, and were supposed to have been found near San Felipe.
They appear to have been associated with the remains of an extinct species
of tapir, in a formation of “mixed clay, sand and gravel, with much iron.”

4. Natchez, Mississippi. Five molar teeth from the vicinity of Natchez,
Mississippi, were found, according to Dr. Leidy, in association with the re-
mains of Mastodon, Equus, Ursus, Cervus, Megalonyz, Mylodon, and Fels atrox.

?5.— Darien, Georgia. — Remains belonging either to the female of Bison
latifrons or the male of Bison antiquus were found some years since, at Darien,
Georgia, in excavating the Brunswick Canal. These, according to Mr.
J. H. Couper, “were found at the bottom of the alluvial deposit, imbedded
in it, and lying on the stratum of sand.” They were associated with the
remains of “the megatherium, the Mastodon gigantewm, Elephas primogenus,
hippopotamus [== Mastodon americanus Leidy], horse, and the Sus americana
[== bao) . — =

It thus appears that the remains of the larger Extinct American Bison as
yet known are not only few in number, but come from not very widely

THE AMERICAN BISONS. ae

separated localities. They have generally been found in the beds or banks
of streams, and when found with other remains have been associated with
extinct species belonging to the Fauna preceding the present. It is worthy
of remark that the great deposits of bones found at the Kentucky Salt Licks,
especially that of Big-bone Lick, have yielded thus far no remains that have
been identified as belonging to this gigantic representative of the ox tribe,
although containing the remains of Mastodon, Elephas, Megalonyx, and Mylodon,
together with those of the fossil horse, the great extinct musk ox, the lesser
extinct bison, the extinct peccary, the caribou, and the moose.

B. Bison antiquus.

1. Big-bone Lick, Kentucky. — The original specimen on which the Bison
antiquus was founded came, as is well known, from Big-bone Lick, Kentucky.
This, however, remains the sole specimen thus far known from that locality,
although thousands of specimens of bison remains have been examined in
the search for other relics of this species. In 1869 Professor N. 8. Shaler
made an extended exploration of this locality, at which time he collected
and sent to the Museum of Comparative Zoélogy a very large collection of
bison remains, numbering over a thousand specimens. These I have ex-
amined with much care, without finding any bison remains differing from the
remains of Bison americanus sufficiently to warrant their reference to any
other form of bison. I have found no trouble in matching the largest speci-
mens with the corresponding parts of large specimens of the living bison
from the plains of Kansas.

As previously noticed, the tooth described by Dr. Leidy from the post-
pliocene beds of the Ashley River, South Carolina, and the bison remains
from Darien, Georgia, may belong either to this species or to the female of
Bison latifrons.

These remains are all that have thus far been found east of the Rocky
Mountains that can be ascribed to Bison antiquus, and only the single original
specimen can be identified as such with entire certainty.

2. Eschscholtz Bay, Alaska. — The ice-cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay have fur-
nished an abundance of the remains of this species, two considerable collec-
tions having been made by English explorers, and described by Sir John
Richardson in the Zodlogy of the Voyage of the Herald. They were found
in association with the remains of Liephas prinigemus and Ovibos, in varying

34 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

states of preservation, from those that had wholly lost their animal matter to
those that were fresh and unchanged. In some cases the horny coverings
still adhered to the horn-cores, and in other cases were found detached but
still in a good state of preservation.

3. Valley of the Yukon and us Tributaries. — Mr. W. H. Dall reports (verb.
com.) the occurrence of the remains of the extinct bison throughout a large
part of the valley of the Yukon River, Alaska, and along several of its tribu-
taries. These remains, consisting of horn-cores, crania, lower jaws, and other
parts, he informs me are found on or near the surface of the ground, with,
and in the same condition as, the remains of Llephas and an extinct species
of Equus. The collection of the National Museum at Washington contains. a
horn-core with part of the frontal bone attached, brought home by Mr. Dall,
and a metacarpal collected by Mr. Lockhart. A skull of this species, belong-
ing to the California Academy of Sciences, and kindly loaned me for exam-
ination, is labelled “St. Michael’s, Alaska,” but may have been brought from
some point on the Yukon. It thus appears that the remains of the extinct
bison are found throughout a considerable portion of the Territory of Alaska.

4. California. —In California the remains of the smaller extinct bison ap-
pear to be of rather frequent occurrence, having been already found at sev-
eral different localities, generally associated with the remains of Jfastodon
Elephas, Tapirus, and Equus. Dr. Leidy has described a skull from Santa
Clara County ; Professor Whitney mentions the occurrence of its remains in
Tuolumne County, and Dr. J. G. Cooper has sent a description of a skull
found by him in Alameda County, where Dr. L. G. Yates has recently dis-
covered another skull, from which locality I have also seen other fragments.

25. Oregon. — A phalangeal bone described by Dr. Perkins is said to have
been found twenty feet below the surface, on the “Wolhammet or Multono- -
mah River,” a tributary of the Columbia, associated with the remains of
Elephas. The specimen most likely is referable to the present species.

From the foregoing it appears that the remains of this species have been
found rather frequently in California and Alaska, and they probably exist at
intermediate points. The single specimen from Big-bone Lick, if really
identical with the western type, as there seems to be good reason for believ-
ing, extends its range to the valley of the Ohio, and there is hence reason to
suppose, aside from the occurrence in Georgia of specimens possibly refer-
able to it, that it may have ranged eastward to the Atlantic coast. Every-

where its remains occur in association with those of the larger extinct

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 35

mammalia, but it may have survived to a comparatively recent date. There
is nothing to indicate whether it was or was not contemporaneous with the
larger extinct bison, except that the remains of both species occur with those
of the same species of other extinct mammals. Judging by the same evi-
dence, both may also have been contemporaneous with the Bison priscus of
the Old World.

5. — RELATION OF THE EXISTING SPECIES OF BISONS TO THE
Extinct SPECIES.

European writers seem to have fallen into rather confused and erroneous
notions respecting the affinities of the different forms of living and extinct
bisons. By the earlier writers all the remains of extinct bisons were re-
ferred to the aurochs, which was considered as the modern degenerate race
of the older form. Later the extinct bisons were viewed as a species dis-
tinct from the living, but all of the extinct ones were referred to the
same species. Quite recently Riitimeyer, while maintaining this view re-
specting the fossil forms,* has considered the Bison americanus as the older
form, through which Bison bonasus has passed in reaching its present estate.
This conclusion, based on developmental features of the teeth and skull, has
been accepted by Brandt and other writers on the subject, contrary, it
appears to me, to the teaching of general facts. Lilljeborg has even car-
ried his generalization to the absurd extreme of referring all the forms of
Bison to the Bos bonasus of Linné !

The evidence bearing upon the question of the actual geological sequence
of the different extinct forms is by no means decisive or satisfactory. If we
regard, however, the gigantic B. /atifrons, with its immense horns spreading
ten to twelve feet, as the older type, passing into, on the one hand, the
Bison priseus of the Old World, and on the other, into the Bison antiquus of
the New World, the former giving origin to the existing Bison bonasus and
the latter to the existing Bison americanus, we have what seems to be a
natural transition throughout the series. Both in the Old World and the
New, the older form is larger than the more recent, with disproportionately

* Strangely and against all analogy, Riitimeyer regards the small Bison antiquus of Leidy as the male

and the gigantic Bison latifrons as the female, of one and the same species, and both as identical with the
Old World extinct bison.

36 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

longer and thicker horn-cores. In respect to the American forms, three
stages are represented, each later form being not only smaller than the pre-
ceding, but the reduction in the size of the horn-core is relatively greater
than that of general size.

The types here recognized as distinct forms under the names B. priscus
and B. antiquus, it should be remarked, differ but slightly from each other, —
not more so, probably, than do B. bonasus and B. americanus, if indeed so
much, —and constitute as it were a common circumpolar form from which
B. bonasus and B. americanus have probably been differentiated. It seems
to me that the B. americanus is really the most differentiated form, B. bonasus,
in its more massive frame and rather larger horns, more strongly recalling
the preceding links (Bison antiquus and B. priscus) in the chain. It was also
until recently the form apparently farthest from extinction. For centuries
the B. bonasus has had but a few hundred survivors, while its total extermi-
nation has been prevented only through royal protection; the B. americanus,
on the other hand, still has millions of representatives, and a few decades ago
swarmed in immense herds over nearly a third of the North American conti-
nent.

6. — DESCRIPTION OF THE EXISTING SPECIES.
BISON AMERICANUS (Gme.rin) Siru.

American Bison or Buffalo.

Bos americanus GMELIN, Syst. Nat., I, 204, 1788. Desmarest, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., II, 531, 1816 ;
Mammalogie, 496, pl. xliv, 1820. —HarLan, Fauna Amer., 268, 1825. Gopman, Amer. Nat. Hist.,
II, 4, 1826.— Desmovttn, Dict. Class. Hist. Nat., II, 365, 1822. — Rrcnarpson, Fauna Bor. Amer.,
I, 279, 1829. — Fiscuer, Synop. Mam., 495, 653, 1829. — Cooper, Month. Am. Journ. Geol. & Nat.
Hlist., 1831, 44, 174, 207 (remains at Big-bone Lick, Ky.); Amer. Journ. Sci., XX, 371, 1831; Edinb.
New Phil. Journ., XI, 353, 1831.— Doucury, Cab. Nat. Hist., II, 169, pl. xiv, 1832. — Sasine, Frank-
lin’s Journey, 668, 1833. — Waanmr, Schreber’s Siiuet., V, 472, 1855. — GieBEL, Siugt., 271, 1855.
— Barrp, Mam. N. Amer., 682, 1857; U.S. & Mex. Bound. Survey, Pt. II, 52, 1859. — Newnerry,
Pacif. R. R. Expl. & Surveys, VI, iv, 72, 1857. — Sucxiny & Grpzs, Ibid. XII, ii, 138, 1860. —
Xantus, Zool. Garten, I, 109.— ALLEN, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XIII, 186, 1869; XVII, 39, 1874.
Bison americanus Catespy, Nat. Hist. Carolina, II, App., 20, xxviii, 1754. — Brisson, Reg. Anim.,
Quad., 1756. — Situ, Griffith’s Cuv., V, 374, 1827. De Kay, Nat. Hist. New York Zool., Pt. I,
110, 1842. — Sunpevatt, Kong. Sv. Vet. Akad. Handl. for 1844, 203, 1846. — Gray, Knowsley’s
Menag., 49, 1850; Cat. Mam. Brit. Mus., Pt. III, 39, 1852; Hand-List of Edentate, Thick-Skinned,
& Ruminant Mam., 85, 1873. —-Gerrarp, Cat. Bones of Mam. Brit. Mus., 230, 1862. — TURNER,

i aii lic

THE AMERICAN BISONS. ol

Proc. Zool. Soc. London, XVIII, 177, 1850. — Aupupon & BacuMan, Quad. N. Amer., II, 32, pls.
Ivi, lvii, 1851.— Barrp, Rep. U. S. Pat. Off, Agricult., 1851, 124 (plate), 1852.— Lurpy, Proc.
Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1854, 200, 210; Extinct Mam. Faun. N. Amer., 371, 1869. — AtLen, Bull.
Essex Institute, VI, 46, 54, 59, 63, 1874. — RUTimryer, Verhandl. Naturf. Gesells. in Berlin, IV,
ili, 1865; Versuch einer natiirlichen Geschichte des Rindes, II, 58.

Bos bison var. 8 Linnk, Syst. Nat., I, 99, 1766. —Kaum, Travels in N. Amer. (Forster’s Transl.), I, 297.

Bos bison Scuintz, Synop. Mam., 482, 1845 (in part only). :

‘‘ Bos urus var. Bopp., Elen. Anim., 1784.”

Bos bonasus Branpt, Zoogeographische und Palxontologische Beitriige, 105, 1867 (in part only).—
Litisesore, Fauna éfvers Sveriges och Norges Ryggrad., I, 877, 1874 (in part only).

Taurus mexicanus HERNANDEZ, Mexico, 587.

Taurus quivirensis Nrereme., Hist. Nat., 181, 182.

Le Bison [@ Amérique], Burron, Hist. Nat., XI, 284, Suppl. II, pl. v.— F. Cuvier & Georrroy, Hist.
Nat. des Mam., I, livr. xii, 1819; I, livr. xxxii; TIL, livr. xliv.— G. Cuvier, Reg. Anim., I, 170,
1817; Oss. Foss., 3d Ed., IV, 117, 1825.

American Bison, AGAssiz, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XI, 316, 1867.

Buffalo, Cooper, Month. Am, Journ. Geol., 1831, 174, 207 (remains at Big-bone Lick). — Knieut, Amer.
Journ. Sci., X XVII, 166, 1835 (remains at Big-bone Lick). — LyELt, Proc. Geol. Soc. London, IV,
36, 1843 (remains at Big-bone Lick).

Description. — An adult male measures about nine feet (two and three
fourths metres) from the muzzle to the insertion of the tail, and thirteen
and a half feet (about four and one sixth metres) to the end of the
tail, including the hairs, which extend about fifteen inches beyond the ver-
tebre. The female measures about six and a half feet (about two metres)
from the muzzle to the insertion of the tail, and about seven feet (two and
one sixth metres) to the end of the tail, including the hairs, which extend
about ten inches beyond the vertebra. The height of the male at the high-
est part of the hump is about five and a half to six feet (about two metres) ;
of the female at the same point about five feet (about one and a half metres).
The height of the male at the hips is about four and two thirds feet (nearly
one and a half metres); of the female at the same point about four and a
half feet (about one and a third metres). Audubon states the weight of old
males to be nearly two thousand pounds, that of the full-grown fat females
to be about twelve hundred pounds.

The horns of the males are short, very thick at the base, and rapidly taper
to a sharp point, which in old individuals becomes worn off on the lower side,
and the end is often shortened by the same process and occasionally much
splintered. Their direction is outward and upward, finally curving inward.
The horns of the females are much smaller at the base but nearly as long as in
the males, but they taper very gradually, and are hence much slenderer, and

38 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

are rather more incurved at the tips, where they are rarely abraded as in the

males. The hoofs are short and broad, those of the fore feet abruptly —

rounded at the end; those of the hind feet are much narrower and more
pointed. The muffle is broad and naked, having much the same form as in the
domestic ox. The short tail has the long hairs restricted to a tuft at the end.

In winter the head, neck, legs, tail, and whole under parts, are blackish-
brown’; the upper surface of the body lighter. The color above becomes
gradually lighter towards spring; the new short hair in autumn is soft dark
umber or liver-brown. In very old individuals the long woolly hair over the
shoulders bleaches to a light yellowish-brown. Young animals are generally
wholly dark brown, darkest about the head, on the lower surface of the
body, and on the limbs. The young calf is at first nearly uniform light
chestnut-brown, or yellowish-brown, with scattered darker hairs on the belly,
where are also occasionally small patches of white. Toward autumn the
light yellowish color is replaced by the darker brown that characterizes the
older animals. After the first few months the younger animals are darker
than they are later in life, at middle-age the coat, especially over the
shoulders, becoming lighter and presenting a bleached or faded appearance,
which increases with age. The horns, hoofs, and muffle are black, the hoofs
being sometimes edged or striped with whitish. There are no important
sexual differences in color.

The woolly hair-over the shoulders is much longer and more shaggy than
elsewhere on the body; it increases in length on the neck above, gradually
losing its woolly character, and between the horns attains a length of ten to
fourteen inches, nearly concealing the ears and the bases of the horns, and
often partly covers the eyes. The long hair advances also on the face, where
it decreases in length and becomes more woolly again, extending far forward
in a pointed area nearly to the nose. The chin and throat are also covered
with long hair, which under the chin forms an immense beard, eight or ten
inches to a foot or more in length. Thick masses of long hair also arise from
the inner and posterior surfaces of the upper part of the fore legs, where
the hair often attains a length of six or eight inches. A strip of long hair
also extends along the crest of the back nearly to the tail. The tail is cov-
ered with only short soft hair till near the tip, from which arises a tuft of
coarse long hair twelve to eighteen inches in length. The hinder and
lower portions of the body and legs are covered with short soft woolly hair,

This is moulted early in spring, after which for a few weeks the hinder

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 39

portions of the animal are quite or nearly naked. The shoulders retain per-
manently their long shaggy covering, which with the long hair of the neck
and head gives them, especially during the moulting season, a singularly
formidable aspect.

The female, as already stated, is much smaller than the male, with a less
elevated hump, much smaller, slenderer, and more curved horns, less heavily
developed beard, less shaggy head, etc., but presents no essential differences
in color.

Albinism and Melanism.— Pied individuals are occasionally met with, but
they are of rare occurrence.* I have seen but a single specimen, the head
of which, finely mounted, is now in the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy.
I obtained it of hunters at Fort Hays, Kansas, near which place it was taken
in 1870, where it was regarded as a great curiosity. In this specimen, a female,
the whole face, from between the horns to the muzzle, is pure white, but in
other respects does not differ from ordinary examples. White individuals
are still more rare, but are not unknown. A former agent of the American
Fur Company, who had had unusually favorable opportunities of judging,
informed me that they probably occur in the proportion of not more than
one in millions, he having seen but five in an experience of twenty years,
although he had met with hundreds of pied ones. Black ones are rather
more frequent, but can only be regarded as very rare. The fur of these is
usually much softer and finer than that of ordinary individuals, and black
robes, from this fact and their great rarity, bring a very large price. They
seem to be more frequent at the northward than elsewhere.

Varieties. — There are two commonly recognized varieties of the buffalo,
known respectively as the wood buffalo and the mountain buffalo. The wood buf.
falo is described by Hind f as larger than the common bison of the plains,
with very short soft pelage and soft short uncurled mane, thus more resembling
in these points the Lithuanian bison or aurochs. It is said to be very scarce,
and to be found only north of the Saskatchewan and Along the flanks of the
Rocky Mountains, and to never venture into the plains. A supposed variety
of the bison, referred to by some of the northern voyagers as occurring north
of Great Slave Lake, and known only from vague rumors current among the
natives, is in all probability the musk-ox ( Ovibos moschatus).

The mountain bison, so often referred to by hunters and mountaineers as a

* See Long’s Expedition to the Rocky Mts., Vol. I, p. 471.
+ Hind (H. Y.), Nar. of Canadian Red River Explor. Exped., etc., Vol. IL, pp. 106, 107, 1860.

AO THE AMERICAN BISONS.

variety or perhaps a distinct species, seems to agree in all essential particu-
lars with the so-called wood bison of the region farther north. The same
characters of larger size, darker, shorter and softer pelage, are usually attrib-
uted to it, but one meets with such different, exaggerated, and contra-
dictory accounts of its distinctive features from different observers that it is
almost impossible to believe in its existence, except in the imaginations
of the hunter and adventurer. I have found that those actually conversant
with it, and whose opinions in general matters are most entitled to respect,
regard it as but slightly or not at all different from the bison of the plains.
Others who know it only from hearsay, and whose notions of it are conse-
quently vague, generally magnify its supposed differences, till some do not
hesitate to declare their belief in it as a specifically distinct animal from
the common bison of the plains.* Dr. Cooper, speaking of the bisons
found formerly in the mountain valleys about the sources of the Snake
River, says he “saw no difference in the skulls, indicating a different
species, or ‘mountain buffalo’ of hunters.”+ The bisons formerly living
in the parks and valleys of the central portion of the Rocky Mountain
chain doubtless did often grow to a larger size than those of the plains,
with rather larger horns, and, being less subjected to the bleaching
effects of the elements in their partially wooded retreats, would natu-
rally have a darker and perhaps softer pelage. The weathered bison
skulls I met with in 1871 in the upper part of South Park and in the
vicinity of the tree-limit in the Snowy Range of Colorado were certainly
larger, in the average, by actual measurement, than those of the Kansas
plains. The small bands now lingering here and there in the mountains, and
now currently known as the mountain buffalo, may be in part the remnants
of a former larger mountain form, but certainly a part of them are actually
recent migrants from the plains. In 18711 was able to trace the migration
of a small band up the valley of the South Platte and across South Park to the
vicinity of the so-called Buffalo Spring, situated considerably to the south-
ward of Fairplay. Specimens of the “mountain bison”’ sent in a fresh state
from Colorado to the Smithsonian Institution during the present winter (De-
cember, 1875) certainly presented no appreciable differences from winter
specimens from the plains. The mountain race of the bison was appar-
ently a little larger than the buffalo of the plains, and doubtless was nearly
identical with the race known farther northward as the “wood buffalo.”

* See Bulletin Essex Institute, Vol. VI, p. 55, 1874.
+ Amer. Nat., Vol. II, p. 538, 1868.

I
|
'

THE AMERICAN BISONS. Al

Their more sheltered and in some other respects somewhat different habitat
would tend to develop just the differences claimed to distinguish the moun-
tain and northern woodland race.

Castrated buffaloes are said to be occasionally met with where the buffa-
loes are abundant, being castrated when quite young by hunters. They are
reported to attain an immense size, being so much larger than the others as
to be conspicuous from their large size.

Relationship to the Aurochs.—'The American bison is a little smaller
than the aurochs (Bison bonasus), with a much larger chest, a smaller and
weaker pelvis, a shorter and smaller tail, more shaggy head, and heavier
beard. The more important differences, as shown by a comparison of the
skeletons, consist in the chest (see subjoined measurements, Table 1X) in
Bison americanus being absolutely larger than in Bison bonasus, while the
pelvis is very small and weak. The B. americanus is hence greatly devel-
oped anteriorly, or in the thoracic portion of the body, with. the pelvic
portion disproportionately reduced, while in B. donasus just the reverse of
this obtains, —a small compressed thorax and a strong heavy pelvis. This
gives the aurochs the appearance of standing higher on its legs. The dor-
sal outline is about equally declined posteriorly in each species, not rela-
tively much more declined in B. americanus, as generally stated. Neither
does the aurochs possess relatively longer hind limbs, as compared with
the fore limbs, than B. americanus, the proportion being essentially the same
in the two, whether the total height of the animal be assumed as the basis
of comparison, or whether the comparison be based on the bones of the
limbs alone.

Comparing, for example, a fine perfect skeleton of a very large old male
of each species, beautifully and correctly mounted,* the height of the Ameri-
can bison at the highest dorsal spine is found to be sixty-six inches; at the
anterior end of the sacrum, fifty-two inches; which makes the proportion
between the two measurements as 80 to 100. The height of the aurochs at
the highest dorsal spine is seventy-three inches; at the anterior end of
the sacrum, sixty inches; making the proportion between the two meas-
urements as 82 to 100. This difference is not greater than often occurs

* These skeletons are Nos. 91 (Bison americanus) and 165 (Bison bonasus) of the osteological collec-
tion of the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, both of which were prepared and mounted in the same
manner by the same persons, under the supervision of Professor H. A. Ward of Rochester, and represent

two pieces of his best osteological work, which is justly celebrated for its neatness and accuracy.

42 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

between two individuals of the same species. A comparison of the anterior
and posterior limbs gives a similar result. Thus the proportionate length
of the fore limb (excluding the scapula) to the hind limb, in the American
bison, is the same as that in the aurochs, namely, as 91 to 100.

While the skeleton of the aurochs is, generally speaking, heavier and more
massive than that of the American bison, and considerably larger in all its
measurements, the ribs are actually much shorter and straighter, giving a
much smaller thoracic cavity. The length of the first mb in B. americanus, for
example, is 452 mm.; in B. bonasus, 375 mm.; of the third rib in B. ameri-
canus, 548; in B. bonasus, 492°; of the sixth ribin B. americanus, 711; in B.
bonasus, 697; of the ninth rib in B. americanus, 910; in B. bonasus, 869; of
the twelfth rib in B. americanus, 783; in B. bonasus, 750; of the fourteenth
rib (osseous portion only), in B. americanus, 437; in B. bonasus, 418. The
pelvis, on the other hand, is fully one fourth larger in all its dimensions, and
the bones that enter into its composition are far more massive in the aurochs
than in the American bison. The smaller size of the posterior part of the
vertebral column in the American bison is also further seen in its diminutive
tail as compared with that of the aurochs. Among other noticeable skeletal
differences are the relatively greater length of the dorsal series of the ver-
tebree, and shorter sternum of the American bison.

While the above-given comparisons are based on a single skeleton of each
species, the subjoined measurements (see Table IX) shows that these con-
clusions are borne out by further material.

As already noticed (p. 2), the American bison is not distinguished from
the aurochs by the possession of fifteen pairs of ribs and only four lumbar
vertebra, as was formerly supposed, and as has been so often stated, the two
species having normally the same number of lumbar vertebrae and the same
number of pairs of ribs. Professor Riitimeyer* refers to the greater length of
the anterior dorsal spines in Bison americanus, but this difference is evidently
not constant, as is shown by the measurements given in Table IX. | He also
regards the differences in the relative length of the different segments of
the extremities to each other and to the whole height of the animal as
affording differences worthy of note. He gives a table illustrative of these
differences, which I subjoin. . He says: “Nahm ich die Large von Metacar-
pus und Carpus zusammen als Einheit, so verhielten sich dazu die andern

Segmente der Extremititen folgendermassen : —

* Versuch einer natiirlichen Geschichte des Rindes, ete., Part II, p. 68.

nce nove

meanings

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 43

Bison americanus, B. europxus.
“ Carpus — Metacarpus . 1:

Radius (Aussenseite) "1.102 > 3.387 (1.) 1.254 > 3.697 (1.)
Humerus mit Trochanter 1.285 1.443

Scapula vorderer Rand 1.795 1.843

Metacarpus mit Naviculare 1.151 1.098

Tibia aussen 1.379 > 3.999 (1.180) 1.588 > 4.489 (1.214).”
Femur mit Trochanter 1.469 1.803

Taking the same method of comparison with five specimens of B. america-
nus and two specimens of B. bonasus (= europeus) as a basis, gives propor-
tions not differing essentially from Riitimeyer’s, though the figures range
ten to fifteen per cent larger, being probably based on larger specimens.

Carpus and Metacarpus de Us /

Radius 1.260 > 3.680 (1.) 1.327 > 3.901 (1.)
Humerus (with Trochanter) 1.420 1.574

Scapula 1.940 1.836

Metacarpus 1.400 1.364

Tibia 1.680 > 4.800 (1.180) 1.727 > 4.834 (1.155)
Femur (with Trochanter) 1.720 1.743

The differences between the two species in these proportions are very
slight, scarcely greater in fact than occur between different individuals. of
Bison americanus.

Dr. J. E. Gray placed the aurochs and American bison in different sections
of the genus Bison, the first of which, containing the aurochs, is character-
ized as having the “tarsi elongate, fore and hind quarters subequal,” and the
other, containing the American bison, as having the “tarsi short, hinder
quarters very low.” In the description of the aurochs he says again, “ fore
and hind legs subequal; tarsi elongate,” contrasting it with “tarsus short,
hinder quarters very low,” in his diagnosis of Bison americanus. The differ-
ence in height between the fore and hind quarters of the aurochs and
American bison is, as already shown, more apparent than real, owing to the
greater size of the pelvic region in the aurochs. The difference in the
relative length of the tarsus is also much less than one might infer from
Dr. Gray’s diagnosis.

In Bison americanus the proportional length of the metatarsal bone to the
length of the femur and tibia taken together is (in five specimens) as 29-31

to 100; in Bison bonasus (two specimens), as 28 to 100, showing an actual

slightly greater length of the metatarsal segment in Bison americanus. The

44 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

length of the carpus and metacarpus in B. americanus (same specimens) to

the length of tarsus and metatarsus is as 74 to 100; in Bison bonasus as 73 to
100. The length of the upper portion of the fore limb (humerus and radius)
to the upper portions of the hind limb (femur and tibia) in B. americanus
(same specimens as before) is as 75-83 to 100; in B. bonasus, as 80— 84 to
100. These proportions coincide with those obtained from comparing the
entire fore and hind limbs with each other, as well as the relative height of

TABLE IX.

MEASUREMENTS OF SKELETONS OF BISON AMERICANUS AND BISON BONASUS.

Bison americanus. Bison bonasus.
a
1\/2,32|4151'6;7 | #19 (
r
Oleg agi gle) ei gies 2 i
Whole length of skeleton (including skull) ........... d ie
L a of skt WS ee 527, 580) 565) 510) 500) 422} 580) 565) 569
“ cervical ae Cee 527; 470) 480} 480) 520) 457] 590| 5388) ?4383
c SOURS 115 50| 900) 880]1000| 868] 940) 98 se
es leeie Cc hr 07| 340) 330) 380) 370) 357] 390) 400
© : ee 254) 190) 210) 250) 245) 2 815 293
‘ © caudale.. 25522 476| 500) 480) 420 485) 457| 560| 685
Ke f first rib. ee 45 00) 3800 |. “| 645) 875\. 2).
“ * § * osseous portion, ana external curvature] 414 300 330| 300! 320) 274) 305) 335)... .
“ ee cartilaginous POruion -;-.---.---.-- ao. OO, FO ee He 40 390.
. te thirdorib 6.05056. ee ee O48...) O10... 1.2... 450) 479) 492)...
a ~ * © osseous portion ..-... 2)... 439| 385 420 390} 430] 361] 386) 418)....
Ce ee ae soe HON 2. 6 eee 115...-. 90 ....1.... 88} 93) 100). ...
ie “ sixth u a ee ee eee 41112...) (00). ...1.... 632] 640) 699)....
es fos SPOLMOM 7 ie. 557) 550) 560) 5560) 580) 503) 525) 559)....
a eo creas tous | pore bo. tod... 140........, 122) 115, 140)...
se pinth rib ooo... ee 910)....| 920|....|....| 780) 185) 860 ....
Go | Ocseous Donte. 670} 630] 680! 635) 680) 584] 600) 660|....
So | SC cartilacincus potion Se 240...-| 240)... 1... .| 198) 185) 210)...
us “ — We (O3\0. | S200... 148 6 (45) P30 CoO |.
aoe © OSSCOUS POrtION -.---...2......... 540) 580} 590) 575) 610) 532] 540) 530)....
« ue e erubie none: portion ee ees QAS. | 230) ee Zio) 100) 220)
« « fourteenth r oe ee ee
& o SSCOUS PORUION «2. -.. 3... 437, 420) 520) 450) 410) 396) 420) 41¢|....
ee we a artila oie. pai eee Doar oe P90 eo TOU 6o
co WS SGCRIU ee ee ee ee, 469] 490) 480) 490| 475) 463] 510) 5
@ © spme of Ciecrical = 114] 110} 150 103) 76] 180] 120] 90 :
Oe a 305, 260) 370) 330) 347, 244) 395] 287| 266
+“ G os Ist dorsal §3. 2 3. 468} 470) 475) 445) 453) 330] 395] 470] 423 ;
“ ic “ 21 rr 477| 485} 465} 4380] 440) 3421 420} 496] 440 i
6 6 a 305 ©) 445| 435] 430! 400) 406] 817] 393) 470] 435 |
Ca te os ath ee 400] 420] 390; 860] 370] 3805] 370] 487) 410 ‘
* c ce ot 848) 390) 350} 320) 335) 287| 330) 397 71 |
“ is ee Oth ( ....3.....5....... 350] 355) 815) 290} 800) 248) 300] 863) 343
6 ce cs Wh 6 15} 810] 290] 260) 265] 244] 275) 325] 300 :
ce Cs i Sth “2 le ae 284| 285) 260) 235) 250) 223) 240) 293! 290 :
S ce = Oth (8 i ee 242, 245) 225| 210) 213) 197) 210) 267) 247 i
6 fC 6 )hm!.D!DUhmmUD!DUmUm 210] 210| 200] 180] 185} 170] 170] 217] 228
re : OO th 8 os ee 173} 185} 165) 155) 160) 153} 155) 185) 190 i
ie “ Ot Se ae 146] 155) 140) 180) 135} 128] 145) 146] 154 |
a. rrr —“‘“‘iéOC*C®SW 120 120, 120] 110 118] 116] 125) 134 |
ie > Ce 108) 100, 110) 100) 106) 101) 90) 127) 127
Distance between ends of pleurapophyses of 1st lumbar] 227) 310) 280) 230, 230] 268] 258) 279] 297

‘
I
I
4

{
:
;

THE AMERICAN

BISONS.

45

Bison americanus.

Bison bonasus.
Pe

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
(of o of os g | 2 g
Distanee between ends of pleurapophyses = 2d lumbar | 310) 835] 805} 800 314) 276| 296] 825] 348
rv “ 6 “ cs 3d 6 356, 355} 330] 333) 3845) 293) 345! 363) 375
6 6 66 6 “6 “ Ath * 360; 865) 340) 850) 873) 315|° 367) 387] 3
6 66 66 6 Coin 309) 295) 300) 326) 350] 315] 335) 3438] 297
te are pees of cal end of 1st un 7 2A0|, i... 240) 245} 250] 250) 245| 216
Length o e bone = .....5...-........6.... 515; 560) 500) 510, 550} 449] 590) 647) 571
= entest (external) ‘yidth of pelvis anteriorly.......... 470| 490; 450) 475) 497| 488] 484! 560
eral parts of post. end of pubic bones} 283° 284)....| 260 273) 250] 805) 315
Length _ Oe rrr—“ 283, 290) 290| 265} 290] 258! 320] 338] 320
w ce -pubic bones ..--.:-++.-+ +2 ++ see 270, 270) 250) 250, 275} 234] 290] 311] 288
Be gD — en Bs es 115. 2.21...- 115, 116) 110} 115) 118) 114
_ OR ee ed ones ees ee SG, 63.. as 10, 13) 70) 7 76| 65
ce gs Oke a ee 483, 70} 460) 480 500) 427] 500] 508) 478
ab proximal end..--...-.......... 287, 270) 285) 2970 984) 217| 285) 310
Len on ee CUBR he ee he oe ee ee oS 365) 365) 350| 383) 326] 395) 433
Antero- oe diameter of we yo ae oe 158, : 142} 145] 128) 150] 158
Tran vee oe ae 128). 1171 130) 113) 120) 134).
Gust readth of its oe sed i 110... 88) 96) 82) 90) 108) 105
| eek cireuaniorsute org ( . 185 177) 188) 170) 196/ 141] 162) 174] 190
Lent of radiis 3.0.23... 813) 315} 320} 810} 320) 295) 365) 364; 340
Tra ae rse a us _ Se 100). 05, 93| S84) 95) 105
‘ distal = ..2............4.. 94 . 88 8s Wa). 86. 80).
Length of he Vg RG eee ee 437, 415) 420) 410) 418) 881] 435) 520) 457
Its olecranon... ......:. 2.6... ee 148) 1380; 120; 133] 140) 114] 165) 270
Lost brea ante pocuery Bee ee 74 =| 60| 65! 65| 68) 73
Leng tl OE CALDUS --:..-..0;..-- 220.5. 532 D0" 55) 60). 621) Sel 60) 51 a
Length of oe ae Pee ee 197| 205) 200} 200) 204) 190] 220) 218) 195
Width of pr ae OiGles 355s 5 78). 72) 15) 63 1} 88] 78
Width of dis iy Ge vo Se ee 80). 76), G3! 62) 72 76, 74
Length of inner na ene ee 44). -.-.| 40, 48) 36) 435) 70 62
Len th of o st phalanx ne limb). ee 68 60| 55 57 6Al 61 al 7A
idth o£ ee a Secu er eee ASl or. | Bol 43| 96) or 48
c 0 MON ee 40 -..-1 86 411 27 37) 42
Length of 2d “8. ce. 40| 40: 40 35) 38] 40] 43) 44
Wid “ proximal = ee Ge 44). Sel 8b) 40) 2801 88 40
ce ic & distal. 22) 41 We6 pl 68t 8i) BA 85
ength of ree phalanx, inner on Po ee 638) 60 60, 53) 62) 55| 52 i.
bee oth Ob femur 20 ee a a, 431} 425] 480, 420) 400) 867] 490] 470) 478
Greatest diameter - ee - oe 160 -.-| 145} 140) 134] 145) 150
OU 8 eee es 120 - oo.) 110 112) 170) 116) 125
Least creunforence of sat Pee ee 158) 150) 160) 142):145) 132) 165) 177).
Clg S68 eee ee AG es fae. 4 4 40 4| 49
te ae De ee ee ne ee 427| 395) 380) 380) 390) 864! 465) 476) 478
Transverse iametc Hee a $a es UO Soles 118; 110) 108} 122) 180) 125
Soe se ae WO ee 14| (3 GO| 74\ 83
Tts a Se bobo eee cee 148 ....|.... 140} 144] 128] 160) 150
— o ae in nee oa coe ee cee 101, 90)-. 90} 105, 69] 107) 108
ealea MG). ee. aye on 145) 160) 145) 173) 181) 163
fa crenmferenee . ts aye ee 120... oo 110) 118) 97 113) 177) 128
Le noth of metatarsal... ..:20.-..0...24.......55..... 250, 243\5. 248) 245) 1538] 264) 267) 249
ab ransverse (lateral) oo of vouma end: 6b. 5a) 98) oll 68) 68). -
terior diameter of oer) end.. boa eles 50| 52) 4a] 59) 58.
“ (tera “ameter of a end... 70| Sere 65| 70) 62) 70 68) 65
tt ntero-posterior diameter of distal end... B62 oo le. 36| 39) 31) 383) 388).
Least (laterz il) dia ae el OL tS shalt Sb. 34, 35; 380) 43) 44) 40
uenoth of fst phalanx (hind limb) ..................- 75) 73\ 65) 60, 66). 40] 73 82) 76
idth tr pr Ol Proximal CG: @- 5 38) ae. 34) 35) 28] 34) 88) Bs
ol distal endsa. Be 381 85| 27) 38| 87) 37
Leneth of 2d. phi ae Poe ee: 4g 40) 4b) Br Al) 689] «=46) 50
Width : oe CIN SB)... a. — | 3 35] 821 3b) BB) 87
“ Gl boo ee 32... -|.1..| 27, 32| 30] 30] 28] 34
Leneth a wee phalanx, inner sideé..........-.... 63) a “i 95| 66| 57| 62) -70| 55

46 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Explanation of Table IX.

1. Bison americanus. Male, mounted skeleton (No. 91, Mus. Comp. Zodlogy), from near Fort Hays,
Kansas.
Bison americanus. Very old male, unmounted skeleton, the bones mostly ligamentously attached (Mus.

Ny

Comp. Zodlogy), from near Fort Hays, Kansas.
3. Bison americanus. Very old male, unmounted skeleton, the bones mostly ligamentously attached
(Mus. Comp. Zodlogy), from near Fort Hays, Kansas.
Bison americanus. Male, disarticulated skeleton (No. 10, Mus. Comp. Zodlogy), from near Fort

ia

Hays, Kansas.
5. Bison americanus. Female, disarticulated skeleton (No. 11, Mus. Comp. Zoélogy), from near Fort
Hays, Kansas.
Bison americanus. Female, mounted skeleton (No. 92, Mus. Comp. Zodlogy), from near Fort Hays,

9

Kansas.
. Bison bonasus. Old male, mounted skeleton (No. 165, Mus. Comp. Zoclogy), from the Menagerie of

be |

Schenbrunn, received from the Vienna Museum.
Bison bonasus. Young male, mounted skeleton (No. 11,514, National Museum, Washington), from

ho

the Vienna Museum,

9. Bison bonasus. Male (measurements from Richardson’s Zool. of the Voyage of the Herald).
the animal at the shoulder and hip (as previously given); and show a slightly
greater average relative length of the hind limb in B. donasus as compared
with B. americanus. The differences, however, are really much less than
different individuals of either species present when compared with each other.

The skull of Bison bonasus is rather longer perhaps than that of Bison ameri-
canus, but the average difference in length is very slight. It would be often,
in fact, almost impossible to decide absolutely as to whether a skull from an
unknown locality belonged to one rather than to the other of the two spe-
cies, especially those of young individuals or females. Neither the teeth nor
the relative size and form of any portion of the skull afford any absolutely
distinctive characters. The chief difference consists in the rather more mas-
sive character of the skull in Bison bonasus. The close resemblance in all
essential features between the skulls of the two species is sufficiently indi-
cated in the subjoined table of measurements of a considerable number of
skulls of each species.

The greater prominence and thickness of the orbital cylinder in the
aurochs has been cited by Ritimeyer as a distinctive feature of the aurochs,
but in a comparison of skulls of corresponding ages the difference is not
apparent, the slightly greater size and thickness corresponding merely with

the generally more massive character of the osseous system of the aurochs.
The difference in the nasal bones referred to also by the same author is

intangible, being equalled in different individuals of Bison americanus.

TABLE X.

MEASUREMENTS OF TWENTY-TWO SKULLS OF BISON AMERICANUS AND OF FIVE SKULLS OF BISON BONASUS.

Bison americanus. | Bison bonasus.
1|/2/3)4)5/6)7)|8| 9 |10/11/12 |13| 14/15/16 |17 |18 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |26 | 27
Oe el eh cele ee eee ee ee oe ee eee
— pote of Bae llee a Cen oe 53051 00|555/550 500 500/600/4
oO r edge . .|805
A end a asal bones to despa est vee 158/463/440/460)45 44.()|425)415 140/43 420, 4 1 . |440
Ss Pome el se bo Occipital crest =... 5...... 247/267)... | 0) 208) 216}208)285/257/250|265 |
a Anterior end of nasal bones to be ase u oe -cores . .1362/355].. | | : 34 375
a Br Lae of oe a ab narrowest pomt*......... 270/273]. . .|270|/285/25 i | 21
Z, pee gauges ee eme outer Os OE orbits.
< bases of horn-cores ........... I 4}214/21
oS Width of skull at ihe aur rena ae 7 .. 7 { 19 5
4 Len eet rn-cores measured a Nie side .. 57/146/180/210)176)175).. .|145)135/195)132)133)133]153/190)230).. ./270
Si a lin ee and ti) 5 7... 190,163)... .|195/200)178)175|1 76) 173)130/132)162/178)161]170).. .|126)120)134)125)130)127/127/177)...).. ./240
S (eee of base of horn-co Ore 4... 254/254). . .|255/260/200) 214/240 235/195/ 200/21 7/233/255)/240/300/138)135/158)/163/165)155)178)240/242).. .|200
‘ "a - t. 3 mesial plane of skull to — - a -core] 330/298). . .|328/350/314/31 7/327) 298|253/ 26 7/300/330/300|/290). . .|220/205)/ 230] 235/233) 248)216/320)...|.. ./310
(ea oe ween Fone tips of horn-cores ...... 620/584). . ./640/680/575,575|615'590)484/515/565|/620,585/560].. ./4 125) 4 4 . /560
aa) Wencth obnasals 2 ' . -/200/170)163)168) 185) 1 72)195)185)220)174/ 200/183
i Greatest peak OLOne nasal =). 88 0... 60) 55|...| 57) 65| 55| 53] 58] 58] 57| 52] 62] 55] 57|...| 65) 44] 46] 46] 52) 46) 49] 38] 52] 52)...| 45
Breadth of palatines opposite 2d true molar ....... 108/110). . .100)103)104| 97/112/104| 80, 93/102) 96)106] 98/113) 89} 88) 90) 88| 92/102) 88)105)102)...| 96
Greatest heioht of slull 2. 61. (14 158)150).. ./154/162)160/152/162 170/147/144]165/168)156/148)117/140/130/137/156)142/146/133)168)...).. ./167
Length of m olar series of maxilla............00- 140/154]. . ./140/147/150)152/140/134)148/140/150]135138)14 143]150|130/152/138/136|146|140/148]142... .|152
lag tp to angle eee. 20 406/400 41 4 Sas - 408
Heisht of 217/215) 200). . .|210/215/195|200 208)197)200|215)200|...|.. .(|225/180)170 190 195|495 207|165|280 12038
Length of molar ee aa tee es: ae OH lec i aa oe ea te MAG OS. l4 a Hs 1osilol|.. 157

* Between orbits and base of horn-cores.

48
Explanation of Table X.

1. Bison americanus. A very old male from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 95).

2. Bison americanus. Male, ten to twelve years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 91).

3. Bison americanus. Very old male, from Kansas.

4. Bison americanus, Very old male, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 93).

5. Bison americanus. Male, about fifteen years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 10).

6. Bison americanus. Male, about six years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 11).

7. Bison americanus. Male, about four years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 94).

8. Bison americanus. Male, about ten years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 97).

9. Bison americanus. Male, about twelve years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 99).
10. Bison americanus. Male, four or five years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 100).
11. Bison americanus. Male, about six years-old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 102).’

12. Bison americanus. Male, about twelve years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 1770).
13. Bison americanus. Male, about twelve years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 1771).
14. Bison americanus. Male, about twelve years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 1215).
15. Bison americanus. Male, about fifteen years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 1216).
16. Bison americanus. Male, ten or twelve years old, from Kansas (National Mus., No. 12,233).
17. Bison americanus. Female, four or five years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 1937).
18. Bison americanus. Female, about three years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 1768).
19. Bison americanus. Female, about three years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 96).
20. Bison americanus. Female, about nine years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 101).
21. Bison americanus. Female, about six years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 105).
22. Bison americanus. Female, about six years old, from Kansas (M. C. Z., No. 92).

23. Bison bonasus. Female, about five or six years old (M. C. Z., No. 1790).

24. Bison bonasus. Old male, from Menagerie of Schoenbrunn (M. C. Z., No. 165).

THE AMERICAN BISONS.

25. Bison bonasus. Male. Measurements as given by Richardson, in Zool. Voy. of the Herald, p. 122.
26. Bison bonasus. Old male, from Sheenbrunn. Measurements as given by Cuvier (Ossem. Foss., 3d
ed., Tome IV, p. 121).

27. Bison bonasus. Male, about six years old, from the Vienna Museum (National Mus., No. 11,514).

Individual Variation. —The American bison presents a considerable range
of what may be termed individual variation. This has already been noticed
in respect to the metacarpal bones (see Table VHI and Plate X), where it
was shown that not always the thickest and stoutest examples are the longest.
Thus a metacarpal of a male 192 mm. in length exceeds in all other dimensions
another specimen having a length of 213 mm. A similar difference is trace-
able throughout the skeleton (see Table IX), so that we have individuals

that present in all parts of their structure a slender or attenuated form, and -

others that are relatively thick and stout, the tallest and longest specimens
being sometimes exceeded in stoutness, comparing bone with bone, by
those of considerably less stature. There are again individuals that differ
from the average in general bulk, without presenting any other unusual
differences. Variations in the relative length of the different bones of the

ee ininrrteremr ere

|
‘4
I

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 49

limbs, of the ribs, the dorsal spines, etc., are of frequent occurrence. As such
variations are now so well known to characterize vertebrates in general, —
each species having a considerable normal range of osteological variation, —
they may be passed over without further remark.

Among more unusual variations are the occasional development of an
extra rib, or an extra pair of ribs, which may articulate either with the last
cervical or the first lumbar vertebra. A famous instance of the latter was
presented by a specimen described by Cuvier (the first skeleton of the Amer-
ican bison that came under the eye of an osteologist), which had fifteen pairs
of ribs, and only four, instead of five, lumbar vertebrae (see above, p. 2). The
mistake to which this abnormal specimen gave rise in respect to the number
of dorsal and lumbar vertebrae and the number of pairs of ribs possessed
by the American bison as compared with the aurochs, has already been
noticed, —a mistake that still survives in some of our leading text-books of
comparative anatomy. In the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy is a male
from Kansas possessing a supplemental pair of ribs which articulate with the
last cervical vertébra, instead of with the first lumbar, as in the case of
Cuvier’s specimen.

Variations in the form of the skull are often strikingly apparent, affecting
not so much, however, the relative size of the different parts, or the pro-
portion of width to length, as the frontal outline or profile, and the curvature
and relative direction of the horns. In respect to the profile, the frontal
region varies in different specimens of the same sex and of corresponding
ages in the forehead being either flat, or even slightly concave, or very con-
vex (see Plates V, VI, and VII). The horns are usually so much depressed
that when the skull is placed on a flat surface with the dorsal aspect down-
ward the points will not touch the surface on which the skull rests,—in
other words, do not rise to the plane of the forehead; in other specimens
they sometimes rise so high as to prevent the skull from touching the flat
surface by a space of one or two inches. The horn-cores are also sometimes
directed backward far beyond the plane of the occiput, though usually not
reaching it (see Plates V, VI, and VII). Such differences as these are so con-
siderable that they are sometimes, in allied groups, regarded as indicative of
specific differences.

The variation in length in a series of a dozen aged male skulls ranges from
500 to 600 mm., but the usual range of variation is between 500 and 550
mm. The extremes in breadth are 240 and 280 mm., ranging usually be-

50 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

tween 240 and 275 mm. The lower jaw variés in length in the same series
from 400 to 420 mm.; the nasals from 194 to 204 mm.; the horn-cores from
180 to 215mm. The length of the alveolar space of the upper molars varies
from 138 to 154 mm.; of the lower, from 148 to 165mm. The variation
in the length of the alveolar space in the females overlaps that of the males,
the length of the lower molar series ranging from 145 to 158 mm., and that
of the upper molar series from 136 to 152 mm. It thus appears that in
respect to the size of the teeth the sexual difference is not very great, — far
less than that between other parts of the skull and skeleton.

The individual variation in respect to the horns themselves, in size and
direction of curvature, is well worthy of special notice. Of two males of
nearly corresponding ages, one has horn-cores measuring 220 mm. in length,
the other only 146 mm. ‘The variation in the circumference at the base
ranges from 235 to 800 mm. In respect to curvature, the horns are some-
times gently curved the whole length, and sometimes abruptly bent upward
at the end of the basal third, as shown in Plates V, VI, and VII. They also
vary greatly in size in individuals of corresponding ages. “The difference in
these respects between different individuals of Bison americanus is hence much
greater than the average difference between B. americanus and B. bonasus.

The variation in the size and shape of the horns resulting from differences
of age is shown by the series of figures in Plate VIII, where the horn of a
male of the first autumn, the horn of a yearling male, of a male of four or
five years, and of a male of twelve to fourteen years, is represented, and also
two specimens differing greatly in size from about equally aged old bulls.

Synonymy and Nomenclature. — The first systematic name applied to the
American bison under the binomial system of nomenclature was Bos america-
nus, given it by Gmelin in 1788, the specific name being evidently adopted
from Catesby, who in 1754 called it Bison americanus, as did also Brisson two
years later. By this specific name, coupled with the generic appellation of
either Bos or Bison, it has since been almost universally known, a few very
conservative naturalists having always regarded it as either merely a variety
of the aurochs or as absolutely identical with it. It hence forms almost the
only exception among North American mammals of a species that has never
had a prominent synonym. Hernandez refers to it under the name of
Taurus mexicanus, ‘but Hernandez wrote long prior to the establishment of
the binomial system of nomenclature, as did also Nieremburg, who called it

Taurus q™uivirensis, so that these names have never been regarded as having a

claim to priority.

|
|
i
i
|
i

i
|
|

THE AMERICAN BISONS. bl

To the Spanish colonists the American bison was commonly known under
the name of Cibola, but some Spanish writers speak of it under the name
Bisonte, while De Laét and others called it Armenta. Beeuf sauvage was the
name given it by Du Pratz, though often also called Bufle, Vache sauvage,
and sometimes Bison d’ Amérique, by the early French colonists, while the
Canadian voyageurs are said to term it simply / bauf. Kalm spoke of the
American bisons as Wilde Ochsen und Kiuhe, while the early English explorers
also often referred to this animal under the same English equivalent, and
also used for it the names Bufle and Beuf sauvage. These two last-mentioned
names were also applied, by both the early French and the early English
explorers, to the Moose (Alces malchis) and the elk (Cervus canadensis).
Charlevoix called the bison the Bauf du Canada. Marquette called it the
Pisikious, adopting the name then current among the Illinois Indians, while
Hennepin called it Zawreau sauvage. Lawson and Bricknell used the name
Buffelo, which name, modified to Buffalo, was employed by Catesby and was
early adopted by the English colonists. According to Richardson it is called
Peecheek by the Algonquins, Adgiddah by the Chepewyans, and Moostoosh by
the Crees.

In the United States this animal has generally borne the name of buffah,
though discriminating writers persist that the name is erroneous, and that
it should be called the American bison. The latter is undoubtedly its correct
English cognomen, but probably among the people generally the name du/-
falo will never be supplanted. The term American buffalo is doubtless
defensible for those who prefer it, and even dyffalo is no more a misnomer
than scores of the names of our common mammals and birds. The name
Robin, as applied to Turdus migratorius, is even more objectionable than that
of buffalo as applied to the American bison. The name buffalo is of course
strictly applicable only to the genus Budalus, embracing the true African and
Indian buffaloes.

Figures of the American Bison. — The first figure of the bison ever published
is doubtless that given by Thevet in 1558,* three years after the publication
of Vaca’s “ Journal,” in which occurs the earliest description of the American
bison. This is an extremely rude figure, having but little resemblance to
the bison. In 1633 De Laétt published another equally faulty. Nierem-
burg,t in 1635, and Hernandez, § in 1651, published others, which so much
resemble Thevet’s that they seem to be merely enlarged, slightly modified

* Les Singularitez de la France Antarctique, p. 145.
+ Amer., p. 303. t Hist. Nat., p. 181. § Mex., p. 587.

TEESE SESS ENCES OU IGEN ERB ee

52 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

copies of it. Hernandez’s figure, however, has been repeatedly referred to
as the first published figure of the American bison. Towards the end of the
seventeenth century a somewhat similar figure was published by Hennepin.*
During the eighteenth century others were added by Du Pratz, Lawson
(in his “ History of Carolina t), Catesby, + Buffon, § and others, Catesby’s and
Buffon’s being very fair representations of the animal intended, and are the
first that attained a tolerable degree of accuracy.

The first good figures are those given by F. Cuvier and Geoffroy, || consist-
ing of a series of three, drawn from specimens living in the Menagerie at
Paris. The first is that of a young male in summer pelage, the second that of
a young female, and the third that of a calf a few weeks old. These are all
very fine, especially in respect to color, in which they excel all others, those
of Catlin and Audubon being of too dark a tint.

Catlin, in his “North American Indians” (Vol. I), devotes a series of
fourteen spirited plates to the illustration of the American bison. The male
is represented in plate vii of this work ; the female in plate viii; in plate ix
is depicted a collision of a bull and a horse during a chase, and in plate x a
wounded bull is represented. In plate cv is figured a herd in the rutting
season ; in plate cvi a herd at rest, with an old bull wallowing in the fore-
ground ; plates cvii to exii form a series illustrating the hunting of the buffalo
by the Indians; plates cxiii and cxiv represent buffaloes attacked by wolves.

Besides Audubon’s § well-known figures, among those worthy of special
notice are those in Schoolcraft’s great work on the Indians,** in which in
plate viii is given a comparative view of the buffalo and domestic cow; in
plate ix, a view of a buffalo chase; in plate x, buffalo hunting in winter; in
plate xi, a view of a large herd of buffaloes; in plate xii, another view of a
large herd with an old bull in the foreground ; plate xiii, buffalo skinning.

The earlier figures are of course noteworthy only as being the first at-
tempts at delineating the American bison. Those by Catlin, on the other
hand, truthfully and vividly depict scenes which, though formerly character-

* Discovery of a Vast Country, ete., p. 90.

{ Fig. ilo,

t Nat. Hist. of Carolina, ete., pl. xx.

§ Hist. Nat., Suppl., TI, pl. v.

|| Hist Nat. des Mam, Tome J, livr. xii (young male); Tome II, livr. xxxii (young female) ; Tome HI,
livr. xlix (calf a few weeks old).

{| Quad. North America, Vol. TI, pls. lvi, lvii.

** Hist. Prosp. & Cond. Indian Tribes of North America, Vol. IV, pls. vili- xiii.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. oD

istic of our plains, will soon be known only in history, and are well worthy
of consultation by any one interested in the subjects he there delineates.
Audubon’s illustrations are faithful likenesses, and the scenes and figures
given in Schooleraft’s work may also be examined with profit; the most
accurate figures, however, are those given by Cuvier and Geoffroy.

Fossil Remains. — The remains of the American bison in a fossil or semi-
fossil condition have been found sparingly over a wide area, but no instance
is at present known of their discovery beyond the known limits of its range
at the time of the earliest explorations of the continent. In the National
Museum at Washington are semifossil remains from Colorado, collected by
Major Powell, and from Kansas, collected by Dr. Hayden. I have found a
fossil tooth of this species in Central Iowa, and have received from Mr.
Orestes H. St. John a fossil astragalus from the banks of the Big Blue River
in Kansas. Professor Wyman has reported its remains from the mounds of
the Lead Region in Wisconsin and Iowa ; Dr. Leidy has figured a tooth from
the Lead crevices of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, and also from the Ashley
River, South Carolina.* Professor Baird has reported the existence of its
fossil remains in the caverns of Central Pennsylvania. The alleged occur-
rence of its remains at Gardner, Maine, proves, however, to be probably
erroneous, as will be shown further on. +

Its bones have also been found in large quantities about the Salt Licks of
the Ohio Valley, especially at Big-bone Lick, Kentucky. The accumulations
at the last-named locality date back to remote times, since in the lower
strata of these bone-deposits are found the bones of Mastodon americanus,
Megalonyz, Elephas, an extinct species of Equus, and an extinct species of
Ovibos, but, according to Professor Shaler, the bones of Bison americanus
occur only in the more superficial strata, which are composed almost solely
of the remains of this animal. These remains differ, as before stated
(p. 33), in no appreciable respect, in form or in size, from those of the
recent bison of the Plains.t The only difference of note consists in the
very different manner of the wearing of the molar teeth. In the recent

* In both instances doubtfully referred by Dr. Leidy to Bison latifrons.

t See the chapter on the Geographical Distribution of the American Bison.

{ A skull from Big-bone Lick (No. 2047, M. C. Z.) presents the greatest convexity of the forehead
(see Plate V, figs. 5, 6) of any I have met with, but does not differ in other respects from ordinary exam-

ples. On the other hand, other Big-bone Lick skulls exhibit the usual degree of flatness. No 2050 has

unusually large horn-cores, but is not in other respects distinguishable from average recent examples.

54 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

bison of the Plains, the crowns of the teeth present a nearly even surface,
every part of the tooth being worn to nearly the same level. In the re-
mains from Big-bone Lick, however, the crown surface wears into a series of
deep transverse serrations, the ridges of which often rise a fourth of an inch
above the intervening hollows. The difference between the two in this
respect is strikingly great (see Plate [X*), and evidently relates to the dif-
ferent character of the food obtainable in the two districts. The bison of
the Plains necessarily feeds wholly upon short, fine grasses, which rarely
attain a height of more than a few inches, and are consequently at times
more or less sprinkled with sand and dust. The Ohio Valley, on the con-
trary, is a region of rank herbage, and tall succulent grasses. The Plains
bison must take with its food more or less gritty material,t which tends not
only to wear the teeth down evenly, but far more rapidly than was the case
in the Ohio Valley, the teeth in the Plains bisons generally being very much
worn even in middle-aged animals, while in very old animals the teeth are
often worn down to the fangs. Even the temporary set become wholly worn
out before they give place to the permanent series. Nothing of this kind has
been observed in specimens from Big-bone Lick, even in the oldest individuals.

Geographical Distribution. — Since the geographical distribution of the Amer-
ican bison, past and present, is treated at length in a subsequent chapter de-
voted especially to the subject, a few words only on this point will suffice in
the present connection. The habitat of the bison (see Map I) formerly ex-
tended from Great Slave Lake on the north, in latitude about 62°, to the north-
eastern provinces of Mexico, as far south as latitude 25°. Its range in Brit-
ish North America extended from the Rocky Mountains on the west to the
wooded highlands about six -hundred miles west of Hudson’s Bay, or about
to a line running southeastward from the Great Slave Lake to the Lake of the
Woods. Its range in the United States formerly embraced a considerable area
west of the Rocky Mountains, its recent remains having been found in Oregon
as far west as the Blue Mountains, and further south if occupied the Great
Salt Lake Basin, extending westward even to the Sierra Nevada Mountains,
while less than fifty years since it existed over the head-waters of the Green
and Grand Rivers, and other sources of the Colorado. East of the Rocky
Mountains its range extended southward far beyond the Rio Grande, and

* This Plate also contains figures of the milk-dentition.

+ In the teeth of specimens from the Plains I have found sharp angular particles of quartz sand wedged

into the cavities of the teeth.

:
|
iH

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 55

eastward throughout the region drained by the Ohio River and its tribu-
taries. Its northern limit east of the Mississippi was the Great Lakes, along
which it extended eastward to near the eastern end of Lake Erie. It appears
not to have occurred south of the Tennessee River, and only to a limited
extent east of the Alleghanies, chiefly in the upper districts of North and
South Carolina.

Its present range embraces two distinct and comparatively small areas.
The southern is chiefly limited to Western Kansas, a part of the Indian Ter-
ritory, and Northwestern Texas, — in all together embracing a region about
equal in size to the present State of Kansas. The northern district extends
from the sources of the principal southern tributaries of the Yellowstone
northward into the British Possessions, embracing an area not much greater
than the present Territory of Montana. Over these regions, however, it is
rapidly disappearing, and at its present rate of decrease will certainly be-
come wholly extinct during the next quarter of a century.

Habits. —The American bison is, as is well known, pre-eminently a gre-
garious animal. At times herds have been met with of immense size, num-
bering thousands, and even millions, of individuals. The accounts given by
thoroughly veracious travellers respecting their size sound almost like
exaggerations. Herds were formerly often met with extending for many
miles in every direction, so that the expression “so numerous as to blacken
the plains as far as the eye can reach” has become a hackneyed description
of their abundance. Some writers speak of travelling for days together with-
out ever being out of sight of buffaloes, while it is stated that emigrant
trains were formerly sometimes detained for hours by the passage of dense
herds across their routes. In the early history of the Kansas Pacific Railway
it repeatedly happened that trains were stopped by the same cause. Such
statements as these seem like exaggerations, but no facts are perhaps better
attested. I must myself confess to slight misgivings in respect to their
thorough truthfulness until I had, in 1871, an opportunity of seeing the
moving multitudes of these animals covering the landscape on the plains
of Kansas, when I was convinced of the possibility of the seemingly most
extravagant reports being true. Only when demoralized and broken up by
constant persecution from hunters do the herds become scattered. At other
times only the old bulls, lean and partly disabled from age, leave the herds

and wander as stragglers.
The organization and lege ition of the herds, though wholly simple and

56 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

natural, has been the subject of much romancing on the part of a few fanci-
ful writers. Generally the cows with their calves are found towards the
middle and on the front of the herds, the cows being at all times more
watchful than the bulls, and also more active. The cows are hence the first
to detect danger, and generally take the initiative in the movements of the
herd. The younger animals of both sexes mingle with the cows, as do also
to a greater or less extent the younger and middle-aged bulls. The older
bulls are generally found nearer the outside of the herd, while last of all the
old patriarchs of the flock bring up the rear. Some of the latter are often
found far out on the outskirts, miles away from the main herd, occurring
singly or in small parties of three or four to a dozen individuals. These are
usually the superannuated members of the community, which lag behind
from listlessness or sheer weakness. This simple grouping of the different
individuals of the herds has given rise to exaggerated accounts of the
sagacity of the buffalo, and much fine writing has at times been expended
in describing the supposed regularity and almost military precision of their
movements. The sluggish, partly disabled old males constitute the lordly
sentinels of such tales, who are supposed to watch with fatherly care over
the welfare of the flock, and to give early warning of the approach of
danger. On the contrary, these supposed alert protectors are the most
easily approached of any members of the flock, the experienced hunter find-
ing no trouble in creeping past within a few yards of them in endeavoring
to reach the more desirable game beyond them.* They are slower, too, to
recognize danger when it is observed. The timidity and watchfulness of the -
cows, accustomed as they are to the care of their offspring, lead them to
take the initiative in the movements of the herd, and this, as already stated,
keeps them near the front, especially when the herd is moving. The popular
belief that the bulls keep the cows and the young in the middle of the herd,
and form themselves, as it were, into a protecting phalanx, has some ap-
parent basis; but the theory that the old bulls, the least watchful of all the
members of the herd, are sentinels posted on the outskirts to give notice of
any approaching enemy, is wholly a myth, as is also the supposition that the
herds consist of small harems.

The rutting season begins in July, but is not at its height till the following
month. Rarely is more than a single calf produced at a birth. The period

of pregnancy being about nine months, the calves are born from the begin-

* See the chapter beyond devoted to an account of the different methods of hunting the buffalo.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 57

ning of March till the end of June, and follow the mother for nearly a year.
Generally, also, the yearlings and two and three year olds are found asso-
ciated with the cows and younger bulls. During no part of the year do the
sexes form separate herds, but are found mingled together nearly in the
manner already described.* It has been asserted, however, that the bulls
select their partners and keep near them till the cows are about to calve,
when for a time they leave them.t+ During the rutting season the bulls often
wage fierce battles, but they are believed never to result fatally. The
actions of the combatants are not much unlike those of domestic cattle under
similar circumstances, they pawing the ground and bellowing, blustering
loudly before engaging in actual combat. Their short horns are not appar-
ently very dangerous weapons, and the stunning effect of the heavy shocks
that must follow the violent collisions of these monsters when fighting is
doubtless partly broken by the immense thickness of hair with which their

* Since the above was written I have met with the following remarks from the pen of Colonel R. I.

Dodge: “ When the calves are young they are kept always in the centre of each small herd, the cows |

with them, while the bulls dispose themselves on the outside. When feeding the herd is more or less
scattered, but on the approach of danger it closes and rounds into a tolerably compact circular mass.
“The small herds, which compose the great herd, have each generally more bulls than cows, seeming all
on the very best terms with each other. The old bulls do undoubtedly leave the herd and wander off
as advance or rear guards and flankers, but I am disposed to believe this due to a misanthropic abnega-
tion of society on the part of these old fellows, to whom female companionship no longer possesses its charm,
rather than to their being driven out by the younger bulls, as is generally believed. This habitual separa-
tion of the large herd into numerous smaller herds seems to be an instinctive act, probably for more per-
fect mutual protection. It has been thought, said, and written by many persons that each small herd is a
sort of community, the harem and retainers of some specially powerful bull, who keeps proper order and
subjection among them. Nothing is further from the truth. The association is not only purely instinctive,
voluntary, free from domination of power, of sexual appetite, or individual preferences, but is most
undoubtedly entirely accidental as to individual components. I have, when unobserved, carefull y watched
herds while feeding. I have seen two or more small herds merge into one, or one larger herd separate
into two, or more. This is done quietly, gradually, and, as it were, accidentally, in the act of feeding, each
buffalo seeming only intent on getting his full share of the best grass. I have already said that the cows
and calves are always in the centre, the bulls on the outside. When feeding herds approach each other
and merge into one, the only perceptible change — and this is so gradual as scarcely to be noticeable —is
that the bulls on the sides of contact work themselves out toward the new circumference, which is to inclose
the whole; and when a larger herd breaks, by the same gradual process, into smaller ones, the bulls
instinctively place themselves on the outside of each. When pursued the herds rush together in one com-
pact, plunging mass. As soon as the pursuit is over, and the buffaloes are sufficiently recovered from their
fright to begin feeding, those on the outside of the mass gradually detach themselves, breaking into
smaller herds, until the whole large herd is in its normal condition. If each dominant bull had on such
occasions to run through the herd to look up his lost wives, children, and dependents, this life would not
only be a very unhappy, but also a very busy one.” — Clucago Inter-Ocean (newspaper) of August 5, 1875.
+ See Audubon and Bachman’s Quad. N. America, Vol. I, p- 37.

|

hs

nines

58 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

foreheads are protected. At this season the bulls become lean, but regain
their flesh again in autumn, when they are usually in the best condition.
_ The cows, on the other hand, as well as the eae and two-year-olds, are
generally fattest in June.

In respect to the degree of maternal affection possessed by the buffalo cow
there seems to be a wide range of opinion among observers. Some deny
that the mother has any affection for its offspring, stating that when fright-
ened the buffalo cow will abandon her calf without the slightest hesitation.
On the other hand, others report her as being not only constantly vigilant in
the care of her young, but bold in its defence. Colonel Dodge, indeed, states
that the duty of protecting the calves devolves wholly upon the bulls. He
says: “I have seen evidences of this many times, but the most remarkable
instance I have ever heard of was related to me by an army surgeon, who
was an eyewitness. He was one evening returning to camp, after a day’s
hunt, when his attention was attracted by the curious action of a little knot
of six or eight buffaloes. Approaching sufficiently near to see clearly, he dis-
covered that this little knot were all bulls, standing in a close circle with
their heads outward, while in a concentric circle at some twelve or fifteen
paces distant sat licking their chops in impatient expectancy, at least a dozen
large gray wolves, excepting man, the most dangerous enemy of the buffalo.
The Doctor determined to watch the performance. After a few moments the
knot broke up, still keeping in a compact mass, and started on a trot for the
main herd, some half a mile off. To his very great astonishment the Doc-
tor now saw that the central and controlling figure of this mass was a poor
little calf, so newly born as scarcely: to be able to walk. After going fifty or
a hundred yards the calf lay down. The bulls disposed themselves in a cir-
cle as before, and the wolves, who had trotted along on each flank of their
retreating supper, sat down and licked their chops again. This was repeated
again and again, and although the Doctor did not see the finale (it being late,
and the camp distant), he had no doubt that the noble fathers did their
whole duty by their offspring, and carried it safely to the herd.”*

Audubon states, on the contrary, that the cow does not at such times
desert its young, but tries to defend it,t which statement is confirmed by
many plainsmen and hunters who are thoroughly conversant with the habits
of the buffalo.

* Chicago Inter-Ocean, August 5, 1875.

f Quad. N. Am., Vol. IL, p. 37.

|
i
i
i
|

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 59

The moulting of the buffaloes begins quite early in the season, their skins
being in prime condition for robes during only about three months of the
year. They are in their best estate for this purpose in December, though
they are in fair condition in November and January, and are indeed pretty
fully haired in the months preceding and following these. The long hair on
the legs, neck, and head is not annually shed, but the soft short woolly
covering of the body is usually renewed each year. The short soft hair
begins to loosen in February, and during the following months gradually
falls, so that by May or June the body of the animal, especially the posterior
part, becomes quite naked, and remains so for several weeks. Gradually the
dark-colored new hair begins to appear, covering the animal’s body with a
fine soft velvety coat. During the period of moulting the animal presents a
very ragged and uncouth appearance, the woolly hair hanging here and there
in matted loosened masses with intervening naked spaces. During this
period the animals search for trees, bushes, rocks, or banks of earth against
which they may rub to free themselves from the loosened hair, often also
rolling on the ground for the same purpose. The hair on the hump, which
is thicker and longer than that. on the other parts of the body, is last shed,
and in very old animals is not always annually renewed. The moulting of
the pelage takes place later in the old and lean animals than in the others,
and nearly a month later in the cows than in the bulls, so that in June, while
the greater part are smooth and dark, a few are conspicuous among the
others from still retaining their old and faded coats of the previous year.

The buffalo is quite nomadic in its habits, the same individuals roaming, in
the course of the year, over vast areas of country. Their wanderings, how-
ever, are generally in search of food or water, or result from the persecutions
of human foes. The fires that annually sweep over immense tracks of the
grassy plains, sometimes destroying the herbaceous vegetation over thou-
sands of square miles in continuous area, often force the buffaloes, besides
inspiring them with terror, to make long journeys in search of food. Occa-
sionally the ravages of the grasshoppers cause similar migrations, these pests
leaving large sections of country as bare of vegetation as it is when swept
by a prairie fire. The habit of the buffaloes, too, of keeping together in im-
mense herds renders a slow but constant movement necessary in order to find
food, that of a single locality soon becoming exhausted. They are also
accustomed to make frequent shorter journeys to obtain water. The streams
throughout the range of the buffalo run mainly in an east and west- direc-

60 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

tion, and the buffaloes, in passing constantly from the broad grassy divides to
the streams, soon form well-worn trails, which, running at right angles to the
general course of the streams, have a nearly north and south trend. These
paths have been regarded as indicating a very general north and south
annual migration of these animals. It is, indeed, a wide-spread belief among
the hunters and plainsmen that the buffaloes formerly performed regularly
very extended migrations, going south in autumn and north in spring. I
have even been assured by former agents of the American Fur Company
that, before the great overland emigration to California (about 1849 and
later) divided the buffaloes into two bands, the buffaloes that were found in
summer on the plains of the Saskatchewan and Red River of the North spent
the winter in Texas, and wice versa. The early Jesuit explorers reported a
similar annual migration among the buffaloes east of the Mississippi River,
and scores of travellers have since repeated the same statement in respect to
those of the Plains. That there are local migrations of an annual character
seems in fact to be well substantiated, especially at the southward, where the
buffaloes are reported to have formerly, in great measure, abandoned the
plains of Texas in summer for those further north, revisiting them again in
winter. Before their range was intersected by railroads, or by the great
trans-continental emigrant route by way of the South Pass, the move-
ments of the herds were, doubtless, much more regular than at present.
North of the United States, as late as 1858, according to Hind,* they still

performed very extended migrations, as this author reports the Red River.

bands as leaving the plains of the Red River in spring, moving first west-
ward to the Grand Coteau de Missouri, then northward and eastward to the
Little Souris River, and thence southward again to the Red River plains.

As already stated, a slight movement northward in summer and south-
ward in winter is well attested as formerly occurring in Texas; the hunters
report the same thing as having taken place on the plains of Kansas; fur-
ther north the buffaloes still visit the valley of the Yellowstone in summer
from their winter quarters to the southward; along the 49th parallel they
also pass north in summer and south in winter; there is abundant evi-
dence also of a similar north and south migration on the Saskatchewan plains.
Yet it is very improbable that the buffaloes of the Saskatchewan plains ever
wintered on the plains of Texas; and absolutely certain that for twenty-five
years they have not passed as far south even as the valley of the Platte.

* Canadian Exploring Expeditions, ete., Vol. II, p. 108.

i

oer

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 61

Doubtless the same individuals never moved more than a few hundred miles
in a north and south direction, the annual migration being doubtless merely
a moderate swaying northward and southward of the whole mass with the
changes of the seasons. We certainly know that buffaloes have been accus-
tomed to remain in winter as far north as their habitat extends. North of
the Saskatchewan they are described as merely leaving the more exposed
portions of the plains during the deepest snows and severest periods of cold
to take shelter in the open woods that border the plains. We have, for in-
stance, numerous attestations of their former abundance in winter at Carleton
House, in latitude 63°, as well as at other of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s
posts.

The local movements of the buffaloes are said to have been formerly very
regular, and the hunters conversant with their habits knew very well at
what points they were most likely to find them at the different seasons of
the year. Of late, however, the buffaloes have become much more erratic,
owing to the constant persecutions to which they have been for so long a
time subjected. In Northern Kansas the old trails show that their move-
ments were formerly in the usual north and south direction, the trails all
having that course. Since the construction of the Kansas Pacific Railway,
however, their habits have considerably changed, an east and west migration
having recently prevailed to such an extent that a new set of trails, ronning
at right angles to the earlier, have been deeply worn. Until recently the

-buffaloes ranged eastward in summer to Fort Harker, but retired westward

in winter, few being found at this season east of Fort Hays. In summer
and early autumn, hunting-parties, as late as 1872, made their headquarters
at Hays City; later in the season at Ellis and Park’s Fort; while in mid-
winter they had to move their camps as far west as Coyote, Grinnell, and
Wallace, or to a distance of one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles west
of their fall camps, in consequence of the westward winter migration of the
buffaloes. Two reasons may be assigned for this change of habit : first, their
reluctance to cross the railroad, and secondly, the greater mildness of the win-
ters to the westward of Ellis as compared with the region east of this point.
During the winter of 1871-72 I found that for a period of several weeks,
in December and January, the country east of Ellis was covered with ice
and encrusted snow sufficiently deep to bury the grass below the reach of
either the buffaloes or the domestic cattle. In the vicinity of Ellis the

amount of snow and ice began rapidly to diminish, while a little further

62 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

westward the ground was almost wholly bare. I was informed, furthermore,
that this was the usual distribution of the snow in this region whenever any
fell there. Although occasionally the snow does not accumulate in sufficient
quantity to render grazing difficult over any of the country west of Fossil
Creek, the buffaloes regularly abandon this region in winter for the country
further west, where snow is of more exceptional occurrence.

The wanderings of the buffaloes often render it necessary for them to
cross large streams, which they seem to do with reckless fearlessness and at
almost any season of the year, though frequently at the cost of the lives of
many of the old and feeble as well as of the young. Lewis and Clarke
speak of their crossing the Upper Missouri in such numbers as to delay their
boat, the river being filled with them as thick as they could swim for the
distance of amile.* Other Western travellers mention similar scenes.} Bad
landing-places, such as bluffy banks or miry shores, often prove fatal to the
halfexhausted creature after reaching the shore} In winter they boldly
cross the rivers on the ice; towards spring, however, after the ice has
become weakened by melting, and even occasionally at other times, in con-
sequence of their crowding too thickly together, the ice breaks beneath their
weight and great numbers are drowned. In spring they often cross amid
the floating ice, at which times they are sometimes set upon by the Indians,
to whom they then fall an easy prey. According to Audubon, small herds
occasionally find themselves adrift on masses of floating ice, where the ma-
jority perish from cold and lack of food rather than trust themselves to the
icy, turbulent waters.§

The behavior and movements of the buffalo are in general very much like
those of domestic cattle, but their speed and endurance seem to be far

* Lewis and Clarke’s Exped., Vol. II, p. 395.

+ Catlin, North Am. Indians, Vol. I, p. 13; Fremont, Explorations, etc., p 23.

{ The following incident in point is related by Colonel Dodge: “ Late in the summer of 1867 a herd of
probably four thousand buffaloes attempted to cross the South Platte near Plum Creek. The river was rap-
idly subsiding, being nowhere over a foot or two in depth, and the channels in the bed were filled or filling
with loose quicksand. The buffaloes in front were hopelessly stuck. Those immediately behind, urged on
by the horns and pressure of those yet further in the rear, trampled over their struggling companions to be
themselves ingulfed in the devouring sand. This was continued until the bed of the river, nearly half a
mile broad, was covered with dead or dying buffaloes. Only a comparative few actually crossed the river,
and these were soon driven back by hunters. It was estimated that considerably more than half the herd,
or over two thousand buffaloes, paid for this attempt with their lives.” — Chicago Inter-Ocean, August 5,
1875.

§ Audubon and Bachman, Quad. N. Am., Vol. II, p. 38.

1
|

I

THE AMERICAN BISONS. as

greater. When well under way, and with a good start, it takes a fleet horse
to overtake them, their speed being much greater than one would suppose
from simply watching their movements from a distance, their gait being a
rather clumsy, lumbering gallop. When pursued, or when urged on by
thirst, rough ground and a tumble now and then seem to scarcely retard
their progress, they plunging headlong down the steep sides of ravines and
resuming their course up the opposite slope as if they had found the ravine
no obstacle to their progress. When thirsty, in order to get at streams or
springs, they will often leap down vertical banks where it would be impos-
sible to urge a horse, and will even descend precipitous rocky bluffs by paths
where a man could only climb down with difficulty, and where it would
seem almost impossible for a beast of their size and structure to pass except at
the cost of broken limbs or a broken neck. On the bluffs of the Musselshell
River I found places where they had leaped down bare ledges three or four feet
in height with nothing but ledges of rocks for a landing-place ; sometimes,
too, through passages between high rocks but little wider than the thickness

of their own bodies, with also a continuous precipitous descent for many feet

below. Nothing in their history ever surprised me more than this revelation

of their expertness and fearlessness in climbing.* Ordinarily, however, the
buffalo shows commendable sagacity in respect to his choice of routes, usu-
ally choosing the easiest grades and the most direct courses, so that a buffalo
trail can be depended upon as affording the most feasible road possible
through the region it traverses.

When moving in large bands across the plains dee. course is often plainly

marked by the column of dust they raise, even when the animals themselves
are far beyond sight, the scene calling to mind the passage of a distant troop
of cavalry at full speed, or a heavy train of army wagons. The presence of
a herd to the windward of the observer, even if a mile or two distant, can
usually be detected by the peculiar odor that arises from it, especially dur-
ing the rutting season. At this time, too, the roaring of the bulls can often
be heard when the animals are miles away, and hidden, perchance, by inter-
vening swells of the prairie, particularly at night, or when the air is still.
Few things make a more vivid or lasting impression —and one that at the
time is often far from agreeable — upon the mind of the traveller, encamped
far out on the open prairie, than the roar and tramp of an approaching herd
of buffaloes, especially at night-time. Nothing, again, is more pleasantly

* On this point see further Dr. Coues’s communication given in Part II.

~

64 : THE AMERICAN BISONS.

exhilarating, or gives one a stronger sense of being really amid nature’s
untamed wilds, than, when encamped on the outskirts of a quiescent herd, to
be awakened on a fresh June morning by their distant bellowing, and to see
them, as daylight advances, quietly grazing over a vast expanse of the green
prairie.

As may be well imagined, not only the movements but the habits of the
buffaloes, in their undisturbed daily lives, are in general not far different
from those of grazing herds of domestic cattle. They indulge in similar
gambols, and, when belligerent, in similar blustering demonstrations.
When approached by man they will often assume an aspect. so threatening
that a novice at buffalo-hunting might easily be appalled by the fierce
demonstrations indulged in by the boastful but cowardly old bulls. Bold
at first, and apparently challenging attack, the old bulls, with the head
lowered and the tail erect, will pace uneasily to and fro, threateningly
pawing the earth, or face the ‘approaching enemy with a sullen and
most determined air only to take to their heels the very next moment.
The bulls are at all times excessively fond of pawing the ground, and of
throwing up the earth with their horns, thrusting them into banks when
such are at hand, or into the bare level ground, which they accomplish by
lowering themselves upon one knee. To such an extent do they pursue this
pastime that the horns of the older bulls become very much worn and splin-
tered, in occasional instances the horny covering of the more exposed part
being worn very thin, and in rare instances entirely through to the bony core.
Particularly bovine, also, is the satisfaction they take in rubbing themselves
against whatever will oppose resistance, whether it be rocks, trees, bushes,
or a clay-bluff; the telegraph-poles, however, erected along the railroads
that cross their range, afforded them especial delight as scratching-posts,
and soon became as well smoothed and covered with tufts of hair and
grease from their unctuous hides as are the posts about a farmer’s cattle-
yard. What is very unlike anything in the habits of domestic cattle, how-
ever, is their propensity to roll themselves on the ground, which, notwith-
standing their seemingly inconvenient form, they do with the greatest ease,
rolling over as completely as a horse, and apparently with far less exertion.
But their especial delight is to roll in the mud, or in “ wallowing,” as it is
termed, from which exercise they arise looking more like an animated mass
of mud than their former selves. ( The object of these peculiar ablutions is
doubtless to cool their heated bodies and to free themselves from trouble-

|
"

7 rrnmesnoeneneemeee

ra

" THE AMERICAN BISONS. 65

some insects. When not finding a muddy pool ready at hand, an old bull
proceeds to prepare one. Finding in the low parts of the prairies, says Cat-
lin, who has described the process with considerable detail,* a little stagnant
water amongst the grass, and the ground underneath soft and saturated with
moisture, an old bull lowers himself upon one knee, plunges his horns into
the ground, throwing up the earth and soon making an excavation into
which the water trickles, forming for him in a short time a cool and com-
fortable bath, in which he wallows “like a hog in the mire.” In this “de-
lectable laver” he throws himself flat upon his side, and then, forcing himself
violently around with his horns, his feet, and his huge hump, ploughs up the
ground still more, thus enlarging his pool till he at length becomes nearly
immersed. Besmeared with a coating of the pasty mixture, he at length
rises, changed into “a monster of mud and ugliness,” with the black mud
dripping from his shaggy mane and thick woolly coat. The mud soon dry-
ing upon his body forms a covering that insures him immunity for hours
from the attacks of insects. Others follow in succession, having waited their
turns to enjoy the luxury ; each rolls and wallows in a similar way, adding
a little to the dimensions of the hole, and carrying away a share of the ad-
hesive mud. By this means an excavation is eventually made having a
diameter of fifteen or twenty feet, and two feet in depth. These wallows
thus become characteristic marks of a buffalo country, outlasting even the
ordinary trails, while their effect upon the country is much more marked,
rank vegetation growing about their borders and serving to indicate their
positions when quite distant.

The buffaloes, however, do not always choose moist places in which to roll,
and are quite content with wallowing in the dust when mud-and-water wal-
lows are not conveniently at hand; wherever, in short, large herds have
grazed, hollows formed by their indulgence in this propensity are of very
frequent occurrence. These circular depressions, which are also usually
called “ wallows,’ are of smaller size than the water wallows, being eight to
ten or twelve feet or more in diameter, and a few inches to upwards of a
feot in depth. These also are not effaced by natural agencies for many
years, and hence remain as lasting evidence of the former existence of popu-
lous herds of buffaloes at the localities where these old “wallows” are found.
Owing to the impervious nature of the clayey soil that generally character-
izes the Plains, these hollows temporarily retain the water that collects in

* North American Indians, Vol. I, p. 241.

66 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

them during falls of rain, affording grateful supplies of this important ele-
ment to the various animals of the region, as well as often to man, these
pools usually lasting for several days, or until slowly evaporated by the sun.

The American bison, like the other species of the bovine group, is charac-
terized by a rather sluggish disposition, and is by no means remarkable for
alertness or sagacity, being not only unwieldy in bulk, but also “the stupid-
est animal of the plains.” As Colonel Dodge has remarked, “his enormous
bulk, shaggy mane, vicious eye, and sullen demeanor give him an appear-
ance of ferocity very foreign to his nature. Dangerous as he looks, he is; in
truth, a very mild, inoffensive beast, timid and fearful, and rarely attacking
but in the last hopeless effort of selfdefence. The domestic cattle of Texas,
miscalled ‘tame, are fifty times more dangerous to footmen than the fiercest
buffalo... .. Endowed with the smallest possible amount of instinct, the
little he has seems adapted rather for getting him into difficulties than out
of them. If not alarmed at sight or smell of a foe, he will stand stupidly
gazing at his companions in their death-throes, until the whole herd is shot
down. He will walk unconsciously into a quicksand or quagmire already
choked with struggling, dying victims. Having made up his mind to goa
certain way, it is almost impossible to swerve him from his purpose... . .
When travelling nothing in his front stops him, but an unusual object in his
rear will send him to the about at the top of his speed.” *

In illustration of this curious habit of the buffalo to rush into the most ap-
parent danger, Colonel Dodge relates the following: “The winter of 1871-72
was unusually severe in Arkansas. The ponds and smaller streams to the
north were all frozen solid, and the buffalo were forced to the rivers for water.
The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé Railroad was then in process of con-
struction, and nowhere could this peculiarity of the buffalo of which I am
speaking be better studied than from its trains. If a herd was on the north
side of the track it would stand stupidly gazing and without symptom of
alarm though the locomotive passed within a hundred yards. If on the
south side of the track, even though at a distance of one or two miles from
it, the passage of a train set the whole herd in the wildest commotion. At
its full speed, and utterly regardless of consequences, it would make for the
track, on its line of retreat. If the train happened not to be in its path it
crossed the track, and stopped satisfied. If the train was in the way, each
individual buffalo went at it with the desperation of despair, plunging against

* Chicago Inter-Ocean, August 5, 1875.

eT este er artery Nea RR RT TS a eee RT

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 67

or between locomotive and cars, just as the blind madness chanced to take

them. Numbers were killed, but numbers still pressed on to stop and stare

“as soon as the obstacle was passed. After having trains ditched twice in

one week, conductors learned to have a very decided respect for the idiosyn-
crasies of the buffalo, and when there was a possibility of striking a herd
‘on the rampage’ for the north side of the track, the train was slowed up,
and sometimes stopped entirely.” *

The sluggish nature and in some respects intense ‘stupidity of the buffalo
hence tend greatly to place this animal wholly at the mercy of its enemies,
chief among whom is man, whether civilized or in the savage state. An ac-
count of the various devices for their destruction practised by man, and of
the results ‘that have followed the reckless, exterminating slaughter he has
waged upon this inoffensive and helpless animal, being given in subsequent
portions of this memoir, it is unnecessary to refer at length to these matters
here. Let it suffice, then, in this connection, to say that their unwariness
renders them an easy prey to the hunter, who, by keeping to the leeward
of the herd, finds no difficulty in approaching these animals sufficiently near
for their easy. destruction, even when he is unmounted, while their pursuit
on horseback has ever been one of the favorite pastimes of the sportsman.
Fortunately for the buffaloes, they possess few other enemies, the wolves
being their only other formidable foe. These have now become so reduced
in numbers over most of the present range of the buffalo that they no longer
form a very serious check upon its increase. Formerly they everywhere
harassed the buffalo, destroying many of the young, and even worrying and
finally killing and devouring the aged, the feeble, and the wounded. Thirty
years since the wolves, next to the Indians, were the great scourge of the
buffaloes, and had no small degree of influence in effecting their decrease.
The earlier explorers of the plains often speak of finding a solitary buffalo,
disabled by accident or by age, surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves, who
would tease and wound him day and night till he finally fell a prey to their
ravenous appetites. Catlin and other writers have often referred to this mat-
ter at length, Catlin having also given a series of paintings of these encounters
between the bison and his hungry tormentors.t Says Catlin, in his graphic
account of one of these attacks, “During my travels in these regions [Upper
Missouri country], I have several times come across such a gang of these

* Chicago Inter-Ocean, August 5, 1875.
t North American Indians, Vol. I, p. 257, pls. exiii, exiv.

68 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

animals surrounding an old or wounded bull, where it would seem, from ap-
pearances, that they had been for several days in attendance, and at intervals
desperately engaged in the effort to take his life. But a short time since,
as one of my hunting companions and myself were returning to our encamp-
ment with our horses loaded with meat, we discovered at a distance a huge
bull, encircled with a gang of white wolves; we rode up as near as we could
without driving them away, and, being within pistol-shot, we had a remark-
ably good view, where I sat for a few moments and made a sketch in my
note-book (plate exiv); after which we rode up and gave the signal for them
to disperse, which they instantly did, withdrawing themselves to the distance
of fifty or sixty rods, when we found, to our great surprise, that the animal
had made desperate resistance, his eyes being entirely eaten out of his head,
the gristle of his nose mostly gone, his tongue half eaten off, and the skin
and flesh of his legs torn almost literally into strings. In this tattered
and torn condition, the poor old veteran stood bracing up in the midst
of his devourers, who had ceased hostilities for a few minutes to enjoy a sort
of parley, recovering strength and preparing to resume the attack in a few
moments again. In this group, some were reclining to gain breath, whilst
others were sneaking about and licking their chops in anxiety for a renewal
of the attack; and others, less lucky, had been crushed to death by the feet
or the horns of the bull. I rode nearer to the pitiable object as he stood
bleeding and trembling before me, and said to him, ‘ Now is your time, old
fellow, and you had better be off. Though blind and nearly destroyed,
there seemed evidently to be a recognition of a friend in me, as he straight-
ened up, and, trembling with excitement, dashed off at full speed upon the
prairie, in a straight line. We turned our horses and resumed our march,
and when we had advanced a mile or more we looked back, and on our left,
where we saw again the ill-fated animal surrounded by his tormentors, to
whose insatiable voracity he unquestionably soon fell a victim.”

The buffalo, when taken young, is easily tamed, and soon becomes thor-
oughly domesticated. With this fact so well known, it seems remarkable
that this animal should not have long since been added to our list of domes-
ticated and useful animals. The few experiments that have been made seem
to have met with encouraging results, as will be shown in a later portion of
the present memoir,* and to have failed simply through lack of interest and
persistency. Through crossing them with domestic cattle they have even

* See the chapter on “ The Domestication of the Buffalo.”

aa aa a aN a a ici i hab aaa

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 69

given promise of improved breeds, and an attempt to propagate them in
confinement by an enterprising stock-raiser, either as pure stock or as a mixed
race, would undoubtedly prove remunerative. In the vicinity of the present
range of the buffalo, tame individuals are frequently met with, which are
reared and kept simply as pets or objects of curiosity, just as occasional
specimens of the deer, elk, or pronghorn are kept. A young buffalo that
was owned by the sutler at Fort Hays in 1871, then about two years old,
proved to be a most eccentric and amusing beast. Through the attentions of
visitors he acquired, among his other accomplishments, a great fondness for
beer, of which he would sometimes partake to excess, when he would
occasionally perform rather strange antics. He was usually inoflensive
in his manners, though latterly his behavior to strangers was rather too
familiar to be always agreeable, and gradually he became somewhat irritable
in consequence of constant teasing. But on these occasions of inebriety he
sometimes took it into his head to clear the so-called “ officers’ room” at the
sutler’s, to which he was often admitted, of its occupants. On one of these

occasions he is reported to have mounted a billiard-table, from which he was

“not easily dislodged ; at another time he is said to have ascended the stairs

leading to the second story, and was with great difficulty induced to descend
again. His excesses, lack of proper care, and unnatural diet at length
seemed to seriously impair his health, as he soon grew thin, and did not long
survive.

The herds of cattle that are driven from Texas to Wyoming and other
Northern territories are sometimes accompanied by one or two young tamed
buffaloes. Two two-year-old buffaloes thus reached Percy, Carbon County,
Wyoming, in December, 1871, en route for Utah. One of them, however,
was killed by some hunters near Percy, who claimed to have mistaken it for
a wild animal, —a fate which not unfrequently befalls the tamed buffaloes
of the frontier. The other was shipped westward by rail with the rest of
the herd. These individuals mixed as freely with the domestic cattle as any
other members of the herd, and were as easily managed, and had no greater
fear of man than the others.

‘The very young buffalo calf, when separated from its mother, often evinces
the utmost stupidity and lack of discernment ; sometimes thrusting its nose
into a tuft of herbage, it seems to imagine itself wholly hidden from view, and,
in its fancied security, will stand and allow itself to be captured. A horse

seems to possess for it a strange fascination, and it is very apt, when one is

igi
Ve
Li
i
I

i
li
He
i

|

70 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

lost from the herd, to follow one whenever opportunity for it offers. In this
way buffalo calves have frequently been known to follow a horse and its
rider into the nearest military or trading post, miles from the herd. Catlin
speaks of several that he sent down the Missouri by steamers to friends in
St. Louis, which had unwittingly in this way made themselves prisoners.

It may here be added, however, that the stupidity of the buffalo, as well
as its sagacity, has been by some writers greatly overstated. A herd of buf-
faloes certainly possesses, in an eminent degree, the sheep-like propensity of
blindly following its leaders, whenever a large affrighted herd is fleeing from
some real or fancied danger. It certainly seems a stupid thing for a whole
herd to rush into destruction instead of turning aside and avoiding the :
danger. A little reflection, however, will show that in such instances as the
rushing of a herd over a precipice, or into a pound prepared especially to en-
trap them, the act is not wholly one of stupidity, but comparable to that of a
panic-stricken crowd of human beings rushing pell-mell from a public build-
ing when an alarm of fire is given, at the cost of limbs and lives, when more
deliberate action would avoid such accidents. In the case of the buffalo, the
individuals in the front ranks of a herd, rushing to the verge of a precipice or ~
into a pound, discover the danger too late to be able to turn aside if they
would, owing to the irresistible pressure of the mass behind, who are not in
position to be aware of the danger towards which they are moving. Their
crowding together on weak ice may result in disasters they can be hardly
expected to foresee. Their crowding forward into quicksands is presumably
the blind action of more or less excited herds, —a rashness a single animal
or a few together would avoid.

Many other details respecting the habits of the buffalo might be appro-
priately added to the present account, especially in relation to their behavior
in captivity, and when pursued or attacked by their human foes; but as most
of these points will be noticed quite fully incidentally in subsequent portions
of this memoir, it is perhaps unnecessary to refer to them further in the

present connection.

___aatretmienotmarnt sain tami

Pate? 41.

1, — GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, PAST AND PRESENT, OF
BISON AMERICANUS.

Tre fate of none of our larger mammals is more interesting than is that
of the bison, since total extermination is eventually surer to none than to
this former “monarch of the prairies.” Since Europeans first came to this
continent all the larger ruminants and carnivores have become greatly re-
duced in number throughout its vast extent, and many species have already
become extinct over extensive areas where they were formerly the most
characteristic animals. The moose and the caribou have a far less extended
range, particularly to the southward, now than formerly; the common
deer, once abundant throughout Eastern North America, is now confined
to the least settled parts of the country, having totally disappeared over
three fourths of the region it formerly occupied ; the elk, formerly existing
over nearly the whole continent, now scarcely survives east of the Mississippi
River, though less than half a century ago it ranged in large bands over the
fertile prairies of Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, and was of occa-
sional occurrence in the mountainous parts of even the Atlantic States ; the
bear, the wolf, and the panther, formerly so numerous as to be, if not dan-
gerous, at least a source of great annoyance to the early settlers, are now
found, east of the Great Plains, only in the least settled and more broken
wooded portions of the country. The bison, at once the largest and the
most important animal to the aboriginal tribes of this continent, as it was also
the most numerous over the immense region it frequented, still occurs in
almost numberless bands, but it has become so circumscribed in its habitat,
and is so constantly persecuted by professional hunters, that its total exter-
mination seems to be fast approaching.

The precise limits of the range of the buffalo at the time when the first

72 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Europeans visited America is still a matter of uncertainty, yet reliable data
are sufficiently abundant to establish the boundaries of its habitat at that
time with tolerable exactness. These data exist in the form of incidental
memoranda in the narratives of the earlier explorers, rather than in formal
statements bearing directly upon the subject, and though often unsatisfacto-
rily vague in respect to dates and localities, they enable us to trace approxi-
mately the eastern and southern boundary of its habitat at a date as early at
least as the beginning of the seventeenth century. It was beyond doubt
almost exclusively an animal of the prairies and the woodless plains, ranging
only to a limited extent into the forested districts east of the Mississippi
River, and never occurring as a regular inhabitant of the denser woodlands.
The opinion most prevalent in respect to its primitive range, as expressed by
authors who: have given most attention to the subject, is, that it for a long
time inhabited the whole of that part of North America east of the Rocky
Mountains between the parallels of 30° and 60°; some, however, make the
Alleghanies the eastern limit of its eastward extension. To the westward
some have considered its habitat as embracing a considerable part of that
portion of the western slope of the Rocky Mountains contained within the
United States. The purpose of the present article is not only to determine, as
definitely as can now be done, its former extreme limit of distribution, but to
give also a detailed history of its extermination over the area from which it
has disappeared. Although hundreds of volumes and distinct papers relat-
ing to the early exploration and settlement of the country embraced within
the former range of this animal have been consulted in the preparation of
this paper, there probably still exist many important facts, incidentally re-
corded in little-known documents and in works.in which such facts would
hardly be expected to occur, which have been overlooked, and which will
ultimately serve to indicate still more definitely the date of its extinction at
particular localities, though little ae that will materially affect the gen-
eral results herewith presented.

Probable Extent of its Former Habitat.— The boundaries of the former habi-
tat of the buffalo appear to have been about as follows: Beginning with the
region east of the Mississippi River, its extension to the northward was limited
by the Great Lakes, while the Alleghanies may be taken as its general eastern
limit, its occurrence in the mountainous and more elevated parts of the Caro-
linas being due rather to the occasional wandering of small bands through
the mountains from the immense herds that formerly inhabited the valleys of

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 13

West Virginia and the adjacent parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, than to this
region having been regularly embraced within its habitat. To the southward
it seems never to have been met with south of the Tennessee River. It is well
known to have ranged over Northern and Western Arkansas, and thence south-
ward over the greater part of Texas, and across the Rio Grande into Mexico.
Westward it extended over Northern New Mexico and thence westward and
northward throughout the Great Salt Lake Basin, and probably to the Sierra
Nevada Mountains in California and the Blue Mountains in Oregon. North
of the United States, its western boundary seems to have been formed by
the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, among the foot-hills of which it
has been found as far north as the sources of the Mackenzie River. Its
most northern limit appears to have been the northern shore of the Great
Slave Lake in about latitude 62° to 64°. In the British Possessions its range
to the eastward did not extend beyond the plains west of the Hudson’s Bay
highlands. Thence southward it occupied the valleys of the Saskatchewan
and its tributaries to Lake Winnipeg and the valley of the Red River of the
North. It ranged thence southward over the head-waters of the Mississippi,
extending eastward nearly to the western shore of Lake Michigan, and thence
still eastward over the prairies of Northern Indiana, and along the southern
shore of Lake Erie into Western Pennsylvania, where, as already stated, the
Alleghanies formed its eastern limit. It was hence wholly absent from the
region immediately north of the Great Lakes, and consequently from every
portion of the present Canadas; its existence on the Atlantic slope of the
continent being also confined to the highlands of North and South Carolina.
With this preliminary statement respecting the extent of its former habitat,
we will pass now to the details of the subject, presenting not only the evi-
dence on which this general statement rests, but also investigating the nu-
merous supposed. references to its occurrence outside of these boundaries.
The evidence bearing upon the general subject is of course resolvable into
two kinds: first, that of a positive character, or direct statements touching
the points at issue; secondly, inferential evidence, mainly of a negative
character. The first explorers of the different parts of the continent, being
largely dependent for sustenance upon the chase, have naturally recorded in
the narratives of their explorations the wild animals they met with. In the
case of an animal so important as the buffalo, it is presumable that they
would usually state where it was first encountered, and that they would refer
frequently to its presence or absence, as the case might be, at subsequent

G4. THE AMERICAN BISONS.

periods of their journeys. When no reference whatever is made to the buf
falo in the narratives of different travellers who passed at different times
over the same region, it has been assumed, i in the total absence also of all
other evidence to the contrary, that the buffalo did not, during that period
at least, exist over the special area in question.

The use of the term vaches sauvages by many of the early French Jesuit
writers, and that of wild cows by some of the early English explorers, and
also the terms buffe, buffe, and bauf sauvage, for the designation of the moose
(Ales malchis) and the elk (Cervus canadensis) as well as the buffalo, has
resulted in erroneous conclusions in respect to the former range of the
buffalo. Difficulties have also often arisen in respect to the identification
of localities from the fact that the names of rivers, lakes, etc., were often dif-
ferently applied by different writers, and were frequently entirely different
from those now employed to designate the same landmarks. Care, however,
has been taken to trace out, in such cases, the modern equivalents of the
older geographical names.

For convenience of treatment the former supposed habitat of the buffalo
is divided into several districts, which are treated separately in what has

seemed to be their most natural order.

Tue Eastern BounpARY OF THE FORMER HABITAT OF THE BUFFALO
CONSIDERED, INCLUDING AN EXAMINATION OF THE ALLEGED EVIDENCE
or irs OccurrENCE IN New ENGLAND, THE CANADAS, THE MARITIME
parts or tHE Mrippiz Srares, VIRGINIA, THE CAROLINAS, AND

FLORIDA.

As already stated, many prominent authorities have regarded the range
of the buffalo as formerly extending eastward to the Atlantic Coast, including
the Middle States, and even portions of New England and the Canadas, while
others seem to have had no doubt of its former existence from New York along
the seaboard to Florida. Its former occurrence in the western parts of North
and South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, is established. be-
yond question; but its presence elsewhere on the Atlantic slope is highly
questionable. Dr. Richardson, writing in 1829, says: “At the period when
Europeans began to form settlements in North America this animal was occa-
sionally met with on the Atlantic Coast,” etc.* De Kay, writing in 1842,

* Richardson, Faun. Bor. Americana, Vol. I, p. 279, 1829.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 15

also leaves it to be inferred that the buffalo existed generally along the
Atlantic slope south of New York. He says: “The bison, or American buf.
falo, has long since been extirpated from this State [New York]; and although
it is not at present found east of the Mississippi, yet there is abundant testi-
mony from various writers to show that this animal was formerly numerous
along the Atlantic coast, from New York to Mexico.” * Unfortunately, how-
ever, he gives no reference to any of this “abundant testimony.” Captain R.
B. Marcy, writing in 1853, says: “Formerly, buffaloes were found in count-
less herds over almost the entire northern continent of America, from the
twenty-eighth to the fiftieth degree of north latitude, and from the shores
of Lake Champlain to the Rocky Mountains,’ + and also cites a number of
supposed references to its occurrence in Newfoundland, New England, and
Virginia. Professor Baird, as late as 1857, also states as follows: “The
American buffalo was formerly found throughout the entire eastern por-
tion of the United States to the Atlantic Ocean, and as far south as
Florida.” $

Region North of North Carolina.— Various writers during the last part of
the sixteenth and the early part of the seventeenth centuries speak also of
its occurrence in Canada, New England, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Florida ;
but some of these countries then embraced regions of indefinite extent to
the westward, and thus often (as in the case of Canada and Florida, cer-
tainly), did in those early times include a portion of the range of the buf-
falo. But upon careful examination of the writings of these authors I have
failed to find a single mention of the occurrence of this animal within the
present limits of New York, New England, Canada, or Florida that will bear
a critical examination. On the other hand, in a score or more distinct
enumerations of the animals of Virginia and New England, made prior to
1650, not a single allusion is made to the buffalo as existing on the At-
lantic slope, north of the Carolinas, although all the other larger mam-
mals are mentioned, and here and there described with sufficient detail
to render them unquestionably recognizable.§ Furthermore, no remains

* Zodlogy of New York, Vol. I, p. 110, 1842.

+ Marcy’s Exploration of the Red River, p. 103, 1853.

£ Mammals of N. America, p. 684. See also Patent-Office Report, Agricultural, 1851-52, p. 124, 1852.
- § A few of these general notices, taken from a variety of sources, but largely from Hakluyt’s and
Purchas’s collections of voyages, are appended as examples of their general character : —

James Cartier, or Jacques Carthier, in 1534, reported “ great store of wilde beasts, as Faunes, Stags,
Beares, Marternes, Hares and Foxes, with divers other sorte,” on the St. Lawrence, but mentions no other

76 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

of the buffalo have as yet been found in the Indian shell-mounds of the
Atlantic coast,* while the bones of elk, deer, caribou, bear, and other large
mammals and birds occur with greater or less frequency at different locali-

ties.T

large animals — nothing like the buffalo —in his several distinct enumerations of the ‘“ beasts.” —Hax-
Luyt, Voyages, Vol. IL, pp. 231 - 290.

Sir Francis Roberaul, in his account of his voyage up the St. Lawrence in 1542, says of the Indians:
“ They feed also of Stagges, wild Bores, Bugles, Porkespynes, and store of other wild beastes.” — Hak-
LuytT, Vol. III, p. 290.

In Hariot’s account of Virginia, written in 1587, he enumerates among the beasts, “ Deere,” ‘“ Conies,”
“ Saquenuckot, and Maquowoc, two kinds of small beasts, greater than Conies which are very good
meat,” “ Squirels” and “ Beares,” and adds: “I have the names of eight and twenty severall sorts of beasts,
which I have heard of to be here and there dispersed in the countrey, especially in the maine: of which
there are only twelve kinds that we have yet discovered, and of those that be good meat we know only
them before mentioned.” — Haxxuyzt, Vol. UI, p. 333.

Tn the Report of Gosnold’s Voyage (1602) to Northern Virginia are enumerated “ Uae in great siore,

very great and large : Beares, Luzernes, blacke Foxes, Beavers, Otters, Wilde-cats, very large and great,
Dogs like Foxes, blacke and sharpe-nosed; Conies.” — Purcuas, Pilgrims, Vol. IV, p. 1653.
- Martin Pring, in the account of his voyage (made in 1603), speaks of the “ Beasts” of Northern. Vir-
ginia, as follows: “We saw here also sundry sorts of Beasts, as Stags, Deere, Beares, Wolves, Foxes, Lu-
sernes, and Dogges with sharpe noses.” Again, he says: “ The Beasts here are Stags, fallow Deere: in
abundance, Beares, Wolves, Foxes, Lusernes [Raccoons], and (some say) ‘T'ygres, Poreupines and Dogges
with sharpe and long noses, with many other sorts of wild beasts, whose Cases and Furres being hereafter
purchased by exchange may yeeld no small gaine to us. ” _PurcHas, Vol. IV, pp. 1654, 1656.

In James Rosier’s account of a voyage made by Captain George Waymouth, in 1605, to Wire:
we find, in his enumeration of the products of the country, the following: “ Beassts. Deere red and
fallow, Beare, Wolfe, Beaver, Otter, Conie, Marterns, Sables, Hogs, Porkespines, Poleats, Cats, wild
great, Dogs some like Foxes, some like our other beasts the Savages signe unto us with hornes and broad
eares, which we take to be Olkes or Loshes.” (Purcuas, Vol. IV, p. 1667.) The locality here referred
to more particularly was the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, Virginia at this time including the north-
ern portion of the Atlantic coast as far as it had been explored.

Captain John Smith, in his Description of Virginia, published in 1606, says: “Of Beasts, the dee are
Deare, nothing differing from ours. In the Desarts, towards the heads of the Rivers, there are many, but
amongst the Rivers, few. There is a beast they call Aroughcun, much like a Badger, but useth to live on
trees as Squirrels doe. Their squirrels, some are neere as great as our smallest sort of wilde Rabbets,
some blackish or blacke and white, but the most are gray. .A small beast they have, they call Assapanick,
but wee call them flying Squirrels, because spreading thier legs, and so stretching the largeness of their
skinnes, that they have been seen to flie thirtie or fortie yards. An Opassam hath a head like a Swine,
and a taile like a Rat, and is of the bignesse of a Cat. Under her belly she hath a bag, wherein she lodg-

eth, carrieth, and suckleth her young. Mussascus, is a, beast of the forme and nature of our water Rats, but

* T have been assured of this fact by the late Professor J. Wyman, and by Mr. F. W. Putnam, and
others who have made these prehistoric remains of the aborigines a special study.

} See Wyman’s Account of some Kjekenmeddings, or Shell-heaps, in Maine and Massachusetts. —
Amer. Naturalist, Vol. I, pp. 561 — 584, 1868.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 77

Professor Baird, however, refers to the occurrence of their bones “in the
alluvial deposits of rivers, bogs, and caves,” near Carlisle, in Pennsylvania.*
Among the more important references to the supposed occurrence of the

many of them smell exceeding strongly of Musk. Their Hares are no bigger than our Conies, and few of
them to be found.

“Their Beares are very little in comparison of those of Muscovia and Tartaria. The Beaver is as big as
an ordinarie great Dog, but his legs exceeding short. His fore feet like a Dogs, his hinder feet like a
Swans. His taile somewhat like the forme of a Racket bare without haire, which to eate the Savages es-
teeme a great delicate. They have many Otters, which as the Beavers they take with snares, and esteeme
the skins great ornaments, and of all those beasts they use to feede when they catch them.

“ There is also a beast. Vetchunquoyes, in the forme of a wilde Cat, their Foxes are like our silver haired
Conies of a small proportion, and not smelling like those in Hngland. Their Dogs of that Countrey are
like thier Wolves, and cannot barke but howle; and their Wolves not much bigger than our English
Foxes. Martins, Powlecats, Weessels and Minks we know they have, because we have seene many of
their skins, though very seldome any of them alive. But. one thing is strange, that wee could never per-
ceive their vermine destroy our Hens, Egges, nor Chickens, nor doe any hurt, nor their Flyes nor Serpents
any way pernitious, where in the South parts of America they are alwaies dangerous and often deadly.” —
Purcuas, Vol. IV, pp. 1695, 1696.

In Hakluyt’s “Description of Florida,” compiled from the French authors, he says, under the head of
« The Beastes of Florida: ” “The Beastes best known in this Countrey are Stagges, Hindes, Goates,
Deere, Leopards [Lynxes], Ounces, Lusernes, divers sorts of Wolves, wilde Dogs, Hares, Cunnies, and a
certaine kinde of Beast that differeth little from the Lyon of Africa.” — Haxxivyrt, Vol. II, p. 369.

In a “True Declaration of the estate of the Colonie in Virginia,” printed in 1610, we read: “The
Beasts of the Countrie, as Deere, red, and fallow, do answere in multitude (people for people considered)

to our proportion of Oxen, which appeareth by these experiences. First the people of the Countrie are

apparelled in the skinnes of these beasts; Next, hard by the fort, two hundred in one heard have been:

usually observed. Further, our mer have seen 4000. of these skins pyled up in one wardroabe of Pow-
haton; Lastly, infinite store have been presented to Captaine Newport upon sundry occurrents: such a
plentie of Cattell, as all the Spaniards found not in the whole kingdome of Mezico, when all thier pres-

ents were but hennes, and ginycocks, and the bread of Maize, and Cently. There are Arocowns, and

Apossouns, in shape like to pigges, shrouded in hollow roots of trees; There are Hares and Conies, and
other beasts proper to the Countrie in plentifull manner.” — Forcr’s Coll. Hist. Tracts, Vol. U1, No. 1,
p. 13.
Captain John Smith, in his “Description of New England,” printed in 1616, thus enumerates the
“beasts”: “ Moos, a beast bigger than a Stagge; Deere, red, and Fallow; Bevers, Wolves, Foxes, both
blacke and other; Aroughconds [raccoons], Wild-cats, Beares, Otters, Martins, Fitches, Musquassus, and
diverse sorts of vermine, whose names I know not.” — Forcn’s Coll. Hist. Tracts, Vol. I, No. 1, p. 17.

William Strachey, in his “ Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia,” written before 1620, says:
“.... the people [about the Chesapeake Bay] breed up tame turkies. about their howses, and take apes
in the mountaines,” on the authority of an Indian named Machumps. Again he says: “ Martins, pole-
catts, weesells, and monkeys we knowe they have, because we have seene many of their skynns, though
very seldom any of them alive.” — Hakluyt Society’s Publications, Vol. for 1849, pp: 26, 125.

In “ New England’s Plantation ” (London, 1630), it is said: “For Beasts there are some Beares, and

* Patent-Office Report, Agricultural, 1851-52, p. 124.

°

78 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

buffalo on the Atlantic slope, north of the Potomac, are the following. One
often quoted is that contained in a letter from Mr. Anthonie Parkhurst to
Richard Hakluyt, dated 1578, concerning the “true state and commodities of

they say some Lyons also; for they have been seen at Cape Anne. Also here are severall sorts of Deere,
some whereof bring three or four young ones at once, which is not ordinarie in England. Also Wolves,
Foxes, Beavers, Otters, Martins, great wild Cats, and a great Beast called a Molke [moose] as bigge as an
Oxe. Ihave seen the skins of all these Beasts since I came to this Plantation, excepting Lyons. Also
here are great store of Squerrels, some greater, and some smaller and lesser; there are some of the lesser
sort, they tell me, that by a certaine Skin will fly from Tree to Tree though they stand farre distant.” —
Forcr’s Coll. Hist. Tracts, Vol. I, No. 12, p. 8.

Thomas Morton, in his “‘ New English Canaan,” printed in 1632, devotes six pages to a description of
the “beasts,” giving very quaint and curious descriptions of all the more important, but makes no refer-
ence to any animal like the buffalo.

Father Andrew White, in describing Maryland in 1632, says, “ But so great is the abundance of swine
and deer that they are rather troublesome than advantageous. Cows also are innumerable, and oxen suit-
able for bearing burdens or for food ; besides five other kinds of large beasts unknown to us, which our
neighbors admit to their table. Sheep will have to be taken hence or from the Canaries; asses also, and
mules and horses. The neighboring forests are full of wild bulls and heifers, of which five hundred or six
hundred thousand are annually carried to Saville from that part which lies towards New Mexico. As
many deer as you wish can be obtained from the neighboring people. Add to this muskrats, rabbits,
beavers, badgers, and martens, not however destructive, as with us, to eggs and hens.’ — A Relation of the
Colony of the Lord Baron of Baltimore, in Maryland, near Virginia, etc. (Forcr’s Coll. Hist. Tracis, Vol.
IV, No. 12, pp. 6, 7.)

In “ A Perfect Description of Virginia,” printed in London in 1649, is given a list of the ‘ Beasts great
and small as followeth: above 20 severall kinds,” including all the larger species, but no reference is made
to the buffalo.— Forcr’s Coll. Hist. Tracts, Vol. I, No. 8, p. 16.

Tn an “ Account of Virginia in Generall, but particularly Carolana, which comprehends Roanoak and the
Southern parts of Virginia,” printed in 1650, it is said, “ Nor is the Land any lesse provided of native
Flesh, Elkes bigger then Oxen, whose hide is admirable Buffe, flesh excellent, and may be made, if kept
domesticke, as usefull for draught and carriage, ‘as Oxen. Deere in a numerous abundance, and delicate
Venison, Racoones, Hares, Conyes, Bevers, Squirrell, Beares, all of a delightfull nourishment for food, and
their Furres rich, warme, and convenient for clothing and Merchandise.” — Forcr’s Coll. Hist. T: racts,
Vol. 11 No. 11, pp. 115 12.

Clayton, in his very detailed account of the natural products of Virginia, written in 1688, says, “There
were neither Horses, Bulls, Cows, Sheep, or Swine, in all the Country, before the coming of the English,
as I have heard, and have much reason to believe... . . Wild Bulls and Cows there are now in the unin-
habited Parts, but such only as have been bred from some that have strayed, and become wild, and have
propagated their kind, and are difficult to be shot, having a great Acuteness of Smelling.” — Forcr’s Coll:
Hist. Tracts, Vol. Til, No. 12, p. 35.

This leads to the inference that the frequent allusions to wild bulls and wild cows in the early accounts
of Virginia, ete., often really refer to domestic cattle that had run wild,

Many citations of a similar character might be added, containing curious and interesting descriptions of
the “ beasts,” but none of the enumerations include the buffalo. As these descriptions of the country and
its products were mostly prepared for the purpose of encouraging emigration, it is not presumable that
so important an animal as the buffalo would have been omitted if these early writers had ever heard

of it as existing in any part of the countries they describe.

ee ET em I eS TM ee eer eNO CT TNT ar MeT RE RTE Ty aT ey st ee ane

THE AMERICAN BISONS. a2

Newfoundland.” Parkhurst writes: “Nowe againe, for Venison plentie, es-
pecially to the North about the grand baie, and in the South neere Cape
Race and Plesance: there are many other kinds of beasts, as Luzarnes, and
other mighty beastes like to camels in greatnesse, and their feete cloven, I
did see them farre off not able to discerne them perfectly, but their steps
shewed that their feete were cloven, and bigger than the feete of Camels, I
suppose them to bee a kind of Buffes which I read to be in the countreyes
adjacent, and very many in the firme lande.”* Though it is supposed by
some that the musk ox may have been referred to in this allusion to a “kind
of Buffes,” there is apparently little reason to doubt that these “ Buffes” were
the moose, which the early voyagers found on the adjacent mainland in
great numbers; yet Marcy ft and others have supposed this to be a possi-
ble reference to the buffalo, probably from the occurrence of the word
“ Buffes.”

Another similar reference to the occurrence of an animal like an ox in
Newfoundland is contained in the report of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's voyage
to this island in 1583. In an enumeration of the “commodities thereof” are
mentioned “Beasts of sundry kindes, red. deare, buffles or a beast, as it
seemeth by the tract & foote very large, in maner of an oxe.”$ In the
account of the “first voyage made to the coast of America” by Captains
Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, in 1584, it is said that they treated with
the Indians for “ Chamoys, Buffe and Deere skinnes”;§ and Thomas Hariot,
in his “briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia,” written
in 1587, mentions “Deer skinnes dressed after the manner of Chamoes, or
undressed,” among the commodities of the country.|| The same writer
speaks later of the “beasts” of Virginia, and says, “I have the names of
eight and twenty severall sorts, . . . . of which there are only twelve kinds
that we have yet discovered, and of those that be good meat, we know only
them before mentioned,’ among which there is no mention of any “ Buffes,”
“ Buffles,” “wild Cattle,” or anything that can be regarded as at all like the
buffalo.¥)

* Hakluyt, Voyages, etc., Vol. III, p. 178, London, 1600. (The Edition of 1810 is the one quoted in
this memoir.)
' t Exploration of the Red River of Louisiana, p. 104, 1853.

t Hakluyt, Voyages, etc., Vol. IIL, p. 195.

§ Ibid., p. 303.

|| Ibid., p. 327.

| Hakluyt, Voyages, etc., p. 333.

80 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

In the narrative of the travels of David Ingram from the Gulf of Mexico
- to Cape Breton, in Nova Scotia, made in 1568 — 69, are unquestionable ref-
erences to the buffalo, which have been referred to as possible evidence of
its existence on the Atlantic slope, but the whole narrative is full of exagger-
ations and fanciful descriptions of mythical things and scenes, while the
localities are wholly vague. The account speaks, for instance, of “ great
plentye of Buffes .... w® are Beastes as bigge as twoe Oxen in length
almost twentye foote, havinge longe eares like a bludde hownde w™ long
heares about there eares, ther hornes be Crooked like Rames hornes, ther
eyes blacke, there heares longe blacke, rough and hagged as a Goate, the
Hydes of these Beastes are solde verye deare. These Beastes doe keepe Com-
pany only by couples a male and a female and doe always fighte w™ others
of the same kynde.” *

The account also says, “He did alsoe see in that Countrye boathe Ele-
phantes and Uunces. He did also see one other straunge Beaste bigger
then a Beare, yt had nether heade nor necke, his eyes and mouthe weare in
his brest.”” It also describes “redd Sheepe” which lived in herds of five hun-
dred individuals. Since Ingram’s route doubtless took him through a por-
tion of the range of the buffalo, the above-quoted description of “Bufles”
may refer to that animal, but there is nothing to show that the locality was
on the Atlantic slope.

Champlain, as early as 1604, ascended the St. Lawrence River nearly to
Lake Ontario, and although he obtained from the Indians quite distinct
accounts of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and of the Copper Mines of Lake Su-
perior, he seems not to have learned anything respecting the buffalo. The
animal which he describes as the “ Orignac” or “Orignal” is without doubt
the moose. He mentions it as an animal “which is like an Ox,’ ¢ and Pur-
chas, in his marginal notes, adds, “ Orignac, a beast like an oxe.” He first
met with it at the mouth of the Saguenay, and later encountered it among the
animals he found at the mouth of the Richelieu, speaking of it as the “ Orig-
nac,” and Purchas again adds, “Orignas are before said to bee like oxen,
perhaps Buffes. Lescarbot, [says] that Orignacs are Ellans,’ {— the French
: * The Land Travels of David Ingram and others in the years 1568-69. From the Rio de Minas in

the Gulph of Mexico to Cape Breton in Acadia. Edited from the original MS. (Sloane MSS., Mus. Brit;
No. 1447, ff. 1-18) by P. C. J. Weston, in Doc. connected with the Hist. of S. Carolina. London, 1856, |
p- 14.

+ Purchas, Pilgrims, Vol. IV, p. 1607.

t Ibid, p. 1613.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 81

term for the moose. The name “orignac” or “orignal” of the early
French explorers appears to have been applied indifferently to both the
moose (Alces males) and the elk (Cervus canadensis), but never to the buf
falo. Champlain, in speaking of the game he found about Lake Cham-
plain, makes no reference to the buffalo, neither do any of the subsequent
writers of the seventeenth century. In regard to the “Ellans,” we find in.
‘Lescarbot’s account the following: “The winter being come, the Savages
of the Countrey did assemble themselves from farre to Port Royall, for to
trucke with the Frenchmen for such things as they had, some bringing
Beavers skins and Otters . . . . and also Ellans or Stagges, whereof good
bugfe be made.” * We thus see that the term duffe was also applied to the
products of the elk and moose. Charlevoix’s description of the Orignal,
however, is strictly applicable to the moose, and to no other animal.
Charlevoix says: “What they here [in Canada] call the Orignal, is
what in Germany, Poland, and Muscovy they call the Elk, or Great Beast.
. . . . Its Horns are not less long than those of a Hart, and much wider.
They are flat and forked like those of a Deer, and are renewed every
Year. 7

Hennepin ascended the’ St. Lawrence and crossed the lakes to the
prairies of Indiana and Illinois in 1679-80, but Hennepin in his narra-
tive of his travels does not speak of meeting with the buffalo until he had
reached the Illinois River in December, 1679.4 In his account of the pro-
ductions of Canada, he says, “There are to be had Skins of Elks, or Orignauz,
as they are called in Canada, of the white Wolf or Lynx, of black Foxes,

. of common Foxes, Otters, Martens, wild Cats, wild Goats, Harts,

Porcupines,” etc.§ In the account he has given of his travels he describes
the buffalo with such particularity || as to leave no doubt that if he had met
with or known of the occurrence of the buffalo in what is now known
as Canada, he would not have failed to enumerate it among the products
of that country.

In 1763 Marquette passed up the St. Lawrence, and through the Great
Lakes to the Mississippi Valley, by way of Lake Michigan and the Fox and

* Purchas, Pilgrims, Vol. IV, p. 1613.

+ Letters to the Dutchess of Lesdiguieres, Goadby’s English Ed., London, 1763, p. 64.
+ New Discovery of a great Country in America, English Ed., 1698, p. 90.

§ Voyage into North America, English Ed., 1679, pp. 136, 187.

|| New Discovery, etc., p. 91.

82 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Wisconsin Rivers, but he appears not to have met with the buffalo till he
reached the Wisconsin River.*

Charlevoix, who traversed the same country in 1720, and who has left us
in his letters a full account of his journey up the St. Lawrence, and thence
westward through Lakes Ontario and Erie, only heard of their existence on
the southern shore of Lake Erie, he himself coasting along the northern
shore. Concerning the game of the country bordering Lake Erie he says,
“‘ Water-fowl swarmed everywhere: I cannot say there is such Plenty of
Game in the Woods, but I know that on the South Side there are vast Herds
of wild Cattle.” + Again he says, “But at the end of five or six leagues
[from Detroit River], inclining towards the Lake Erié to the South West,
one sees vast Meadows which extend above a hundred Leagues every
Way, and which feed a prodigious Number of those Cattle which I have
already mentioned several Times.” He gives, however, an account of the
“chase” in Canada, in which he describes the method of hunting the buffalo,
but the locality is specified as “the Southern and Western Parts of New
France, on both Sides of the Mississippi,’ § which was then generally called
Canada.

In the account of the Voyage of Father Simon Le Moine to the country
of the “Iroquois Onondagoes” in 1653 — 54 we find what at first sight seems
to be indisputable evidence of the existence of the buffalo at the eastern end
of Lake Ontario, in both New York and Canada. In this account we find
the following : “At the other side of the Rapid || I perceived a herd of wild
cows,{{ which were passing at their ease in great state. Five or six hundred
are seen sometimes in these regions in one drove.” ** In the “Relation de la
Nouvelle France en ?Année 1665,” we find the following description of the
St. Lawrence River: “This is one of the most important rivers that can be
seen, whether we regard its beauty or its convenience, for we meet there
almost throughout, a vast number of beautiful Islands, some large, others

* An Account of the Discovery of some new Countries and Nations in N. America in 1673. Transla-
tion in French’s Hist. Coll. La., Part II, pp. 279 - 297.

+ Letters, Goadby’s English Ed., 1763, p. 170. Dodsley’s English Edition says “a prodigious quantity
of Buffaloes” (Vol. I, p. 3).

t Ibid., p.178. Dodsley’s Translation says again, “ those buffaloes” (Vol. II, p. 18).

§ Ibid., p. 68.

|| This locality is just below St. Ignatius, on the St. Lawrence, not far from Lake Ontario.

4] “ Vaches sauvages,” in the original. Relation de la Nouv. France en les Années 1653 — 54, p. 85.

** Documentary Hist. New York, Vol. I, p. 31.

i
i
r
i

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 83

small, but all covered with fine timber and full of deer, bears, wild cows,*
which supply abundance of provisions necessary for the travellers, who find
it everywhere, and sometimes entire herds of fallow deer.” +

We have here a term (vaches sawvages) employed which was often used
by the early French writers to designate the buffalo, and also the account of
large herds being seen, which seems still further to imply that the animals
were unquestionably buffaloes, yet the locality is one which was frequently
passed over by travellers during the previous fifty years, not one of whom
mentions the occurrence of the buffalo on the St. Lawrence, nor is any men-
tion of its occurrence there made by subsequent writers. The region is,
furthermore, a heavily wooded country, situated several hundred miles from
the prairies, and from the most easterly known range of the buffalo. These
facts alone tend to render these accounts improbable, but fortunately we are
not left in doubt as to the character of the animals here mentioned, for in
the sequel of Father Le Moine’s Journal the following passages render it
certain that the animals referred to were either deer or elk : —

“1* day of Sept. I never saw so many deer, but we had no inclination
to hunt. My companion killed three, as if against his will. What a pity!
for we left all the venison there, reserving the hides and some of the most
delicate morsels.

“2"* of the month. Travelling through vast prairies, we saw in divers
quarters immense herds of wild bulls and cows;t their horns resemble in some
respects the antlers of the stag.

43) and A”. Our game does not leave us; it seems that venison and game
follow us everywhere. Droves of twenty cows plunge into the water, as if
to meet us. Some are killed, for sake of amusement, by blows of an axe.” §

From the context we learn that the locality was but a few leagues above
Montreal, on the St. Lawrence. These bands of “bulls and cows” were
doubtless elks ( Cervus canadensis ). ||

* “Vaches sauvages.” Relation de la Nouv. France en l’année 1665, pp. 49, 50. Mr. J. G. Shea also
observes: “ The animal called by the Canadian French vache sauvage was the American elk, or moose,”
and cites Boucher (Hist. Nat. du Canada) as authority. “Boucher,” says Shea, “expressly states that
the buffaloes were found only in the Ottawa country, that is, in the far West, while the vache sauvage,
or Original and the ane sauvage, or Caribou, were seen in Canada.”— Discovery and Exploration of the
Mississippi Valley, p. 16, footnote.

t Documentary History of New York, Vol. I, p. 62.

¢ The original says, “orand troupeaux de beufs & de vaches sauvages.” — Rel. etc., 1653 - 54, p. 90.

§ Ibid., pp. 43,44. Translated from Relation de la Nouv. France, 1653 —54, pp. 95, 96.

|| Hunters, both in Northern New England and in the West, commonly speak of the male moose and

elk as “ bull moose ”’ and “ bull elk,” and the females as “cow moose” and “cow elk.”

84 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Peter Kalm says: “ Wild cattle are” [1749] “abundant in the southern |
parts of Canada, and have been there from time immemorial. They are
plentiful in those parts, particularly where the Illinois Indians live, which are
nearly in the latitude of Philadelphia; but further north they are seldom
observed.” * In respect to this passage it is almost needless to add that the
portion of Canada here mentioned is the present State of Llinois.

Ogilby says: “Towards the South of New York are many Buflles, Beasts

they have broad branching Horns like a Stag, short Tail, rough Neck, Hair
colored according to the several seasons,” etc. The animals here called Bufiles
were of course elks, showing again that the use of the term Jduffles does not
necessarily imply a reference to the buffalo. The same writer, however, in
his description of Maryland, says: “In the upper parts of the Country are
Buffaloes, Elks, Tygers, Bears, Wolves, Racoons, and many other sorts of
Beasts.” | What portion of the country may have been referred to as the
“upper parts of the Country” is uncertain, but the preceding narratives of
exploration, on which Ogilby’s work is based, make no mention of the exist-
ence of the buffalo in the region now known as Maryland.

Father Andrew White, in “An Account of the Colony of the Lord Baron

of Baltimore, in Maryland, near Virginia,” published in 1677, in his account

of the animals previously quoted (p. 78, footnote), says: “There are also
vast herds of cows and wild oxen, fit for beasts of burden and good to eat.
.... The nearest woods are full of horses and wild bulls and cows. Five
or six thousand of the skins of these animals are carried every year to Saville,
from that part of the country which lies westward towards New Mexico.” It
is evident that this reference to herds of wild cattle refers not at all to the
buffalo, nor even to the region of country now known as Maryland, but to
the Spanish Possessions in the southwest, whence the exportation of hides of
the domestic cattle to Spain had long before begun. §

Professor E. D. Cope,|| however, recently says: “Of the Ruminants [of
Maryland], the bison (Bos americanus) and the elk (Cervus canadensis), the

* Kalm’s Travels in N. America, Forster’s Translation, Vol. II, p. 60.
{ Ogilby’s America, pp. 172, 186 (London, 1681).
f Translation of Father White’s “ Account,” in Force’s Coll. Hist. Tracts, Vol. IV, No. 12, pp. 6, 7.

§ See Clavigero’s History of Mexico, Cullen’s English Translation, Vol. II, p. 308, where Clavigero

states, on the authority of Acosta, that in 1587 sixty-four thousand three hundred and fifty ox hides were
taken to Spain, so rapidly had the domestic cattle increased in Mexico.
|| New Top. Map of Maryland, p. 16, 1873.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 85

largest known of the true deer, have been destroyed by human agency,” im-
plying their former existence in that State. On inquiry of Professor Cope
for the grounds of such an inference he states * that. he has found their un-
fossilized bones in superficial deposits in Virginia, and adds: “I think, but
will not now assert, from more northern localities.” +

In Salmon’s “ Present State of Virginia,” printed in 1737, we read that Sir
William Berkley sent (apparently about 1733) a small party of “ about four-
teen English and as many Indians, under the Command of Captain Henry
Batt,” to explore the country to the westward of the settlements in Vir-
ginia. “They set out together,” says Salmon, “from Appomattox, and in Seven
Days March reach’d the Foot of the Mountains. The Mountains they first
arrivd at were not extraordinary high or steep, but after they had pass’d
the first Ridge they encounter’d others that seem’d to reach the Clouds, and

were so perpendicular and full of Precipices, that sometimes in a whole Day’s

March they could not travel three miles in a direct Line. In other Places
they found large level Plains and fine Savanna’s three or four Miles wide, in
which were an infinite quantity of Turkies, Deer, Elks, and Buffaloes, so
gentle and undisturbed that they had no Fear at the Appearance of the Men,
but would suffer them to come almost within Reach of their Hands.” + This
account shows that buffaloes were not seen by the explorers till they entered
the mountains and encountered the herds that extended eastward from the
valleys of West Virginia.

Another reference to the supposed occurrence of the buffalo on the eastern
slope of the Alleghanies is the discovery by Sir Samuel Argoll of “Shag-

haired Oxen” in Virginia. In his letter to “ Master Nicholas Hawes (written

“June, 1613”), as given by Purchas, Sir Samuel says: . . . . “[I] returned
my self with the ship into Pembrook River, and so discovered ¢o the head of tt,
which is about 65. leagues into the Land, and navigable for any ship. And
then marching into the Countrie,I found great store of Cattle as big as Kine,
of which, the Indians that were my guides, killed a couple which wee found
to be very good and wholesome meate, and are very easie to be killed, in

regard they are heavy, slow, and not so wild as other beasts of the Wilder-

* In a letter dated December 22, 1875.

} In this connection I may add that I have examined remains from the banks of the Susquehanna, and
other localities in Maryland, some partly fossilized and others nearly unchanged, which though collected
for bison remains proved to be those of domestic cattle.

t Salmon (T.), The Present State of Virginia, p. 14, (uondon, 1787).

86 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

nesse.” * Purchas also says, in his “ Virgimas Verger, or Discourse on Vir-
ginia,” in enumerating the animals of Virginia, “I might adde Shag-haired
oxen, seen by Sir Samuel Argoll.”

The “Pembrook,” or “Penbrooke” mentioned in Argoll’s account has
generally been considered as the “ Patowomeck,” or one of its affluents,
but it was, I think, unquestionably the James.¢ The region visited by
Captain Batt must have also been somewhere on the head-waters of the
James. There is still traditional evidence that buffaloes formerly passed
eastward from the head-waters of the Great Kanawha in West Virginia to
this region. Professor Shaler, being aware of the existence of such names
as “Buffalo Springs” and “Buffalo Ford,” in the region of Amherst, Bath,
and Pocahontas Counties, Virginia, has made successful effort to ascer-
tain whether they indicated the former presence there of buffaloes. In
answer to his inquiries respecting the matter, Mr. C. W. Pritchett has
kindly sent him the following important information. Mr. Pritchett says
that the “old men” of that country affirm “that the Buffalo Springs were
so named from a Salt Lick near by of that name, to which their fathers
were guided by the buffalo trails. The tradition is abundant and easily
verified, that buffalo and elk were numerous in that part of Virginia within
a period comparatively recent. These traditions are especially abundant
in Bath and Pocahontas Counties, lying between the Blue Ridge and the
Alleghanies. On the Cow Pasture River (which with the Jackson forms the
James), in Bath County, a few miles below the Blowing Cave and Walla-
whatoola Springs (Indian name for Crooked River), is a salt lick, near which
they still show the deep-worn trail of the buffalo, at the point where they
crossed the river, still called Buffalo Ford. . . . . There are men still living
there whose fathers and grandfathers saw the buffalo, and even, im one
instance, caught and domesticated them.” In corroboration of the above

* Purchas, Vol. IV, p. 1765.

+ The “Patowomeck” mentioned by Argoll (or Argall) is evidently the Indian chief of that name,
and not the river “Patowomeck.” Purchas, in his marginal notes to Argoll’s letter, says, “ His first
Voyage to Patawomee and Penbrooke River,” not Rivers; and again, “ The second voyage to Penbrooke
River.” Argoll himself speaks of going to “fetch Corne from Patowomeck,” for which purpose he “en-
tered into Pembrooke River,” and after obtaining his cargo of corn he “hasted to James Towne,” and
later arrived at Point Comfort. After distributing the corn he returned again “into Pembrook River,”
and made the discovery of a “great store of Cattle as big as Kine.” Whilst engaged “in this business ”
he conceived the idea of going to the “ great King Patowomeck” for the purpose of obtaining possession
by “stratagem” of the “ Great Powhatans Daughter Pokahuntis.”

t+ Letter to Professor Shaler, dated Glasgow, Mo., July 31, 1875.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 87

important statements, Mr. Pritchett refers to a number of the descendants
of the first settlers of the region in question as being ready to vouch for his
statements. The localities he mentions are all well up in the mountains,
beyond the Blue Ridge, Pocahontas County being wholly west of the divide,
on the Greenbrier River. Bath County adjoins it on the east, and embraces
the extreme upper tributaries of the James. These counties are the ones
referred to by Mr. Pritchett as those where the evidence of the former
presence of the buffalo is still “abundant.” Amherst County is some dis-
tance lower down the James, and if the name “Buffalo Springs” in that county
is to be considered as satisfactory evidence of the former existence there of
the buffalo, these animals must have at times wandered to some distance down
the James, as far at least as the Blue Ridge.

The only reasons for supposing that buffaloes at times crossed through
the low valleys of the Alleghanies in Central Pennsylvania to the Atlantic
slope are Professor Baird’s report of the occurrence of its bones in the
superficial deposits and caves of that State,* and the traditional evidence
afforded by the occurrence of such names as “ Buffalo Creek” and “Buffalo
Valley” in Union County, near Lewisburg. The last-mentioned locality,
though of course on the Atlantic slope, is west of the Blue Ridge, which
here forms the principal chain of the Alleghany Mountains.

The foregoing historical evidence is sufficient apparently to show the im-
probability of the occurrence of the buffalo, at the time of the first explora-
tion of the country by Europeans, either north of the great lakes or over
that part of the Atlantic slope adjacent to the sea-coast north of North Caro-
dna ; in other words, within the present limits of Canada, New England, or
the maritime part of the eastern slope of the Appalachian Highlands, north-
ward of the present southern boundary of Virginia. On the contrary, it
seems to me that the evidence of its absence at that time over these regions
is almost conclusive, for had it occurred there, there is every reason to be-
lieve that proof of the fact would not be wanting in the early records of the
country, in which its products, and especially its larger animals, are so often
minutely enumerated. We have also seen that the use of such terms as
buffes, buffles, wild bulls, wild cows, wild cattle, and vaches sauvages, not only do not
necessarily imply the presence of buffaloes, but, on the contrary, have been
repeatedly employed as the designation of both the moose and the elk. If we

* The locality, though not stated, is probably Cumberland County.

88 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

accept these terms as implying the presence of buffaloes in the region under
consideration, we must allow, on similar evidence, that wild goats were found
in the seventeenth century along the whole length of the St. Lawrence,
throughout the Mississippi Valley and in Florida ;* that wid swine were found
in Canada at the mouth of the Saguenay River, and in the Middle States; +
also wild horses in Newfoundland prior to the year 1600; monkeys and
apes in Virginia;$ and that wild lemons formerly grew in Southern Michi-
gan.§ Goat Island, at the Falls of Niagara, probably derives its name from
the custom of calling the deer that frequented it wild goats. The name of
Buffalo River (Riviere aux Beeufs) in New York,|| and the name of the city
on Lake Erie now called Buffalo, are not necessarily, though probably, tra-
ditional evidences J of the occurrence of the buffalo at those localities, since
it is not very improbable, as will be shown later, that the buffalo formerly
ranged along the southern shore of Lake Erie to its eastern end.

As previously stated, there is good reason also for assuming that the buffalo
was not found in New England, nor along the coast of the Middle States,
during a long period antedating the exploration of the continent by Europeans, or
during the period of the formation of the Indian shell mounds of the North
Atlantic coast, which contain no traces of the remains of the buffalo, as they
probably would do if it had existed here at the time of their formation, since
they do contain the bones of all the larger mammals found here by the earli-
est European travellers. There still remains to be examined, however, one
supposed evidence of its existence in New England in prehistoric times.

Shortly before the second visit of Sir Charles Lyell to the United States,
some teeth of a species of the ox tribe were found in a clay-bank at Gardiner,

* See the various accounts of the voyages of De Soto, la Salle, Hennepin, Marquette, and others, where
the term wild goat is probably used for deer, but sometimes as though it referred to a distinct animal, both
wild goats, stags, and deer being mentioned in the same sentence. :

{ That bears were mistaken for swine, in the following account, is of course evident: “ Wee might see
in some places where Deere and Hares had beene, and by the rooting of the Ground, we supposed wilde
Hogs had ranged there, but we could discerne no Beast, because our Noise still chased them away from
us.”’ — George Weymouth’s Voyage, 1605, in Purchas, Pilgrims, Vol. IV, p. 1665.

+ See Strachey’s Historie of Travaile into Virginia, p. 26; Hakluyt Society, Volume for 1849.

§ “There also grow in the Strait [Detroit River] Lemon-Trees in the natural Soil, the Fruit of

which have the Shape and Colour of those of Portugal, but they are smaller, and of a flat Taste, They

are excellent in conserve.” — CHARLEVOIX, Letters, p. 178.
|| Supposed to be the present Oak Orchard Creek, Orleans Co., N.Y. See Doe. Coll. Hist. N. ¥., Vol.
IX, p. 886.

{ Schoolcraft, Hist. Cond. and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, Part IV, p. 92.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 89

Maine. The late Mrs. Frederic Allen, of Gardiner, secured these teeth for
her cabinet, where they were seen by Sir Charles Lyell, who took with him
some of them to England for determination. Respecting these specimens,
and others contained in Mrs. Allen’s cabinet, Sir Charles speaks as follows:
“At Mrs. Allen’s I examined, with much interest, a collection of fossil shells

-and crustacea, made by Mrs. Allen, from the drift, or ‘ glacial’ deposits of

the same age as those of Portsmouth, already described. Among other
remains I recognized the tooth of a walrus, similar to one procured by me in
Martha’s Vineyard, and other teeth, since determined by Professor Owen as
belonging to the buffalo, or American bison. These are, I believe, the first
examples of land quadrupeds discovered in beds of this age in the United
States. The accompanying shells consisted of the common mussel (Mytilus
edulis), Saaicava rugosa, Mya arenaria, Pecten islandicus, and species of the
genera Astarte, Nucula, etc.” *

These specimens of supposed bison’s teeth having assumed a considerable
degree of importance, I wrote, in January, 1873, to Professor Owen, to ob-
tain, if possible, further information respecting them. In his reply, dated
Cairo, Egypt, February 6, 1873, he says: “I do not recall the circumstance
to which you refer, and no teeth of ruminants from the locality you name
were in the Paleontological Department of the British Museum when the
state of my health obliged me to winter here. I should be unwilling to
accept the responsibility of any determination which I have not myself pub-
lished, after the care requisite for such a step.”

Upon the death of Mrs. Frederic Allen, her collection passed into the
possession of her daughter, Mrs. Romeo Elton, now residing in Dorchester,
Mass. Through Mrs. Elton’s kindness I have been able to obtain the full
history of the specimens in question, and to examine the three teeth still
remaining in her collection, and which were figured by Dr. A. 8. Packard, Jr.,
in his memoir on the Glacial Phenomena of Labrador and Maine, etc.t
There is also a specimen from the original lot of four, in the Museum of the
Boston Society of Natural History, presented to the Society by Dr. C. T.
Jackson, with a collection of Maine tertiary fossils.

The circumstances of the finding of the teeth are fully set forth in a writ-
ten statement, or deposition, made at the time by the person who collected
the specimens. Through the kindness of Mrs. Elton, | have before me the

* Second Visit to the United States of North America, Vol. I, pp. 43, 44, 1849.
+ Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. I, plate vii, fig. 18.

90 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

original document, which represents the teeth as occurring in a solid clay
_ bank, fifteen feet below the surface.* In respect to the character of the
locality, and its present condition, I have the following additional informa-
tion from Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., in answer to special inquiries on this point.
In a letter dated Salem, Mass., December 31, 1872, Dr. Packard writes: “In

answer to your other query, I have examined hastily the locality, but many ~

years after Lyell visited this country, — about twenty, — and great changes
may have occurred in the locality, as when I was there the high clay-bank
was being dug away to supply a brickyard.” + Referring to a suspicion I had
communicated to him that they would probably prove to be the teeth of a
domestic ox, he adds further: “The teeth in question may have fallen over
the embankment, and got mixed up in the beds. The beds containing the
shells lie below, in a vertical section, where the beds containing the sup-
posed bison’s teeth would have been, but the shell-bearing beds graduate
into those situated fifteen feet below the surface.” One of the teeth remain-
ing in Mrs. Elton’s collection was, at the time I saw it, still firmly imbedded
in its original matrix of blue clay, of the same character as that enclosing
the shells.

From the above it appears that the teeth were not taken from the clay-
beds by Sir Charles Lyell, as some have supposed, nor by either a geologist
or a scientific collector; that they could not have been associated with the
fossil shells, but came from beds considerably above them ; and that it is not
at all improbable that they rolled down from the surface, and became firmly
imbedded in the clay. Furthermore, the teeth are in a remarkably perfect
state of preservation, looking as fresh and recent as a tooth would which
had had but a short period of exposure to atmospheric or any other de-
composing influences, having undergone, indeed, scarcely any perceptible
change.

In the structural character of the teeth themselves there is nothing that
positively settles the question of their identity, though the evidence favors
the assumption of their being the teeth of the domestic ox. My first com-

* The following is a literal transcription of the document: “The teeth that I dug out of the clay-bank
about fifteen feet below the surface ; was a solid bank of blue clay, so firm that it was impossible for any-
thing to have got in there, there were no cracks or fissures that it could have fallen into as it was per-
fectly solid ; there were four lying very nearly together in the solid clay and required such exertion to get
them out that they could not at such a depth have got in by ordinary means.

“ GEORGE SOULE of Avon. 1837.”

+ Mrs. Elton informs me that now the original bank has been wholly removed.

|
|
|

}

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 91

parison of them with the teeth of the buffalo and of the common ox seemed
to leave no doubt of their identity with the latter, as I had no difficulty in
exactly matching them in every particular, and especially in respect to the
character of the folds of the enamel, in the teeth of the domestic ox, while
there was a constant variation in several points from those of the buffalo.
Later I have found so much variation in the teeth, not only of the domestic
species but also of the buffalo, that this test of their identity fails to be a
valid one, as I have also found buffalo teeth that closely resemble those from
Gardiner. The weight of evidence on this ground, however, is decidedly in
favor of their identity with those of the domestic ox. In order to give the
evidence impartially, I intended to present in Plate XI first, a series of
figures of the teeth of the bison and the domestic ox, for the double purpose
of showing not only the range of structural variation in the teeth of the
undomesticated bison, and the slight reliance that can safely be placed on
single teeth in determining specific differences, but also to figure the four
teeth found in the Gardiner clays in order to show their similarity to those
of the domestic ox. This, however, circumstances beyond my control have
prevented me from doing, only a single tooth from Gardiner, belonging to
the Boston Society of Natural History, being represented on the Plate.*
Upon the settlement of the question of the identity or non-identity of these
teeth with those of the bison hinges the validity of the only supposed evi-
dence we have respecting the former existence of the bison in New England,
or anywhere east of the Great Lakes.

In addition to the original notice already quoted from Lyell, respecting the
occurrence of bison’s teeth in Maine, Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., refers to it in
the American Naturalist,t and in the Memoirs of the Boston Society of Nat-
ural History.f In each case, however, the authority is the same, that of
Lyell, who is, however, represented as having himself discovered the speci-
mens in the clay-beds. Dr. Packard, indeed, speaks of the “intermingling
of the bones [teeth] of the walrus and the bison in the same beds,” but
there is no record showing that they were actually thus associated. §

* A few months since the teeth, with Mrs. Elton’s general collection of the tertiary fossils of Gardiner,
Maine, were presented by her to Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. My subsequent request for the
loan of the teeth to figure the Curator of the Museum declined to grant.

t Vol. I, p. 268, 1867; Vol. VI, p. 98, 1872.

t Vol. I, pp. 248, 246, pl. vii, fig. 18, 1867.

§ Says Dr. Packard: “The deposits of Gardiner possess great interest, owing to their unusual thickness,

and the rich assemblage of marine invertebrates which occur from the lowest to the highest strata, and

92 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Region South of Virginia. — As already remarked, the only well-authenticated
instances of the occurrence of buffaloes east of the Blue Ridge is the appar-
ently casual passage of small bands through the mountains from West Vir-
ginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, into the upper parts of North and South Caro-
lina, by way of the New, Holston and French Broad Rivers.* Audubon and
Bachman state that “the Bison formerly existed in South Carolina, on the
sea-board, and we are informed,” say these authors, “that from the last seen
in that State two were killed in the vicinity of Columbia.” + But they have
neglected to add the date of the capture, or the authority on which the state-
ment is made. They state, however, that “Lawson speaks of two buffaloes
that were killed on Cape Fear River, in North Carolina.” Lawson’s state-
ment in full is as follows: “This day [Sunday, February 1, 1700], the King
sent out all his able Hunters, to kill Game for a great Feast, that was to be
kept at their Departure, from the Town. .... This Hivening [same day]
came down some Toferos, tall, likely Men, having great Plenty of Buffeloes,
Elks, and Bears, with other sort of Deer amongst them.”t “The Toteros,” he
says, “a neighboring Nation came down from the Westward Mountains to
the Saponas,”§ etc. Lawson was now on the “ Sapona River,” in or near the
mountains, || which was apparently one of the sources of the Cape Fear

from the occurrence of the teeth of the bison and of the walrus, which were dug out of the beds at a
distance of fifteen feet from the top of the clay, during Sir Charles Lyell’s second visit to this country.

. . . The intermingling of the bones of the walrus and bison in the same beds shows the great range both
of Arctic and Temperate forms during this period.” — Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. I, p. 243.

Again he says: “ Teeth of the Walrus and the Bison were discovered by Sir Charles Lyell in the
clay-beds of Gardiner, Maine. These are still preserved in a private collection. The association in the
glacial clays of the remains of the Bison with those of the Walrus, and the mingling of the arctic animals
and plants with those now confined to British North America and New England, show that the climate,
during the glacial period, was a little warmer than that of Southern Greenland at present.”— Am. Nat.
Vol. I, p. 268, footnote.

* Gallatin says: “ The gap through which they [the buffaloes] passed to the Atlantic rivers is undoubt-
edly that of moderate elevation and gentle ascent, which divides a northeastern source of the Roanoke
from the great Kenawha, called the New River, and through which the State of Virginia is now attempt-
ing to open a communication from James River to the Ohio.” — Trans. Am. Ethnological Soc., Vol. II,
pl.

{ Quadrupeds North America, Vol. I, p. 55.

{ History of Carolina, p. 48 (London, 1718).

Slbid, p47

|| A rude map of North and South Carolina accompanies his journal, but on the map the word Saponas
does not occur. The context, however, shows that he was in the northeastern part of the present State of
North Carolina, on the sources of the Cape Fear River. Brickell says, however, in bis Natural History of

North Carolina, published in 1737: “The Sapona Indians live at the West branch of the Cape Fear, or

I
'
|
I
i
;

|
é

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 93

River. The journey here described commenced at Charleston. He travelled
near the coast till he reached the Santee River, and then ascended that river
as far, apparently, as Columbia, then turning northeastward, he kept in the
highlands, crossing the sources of the Cape Fear, and thence eastward to the
“Pamticough” River and the English settlements. In his preface he says:
. Having spent most of my Time, during my eight Years Abode in Carohina,
in travelling; I not only survey’d the Sea-Coast, and those Parts which are
already inhabited by the Christians, but likewise view’d a spatious Tract of
Land lying betwixt the Inhabitants and the Ledges of Mountains, from
whence our noblest Rivers have their Rise, running towards the Ocean, where
they water as pleasant a Country as any in Lurope ; the Discovery of which
being never yet made publick, I have, in the following Sheets, given you a
faithful Account thereof, wherein I have laid down every thing with Impar-
tiality and Truth.” But in the narrative of his travels he makes no farther
allusion to the buffalo, and does not appear to have found the Indians in pos-
session of either its skins or meat. He speaks, however, of the various kinds
of game he daily met with, and especially of the abundance of turkeys. In
his chapter on the “Natural History of Carolina,” concerning which he says,
“‘T have been very exact, and for Method’s Sake rang’d each Species under its
distinct and proper Head,” he again speaks of the buffalo, as follows: “The
Buffalo is a wild Beast of America, which has a Bunch on his Back, as the
Cattle of St. Lawrence are said to have. He seldom appears amongst the
English Inhabitants, his chief Haunt being in the Land of Messiasippi, which
is, for the most part, a plain Country ; yet I have known some killed on the
hilly Part of Cape Far River, they passing the Ledges of vast Mountains
from the said Messiasippi, before they can come near us.” *

From Lawson’s eight years’ residence, and extensive travels in the Caro-
linas, about the year 1700, and from his mentioning only the instance of its
capture by the Indians above cited, it was evidently not at that time numer-
ous in the Carolinas.t A few years after the publication of Lawson’s work,
this same region was visited by John Brickell, who passed through nearly
the same districts as those traversed by Lawson. Brickell wrote. concerning

Clarendon River, which is very beautiful and has good land about it,” etc. (p. 8343). He also says: “ The
Toteras are neighboring Indians to the Saponas, and live Westward in the Mountains ” (p. 343).

* History of Carolina, p. 115.

+ Yet in the history of Long’s Expedition to the Source of St. Peter’s River (Vol. II, p. 26), it is stated
that “from Lawson we find that great plenty of buffaloes, elkes &c. existed near Cape Fear river and its

tributaries !”

94 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

the buffalo as follows: “The Buffel, or wild Beef, is one of the largest wild
Beasts that is yet known in these parts of America; it hath a Bunch upon
it’s Back, and thick short Horns, bending forward... . This Monster of
the Woods seldom appears amongst the wropean Inhabitants, it’s chiefest
haunts being in the Savannas near the Mountains, or Heads of the great
Rivers... . . And it is conjectur’d, that these Buffelo’s being mix’d, and
breeding with our tame Cattle, would much improve the Species for largeness
and Milk; for these Monsters (as I have been inform’d) weigh from 1600 to
2400 pounds Weight. They are a very fierce Creature, and much larger
than an Ox... .. There were two of the Calves of this Creature taken
alive in the Year 1730, by some of the Planters living near Neus River, but
whether they transported them to Europe, or what other uses they made of
them, I know not, having occasion to leave that Country soon after.” 2

Catesby, who visited South Carolina and Georgia some fifty years later,
describes the buffalo quite minutely in his Natural History of Carolina, pub-
lished in 1754, showing most unquestionably that he was personally familiar
with it. He says: “They frequent the remote parts of the country near
the mountains, and are rarely seen within the settlements. They range in
droves, feeding in open savannas morning and evening; and in the sultry
time of the day, they retire to shady rivulets of clear water, glistening
through thickets of tall cane, which though a hidden retreat, yet their
heavy bodies causing a deep impression of their feet in the moist land, they
are often trac’d, and shot by the artful Indians.” + Catesby tells us in his
preface that he spent the first year of his sojourn in America in Carolina, in
the settled district near the sea-shore, and passed thence to the “ Upper un-
inhabited Parts of the Country, and continued at and about Fort Moore, a
small Fortress on the Banks of the River Savanna, which runs from thence a
Course of 300 Miles down to the Sea, and is about the same Distance from
its Source, in the Mountains.” This region, he says, “afforded not only a
Succession of new vegetable Appearances, but most delightful Prospects
imaginable, besides the Diversion of Hunting Buffalo’s, Bears, Panthers and
other wild Beasts.” $

Bartram also speaks of the existence of a “Great Buffalo Lick, on the
Great Ridges which separate the waters of the Savanna and Alatamaha,

* Natural History of North Carolina, 1737, pp. 107, 108.
+ Nat. Hist. Carol. Fla., etc., 1754, Vol. I, Appendix, p. xxvii.

t Ibid., p. viii of preface.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 95

about eighty miles distant from Augusta.”* Again, in speaking of the
middle region of the Carolinas, he says: “The buffalo (Urus), once so
very numerous, is not at this date [1773] to be seen in this part of the
country.” F

Hewit, also, in his “Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the
Colonies of South Carolina,” published originally in London in 1779, thus refers
to the buffalo in enumerating the natural productions of “Carolina,” in his
description of its condition about the year 1674: “Numbers of deer, timor-
ous and wild, ranged through the trees, and herds of buffaloes were found
grazing in the savannas.”{ Keating also says, on the authority of Col-
houn: “And we know that some of those who first settled the Abbeville
district in South Carolina, in 1756, found the buffalo there.”

Further evidence of the existence of the buffalo in the western parts of
North and South Carolina is furnished by maps of these States, prepared
about 1771 — 1775,|| on which a tributary of Coldwater River, in what is now
Cabarrus County, North Carolina, is called Buffalo Creek ; while two of the
upper tributaries of the Broad River bear the names respectively of Buffalo
Creek and Bullock Creek. In South Carolina, on the sources of the Saluda
River, in the present County of Abbeville, a swamp is laid down as Buffalo
Swamp. I fail to find, however, any of these names preserved on recent maps.

Peter Kalm, in his “ Travels in North America,” under date of November,
1748, also thus alludes to their existence “in Carolina.” “The wild oxen
have their abode principally in the woods of Carolina, which are far up in the
country. The inhabitants frequently hunt them and salt them like common
beef, which is eaten by servants and the lower class of people. But the hide
is of little use, having too large pores to be made use of for shoes. How-
ever, the poorer people in Carohna spread their hides on the ground instead
of beds.” | Again he speaks of “the wild Cows and Ozxen . . . . which are
to be met with in Carolina, and other provinces to the south of Pennsylvania.

.... This American species of oxen,” he says, “is Linnceus’s Bos Bison, B.”**

* Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, etc., 1773 — 75, pp. 35, 46.

+ Ibid, p. 46. :

t Carroll’s Hist. Coll. S Car., Vol. I, p. 78.

§ Long’s Expedition to the Source of the St. Peter’s River, etc., 1823, Vol. II, p. 26.

|| A map of North and South Carolina. Accurately compiled from the old maps of James Cook, pub-
lished in 1771, and of Henry Mouzon, in 1775. Carroll’s Hist. Coll. South Carolina, 1836, Vol. I.

{ Travels into North America, Forster’s Translation, Vol. I, p. 287.

** Thid., Vol. I, p. 207.

96 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

In the verbal relation, reported by Hakluyt, of “ Nicholas Burgoignon, alias
Holy,” who spent six years “in Florida” prior to 1586, Burgoignon states
that “the Spaniards, entring 50. leagues up Saint Helena, found Indians
wearing golde rings at their nostrels and eares. They found also Oxen,
but lesse than ours.” * The St. Helena here mentioned was in the present
State of South Carolina, and must have been either the Combahee or the
Edisto River, though most probably the latter, the name St. Helena being
still retained for the bay at the mouths of these rivers. It hence seems very
probable that the locality referred to was the Abbeville district of South
Carolina, where buffaloes at that time doubtless existed.

Governor Oglethorpe, in his “New and Accurate Account of the Provinces
of South Carolina and Georgia,’ published in 1733, makes the following
single reference to the buffalo: “The wild beasts are deer, elks, bears,
wolves, buffaloes, wild boars, and abundance of hares and rabbits: they
have also a catamountain, or small leopard; but this is not the dangerous
species of the Kast Indies.” ¢

Francis Moore, writing in 1744, referring to the absence of the buffalo
from St. Simon’s Island, adds that “there are large herds there upon the
Main.” £ :

Governor Glen, in his “ Description of Carolina,” published in 1761, enu-
merates “ Buffaloes” in his list of the “ Wild Beasts, etc., of the Forest.” §
Drayton, writing in 1802, also enumerates the buffalo as one of the animals
formerly existing in South Carolina. He says, “The buffalo and cat-a-mount
are entirely exterminated on the eastern side of our mountains.” ||

While the former occurrence of the buffalo in the “upper parts” of the
Carolinas “near the mountains” is a well-established fact of history, its
absence at the same time from the low country near the coast seems
equally certain. As early as 1562, Jean Ribault (or Ribaut) landed at Port
Royal, and explored to some distance into the interior J) without meeting
with buffaloes, as did also Hilton,** in 1663, and numerous other travellers

* Hakluyt, Voyages, etc., Vol. III, p. 433.

t Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, Vol. I, p. 51.

{ A Voyage to Georgia, etc, p. 55.

§ Description of Carolina, p. 68.

|| Drayton (John), View of South Carolina, p. 88.

‘] See Landonniére’s narrative in Hakluyt’s Voyages, Vol. III, pp. 367-497.

** Hilton (William), A Relation of a Discovery lately made on the Coast of Florida, ete., London,
1664 (Force’s Coll. Hist. Tracts, Vol. IV, No. 2, p. 8).

tment, antec

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 97

later, many of whom have given detailed enumerations of the animals they
met with. While every species of mammal now known to exist there, from
the squirrel to the deer, is mentioned, the buffalo is absent from them
all.* It was also absent from this region at the time when Lawson, Brickell,
and Catesby explored the Carolinas with special reference to their natural
products.

The Buffalo not found within the present limits of Florida. — The buffalo is also
believed by some to have been found within the present limits of Florida,
and throughout the Gulf States down to the Gulf of Mexico. This, however,
is a mistake, mainly arising, probably, from the former vast extent of Florida
as compared with its present limits.t

These writers are Forbes,f who as recently as 1821 wrote, “The buffalo
is said to be among the number of wild beasts, but not commonly seen”!
Davis also says, on the authority of Romans, that “their tracks have been
seen as far south and southeast as the Withlacooche River.Ӥ But from the
context of Romans’s work, and from the known range of the buffalo at the
time he wrote (1776), he must have been mistaken in respect to the identity
of the tracks. Romans says: “. . . . at the junction of Flint River and the
river in the south extreme of this division is the head of Manatee River,
between which and the Amazura I saw a vast number of deer, and the marks

* Among the authors here referred to are Robert Horn (Briefe Description of the Province of Carolina
on the Coasts of Floreda, etc., 1666) ; Samuel Wilson (An Account of the Province of Carolina, in America,
etc, 1682); “T. A.” [Thomas Ash] (Carolina; or a Description of the Present State of that Country and
the Natural Excellencies thereof, etc., by T. A., Gent., 1682); and John Archdale (A New Description of
that fertile and pleasant Province of Carolina, ete., 1707). Reprinted in Carroll’s Hist. Coll. of S. Car.,
Vol. H. See also Hakluyt, Voyages, ete., Vol. IV, for these papers.

t As is well known, for many years subsequent to the disastrous expedition of De Soto, Florida, as
claimed by Spain, embraced all the Atlantic coast as far north as the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and for more
than a century after, or till 1651, extended northward to the present southern boundary of Virginia, and
comprised an immense unexplored region in the interior. Not until 1721 was its western boundary re-
stricted to its present limits. In 1764, the year following its acquisition by the British crown, its western
boundary was again temporarily extended to the Mississippi River. — Monette’s Hist. of the Valley of the
Mississippi, Vol. I, pp. 65-77.

In 1745 the British possessions in North America embraced only that portion of the United States
north of the present limits of Florida, east of the Allechanies, exclusive, however, of those portions of
New York and Vermont north of the 44th parallel. The whole vast interior belonged to the French, and
while almost the whole basin of the Mississippi was denominated Louisiana, or the Province of Lowis, the
northeastern part, including not only the present Canadas, but nearly all the territory north of the Ohio,
was called Canada, or New France. — Jbid., Vol. I, map.

ft Sketches, Historical and Topographical, of the Floridas; more especially of East Florida, p. 67.

§ Conquest of New Mexico, 1869, p. 67, footnote.

98 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

of many of the hunting-camps of the savages. We found the footsteps of six
or eight buffaloes hereabouts, so plain as to be convinced of the track being
made by those animals.”* Professor Baird, in 1852, says, “Theuet, in the
very rare work entitled ‘Les Singularitez de la France antarctique, Paris,
1557 [1558], gives (p. 147), in a representation of a curious beast of West
Florida, a readily recognizable figure of the buffalo.”+ The figure bears
some resemblance to a bison, and the description seems to clearly indicate
this animal. The locality, too, is near Palm River, south of Tampa Bay.

Thevet’s work, however, is merely a compilation, abounding with the gross-

est exaggerations. He cites no authority for the presence of “une espece de

grands toureaux” at this locality, where certainly no bison has ever been
found. Maynard, writing in 1872, says, “The historians of De Soto’s travels
speak of herds of wild cattle being found in Florida. They probably refer
to the buffalo (Bos americanus), which without doubt extended its range to
the prairies of the west coast.’ None of the references to the buffalo
contained in these writings relate, however, to the present region of Flor-
ida,§ De Soto not apparently hearing of the existence of this animal until
he had reached the Mississippi, except in the single instance soon to be
noticed in another connection.

The late Professor Wyman, in a posthumous paper, also says, “The buffalo
was an inhabitant of Florida, and it could have been no other than this ani-
mal which the French met with in their ill-fated retreat from Fort Carohne”;
and he adds in a footnote : “De Challeux, the carpenter of Ribaut’s expedi-
tion, says, ‘near the break of day we saw a great beast, like a deer, at fifty
paces from us, who had a great head, eyes flaming, the ears hanging, and
the huger parts elevated. It seemed to us monstrous because of its gleam-
ing eyes, wonderfully large, but it did not come near us to do us any harm.’
There is no other animal,” adds Professor Wyman, “ which corresponds with
this animal but the buffalo, though that animal is as unlike ‘a deer’ as pos-
sible.”|| It seems to me, however, that the reference is in no way applicable
to the buffalo, and if not really a deer, the beast here described must have

* A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida, pp. 280, 281,
+ Patent Off. Rep., Agricult., 1851-52, Part IJ, p. 124.
{ Bull. Essex Institute, Vol IV, p. 149.

§ Schooleraft says that the distinction between the former and present boundaries of Florida “is over-

looked, in reference to the buffalo in Florida, by the translator of De Soto’s first letter.” — History, Con-
dition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes, etc., Part V, p. 68, footnote.
|| Fresh-Water Shell Mounds of the St. John’s River, Florida, p. 80, and footnote, December, 1875.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 99

been a creation of the excited imagination of the much terrified French-
man, having no more real foundation than the accounts of other strange
creatures-found in the narratives of numerous other early explorers of
America, —a supposition borne out by the general character of De Chal-
leux’s account of that night’s experiences.

In the detailed account by M. Réné Laudonniére of Ribaut’s attempt to
plant a colony on the St. John’s River in Florida, however, no mention of
this incident reported by the carpenter is mentioned. Laudonniére says
the only game found was deer, leopards, bears, etc., while in his “descrip-
tion of the West Indies in generall, but chiefly and particularly of Flori-
da,” as translated by Hakluyt,* he says, “The Beastes best known in this
Countrey are Stagges, Hindes, Goates, Deere, Leopards, Ounces, Luserns,
divers sortes of Wolves, wilde Dogs, Hares, Cunnies, and a certain kinde of
beast that differeth little from the Lyon of Africa.” f No allusion is made to
the existence of any animal like a buffalo in Laudonniére’s whole narrative
of the fortunes of the French in Florida during the period embracing the

founding and abandonment of Fort Caroline, covering a period of five years
g ’ § a}

‘and quite extended explorations along the St. John’s River.

Professor Wyman also quotes Buckingham Smith as saying, in a note to
his (Smith’s) translation of the “Memoir of Fontaneda respecting Florida”
(p. 49), “The bison appears to have ranged in considerable numbers through
Middle Florida a hundred and fifty years ago. It was considered in 1718
that the Spanish garrison at Fort San Marco, on a failure of stores, might
subsist on the meat of the buffalo.” The text in Fontaneda’s Memoir (writ-
ten about 1575), to which this note refers, contains the following: “The
men of Abalachi go naked, and the women have waistbands of the straw
that. grows from the trees, which is like wool, of which I have given some
account before; they eat deer, wolves, woolly cattle, and many other animals.” +
Smith in his commentary on this passage cites Barcia as authority for mak-
ing this passage a reference to the buffalo. But I find nothing in Barcia
that seems to refer to the occurrence of the buffalo within the region
embraced by the present boundaries of Florida.

Professor Wyman further cites Stow (“p. 19”) as saying, “The buffalo is
found in the savannahs, or natural meadows of the interior parts,” but as no
title is given of Stow’s work I have been unable to find it in order to ascer-

* Voyages, etc., Vol. III, pp. 868 — 384.
t Ibid., p 369,
{ Smith’s Fontaneda, p. 27.

100 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

tain on what authority he based his statement. Wyman further quotes
Baird as authority for the occurrence of the buffalo in Florida, but Professor
Baird, as previously noticed, only makes the general statement that it “was
formerly found throughout the eastern portion of the United States to the
Atlantic Ocean, and as far south as Florida.” *

The first explorers not only did not meet with the buffalo in any part of
the present States of Florida or Georgia, but probably had not at this time
even heard of its existence anywhere. Among these are Ponce de Leon,
who visited Florida in 1512, landing near the present site of St. Augus-
tine, and Vasquez de Ayllon, who landed, it is supposed, on the coast of
Georgia, in 1520, and again in 1525; but neither of them made extended
excursions into the interior, and make no reference to the buffalo.

In 1528 Pamphilo de Narvaez marched from Tampa Bay northwardly
into the interior, to the source of the Suwanee River, in Southern Georgia,
without, however, either meeting or hearing of the buffalo. De Soto, on the
occasion of his journey through Florida, disembarked at Tampa Bay, from
which point he made his long journey into the interior, finally crossing the
Mississippi and reaching the edge of the plains beyond. His course was first.
northward through Central Florida, and thence northwestward nearly to the
site of the present town of Tallahassee, and then northeastward across Central
Georgia to the Savannah River. From this point his course was again north-
westward to the mountains of Northern Georgia. In all this long journey
he obtained no information of any animal resembling the buffalo, only hear-
ing of it later on sending out soldiers to the northward from his camp in the
extreme northern parts of Georgia, to search for gold, who returned at length
with the report that they had seen in the possession of the Indians ox-hides
an inch in thickness, which were undoubtedly skins of the buffalo.t These

* Mam. N. Amer., p. 684.

{ Irving’s account of this expedition is as follows: He says two fearless soldiers were sent northward
from the village of Ichiaha, which is supposed to have been near the site of the modern town of Rome, Ga.
“ After an absence of ten days they returned to the camp and made their report. Their route had lain
part of the way through excellent land for grain and pasturage, where they had been well received and
feasted by the natives. They had found among them a buffalo hide an inch in thickness, with hair as soft
as the wool of a sheep, which, as usual, they mistook for the hide of a beef. In the course of their journey
they had crossed mountains [supposed to be the Lookout Mountains] so rugged and precipitous that it
would be impossible for the army to traverse them.” —Irvine (THomas), Conquest of Florida, p. 244.

The Gentleman of Elvas says (Hakluyt’s translation), they “brought an oxe hide, which the Indians
gave them, as thinne as a calves skinne, and the haire like a soft wooll, betweene the course and fine wooll
of sheepe.” — Discovery and Conquest of Terra Florida (Hakluyt Society), p. 66.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 101

facts certainly show that the buffalo was absent both from Florida and
Georgia during the early part of the sixteenth century, and I have found
no writers who claim to have ever seen the living buffalo at any time in
any part of Florida, or of Southern and Eastern Georgia. In the many enu-
merations of the natural productions of Florida (as at present restricted)
made prior to the beginning of the present century, based on personal observa-
tions, the buffalo is absent from all. Romans, it is true, supposed he saw its
tracks, but this, in the light of other contemporaneous history of the re-
gion, seems wholly improbable. Roberts, writing a few years before Ro-
mans wrote, says, “The wild animals found in this country are the panther,
bear, catamountain, stag, goat, hare, rabbit, beaver, otter, fox, raccoon, and
squirrel.” *

Had the buffalo formerly inhabited Florida, it seems probable that its
remains would occur in the shell-mounds of that State; but Professor Wyman
specializes the buffalo as one of the animals whose remains he had not found
in the mounds of Florida, although he had obtained the bones of most of the
other large species of Florida mammals from them, among which he enumer-
ates those of the bear, raccoon, hare, deer, otter, and opossum, together with
those of the turkey and alligator, and of several different species of turtles
and fishes.t

SouTHERN BouUNDARY OF THE RANGE OF THE BUFFALO EAST OF THE
MISSISSIPPI.

As already shown, the buffalo was never met with in the present States of
Florida and Georgia, except over a small area west of the Savannah River
adjoming the Abbeville District in South Carolina. It was apparently also
altogether absent from the rest of the Gulf States east of the Mississippi.
Certainly it was not met with by De Soto in his journey across this region
in 1540-41, during which journey he explored the Coosa River from its
source to its junction with the Alabama, and descended the latter to its
union with the Tombigbee. He thus crossed the State of Alabama diago-

nally from northeast to southwest, and afterwards traversed what is now

* Roberts (Wm.), An Account of the First Discovery and Natural History of Florida, 1763, p. 4.
t Mem. Peabody Acad. Sciences, Vol. I, pp. 78, 80. :

102 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

the State of Mississippi, also diagonally, from the southeast to the north-
west.* De Soto learned nothing respecting the buffalo, save the report
brought him by the soldiers whom he sent northward from Northern
Georgia into the present State of Tennessee, till after he crossed the
Mississippi.

Du Pratz states (in a work published in 1758) that the Indians of Lower
Louisiana leave that country in winter to hunt the buffalo, as this animal,
he says, cannot come thither on account of the thickness of the forest.f
Adair, who spent several years in this region prior to 1770, and who de-
scribes with considerable minuteness all the low country bordering the Gulf
Coast east of the Mississippi River,t makes no mention of the existence there

of the buffalo, although he gives a general account of the game animals, and

- speaks especially of the abundance of the deer, bears, and turkeys. Gal-

latin § gives the Tennessee River as their southern limit, and I have found
no positive reference to their occurrence south of that boundary. On an
old map,|| published originally in 1718, and reproduced in facsimile in French’s
“ Historical Collections of Louisiana” (Vol. II), the region between the
Cumberland and Ohio’ Rivers is marked as follows: “ Desert de six vint heues
detendue ou les Ilinois font la Chasse des beeufs.” They are well known to have
been formerly abundant in the region about Nashville, and they probably
extended southward nearly or quite to the Tennessee, as a stream called
Buffalo River forms one of the tributaries of Duck River, itself one of the

principal tributaries of the Tennessee from the eastward.

* For authorities on the Route of De Soto, see Biedma’s Narrative, and that of the Gentleman of
Elvas, in French’s Historical Collection of Louisiana, Vol. I, and in the Hakluyt Society’s publications
(1851), with an Introdiction, Notes, and a Map by W. B. Rye; McCulloch’s Researches; Gallatin’s Sy-
nopsis of the Indian Tribes (Archzxologia Americana, Vol. H); Pickett’s History of Alabama, ete.; Nut-
tall’s Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory ; Meck’s Sketches of the History of Alabama (South-
ron Monthly Magazine and Review, 1839); Monette’s History of.the Discovery and Settlement of the
Valley of the Mississippi; Bancroft’s History U. 8.; Irving’s Conquest of Florida; Schooleraft’s His-
tory, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, Part IM, pp. 87-50, pl. xliv;
orc, cic.

+ History of Louisiana, Engl. ed., pp. 254, 255.

t History of the American Indians (London, 1775), pp. 223 - 375.

§ “Colonies of the buffaloes had traversed the Mississippi, and were at one time abundant in the forest
country between the lakes and the Tennessee River, south of which I do not believe they were ever seen.”
— Trans. Am. Ethnological Soc., Vol. I, p. |. .

|| Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississippi. Dressée sur un grand nombre de Memoires entrau

tres ceux sur de M*. le Maire par Gurni4™™® Dr LISLE de Academie R® des Sciences.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 103

Tue Extent oF THE REGION EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI FORMERLY INHAB-
ITED BY THE Burra.o, witn A. History or rrs ExvIRPATION THERE-
FROM.

The accounts of the first exploration of the region between the Alleghany
Mountains and the Mississippi River show that the buffalo, early in the
seventeenth century, existed in vast herds not only on the prairies bor-
dering the Mississippi, but throughout nearly the whole of the more open
portions of the area drained by the Ohio River and its tributaries. Its range
eastward extended nearly or quite to the eastern end of Lake Erie, and
throughout the valleys among the mountains of Western Pennsylvania, West
Virginia, Hastern Kentucky, and Eastern Tennessee. It also inhabited the
region drained by the Illinois River, and by some of the lesser upper east-
ern tributaries of the Mississippi. The country between the Ohio and the
Great Lakes was quite generally occupied by them, as was that south of the
Ohio, between this river and the Tennessee. There is less certainty in
regard to their former occupation of Southern Michigan and Wisconsin,
though it is probable that they also at times roamed over most of this
region also, notwithstanding the fact that they were not found there by the
first Europeans who visited this section of the country. Considerable docu-
mentary evidence relating to their former presence over the region between
the Mississippi and the Alleghanies, together with many references to their
extermination there, has been brought together in the following pages, and
is presented generally in the words of the original narrators. Beginning with
the northwestern portion of the region in question, we shall pass thence
southward and eastward, giving the facts bearing upon particular localities
somewhat in a chronological order.

On the eastern side of the Mississippi River buffaloes were found by the
early Jesuit explorers oceupying the country from the sources of the Mis-
sissippi almost uninterruptedly southward nearly to the mouth of the Ohio
River. Hennepin, as early as 1680, met with them in considerable numbers
in the vicinity of the St. Francis River, above the Falls of St. Anthony, where
they were also seen later by other explorers. In 1766 Jonathan Carver
found them on the plains around Lake Pepin, he speaking of them as “the
largest buffaloes of any in America.” * Pike, in ascending the Mississippi in
the autumn of 1804, met with the first signs of this animal about two hun-

* Travels, p. 56.

104 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

dred miles above the Falls of St. Anthony;* and Schoolcraft reports their
existence in the same vicinity as late as 1820. On the map accompanying
Schooleraft’s narrative of his expedition to the sources of the Mississippi
River, he has marked the plains above the Falls of St. Anthony as the “ Buf
falo Plains”; and in the text he says: “Here also [mouth of De Corbeau
River] the Buffalo Plains commence, and continue down on both sides of
the river to the Falls of St. Anthony.”t The buffaloes may never have
existed in Northeastern Wisconsin, though they probably ranged over the
prairies of the western and southern portions of the State. They were not
met with, however, even there by the first European explorers of that
region.

Father Marquette does not appear to have met with them in crossing from
Green Bay to the Wisconsin River, in 1678, nor did he see them in his sub-
sequent descent of that river.t La Hontan, in 1687, also found none on
either the Fox or Wisconsin Rivers, first meeting with them on the Missis-
sippi not far above the mouth of the Wisconsin.§ Marquette first found
them on the Mississippi River, in latitude “41° 28’,” in July, 1673. “Having
descended the River,” he says, “as far as 41° 28’, we find that turkeys have
taken the place of game, and the Pisikious that of other beasts. We call
the Pisikious wild buffaloes, because they very much resemble our domestic
oxen.”|| Following this is a description of the “pisikious,” or buffaloes, and
the uses made of them by the Indians; and he adds, “ they graze upon the
banks of rivers, and I have seen four hundred in a herd together.” ]_ Hen-
nepin, Marest, Gravier, Charlevoix, and other Jesuit missionaries appear not
to have met with it on the St. Joseph’s River, nor anywhere in Southern

* Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi, etc., Pt. I, App. p. 53.

+ Narrative Journal of Travel to the Sources of the Mississippi, etc., p. 275.

+ In an English translation of Marquette’s narrative of his discoveries (French’s Hist. Coll. of Lou-
isiana, Part I, p. 284), we find the following passage: in speaking of the Wisconsin (“ Mesconsin”) he
says: “ The country through which it flows is beautiful; the groves are so dispersed in the prairies that it
makes a noble prospect”; and he adds: “ We saw neither game nor fish, but roebuck and buffaloes in
great, numbers.” Mr. J. G. Shea says: “ The French word here is vaches, which has generally been trans-
lated bison or buffalo.” In this instance, Mr. Shea says, it is clearly a mistake, as Marquette and his party
had not yet reached the buffalo grounds, and the missionary afterwards deseribes the animal when he
meets it. — Discoveries and Explorations in the Mississippi Valley, p. 16.

§ La Hontan, Voyages, Eng. ed., Vol. I, pp. 111, 112.

|| As Henderson has remarked, “ Father Marquette was doubtless the first white man who penetrated
to the habitat of the buffalo by way of the Great Lakes, although, according to Marquette, their skins had

been previously exported to Europe.” — Am. Naturalist, Vol. VI, p. 82.

q French’s Historical Collection of Louisiana, Part II, p. 285.

annem

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 105

Michigan,* although they found it abundant on the Kaskaskia, and further
southward.t Marquette, in his description of the Illinois River, says: “I
never saw a more beautiful country than we found on this river. The
prairies are covered with buffaloes, stags, goats, and the rivers and lakes
with swans, ducks, geese, parrots, and beavers.” $

That buffaloes were formerly abundant over the greater part of Illinois is
well attested. Father Hennepin, in describing the journey he made from
Fort Miamis, at the mouth of the Chicago River, to the village of the Illinois,
on the Illinois River, “one hundred and thirty leagues from Fort Miamis,” im
December, 1679, says: “There must be an innumerable quantity of wild
Bulls in that Country, since the Earth is covered with their Horns. The
Miami's hunt them towards the latter end of Autumn.” Again he says: “We
suffer’d very much on this Passage; for the Savages having set the Herbs
of the Plain on fire, the wild Bulls were fled away, and so we could kill but
one and some Turkey-Cocks.” “They change their Country,” he adds, “ac-
cording to the Seasons of the Year; for upon the approach of the Winter,
they leave the North, and go to the Southern Parts. They follow one an-
other, so that you may see a Drove of them for above a League together,
and stop all at the same place. . . . . Their Ways are as beaten as our great
Roads, and no Herb grows therein. They swim over the Rivers they meet
in their Way, to go and graze in other Meadows.” §

Father Marest, in passing from the southern end of Lake Michigan to the
Kankakee, in. 1712, by way of the St. Joseph’s River, says, in his narrative
of the journey: “ At last [after having passed the portage, and embarked on
the Kankakee] we perceived our own agreeable country, the wild buffaloes,
and herds of stags, wandering on the border of the river,” etc.|| Charlevoix,
in 1721, in crossing over from the St. Joseph’s River to. the “Theakiki”
(Kankakee) soon found them in abundance. About fifty leagues from -the
source of the Kankakee, he says: “The country begins to be fine: The

* Schooleraft says, but I know not on what authority: “It not only ranged over the prairies of Illinois
ahd Indiana, but spread to Southern Michigan, and the western skirts of Ohio. Tradition says it was
sometimes seen on the borders of Lake Erie.” — History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes,
Vol. IV, p. 92. It would, however, be quite strange if it had not at times extended its range over the
prairie portions of both Michigan and Wisconsin.

+ J. G. Shea, Discoveries and Explorations of the Mississippi, pp. 18, 20.

ft French’s Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, Part II, p. 297.

§ A New Discovery of a vast Country in America, ete., pp. 90, 91, 92.

|| Kip’s Jesuit Missions, p. 224.

106 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Meadows here extend beyond Sight, in which the Buffalo go in Herds of 2
or 3 hundred.”* In describing the country bordering the Illinois River,
below the junction of the Kankakee, he says: “In this Route we see only
vast Meadows, with little Clusters of Trees here and there, which seem to
have been planted by the Hand ; the Grass grows so high in them, that one
might lose one’s self amongst it; but everywhere we meet with Paths that
are as beaten as they can be in the most populous Countries; yet nothing
passes through them but Buffaloes, and from Time to Time some Herds of
Deer, and some Roe-Bucks.” Later he writes: “The 6th [of October, 1721]
we saw a great Number of Buffaloes crossing the River in a great Hurry” ;
and adds that they soon provided themselves with food “ by killing a Buffalo
or Roe-Buck, and of these we had the Choice.” t

Vaudreuil alludes to their abundance on Rock River in 1718. From the
bluffs along this river, he says, “you behold roaming through the prairie
herds of buffalo of Hlinois.”— Pittman, writing fifty years later, describes the
country of the Illinois Indians as abounding with “buffalo, deer, and wild
fowl.” §

The buffalo seems also to have been abundant over large portions of In-
diana. Charlevoix, writing of the Ohio River in 1720, says: “ All the Country
that is watered by the Ouabache [Ohio], and by the Ohio [Wabash] which
runs into it, is very fruitful: It consists of vast Meadows, well-watered,
where the wild Buffaloes feed by Thousands.” || Vaudreuil, writing at about
the same time, says, in his “Memoir on the Indians between Lake Erie and
the Mississippi” : “ Whoever would wish to reach the Mississippi easily would
need only to take this Beautiful river [Ohio] or the Sandosquet [Sandusky] ;
he could travel without any danger of fasting, for all who have been there
have repeatedly assured me that there is a vast quantity of Buffalo and of
all other animals in the woods along that Beautiful River; they were often
obliged to discharge their guns to clear a passage.”

There is further evidence also of the former abundance of the buffalo in

* Letters, Goadby’s English Edition, pp. 280, 281.

+ Letters, Goadby’s English Edition, p. 290.

{ New York Coll. of MSS., Paris Doc. VII, p. 890.

§ Pittman (Captain Philip), Present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi, p. 51, 1770.
The region referred to is described in the context as being enclosed by the Mississippi on the west, the
Illinois on the north, the Ohio on the south, and the Wabash (Ouabache) and “ Miamis ” on the east.

|| Letters, Goadby’s English ed., p. 303.

q New York Coll. of MSS., Paris Doc., VU, p. 886.

\
f
|
i

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 107

Ohio, along the southern shore of Lake Erie, particularly towards its western
end. La Hontan, in his.description of Lake Erie, as he saw it about 1687,
says: “Icannot express what quantities of Deer and Turkeys are to be found
in these Woods, and in the vast Meads that lye upon the South side of the
Lake. At the bottom of the Lake, we find beeves upon the Banks of two
pleasant Rivers that disembogue into it, without Cataracts or rapid Cur-
rents.”* Vaudreuil, describing Lake Erie in 1718, says: “There is no need of
fasting on either side of this lake, deer are to be found there in such abun-
dance; buffaloes are found on the south, but not on the north shore.” Again
he says: “Thirty leagues up the [Maumee] river is a place called La Glaise
[now Defiance, Ohio], where buffaloes are always to be found; they eat the
clay and wallow in it.” The occurrence of a stream in Western New York
called Buffalo Creek, which empties into the eastern end of Lake Erie, is
commonly viewed as traditional evidence of its occurrence at this point,
but positive testimony to this effect has thus far escaped me. This locality,
if it actually came so far eastward, must have formed the eastern limit of
its range along the lakes. >

I have found only highly questionable allusions to the occurrence of
buffaloes along the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Keating, on the
authority of Colhoun, however, has cited a passage from Morton’s “ New
English Canaan” as proof of their former existence in the neighborhood
of this lake. Morton’s statement is based on Indian reports, and the con-
text gives sufficient evidence of the general vagueness of his knowledge of
the region of which he was speaking. The passage, printed in 1637, is as
follows: “They [the Indians] have also made descriptions of great heards
of well growne beasts that live about the parts of this lake [Erocoise], such
as the Christian world (untill this discovery) hath not bin made acquainted
with. These Beasts are of the bignesse of a Cowe, their flesh being very
good foode, their hides good lether, their fleeces very usefull, being a kinde of
wolle, as fine almost as the wolle of the Beaver and the Salvages doe make
garments thereof. It is tenne yeares since first the relation of these things
came to the eares of the English.”§ The “beast” to which allusion is here
made is unquestionably the buffalo, but the locality of Lake “ Erocoise” is

* La Hontan, New Voyages to North America, English ed., Vol. I, p. 217.
+ New York Coll. MSS., Paris Documents, VI, pp. 885, 891.

t Long’s Expedition to the Source of St. Peter’s River, ete., Vol. II, p. 25.
§ Morton (Thomas), New English Canaan, p. 98, Amsterdam, 1637.

108 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

not so easily settled. Colhoun regards it, and probably correctly, as iden-
tical with Lake Ontario, while other writers (among them Marcy) have ap-
plied this reference to Lake Champlain.* The context states that this lake is
three hundred miles west of Massachusetts Bay, and that it may be reached
by the Hudson River, while it is also given as the source of the Potomac.t
The extreme northeastern limit of the former range of the buffalo seems
to have been, as above stated, in Western New York, near the eastern end
of Lake Erie. That it probably ranged thus far there is fair evidence. As
also already noticed, buffaloes may at times have passed over to the eastern
slope of the Alleghanies, since near Lewisburg, Union County, is a stream
still bearing the name of Buffalo Creek; but the accounts of the explora-
tion and early settlement of this region make no mention of its occurrence
there at the time it was first visited by Europeans. The earliest evidence
of their former existence in this region is afforded by a map published by
Forster, in 1771, accompanying the English translation of Peter Kalm’s
travels. On this map a marsh called “Buffalo Swamp” is indicated as situ:
ated between the Alleghany River and the’ West Branch of the Susque-
hanna, near the heads of the Licking and Toby’s Creeks (apparently the
streams now called Oil Creek and Clarion Creek). The most explicit tes-
timony, however, is that furnished by Mr. Ashe,t who has given an account

* Marcy (R. B.) says, “ Formerly buffaloes were found in countless herds over almost the entire north-
ern continent of America, from the 28th to the 50th degree of north latitude, and from the shores of Lake
Champlain to the Rocky Mountains,” and cites this passage from Morton in proof of its existence around
Lake Champlain. — Exploration of the Red River of Louisiana, pp. 1038, 104, 1853.

+ “And from this Lake Southwards, trends that goodly River called of the Natives Patomack, which
lischardgeth herselfe in the parts of Virginea, from whence it is navigable by shipping of great Burthen up
to the Falls (which lieth in 41. Degrees, and a halfe of North latitude:) and from the Lake downe to the
Falls by a faire current.” He adds: “It is well knowne, they [the Dutch] aime at that place, and have a
possibility to attaine unto the end of thier desires therein, by meanes, if the River of Mohegan, which of
the English is named Hudsons River (where the Dutch have settled: to well fortified plantations already.
.... The Salvages make report of 3 great Rivers that issue out of this Lake, 2 of which are to us knowne,

the one to be Patomack, the other Canada, and why may not the third be found there likewise, which they

describe to trend westward, whichis conceaved to discharge herselfe into the South Sea [probably a refer-
ence to the Mississippi].” — New English Canaan, p. 99; Force’s Hist. Tracts, Vol. H, No. 5, p. 67.

+ Mr. Ashe speaks of the fondness “all the animals of those parts” have for salt, and of their resorting
in large numbers to “ Onondargo” Lake to drink of its brackish waters, and adds that the best roads to
ths lake were the “ buffalo tracks; so called from having been observed to be made by the buffaloes in
their annual visitations to the lake from their pasture-grounds; and though this is a distance of above
two hundred miles, the best surveyor could not have chosen a more direct course, or firmer or better
ground.” The region about Onondaga Lake was thoroughly explored as early as 1670, and settlements

were made and a fort erected before 1705. Prior to 1738, lines of communication had been established

ee Mit

|

THE AMERICAN BISONS. doo

not only of their former abundance here, but of their extirpation. The
following circumstantial account of their former abundance in this region,
and their sudden extermination upon the arrival of the first white settlers,
was obtained by him from one of the participants in the work of destruc-
tion. “An old man,” says Mr. Ashe, “one of the first settlers in this countr :

_ built his log-house on the immediate borders of a salt spring. He informed

me that for the first several seasons the buffaloes paid him their visits with
the utmost regularity; they travelled in single files, always following each
other at equal distances, forming droves, on their arrival, of about three hun-
dred each. The first and second years, so unacquainted were these poor
brutes with the use of this man’s house, or with his nature, that in a few
hours they rubbed the house completely down; taking delight in turning the
logs off with their horns, while he had some difficulty to escape from being
trampled under their feet, or crushed to death in his own ruins. At that
period he supposed there could not have been less than two thousand in the
neighborhood of the spring. They sought for no manner of food, but only
bathed and drank three or four times a day, and rolled in the earth, or
reposed, with their flanks distended, in the adjacent shades; and on the fifth
and sixth days separated into distinct droves, bathed, drank, and departed in
single files, according to the exact order of their arrival. They all rolled
successively in the same hole, and each thus carried away a coat of mud to
preserve the moisture on their skin, and which, when hardened and baked
in the sun, would resist stings of millions of insects, that otherwise would
persecute these peaceful travellers to madness or even death.

“Jn the first and second years this old man, with some companions, killed
from six to seven hundred of these noble creatures, merely for the sake of
their skins, which to them were worth only two shillings each; and after
this ‘work of death’ they were obliged to leave the place till the following
season, or till the wolves, bears, panthers, eagles, rooks, ravens, etc., had
devoured the carcasses, and abandoned the place for other prey. In the
two following years, the same persons killed great numbers out of the first
droves that arrived, skinned them, and left their bodies exposed to the sun
and air; but they soon had reason to repent of this, for the remaining
droves, as they came up in succession, stopped, gazed on the mangled and
putrid bodies, sorrowfully moaned or furiously lowed aloud, and ‘returned
between both the Susquehanna and Alleghany Rivers, but not a buffalo is mentioned as having been
met with anywhere in the Onondaga region. Hence Mr. Ashe was undoubtedly misinformed in respect

to the trail to Onondaga Lake having been made by buffaloes.

110 THE AMERICAN BISONS.
instantly to the wilderness in an unusual run, without tasting their favorite
spring, or licking the impregnated earth, which was also once their most
agreeable occupation; nor did they, nor any of their race, ever revisit the
neighborhood.

“The simple history of this spring,” he adds, “is that of every other in
the settled parts of this Western world; the carnage of beasts was. every-
where the same; I met with a man who had killed two thousand buffaloes

with his own hand; and others, no doubt, have done the same. In conse-

quence of such proceedings, not one buffalo is at this time [in 1806] to |

be found east of the Mississippi, except a few, domesticated by the curious,
or carried through the country on a public show.” *

Warden also refers to the former existence of buffaloes in the western
part of Pennsylvania, and to their early extinction there and in Kentucky.
Gallatin says: “The name of Buffalo Creek, between Pittsburg and Wheel-
ing, proves that they had spread thus far eastwardly when that country
was first visited by the Anglo-Americans.”$ Further to the southward, in
West Virginia, in the valleys of the Kanawha and its tributaries, as well as
thence westward, the former abundance of the buffalo is well attested.

One of the earliest references to the existence of the buffalo in West
Virginia is that contained in the journal of the Rev. Daniel Jones, who in
1772 made a journey to the Indian tribes west of the Ohio River. Under
date of June 18, 1772, he writes: “Went out to view the land on east side
[of the Little Kanawha] to kill provisions. Mr. Owens killed several
deer and a stately buffalo bull. The country is here level, and the soil not
despicable.Ӥ In speaking of that part of the valley of the Ohio near the
mouth of the “Great Guiandot,” he says, under date of January, 1773:
“In this part of the country even in this season, pasturage is so good
that creatures are well supplied without any assistance. Here are great
abundance of buffalo, which are a species of cattle, as some suppose, left
here by former inhabitants.” In describing the country about Wheeling
(“Weeling”), he says: “The wild beasts met with here are bears, wolves,
panthers, wild cats, foxes, raccoons, beavers, otters, and some few squirrels
and rabbits; buffaloes, deer, and elks, called by the Delawares moos.” ||

* Ashe (Thomas), Travels in America, performed in 1806, for the purpose of exploring the Rivers Alle-

ghany, Monongahela, Ohio, and Mississippi, etc. pp. 47-49. London, 1808.
{ Warden (D. B.), Statistical, Political and Historical Account of the United States, Vol. I, p. 250.
} Trans. Am. Ethnol. Soc., Vol. II, p. 1.
§ Jounal of Two Visits, ete., p. 17.

|| Ibid., pp. 30, 84.

_Snaeaemenrernnettanesiionsaset

ny

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 111

Buffaloes are well-known to have existed on the Monongahela,* and
throughout the region between this river and the Ohio, over the area
drained by the Little Kanawha, Buffalo, Fishing, Wheeling, and other
small tributaries of the Ohio, where is said to have been much interval or
open land,t and and thence southward to the Great Kanawha. As already
noticed, there is abundant evidence of its former existence on the sources
of the Kanawha, extending even to the head of the Greenbrier River, in
Pocahontas County, and thence eastward, at times at least, over the sources
of the James.

Gallatin states that in his time (1784-1785) “they were abundant on
the southern side of the Ohio, between the Great and Little Kenawha. -I
have,” he adds, “during eight months lived principally upon their flesh.” t
The following additional testimony, contained in a letter written by
Dr. Charles: McCormick, dated “Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation, August
18, 1844,” is furnished by Dr. Elliott Coues. Dr. McCormick says: “I have
just seen Captain [Nathan] Boone, and he promises to write and tell you
all about it. In the mean time, he says, he killed his first buffalo some-
where about 1793, on the Kenawha in Virginia. He was then quite a
small boy. He has also killed buffalo on New River, and near the Big
Sandy in Virginia, in 97 and °98.” §

Ample evidence of the former existence of the buffalo in Northern Ohio
has already been given; it seems to have been also found abundantly in
other parts of the State. Colonel John May met with it on the Muskingum
in 1788,|| and Atwater says, “we had once the bison and the elk in vast
numbers all over Ohio.” ] Hutchins says that in the natural meadows or
savannahs, “from twenty to fifty miles in circuit,” situated northwestward
of the Ohio River, from the mouth of the Kanawha far down the Ohio,
the herds of buffalo and deer were innumerable, and also mentions their
abundance over the region drained by the Scioto.** Its former occur-
rence over considerable portions of Kentucky is also most abundantly sub-

* Trans. Amer. Antig. Soc., Vol. II, pp. 189, 140, footnote.

t Hutchins (Thomas), Topog. Descrip. of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, comprehending
the Rivers Ohio, Kanawha, Scioto, Cherokee, Wabash, Illinois, Mississippi, etc. (London, 1778), p. 4,

$ Trans. Am. Ethnol. Soc., Vol. I, po.

§ Amer. Naturalist, Vol. V, p. 720.

| Journal and Letters of Colonel John May of Boston, ete., Hist. and Phil. Soc. of Ohio, New Series,
Vol. I, pp. 81, 83.

‘] Atwater (Caleb), History of the State of Ohio, Natural and Civil, 1838, p- 67.
** Topo. Descrip. of Virginia, Pennsylvania, ete., pp. 11-15,

112 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

stantiated, as the subjoimed extracts from reliable authorities sufficiently
attest.

M‘Clung, in his sketch of Simon Kenton, “taken from a manuscript ac-
count, dictated by the venerable pioneer himself,” relates the following:
“Kenton, with two companions, set out from Cabin Creek, a few miles
above Maysville, apparently about 1773 and 1774, to explore the neigh-
boring country. In a short time they reached the vicinity of May’s Lick,
where they fell in with the great buffalo trace, which in a few hours brought
them to the Lower Blue Lick. The flats upon each side of the river were
crowded with immense herds of buffalo, that had come down from the in-
terior for the sake of salt; and a number of elk were seen upon the bare
ridges which surround the springs. ... . After remaining a few days at
the lick, and killing an immense number of deer and buffalo, they crossed
the Licking, and passed through the present counties of Scott, Fayette, Wood-
ford, Clarke, Montgomery, and Bath, where, falling in with another buffalo
trace, it conducted them to the Upper Blue Lick, where they again beheld
elk and buffalo in immense numbers.” *

In an account of the adventures of Colonel Daniel Boone, published by
Filson, Boone states that he left his “family and peaceable habitation on
the Yadkin River, in North Carolina, the 1st of May, 1769, to wander
through the wilderness of America, in quest of the country of Kentucke.”
Crossing the “mountain wilderness,” he and his five companions found
themselves on Red River, on the seventh of June following. Here they
encamped and began to reconnoitre the country. Boone writes: “We
found every where abundance of wild beasts of all sorts, through this
vast forest. The buffaloes were more frequent than I have seen cattle in
the settlements, browzing on the leaves of the cane, or croping the herb-
age on those extensive plains, fearless, because ignorant, of the violence
of man. Sometimes we saw hundreds in a drove, and the numbers about
the salt springs were amazing.” + During the severe winter of 1780 and
1781, Boone says that the inhabitants of Kentucky “lived chiefly on the
flesh of the buffalo.”

Filson says (writing in 1784): “I have heard a hunter assert, he saw above
one thousand buffaloes at the Blue Licks at once; so numerous were they
before the first settlers had wantonly sported away their lives. There still

* Western Adventures, p. 86.
+ Filson (John), Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucky, 1784, pp. 50, 51.

a mm

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 113

remain a great number in the exterior parts of the settlement.” * Again he
says, after describing the salt licks of Kentucky: “To these [the licks] the
cattle repair, and reduce high hills rather to valleys than plains. The amaz-
ing herds of Buffaloes which resort thither, by their size and number, fill the
traveller with amazement and terror, especially when he beholds the pro-
digious roads they have made from all quarters, as if leading to some popu-
lous city; the vast space of land around these springs desolated as if by a
ravaging enemy, and hills reduced to plains; for the land near these springs
is chiefly hilly.” ¢

Cuming, in describing the salt licks along the Licking and Ohio Rivers,
thus refers to the former abundance of the buffalo at these localities: “These
licks were much frequented by buffaloes and deer, the former of which have
been destroyed or terrified from the country. It is only fourteen or fifteen
years since no other except buffalo or bear meat was used by the inhabitants

b

of this country.” He was informed by Captain Waller that “buffaloes, bears,
and deer were so plenty in the country, even long after it began to be gen-
erally settled, and ceased to be frequented as a hunting-ground by the
Indians, that little or no bread was used, but that even the children were fed
on game, the facility of gaining which prevented the progress of agriculture,
until the poor innocent buffaloes were completely extirpated and other wild
animals much thinned; and that the principal part of the cultivation of Ken-
tucky had been within the last fifteen years. He said the buffaloes had been
so numerous, going in herds of several hundreds together, that, about the
salt licks and springs they frequented, they pressed down and destroyed the
soil to a depth of three or four feet, as was conspicuous yet in the neighbor-
hood of the Blue Lick, where all the old trees have their roots bare of soil to
that depth.” ¢

Other references to the abundance of the buffalo in Kentucky, at the time
this region was first visited by the white settlers, might be given, but those
above cited seem sufficient for the present occasion.

The buffalo seems also to have existed in considerable numbers in portions
of Tennessee, particularly about the salt springs on the Cumberland River,

_as shown by Putnam’s “History of Middle Tennessee.” § This author gives

* Filson (John), Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucky, 1784, pp. 27, 28.
i Ubid, pp: 32, 33.
t Cuming (John), Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country, etc., 1810, pp. 155, 156.

§ Counties Davidson, Summer, Robertson, and Montgomery.

114 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

extracts from the journal of John Donelson, respecting a voyage made by
him from Fort Patrick Henry, on the Holston River to the French Salt
Springs on the Cumberland River, in December, 1780. Donelson says that
he “procured some buffalo meat on the Cumberland, near its mouth,” and
two days further up this river, he says, “ We killed some more buffalo.” The
next day, he writes: “We are now without bread, and are compelled to hunt
the buffalo to preserve life.”* Subsequently, in speaking of the salt or sul-
phur springs on the Cumberland, apparently near the present site of Nash-
ville, we find the following passages: “The open space around and near the
sulphur or salt springs, instead of being an ‘old field,’ as had been supposed
by Mr. Mausker, at his visit here in 1769, was thus freed from trees and
underbrush by the innumerable herds of buffalo and deer and elk that came
to these waters... . Trails, or buffalo paths, were deeply worn in the
earth from this to other springs. . . . . All the rich lands were covered with
cane-brakes; through these there were paths made by the buffalo and other
wild animals.” +
Ramsey states that in 1769 and 1770 an exploring party of ten persons
passed up the Cumberland, and that “where Nashville now stands they dis-
covered the French Lick, and found around it immense numbers of buffalo
and other wild game. The country was crowded with them. Their bellow-
ings sounded from the hills and forest.” $ According to the same authority,
the buffalo was at one time also numerous in the valleys of East Tennessee.
He states that in 1764 Daniel Boone left his home on the Yadkin to explore,
in company with others, the then unknown country to the westward. “Cal-
laway,” says Ramsey, “was at the side of Boone when, approaching the spurs
of the Cumberland Mountain, and in view of the vast herds of buffalo grazing
in the valleys between them, he exclaimed: ‘I am richer than the man men-
tioned in Scripture, who owned the cattle on a thousand hills, —I own the
wild beasts of more than a thousand valleys!’”§ Whether or not the buffalo
ranged formerly to the Tennessee River, I have been unable to determine,
although, as already noticed, there is pretty good evidence that it did not
extend beyond this boundary. The existence of a stream named Buffalo
River, near the Great Bend of the Tennessee, seems to render it probable

that it extended nearly or quite to the Tennessee itself. Gallatin gives the

* Putnam’s Middle Tennessee, pp. 74, 75.

+ Ibid., p. 81.

t{ The Annals of emnesses, to the End of the Eighteenth Century, etc., p. 105.
§ Ibid., p. 69.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 115

range of the buffalo east of the Mississippi as being “between the Lakes and
the Tennessee River” ;* but he also says that it formerly ascended the Val-
ley of the Tennessee “to its sources,” and adds: “They were but rarely
seen south of the ridge which separates that river from the sources of those
which empty into the Gulf of Mexico, and nowhere, in the forest country,
in herds of more than from fifty to two hundred.’+ I have found, how-
ever, no positive reference to their being found anywhere south of the
Tennessee. :

As previously stated, the range of the buffalo east of the Mississippi, with
the exception of its occasional appearance on the eastern slope of the Al
leghanies in North and South Carolina, on the head-waters of the James
River in Virginia, and possibly in Union County, Pennsylvania, was restricted
to the area drained by the Ohio and Illinois Rivers and their tributaries, and
the lesser eastern tributaries of the Mississippi in Northern Wisconsin and
Minnesota. It was also absent from the lowlands of the lower portion of
the Ohio River. The foregoing citations, however, show it to have been
originally very numerous and uniformly distributed over the prairies of Ili-
nois and Indiana, and also throughout the country immediately bordering
the Ohio and its upper tributaries, as the Licking, Great and Little Kanawha,
and the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers. It seems to have been some-
what less uniformly and less numerously dispersed over the States of Ohio,
the western parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and the north-
ern parts of Tennessee, although it regularly frequented portions of each of
these States, and was probably more or less abundant throughout the open
woods and “Barrens” of the two last named. Its range was hence restricted
to the prairies, the scantily wooded districts, and the narrow belts of open
land along the streams. +

* Transactions Amer. Ethnological Society, Vol. I, p. 1.

+ Transactions Amer. Antiquarian Society, Vol. II, p. 139.

{ The area of wooded and woodless territory is thus given by Gallatin: As is well known, the whole
Atlantic slope “was covered with a dense and uninterrupted forest when the European settlers landed in
America”; and the country south of the 40th parallel, excepting “the Barrens” of Kentucky, westward to
the Mississippi Valley, and north of the Great Lakes as far west as Winnipeg, was similarly forested.
Between the 40th parallel and Lake Erie there were areas destitute of wood, or prairies, which increased
in size westward, till in Central and Northern Illinois they equalled the timbered areas, while west of the
Mississippi the forests were confined to narrow belts along the rivers. — Trans. Amer. Antig. Soc., Vol.
II, pp. 137, 138, 1836.

In respect to the former distribution of forests in the United States, see also Professor W. H. Brew-
er’s map of the distribution of woodland recently published in General Francis A. Walker’s “ Statistical
Atlas of the United States,” Plates HI and 1V (1873).

116 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Its Extirpation. — Upon the establishment of the first permanent white set-
tlements over this region, the extermination of the buffalo progressed with
wonderful rapidity. Its history is a shameful record of wasteful and wanton
destruction of life, like that which ever marks ‘the contact of man with the
larger mammalia. The extermination of the buffalo in Western Pennsyl-
vania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, was very rapid, this
animal surviving at most points for but a few years after the first permanent
settlements were made. In Illinois and Indiana it existed for about a cen-
tury and a quarter after the country was first explored by the Jesuit mis-
sionaries, and for more than half a century seems to have scarcely diminished
in numbers. As late as 1773 it was abundant on both sides of the Kaskaskia
River, and also along the Illinois, and apparently over all the prairies of the
intermediate region.* Later its extermination was more rapid, its disap-
pearance here apparently antedating by several years its extirpation along
the upper tributaries of the Ohio. The date of its disappearance from Illi-
nois and Indiana, however, I can give less definitely than that of its exter-
mination at points more to the eastward. In Pennsylvania, according to
Mr. Ashe, they were all destroyed within a few years after the arrival of the
first settlers, being apparently wholly exterminated prior to the year 1800.
It lingered in West Virginia till a few years later, as it did also in portions
of Kentucky. Toulmin, writing about 1792, says, “The buffalo are mostly
driven out of Kentucky. Some are still found upon the head-waters of
Licking Creek, Great Sandy, and the head-waters of Green River.” + It ap-
pears, according to Audubon, to have lingered here, however, only a few
years longer. “In the days of our boyhood and youth,” says this author,
“buffaloes roamed over the small and beautiful prairies of Indiana and Il
nois, and herds of them stalked through the open woods of Kentucky and
Tennessee ; but they had dwindled down to a few stragglers, which resorted
chiefly to the ‘Barrens, towards the years 1808 and 1809, and soon after
entirely disappeared.’ $ Cuming adds that all had been driven from the
salt licks of the Licking and Ohio Rivers before 1807, while Mr. Ashe,§ an
apparently reliable authority, affirms that as early as 1806 not one was to

* See Kennedy’s Journal of an Expedition from Kaskaskia Village to the Head-waters of the Illinois
River, in Hutchins’s Topos. Desorip. of Virginia, Pennsylvania, etc., pp. 51-64; also Hutchins’s Topog.

Descrip., ete., pp. 85, 41, 44.

¢ Toulmin (Henry), Description of Kentucky, p. 85.
t Quadrupeds of North America, Vol. I, p. 36.
§ Travelsin America, etc., p. 49.

i
|

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 41g

be found in a wild state east of the Mississippi, referring, doubtless, to the
Mississippi below. latitude 41°. Brackenridge,* in 1814, says the buffalo
may be said to have retired to the northward of the Illinois, and to the west-
ward of the Mississippi, and other writers confirm this statement.t

Schoolcraft, writing in 1821, says that “the only part of the country east
of the [Mississippi] river where the buffalo now remains, is that included
between the Falls of St. Anthony and Sandy Lake, a range of about six
hundred miles.” Sibley says that “two individuals were killed in 1832
by the Dacotahs or Sioux Indians, on the Trempe a lEau [Trempeleau]
River, in Upper Wisconsin,” and adds, “They are believed to be the last
specimens of the noble bison, which trod, or will ever again tread, the soil
of the region lying east of the Mississippi River.” ¢

Most writers, in alluding to the extirpation of the buffalo throughout
the region east of the Mississippi River, speak of it as having been “driven
out” by the encroachment of settlements.§ While a few of the herds may
have migrated westward, it seems more probable that it was exterminated
rather than driven ou, as it appears to have existed in West Virginia and

* Views of Louisiana, p. 56.

t Ellsworth states, in his “Notes on the Wild Animals of Illinois,” published in 1831, that “the buffalo has
entirely left us. Before the country was settled, our immense prairies afforded pasturage to large herds of
this animal and the traces of them are still remaining in the ‘ buffalo paths’ which are to be seen in sev-
eral parts of the State. These are well-beaten tracks, leading generally from the prairies in the interior
of the State to the margins of the large rivers; showing the course of their migrations as they changed their
pastures periodically, from the low marshy alluvion to the dry upland plains. In the heat of summer they
would be driven from the latter by prairie flies; in the autumn they would be expelled from the former by
the mosquitoes; in the spring, the grass of the plains would afford abundant pasturage, while the herds
could enjoy the warmth of the sun, and snuff the breeze that sweeps so freely over them; in the winter
the rich cane of the river banks, which is evergreen, would furnish food, while the low grounds thickly
covered with brush and forest would afford protection from the bleak winds.” — ELusworts (H. L.), Jli-
nois in 1837, p. 38.. (First published in the Illinois Magazine, July, 1831, and republished in Featherston-
haugh’s Monthly American Journal of Geolory and Natural Science October, 1831, p. 180.)

t Sibley CHI. H.) in Schooleraft’s History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes, Part IV, p. 94.
Major Long states that in 1822 its wanderings down the St. Peter’s River did not extend beyond Great
Swan Lake (Camp Crescent). — Exped. to the Sources of the St. Peter’s River, ete., Vol. HU, p. 29.

§ Even scientific writers speak of it as having “ oradually retired westward in advance of the migrating
column of the white race of man.” — Lerpy, Mem. Ext. Sp. Amer. Ox, 1852.

“At the time of the discovery by the Spaniards, an inhabitant even down to the shores of the Atlantic,
it has been beaten back by the westward march of civilization, until, at the present day, it is only after
passing the giant Missouri and the head-waters of the Mississippi that we find the American bison or buf-
falo. Many causes have combined to drive them away from their old haunts: the wholesale and indis-

criminate slaughter by the whites, the extension of settlements, the changes of the face of the country; but

above all, the mysterious dread of the white man, which pervades animal life in general as a congenital
Barrp, Pat. Of: Rep., Agricult., 1851-52, Part II, p. 124.

instinct.”

118 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

in Eastern Kentucky to quite as late, or even to a later period, than on
the prairies adjoining the Mississippi. The extension of settlements down
the Mississippi River would tend to hem the buffalo in on that quarter,
and, as will be shown later, it disappeared at nearly the same time over a
considerable breadth of country bordering the western shore of this river.

Schoolcraft says that the buffalo “was found in early days to have
crossed the Mississippi above the latitude of the mouth of the Ohio, and
at certain times to have thronged the present area of Kentucky,” etc. ;
from which it may be inferred that he deemed its presence east of the
Mississippi River to have been of comparatively brief continuance. Gal-
latin also always speaks of it as having “spread from the westward” over
the region east of the Mississippi. Professor Shaler has referred to the prob-
ability of its having been unknown to the mound-builders,* since they have
left nothing indicating that they were acquainted with it, which is not the
case with most of the other large mammals of the interior of the continent.f
He also states that in his exploration of the salt licks of Kentucky he had
found its bones in great abundance “just below the recent mould, in a bed
about eighteen inches thick”; but that “ in the rich deposits of extinct mam-
mals just beneath, immediately above which traces of worked flint were also

found, no buffalo bones were discovered.” *

THe FORMER RANGE OF THE BUFFALO WEST OF THE RocKY MounrtvaAINS.

The vast region situated between the Mississippi River and the Rocky
Mountains, excepting the lowlands bordering the Lower Mississippi, is well
known to have been formerly embraced within the range of the buffalo. So
well established is this fact that a special consideration of this region will be
deferred till the former boundaries of its range to the westward and south-
ward have been traced.

Although the main chain of the Rocky Mountains has commonly been
supposed to form the western limit of the range of the buffalo, there is
abundant proof of its former existence over a vast area west of this sup-
posed boundary, including a large part of the so-called Great Basin of Utah,
the Green River Plateau, and the Plains of the Columbia. It is probably
not yet half a century since it ranged westward to the Blue Mountains of

Oregon and the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.

* Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. XIII, p. 136.
+ See further Professor Shaler’s note oa this point in the Appendix.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 119

Respecting its former occurrence in Eastern Oregon, Professor O. C.
Marsh, under date of New Haven, February 7, 1875, writes me as follows:
“The most western point at which I have myself observed remains of the
buffalo was in 1873, on Willow Creek, Eastern Oregon, among the foot-
hills of the eastern side of the Blue Mountains. This is about latitude 44°.
The bones were perfectly characteristic, although nearly decomposed.”

The former existence of the buffalo in the Great Salt Lake Valley is es-
tablished by the occurrence of its remains there, in a still good state of
preservation, as well as by the testimony of those who have seen them
there. Along the railroad leading from Ogden City to Salt Lake City I
examined, in September, 1871, numbers of skulls in a nearly perfect state
of preservation, which had been exposed in throwing up the road-bed across
the marshes, a few miles north of Salt Lake City. I also saw a few on the
terraces north and west of Ogden City, but generally in a disintegrated con-
dition, as were all that I saw which had not been buried in the recent deposits
about the Great Salt Lake. Iwas also informed that there is a tradition
among the Indians of this region that the buffaloes were almost entirely
exterminated by deep snows many years since. Mr. E. D. Mecham, of
North Ogden, a reliable and intelligent hunter and trapper of nearly forty
years’ experience in the Rocky Mountains, and at one time a partner of
the celebrated Joseph Bridger, informed me that few had been seen west
of the great Wahsatch range of mountains for the last thirty years, but
that he had seen their weathered skulls as far west as the Sierra Nevada
Mountains.* In 1836, according to Mr. Mecham, there were many buffaloes
in Salt Lake Valley, which were nearly all destroyed by deep snow about
1837, when, according to the reports of mountaineers and Indians, the snow
fell to the depth of ten feet on a level. The few buffaloes that escaped
starvation during this severe winter are said to have soon after disappeared.
Mr. Henry Gannet, astronomer of Dr. Hayden’s Survey, informs me that
the Mormon Danite, “ Bill” Hickman, claims to have killed the last buffa-
loes in Salt Lake Valley about 1838. How long the buffalo inhabited the
Basin of the Great Salt Lake, it is of course now impossible to determine,

but it seems probable that their occupation must date back to a remote

* I was informed by several persons, whom I met in the Salt’ Lake Valley, that they had seen skulls
of buffaloes as far west as the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. These persons were un-

known to each other, and their accounts were wholly distinct in respect to date and locality, and hence

seem all the more entitled to credence.

120 ae AMERICAN BISONS.

period, since their skulls occur wholly buried in the marshes about the
lake, where the deposition appears to have been quite slow. I am also
informed by Mr. H. W. Henshaw, the well-known ornithologist of Lieuten-
ant Wheeler’s Survey, that their skulls have been found in Utah Lake.
Mr. Henshaw, under date of eek D. C., March 6, 1875, writes as
follows : —

“The only information I have regarding its [the buffalo’s] presence in Utah
was derived from Mr. Madsen, a Danish fisherman, living on the borders of
Utah Lake; and, I may add, I am perfectly convinced of the trustworthi-
ness of his statement. In using the seine in the waters of the lake, he has
on several occasions brought up from the bottom the skulls of buffaloes, in a
very good state of preservation. Their presence in the lake may perhaps
be accounted for on the supposition that, in crossing on the ice, a herd may
at some time have broken through, and thus perished. From him I also
learned that he had talked with Indians of middle age whose fathers had
told them that in their time the buffaloes were numerous, and that they had
hunted them near the lake. If this can be accepted as truth, it would place
the existence of these animals in Utah back to a not very distant date. I
learn from my friend, W. W. Howell, that during the past season he obtained
the cranium of a buffalo, which was unearthed by some laborers while dig-
ging a mill-race, at a depth of ten feet below the surface. This was in a
broad cation near Gunnison. While, from the fact of its being in a caiion, no
very exact estimate can be made of the time of its deposit, there seemed
every evidence that the soil above it had remained undisturbed for a long
time. The lower portion of the cranium is gone, leaving the part above the
orbits, and the horn-cores, intact and in an excellent state of preservation.
A comparison of this with a recent specimen of the B. americanus shows that
in certain characters it exhibits an approach to the Bison /atifrons, as described
by Leidy. In size it varies little from the B. americanus, but in all other
characteristics is much nearer the B. dutifrons.” *

The buffalo seems, however, to have lingered later on the head-waters of
the Colorado than in either the Great Salt Lake Valley, or the valley of Bear
River, or on the head-waters of the two main forks of the Columbia. Fré-
mont found them on St. Vrain’s Fork of Green River, and on the Vermilion
in 1844,f and Stansbury, in 1849, found them on the northern tributaries of

* Tts agreement in size with Bison americanus is sufficient to indicate its identity with that species.

+ First and Second Expeditions, etc., p. 281.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 121

the Yampah, and the upper tributaries of Green River; but the scarcity of
water seemed to have forced the greater part of them southward. Respect-
ing their occurrence near Bridger’s Fork of the Muddy, Stansbury says:
“ As long as the water lasted, the whole plain must have been covered with
buffalo and antelope, as the profusion of ‘sign’ abundantly proved; but as
this indispensable article was absorbed by the sandy soil, they seemed, from
the direction of their trails, to have struck a course for the Vermilion.” *

They have, however, long since disappeared from the head-waters of Green
River, and, indeed, from all the country drained by the tributaries of ‘the
Colorado. Although their bleached: skulls are still found throughout the
valleys, I was informed by old hunters whom I saw there in the autumn of
1871, that no buffaloes had been seen in this region for more than twenty
years.

The best account of their range in recent times, west of the Rocky Moun-
tains, and of their extermination over this vast region, is that given by Fré-
mont, based on his own extensive travels and on the still more extended
experience of Mr. Fitzpatrick. Frémont states that in the spring of 1824
“the buffalo were spread in immense numbers over the Green River and
Bear River Valleys, and through all the country lying between the Colorado,
or Green River of the Gulf of California, and Lewis’s Fork of the Columbia
River; the meridian of Fort Hall then forming the western limit of their
range. The buffalo then remained for many years in that country, and fre-
quently moved down the Valley of the Columbia, on both sides of the river,
as far as the /ishing Falls. Below this point they never descended in any
numbers.t About 1834 or 1835 they began to diminish very rapidly, and
continued to decrease until 1838 or 1840, when, with the country we have
just described, they entirely abandoned all the waters of the Pacific north
of Lewis’s Fork of the Columbia. At that time the Flathead Indians were
in the habit of finding their buffalo on the heads of Salmon River and other
streams of the Columbia, but now [1848] they never meet with them farther
west than the three forks of the Missouri or the plains of the Yellowstone
River.

“In the course of our journey it will be remarked that the buffalo have
not so entirely abandoned the waters of the Pacific, in the Rocky Mountain

* Stansbury’s Expedition to the Great Salt Lake, p. 238.
+ The locality at which Professor Marsh found the crumbling bones of the buffalo is some two hundred

and fifty miles further northwest, or lower down the river. See antea, p. 119.

.

122 THE AMERICAN BISONS. |

region south of the Sweet Water, as in the country north of the Great Pass.
This partial distribution can only be accounted for in the great pastoral
beauty of that country, which bears marks of having long been one of their
| favorite haunts, and by the fact that the white hunters have more frequented
/ the northern than the southern region, — it being north of the South Pass
that the hunters, trappers, and traders have had their rendezvous for many
years past; and from that section also the greater portion of the beaver and
rich furs were taken, although always the most dangerous, as well as the
most profitable, hunting-ground.
“In that region lying between the Green or Colorado River and the head-
waters of the Rio del Norte, over the Yampak, Kooyah, White, and Grand Rivers,
— all of which are the waters of the Colorado, — the buffalo never extended
so far westward as they did on the waters of the Columbia; and only in one
or two instances have they been known to descend as far west as the mouth
of White River. In travelling through the country west of the Rocky Moun-
tains, observation readily led me to the impression that the buffalo had for

the first time crossed that range to the waters of the Pacific only a few years
prior to the period we are considering; and in this opinion I am sustained
by Mr. Fitzpatrick, and the older trappers in that country. In the region
west of the Rocky Mountains we never meet with any ancient vestiges
which, throughout all the country lying upon their eastern waters, are found
in the great lighways, continuous for hundreds of miles, always several
inches and sometimes several feet in depth, which the buffalo have made
in crossing from one river to another, or in traversing the mountain ranges.
The Snake Indians, more particularly those low down upon Lewis's Fork,
have always been very grateful to the American trappers for the great kind-
ness (as they frequently expressed it) which they did to them in driving the
buffalo so low down the Columbia River.” *

It would thus seem to be Frémont’s belief that their occupation of the
Snake River country was temporary, and that they did not pass west of the
mountains till driven thither, at a comparatively recent period, by persecu-

‘tion east of the mountains. That they were absent from this region not
long previously appears evident from the fact that Lewis and Clarke, in
1805, met with no buffaloes west of the mountains, nor even on the upper
portion of the three forks of the Missouri, although there was evidence of

* Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, in the year 1842, and to Oregon and
California, in the years 1843-44, p. 144.

on neem

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 123

their former existence in immense herds on the Jefferson Fork. In their
enumeration of the animals of the Pacific slope these travellers make no
allusion to the buffalo. They also state that the Indians on Clarke’s River
crossed the mountains in spring to traffic for buffalo robes with the Indians
of the eastern slope.*

In 1820 Major Long also states: “They have not yet crossed the entire
breadth of the mountains at the head of the Missouri, though they penetrate,
in some parts, far within that range, to the most accessible fertile valleys,
particularly the valley of Lewis’s River. It was there that Mr. Henry and
his party of hunters wintered, and subsisted chiefly upon the flesh of these
animals, which they saw in considerable herds, but the Indians affirmed that
it was unusual for the bisons to visit that neighborhood.” This would seem
to fix the date of their arrival at the head-waters of the Columbia between
1805, when Lewis and Clarke visited them, and Mr. Henry’s visit, about
1617.

From Washington Irving’s entertaining narrative of Captain Bonneville’s
tour across the continent f we learn that Captain Bonneville first met with
the buffalo west of the Rocky Mountains on the head-waters of Bear River,
in November, 1833.{ Passing thence northward, they found these animals
in abundance on the plains of Portneuf, where the Bannack Indians were
engaged in hunting them.§ But in his subsequent long winter march up
the Snake River, no buffaloes appear to have been met with. Returning,
however, to Bear River Valley, he again encountered large herds. The fol-
lowing summer (July, 1834) they again found them in great numbers on the
sources of the Blackfoot River,|| but in a subsequent long journey northwest-
ward, from the Upper Snake River nearly to Fort Walla Walla and back,
they met with none, and rejoiced to find them again “in immense herds”
near their old camping-ground on an eastern tributary of the Snake River.
Captain Bonneville’s party passed the winter of 1834-35 in camp on the
upper part of Bear River, surrounded by immense herds of buffaloes, which

came down to them from the north. “The people upon Snake River,” says —

* Lewis and Clarke’s Expedition to the Sources of the Missouri, and down the Columbia to the Pacific
Ocean, Vol. I, p. 469.

+ The Rocky Mountains; or, Scenes, Incidents, and Adventures in the Far West,—a Digest of the
Journal of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville. 2 vols., 12mo, 1837.

{ Ibid., Vol: | pp. 125, 129.

§ Ibid., Vol. II, p. 33.

|| Irving’s Rocky Mountains, Vol. II, p. 179.

124 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

the narrative, “having chased off the buffalo before the snow had become
deep, immense herds now came trooping over the mountains; forming dark
masses on their sides, from which their deep-mouthed bellowing sounded
like the peals and mutterings from a gathering thunder-cloud. In effect,
the cloud broke, and down came the torrent into the valley. It is utterly
impossible, according to Captain Bonneville, to convey an idea of the effect
produced by the sight of such countless throngs of animals of such bulk and

spirit, all rushing forward as if swept on by a whirlwind.”* In the autumn

of 1835 Parker met with great herds on the east fork of the Salmon River.

and on other tributaries of the Snake River.t

Dr. J. S. Newberry, writing in 1855, says: “The range of the buffalo does
not now extend beyond the Rocky Mountains, but there are many Indian
hunters who have killed them in great numbers to the west of the moun-
tains, on the head-waters of the Salmon River, one of the tributaries of the
Columbia. While I was at the Dalles, the party of Lieutenant Day, U.S. A,
came in from an expedition to the Upper Salmon River, and I was assured
by the officers that they had not only seen Indians who claimed to have
killed buffalo there, but that, in many places, great numbers of buffalo skulls
were still lying on the prairie.” $

Dr. Suckley, writing under date of December, 1853, also says: “Buffalo
were formerly in great numbers in this valley [the valley of the Bitter Root,
or St. Mary’s River, one of the sources of Clarke’s Fork of the Columbia], as
attested by the number of skulls seen and by the reports of the inhabitants.
For a number of years past, none had been seen west of the mountains; but,
singular to relate, a buffalo bull was killed at the mouth of the Pend d’Oreille
River, on the day I passed it. The Indians were in great joy at this, sup-
posing that the buffalo were coming back to them.Ӥ Just east of the
mountains separating the sources of the Jefferson and Salmon Rivers, bufta-
loes still existed in immense numbers. Lieutenant Mullan reports meeting,
on December 4, 1853, with several bands of the Nez Percés Indians return-
ing from their hunt east of the mountains, with many animals loaded with

* Irving’s Rocky Mountains, pp. 208, 211.

+ Parker (Samuel), Journal of an Exploring Tour beyond the Rocky Mountains, pp. 88, 107, 108.

t Newberry’s Zodlogical Report of Lieutenant Abbot’s Report of Explorations for a Railroad Route
from the Sacramento Valley to the Colorado River. Pacific R. R. Explor. and Surv., Vol. VI, Zodlogical
Report, p. 72.

§ Suckley (Dr. George), Canoe Voyage from Fort Owen to Fort Vancouver. Pacific R. R. Explor. and

Surv., Vol. I, Governor Stevens’s Report, p. 297.

*

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 125

meat and furs. “This,’ he says, “has been a great hunting-season with all
the Indians, both east and west of the mountains. Hundreds of thousands
of buffalo have been slain, and small game — consisting of antelope, deer,
beaver, etc. — has been innumerable.” *

It thus appears that the buffalo formerly existed west of the Rocky Moun-
tains, nearly to the northern boundary of the United States, and that they
had become completely exterminated there as early, according to Frémont
(as above cited), as 1840, although they swarmed there in immense herds as
late as 1835. The valleys of the streams in that region are represented as
abounding in fertile prairies, and as being generally covered with perennial
grasses. As the adjoining country westward is barren and wholly unproduc-
tive of grass, it is probable that the buffalo ranged further westward only
irregularly, and in straggling bands. Bonneviile, at least, failed to meet
with any between the sources of Snake River and Fort Walla-Walla in 1834
and 1835, and no other explorer seems to have met with them living so far
west. Dr. Hayden informs me that a few still exist in the valley of the Gros
Ventres, and in the extreme upper part of the Snake River, — merely
straggling old bulls, the last survivors of former populous herds. Professor
O. C. Marsh writes me that the last one shot on Henry’s Fork was killed in
1844. Professor J. Marcou informs me that a single old buffalo bull made
his appearance at Fort Bridger last summer (1875), but that none had been
seen there before, according to Dr. Carter, for thirty years. This solitary
straggler was probably a wanderer from the remnants of his race still left in
the valleys of the Wind River Mountains.

Range westward south of the Thirty-ninth Parallel. — According to Lieutenant
Whipple, “there do not seem to be any well-authenticated accounts of the
existence of the buffalo west of the Rio Grande.” He adds: “On inquiring
how far west the buffalo had been seen, a Tegua Indian stated that many
years ago his father killed two at Santo Domingo. A Mexican from San
Juan de Caballeros added that in 1835 he saw buffalo on the Rio del Norte.”
Lieutenant Whipple further says that “Father Escalante, in a manuscript jour-
nal of a trip from New Mexico to the Great Salt Lake,t in 1776, mentioned
having seen signs of their existence on his route ;¥ still, notwithstanding the

* Mullan (Lieutenant John), Report of a Reconnaissance from Bitter Root Valley to Fort Hall, etc.,
Pacific R. R. Explorations and Surveys, Vol. I, Governor Stevens’s Report, p. 325.

+ Utah Lake, according to General G. K. Warren (see the next footnote).

t According to General G. K. Warren (Pacific R. R. Expl. and Surveys, Vol. XI, p. 35), ‘Father

Escalante, in 1776, travelled from near Santa Fé, New Mexico, in a northwesterly direction to the Great

126 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

location of the famed kingdom of Cibola by the early explorers, there do not
seem to be any well-authenticated accounts of the existence of these animals
west of the Rio Grande.”* It appears, however, that two centuries ago
these animals were not unknown to the Indians of the Gila and Zui Rivers,
who obtained their skins from the tribes living several hundred miles to the
eastward. Thus Friar Marco de Nica, in 1539, found “ ox-hides” in the pos-
session of the Indians living on the tributaries of the Gila, which they had
obtained by trading with the people of the kingdom of Cibola;+ the ancient
pueblo of Cibola being generally supposed to be near the site of the present
pueblo of Zuni, on the river of that name.t The people of Cibola at this
time not only used the skins as articles of dress, but for shields and other
purposes.

From the Yampah and Grand, and other tributaries of the Colorado, the
buffalo formerly ranged eastward to the Parks and Great Plains, but I have
found no record of their existence in the highlands of New Mexico, or any-
where to the westward or southward of Santa Fé. Coronado, during his
great expedition in search of the “Kingdom of Cibola” (1540 to 1543), in
marching northward from the western provinces of Mexico across Arizona to
the plains east of Santa Fé, met with no buffaloes till he reached a place
called Cicuic, situated on the Pecos near the site of the present town of that
name,§ “four leagues eastward from which place they met a new kind of
oxen, wild and fierce, whereof, the first day, they killed fourscore, which suf-
ficed the army with flesh.”

Dr. Elliott Coues, however, in his paper on the “ Quadrupeds of Arizona,”
published in the American Naturalist in 1868, || states that “there is abundant
evidence that the buffalo (Bos americanus) formerly ranged over Arizona,
though none exist there now.” On requesting recently more detailed in-
formation of Dr. Coues respecting this evidence, he writes] that he finds

Colorado... . . During this journey he was probably in the vicinity of Utah Lake.” This route would
take him across the range of the buffalo west of the Rocky Mountains, since, as already stated, they at
that time existed on the head-waters of the Colorado, and extended as far west as Utah Lake.

* Whipple's Itinerary, Pacific R. R. Explorations and Surveys, Vol. III, Part I, p. 35.

ft See Nica’s account of his journey as translated by Hakluyt. — Hakluyt’s Voyages, Vol. II, p. 439.

t Davis’s Spanish Conquest of New Mexico, pp. 119, 120, footnote.

§ See R. H. Kern’s Map of Coronado’s route in Schooleraft’s History, Condition, and Prospects of the
Indian Tribes of the United States, Part IV, plate ili.

|| Vol 1 p. 540.
| Under date of “ Washington, D. C., May 5, 1875.”

— BSCS EERE)

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 127

himself now unable to substantiate the statement, but adds, “I distinctly
remember being satisfied at the tame of what I said.” I have myself made
extensive inquiries of naturalists and army officers who had either passed
through Arizona or had been stationed there for a considerable length of
time without being able to elicit any corroborative evidence of Dr. Coues’s
statement.*

Extreme Southwestern Linut. — Respecting the extreme southwestern limit
of the former range of the buffalo, Keating, on the authority of Colhoun,
wrote, in 1823, as follows: “De Laét says, on the authority of Herrera, that
they grazed as far south as the banks of the Yaquimi In the same chapter
this author states that Martin Perez had, in 1591, estimated the Province
of Cinaloa, in which this river runs, to be three hundred leagues from the
city of Mexico. This river is supposed to be the same which, on Mr. Tan-
ner’s map of North America (Philadelphia, 1822), is named Hiaqui,} and
situated between the 27th and 28th degrees of north latitude. Perhaps,
however, it may be the Rio Gila, which empties itself in latitude 32°.” §

On referring to the works cited by Keating, I find that Herrera gives
the statement on the authority of Nufia de Guzman, who made a journey
to Cinaloa in 1532. According to a map accompanying De Laét’s work, the
Province of Cinaloa included the parallels of twenty-seven and twenty-eight
degrees. Herrera’s statement is as follows: “En la ribera de Yaquimi ay
algunas vacas, y muy grandes ciervos”;||—simply that many cattle and
many deer of very large size were found on the banks of the Yaquimi. In
the context, nor in any of the old writings descriptive of this region at
the time it was first visited by the Spaniards, do I find any further state-
ments that could by the freest license of translation be rendered bison or
buffalo. As the only species of the deer family found in this region is the
little Cervus mexicanus, one of the smallest deer found in North America, the
phrase muy grandes ciervos can only refer to this species, and gives at once

* Dr. W. J. Hoffman, under date of “ Reading, Penn., June 19, 1875,” writes me that he “ found no tra-
dition amongst any of the tribes in Arizona, by which we might infer that their ancestors were acquainted

with this animal. The tribes visited are located in the northern part of Arizona (Plateau del Colorado),
in the Mogollon Mts., Sierra Blanca, and along the Rio Gila and as far eastward as the Rio Colorado-

chiquito.”

+ “Juxta Yaquimi fluminis ripas tauri vacceeque et pregrandes cervi pascuntur.” — Der Lait, Americe
Utriusque Descriptio, Lugd. Batav. Anno 1633, Lib. 6. Cap. 6.” p. 286.

t The Rio Yaqui, doubtless, of modern maps.

§ Long’s Expedition to the Source of the St. Peter’s River, Vol. II, p 28.

|| Herrera (Antonio de), Historia de las Indias Occidentales, Tomo III, p. 16. (Hd. of 1728.)

128 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

sufficient evidence of the exaggerated style of the narrative, — a fault well
known to be common to the descriptive writings of those times. This ob-
scure statement does not apparently afford satisfactory ground for doubting
what historians have so generally accepted in respect to the buffalo, namely,
that it was first met with in its native haunts by Cabeca de Vaca, on the
plains of Texas, in 1530, and next by Coronado’s expedition in 1542. In
rebuttal of this supposed proof of the existence of the buffalo in Western
Mexico, on the Yaquimi or Yaqui River during the middle of the sixteenth
century, we have the rather weighty evidence that the other early Spanish
explorers who traversed this region did not even hear of the buffalo till they
reached the Gila, where they found, as before stated, its robes in the posses-
sion of the Indians, which the latter had obtained from the tribes living far
to the northeastward. In 1539, for example, Friar Marco de. Nica set out
from the town of San Miguel, in the Province of Culiacan, situated far to the
southward of the Rio Yaqui, in search of the famed Kingdom of Cibola. In
this journey he reached the Zuii River, whence he retraced his steps to San
Miguel and passed on to Compostella, situated in latitude about 21°. The
following year (1540) Coronado, with his large army, passed over nearly the
same route, both crossing the Rio Yaqui. Nica, however, saw only the pre-
pared skins of the buffalo, which was also all that Coronado saw till after he
had passed Cicuic and reached the Great Plains east of the Rocky Moun-
tains. It is from these explorers and from Cabeca de Vaca that we get the
first specific account of the buffalo. It hence follows that there is good
reason for supposing the buffalo to have been absent from the western prov-
inces of Mexico, and from that part of the United States west of the Rio
Grande del Norte from a period antedating the sixteenth century till the
present time. Why it may not during some earlier period have existed
throughout this whole region would be hard to say, since, as will be soon
shown, its existence on the Yaqui River would not carry its range south of
points the buffalo is known to have reached on the Atlantic slope.

Former RANGE SOUTH OF THE Rio GRANDE DEL NORTE.

Most writers give the southern limit of the former habitat of the buffalo as
latitude 28° to 30°, believing it never to have extended south of the Rio

Grande. There is, however, sufficient proof of its former extension over the

-—atrrneneeontaiuete etter

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 1270

northeastern provinces of Mexico, including certainly portions of the present
States of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Cohahuila, Chihuahua, and Durango. It
thus extended southward to at least the 25th parallel. It seems not, how-
ever, to have been abundant over much of this region, and to have been
mainly extirpated prior to the beginning of the present century. As late as
1806, however, Pike enumerated the buffalo among the animals of “Cog-
quilla”’* (a province then extending on both sides of the Rio Grande, and
embracing a portion of what is now Southwestern Texas), but whether found
north or south of the Rio Grande is not’ stated. The buffalo is not enumer-
ated by Pike in his lists of the animals of any of the other Mexican Prov-
inces situated south of the Rio Grande.t

De Laétt mentions the buffalo (under the name “Armenta”), on the
authority of Gomara, as an inhabitant of Quivira, which he describes as a
country consisting of plains destitute of trees, and well known ‘as situated
far to the northward of the present northern boundary of Mexico. It is to
be noticed also that all the references to the buffalo by the older writers
on the natural history of Mexico, including Hernandez, Fernandez, and
Nieremburg, and even Clavigero, refer to the region of Quivira.

Dr. Berlandier, who was for a long time a resident of the northeastern
provinces of Mexico, and who at his death left in MSS. a large work§ on
the Mammals of Mexico, speaks of the buffalo as formerly ranging far to the
southward of the Rio Grande. I am unable to say, however, what are his
authorities. In his chapter on this animal, he thus refers to its former range
in Mexico : —

“Au Mexique, lorsque les espagnols, toujours avides de richesses, pous-
saient leurs excursions dans le nord et nord ouest, ils ne tardérent pas a ren-
contrer des bisons. En 1602, les moines Franciscains qui découvrirent le Nou-
veau Leon, rencontrerent dans les environs de Monterey de nombreux trou-

peaux de ces quadrupédes. Ils étaient aussi assez répandus dans la Nouvelle

* “ Animals. — Deer, wild horses, a few buffalo, and wild hogs.” — Prxr’s (Z. M.) Western Expeditions,
App. to Part IIL, p. 28, 1810.

ft Catlin in his “ North American Indians,” Vol. I, gives a map illustrative of the distribution of the
Indian tribes in 1833. On this map an attempt is made to also show the range of the buffalo. Although
this is done very imperfectly, it may be worthy of mention in this connection that he here represents the
buffalo as ranging over the greater part of the above-named provinces of Northeastern Mexico.

{ America, p. 303.

§ Now in the Smithsonian Institution. For access to this important MS. I am indebted to the kindness
of Professor S. F. Baird, Assist. See’y of the Smithsonian Institution.

130 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Biscaye (€états de Chihuahua et Durango) et s'avangaient quelquefois trés au
sud de ce pays. Dans le dix-huitiéme siécle, ils se concentrérent de plus en
plus vers le nord, et restaient encore fort-communs dans les environs du pre-
sidio de Bexar. Au commencement du dix-neuviéme siécle, on les vit se rap-
procher graduellement de l'intérieur des terres 4 un tel point qwils deviennent
de jour en jour, de plus en plus rares autour des lieux habités. Ce n’est
maintenant que dans leurs émigrations périodiques qu’on les trouve prés de
Bexar. Chaque année, au printemps en Avril et Mai, ils s’avangent vers le
nord, pour de nouveau se rapprocher des régions méridionales en Septembre
et en Octobre. Les limites de ces émigrations annuelles sont presque incon-
nues; il est cependant probable que dans le sud, ils ne dépassent jamais les
rives du Rio Bravo, du moins dans létat de Coahuila et Texas, et dans
celui de Tamaulipas. Vers le nord pas méme retenus par les courants du
Missouri, ils arrivent jusque dans le Michigan, et se trouvent en été sur les
territoires et les états internes des Etats-Unis de YAmérique Septentrionale.
La route que ces animaux suivent dans leurs voyages occupe plusieurs milles
de front et devient tellement tracée qwindependamment de la verdure
détruite, on croirait voir de champs labourés couverts de fiente.

“Ces émigrations ne sont pas générales, car certains troupeaux ne pa-
raissent pas suivre la masse générale de leurs semblables, et restent station-
naires toute année dans des prairies couvertes d’une riche végétation sur les
rives du Rio de Guadeloupe et du Rio Colorado de Texas, non loin des cétes
du golfe, 4 lest de la colonie de San Felipe de Austin entre Brazosia et Mata-
gorda, précis6ément dans le méme endroit oti La Salle et ses compagnons de
voyage les virent, il y a prés de deux cents ans. Le R. P. Damian Mansanet
les vit aussi, mais de nos jours, les cétes du Texas, couvertes dhabitations,
de hameaux, de petites villes et de villages des nouveaux colons, en sont
dépourvues quoiqu’en 1828, il y en eut encore. D’aprés les observations
faites A ce sujet, on peut conclure que les Bisons habitent la zone tempérée
du nouveau-monde, et quils Pont habité en tout temps. Au nord, ils ne
savancent guére au-dela du 48° ou 58™ degré de latitude, et au sud,
quoiquils soient venus le 25", maintenant ils ne dépassent plus le 27™° ou
28” degré, du moins dans les localités habitées et connues du pays.”

|
|
|

THE AMERICAN BISONS. IBL

ForMER OCCURRENCE OF THE BUFFALO OVER THE REGION BETWEEN THE
Mississipr1 River AND THE Rocky MOUNTAINS, AND ITS GRADUAL RE-
STRICTION TO ITS PRESENT NARROW Limits.

For convenience of treatment, this region will be considered as embracing
the whole area between the Rio Grande and the British boundary, over nearly
the whole of which immense territory the buffalo is well known to have been
formerly more or less abundant. It seems to have been absent from only
the lowlands of the Lower Mississippi, it formerly ranging throughout nearly
all of Texas, the higher prairie-lands of Northwestern Louisiana and Arkan-
sas, and thence uniformly northward and westward to the Rocky Moun-
tains, including also the Parks and the principal valleys within the Rocky
Mountains. Beginning at the southward, we find that the earliest allu-
sions to the buffalo refer to this region. Thus Cabecga de Vaca, we are
informed, met with the buffalo (he being the first European who saw this
animal in its native haunts) in “Florida,” in 1530, at which time this
name “was given to all that country lying south of Virginia, and extend-
ing westward to the Spanish possessions in Mexico.”* Davis, in his “Con-
quest of New Mexico,” claims that Vaca was wrecked at some point on
the coast of Louisiana west of the Mississippi.t Vaca journeyed thence
westward, and in his journal thus speaks of the buffalo, the locality referred
to being somewhere in the southeastern part of Texas: “Cattle come as far
as this. I have seen them three times and eaten of their meat. I think
they are about the size of those of Spain. They have small horns like those
of Morocco, and the hair long and flocky like that of the merino. Some are
light brown (pardillas), and others black. To my judgment the flesh is finer
and sweeter than that of this country. The Indians make blankets of those
that are not full-grown, and of the larger they make shoes and bucklers.
They come as far as the sea-coast of Florida, and in a direction from the
North, and range over a district of more than four hundred leagues. In the
whole extent of plain over which they roam, the people who live bordering
upon it descend and kill them for food, and thus a great many skins are
scattered throughout the country.” +

* French’s Historical Coll. of Louisiana, Part II, p. i.

+ The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico, pp. 41, 42, footnote.

{ Davis’s Translation, in his “Conquest of New Mexico,” p. 67. See also the account in Purchas
(Pilgrims, Vol. IV, p. 1513), —an “abbreviated ” translation from Ranmsio.

132 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

They were also found in immense herds on the coast of Texas, at the
Bay of St. Bernard (Matagorda Bay), and on the lower part of the Colorado
(Rio Grande, according to some authorities), by La Salle, in 1685, and thence
northward across the Colorado, Brazos, and Trinity Rivers. Joutel says that
when in latitude 28° 51’, “the sight of abundance of goats and bullocks,
differing in shape from ours, and running along the coast, heightened our
earnestness to be ashore.”* They afterwards landed in St. Louis Bay (now
called Matagorda Bay), where they found buffaloes in such numbers on the
Colorado River that they called it La Riviére aux Boeufs. “These bul-
locks,” says the account, “are very like ours; there are thousands of them,
but instead of hair they have a very long curled sort of wool.” ¢

In describing the country about their establishment at St. Louis, at the
mouth of the Riviére aux Boeufs, M. Joutel says: “We were in about the
27th degree of north latitude,t two leagues up the country, near the bay of
St. Louis,§ and the bank of the Riviére aux Boeufs, on a little hillock, whence
we discovered vast and beautiful plains, extending very far westward, all
level, and full of greens, which afford pasture to an infinite number of beeves
and other creatures.” ||. Setting.out from St. Louis the 12th of January,
1687, they crossed a succession of rivers, between which were “spacious
plains” covered with “a multitude of beeves and wild fowl.” In crossing

_ the streams, they were often guided by the buffalo paths to the best fords.
They crossed the Colorado, called by them La Mahgne, probably near the
present site of Austin, and the Brazos probably somewhat below Fort Gra-
ham. Before they reached the Trinity, the country had become more bar-
ren, and buffaloes had become scarcer. Here M. de la Salle was assassinated,
and a portion of his party under M. Cavelier, his brother, continued their
northward march, soon reaching the Trinity River. From the Trinity they
took a northeasterly course, crossing the Red River near the mouth of the
Sulphur Fork, and bore thence more easterly, crossing the Wachita and
reaching the Arkansas, which they struck near its mouth. During this
journey from the Trinity to the mouth of the Arkansas, they seem to have

* Joutel’s Historical Journal of Monsieur de Ja Salle’s last voyage to discover the Mississippi River,
French’s Hist. Coll. Louisiana, Part I, p. 98.

+ Ibid, p. 116.

t The latitude here given is obviously erroneous, as the context and subsequent account of their jour-
ney northward clearly shows. The latitude must have been nearly 29° instead of 27°.

§ Later called Bay of St. Bernard, which is the same as the present Matagorda Bay.

|| Joutel’s Journal, French’s Hist. Coll. Louisiana, Part I, pp. 120, 121.

'
be
‘

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 133

met with few buffaloes, and these mainly in the vicinity of the Wachita.
Their route was thence somewhat eastward of the great range of the
buffalo. The point where M. Cavelier reached the Arkansas is supposed
to be only a few miles above its junction with the Mississippi, and in speak-
ing of the surrounding country he says: “The plains on one side [ probably
to the westward] are stored with beeves, wild goats, deer, turkeys, bus-
tards, swans, teal, and other game,” thus showing that the buffalo ranged
eastward nearly to the mouth of the Arkansas.

Ferdinando de Soto, during his march from Florida through Northern Ala-
bama and Northern Mississippi into Arkansas, 1539 -41,* did not, as previ-
ously noticed, enter the habitat of the buffalo until he had crossed the Missis-
sippi and ascended the valley of the Arkansas for some distance. Although
they found the Indian tribes well supplied with their robes, none of De
Soto’s party saw the buffalo alive. A party sent from Pacaha, near the
mouth of the Arkansas, to search for “the province of Caluga,” did not, in a
journey of seven days, get apparently beyond the low grounds, and on their
return reported to their chief that from the termination of their journey
“thenceforward towards the north the Indians said that the country was
very ill inhabited, because it was very cold; and that there was such store
of oxen, that they could keep no corn for them; and that the Indians lived
upon their flesh.” + The Indians of Coligoa, the highest or most northerly
point they reached, “reported that five or six leagues from thence toward
the north, there were many of these oxen.” The “ox-hides” they obtained
from the Indians are described as being “very soft and wooled like sheep,”
showing clearly that what they called ox-hides were the skins of buffaloes.
Again it is stated, “ Not far from thence, towards the north, were many oxen.
The Christians [Spaniards] saw them not, nor came into the country where
they were.” ¢

Passing from Coligoa across the Washita to the mouth of the Red River,
they again (after the death of De Soto, and under the lead of Moscoso)
turned westward, and reached the Trinity above the point where La Salle

* See “A Narrative of the Expedition of Hernando de Soto into Florida. By a Gentleman of Elvas.
Published at Evora, 1557. Translated from the Portuguese by Richard Hackluyt.” London, 1699.
Original edition reprinted by the Hakluyt Society in 1851. ‘The edition of 1611 reprinted by French
in 1850, in his “ Historical Collections of Louisiana,” Part I.

+ French’s Hist. Coll. Louisiana, Part H, p. 175.

t Ibid., pp. 177, 181.

1384 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

crossed it; though they entered the highlands, they turned back before
meeting with buffaloes.

It hence appears that at this early date the buffalo frequented none of
the lowlands of the Mississippi, nor those of the Washita and the Red
Rivers, and only reached the Gulf coast at the mouth of the Guadaloupe
and San Antonio Rivers; and that it probably extended thence south-
ward along the coast as far at least as the mouth of the Rio Grande del
Norte.

The former existence of the buffalo in the valley of the Pecos seems to be
well substantiated. Speaking of Espejo’s march down the Pecos River in
1584, Davis says: “They passed down a river they called Rio de las Vacas,
or the river of oxen [the river Pecos, and the same Cow River that Vaca
describes], and was so named because of the great number of buffaloes that
fed upon its banks. They travelled down this river the distance of one hun-
dred and twenty leagues, all the way passing through great herds of buf-
faloes.”*

As already noticed, Coronado met with vast herds of buffaloes in 1542 on
the plains near Cicuic, on the Upper Pecos River. From Cicuic Coronado
marched eastward across the plains of Northern Texas to about the one hun-
dredth meridian, and thence returned again to Quivira,t making a journey
of “three hundred leagues.” “All that way & plaines are as full of crooke-
backed oxen, as the mountaine Serena in Spaine is of sheepe.” $

These “ crookebacked oxen” Gomara (as translated by Hakluyt) has thus
described: “These Oxen are of the bignesse and colour of our Bulles, but
their hornes are not so great. They have a great bunch upon their fore
shoulders, and more haire on their fore part than on their hinder part: and it
is like wooll. They have as it were an horse-mane upon their backe bone,
and much haire and very long from the knees downeward. They have great
tuffes of haire hanging downe their foreheads, and it seemeth that they have
beardes, because of the great store of haire hanging downe at their chinnes
and throates. The males have very long tailes, and a great knobbe or flocke
at the end: so that in some respect they resemble the Lion, and in some
other the Camell. They push with their hornes, they runne, they overtake
and kill an horse when they are in their rage and anger. Finally, it is a

* Davis’s Spanish Conquest of New Mexico, p. 260. See also Hakluyt, Voyages, Vol. II, p. 472.
+ See R. H. Kern’s Map of Coronado’s route, as before cited.
{ Hakluyt, Voyages, Vol. IIT, p. 455. (Translated from Gomara’s Historia de las Indias, Cap. 214.)

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 155

foule and fierce beast of countenance and forme of bodie. The horses fledde
from them, either because of their deformed shape, or else because they had |
never scene them. Their masters have no other substance: of them they
eat, they drinke, they apparel, they shooe themselves.” *

According to Davis, Castafieda thus describes the buffalo and the Plains
where it was met with by the people of Coronado’s Expedition: “The first
time we encountered the buffalo, all the horses took to flight on seeing them,
for they are horrible to the sight..... They have a broad and short face,
eyes two palms from each other, and projecting in such a manner sideways
that they can see a pursuer. Their beard is like that of goats, and so long
that it drags the ground when they lower the head. They have, on the
anterior portion of the body, a frizzled hair like sheep’s wool; it is very fine
upon the croup, and sleek like a lion’s mane. Their horns are very short
and thick, and can scarcely be seen through the hair. They always change
their hair in May, and at this season they really resemble lions. To make
it drop more quickly, for they change it as adders do their skins, they roll
among the brush-wood, which they find in the ravines.

“Their tail is very short, and terminates in a great tuft. When they run’
they carry it in the air like scorpions. When quite young they are tawny,
and resemble our calves; but as age increases they change color and form.
. . . . Their wool is so fine that handsome clothes would certainly be made
of it, but it cannot be died, for it is a tawny red. We were much surprised
at sometimes meeting innumerable herds of bulls without a single cow, and
other herds of cows without bulls. It would sometimes be forty leagues
from one herd to another, and that in a country so level that from a
distance the sky was seen between their legs, so that when many were
together, they would have been called pines whose foliage united, and if
but one was seen his legs had the effect of four pines. When near, then it
was impossible by an effort to see the ground beyond, for all this country
is so flat that turn which way we will the sky and the grass are alone to
be seen.

“Who would believe that a thousand horses, one hundred and fifty cows
of Spanish breed, and more than five thousand sheep, and fifteen hundred
persons, including Indian servants, would not leave the slightest trace of their
passage in the desert, and that it was necessary to raise, from point to point,
heaps of stones and buffalo bones, in order that the rear guard might follow

* Hakluyt, Voyages, Vol. HI, p. 456,

136 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

us, for the grass, short as it was, rose up after having been trodden down, as
straight and fresh as ever.

“ Another very astonishing thing is that on the eastern margin of one of
the salt lakes, towards the south, was found a spot almost half a musket shot
long, entirely covered with buffalo bones, to the height of twelve feet, and
eighteen feet broad, which is surprising in a desert country, where no one
could have brought these bones together. It is pretended that when the
lake is troubled by the North winds, it throws upon the opposite shore the
bones of all animals which have perished in coming to drink.” *

Any one who has seen the buffaloes on their native plains can but recog-
. nize the faithfulness of these details, which are remarkable for their minute-
ness and exact truthfulness. They are further worthy of note from being
the first descriptions of the buffalo ever published.

During the exploration of the different portions of the Great Plains, from
the time of Lewis and Clarke, Pike, Long, and others, dows to the later ex-
peditions of Frémont, Stansbury, Emory, Marcy, StimpsoA, Pope, Sitgreaves,
and others, and the explorations for “a railroad route from the Mississippi
River to the Pacific Ocean” in 1853-55, buffaloes, or recent traces of them,
were found everywhere from the Missouri and Upper Mississippi Rivers west-
ward to the remotest valleys of the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains,
from the plains of Texas northward to the 49th parallel. In the further
account of this vast territory it is hence necessary to trace only their extir-
pation over the very large portion from which they have disappeared. .

Extirpation in Texas und New Mexico. — Long prior to the time of the later
explorations above mentioned, the buffalo had disappeared from the eastern
border of the plains south of the Platte River. Even as early as the begin-
ning of the present century the range of the buffalo had begun to be mate-
rially restricted, these animals having at that time been apparently wholly
exterminated south of the Rio Grande, while they had also disappeared from
the adjoining portions of Texas. They appear also to have wholly disap-
peared in Texas south of the Colorado River prior to the year 1840. Before
this date they had also receded far from the coast, and no longer ranged west
of the Pecos River, either in Texas or New Mexico; they occupying at this
time only a narrow oblique belt through the middle portion of the State,
varying from one hundred to two hundred miles in breadth, and widening
rapidly as it approached the northern border of the State. From Texas

* Davis’s Spanish Conquest of New Mexico, pp. 206, 207, footnote.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 137

northward, however, they still occupied nearly all the Great Plains, from to
Rocky Mountains almost to the Mississippi River.

I have as yet met with but few data relating to the extermination of the
buffalo, either south of the Rio Grande or in Texas, prior to 1840, but since
that pexiod the record is reasonably full. Beginning with the year 1841,
we find that at this time Kendall, in travelling north from Austin, Texas,
first met with buffaloes seventy-five miles north of Austin, on Little River, a
southern tributary of the Brazos, where he found them in immense herds.
In speaking of them he says: “There are perhaps larger herds of buffalo at
present in Northern Texas than anywhere else on the western prairies, their
most formidable enemies, the Indians, not ranging so low down in large
parties on account of the whites; but I was told that every year their num-
bers were gradually decreasing, and their range, owing to the approach of
white settlers from the east and south, becoming more and more circum-
scribed.” Kendall also found them numerous on the Brazos, and states that
they occasionally took shelter in the Cross Timbers, and that he last met
with them, in going westward, on the upper part of the Big Washita, one of
the sources of the Red River, near the one hundredth degree of longitude.*

Kennedy, writing in the same year, says, “The bison is still to be met with
in the mountainous districts between the Guadeloupe and the Rio Grande.” +
According to Gregg, however, they had already disappeared east of the Cross
Timbers as early as 1840.4

In 1849, in an expedition from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Santa Fé, Lieu-
tenant J. H. Simpson first saw signs of buffaloes near the 97th meridian, a
few miles south of the Canadian, but adds that he saw not more than two
buffaloes on the whole journey. In speaking of the game, he says: “In
regard to the buffalo, there can be no question that they have been in the
habit of infesting the route in places during certain seasons of the year.
Indeed, Gregg mentions them as swarming on the plains on his return trip
from Santa Fé, in the spring of 1840. During our journey, however, I did
not see more than two, from the beginning to the end of the trip, and there-
fore I am not at liberty to hold them up as any certain source upon which
to rely for subsistence.” §

* Kendall (G. W.), Narrative of the Texan Santa Fé Expedition, Vol. I, pp. 78, 79.

+ Kennedy (Wm.), Texas: The Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic, Vol. I, p. 122.
{ Commerce of the Prairies, Vol. I, p. 122.

§ Congress. Rep., 31st Congr, 1st Session, Senate Ex. Doc., No. 12, pp. 6, 20.

138 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

“Roemer, in 1849, says that the buffalo was then found only in the hilly
parts of the State, far from the coast, and that herds of a thousand together
were still seen between the Brazos and Austin.* It would seem, however,
that at this time there were very few buffaloes south of the Red River, as
during the years 1849, 1850, and 1851 a series of military reconnaissances
were made in Texas, forming a network of lines covering a large part of the
State, during the running of which no buffaloes seem to have been met with.
Lieutenant Michler surveyed a line from Fort Washita southward along
the 97th meridian,t from 34° 30’ to about 31°, and thence southwestward to
San Antonio. Another line was run from Fort Washita southwestward, in a
nearly direct line to the Pecos River, striking it in longitude 103°, and lati-
tude 31° 20’. A line was continued from this point eastward again to the
100th meridian, and thence southeastward to Corpus Christi Bay, in longi-
tude 96°, and latitude 28° 40’. Another line was carried down the Pecos to
longitude 101° 40', and thence to the head-waters of the Nueces, and down
this river also to Corpus Christi Bay. The narratives of these explorations
make no mention of buffaloes, as they doubtless would if buffaloes had been
met with.t In 1850 Marcy met with a few stragglers south of the Cana-
dian, near the divide between the Canadian and the Washita Forks of the
Red River, and saw their tracks and other indications of their presence there.
He reports that the Kiowas and Comanches went north in summer to hunt
the buffalo on the plains of the Arkansas, only a few buffaloes crossing at
this time to the south of the Canadian.

In 1852, according to the “Topographical Sketches of the Military Posts”
in Texas, buffaloes had entirely disappeared from the region about Fort
Worth§ (on the west fork of the Trinity, just west of the 97th meridian) ;
they are not mentioned among the animals found at this date about Fort
Belknap || (on the Brazos, longitude about 98° 30’), neither were they then
found about Fort Terret4] (on the 100th meridian). Very few are ‘said to
have been found as far south as Fort Phantom Hill, since 1837.** At Camp
Johnston,ft on the Concho River (near the present Fort Concho), one only
is reported as having been seen, and the region is said to have been then

* Roemer (Ferdinand), Texas, p. 462.

+ The central portion of the wooded belt known as the “ Cross Timbers ” lies along this meridian.

t Congress. Rep., 31st Coner., 1st Session, Sen. Doc. No. 64, and accompanying maps.

§ Med. Statistics U. S. Army, 1839 - 1854, p. 873.

|| Ibid., p. 372. #** Tbid., p. 376.

{ Ibid, p. 395. tt Ibid., p. 380.

: THE AMERICAN BISONS. 139

not within their favorite range; but they are at the same time enumerated
among the animals met with about Fort McKavett,* situated some fifty miles
to the southward of Fort Concho.

Lieutenant Whipple, in his report of the survey of the thirty-fifth parallel,
made in 1853, found buffalo bones bleaching near a brackish spring, just west
of the Cross Timbers, and nearly on the 99th meridian. A few days later
they saw the first living buffalo, and met with a few stragglers on succeeding
days, on the sources of the Washita Branch of the Red River. He speaks
of seeing buffalo signs as far west as Camp 44, a little east of the 102d
meridian. The main herds, however, were north of the Canadian, from
which these were merely stragglers.t Professor Jules Marcou, who accom-
panied Lieutenant Whipple’s expedition as geologist, has kindly furnished me
with a few additional particulars from his note-books. He informs me that
the first bones of the buffalo were met with as far east as the Cross Timbers,
or near the 98th meridian; but the region appeared not to have been visited
by these animals for ten or twelve years. The first living buffalo was seen
between Camps 33 and 34, about 99° 40’, just south of the Canadian. The

: next day many carcasses were observed, and two days later five old bulls
were seen. An old bull was killed between Camps 36 and 37, near the
meridian of 100° 25’, but no living buffaloes were seen west of the 101st
meridian, and no fresh signs were seen west of the 102d. All the recent

indications of buffaloes were thus met with between the meridians of 98° 30’
and 102°. The journey being made in September, the herds had not re-
turned from the north, the individuals met with being only stragglers which
had wandered somewhat to the southward of the usual southern limit of the
summer range.

Captain (now Major-General) Pope in 1854 surveyed the 32d parallel, from
El Paso and Dofia Afia, on the Rio Grande, to Preston, on the Red River, pass-
ing northerly, and crossing the Pecos and the head-waters of the Colorado,
Trinity, and Brazos Rivers. Mr. J. H. Byrne, in his diary of the expedition,
reports meeting bois de vache “for the first time” at Camp No. 10, near the
Ojo del Cuerbo, or Salt Lakes, west of the Guadeloupe Mountains, and in the’
Valley of the Rio Grande. This is the only allusion to buffalo or buffalo
“sion” contained in the narrative, although the kinds and quantity of game

* Med. Statistics, U. S. Army, 1839 — 1854, p. 391.
+ Pacific R. R. Exploration and Surveys, Vol. II, Lieutenant Whipple’s Report on the 35th Parallel,
Part I, pp. 26, 28, 29, 35.

140 THE AMERICAN BISONS,

met with each day appear to be duly chronicled.* We are further led to
infer the entire absence at this time of buffaloes in Texas by some remarks
made by Captain Pope, in his General Report, respecting the Comanche
Indians, whose country was on the head-waters of the Canadian and Red
Rivers, in the extreme northern part of Texas. He says: “ During the sum-
mer months nearly the whole tribe migrates to the north, to hunt buffalo
and wild horses on the plains of the Upper Arkansas.” ¢

Captain H. M. Lazelle, 8th U. 8. Infantry, informs me that in 1859 there
were no buffaloes in New Mexico, nor in Texas west of the 99th meridian,
but that there were vast numbers in Northern Texas between the meridians
of 99° and 96°; but that they did not extend so far south as Pope’s old trail
of 1854.4

Hence it appears that for quite a number of years the buffaloes nearly
abandoned Texas, or visited only its northwestern portions, and were of
somewhat uncertain occurrence, in summer at least, as far north as the Cana-
dian. Of late, however, they have again become common over a consider-
able portion of the northwestern part of the State, occasionally extending
southward along the 100th meridian almost to the Rio Grande. Major-
General M. C. Meigs, Quartermaster-General of the United States Army, says,
in some valuable MS. notes on the buffalo,§ that in the winter of 1869-70
he saw their carcasses near Fort Concho, Texas, “showing that the buffalo
had been abundant in that neighborhood the previous year.” The prairies
having been extensively burned that winter about Concho, the buffaloes had
not appeared within twenty miles of the post that season. He also says
that in the winter of 1871-72 they extended their migrations westward to
the Staked Plains. ||

Mr. J. Boll, the well-known entomological collector, also informs me that
during the winter of 1874-75 they were still more abundant over quite a
large part of Northern Texas, doubtless in consequence of their persecution
by the hunters in Southwestern Kansas. Respecting the eastern boundary of

* Pacific R. R. Exploration and Surveys, Vol. II, Pope’s Exploration of the 32d Parallel, from the Red
River to the Rio Grande, pp. 51-98.

+ Ibid., p. 15.

t Pope’s trail erosses the 96th meridian in about latitude 33° 30’, and strikes the Pecos in longitude
103° and latitude 31° 30’, at Emigrant Crossing.

§ For access to this interesting paper I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Elliott Coues, the eminent
ornitholovist.

|| MS. Notes on the Buffalo.

a

ee a

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 141

their range at the present time (January, 1876), he says: “So viel mir bis
jetzt bekannt, so geht der Bison 6stlich im Texas nicht mehr tiber die Linie
hinaus welche von der Miindung der Little Wichita in den Red River in ge-
rader Richtung fast stidlich bis zur Miindung des Pecan Bayou in den River
Colorado sich austreckt. Wie sich diese Linie vom Colorado River bis zum
Rio Grande gestaltet ist schwer zu sagen, doch glaube ich dass von der Miin-
dung des Pecan Bayou sie mehr eine stark sudwestliche Richtung bis zum
30° nordlich Breite annehmen wird.”

Respecting their present southern limit in Texas, a letter written by Mr.
J. Stevens in answer to my inquiries on this point, and kindly transmitted
to me by Mr. C. E. Aiken, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, states, on the au-
thority of Mr. W. H. Case, who has lived for the last two or three years at
Fort Concho, that buffaloes have of late been quite numerous there in winter,
and that they were especially so last winter. He says that “after severe
storms they come in from the north in large numbers,” at which times he
has seen larger herds there than anywhere else, not excepting Kansas and
the Indian Territory. East of Fort Concho he says they do not go south of
the latitude of that post, but that to the westward they go twenty to fifty
miles further to the southward, but only occasionally. Mr. Stevens adds that
none are found very far to the westward of Fort Concho, and that none have
been found for a long time in any part of New Mexico, and that probably
none ever will be found there again. From the best information I have
been able to obtain, their present western limit seems to be the eastern
border of the Staked Plains.

Their Extermination in Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. — Passing now
to the region north of Texas, the history of the extermination of the buffalo
throughout the tier of States adjoining the Mississippi River — namely,
Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota — will be first given, and afterward
an account of its extermination over the region 2a the Platte River
and the northern boundary of Texas.

According to Nuttall, the bison was still to be met with in Arkansas as late
as 1819, a few then existing near the Arkansas River, in the present county
of Conway, not far from the centre of the State.* In a journey from Fort
Smith southwestward to the Red River, his party also met with large herds
on Riameche Creek, in the present Indian Territory, near the southwestern
border of Arkansas.t Major Long found their skulls and other remains at

* Travels into the Arkansas Country, p. 118.
+ Ibid., pp. 149, 150.

142 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Massern and Vache Grasse Creeks, in Western Arkansas in 1820, showing
that they had existed at that point at a not very remote period.”

Grege, writing about 1844, says: “Even within thirty years they were
abundant over much of the present States of Missouri and Arkansas,” or as
late as 1815.t In 1820 settlements had extended up the Arkansas nearly
to the western border of the State, and probably soon after this date the
buffaloes were wholly extirpated throughout the present State of Ar-
kansas.

Beck states that in Missouri, as late as 1823, “immense herds” of buffaloes
were “frequently seen covering the extensive plains which stretch along
the west part of the State. During the dry seasons,” he says, “ they remain
in the neighborhood of rivers, but they uniformly migrate to the south at the
approach of winter.”

It thus appears that the buffalo also, lingered in Western Missouri till about
1820 to 1825. They probably disappeared from Southern Iowa at about the
same period, but they existed’ for a much longer time in the northern half
of the State. In earlier times Charlevoix found “magnificent meadows” in
Southeastern Iowa, on the Des Moines River, “ quite covered with buffalo,
and other wild creatures.Ӥ Major Long, in a trip eastward from Council
Bluffs in 1819 found “their skulls and other remains on the plains of the
Nishnabatona, and in one instance discovered the tracks oF a pull, but, be
adds, “all the herds of these animals appear to have deserted the country
east of Council Bluffs.”|| According to Assistant Surgeon Charles C. Keeney,
the buffalo was sometimes met with on the open prairies a few miles west of
Fort Dodge, on the Des Moines River, as late as 1852.4]

M. Belon, an old French voyagewr, whom I met in 1873 on the Yellow-
stone, acting as interpreter for the expedition of that year, and who moved
to Minnesota in 1837, informed me that buffaloes were abundant within fifty
miles of St. Paul as late as 1836, and were common on the head-waters of the
Cedar and Des Moines Rivers, on both sides of the Iowa and Minnesota boun-
-dary, as late as 1845. They have, however, been for many years extinct

throughout the present State of Iowa, with the exception of the occurrence

* Long’s Expedition from Pittsburg to the Rocky Mountains, Vol. I, p. 264.

+ Gregg, Commerce of the Prairies, Vol. 2, p. 113.
t Beck (L. J.), Gazetteer of the States of Illinois and Missouri, p. 167.
§ Letters, Goadby’s English ed., p. 295.

|| Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Vol. I, p. 421.

{ Med. Statisties U. S. Army, 1839-1854, p. 55.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 143

of a few stragglers in the extreme western counties. When I was in the
western part of the State in 1867, I was informed that a few still remained
in that section, and that up to that time one or more had been killed every
year as far south as Greene County. They were represented as being more
common further north, but that no herds were met with south of the Sioux
River, and rarely east of the Missouri. Those found further east were only
stragglers from distant herds.* Professor Bessey, of the Iowa Agricultural
College, informs me that a few were seen in the bottom-lands below Council
Bluffs as late even as about 1869, and also, at about the same time, in the

northwestern part of the State, — stragglers, of course, from remote herds.

In Minnesota, west of the Mississippi, buffaloes remained until a recent

period. In 1823 Major Long found herds numbering thousands of indi-
viduals about the sources of the Red and Minnesota (or St. Peter’s) Rivers.
He states that in 1822 they did not descend the Minnesota River below
Great Swan Lake, and that in 1823 “the gentlemen of the Columbia Fur
Company were obliged to travel five days in a northwest direction from
Lake Travers before they fell in with the game, but they soon succeeded in
killing sixty animals.” The buffaloes are said, however, to have lingered
about Fort Ridgely, situated a few miles above Swan Lake, till about 1847,
and that as late as 1856 they were found one hundred miles to the north-
westward of this point. As late as 1844 Captain Allen found large herds
in the southwestern part of the present State of Minnesota. He says:
“Seventy-five miles west of the source of the Des Moines we struck the
range of the buffalo, and continued in it to the Big Sioux River, and down
that river about eighty-six miles. Below that we did not see any recent
signs of them. They were sometimes seen in droves of hundreds.

While among the buffalo we killed as many as we wanted, and without
trouble.Ӥ Pope states that in 1850 buffaloes were still killed in the imme-
diate vicinity of the settlements at Pembina, and that they existed in great
abundance between the Pembina and the Shayenne Rivers,| or along the

present western boundary of the State. They appear, however, to have

* See Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. XTIL, p. 186, 1869.

+ Expedition to the Source of the St. Peter’s River, ete., Vol. II, pp. 9-24, 29.

{ Assistant Surgeon A. B. Hasson, in Med. Statis. U. S. Army, 1839 — 1854, p 67.
§ Allen (Captain J.), Congress. Rep., 29th Congr., 1st Session, Doc. No. 168, p. 5.

|| Pope (General John), Report of an Expedition to the Territory of Minnesota, Congress. Reports,

8ist Coner., 1st Session, Sen. Doc. No. 42, p. 27.

144 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

very soon after left the whole valley of the Red River, being rapidly slaugh-
tered and pressed westward by the incursions of the Red River half-breed
hunters, who are reported to have killed annually, at about this time, twenty
thousand buffaloes south of the United States and British Boundary.* A
few lingered in the southwestern part of the State till within a very few
years, or occurred there rather as stragglers from the herds west of the Big
Sioux River, in Southwestern Dakota.

From the foregoing it hence appears that the buffalo was more or less
abundant over large portions of the States of Arkansas and Missouri as late
as 1812 to 1815, but that few remained in either State later than 1820. At
about this date they seem to have also disappeared from Eastern and South-
ern Iowa, but were quite numerous in the northwestern part of the State,
and adjoining parts of Minnesota, as late as 1840 to 1845, where occasionally
an old bull was met with as late as 1869. As already stated, they disap-
peared in Minnesota east of the Mississippi River prior to 1832;+ and they
appear to have been exterminated over the whole region east of the Red
River as early as 1850, and to have survived later elsewhere in the State
only in the extreme southwestern counties, where a few lingered till about
1869.

Permanent Division of the Buffalo into two distinct Herds, and their Extermination
over the greater Part of the Region between the Northern Boundary of Texas and the
Platte River. — As is well known to those who have given much attention to
the subject, the great buffalo herd that once extended continuously from the
plains of the Saskatchewan to the Rio Grande was divided about 1849 into
two bands by the California overland immigration, and that since that time
the two herds have never united. The great overland route, as is well
known, followed up the Kansas and Platte Rivers, and thence westward by
the North Platte, crossing the Rocky Mountains by way of the South Pass.
The buffaloes were all soon driven from the vicinity of this line of travel,
thousands being annually slaughtered, a large proportion of them being
killed wantonly. The increase of travel, and finally the construction of

* Rice (H. M.), Pope’s Report (cf.), p. 4.

+ Sce antea, p. 117.

+ Respecting the influence of the overland emigration upon the buffalo, we find Captain Stansbury,
who passed over the emigrant trail in the summer of 1849, speaking as follows: Under date of June 27,
he says, “ To-day the hunters killed their first buffalo, but in order to obtain it had to diverge some four

or five miles from the road and to pass back of the bluffs, the instinct or experience of these sagacious ani-

mals having rendered them shy of approaching the line of travel. This has always been the case, for it is

th ta nen

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 145

the Union Pacific Railroad and the consequent opening up of the country to
settlement, has effected a wider separation of the herds, the buffaloes retiring
every year further and further from their persecutors. None are now found
for a long distance to the north of this road, and they approach it from the
southward only along that portion situated between Fort Kearney and the
Forks of the Platte. In treating of the “Southern Herd,” as the southern
division is commonly termed, it will be found convenient to trace first its
extirpation over the region to the eastward, and afterwards to the westward,
of its present range.

As previously stated, Nuttall found buffaloes in 1819 in Southwestern
Arkansas and the adjoining portions of the Indian Territory.* Pike, how-
ever, in 1806, first met with these animals on the divide between the sources
of the Osage River and those of the Neosho Fork of the Arkansas, near the
98th meridian, or near Council Grove in Eastern Kansas, and reports that
they were already nearly exterminated over the hunting-grounds of the
Osages and Pawnees.t In 1820 Major Long found no large herds east of
the mouth of the Little Arkansas, near the 98th meridian. At the Great
Bend of the Arkansas, however, he met with them for several days “in vast
and almost continuous herds.” Catlin’s “Outline Map of Indian localities
in 1833” § purports-to give also the range of the buffalo, but none are repre-
sented as occurring between the Kansas and Arkansas Rivers east of the
99th meridian, but in his account of his visit to the Comanche country he
speaks of meeting with buffaloes about forty miles east of the junction of the
False Washita and Red Rivers, or near the 96th meridian.||

General Doniphan, during his march in 1846 from Fort Leavenworth to
Santa Fé, used bois de vache for fuel when passing the head of the Little Ar-
kansas, and first met with herds of buffaloes on the Arkansas at Pawnee
Ranch, near the present site of Fort Larned.{| The previous year Lieuten-
a well-attested fact, that when the emigration first. commenced, travelling trains were frequently detained
for hours by immense herds crossing their track, and in such numbers that it was impossible to drive
through them. In many instances it was quite difficult to prevent their own loose cattle from mingling
with the buffaloes, of which they did not seem to be at all afraid.” — Salt Lake Expedition, p. 34.

* Travels into the Arkansas Country, pp. 149, 150.

+ Pike (Z. M.), Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi, and to the Sources of the Arkansas, Kan-
sas, La Platte, and Pierre Jaune Rivers, ete., in the years 1805, 1806, and 1807.

¢ Long’s Exped. from Pittsburg to the Rocky Mts., Vol. H, pp. 204, 207.

§ Catlin (G.), North American Indians, Vol. I, map.

| Ibid., Vol. II, p 46.

{| Hughes (J. T.), Doniphan’s Expedition, pp. 43, 47.

q
My
q
q

1

146 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

ant J. W. Abert found them as far east as 97° 32’* Lieutenant Abert
reports meeting with them the following year near the 98th meridian, just
west of which he found them in immense herds.t

Lewis and Clarke, in ascending the Missouri River in 1804, first met with
buffaloes at the mouth of the Kansas River, but state that they did not
become common till they reached the Sioux River.t Bradbury found them
in 1810 at Floyd’s Bluff’ Audubon says that when he and his party went
up the Missouri River in 1843, “the first buffalo were heard of near Fort
Leavenworth, some having a short time before been killed within forty miles
of that place. We did not, however,” he says, “see any of these animals
until we had passed Fort Croghan, but above this point we met with them
almost daily, either floating dead on the river or gazing at our steamboat
from the shore.” §

As early as 1834, Murray, in his journey westward from Fort Leaven-
worth into the Indian country, first met with buffaloes on the Republi-
can, || showing that they had already become extinct or of uncertain occur-
rence in Eastern Kansas. Frémont, in 1842, in marching northwestward
from Fort Leavenworth to the Platte River, by way of the Kansas River,
came suddenly upon great herds just above Grand Isle, in about longitude
99° 30°, or near the present site of Fort Kearney. The following year
(1843), in crossing the plains considerably to the southward of his route of
the previous year, he first met with the buffilo on the divide between the
Solomon and the Republican Forks, also near the 99th meridian. Emory,
in 1846, says that the range of the buffalo along the Arkansas was “ west-
ward, between the ninety-eighth and the one hundred and first meridians of
longitude.” ** In 1849 Stansbury saw no buffaloes east of the Forks of the
Platte, but found them in abundance to the westward of this point. Captain
Stansbury’s guide reported to him that not many years before the plains
somewhat to the east of Fort Kearney were black with herds of buffaloes “as
far as the eye could reach.” tt

* Congress. Rep., 29th Congr., 1st Sess., House Ex. Doc. No. 2. p. 217.

t Notes of a Military Reconnaissance from Fort Leavenworth, Mo., to San Diego, Cal. Congress. Rep,
30th Congr., 1st Sess., Sen. Doc. No. 7, p. 11. :

t Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Vol. I, pp. 19, 67.

§ Quadrupeds of North America, Vol. I, p. 50.

|| Travels in North America, Vol. I, pp. 208, 227.

{] Frémont’s Explorations during 1842, 43, and "44, pp. 18, 25, 49, 57, 109, et Seq.

** Emory (W. H.), Notes of a Military Reconnaissance from Fort Leavenworth to San Diego, Cali-
fornia, p. 16.

tt Stansbury’s Expedition to the Great Salt Lake, pp. 29, 36.
t > PI ?

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 147

In July, 1853, Captain Gunnison’s party first met with fresh signs of the
buffalo on the Saline, and on the Kansas near the mouth of the Saline; their
first buffalo was killed on the Little Arkansas; somewhat later, they found
themselves in the midst of immense herds on the Republican Fork.*

Dr. Hayden, writing of his journey across the plains in the summer of
1858, says, “ Before going into the interior of the Territory [of Kansas] we
had expected to find the whole country immediately west of Fort Riley

_ comparatively sterile; on the contrary, however, we were agreeably disap-

pointed at meeting with scarcely any indications of decreasing fertility, as
far as our travels extended, which was about sixty miles west of Fort Riley.
Here we found the prairies clothed with a luxuriant growth of grass, and
literally alive with vast herds of buffalo, that were quietly grazing as far as
the eye could reach, in every direction.” ¢

Lieutenant E. S. Godfrey, of the 7th U. 8. Cavalry, who has recently
spent several years in the Department of the Missouri, informs me that
when Fort Harker was established, in 1866, the buffaloes ranged regularly
as far east as this point, and even passed beyond it. They were taken
here for several years after, but in 1870 had almost wholly retired to points
further westward.

Professor B. F. Mudge, of the Kansas State Agricultural College, has given
me the following general statement respecting their extermination in East-

ern Kansas. Under date of February 7, 1873, in kind response to my inqui-

ries, Professor Mudge wrote as follows:

“The buffalo ranged to the eastern border of Kansas as recently as 1835.
About that time the United States authorities removed the Delaware, Potta-
wattamie, Kaws, and other tribes of Indians to ‘ Reservations’ in the eastern
part of what is now Kansas. These Indians soon drove the buffalo as far
west as the Blue River (one hundred miles west of the Missouri River), which
was as far as the reservations extended. The buffalo held that range till
1854, when Kansas was made a Territory and whites began to settle here.
For fifteen years from that time the buffalo receded, on an average, about
ten miles a year. For three years past they have been hunted in summer
for their hides for ¢anuing; this is exterminating them very rapidly. Now
they are not found in Northern Kansas east of 100° of longitude; in Southern

* Beckwith’s Report of Captain Gunnison’s Exploration of the 38th and 39th Parallels, Pacific R. i

Explorations and Surveys, Vol. II.

+ Geological Report of the Exploration of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, p. 122.

148 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Kansas as far easterly as longitude 98°, the western boundary of Kansas
being 102°. In a few years I think they will not range north of the Arkansas
ihever.” :

None of the government expeditions sent across the plains since 1840
seem to have met with the buffalo east of the longitude of Fort Riley, or
east of the 97th meridian, from the Platte southward to Texas. In the In-
dian Territory they have not for a number. of years ranged to the eastward
of Fort Sill.* It thus appears that the buffaloes were exterminated in East-
ern Kansas and in the eastern part of the Indian Territory over a breadth
of about four degrees of longitude between 1835 and 1870.

The extermination along the western border of the southern herd has also
extended over a considerable area. In 1806 Pike found them throughout his
march across the plains from the western edge of Arkansas to the eastern
base of the Rocky Mountains, meeting with them in the greatest abundance
between the Smoky Hill Fork and the Arkansas.} In 1845 Lieutenant Tur-
ner found buffaloes abundant in the valley of the Arkansas from Bent’s Fort
thence eastward for over two hundred miles.t The following year (1846)
Dr. Wislizenus reports that on Colonel Doniphan’s march across the plains
all signs of the buffalo, even including the bois de vache, disappeared near the
meridian of 101°, between the Arkansas and Cimarron.§

Frémont states that in 1842, at 103° 30’, between the two forks of the
Platte, they absolutely covered the plains, and were abundant thence west-
ward to St. Vrain’s Fort, situated a little to the southward of the present
town of Cheyenne. Between the forks of the Platte and along the North
Platte to Fort Laramie but few were found, but recent signs of them were
abundant. On the Laramie plains westward as far as Laramie River, large
herds were constantly met with, but this year none were seen on the North
Platte above the junction of Laramie River, the grasshoppers and the dry
weather having destroyed every blade of grass. ||

* Captain J. W. Powell, of the 8th United States Infantry, informs me that in 1872 the buffalo did not
range as far east as Fort Sill, but occurred fifty miles west of this point in considerable numbers. Lieu-
tenant Godfrey (7th Cavalry) also states that during 1871 and 1872 he met with them throughout that
part of the Indian Territory west of Fort Sill.

{ Pike (Z. M), Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi, and to the Sources of the Arkansas, Kan-
sas, La Platte, and Pierre Jaune Rivers, etc. in the years 1805, 1806, and 1807.

¢ Cong. Rep., 29th Congress, Ist Session, House Ex. Doc. No. 2, p. 217.

§ Wislizenus (Dr. A.), Memoir of a Tour to Northern Mexico in company with Colonel Doniphan’s

Expedition in 1846 — 47, Cong. Rep., 30th Congress, 1st Session, Miscel. Doc. No. 26.

|| Frémont’s Explorations during 1842, 1843, and 1844, ete.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 149

In June, 1844, Fremont found them in immense numbers in North, Middle,
and South Parks, in the present State of Colorado, as well as on the tributa-
ries of the Green River on the western slope of the mountains, and on the
Sweet Water, and the other extreme head-waters of the North Platte, from
all of which extensive region they were nearly or quite exterminated during
the following twenty years.

When the miners first visited the parks and mountains of Colorado, in the
summer of 1859, they found them occupied by small bands of buffaloes, which
afforded them an abundance of meat for several years. They have been
scarce there, however, for the last ten years, during which time only strag-
glers have been met with. In the summer of 1871 I found their skulls still
frequent in South Park and up the valley of the South Platte to its extreme
source. They were very frequent at and above Montgomery, and even on
the neighboring mountains above timber-line, showing that not many years
ago the buffalo ranged over the grassy slopes of the mountains even to above
the limit of the timber. . I heard of a single small band of two or three dozen
individuals near the southern borders of South Park, in the vicinity of Buf-
falo Springs, and saw a calf at one of the ranches that was captured in June
of that year as the band passed up the valley of the South Platte into the
Park.* Mr. Wm. N. Byers, of Denver, Colorado, writes me that a band of
twelve were seen in South Park in 1873, and that “occasionally a little band
is still seen in the northern edge of Middle Park and in North Park.”
“About seventy-five wintered on the head of Muddy or Milk River, Middle
Park, last winter [1874-75]. Another band was seen on the head-waters
of Willow Creek, ranging thence over the divide into North Park. Most
of our people call these mountain animals Bisons, and think them smaller
than the Plains Buffalo, but they are Sa the same animal, resorting
to the mountains of their own choice.”

One of these small parties, according to Western newspapers, seems to
have recently fallen a prey to the Indians, a Denver paper of a recent date
containing the following: “A party of Indians in the northwestern edge
of the Middle Park came upon a herd of buffalo the other day, and killed
them all, — forty-two in number. All they saved was the skins, leaving the
meat to rot. Such waste of the game ought to be stopped, and the sooner
the better.” :

Dr Hayden informs me that a band of eighteen was seen by one of his

* Bull. Essex Inst., Vol. VI, pp. 54, 55.

150 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

parties near Pike’s Peak in 1873, and that in 1875 there was a band of about
nineteen on the west side of Pike’s Peak, and another band of about sixty
near Mt. Lincoln in the South Park. Mr. C. E. Aiken, probably referring to
these, writes me that he kuows of but two bands existing at the present
time (February, 1876) in the mountains about South Park, one of which
“orazes on the mountains at the head of Tarryall Creek, and is frequently
found above timber-line; the other ranges in the rugged mountains south
of Pike’s Peak, and numbers some thirty or forty individuals.”

In 1871 their bleached skulls were still frequent in the valley of the
North Platte, in Western Wyoming, as well as on the Laramie Plains, but I
was assured that only stragglers had been seen in all this region during the
previous ten or fifteen years.* Stansbury reports meeting with them in
abundance on Pass Creek and other head-waters of the North Platte in
1849.4

In respect to the extermination of the buffalo along the western edge of
the plains in Colorado, and the present western boundary of the Southern
Herd, I have been favored with a valuable communication from Mr. Wil-
liam N. Byers, editor and proprietor of the “Rocky Mountain News.” In
kindly answer to my inquiries he thus refers (writing under date of July 3,
1875) to the gradual extermination of the buffalo along the eastern base of
the Rocky Mountains. He says: “Perhaps the best idea I can give you of
the shrinkage of the column on this side is gathered from the history of the
early trading-posts established here, mainly for barter in their hides. The
first trading-post in this [South Platte] valley was built in 1852, six miles
below Denver, and about fifteen miles, direct, from the mountain foot. A
trader employed here from 1832 to 1836 told me that he thought that he
never looked out over the walls of the fort without seeing buffalo, and some-
times they covered the plain. At that time their moving columns surged
up against the mountain foot. Five or six years later the next fort was
built five or six miles down the river, then a third a few miles below the
second, and, about 1840, a fourth, nearly twenty miles below the third, or
forty odd miles from the mountains. There the trade was concentrated and
the up-river forts were successively abandoned, owing to the decrease of the
buffalo in their vicinity. But great herds of buffaloes occasionally ranged

over the present site of Denver as late as 1846.

* See Bulletin Essex Institute, Vol VI, p. 59.
{ Salt Lake Expedition, pp. 243 - 247.

ear eee Ltn eects

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 151

“The trading-posts in the valley of the Arkansas possess a similar history.
The earliest, built about 1826, was some twenty miles from the mountains.
Others succeeded, one after another, until New Mort Bent, — afterward Fort
Bent, now Fort Lyon, — about eighty miles from the mountains, closed the

history of these early trading outposts. They were placed so as to be most

convenient to the camps of the hunters, to enable the traders to supply the
latter with goods and to buy their skins.

“The present range of the buffalo in Colorado,” he says, “is bounded sub-
stantially on the west by a line about one hundred miles east of the foot of
the mountains, and parallel therewith. The herds are thin on the edge,
thickening to the eastward. Small bands occasionally wander ten or twenty
miles further west, but the line is quite distinctly marked. In the fall they
move gradually but slowly southward, and in late winter and spring return
in the same way north; but the eastern edge of Colorado. is really occupied
all the winter by herds that come from and return to the north. In summer
very few remain upon the Colorado range. I have no idea of the relative
movement of individual herds north and south during the year, but there
seems to be a regular ebd and flow once a year. There has been no marked
change in the limit of the range westward in the last five years, but the
columns have been thinned fearfully, — certainly one half.”

Influence of the Railroads upon the Decrease of the Buffalo. — Three railroads
now enter or pass near the range of the Southern Herd. Their mfluence,
though immense in-respect to its decrease, seems not to have very greatly
affected the extent of its range. The railroads, of course, primarily affect
the buffalo by affording to the hunters easy access to its haunts, and by
placing the hunters in communication with ready markets for the products
of the chase. They also open up the country they traverse to permanent
settlement, thus rendering the extirpation of the buffalo from the coun-
try bordering these avenues of travel not only speedy but permanent.
Although the buffalo has no little fear of these iron highways and their
thundering trains, this alone would not, for a long time at least, seriously
influence its range; and the herds have not, except through the thinning
of their ranks by the hunters who make these roads the bases. of their
operations, materially changed their range since the opening of the Union
Pacific Railroad in 1869. The buffaloes still range northward to this road

between Fort Kearney and the Forks of the Platte, but they appear to have

of late rarely passed north of it. At this point the buffalo range is still

152 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

within easy drive from the line of the road, and is often chosen by Eastern
hunting-parties for their field of operations.

The Kansas Pacific Railway, traversing as it does one of the favorite and
formerly most populous portions of the range of the great Southern Herd,
has given opportunity, since it was opened in 1870, for the destruction of
hundreds of thousands of buffaloes. After two or three years the results
of this wholesale slaughter began to be apparent in the thinning of the
herds and in their erratic movements and changed habits, especially in re-
spect to their migrations.

During the summer of 1871 straggling bands occurred as far eastward
in Northern Kansas as Fossil Creek, while the great herds were rarely met
with east of the meridian of Fort Hays. In June of that year they black-
ened the prairies from the Saline River to the Republican Fork. In Janu-
ary, 1872, they had receded several hundred miles to the westward of their
summer limit, ranging then over Eastern Colorado. Between the Union
Pacific and Kansas Pacific Railroads they at this time migrated eastward
in summer and westward in winter, passing with reluctance either of
these great highways. At times, however, they swept across the Kansas
Pacific Railway in immense herds, obliging the trains to await their pas-
sage.* In consequence of this eastward and westward migration they
had already worn deep trails running in this direction, and at right angles
to the older set made when their migrations were mainly from the north
southward in autumn and from the south northward in spring.} From the
great persecution they had suffered from the hunters, who swarmed down
upon them from all sides, their movements were already less regular than
formerly.

The opening of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé Railroad has had a far
greater influence upon the buffalo than either of the other roads, in conse-
quence of the great number of hunters who seized upon it as a favorable
basis for the prosecution of their terrible work of destruction. The story of
this destruction and the fatal results attending the encroachment of the set-
tlements upon the range of the buffalo is well told in the subjoined letter

from Dr. W. S. Tremaine, U.S. A., kindly written in answer to my inquiries

* General Meigs writes that a conductor of the Kansas Pacific Railway informed him in the winter of
1872-73, that ‘“‘ while he had been several times delayed by the crossing of immense herds going south
he had never seen any buffalo returning.” — MS. Notes on the Buffalo.

+ See Bulletin Essex Institute, Vol. VI, pp. 46, 47.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 153

respecting this subject, and dated Fort Dodge, Kansas, July 16, 1875: “In
regard to the buffalo, I would say that when I first came to this post, in
1869, the buffaloes ranged in almost countless herds from about where the
town of Great Bend, on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé Railroad, now is,
to Fort Lyon, Colorado, and from the Platte River to the Red River of Texas.
Throughout this range you might travel for days and scarcely ever be out
of sight of buffaloes. This condition remained up to the summer and au-
tumn of 1873, when the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé was completed to
this point. Buffalo-hunting for their hides then became quite an industry
in this neighborhood, and hundreds of thousands were slaughtered in this
vicinity, so that at the present time a buffalo is a rare sight within two hun-
dred miles of Fort Dodge.” Dr. Tremaine gives the principal range of the
Southern Herd of buffaloes as being now south of the Kansas line, between
the North Fork of the Canadian and the Red River of Texas, and from about
the 100th meridian to the eastern border of New Mexico. “A few small
herds,” he says, wander northward from the main body as far as the Platte
country, passing along near the eastern boundary of Colorado. Some are
also found further to the southward between the Red and Pecos Rivers.
He speaks of the herds as having become very much restricted in range
and as very much “thinned out.’ He says: “As regards their present
numbers, I was told by an officer of cavalry who had scouted last sum-
mer and winter through the region I have indicated, that during his
wanderings through this part of the country, which is now considered
the principal habitat of the Southern Herd, he saw fewer buffaloes than
he had seen in a trip from Fort Hays to Fort Dodge (eighty-six miles) in
Tia.

Recent reports from Kansas and Colorado agree in respect to the enor-
mous destruction of buffaloes throughout Kansas, incidentally referred to
above by Dr. Tremaine. While the range seems not to have been as yet
very materially circumscribed during the last four or five years, the reduc-
tion in numbers has been immense, and the vast herds existing there five
years since are now represented by only scattered remnants, so fearfully
have their ranks been depleted.

The incessant persecution of the buffalo along the lines of the two great
Kansas railways has had the effect to crowd them southward and southwest-
ward into Western Texas. In this Indian-infested region, too remote from

railroads to render it feasible for the hunter to follow them for their hides

154 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

and meat, the herd is now mainly concentrated where it is temporarily less
exposed to persecution than on the more accessible plains of Kansas. The
range of the herd thus not only changes with the seasons of the year, but
also from year to year, in consequence of attacks upon them at new localities.
Unless legal interference, either by the States of Kansas, Colorado, and Texas,
or by the general government, be speedily made, and rigorous restrictions
most thoroughly enforced, the fate of the buffalo south of the Platte will be a
repetition of its history east of the Mississippi River, namely, speedy exter-
mination.

Area now occupied by the Southern Herd.—The region south of the Platte
inhabited by the buffalo is already reduced to a very limited area. At the
northward their range extends over only the head-waters of the Republican,
and thence westward to the South Platte, to the northward of which river
they still sometimes appear, their range thus including the small portion of
Southwestern Nebraska that lies south of the Union Pacific Railway. They
range thence southward throughout Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado,
the extreme western part of the Indian Territory, Northern and Western
Texas, extending in the latter State southward to the 30th parallel, and
from the 98th meridian westward over the northern portion of the Staked
Plains nearly to the eastern boundary of New Mexico. In 1873 they ranged
westward to within a hundred miles of Santa Fé.*

Region between the Platte River and Parallel of 49°.— Passing to the north-
ward of the Platte River, we will consider first the region situated between
the Platte River and the United States and British boundary, or the 49th
parallel. The buffalo, as is well known, formerly ranged over the whole
country drained by the Missouri and its tributaries, as well as over the plains
of the Red River of the North, and those of the Assinniboine and the Sas-
katchewan. The plains of the Red River, in Northern Minnesota and
Dakota, formerly connected the great buffalo range of the Upper Missouri
region with that of the Saskatchewan, whilst the Grand Coteau des Prairies
was for a long time one of the regions of their greatest abundance. Begin-
ning with Eastern Dakota, or that portion of ‘the Territory east of the Mis-
souri River, embracing the Grand Coteau des Prairies, we shall pass thence to
the region between the Missouri River and the 49th parallel, and, lastly,
trace their extermination over the vast triangular area bounded by the Mis-

souri and Platte Rivers and the Rocky Mountains.

* H. W. Henshaw, in a letter to the writer, dated March 6, 1875.

i eadaipsiaemanceson agen

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 155

Extermination in Eastern Dakota. — As late as 1850 General John Pope
stated that the buffalo ranged “in immense herds between the Pembina and
Shayenne Rivers,” and were “found in great numbers, winter and summer,
along the Red River,” being “ frequently killed in the immediate vicinity of
the settlements at Pembina.”* Mr. Henry M. Rice also states that in the
spring of 1847 a party of Red River hunters, numbering twelve hundred
carts, went in a body south to Devil’s Lake, in Minnesota (now Dakota) ; +
while Mr. J. E. Fletcher states that twenty thousand buffaloes were at this
time annually killed in the country of the Sioux and Chippewa Indians, south
of the United States and British boundary,§ mostly within the present Terri-
tory of Dakota. The Hon. H. H. Sibley has given an interesting account of
a buffalo-hunt in Eastern Dakota (then a part of Minnesota Territory) in
Schooleraft’s great work on the Indian Tribes of the United States, and in-
corporates therewith a detailed account, furnished him by the Rev. Mr.
Belcourt,|| of the chase of the buffalo on the Pembina Plains. It contains
not only much valuable information respecting the peculiar modes of hunt-
ing pursued by the Red River hunters, but also important statistics re-
specting the rate of their destruction at the date of writing (1853).

Mr. A. W. Tinkham, in the “Itinerary” of his route from St. Paul to Fort
Union, in June and July, 1853, speaks of using the bors de vache for fuel on
Maple River, and reports killing his first buffilo on the Shayenne, one of the
chief tributaries of the Red River. At this time, he says, large herds
roamed over the prairies of the Shayenne River, and extended as far
south as the South Fork of the Shayenne. He also met with recent in-
dications of the buffalo on the White Earth River. 7]

Governor Stevens, in speaking of the abundance of the buffalo on the

Shayenne River, near Lake Zisne, the same year, says: “ About five miles

* Report of an Exploration of the Territory of Minnesota. (Congressional Reports, 3rst Congr., 1st
Session, Senate Doc. No. 42, p. 27.)

+ Congress. Rep., 31st Congr., 1st Sess., House Ex. Doc., Vol. VIII, No. 51, p. 8.

t Ibid., p. 41.

§ Schoolcraft’s History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, Vol. IV,
pp. 101-110.

|| The account given by Mr. Sibley as that furnished by Mr. Belcourt seems to be merely a translation
of Mr. Belcourt’s account of buffalo-hunting by the Red River half-breeds originally contained in a letter
addressed by Mr. Belcourt to Major S. Woods, and dated “St. Paul, November 25, 1845.” This docu-
ment was published by Major Woods in his Report. of his Expedition to the Pembina Settlement in

1849 (Congressional Documents of the 31st Congress, 1st Session, House Doc. No. 51, pp. 44-52).

{ Pacific R. R. Explorations and Surveys, Vol. I, Governor Stevens’s Report, pp. 252 - 258.

156 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

from camp, we ascended to the top of a high hill, and for a great distance
ahead. every square mile seemed to have a herd of buffalo upon it. Their
number was variously estimated by the members of the party, some as high
as half a million. I do not think it is any exaggeration to set it down at
200,000. I had heard of the myriads of these animals inhabiting these
plains, but I could not realize the truth of these accounts till to-day, when
they surpass everything I could have imagined from the accounts which I
had received.” *

According to Assistant Surgeon Asa Wall, buffaloes were still common
about Fort Abercrombie, on the Red River, as late as 1858.t

Mr. W. H. Illingworth, the well-known photographer of St. Paul, informs
me that m 1866, when he made a journey from St. Cloud westward to the
Yellowstone, he met with immense herds for two days in passing the Coteau
des Prairies, west of the James River. They seem to have wholly dis-
appeared east of the Missouri soon after this date, surviving in Southern
Dakota, however, between the James and Missouri Rivers, for some years
after their extermination over the plains of the Red River. As already
stated, they were exterminated east of the Red River as early as about the
year 1850,{ and, being at that time rapidly pressed westward by the Red
River hunters, were wholly exterminated during the few years next follow-
ing throughout the whole basin of the Red River, and even throughout the
whole of the northern half of Dakota. In Southern Dakota, between the
James and the Missouri, they lingered for some years later, but wholly dis-
appeared east of the Missouri prior to the year 1870.

Region between the Upper Missouri and 49th Parallel.—The former existence
of the buffalo over the whole of the region drained by the Upper Missouri
is well substantiated by the evidences they themselves have left, and which
exist in the form of well-defined trails and osseous remains. When Lewis and
Clarke ascended the Missouri in 1804, they met with them at frequent points
along almost its whole course, from the mouth of the Big Sioux to the Forks, §
and subsequent explorers found them on its remotest sources. As late as
1856 this whole region was occupied, at least temporarily, by roving
bands. Lambert, in his general report respecting the topography of this

* Pacific R. R. Rep. of Expl. and Surveys, Vol. XI, pt. 1, p. 59.
+ Med. Statistics U. S. Army, 1855 — 1860, p. 34.

t See above, p. 144.

§ Expedition, etc., Vol. I, pp. 67, 75, 77, et seq.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 157

region, speaks of the extensive plains between the meridian of Fort Union and
the Rocky Mountains as being the “ pasture-grounds of unfailing millions of
the uncouth and ponderous buffalo.’* Lieutenant Saxon, in his report of a
journey down the Missouri, from Fort Benton to Fort Union, made in 1853,
says that during the last few days of their journey, as they approached Fort
Union, they saw innumerable herds of buffalo-cows, in many places extending
in every direction as far.as the eye could reach. Lieutenant Groger, the
same year (October, 1853), also found large bands on the Missouri from the
Musselshell to the Milk River,¢ and small bands were also seen by Tinkham
west of the Great Falls, on the Sun River,§ where herds were also observed

in January, 1854, by Lieutenant Groger.|| In December, 1853, they oc-

curred in great numbers on Big Hole Prairie, on the head of the Jefferson
Fork.§ They were also reported as occurring on the Milk River, near Camp
Atchison, and also on other of the neighboring northern tributaries of the

Missouri.

Dr. Cooper states that in 1860 “the buffalo herd of the Upper Missouri

was spread from the Rocky Mountains, near latitude 49°, southeast,’ and says
that he “found them along the Missouri, from its upper Great Bend, west to
about fifty miles above Milk River, but nowhere in great numbers. Remains
of their skeletons, left about five years since, were abundant west of Fort
Benton, and,” he adds, “I saw one or more old skulls daily in the valley of
the Little Blackfoot and Hell Gate Rivers [west of the mountains], quite
down to the junction with the Bitter Root.” **

Lieutenant M. E. Hogan, 22d United States Infantry, who for some years
previous had been in the United States military service in the Department
of Dakota, informed me in 1873 that the buffaloes had recently crossed the
Marias and Teton Rivers, in Northwestern Montana, from the northward,
and were abundant throughout the region about Fort Shaw, and that there
were “millions of buffaloes” on Milk River.

Respecting the present range of the buffalo between the Missouri River
and the 49th parallel, and the evidences of their recent occupation of this

* Pacific R. R. Rep. of Expl. and Surveys, Vol. I, Governor Stevens’s Rep., p. 167.

+ Ibid, p. 264. :

£ Ibid., p. 494.

§ Ibid., p. 369.

|| Ibid., p. 500.

{ Ibid., p. 167.
** American Naturalist, Vol. I, p. 538.

158 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

whole belt of country, Iam indebted to Dr. Elliott Coues for the subjoined
important communication. Two seasons spent in this region as naturalist
of the United States Northern Boundary Survey have given him opportuni-
ties for collecting much important information respecting this region. The
communication, dated “ Washington, March 2, 1875,” is as follows :—

“The time when the buffalo ranged in this latitude [parallel of 49°], east-
ward of the Red River of the North, passed so long since that the traces of
their former presence have become effaced. The present generation of hunt-
ers in Manitoba and adjacent portions of the United States trail to the west-
ward, by several well-known routes, in pursuit of robes and meat. In travel-
ling from the river I saw no sign whatever until in the vicinity of Turtle
Mountain, where an occasional weather-worn skull or limb-bone may. be
observed. Thence westward to the Mouse River, the bony remains multiply
with each day’s journey, until they become common objects; still, no horn,
hoof, or patch of hide. In the space intervening between this river and the
point where the Coteau de Missouri crosses the parallel of 49°, quite recent
remains, as skulls still showing horns, nose-gristle, or hair, and portions of
skeletons still ligamentously attached, are very frequent. At La Riviére de
Lac, a day’s march west of the Mouse River, there was a grand battue a few
years since, as evidenced by the numbers of bones, the innumerable deserted
badger-holes, and the circles of stones denoting where Indian lodges stood.
Within the Coteau the most recent remains are the rule; and a hundred
miles from such edge (nearly north of the mouth of the Yellowstone) living
animals were seen in the summer of 1873.

“Thus comparing the two great basins of the Red River and of the Mis-
souri, respectively, it will be seen that the animal left the whole United
States portion of the former before it was driven from parts of the Missouri
basin equally far east, or even further eastward. This is borne out by obser-
vations made on my journey from the Mouse River due south to Fort Ste-
venson, on the Missouri. There were few skulls (about as many as between
Mouse River and Turtle Mountain) until I struck the Coteau, within which
they at once multiplied.

“In the western portion of the Red River basin numberless buffalo-drais
still score the ground, with a general north-south trend.

“In the summer of 1874 I approached the parallel of 49° in a southwest-
erly course from the mouth of the Yellowstone. The whole country offered

a fair amount of skeletal remains, in many cases ligamentously cohering, and

i
|
f
,
q

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 159

was furrowed with trails. But there were no living animals in the region
eastward of Frenchman’s River, which is one of the first of many north-south
tributaries of Milk River. A day’s march west of this river brought us to the
edge of the ‘Yellowstone Herd, as the northerly division of the buffalo is
termed, where the first buffalo were seen and killed. Small straggling
droves, or single animals, were observed every day thence to the vicinity
of the Sweet Grass Hills (or Three Buttes, as they are called on the map),
where they become very abundant. In this vicinity many thousands, if not
some hundreds of thousands, passed the season. During the latter part of
August we travelled for several days in continual sight of droves on every
side on the road between the Sweet Grass Hills and Fort Benton; one day the
plain was uniformly dotted, as far as the eye could reach, in at least a quad-
rant of a circle.

“In the comparatively short distance between the Sweet Grass Hills and
the Rocky Mountains we encountered no buffalo, but this was a mere for-
tuitous circumstance for the particular days; the ‘chips’ were everywhere.
They were traced, however, by their remains into the very heart of the
Rocky Mountains, at an altitude of at least 5,000 feet; and I was informed
that the various glades were a winter resort of some of the animals that pass
that season in this latitude. But I could obtain no indication that the buf.
falo ever [here] crossed the mountains. Hunters and guides familiar with
the region for years agree that this barrier is not surmounted, and had never
been passed, either within their memory or according to tradition; indeed,
the Kootanie Pass has been always known as the point where Indians from
the westward have come annually to hunt on the opposite side.

“Tt is sufficiently attested that buffaloes pass the winter in this region, or
at least have very recently done so. In exploring the Sweet Grass Hills I
followed up one gorge where for a mile or so skulls and skeletons lay almost
touching each other in the cul-de-sac. Here was evident indication that a
drove, in attempting to cross from the hog-back on one side to the other,
had sunk in the snow which filled the ravine, and lost many of their number.
The buffaloes are more expert and venturesome climbers than their unwieldy
forms would indicate. Upon the summits of the Sweet Grass Hills, inacces-
sible on horseback, and where a man can only go about by scrambling, their
dung and bones are found, with those of the mountain sheep. The hillsides
here, and the equally steep banks in places along the heads of the Milk

River and its tributaries, too declivous in their natural state to afford footing

160 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

to a horse or mule, are cut by innumerable hoofs into a series of narrow ter-
races, each a buffalo trail.

“Tn the whole region just north of the Milk River, absolutely treeless ex-
cepting along a part of the stream, and on the Sweet Grass Hills, buffalo
chips are everywhere at hand for fuel.

“In descending the Missouri River from Fort Benton, buffalo were seen
almost daily during that part of the voyage which embraced the rapid por-
tion of the river flowing between the bluffs of the Bad Lands. Small droves
were seen.surmounting peaks which, it would seem, only a mountain sheep
could scale; and in one instance, indeed, the attempt was'a failure, and the
animal rolled down hill in a cloud of dust. No more were seen below the
mouth of the Musselshell, where the Missouri widens and enters a flatter
country. The limit on the Missouri corresponds in longitude, in a general
way, with that above noted on the parallel of 49°.”

Tt thus appears that twenty years ago buffaloes were accustomed to fre-
quent the whole region between the Missouri River and the 49th parallel,
from the western boundary of Dakota, or the 104th meridian, westward to
the Rocky Mountains, occurring even throughout the foot-hills of the latter
as well as over the head-waters of the Bitter Root, or St. Mary’s River, one
of the sources of Clarke’s Fork of the Columbia, but that they are now re-
stricted to the region between Frenchman’s Creek, near the 107th meridian,
and the Rocky Mountains, over much of which area their occurrence is
merely irregular and more or less fortuitous, their main range being between
the 110th and the 112th meridians.

Region between the Upper Missowit and Platte Rivers. —t is so well known
that the buffalo formerly ranged throughout this region that there is little
need of presenting further evidence of the fact than will be given incident-
ally in tracing the boundaries of their present range, and in sketching the
history of their extirpation over the greater part of this extensive territory.
Beginning at the eastward, we find that Bradbury in 1810, in crossing from
the Platte River northward to the Mandan Villages, met with a few buffaloes
in what is now Eastern Nebraska, on the Elk Horn River, and that they
were then plentiful on the Canon Ball and Heart Rivers, in what is now
Southwestern Dakota.* They lingered in Southwestern Dakota till within
a very short time. The last buffalo killed near Fort Rice was taken in 1869,

* Bradbury (John), Travels in the Interior of North America in the years 1809, 1810, and 1811, pp. 53,
34,

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 161

when three were killed from a herd of ten old bulls that had wandered con-
siderably to the eastward of the main herds. According to Dr. W. J. Hoft-
man, to whom I am indebted for other interesting facts relating to the sub-
ject of the present paper, the buffaloes disappeared from the region between
the Cheyenne and Grand River Agencies at about the same time (1869),
although occasional stragglers frequented the plains toward the Black Hills
till somewhat later. He states that fresh hides were brought into the Grand
River Agency in 1872, that were obtained about one hundred miles to the
westward of that place.* Dr. Hayden also informs me that a few were found
until a few years since south of the Black Hills, on the sources of the Nio-
brara and Cheyenne Rivers, from which localities they have, however, been
since exterminated.

As already stated, they were abundant about Fort Union at the mouth of
the Yellowstone, in 1853, and for some distance below this point west of the
Missouri, where they remained for some years later. Dr. Hayden informs
me that they were abundant there as late as 1859, and that even as late as
1866 they occupied much of the country between Fort Union and Fort Pierre.
In 1861 Dr. Hayden published the following general statement in relation
to the range of the buffalo at that time on the Upper Missouri. “They oc-
cur,” he says, “in large bands in the valley of the Yellowstone River, and in
the Blackfoot country, but their numbers are annually decreasing at a rapid
rate. Descending the Yellowstone in the summer of 1854, from the Crow
country, we were not out of sight of large herds for a distance of 400 miles.
....In 1850 they were seen as low down on the Missouri River as the Ver-
milion, and in 1854 a few were killed near Fort Pierre. But at the present
time (1861) they seldom pass below the 47th parallel on the Missouri. Every
year, as we ascend the river, we can observe that they are retiring nearer
and nearer to the mountainous portions.” +

General W. F. Raynolds, in passing from Fort Pierre westward in July,
1859, says that the whole country, for one hundred and forty miles, was a
dry, desolate tract, a few antelopes forming the only living things met
with; “but buffaloes,” he says, “have evidently been here, and may return
at more favorable seasons of the year. Six bulls were seen to-day in the
distance, as we drove into camp, being our first sight of the famous ‘lords

of the prairie’ We are now approaching the Black Hills, however, and will

* In a letter dated April 16, 1875.
t Transact. Amer. Phil. Soc, Vol. XH, 2d Series, p. 150.

162 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

soon have them around us in abundance.’* This locality was on the head-
waters of the Cheyenne. Again, in speaking of the valley of the Yellow-
stone, he says: “This valley has long been the home of countless herds of
buffalo. . . . . When my party first reached the bluff overlooking the Yel-
lowstone the sight was one which in a few years will have passed away for-
ever. I estimated that about fifteen miles in length of the wide valley was
in view. The entire tract of forty or fifty square miles was covered with
buffalo as thickly as in former days in the West (when cattle were driven to
an Eastern market) a pasture-field would be which was intended only to
furnish subsistence to a large drove for a single night. I will not venture
an estimate of their probable numbers.” T

In 1873 I made a journey from Fort Rice, on the Missouri, to the Yellow-
stone and Musselshell Rivers, accompanying the “ Yellowstone Expedition”
of that year (General D. 8. Stanley commanding) as naturalist of the expe-
dition. From my report on the collections made I quote the following:
“Recent signs of the buffalo were first met with in the valley of the Yellow-
stone, near the mouth of the Rosebud, — tracks of single old bulls that had
passed down to the river for water within a period of a few weeks, Above
this point considerable numbers seemed to have frequented the river valley
during the early part of the season (1873), and tracks but a few days old
were frequent for the last ten miles before reaching Pompey’s Pillar. The
first buffalo seen was observed about twelve miles west of Pompey’s Pillar.
Hight miles further west, on the divide between the Yellowstone and the
Musselshell, we found large herds had grazed but a day or two before our
arrival, and fresh tracks of cows and calves, as well as of bulls, were abun-
dant. From this point to the Musselshell we were frequently in sight
of large bands, and quite a number of individuals were killed. They
moved off rapidly, however, as we approached, and at no time were more
than a few hundred in sight at once. We found later that the valley of the
Musselshell and its adjoiming prairies had been the recent feeding-ground of
large herds, immense numbers having evidently spent the early part of the
season there. They seemed not, however, to have visited the valley in
large numbers before for many years, as all the trails and other signs had
evidently been made within the few weeks immediately preceding our ar-

rival. Traces of ancient trails remained, but they were few and insignificant

* Exploration of the Yellowstone, p, 27.
¥ Ibid, p. vi.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 163

as compared with those of the present year. The herds seemed to have
occupied the whole valley as far as we followed it (from the 109th meridian
to the Big Bend), as well as the plains on either side. Considerable bands
had also ranged over the divide between the Musselshell and the Yellow-
stone, particularly along the two Porcupine Creeks. General Custer met
with small herds still further to the eastward, and the main expedition came
in sight of a few near the mouth of Custer’s Creek, where several were
killed by the scouts. On our return we found that during our absence small
bands had visited the valley of the Yellowstone itself, and had ranged as far
down as Powder River, while quite large herds had recently passed up Cus-
ter’s Creek.

“ Occasional skeletons and buffalo chips in a good state of preservation
occur eastward nearly to the Missouri, but the only very recent signs ob-
served this year east of the Yellowstone were the tracks of a few old strag-
gling bulls a few miles east of the river.”* 1 was also informed by credible
authorities that they then wintered in great numbers on the head-waters of
the Big Horn, Tongue, and Powder Rivers, passing northward in spring to
the Yellowstone and Musselshell. Mr. Reynolds, a hunter and scout of great
experience, and an unquestionable authority, informed me that the buffalo
range of the Upper Missouri embraced the regions of the Powder, Tongue,
Big Horn, and Upper Yellowstone Rivers, and thence northward over the
Musselshell, Teton, and Marias Rivers, to the Milk River.

The recent rapid extermination of the buffalo over Southwestern Dakota
and the adjoining portions of Wyoming has been undoubtedly effected
mainly by the Sioux Indians, who have of late ranged over this region.
This at least is the view taken by Colonel Dodge, and apparently with good
reason. He refers to the subject as follows: “The great composite tribe of
Sioux, driven by encroaching civilization from their homes in Iowa, Wiscon-
sin, and Minnesota, had crossed the Missouri and thrust themselves between
the Pawnees on the east and the Crows on the north and west. A long-con-
tinued war between the tribes taught at least mutual respect, and an im-
mense area, embracing the Black Hills and the vast plains watered by the
Niobrara and White Rivers, became a debatable ground, into which none but
war parties ever penetrated. Hunted more or less by the surrounding
tribes, immense numbers of buffalo took refuge in this debatable land, where

they were comparatively unmolested, remaining there summer and winter

* Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. XVI, pp. 39, 40, 1874.

164 : THE AMERICAN BISONS.

in security. When the Pawnees were finally overthrown and forced on to a
reservation, the Sioux poured into this country, just suited to their tastes,
and, finding buffalo very plenteous and a ready sale for their robes, made
such a furious onslaught upon the poor beasts that in a few years scarce a
buffalo could be found in the extensive tract of country south of the
Cheyenne and north and east of the North Platte River. This area, in
which the buffalo had thus become practically extinct, jommed on the south-
west the Laramie Plains country, and there resulted a broad east-and-west
belt from the Missouri to Montana, which contained no buffalo.” *

I learn from General F. H. Bradley (U. 8. Infantry) that in 1868, when
Forts Smith, Reno, and other military posts in the Black Hills region were
abandoned, buffaloes were very abundant in all the so-called Big Horn coun-
try, and that in one day they killed fifty tons of meat for garrison use.

During the period of the government surveys for a railroad route from the
Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, during 1853 to 1856, buffaloes were
met with in great abundance on the southern tributaries of the Missouri,
between the Great Falls of the Missouri and the mouth of the Yellowstone.
In passing from Fort Benton southeast to the Musselshell River, Lieutenant
Mullan reports meeting with three lean old bulls on Arrow River, large
herds on the head of the Judith River, between the Girdle and Judith
Mountains, and a considerable number along the Musselshell.t

In 1871 no buffaloes occurred in Eastern Wyoming south of the Black
Hills, and they had also already been long extinct over the Laramie Plains,
and in the valley of the North Platte in Western Wyoming, which region
they probably have not regularly frequented since they were dispersed, about
1849 — 50, by the great overland emigration to California. I was informed
that none then existed in the territory south of the Sweetwater Mountains
and the Black Hills. Frémont, in 1842, constantly met with large herds as
far west as the Laramie River, but none were seen on the North Platte above
the junction of the Laramie until he reached the mouth of the Sweet Water,
the grasshoppers arid the dry weather having destroyed the grass over the
Laramie Plains. An explanation of their final disappearance from the Lar-
amie Plains has been offered by Colonel Richard I. Dodge, which is ‘at least
probable. He says that according to hunters’ traditions the Laramie Plains
were visited in the winter of 1844-45 “by a most extraordinary snow-

* Chicago Inter-Ocean, August 5, 1875.
} Pacific R. R. Rep. of Expl. and Surveys, Vol. XI, pt. i, p. 59.

aceite, Weenies

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 165

storm. Contrary to all precedent, there was no wind, and the snow covered
the surface evenly to the depth of nearly four feet. Immediately after the
storm a bright sun softened the surface, which at night froze into a crust so
firm that it was weeks before any heavy animal could make any headway over
it. The Laramie Plains, being entirely surrounded by mountains, had always
been a favorite wintering-place for the buffaloes. Thousands were caught in
this storm, and perished miserably by starvation. Since that time not a
single buffalo has ever visited the Laramie Plains. When I first crossed
these plains, in 1868, the whole country was dotted with skulls of buffaloes,
all in the last stages of decomposition and all apparently of the same age [or
period of exposure], giving some foundation for the tradition. Indeed, it
was in answer to my request for an explanation of the numbers, appearance,
and identity of age [condition] of these skulls, that the tradition was related
to me by an old hunter, who, however, could not himself vouch for the
ducts, *

That this may have been the case seems very probable from the fact
that I found, in returning over these plains in December, 1871, the snow so
deep and so heavily encrusted that the herds of domestic stock were dying
from starvation whenever it happened that their owners had not provided
for such an emergency by laying in a good supply of hay. Many animals
perished from lack of food and shelter, the occurrence of such conditions as a
deep snow heavily encrusted being wholly unlooked for; and had buffaloes
been then living on these plains they could hardly have survived the long
period during which the ground was inaccessible to grazing animals.

The buffalo has also become exterminated over a large portion of the
country to the northward of the Sweet Water along the eastern base of the
Rocky Mountains, extending northward, in fact, over the head-waters of the
Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. Dr. Hayden informs me that but few
were found in 1871 and 1872 on the Upper Yellowstone, and that they are
now rarely seen above Shields River, although they occurred in the Wind
River Valley in 1860. He says, moreover, that very few are found on the
Three Forks of the Missouri, where they have been nearly all destroyed or
driven out by the miners. Those that remain are chiefly old bulls, the scat-

* Chicago Inter-Ocean, August 5, 1875. This and the previous extracts from the Inter-Ocean news-
paper were sent to this paper by a reporter accompanying the Black Hills Expedition of 1875, of which
Colonel Dodge was in command, as a portion of an “advance chapter” from a forthcoming book on
the West by Colonel Dodge. This book, “ based on personal experience,’ has been announced as about

to appear, with maps and illustrations, under the title of “The Black Hills.”

166 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

tered survivors of the former large herds, and which of course will not long
remain. He also says that a few were met with in the valley of the Gros
Ventres as late as 1860,-and in the valley of the upper part of the Snake
River Valley in 1870, — the two latter localities of course being on the west-
ern slope of the Rocky Mountains.

It thus appears that the present range of the buffalo between the Platte
and the Missouri is confined to the comparatively small area drained by the
principal southern tributaries of the Yellowstone, namely, the Powder, the
Tongue, and the Big Horn Rivers, from which they range northward over
the middle portions of the Yellowstone and the Musselshell Rivers to the

Missouri.

Former BounpDARIES OF THE RANGE OF THE BUFFALO WITHIN THE Britisu
POSSESSIONS, AND ITS PRESENT DISTRIBUTION WITHIN THAT AREA.

The range of the buffalo, as previously remarked, formerly extended con-
tinuously from the plains of the United States northward to Great. Slave
Lake, in latitude 62° to 64° north, being apparently almost as numerous over
the plains of the Red River, the Assinniboine, Quappelle, both branches of
the Saskatchewan, and the Peace River, as over the plains of the Missouri.
Franklin, in 1820, met with a few at Slave Point, on the north side of Great
Slave Lake,* and Dr. Richardson states that in 1829 they had recently,
according to the testimony of the natives, wandered to the vicinity of Great
Marten Lake, in latitude 63° or 64°. In respect to the distribution of the
buffalo in the “Fur Countries,” Dr. Richardson speaks as follows: “ As far as
I have been able to ascertain, the limestone and sandstone formations, lying
between the great Rocky Mountain ridge and the lower eastern chain of

primitive rocks, are the only districts in the fur countries that are frequented

by the bison. In these comparatively level tracts there is much prairie-land,

on which they find good grass in the summer; and also many marshes over-
grown with bulrushes and carices, which supply them with winter food.
Salt springs and lakes also abound on the confines of the limestone, and

* “ A few frequent Slave Point, on the north side of the lake, but this is the most northern situation in
which they were observed by Captain Franklin’s party.” —Sapinr, Zodlogical Appendix to Franklin's
Journey, p. 668.

+ Fauna Boreali-Americana, Vol. I, p. 279. See also Zodlogical Appendix to Parry’s Second Voyage,

p. 332.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 167

there are several well known salt-licks, where bison are sure to be found at
all seasons of the year. They do not frequent any of the districts formed of
primitive rocks, and the limits of their range to the eastward within the
Hudson Bay Company’s territories may be correctly marked on the map by
a line commencing in longitude 97° on the Red River which flows into the
south-end of Lake Winipeg, crossing the Saskatchewan to the westward of
the Basquian hill, and running thence by the Athapescow to the east end
of Great Slave Lake. Their migrations to the westward were formerly lim-
ited by the Rocky Mountain range, and they are still unknown in New Cale-
donia and on the shores of the Pacific to the north of the Columbia River;
but of late years they have found out a passage across the mountains near
the sources of the Saskatchewan, and their numbers to the westward are
said to be annually increasing.” * The range of the buffalo in British
America was hence co-extensive with the prairies, meeting the range of the
musk-ox on the north, and the prairies and plains of the United States on
the south. It was not, however, exclusively confined to the plains, and
apparently less so at the northward than toward the south. Besides posi-
tively forsaking the more exposed portions of the northern plains and seek-
ing refuge in the woods during the severer periods of cold in winter, they are
said to frequent, at all seasons, the timber adjoining the prairie districts. In
a later work Dr. Richardson refers to the range of this animal as follows:
“The bison, though inhabiting the prairies in vast bands, frequents also the
wooded country, and once, I believe, almost all parts of it. down to the coasts
of the Atlantic; but it had not until lately crossed the Rocky Mountain
range, nor is it now known on the Pacific Slope, except in a very few places.
Its most northern limit is the Horn Mountain [in latitude 62°].”+ To the
northward of the Saskatchewan, the prairie country is confined to limited
areas, and there buffaloes range extensively through the open woods The
habitat of the bison north of the United States, at the beginning of the
present century, hence embraced a triangular area, extending through about
seventeen degrees of longitude (from 96° to 113°) on the northern boun-
dary of the United States, decreasing in breadth northward to a narrow point
* Fauna Boreali-Americana, Vol. I, pp. 279, 280.
t Arctic Searching Expedition: A Journal of a Boat-Voyage through Rupert’s Land and the Arctic
Sea, American ed., p. 99, 1852.
{ Hind believes that the so-called “ prairie” buffalo, as distinguished by the hunters from the “wood ”

buffalo, formerly “ranged through open woods, almost as much as he now does through the prairies.’ —

Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Expedition, Vol. II, p. 106.

168 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

at Great Slave Lake. At present, however, they are confined within much
narrower limits than formerly, and are quite absent over large areas that
once were among their favorite resorts.*

The following abstracts and quotations embrace the more important refer-
ences to the range and extermination of the buffalo in British North Amer-
ica, and are arranged nearly in a chronological order. In 1790 Mackenzie
found buffaloes in considerable numbers on Peace River, along which they
extended westward to the base of the Rocky Mountains.— At this time they
abounded also on the plains between the Assinniboine, Red, and Missouri
Rivers, as well as on both branches of the Saskatchewan and their tribu-
taries. t

Ross Coxe, in June, 1812, also found the buffalo in small numbers on the
head-waters of the Assinniboine River and its tributaries, § but from all this

* According to the observations of Mr. W. H. Dall, and others, a near ally of the buffalo (the Bison
antiquus Leidy = B. ecrassicornis Richardson) formerly existed considerably to the northwestward of
the former range of the living species, extending throughout probably nearly the whole of Alaska.
The evidences of this consist in the occurrence of their fossil remains at different localities in the
valley of the Yukon and elsewhere. In answer to inquiries of mine, Mr. Dall wrote me, under
date of San Francisco, Cal., January 23, 1871, as follows, respecting the distribution of these re-
mains: “Your letter is at hand, and in reply I can only say that the bones of the bison are
found on the Upper Yukon, from the ramparts eastward and northward, and also at Kotzebue Sound.
They are found, like all the remains of tertiary mammals in that region, on or very near the surface, and
are especially abundant on the Kotlo River, which falls into the Yukon above Fort Yukon [latitude 66°,
longitude 141°, —just west of the United States and British boundary]. The remains I have seen, with
those of the elephant (in similar situations), are black and fossilized. The bones of the musk-ox and
mountain goat, on the contrary, are white, and look very recent. The latter animal is still rarely found
living on the mountains near the Upper Yukon. The bison remains which I have seen have been princi-
pally horn-cores and the remains of the cranium and lower jaws. ‘The indications are that the Elephas
primigenius and the fossil bison were contemporaries, but that the musk-ox was a later comer. However,
this idea rests merely on the appearance of the bones, as the bones of all (as well as the remains of fossil
horses) are found together in a bed of blue clay, near the surface, at Kotzebue Sound, and (barring the
horses) all over the Upper Yukon Valley, in similar positions, irregularly scattered on the ground. I
found the cranium of an elephant in the grass at the mouth of the Yukon, skulls of musk oxen and bisons
on the surface in little valleys in the Ramparts, and on the alluvial plain near Fort Yukon.”

In addition to the above, I have since been informed by Mr. Dall that he obtained a complete skull,
except the lower jaw, on the Sitzikunten River, just below the Ramparts of the Yukon, in about latitude
65° and longitude 151°, and other fragments about fifty miles lower down the Yukon. The skull was
unfortunately lost during the subsequent journey down the river. [The above should have been inserted
in connection with the history of Bison antiquus, but was accidentally omitted. ]

+ Mackenzie (Sir Alexander), Travels to the Polar Sea and to the Pacific Ocean in the years 1789 -

91, Vol. I, pp. 147, 155, 156, 377.
t Ibid., pp. Ixi, xii, Ixv, lxix.
§ Adventures on the Columbia River, p. 259.

iy, ramen

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 169

region they have now nearly or quite disappeared. Hind reports finding
bones and horns of buffaloes on the Assinniboine River, between Fort Garry
and Prairie Portage, in 1857, but makes no mention of the occurrence of the
animals themselves there at that date, but says they were still found on the
sage plains further north. The Red River hunters at this time, he says,
went part to the plains of the Saskatchewan, and part to the Yellowstone
and Coteau de Missouri for their buffaloes.* Alexander Ross, writing at
about the same date, also says, “Formerly all this part of the country [Red
River Plains] was overrun by wild buffalo, even as late as 1810”; but adds,
“Of late years the field of chase has been far distant from the Pembina
Plains.” f

Simpson reports that buffaloes were abundant on the plains south of the
Saskatchewan in the winter of 1836, and that the country about Carlton
House was completely intersected with their deeply-worn trails, and strewed
with their skeletons; from this region they had been temporarily driven by
the autumnal fires. He also met with a few buffaloes on the Clear Water
River, a little above its junction with the Athabasca. In January, 1840,
they were also extremely abundant about Carlton House. t

Respecting the range and the migrations of the buffalo within the British
Possessions about the year 1858, Hind observes as follows: “Red River
hunters recognize two grand divisions of buffalo, those of the Grand Coteau
and Red River, and those of the Saskatchewan... . . The north-western
buffalo ranges are as follow. The bands belonging to the Red River Range
winter on the Little Souris, and south-easterly towards and beyond Devil’s
Lake, and thence on to Red River and the Shayenne. Here, too, they are
found in the spring. ‘Their course then lies west towards the Grand Coteau
de Missouri until the month of June, when they turn north, and revisit the
Little Souris from the west, winding round the flank of Turtle Mountain to
Devil’s Lake, and by the Main River (Red River), to the Shayenne again.
In the memory of many Red River hunters, the buffalo were accustomed to
visit the prairies of the Assinniboine as far north as Lake Manitobah, where
in fact their skulls and bones are now to be seen; their skulls are also seen
on the east side of the Red River of the North, in Minnesota, but the living

* Hind (H. Y.), Canadian, Red River, Assiniboine, and Saskatchewan Exploring Expeditions, Vol. 1,

p- 272.
+ The Red River Settlement: Its Rise, Progress, and Present State, p. 15.
¢ Simpson (Thomas), Narrative of the Discovery of the North Coast of America, London, 1843, pp. 40,

45, 46, 60, 402, 404.

170 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

animal is very rarely to be met with. A few years ago they were accus-
tomed to pass on the east side of Turtle Mountain, through the Blue Hills
of the Souris, but of late years their wanderings in this direction have
ceased; experience teaching them that their enemies, the half-breeds, have
approached too near their haunts in that direction.

“The country about the west side of Turtle Mountain, in June, 1858, was
scored with their tracks at one of the crossing places on the Little Souris, as
if deep parallel ruts had been artificially cut down the hill-sides. These ruts,
often one foot deep and sixteen inches broad, would converge from the
prairie for many miles to a favorite crossing or drinking place; and they are
often seen in regions in which the buffalo is no longer a visitor.

“The great western herds winter between the south and north branches
of the Saskatchewan, south of the Touchwood Hills, and beyond the north
Saskatchewan in the valley of the Athabaska ; they cross the South Branch
in June and J uly, visit the prairies on the south side of the Touchwood Hill
range, and cross the Qu’appelle valley anywhere between the Elbow of the
South Branch and a few miles west of Fort Ellice, on the Assinniboine.
They then strike for the Grand Coteau de Missouri, and their eastern flank
often approaches the Red River herds coming north from the Grand Coteau.
They then proceed across the Missouri up the Yellow Stone, and return to
the Saskatchewan and Athabaska as winter approaches, by the flanks of the

Rocky Mountains. We saw many small herds, belonging to the western

bands, cross the Qu’appelle valley and proceed in single file towards the.

Grand Coteau de Missouri in July 1858. The eastern bands, which we had
expected to find on the Little Souris, were on the main river (Red River is so
termed by the halfbreeds hunting in this quarter). They had proceeded
early thither, far to the south of their usual track, in consequence of the
devastating fires which swept the plains from the Rocky Mountains to Red
River in the autumn of 1857. We met bulls all moving south, when ap-
proaching Fort Ellice ; they had come from their winter quarters near the
Touchwood Hill range. As a general rule the Saskatchewan bands of buf-
falo go north during the autumn and south during the summer. The Little
Souris and main river bands go north-west in summer and south-east in au-
tumn.” * Hind also states that the buffaloes still frequented the eastern
flank of the Rocky Mountains.t

* Hind (J. I.), Narrative of the Canadian Red River Expedition of 1857, and of the Assinniboine and
Saskatchewan Exploring Expeditions of 1858, Vol. II, pp. 107-109. See also Vol. I, pp. 295, 306, 336,
342, 856.

+ Ibid. Vol. II, p. 106.

i

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 171

The Earl of Southesk, in his recently published narrative of his sporting
adventures in British North America in 1859,* makes but few references to
the buffalo, and adds nothing of much importance to our knowledge of its
distribution. He speaks, however, of their occurrence on the plains west of
Fort Ellice, and of meeting with large herds between the North and South
branches of the Saskatchewan. He also met with their recent remains near
Old Bow Fort, on the South Saskatchewan, at the base of the Rocky Moun-
tains. “The plains,” he says, “are all strewn with skulls and other vestiges
of the buffalo, which came up this river last year in great numbers. They
were once common in the mountains. At the Kootanie Plain I observed
some of their wallowing-places, and even so high as a secluded little lake
near where the horses were taken up to the ice bank, I saw traces of them.

They are now rapidly disappearing everywhere.” A few were also seen

near the Touchwood Hills, west of Fort Pelly, in November, which was about

the most easterly point at which they were seen.t

Captain W. F. Butler, writing in 1872, thus speaks of the region of the
Touchwood Hills: “This region bears the name of the Touchwood Hills.
Around it, far into endless space, stretch immense plains of bare and scanty
vegetation, plains scored with the tracks of countless buffalo, which, until a
few years ago, were wont to roam in vast herds between the Assinniboine
and the Saskatchewan. Upon whatever side the eye turns when crossing
these great expanses, the same wrecks of the monarch of the prairie lie
thickly strewn over the surface. Tundreds of thousands of skeletons dot
the short, scant grass; and when fire has laid barer still the level surface
the bleached ribs and skulls of long-killed bison whiten far and near the dark
burnt prairie.” $

Captain Butler crossed the plains from Fort Ellice in a northwest direction
to Fort Carlton (Carlton House), and journeyed thence up the North Sas-
katchewan River to the base of the Rocky Mountains; but he seems not to
have met with any living buffalo throughout his journey. He again refers
to the vast diminution the buffalo has undergone, and mentions the whole-
sale slaughter formerly practised by the Cree Indians on the plains of the
Saskatchewan, and describes a hunt he himself participated in on the plains
of Nebraska. Referring to the rapidity with which the buffalo is vanishing

* Saskatchewan and the Rocky Mountains, 1875.
t Ibid., pp. 52, 254, 306.
{ The Great Lone Land, p. 217, 1873.

172 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

from the “great central prairie land,’ he says: “Far in the northern forests
of the Athabasca a few buffaloes may for a time bid defiance to man, but
they, too, must disappear, and nothing be left of this giant beast save the
bones that for many an age will whiten the prairies over which the great
herds roamed at will in times before the white man came.” *

Mr. Huyshe, writing in 1871 of the region about Fort Garry, says: “Buf

falo are no longer found nearer than three hundred miles west of Fort
Garry, and are gradually being driven further and further west by the ad-
vancing stream of civilization.” +

In a valuable communication respecting the present and former range of
the buffalo in the British Possessions, kindly sent me by Mr. J. W. Taylor,
U.S. Consul at Winnipeg, Mr. Taylor, under date of “United States Con-

sulate, Winnipeg, B. N. A., April 26, 1873,” writes as follows: “In preparing -

this reply to your note requesting information respecting the comparative
numbers and present range of the buffalo, I have consulted Mr. Andrew
McDermott, an old and intelligent resident of Selkirk Settlement, now known
as the province of Manitoba. This gentleman, when a very young man, was
| from 1812 to 1821,—and
has since been a successful trader. His position in the country is attested
by his recent appointment as the Manitoba Director of the Canada Pacific

in the service of the Hudson Bay Company,

Railway Company.

“My informant, in 1818, was in the midst of a large herd, only two miles
west of Fort Garry, where I am writing. His party stood for an hour in the
midst of the black moving mass, with difficulty preventing themselves, by
the constant discharge of fire-arms, from being trampled to death. Now, in
1873, the nearest point where the animal is found is at the Woody Hills,
upon the International frontier, three hundred miles southwestwardly, while
you must go five hundred miles west to meet large bands. Formerly a
variety called the wood buffalo was very numerous in the forests surround-
ing Lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba, the last survivor having been killed only
two years ago, on Sturgeon Creek, ten miles west of Fort Garry. The wood
buffalo is smaller than its congener of the plains, with finer and darker wool,
and a superior quality of flesh. It more resembles the ‘bison’ of naturalists.

“The Saskatchewan plains, near the Rocky Mountains, have always been
a great resort of the buffalo, and although the traditions of their immense

* The Great Lone Land, pp. 315, 320.
+ Huyshe (G. L.), The Red River Expedition, p. 280, 1871.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 173

multitudes fifty years ago have hardly been sustained of late, yet I am
inclined to the opinion that the extension of settlements in Dakota and Mon-
tana, the navigation of the Missouri by steamers, and the construction of the
Northern Pacific Railroad are concentrating the herds which had previously
retreated northward from the great overland route now traversed by the
Union Pacific Railroad, upon the tributaries of the Saskatchewan. Quite
recently, a party of hunters in the district adjoming the country of the
Blackfoot Indians, in longitude 110°, latitude 51°, was seven days in passing
through a herd. The Saskatchewan district sent 17,930 buffalo-robes through
Minnesota to market during the year ending September 30, 1872, while an
equal number was either consumed in the country or despatched to Europe
by vessels from York Factory, on Hudson’s Bay.”

Respecting the present range of the buffalo in that portion of the British
Possessions immediately north of the United States line, I have been fa-
vored, through Principal J. W. Dawson of McGill College, Montreal, with
the following important communication from Professor George M. Dawson,
Geologist of the British and United States Boundary Survey, dated McGill
College, Montreal, June 3, 1875: “Understanding from Principal Dawson
that you wish to collect information as to the range of the buffalo in British
North America, I have marked on the enclosed portion of a map the range
of the animal on the forty-ninth parallel, of which alone I can speak from

ei : Lo, e %e~
% Lee des, oy Tron eR BR Pp)
SS > é é PB yyoh™ ILLS. y ;
BSS > ww ; = ae
= g @
Re 5 wf, at | oO
i: ee 50 wt
ee .
eZ ke a A. *. ah g z
Ss Rep 2 a ame % rs
Ne S i LE > As YP ssh a = .
UPS = (Elle nom bene Ween oz
La x RA ee Ng Se
rae &/ BEAN, op [Mi ZAI a 2
ELBA sey? LEE A ae 8
ee ee oe ice XN Cer gm } ARR
Lay *LLS. Burraco Sapy 18 20 iN 2 te
LIMIT Approx L Limit oF
FFALO Burraco cHips?

A reduced copy of the map above referred to by Professor Dawson.

The oblique dotted line to the right indicates approximately the eastern limit of ‘buffalo chips” in 1784; the arrows
near the centre, the paths of migration in June, 1874; the shaded area to the left, the range in September, 1874.
personal knowledge. During the last sixteen years it would appear that the
buffaloes have been driven back over two hundred miles on the forty-ninth
parallel, and now do not extend in any force beyond White Mud River, or
Frenchman’s Creék (longitude 107° 30’). They reached this point when we

arrived there late in June of last summer, and were going north in great

;
ii
/
I
ie
(a

174 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

herds, followed by the Sioux Indians. This migration seems to have ceased
before about the 20th of July, when they were confined to the limits
stated on the map,* and remained so till we left the country, in September.
The Sweet Grass Hills form their centre in the vicinity of the Line. The
pasture is good, and the region is besides a sort of neutral ground among the
Indian tribes. We saw abundant traces of the passage of great herds in
spring on the upper branches of Milk River, and they come in to the foot of
the Rocky Mountains. I do not think they ever cross the mountains in the
vicinity of the forty-ninth parallel, though I have seen their bones as far up
the South Kootanie Pass as the last grassy meadow.”

On the map referred to in the above-given letter, and reproduced in the
adjoming wood-cut, it will be seen that a line drawn along Frenchman’s Creek
or White Mud River is given as the eastern limit of the present range of the
buffalo, while the region a little to the west of this line is marked as the
district where “great herds” were seen “going north in June.” The line
drawn parallel to the Little Souris River, and about forty miles to the west-
ward of it, following the Coteau de Missouri, is given as the “ approximate
eastern limit of « buffalo chips.’ ”

In addition to the information contained in Professor Dawson’s letter, I
find the following in his recent “Report on the Geology and Resources of the
Region in the Vicinity of the Forty-ninth Parallel,” etc.: “From what I
could learn,” says Professor Dawson, “I believe that, at the present rate of
extermination, twelve to fourteen years will see the destruction of what now
remains of the great northern band of buffalo, and the termination of the
trade in robes and pemican, in so far as regards the country north of the
Missouri River.” ¢

| Present Range of the Northern Herd. —¥From the foregoing it appears that

what may be termed the great Northern Herd of buffaloes ranges from the |

principal southern tributaries of the Yellowstone northward over a large
part of Montana, far into British North America, extending northward,
doubtless, to the wooded region of the Athabasca and Peace Rivers. To
the westward, north of the United States, buffaloes still range to the base of

the Rocky Mountains, though doubtless somewhat irregularly, and usually

* A belt about seventy-five miles wide, situated on both sides of the 111th meridian, but lying mainly
between the 111th and 112th meridians, and stretching northward towards the South Saskatchewan.

+ Report on the Geology and Resources of the Region in the Vicinity of the Forty-ninth Parallel, etc.,
1875, p. 296.

a

a

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 115

only in small numbers; while their eastern limit does not appear to extend
beyond the longitude of Carlton House, or to the eastward of the 106th
meridian. They have thus, within the last thirty years, become extermi-
nated over more than half of the more fertile portion of the region north of
the United States formerly occupied by them, including the whole of the
vast prairie region drained by the Assinniboine and Qu’appelle Rivers, and
are now confined principally to the arid plains between the two forks of the
Saskatchewan, where, as Professor Dawson believes, they cannot survive for
many years longer. Their numbers and the extent of their range north of
the North Saskatchewan I have at present no means of determining, but it
seems probable that their range has here also become greatly restricted since
the time of Richardson and Franklin’s visits to this region. ©

GENERAL REMARKS RESPECTING THE RAPID DIMINUTION OF THE BurFALo,
AND ITS EVIDENT Destiny oF spEEDY ToTaL ExtTerMINATION.

Tt thus appears that the buffalo has become so reduced in numbers, and so
circumscribed in its range, that, instead of roaming over nearly half of the
continent, as formerly, it is restricted to two small widely separated areas,
the southern of which embraces portions of Texas, Colorado, and Kansas,
scarcely exceeding in area the smaller of these States, while the northern em-
braces only the larger portion of the Territory of Montana and an adjoining
area to the northward of nearly equal extent. Even as late as the beginning
of the present century the buffalo occupied the whole of the region between
the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, and extended from the Rio Grande
on the south to Great Slave Lake on the north, and also over a considerable
area west of the Rocky Mountains, or through thirty-five degrees of latitude
and about twenty degrees of longitude. This immense habitat of almost a
third of the continent has been reduced in three fourths of a century to a
region not larger in the aggregate than the present Territories of Dakota
and Montana. Over a large part of the former vast region they inhabited
they were as numerous as they now are in Western Kansas or Northern
Texas, and ranged at different seasons over the whole. Particular portions
of this area have ever formed their favorite places of resort, where they were
sure to be found at almost any season of the year. There is, for instance,
abundant historie evidence that over the plains of Kansas, especially near
the forks of the Platte, along the Republican, the Pawnee, the Canadian, and

~ 176 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

other tributaries of the Arkansas, they were as numerous when these parts
i were first visited by the early explorers as they have ever been since, and
that subsequent travellers have always found them in immense numbers at
all these points, the plains there literally swarming with them.

q In this connection two questions naturally arise, especially in the minds
of those not fully conversant with the subject: Have the buffalo really
' ‘decreased to the extent these statements imply? or have they simply been
i driven in by the “encroachments of civilization” and concentrated upon a

smaller area? Nota few otherwise intelligent persons, on visiting Western

Kansas or Northern Texas and ‘seeing the herds which there recently liter-

ally blackened the plains, at once adopt the latter hypothesis, and proclaim
| that this vast amount of talk about the decrease of the buffalo is all “non-
( -sense”; that they are just as numerous as ever, and are not at all decreas-
q ing; that the extermination of the wolves and the Indians more than com-
pensates for the slaughter made by the professional hunters and by the
numerous sporting parties from the East.* The hunters often adopt the
same theory, from the most evident reason of self-interest, fearing that some

; restrictions, which will act unfavorably upon their business, may be placed
upon the wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter now carried on; yet the
more candid are willing to admit that, at the present rate of destruction, the
i buffalo can last but a few years longer. That such is the truth is evident on
a moment’s reflection, when one has a full knowledge of the facts. Less
than fifty years ago the buffaloes swarmed in as great— or certainly in very
nearly as great —numbers as at the present time, not only over the regions

they now frequent, but at the same time over the Laramie Plains, over much
of the Green River Plateau, over the head-waters of the Colorado and
Columbia Rivers, over the plains of the Yellowstone, and especially over the
vast plains of the Red River of the North and the Grand Coteau de Mis-
souri; throughout all of which region they have been gradually extermt-
. nated, leaving nothing to mark their former presence but their rapidly crum-
bling skeletal remains and their well-worn trails. Over much of this region

* In General Meigs’s MS. notes on the buffalo, already quoted, he says: “It is a question whether the
buffalo west of the Mississippi have diminished or increased in numbers to this time,” and quotes General :
7 Sheridan’s opinion in confirmation of this view. He says: “General Sheridan, the year after the Grand |

Duke of Russia hunted with him on the Kansas Pacific, told me that he thought there were probably more

buffalo that year than there had ever been before. THe had travelled through seventy miles of buffalo. He i
thought the killing by strychnine of wolves for the hides had saved many buffalo-calves, and the hostilities

with Indians had prevented them from hunting as freely as usual for some years.” A

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 17

they have been not merely driven ow and pressed on to some more secure
retreat, but actually eaterminated, the vast majority being killed on the spot, as
we have seen was the case east of the Mississippi during the last quarter
of the eighteenth century.

This shows with the utmost ee what is to ise the destiny of this
former “monarch of the prairies,” unless rigidly protected by legal restric-
tions, defining not only the seasons at which the animals may be killed, but
also protecting the young and the bearing females. At the present time, as
well as heretofore, those animals are most sought after om which the perpetu-
ation of the race depends, — the young animals of both sexes and the cows.
The older bulls are alike generally useless both to the Indian and the white
hunter. The skins of cows are alone used by the Indians in furnishing

themselves with robes; the young and middle-aged cows are regarded-

as especially desirable by the white hunters, since they afford the best
meat for the market, although along with them are killed yearlings, and
two- and three-year-olds of both sexes; but bulls older than five or six
years are not generally desired, though many have of late years been
killed merely for their hides. The hunting season being chiefly in the fall
and winter, the cows are then with young, and thus two animals are killed
in securing one.

— Recent Destruction of the Buffalo,in Kansas.—Some idea of the havoc re-
cently made with the buffalo-in Kansas can be formed from the following
well-attested statements. At the time of the completion of the Atchison, To-
peka, and Santa Fé Railroad to Dodge City, which occurred September 23,
1872, the principal trade of the town consisted in the “outfitting of hunters,
and exchange for their game.” The number of hides shipped during a
period of three months, beginning with this date (Sept. 23), is reported to
have been 43,029, and the shipment of meat for the same time 1,436,290
pounds.* The forty-three thousand hides of course represent forty-three thou-
sand dead buffaloes, and the one million and a half pounds of meat — the
saddles only being saved — represent at least six or seven thousand more,
making a total of at least fifty thousand killed in three months. The same
authority states that the returns for the January following exceeded those
of the preceding months by over one hundred and jifty per cent, thus making
the number of buffaloes killed merely “around Fort Dodge and the neigh-
borhood,” for this period of four months, exceed one hundred thousand!

* Forest and Stream, February, 1873.

178 - THE AMERICAN BISONS.

This, too, is aside from those killed in “wanton cruelty, miscalled sport, and
for food for the frontier residents.”

Another report of about the same date, referring to a locality about»one
hundred miles southeast of Fort Dodge, says: “Thousands upon thousands
of buffalo hides are being brought here [Wichita, Kansas] by hunters. In
places whole acres of ground are covered with their hides, spread out, with
their fleshy side up, to dry. It is estimated that there are, south of the Ar-
kansas and west of Wichita, from one to two thousand men shooting buffalo
for their hides alone.” * Another account} states that during the season of
1872-73 not less than two hundred thousand buffaloes were killed in Kansas
merely for their hides.¢ It is also stated that in 1874, on “the south fork of
the Republican, upon one spot, were to be counted six thousand five hundred
carcasses of buffaloes, from which the hides only had been stripped. The meat
was not touched, but left to rot on the plains. At a short distance hundreds
more of carcasses were discovered, and, in fact, the whole plains were dotted
with the putrefying remains of buffaloes. It was estimated that there were
at least two thousand hunters encamped along the plains hunting the buffalo.
One party of sixteen stated that they had killed twenty-eight hundred dur-
ing the past summer, the hides only being utilized.” The same account says
that the extent of the slaughter of the buffalo for their hides was so great
that the market for them became elutted to such an extent that. whereas a
few years before they were worth three dollars apiece at the railroad stations,
skins of bulls would now bring only a dollar, and those of cows and calves
sixty and forty cents respectively.§ While on the plains in 1871, I had an
opportunity of witnessing some of the evidences of the wholesale slaughter
of buffaloes for their hides, as practised at that.time along the line of the
Kansas Pacific Railway in Northwestern Kansas, where sometimes several
scores and even hundreds of decaying carcasses, from which nothing but the
hides had been taken, could be seen from a single point of view. During
the season of 1871 meat and hides representing over twenty thousand indi-
viduals were shipped over the Kansas Pacific Railway.

Mr. W.N. Byers, editor of the “Rocky Mountain News,’ in referring to this
wholesale slaughter (in the letter previously quoted), characterizes it as

* Wichita (Kansas) Eagle.

+ Forest and Stream, Oct. 15, 1373.

+ General M. C. Meigs in his MS. notes says that one hundred and eighty thousand hides are reported
to have passed over the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa I’é road alone in a single season.

§ Baird’s Annual Record of Science and Industry for 1874, p. 304.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 179

“simply inhuman and outrageous.” He adds: “The slaughter-ground is
mainly in Kansas, reaching only into the edge of Colorado. Practised hunt-
ers follow the herds day after day, and shoot them down by scores. Sixty,
seventy, eighty or more a day is no unusual number. A good shooter will
keep five or six ‘skinners’ at work. I heard a young man say within a week
past that during the winter of 1873-74 he killed over three thousand buf-
faloes, —in one day eighty-five, in another sixty-four,” ete.

Another writer thus refers to the same subject: “The butchery still [sum-
mer of 1875] goes on. Comparatively few buffalo are now killed, for there
are comparatively few to kill. I was, in October of 1874, on a short trip to
the buffalo region south of Sidney Barracks. A few buffalo were encountered,
but there seemed to be more hunters than buffaloes. The country south of
the South Platte is without water for many miles, and the buffaloes must
satisfy their thirst at the river. The south bank was lined with hunters.
Every approach of the buffaloes to water was met by rifle bullets, and one or
more bit the dust. Care was taken not to permit the others to drink, for
then they would not return. Tortured with thirst, the poor brutes approach
again and again, always to be met by bullets, always to lose some of their
number. But for the favoring protection of night the race would before
now have been exterminated. In places favorable to such action, as the
south bank of the Platte, a herd of buffalo has, by shooting at it by day and
by lighting fires and firing guns at night, been kept from water for four
days, or until it has been entirely destroyed. In many places the valley
was offensive from the stench of putrefying carcasses. At the present time
the southern buffalo can hardly be said to have a range. The term expresses
a voluntary act, while the unfortunate animals have no volition left. They
are driven from one water-hole to meet death at another. No sooner do
they stop to feed than the sharp crack of a rifle warns them to change posi-

.tion. Every drink of water, every mouthful of grass, is at the expense of

life, and the miserable animals, continually harassed, are driven into locali-
ties far from their natural haunts, — anywhere to avoid the unceasing pur-
suit. A few, probably some thousands, still linger about their beloved pas-
tures in the Republican country. A few still hide in the deep caiions of the
Cimarron country, but the mass of southern buffalo now living are to be
found far away from the dreaded hunter, on a belt of country extending
southwest across the upper tributaries of the Canadian, across the northern
end of the Staked Plain to the Pecos River. The difficulty of getting the

180 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

hides to market from these remote and Indian-infested regions is some
guaranty that the buffalo will not be extinct for a few years.” *

These facts are sufficient to show that(the present decrease of the buffalo
is extremely rapid, and indicate most clearly that the period of his extinction
will soon be reached, unless some strong arm is interposed in his behalf. As
yet no adequate game-laws for the protection of the buffalo, either by the
different States and Territories included within its range, or by the general
government, have been enacted. In a country so sparsely populated as is
that ranged over by the buffalo, it might be difficult to enforce a proper law,
yet the parties who prosecute the business of buffalo-hunting professionally
are so well known that it would not be difficult to intercept them and bring
them to justice, if found unlawfully destroying the buffalo. It is evident
that restrictions should be made, not only in respect to season, but the young
and the bearing females should be protected at all seasons. The government
might even set apart certain districts within which the buffalo should be con-

stantly exempt from persecution.t

HisToRICAL AND STATISTICAL REMARKS RESPECTING THE DESTRUCTION AND
ReckLess WASTE OF THE BUFFALO.

In addition to the statistics already given relating to the recent destruc-
tion of the buffalo in Kansas, it seems fitting in this connection to here
append such additional statistical data as can be conveniently gathered con-
cerning its destruction at large, together with a few remarks in respect to
the causes and motives that have led to such a waste of life, and the agencies
that have effected it.

The excitement of the chase, as is well known, seems almost universally

to beget a spirit of wanton destructiveness of animal life. Wherever civil-

* Colonel Richard I. Dodge. — See Chicago Inter-Ocean of August 5,1875.

{ Respecting this matter the following suggestions were made in Professor Baird’s “ Annual Record
of Science and Industry” for 1874, p. 304: “As these animals range almost entirely within the Ter-
ritories of the United States, it is within the province of Congress to enact laws prohibiting their
destruction, but the difficulties lie in the matter of enforcing them. Possibly some provision for seizing
and confiscating the green hides, along certain lines of railway or during certain seasons of the year,
as a part of the penalty to be attached to the violation of the law on the subject, might accomplish the
result; but, at any rate, the subject is one that demands the prompt attention of legislators, in view of
the relationship of these animals to the welfare of the Indians, and the reaction which their destruction
will produce upon the scattered white settlements in the vicinity of the range of both buffaloes and

Indians.”

‘cei

ets ng, sc

i
a
7
)
:

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 181

ized man has met with the larger mammalia in abundance, as has often hap-
pened in the experience of explorers and pioneer settlers of newly discov-
ered countries, the temptation to slaughter for the mere sake of killing
seems rarely to be resisted. In the case of the carnivorous species an
exterminating persecution is often pardonable, and to some extent neces-
sary. The fur-bearing species, even when hunted to excess, are seldom
destroyed wantonly, though often imprudently, the trapper blindly consider-
ing only his immediate profits. In the case of the harmless herbivorous
species, the ungulates especially, selfinterest, it would seem, would prompt
an economical treatment of the game in newly settled districts. But the

history of America shows that no such principle has here been regarded,

where other animals than the buffalo—as the elk, moose, deer, prong-horn,
and mountain sheep — have been slaughtered with the utmost recklessness.
When stress of weather, for instance, or other circumstances, have brought
these animals within the hunter’s power, scores and even hundreds have
often been killed by single parties already so well supplied with the products
of the chase that they had no need for and could make no use of the animals
thus destroyed. The buffaloes, from their great numbers and the little tact
required in their capture, have probably been the victims of indiscriminate,
improvident, and wanton slaughter to a greater extent than any other North
American animal. As already stated, thousands are still killed annually
merely for so-called “sport,” no use whatever being made of them; thou-
sands of others of which only the tongue or other slight morsel is saved ;
hundreds of thousands of others for their hides, which yield the hunter but
little more than enough to pay him for the trouble of taking and selling
them; while many more, though escaping from their would-be captors, die
of their wounds and yield no return whatever to their murderers.* Of the
hundreds of thousands that for the last few years have been annually killed,
probably less than a fourth have been to any great extent utilized. While
this wanton and careless waste has ever characterized the contact of the
white race with the sluggish and inoffensive bison of our plains and prairies,
the Indians have likewise been improvident in their slaughter of this
animal, often killing hundreds or even thousands more during their grand

* Professional buffalo-hunters of the Kansas plains repeatedly assured me that they believe that an
average of not more than one in three of the buffaloes killed by them were secured and made use of.
From extended observations, however, I felt convinced that this was quite too high an estimate of the pro-
portion unrecovered of those killed. Yet the waste is actually enormous, even in the contingencies of

hunting for legitimate purposes, namely, for frontier consumption and shipment to Eastern markets.

io THE AMERICAN BISONS.

annual hunts than they could possibly use, or from which they saved merely
the tongues. The wolves were formerly also a great check upon the increase
of the buffalo, but the hunters by means of poison have reduced their num-
ber much more rapidly than even that of the buffalo, so that the influence of
the wolves in hastening the extirpation of the buffalo is now but slight.
The Indians, too, have vanished before the westward advance of the white
man more rapidly even than the buffalo, so that the destruction of the buf-
falo by the Indians is now relatively far less than formerly. Hence the
opinion, as stated in the preceding pages, has been advanced, and to some
extent publicly advocated, that the present rate of the decrease of the buf-
falo is actually less than formerly, notwithstanding the vast numbers annu-
ally killed by white hunters, in consequence of the greatly reduced numbers,
of the wolves and the Indians. A slight glance at the history of the decline
of the buffalo, however, is sufficient to at once indicate the fallacy of such an
opinion; and none are better aware of this than the most active partici-
pators in their destruction, — the professional buffalo-hunters themselves, —
many of whom are candid enough to admit that, through the almost utter
extermination of the buffalo, their present occupation will soon pass away,
unless the general or local governments enforce the most peremptory restric-
tions upon their slaughter.

The Indians, prior to the discovery of the continent by Europeans, appear
not to have seriously affected the number of buffaloes, their natural increase
equalling the: number destroyed both by the Indians and the wolves. When
the Jesuit missionaries penetrated the range of the buffalo east of the Missis-
sippi, in the seventeenth century, they found this animal the main subsist-
ence of the Indian tribes, as it doubtless had been for centuries, its flesh serv-
ing them for food, its skins for shields, clothing, and tents, and its hair, wool,
horns, hoofs, and bones for various articles of ornament and use. No sooner,
however, had Europeans made settlements within its range, than the buffa-
loes began to disappear, and were either wholly destroyed or driven from
their favorite haunts in the short space of a very few years. The destruc-
tion increased with the increase of the white population till they were totally
exterminated east of the Mississippi (at least, south of the present State of
Minnesota), as already shown, prior to the beginning of the nineteenth cen-
tury. Even as late as fifty years ago they occupied a considerable area west
of the Rocky Mountains, all the extensive parks and valleys within these

mountains, and all the vast plains and prairies between them and the Missis-

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 183

sippi River. The fur-hunters and trappers appear to have begun at this date
to contribute appreciably toward their rapid diminution, but not until the
establishment of the “overland trails,’ and the constant passing of large emi-
grant parties across the plains, did their numbers here become very greatly
diminished. Steadily pressed back on their eastern boundary by advancing

Settlements, they were at the same time rapidly thinned along the line of

the great emigrant routes. These thoroughfares becoming from year to year
more numerously travelled, especially the more northern route by way of
the South Pass, the buffaloes were driven to the right and left of the line
of travel, till finally by this intersection their range was divided into two
essentially distinct regions. The construction of the Union Pacific Railroad
completely severed the northern from the southern herds, while the Kansas
Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé Roads opened up new high-
ways to their most populous holds. In the mean time adventurers and
miners either gradually exterminated them in the parks and valleys of the
mountains, or drove them eastward into the plains, while they were at the
same time preyed upon by the great buffalo-hunting parties from the Red
River Settlements and the United States, until they have dwindled to a few
hard-pressed bands lingering chiefly in the least-frequented parts of their
formerly almost undisturbed haunts.

A century ago the rapid extermination of the buffalo had begun to attract
the attention of travellers, Romans, as early as 1776, alluding to the wanton
destruction of “this excellent beast, for the sake of perhaps lus tongue only.” *
As early as 1820 Major Long thought it highly desirable that some law
should be enforced for the preservation of the bison from wanton destruction
by the white hunters, who, he said, were accustomed to attack large herds,
and from mere wantonness slaughter as many as they were able and leave the
carcasses to be devoured by the wolves and birds of prey.t

Gregg, in 1835, also alludes to the wanton slaughter of these animals by
travellers and hunters, and the still greater havoc made among them by the
Indians, who often kill them merely for their skins and tongues. Their total
annihilation he regarded as only a question of time, although he believed
that if they were only killed for food, their natural increase would perhaps
replenish the loss. Almost every intelligent traveller who has crossed the

* Natural History of Florida, p. 174.
+ Long’s Expedition, Vol. I, p. 482,

{ Commerce of the Prairies, Vol. IT, p- 213.

184 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

plains or spent much time in the buffalo country has also called attention to
this exterminating slaughter, and predicted their complete annihilation at no
very distant date. Some writers believed twenty or thirty years ago that
they would hardly survive to the present time unless*protected by the gov-
ernment.

Dr. Leidy, in 1852, says: “The day is not far distant when it [the buffalo |
will become quite extinct, unless protected by a munificent republic, as has
been done by the Emperor of Russia in the case of the aurochs, or European
bison.” * Professor Baird, writing at about the same time, says: “Still, vast
as these herds are, their numbers are much less than in earlier times, and
they are diminishing with fearful rapidity. Every year sees more or less
change in this respect, as well as alterations of their. great line of travel.
.... If it were possible to enforce game-laws, or any other laws on the
prairies, it would be well to attach the most stringent penalties against the
barbarous practice of killing buffalo merely for the sport, or perhaps for the
tongues alone. Thousands are killed every year in this way. After all,
however, it is perhaps the Indian himself who commits the mischief most

wantonly.” +

General W. F. Raynolds, in his report of his Exploration of the Yellow- ,

stone in 1859 and 1860, thus refers to this matter: } “And here I would
remark, that the wholesale destruction of the buffalo is a matter that should
receive the attention of the proper authorities. It is due to the fact that the
skin of the ‘female is alone valuable for robes. The skin of the male over
three years old is never used for that purpose, the hair on the hind quarters
being not longer than that on a horse, while on the fore quarters it has a
length of from four to six inches. The skin is also too thick and heavy to
be used for anything but lodge coverings, while the flesh is coarse and
unpalatable, and is never used for food when any other can be had. The
result is that the females are always singled out by the hunter, and conse-
quently the males in a herd always exceed the females, in the proportion of
ten to one. Another, but far less important cause of their extinction is the
immense number of wolves in the country, which destroy the young. The
only remedy that would have the slightest effect in the case would be a pro-

hibition of the trade of buffalo-robes, and a premium upon wolf-skins. I fear

* Mem. Extinct Species of American Ox, p. 4 (Smith. Contrib., Vol. V, Art. iii).
+ Pat. Off. Rep., Agricult., 1851-52, Part II, p. 125.
{ Exploration of the Yellowstone, p. 11, published in 1868.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 185

it is too late for even this remedy, and notwithstanding the immense herds
that are yet to be found, I think it is more than probable that another gen-
eration will witness almost the entire extinction of this noble animal.”

During the fifteen years that have passed since this was written, the
wolves have in a great measure been exterminated over much of the buffalo
range, but something far more fatal to the buffalo than anything then known
— the railroad — has penetrated its range, and while the females and the
young are still slaughtered with the same recklessness as before, the old bulls
have of late been hunted with almost equal eagerness.

Statistics relating to the Destruction of the Buffalo, based principally on the Trade
in Robes. — Frémont, in 1845, published some statistics furnished him by Mr.
Sanford, a partner of the American Fur Company, respecting the number of
robes annually obtained from the Indians by the different fur companies.
The average return for the preceding eight or ten years is given as ninety
thousand annually. “In the Northwest,’ says Mr. Sanford, “the Hudson’s
Bay Company purchase from the Indians but a very small number — their
market. being Canada, to which the cost of transportation nearly equals the
produce of the furs; and it is only within a very recent period that they
have received buffalo robes in trade; and out of the great number of buffalo
annually killed throughout the extensive regions inhabited by the Ca-
manches and other kindred tribes [Texas, the Indian Territory, and Kansas]
no robes whatever are furnished for trade. During only four months of the
year (from November until March) the skins are good for dressing; those
obtained in the remaining eight months being valueless to traders; and the
hides of bulls are never taken off or dressed as robes at any season. Proba-
bly not more than one third of the skins are taken from the animals killed,
even when they are in good season, the labor of preparing and dressing the
robes being very great; and it is seldom that a lodge trades more than
twenty skins ina year. It is during the summer months, and in the early
part of autumn, that the greatest number of buffalo are killed, and yet at this
time a skin is never taken for the purpose of trade.” *

Besides the number of robes traded by the Indians, as many or a greater
number were at this time annually used by the Indians themselves. This
would make, at a moderate estimate, the annual number of about two hun-

dred thousand robes, which represent, according to the competent authority

above cited, only one third of the buffaloes killed during about one third of the

* Frémont’s First and Second Expeditions, p. 145.

186 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

year, and during that part of the year, too, when the smallest number are
destroyed. Taking the above data as a basis for an estimate, the whole
number killed annually by the Indians must have equalled eighteen hundred
thousand (1,800,000). Allowing a slight addition for the relatively greater
number killed during the warmer parts of the year, we have, in round num-
bers, the startling total of about two millions as the average annual number
destroyed by only those tribes of Indians who were accustomed to collect
robes for the market. These embraced only a small portion of the tribes
living within or on the borders of the great buffalo range; so that probably
two millions a year is much less than half the number killed at this time by
the Indians alone. Besides this, travellers and white hunters killed annually
hundreds of thousands more. When we consider that this enormous destruc-
tion continued for several decades, we need no longer be surprised at the
rapid numerical de¢rease of the buffalo that has marked the last forty or fifty
years of his history.

In 1852 Professor Baird wrote: “Mr. Picotte, an experienced partner of the
American Fur Company, estimated the number of buffalo-robes sent to St.
Louis in 1850 at one hundred thousand. Supposing each of the sixty thou-
sand Indians on the Missouri to use ten robes for his wearing apparel every
year, besides those for new lodges and other purposes, by the calculation of
Mr. Picotte, we shall have an aggregate of four hundred thousand [sic]
robes [seven hundred thousand?]. We may suppose one hundred thousand
as the number killed wantonly or destroyed by fire or other casualties, and
we will have the grand total of half a million [eight hundred thousand ?]
of buffalo destroyed every year. This, too, does not include the numbers
slaughtered on Red River and other gathering points.”* In this estimate
the important fact is overlooked that the robes are all taken during three
months of the year, at a season too when the smallest number are killed, and
that only about one third of those killed during these three months are util-
ized for robes. If this number should be multiplied by nine, as it evidently
must be from the above-quoted statements of Mr. Sanford, and which from
general considerations also seems probable, we should have the immense total
of from five to seven millions as the number killed yearly by the Indians
who furnished the one hundred thousand robes for the St. Louis market!
Ten robes, however, seems to be a large number to be used annually by

each person. If we reduce the number to three, we shall still have an

* Pat. Off. Rep, Agricult., 1851-52, Part U, p. 125.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 187

annual aggregate of nearly three and a half millions as the number de-
stroyed by the Upper Missouri tribes alone. South of this region there
were at this time upwards of forty thousand Indians belonging to other
tribes living within the range of the buffalo, besides the numerous populous
tribes inhabiting the buffalo range north of the United States. The number
that must have been killed each year by all these tribes together is a start-
ling sum to contemplate.

In 1854 the Hon. H. H. Sibley, in his paper on the buffalo contained in
Schooleraft’s “ History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the
United States,” gives a later estimate of their annual destruction in the Mis-
souri region. He says: “From data which, although not mathematically
correct, are sufficiently so to enable us to arrive at conclusions approxi-
mating the truth, it has been estimated that for each buffalo-robe transported
from the Indian country, at least five animals* are destroyed. If it be borne
in mind that very few robes are manufactured of the hides of buffalo except
such as, in hunter’s parlance, are killed when they are in season, that is
during the months of November, December, and January, and that even of
these a large proportion are not used for that purpose, and also that the
skins of the cows are principally converted into robes, those of the males
being too thick and heavy to be easily reduced by the ordinary process of
scraping; together with the fact that many thousands are annually destroyed
through sheer wantonness, by civilized as well as savage men, it will be found
that the foregoing estimate is a moderate one. From the Missouri region
the number of robes received varies from forty thousand to one hundred
thousand, so that from a quarter to half a million of buffaloes are destroyed
in the period of each twelvemonth.” ¢

From the preceding remarks it is evident that Mr. Sibley’s estimate is far
below the truth. Since as many robes are doubtless used by the Indians
themselves as they sell, this number must include not more than half of the
robes taken during only three or four months of the year. Hence instead
of one fourth to half a million representing the number annually killed at
this date in the Missouri region, probably a million to a million and a half
would be a much nearer estimate. :

In June, 1873, I met at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory, Mr. F.

* Evidently quite too low an estimate.
} Schooleraft’s History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, Vol. IV,
p. 94,

188 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

¥. Gerard, the well-known Cree interpreter, whose twenty-five years’ experi-
ence in the Upper Missouri country, nearly every part of which he had vis-
ited, together with his having been formerly an agent of the American Fur
Company, had given him much valuable information respecting not only the
fur trade but the former range and the recent great decrease in numbers of
many of the larger mammals of that region. From him I learned that in
1857 the trade in buffalo-robes at the principal posts on the Upper Missouri
was about as follows: At Fort Benton, the number received amounted to
3,600 bales, or 36,000 robes; at Fort Union, 2,700 to 3,000 bales, or about
30,000 robes. At Forts Clarke and Berthoud, 500 bales at each post, or
about 10,000 robes; at Fort Pierre, 1,900 bales, or 19,000 robes; giving a
total for one year of about 75,000 robes, which he informed me was about the
annual average at that period. Allowing that the Indians retained only as
many more for their own use, and estimating as before that one robe rep-
resents the destruction of three buffaloes, gives four hundred and fifty thou-
sand as the number killed by a portion only of the Upper Missouri Indians
in one third of a year, or over a million and a third annually. To this
number, as already noticed, must be added the number killed by the Indians
to the northward and southward of this region, as well as the great numbers
destroyed by the Red River half-breeds and by white men.

Respecting the number killed by the Red River hunters, I have met with
no satisfactory statistics, but that it must have been immense is evident from
the number of persons engaged in their hunting expeditions. Mr. Ross, in
his history of the Red River Settlement, states that the number of carts as-
sembled for the first trip in 1820 was five hundred and forty. Subsequently
the number regularly increased to one thousand two hundred and ten in
1840. In his description of the hunt of this year, he states that the number
of hunters engaged was six hundred and twenty for two months, who. were
accompanied by- six hundred and fifty women, and three hundred and sixty
boys and girls, the party numbering altogether sixteen hundred and thirty
“souls. The party was armed with seven hundred and forty guns, and had

with them eleven hundred and fifty-eight horses and five hundred and
eighty-six draught oxen, with other equipments in proportion. During the
“first day of the hunt no less than thirteen hundred and seventy-five buffalo
tongues were brought into camp, and during the first two races not less than

twenty-five hundred animals were killed. Of these he estimates that less

than one third were properly utilized, as he considers that seven hundred and

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 189

fifty animals, making all due allowance for waste, would have been ample
for the amount of pemmican and dried meat saved from them. The rest, he
says, was wasted; “and this,” he adds, “is only a fair example of the manner
in which the plain business is carried on under the present system. Scarcely
one third in number of the animals killed are turned to account.” *

Dr. Hayden, in 1861, says that as near as he could determine, about one
hundred thousand robes were then annually made by the Indians of the
Upper Missouri country.t. Dr. Hayden also states that at this period the
bulls outnumbered the cows ten to one; which personal experience led
me to think was a fair estimate of the proportion of the sexes in 1871 on
the plains of Kansas.

Through the kindness of EH. T. Bowen, Esq., General Superintendent of the
Kansas Pacific Railway, I have obtained a statement of the “estimated ship-
ments of buffalo products over the Kansas Pacific Railway during the year
1871.” This estimate, carefully prepared by the Auditor of the Company,
is as follows: Dry hides, three hundred and forty-one thousand, one hundred
and fifty-one (341,151) pounds, estimated at twenty-five pounds per hide,
and thus representing thirteen thousand six hundred and forty-six (13,646)
buffaloes; eleven hundred and sixty-one thousand four hundred and nine-
teen (1,161,419) pounds of meat, estimated at two hundred pounds per sad-
dle, and thus representing five thousand eight hundred and seven (5,807)
buffaloes. No return is here made of the large amount of salted and cured
meat also sent to Eastern markets. The somewhat less than six thousand
“saddles” represented by the above statement must, it appears to me, be far
below the actual number, as one hunter informed me that he had himself
alone killed over three thousand buffaloes a year for several years, and I
met other persons who claimed to have each killed an equal number.
These statistics would alone indicate a slaughter of at least twenty thousand
buffaloes along the line of the Kansas Pacific Railway during the year 1871,
to which must be added other thousands killed by travellers and amateur
hunters, and by the officers and soldiers stationed at the different military
posts in the same region.

I have been unable to obtain statistics of the shipment of buffalo products
over this road since 1871, as such information, writes the present Superin-
tendent of the road, is not in available shape, and to obtain it would

* Ross (Alexander), The Red River Settlement; its Rise, Progress, and Present State, pp. 242-265.
t Trans. Am. Phil. Soc., New Series, Vol. XII, p. 151.

190 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

involve considerable expense. There has, however, been a great falling off
in the annual amounts shipped since that date, in consequence of the great
decrease of the buffalo throughout the region through which this road passes.

Respecting the quantity of the products of the buffalo shipped over the
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé Railroad during the years 1872, 1873, and
1874, I have been favored with the following statement by the General Su-

perintendent, Mr. C. F. Morse :—

Statement of Buffalo Products shipped over the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé Railroad during a period of
three years, from 1872 to 1875.

Wiese eet
er —“
“ in 1874, rrr —“‘“‘“‘“C(“<“R;R;COOCNC COD
Robes, in 1872, . : 4 ‘ : . 5 : : : No account.
ies
On M8 18,489
Meat, in 1872, : : : 4 : : : ‘ : . No account.
& in 1873, : z ‘ : : 3 : : : 1,617,600 Ibs.
“ in 1874, Ot
.Bones, in 1872, . : : : : 3 : : : : 1,135,300 Ibs.
“i (8 a re
* ApS 3 eB

From the above statement it appears that the number of hides shipped
over this road during a period of three years was nearly half a million,
while the robes, of which the number shipped in a single year only is given,
would make the number exceed this sum. In addition to this number we
have to add, for the number of buffaloes utilized or sold as meat, only the
small number of from three to eight thousand a year more!

In answer to inquiries respecting the shipment of buffalo products over
the Union Pacific Railroad, I have been kindly informed by Mr. E. P. Vining,
General Freight Agent, that no large amount of buffalo products has been
received by this road, and that consequently no statistics of the business
have been kept, as is the case with all the important branches of their
business. These statistics respecting the shipments over the railroads relate
only to the Kansas range of the buffalo, and hence refer merely to a limited

district, and to the slaughter by white hunters alone.

|
|
I
|

i
i

THE AMERICAN BISONS. i

In respect to the recent destruction of the buffalo north of the United
States, Mr. J. W. Taylor, United States Consul at Winnipeg, B. N. A., whose
valuable communication on the buffalo has been previously quoted, informs
me that about eighteen thousand robes were sent to the Minnesota market
from the Saskatchewan district alone during the year ending September
30, 1872, while as many more were either consumed in the country or sent
to Europe by the way of York Factory, or about forty thousand in all. By
far the larger part of the buffaloes killed in the Saskatchewan district, how-
ever, are converted into pemmican and dried meat, and, being killed in
summer, do not enter at all into the above statement made by Mr. Taylor.
From these data it is evident that the destruction of the buffalo in the Sas-
katchewan region in 1872 must have amounted to considerably more than a
million, and these mainly cows.

In forming a general estimate of the annual destruction of the buffalo in

recent years, it is necessary to add to the large sums already given the large
number killed by the different Indian tribes still residing in or near the
ranges of the two herds, as well as the thousands killed for frontier con-
sumption, and the many thousands more of which no use is made. Even
approximate data for the last-named elements of the problem of course do
not exist, but the total killed between 1870 and 1875 cannot have been less
than about two and a half millions annually. The effect of this destruction
upon the already terribly thinned herds has been most marked, and if con-
tinued at a proportional rate will unquestionably in a few years exterminate
the race.

2.— PRODUCTS OF THE BUFFALO.

The flesh of the buffalo is, of course, its most important product, either to
the white man or the Indian. It has not only always formed a large part
of the food of the Indian tribes living within its range, but has also proved
hardly less important to the whites during their first exploration oft the
country it inhabited. The various military and other surveys of the great
central plateau of the continent, as well as the numerous private expedi-
tions to the same region, could have been accomplished only at greatly
increased expense and privation had not the buffalo supplied to the per-
sons engaged in these enterprises a never-failing and ready means of sub-
sistence.

192 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

The buffaloes, in common with deer and elks, have also often been imvalu-
able to the pioncer settler, insuring him food during the first few years at
least of his frontier life. As already noticed, Boone and his party subsisted
almost wholly during their first winter in Kentucky on the flesh of this ani-
mal, and throughout the prairie portions of the country, from Illinois west-
ward to the Rocky Mountains, the buffalo has subserved a most important
purpose in the westward progress of civilization. The vast influx of settlers
that follows the opening of new railroads across the Plains, such as that
which still sets into the valley of the Arkansas along the line of the Atchi-
son, Topeka, and Santa Fé Railroad, thus find a sure subsistence until they
can open up and improve their farms ; and, as one writer has remarked, “ by
the time the last buffalo has disappeared from Kansas, the frontier will be
subdued to civilization and be self-supporting.”

From lack of speedy and cheap means of transportation the consumption of
buffalo meat was, until recently, necessarily limited to the people living near
or within its actual range, and to parties traversing the country it inhabited.
Upon the opening of the Kansas railways, however, many car-loads, as
already shown by the above-given statistics, were shipped durmg winter to
the Eastern cities. While Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and the other
larger cities of the Mississippi Valley formed the principal markets for its
sale, it was also sent in large quantities to Boston, New York, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, and the other chief cities of the East.* When arriving in good
condition, as was usually the case, it rivals beef and venison in cheapness, i
not in quality, besides having the special feature of novelty.

The meat of the buffalo is often spoken of as being dry and tough, and far
inferior in quality to beef. This is in a measure true, the flesh of middle-
aged and elderly bulls being of this character, that of old bulls being eaten
only when none other can be obtained. The flesh of a young fat cow, or of
a yearling or two-year-old bull, however, is not surpassed by the finest beef,
from which it cannot usually be distinguished. During some two months
spent on the Kansas plains in 1871-72, I ate it daily, and would never ask

* As already noticed, upward of one million pounds were shipped, as saddles, over the Kansas Pacific
Railway during the winter of 1871 — 72, besides hundreds of barrels of tongues and cured “hams” during
the same period. Since that time the shipments over this road have greatly diminished, but the reduc-
tion was for a year or two more than balanced by the additional shipments over the Atchison, ‘Topeka,
and Santa Fé road, which in 1873 were over one and a half million (1,617,600) pounds. In 1874, how-

ever, the shipment was less than half this amount, there having been already a marked decline in the

amount of buffalo products transported over this road also.

<n

|
|

THE AMERICAN BISONS. £93

for, as indeed I have never tasted, finer beef than the buffalo meat, which
was almost exclusively used. Often at the hotel in Hays City, as well as at
other public tables in the buffalo country, have I heard the beef praised by
Eastern travellers, who frequently expressed their surprise at the excellent
quality of this article set before them. Often, too, in the same connection, our
Eastern traveller would ask about buffalo meat, whether it was fit to eat,
whether it was much used for food, and whether he would be likely to get a
chance to taste it in his journey across the plains. When told that he had
just partaken of it, that it was buffalo beef which he had been praising, and
that it was the staple meat of the table throughout the buffalo country,
at the hotels and restaurants as well as in the hunter’s camp, his surprise
amounted almost to incredulity, which only the strongest assurances would
remove. The age and condition of the animal, as already stated, has much
to do with the quality of the meat, and a more miserable semblance of food
could hardly be set before one than a steak cut from one of the old “lords
of the prairie.”

The tongue of even an old bull is always regarded as a delicate morsel,
and is often saved when no other part of the animal is touched. The hump
is generally considered to be next in delicacy and tenderness. A few hunters
killed buffaloes during the autumn months for the purpose of curing the
meat. The best pieces only, from young and tender animals, were selected,
and when properly cured were fully equal to the best dried and smoked beef
found in the Eastern markets. <A single hunter at Hays City shipped annu-
ally for some years several hundred barrels thus prepared, which the con-
sumers probably bought for ordinary beef.*

Further northward, on the plains of the Saskatchewan, Assinniboine, Red
River, and Upper Missouri, large quantities of the meat were formerly made
into pemmican. In this form it proves invaluable to the Northern voyageurs
and trappers, of whose commissariat it formed the chief resource. Hind
states that the Hudson’s Bay Company formerly obtained from the Plain
Crees, the Assinniboines, and the Ojibways, pemmican and dried meat to

* Dr. Richardson’s testimony respecting the quality of bison meat is as follows: “The flesh of the bison,
in good condition, is very juicy and well flavored, much resembling that of well-fed beef. The tongue is
deemed a delicacy, and may be cured so as to surpass in flavor the tongue of an English cow. ‘The hump

of flesh covering the long spinous processes of the first dorsal vertebra is much esteemed. It .... hasa

fine grain, and when salted and cut transversely, it is almost as rich and tender as the tongue.’”— Fauna

Boreali-Americana, Vol. I, p. 282.

194 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

supply the brigades of boats in their expeditions to York Factory, on Hud-
son’s Bay, and throughout the interior.*

Pemmican, though made sometimes from the meat of other animals, as
deer, elk, moose, mountain sheep, and reindeer, is prepared principally from
the buffalo. It is put up in bags of from ninety to one hundred and ten
pounds’ weight (according to different authorities), and consists of nearly
equal parts, by weight, of pounded dried meat and tallow. The method of
its preparation has been repeatedly described by different Northern trav-
ellers, f whose accounts differ somewhat in respect to the details, as they do
in respect to its flavor and desirability as an article of food. The Earl of
Southesk ¢ speaks of it as scarcely endurable, and Captain Butler says that
when prepared in the best form it “can be eaten, provided the appetite be
sharp and there is nothing else to be had, — this last consideration is, how-
ever, of importance.”’§ It proves, however, to be exceedingly nutritious,
and is the favorite food of the Indians and the half&breed voyagewrs, and was
formerly so extensively used in the Red River Settlement that the supply
was never adequate to the demand. || According to Mr. Sibley’s account, as
furnished him by the Rev. Mr. Belcourt,] a Catholic priest residing among
the Red River half-breeds, the dried meat and the pemmican are prepared
by these people as follows : —

“The meat, when taken to the camp, is cut by the women into long strips,
about a quarter of an inch thick, which are hung upon the lattice-work pre-
pared for that purpose, to dry. This lattice-work is formed by small pieces
of wood placed horizontally, transversely, and equi-distant from each other,
not unlike an immense gridiron, and is supported by wooden uprights
(trépieds). In a few days the meat is thoroughly desiccated, when it is bent
into proper lengths, and tied in bundles of sixty or seventy pounds’ weight.
This is called dried meat (viande séche). Other portions, which are destined

* Narrative of the Canadian Exploring Expedition, Vol. I, p. 311.

+ See Ross, The Red River Settlement, pp. 262-264; Sibley, in Schooleraft’s History, Condition, and
Prospects of the Indian Tribes, Part IV, p. 107; Hind, Canadian Exploring Expedition, Vol. I, p. 312;
Butler, The Great Lone Land, p. 153, ete.

¢ Saskatchewan and the Rocky Mountains, p. 302.

§ The Great Lone Land, p. 134.

|| Ross, Red River Settlement, p. 165.

‘| Mr. Beleourt’s account appears to have been previously communicated to Major S. Woods, by whom
it was published in the original French as early as 1849, in his report of his Expedition to the Pembina

Settlements. See Congress. Rep., 81st Congress, Ist Session, House Ex. Doc. Vol. VII, No. 54,
pp. 44-52.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 195

to be made into pimikehigan, or pemican, are exposed to an ardent heat, and
thus become brittle, and easily reducible to small particles by the use of a
flail; the buffalo-hide answering the purpose of a threshing-floor. The fat, or
tallow, being cut up and melted in large kettles of sheet-iron, is poured upon
this pounded meat, and the whole mass is worked together with shovels, until
it is well amalgamated, when it is pressed, still warm, into bags made of buf-
falo-skin, which are strongly sewed up, and the mixture gradually cools and
becomes almost as hard as a rock. If the fat used in the process is taken

- from the parts containing the udder, the meat is called fine pemican.. In some

cases dried fruits, such as the prairie-pear and cherry, are intermixed, which
make what is called seed pemican. The lovers of good eating judge the first
described to be very palatable; the second, better; the third, excellent. A
taurean of pemican weighs from one hundred to one hundred and ten
pounds. Some idea may be formed of the immense destruction of buffalo
by these people when it is stated that a whole cow yields one half a bag of
pemican, and three fourths of a bundle of dried meat; so that the most. eco-
nomical calculate that from eight to ten cows are required for the load of a
single vehicle.” * The same account says that “the men break the bones;
which are boiled in water to extract the marrow to be used for frying and
for other culinary purposes. The oil is then poured into the bladder of the
animal, which contains, when filled, about twelve pounds ; being the yield of
the marrow-bones of two buffaloes.” + Ross states that “a bull in good con-
dition will yield forty-five pounds of clean rendered tallow,” and that cows
when in good order yield on an average about thirty-five pounds.

Prior to the time of railroad communication with the Plains, however,
the most important commercial product of the buffalo was its robes. For
many years, as is evident from the statistics already given, not less than one
hundred thousand robes were annually purchased of the Indians, a consider-
able portion of which found their way to European markets. In recent
years there has been a marked decline in the production of robes, owing in
part to the rapid extirpation of the buffalo, but more especially to the great
depopulation, through wars and contagious diseases, of the Indian tribes of
the Plains, by whom most of the robes have hitherto been prepared. A few
are still gathered in the United States by the Indian traders, and of late

* Schooleraft’s History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes, Part IV, p. 107.
t Ibid., p. 107.
t Red River Settlement, p. 262.

196 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

white hunters have turned their attention to their preservation. Thus in
the above-given returns of the shipment of buffalo products over the
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé Railroad oceurs the item of eighteen thou-
sand four hundred and eighty-nine robes in the statement for the year 1874.

To the Indians of the Plains the buffalo has not only ever been an unfail-
ing source of food,— whose flesh, Catlin states,* they prefer to that of the
antelope, deer, or elk, — but has also furnished them, to a great extent, with
shelter and clothing; the heavier, coarser skins of the bulls being used as
lodge-coverings, and those of the cows for beds and clothing.

According to the Jesuit missionaries, the women of the Illinois Indians
used to employ the hair of the buffalo in making bands, belts, and sacks;
and these and other tribes used also to make shields of the hides, and
spoons, ladles, ete., from the horns and bones. Gomara, in speaking of the
Indians of the Plains, says, “and of their hides they make many things, as
houses, shooes, apparell, and ropes: of their bones they make bodkins: of
their simewes and haire, thread: of their dung, fire: and of their calves-
skinnes, budgets, wherein they drawe and keepe water. To bee short, they
make so many things of them as they have need of, or as many as suffice
them in the use of this life.” ¢

During the last few years many skins of buffaloes have been taken by the
white hunters for the purpose of preparing leather from them. At the low-
est estimate more than a million buffaloes have been sacrificed for this pur-
pose in Kansas alone during the last five years. I say sacrificed in this con-
nection advisedly, because the amount realized by the hunters from the sale
of these hides scarcely brings them a return equal to the wages of an ordi-
nary laborer in other pursuits. The “buffalo-skinners,” as they are some-
times derisively termed, practise their ignoble calling mainly during the
warmer months, when the weather will not permit of the shipment of meat
to the Eastern markets, and seem to follow the business more from a love
of the wild, semi-barbarous, out-door life of the plains-hunter than for any
anticipated profit.

Generally in hunting buffaloes for their hides only the old bulls are killed,
which are of little account in a pecuniary point of view for any other pur-
pose, but some hunters are so reckless of even their own interest as to take
any animal that comes in their way. Aside from the diminution in the

* North American Indians, Vol. I, p. 24.
+ Translation in Hakluyt’s Voyages, Vol. III, p. 456.

THE AMERICAN. BISONS. 197

number of buffaloes resulting from this reckless and almost unremunerative
slaughter, the herds are harassed and kept wandering from place to place
the whole year, which of course greatly interferes with their multiplication.
It should be said, however, that this destruction of the buffalo in summer for
its hide has not generally met with the approval of the better class of hunt-
ers, among whom there has been at times a strong feeling against it, it beg
chiefly carried on by those who were too unthrifty to seek employment in
other pursuits during the time when buffalo-hunting for the Eastern market
was not in season. Sometimes the more intelligent and influential portion
of the hunters would warn the transgressors to desist from their unseason-
able slaughter or immediately leave the country, on pain of summary treat-
ment,— an admonition which was generally so effective as not to require a
repetition.

The hide of the buffalo makes but an inferior, porous kind of leather,
useful, however, for certain purposes, such as covers for carriage-tops, belt-
leather, etc. The average net price realized by the hunter is generally less
than a dollar per hide, usually from fifty to seventy-five cents, while it occa-
sionally happens that in shipping a car-load of hides to the Eastern market
the hunter is left in debt to the broker, whose deduction for freight and
charges for commission exceed the price allowed for the skins.

The coarse wool of the buffalo early attracted attention as an article of
commercial value. The early Jesuit explorers stated that the Indians were
accustomed to weave it into ornamental or useful fabrics, and usually enu-
merated it as one of the products of the buffalo that would render the animal
valuable under domestication. Charlevoix says that the wives of the Illinois
Indians were accustomed to spin the buffalo-wool and make it as fine as that
of English sheep.* Marquette says, referring to the same tribes, “they pre-
sented us with belts, garters, and other articles made of the hair of bears
and buffaloes”; and adds that “their chiefs are distinguished from the
soldiers by red scarfs made of the hair of buffaloes, curiously wrought.” +
Father Marest also enumerates among the employments of the Ilinois
Indians the making of “ bands, belts, and sacks” from the hair of the buf

* Charlevoix says, in describing the Illinois Indians: “Their Wives are sufficiently dexterous: They
spin the Buffalo’s Wool, and make it as fine as that of English Sheep. Sometimes one would even take it
for Silk. They make Stuffs of it, which they dye black, yellow, and a dark red. They make Gowns of it,
which they sew with the Thread made of the Sinews of Roe-Bucks.” — Leiters, ete., English ed., p. 298.

+ Hist. Coll. Louisiana, Vol. II, p. 288.

ae meg

198 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

falo.* Brackenridge, in a work published in 1814, says: “The wool of the

buffaloe has a peculiar fineness, even surpassing that of the merino. I have

seen gloves made of it, little inferior to silk. But for the difficulty of sepa-
rating the hair, it might become a very important article of commerce.
Should any means be discovered of effecting this, or should it be found that ;
at certain seasons there is less of this mixture, the buffalo wool must become
of prime importance in manufactures.” This author adds in a footnote as
follows: “It is curious to observe, that in the instruction to Iberville by the
King of France, two things were considered of the first importance, the pearl
fishery and the buffaloe wool. Charlevoix observes, that he is not surprised
that the first should not have been attended to, but he thinks it strange that
the second should be neglected even to his time.” t

The early explorers of the country east of the Mississippi evidently very
generally looked upon the buffalo as an animal that would prove of very
great economic value. M. de la Galissonniére, in a “ Memoir on the French
Colonies in North America,” written in 1750, speaks especially of the pro-
spective value of the buffalo to the French settlers of the Illinois country.
After describing the vast prairies “waiting only for the plough,” he refers to

their being “covered with an innumerable multitude of buffaloes, —a spe-
cies,” he says, “ which will probably not run out for many centuries hence,
both because the country is not sufficiently peopled to make their consump-
tion perceptible and because, the hides not being adapted to the same uses
as those of the European race, it will never happen that the animals will be
killed solely for the sake of their skins, as is the practice among the Span-
iards of the River de la Plata.

“Tf the Illinois buffaloes do not supply the tanneries with much,” M. Gal-

yon

issoniére continues, “eventually, advantages at least equivalent may reason-
ably be expected, on which we cannot prevent ourselves dwelling for a
moment.

«1s These animals are covered with a species of wool, sufficiently fine to
be employed in various manufactures, as experience has demonstrated.

“9% It can scarcely be doubted that, by catching them young and geld-
ing them, they would be adapted to ploughing; perhaps, even, they would
possess the same advantage that horses have over domestic oxen, that is,

superior swiftness; they appear to be as strong, but perhaps are indebted for

* Kip’s Early Jesuit Missions, p 199.

+ Views of Louisiana, p. 57.

A ofittine sic c uagnanist

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 199

this to wild breeding; in other respects, they do not seem difficult to tame;
a 4 or 5 year old Bull and Cow have been seen that were extremely gentle:

“3° Were the Illinois country sufficiently well settled to admit of the
people inclosing a great number of these animals in parks, some of them
might be salted, a business susceptible of being extended very considerably,
without Illinois possessing a large population for that purpose. This trade
would perhaps enable us to dispense with Irish beef for Martinico, and even
to compete with the English, and at a lower rate, for the supply of the
Spanish Colonies.” *

It appears that in 1821 a joimt-stock company was formed in the
British Red River Colony, under the high-sounding title of the “Buffalo
Wool Company,” whose express objects were “to provide a substitute for
wool, which substitute was to be the wool of the wild buffalo, which was to

‘be collected in the Plains, and manufactured both for the use of the colonists

and for export, and to establish a tannery for manufacturing the buffalo-hides
for domestic purposes.” A capital of two thousand pounds sterling was
raised, and orders sent to England for machinery, implements, dyes, and
skilled workmen. Two immigrations of operatives arrived, including “ cur-
riers, skinners, sorters, wool-dressers, teasers, and bark manufacturers, of all
grades, ages, and sexes.” For a time money was plenty, wages high, and the
prospects golden. But events proved the scheme to be grounded on miseal-
culation, which, with the extravagant expenditure indulged in by the com-
pany, soon brought grief, not only to all the participants, but in a measure
affected the fortunes of the whole colony. It was found that “the wool and
the hides were not to be got, as stated, for the picking up; the hides soon
costing the company 6s. each, and the wool 1s.6d. per pound.” But, accord-
ing to Ross (from whom these statements are compiled), “the bottle and
the glass” were too freely circulated ; spirits were imported by the hogshead,
and scenes of disorder and intemperance followed; both officials and opera-
tives were “ wallowing in intemperance”; the hides were allowed to rot, the
wool to spoil, and the tannery proved a complete failure. The company,
besides expending their capital, found themselves irretrievably in debt to
their bankers, and bankruptcy followed. “A few samples of cloth,” con-
tinues Mr. Ross, “had, indeed, been made and sent home; but that which
cost two pounds ten shillings per yard in Red River would only fetch four

* Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York; procured in Holland, Eng-

land, and France, by John Romeyn Brodhead, Esq., etc., Vol. X, pp. 230, 231.

200 THE’ AMERICAN BISONS.

shillings and sixpence in England!”’ But, though the enterprise itself dis-
astrously failed, mainly through mismanagement and gross indiscretion, its
indirect results were nevertheless beneficial to the colony.*

Dr. Richardson also states that the wool of the buffalo “has been manufac-
tured in England into a remarkably fine and beautiful cloth, and in the col-
ony of Osnaboyna, on the Red River, a warm and durable coarse cloth is
formed of it.” +

Although the soft woolly hair of the buffalo is evidently well adapted
for the manufacture of cloth, I have heard of no other attempts towards its
utilization. Of late, however, a traffic has sprung up along the line of the
Kansas railroads in the bones, which are gathered for the purpose of ship-
ment east for the manufacture of a fertilizing material. Mr. C. F. Morse,
the General Superintendent of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé Railroad,
writes, under date of June 2, 1875, that the “bone business is still quite
heavy, and will probably last for one or two years longer.” From his ac-
companying statements of buffalo products shipped over that road during
the last three years, it appears that the shipment of bones in 1872 amounted
to eleven hundred and thirty-five thousand three hundred pounds; for 1873,
twenty-seven hundred and forty-three thousand one hundred and ten pounds ;
for 1874, sixty-nine hundred and fourteen thousand nine hundred pounds, or
treble the amount of the previous year, and six times that of 1872.

Among the products of the buffalo, mention of “buffalo chips,” or bois de
vache, as the French voyagewrs term it, should not be omitted. This material,
as most persons doubtless well know, is simply the dried excrement of the
buffalo, which the traveller on the treeless plains finds a very serviceable sub-
stitute for wood. As Dr. Elliott Coues has recently remarked, in an inter-
esting and very humorously written article on this subject, “As an agent
in the progress of civilization, the spirit of which is expressed in the remark
that westward the course of empire takes its way, the buffalo-chip rises to
the plane of the steam-engine and the electric telegraph, and acquires all
the dignity which is supposed to enshroud questions of national importance
or matters of political economy. I am not sure, indeed, that it is not enti-
tled to still higher rank, for it is certain, at any rate, that we move in some
parts of the West without either steam or electricity (mules replacing both),
where it would be as impossible to live without buffalo chips as to exist

* Ross (Alexander), The Red River Settlement, pp. 69-72.

} Fauna Boreali-Americana, Vol. I, p. 282.

epmenmeemmeen

( )

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 201

99%

without flour, coffee, and tobacco. In the narratives of military reconnais-

sances and other government explorations of the Plains, as well as of those.

of private explorers and travellers, the first meeting with buffalo chips is
chronicled as something intimately affecting the welfare of the party, as it
not only generally gives promise of soon meeting with herds of the animals
themselves, but insures fuel for the camp-fire and for culinary purposes in
regions where other sources of fuel are either precarious or entirely wanting.
In the history of travel across the great interior plains, from those of Texas
to those of the Saskatchewan, no other element, not even water, figures more
prominently. Its absence in the treeless districts necessitates the transpor-
tation of wood as an indispensable part of the camp stores, while its presence
not only renders this needless, but insures all those ordinary comforts of
camp life that the conveniences of a camp-fire always bring. Hence its im-
portance as a civilizing agent cannot well be overrated. The misery experi-
enced when, during rainy seasons, it is temporarily too wet to burn, — the
deprivation of the “cup that cheers but not inebriates,’ and of all means of
cooking, — gives one a most vividly realizing sense of what his condition
might be, for days and weeks, were it not for this invaluable resource.

How long the chip will endure the vicissitudes of the weather under the
dry atmosphere of the Plains it is impossible to say, but its decomposition is
slow, as it will remain in serviceable condition for years. After an exposure
of six months it burns quite readily, but is not at its best as an article of
fuel till it has had the suns and frosts of a year. It burns in much the same
manner as peat, and though making but little flame yields a very intense
heat. Strips of buffalo fat thrown on at intervals during the evening add a
bright blaze, furnishing the explorer with ample light by which to write up
his notes of the day’s work, and enlivening the camp with all the cheer af-
forded by the pition and pitch-pine camp-fires of the mountains or other
wooded districts. Especially grateful does this “buffalo-chip” fire thus be-
come in the long cold evenings of the hunter’s winter camp on the Plains.

Another use to which buffalo chips are sometimes put is that of marking
trails, and even surveyor’s lines and points, it temporarily serving the office
of stones and stakes in places where timber and stones are not to be ob-
tained, as is the case over so large a part of the Great Plains.

* “Chips from the Buffalo's Workshop ” —Jrorest and Stream, April 1, 1875.

202 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

eo. — LHE CHASE.

An account of the means and methods by which the buffalo has become
so nearly exterminated forms an interesting chapter in its history, since they
have varied at different times and at different localities, in accordance with
the customs of the different Indian tribes, and with i wants and a
ments of the white man.

When the Jesuit missionaries first visited the Illinois prairies, it seems to
have been a general custom with the Indians of the Mississippi Valley to
hunt the buffalo by the aid of fire, accounts of which have been left us by
Hennepin, Du Pratz, Charlevoix, and others. Hennepin says: “When the
Savages discover a ereat Number of those Beasts together, they likewise as-
semble their whole Tribe to encompass the Bulls, and then set on fire the
dry Herbs about them, except in some places, which they leave free; and
therein lay themselves in Ambuscade. ‘The Bulls, seeing the Flame round
them, run away through those Passages where they see no Fire; and there
fall into the Hands of the Savages, who by these Means will kill sometimes
above sixscore in a day.” * :

Charlevoix’s account .of the Indian method of hunting the buffalo is as
follows: “In the Southern and Western Parts of Mew France, on both Sides
the Mississippi, the most famous Hunt is that of the Buffaloe, which is per-
formed in this Manner: The Hunters range themselves on four Lines, which
form a great Square, and begin by setting Fire to the Grass and Herbs, which
are dry and very high: Then as the Fire gets forwards, they advance, closing
their Lines: The Buffaloes, which are extremely afraid of Fire, keep flying
from it, and at last find themselves so crouded together that they are gener-
ally every one killed. They say that a Party seldom returns from hunting
without killing Fifteen Hundred or Two Thousand. But lest the different
Companies should hinder each other, they all agree before they set out about
the Place where they intend to hunt,” ete. ¢

Mr. J. G. Shea also alludes to the general custom among the Indians of the
Upper Mississippi of hunting buffaloes by fire, of which the buffaloes have a
great dread. Finding it approaching them, “they retire towards the centre

of the prairie, where, being pressed together in great numbers, the Indians

* A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America, p. 90, London, 1698.
+ Letters, Goadby’s English Ed., p. 68.

ij

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 203

rush in with their arrows and musketry, and slaughter immense numbers in
a few hours.” *

Mr. Catlin, in his “North American Indians,” has described with consider-
able detail the methods of hunting the buffalo among the Sioux Indians, and
has given a series of six plates illustrative of the chase.t According to this
author, the chief hunting amusement of the Indians of the vicinity of the
Teton River, a small tributary of the Missouri, which joins the latter at old
Fort Pierre, in Southern Dakota, consists in the chase of the buffalo. Being
bold and desperate horsemen, they almost invariably pursue the buffalo on
horseback, despatching him with the bow and lance with apparent ease. The
horses, being well trained to the chase, as well as very fleet, soon bring their
riders alongside their game. The Indian, as well as his horse, is divested of
everything that might prove an encumbrance in running, the Indian even
throwing off his shield and quiver as well as his clothing; taking in his left
hand five or six arrows drawn from his quiver, he holds them ready for
instant use, while he plies a heavy whip with his right. Riding near the
rear of the herd he selects his animal, which he separates from the mass by
dashing his horse between it and the herd, and, riding past it to the right,
discharges his deadly arrow at the animal's heart, which penetrates “ to the
feather.” Some, our author says, also pursue the animal with the lance. In
this manner the Sioux were accustomed to destroy immense numbers of the
buffalo, pursuing them in large hunting-parties, and killmg hundreds and
even thousands in a single hunt. Mr. Catlin refers to one of these grand
hunts that occurred just before his arrival at the Fur Company’s post at the
mouth of the Teton, in May, 1833. A large herd of buffaloes appearing in
sight on the opposite side of the river, a band of five hundred or six hundred
Sioux horsemen forded the river about midday, and, recrossing the river at
sundown, brought with them to the post fourteen hundred fresh buffalo tongues,
which they readily exchanged for a few gallons of whiskey, “which was soon
demolished,” as our narrator states, “indulging them in a little and harmless
carouse.” Not askin, nora pound of meat, except the tongues, was saved
from these slaughtered hundreds. :

In winter, when from the depth of the snow these huge creatures are
tnable to move rapidly, they fall an easy prey to the Indian, who overtakes
them readily upon his snow-shoes, and despatches them with his bow and

* Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, p. 18, footnote.

+ North American Indians, Vol. I, plates evii—cxii.

204 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

arrow, or drives his lance to their hearts. This being the season for gather-
ing the robes, it is also a period of great slaughter. The skins being stripped
off, the carcasses are generally left to the wolves, the Indians laying in dur-
ing the fall a supply of dried meat for the winter. Catlin has also given an
illustration of Indians disguised in wolfskins creeping upon a herd that is
unsuspectingly grazing on the level prairie, where they are shot down before
they are aware of their danger by their disguised enemies.*

Lewis and Clarke describe a very novel method of destroying the buffa-
loes formerly practised by the Minnetarees of the Upper Missouri. This
mode of hunting was to select one of the most active and fleet young men,
who, disguised with a buffalo-skin fastened about his body, with the horns
and ears so secured as to deceive the buffalo, placed himself at a convenient
distance between the herd of buffalo and some of the river precipices, which
sometimes extend for miles. His companions in the mean time get in the
rear and along the flanks of the herd, and, showing themselves at a given sig-
nal, advance upon the herd. The herd thus alarmed runs from the hunters
toward the disguised Indian, whom they follow at full speed toward the river.
The Indian who thus acts as a decoy, when the precipice is reached, suddenly
secures himself in some crevice of the cliff which he had previously selected,
leaving the herd on the brink. It is then impossible for the foremost of the
herd to retreat or to turn aside, being pressed on by those behind, who see
no danger except from the pursuing Indians. They are thus tumbled head-
long over the cliff, strewing the shore with their déad bodies. The Indians
then select as much meat as they wish, the rest being abandoned to the
wolves. A little above the mouth of the Judith River, on the Missouri,
Lewis and Clarke passed a precipice, about one hundred and twenty feet n
height, at the base of which lay scattered the fragments of at least one hun-
dred carcasses of buffaloes, although many had already been carried away
by the water.t

Lewis and Clarke also describe the Indian method of hunting the buffalo
on the ice, as witnessed by them March 29, 1805, at their wintering-post on
the Missouri River, about thirty miles above the present site of Fort Abraham
Lincoln, Dakota Territory. Every spring, say these authors, as the river is
breaking up, the plains are set on fire by the Indians. The buffaloes are
thus tempted to cross the river in search of the fresh green grass that springs

* North American Indians, Vol. ihop: 249 - 257,

t Lewis and Clarke’s Expedition, Vol. I, p. 235.

a
|
i

Sesriem

ete fig

a

eiisvendowuae ta

NT

cided i ii it eineeetada the kena ada aaa ecaacinte

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 205

up immediately after the burning. In crossing they often find themselves
insulated on large pieces of floating ice. ‘The Indians seize these opportuni-
ties for their attack, passing nimbly across the trembling ice, where the foot-
steps of the huge animals are unsteady and insecure. The buffalo being
thus unable to offer resistance, the hunter gives him his death-wound and
paddles his ice-raft to the shore and secures his prey.* __ .

The Indians of the Northern Plains were long in the habit of hunting the
buffalo by impounding them, or by driving them into an artificial enclosure
constructed for the purpose, within which the buffaloes were at their mercy.
Various descriptions of this method have been given by different travellers,
but one of the most recent is that by Hind, in his “ Narrative of the Assinni-
boine and Saskatchewan Expedition,’ + where he describes the method as
practised in 1859 by the Plain Cree Indians of the Qu’appelle and Saskatche-
wan Plains. The pound is described as circular, enclosing an area of about one

hundred and twenty feet in diameter, formed of the trunks of trees set in

the ground and bound together by withes, and braced by external supports.

Converging rows of bushes extend from the pound a distance of several
miles into the prairie, where their extremities are about one and a half to
two miles apart. These bushes are termed “dead men,” and serve to guide
the buffaloes into the pound. When all is ready for action, skilled hunters,
mounted on fleet ponies, partly surround a herd and start them in the
direction of the pound, being aided by confederates stationed in hollows,
who, when the buffaloes take a wrong direction, rise and wave their robes to
change their course. If when the “dead men” are reached the buffaloes are
disposed to pass through them, Indians stationed behind appear, and by the
shaking of robes urge on the herd toward the pound. Thus the band is
pressed on between the narrowing lines of “dead men” to the entrance of
the pound. This is closed by a heavy tree-trunk placed about a foot from
the ground, inside of which is a ditch sufficiently deep to prevent the en-
closed buffaloes from jumping out. No sooner has the fatal leap been made
than the imprisoned animals rush wildly around the enclosure in search of
some point of escape. With the utmost silence, women and children hold
their robes before every orifice, until the whole herd is brought in. When
all are enclosed the slaughter begins; the hunters, climbing to the top of the
fence, spear or shoot, with bows and arrows or firearms, the bewildered buf-

* Lewis and Clarke’s Expedition, Vol. I, p. 175.
+ Canadian Exploring Expeditions, etc., Vol. I, pp: 355 — 359.

206 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

faloes now so wholly within their power. Soon rendered frantic with rage
and fear, the stronger toss, crush, or impale the weaker. In this dreadful
scene of confusion and slaughter, says Hind, “ the shouts and screams of the
excited Indians rise above the roaring of the bulls, the bellowing of the cows,
and the piteous moaning of the calves. The dying struggles of so many
huge and powerful animals crowded together create a revolting and terrible
scene, dreadful from the excess of its cruelty and waste of life, but with occa-
sional displays of wonderful brute strength and rage; while man, in his sav-
age, untutored, and heathen state, shows, both in deed and expression, how
little he is superior to the noble beasts he so wantonly and cruelly destroys.”

“The conflict over,’ says Hind, “animals of every age, from old bulls to
young calves of three months old, were huddled together, in all the forced
attitudes of violent death. Some lay on their backs, with eyes starting from
their heads, and tongues thrust out through clotted gore, and others were
impaled on the horns of the old and strong bulls. Others again, which had
been tossed, were lying with broken backs, two or three deep. One little
calf hung suspended on the horns of a bull, which had impaled it in the wild
race round and round the pound.” Of the two hundred to two hundred and
fifty animals usually killed at each impounding, only the best and fattest are
utilized, the flesh of these being removed and dried in the sun.

Sometimes the attempts at impounding are unsuccessful, an instance of
which is mentioned by Mr. Hind. After the pound was nearly full, an old
bull espied a narrow crevice which had not been closed by the robes of those:
on the outside, whose duty it was to conceal every orifice; making a dash at
this, he forced himself through, breaking the fence, when the whole herd ran
helter-skelter through the gap, a few only being speared or shot through
with arrows in their attempt to escape.

Simpson says that in January, 1840, the buffaloes were so numerous about
Carlton House as to render it necessary to remove the haystacks into the
Fort to prevent their being devoured by the buffaloes. In the vicinity of
the Fort were three camps of Assinniboines, each of whom had its buffalo
pound, into which they drove forty or fifty animals daily ; “and I afterwards
learned,” says Simpson, “that in other places these pounds were actually
formed of piled-up carcasses.” *

Audubon states that the Gros Ventres, Blackfeet, and Assinniboines often
also took the buffalo in large pens in a similar manner. Two converging

* Simpson (Thomas), Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America, etc., pp. 402, 404.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 207

fences, built of sticks, logs, and brushwood, form in a similar way a funnel-
shaped entrance to the enclosure or “park,” as it is usually called, which
may be either square or round according to the nature of the ground. The
narrow end or entrance is always on the verge of a sudden break in the
prairie, ten or fifteen feet deep, and is made as strong as possible. When
the pen is ready a young man, very swift of foot, starts at daylight towards
the herd that is to be taken, provided with a bison’s hide and head, with
which he is to disguise himself for the purpose of acting as a decoy. On
nearing the herd he bleats like a calf, and makes his way slowly towards the
mouth of the converging fences leading to the pen. Repeating the cry at
intervals, the buffaloes follow the decoy, while mounted Indians, riding to
and fro along the flanks and rear of the herd, urge them on towards the
funnel. A crowd of men, women, and children then come and assist in
frightening them, the disguised Indian still occasionally bleating. As soon
as the buffaloes have fairly entered the road to the pen, the decoy runs to
the edge of the precipice, quickly descends, and makes his escape by climb-
ing over the fence forming the pen. The herd follows on until the leader
is forced to leap down into the pen, and is followed by the whole herd,
which being thus ensnared is easily destroyed, even the women and children
participating in the slaughter.*

This method, if not still practised in the Yellowstone country, was in use
there at no distant date, since while with the Yellowstone Expedition of
1873 I several times met with the remains of these pounds and their con-
verging fences in the region above the mouth of the Big Horn River. They
are here, I was told, used in entrapping the elk and deer as well as the buf-
falo; and, according to Charlevoix, the Indians of Canada formerly hunted
the moose, the caribou, and the deer in a somewhat similar manner.

On the plains, where no timber is available for the construction of pounds,
the Indians pursue a different but an almost equally destructive method.
The hunting party, numbering usually hundreds of horsemen, select such a
portion of a large herd as they desire to destroy, and, surrounding them,
thus cut them off from the rest of the herd, and prevent their escape in
every direction by enclosing them with a cordon of armed horsemen. The
slaughter is begun simultaneously on all sides; and whichever way the herd
moves they encounter their invincible and deadly enemies. The slaughter

usually continues until the whole “surround” is killed, often numbering hun-

* Audubon and Bachman’s Quadrupeds of North America, Vol. II, p. 49.

208 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

dreds of animals. In their casual hunts the Indians simply follow the herds
on horseback, shooting from the saddle when in full pursuit, using either
bows and arrows or the modern fire-arms with great dexterity.

Descriptions of the systematic expeditions of the Red River half-breed
hunters have been given with greater or less fulness by McLean, Ross,
Hind,* and others. The distinctive features of these grand hunting expe-
ditions are their magnitude, the number of persons engaged in them, and
the almost military character of their organization. As previously stated,
these expeditions generally numbered from five hundred to upwards of
twelve hundred carts, accompanied by from two hundred and fifty to six
hundred hunters, nearly twice this number of women and children, besides a
draught animal (either a horse or an ox) and a dog to each cart, and riding
animals in addition for the hunters. Setting out from Fort Garry, the expe-
ditions for many years hunted over the Pembina plains, extending their trips
southward and westward over the prairies and plains of the Red River, the
Shayenne, and the Coteau de Missouri. The Red River halfbreed hunters
have undoubtedly done more to exterminate the buffalo than any other
single cause, and have long since wholly extirpated them throughout not
only this vast region, but also over the extensive prairies of the Assinniboine,
the Quappelle, and the lower Saskatchewan. Their method of hunting was
for several hundred horsemen armed with fire-arms to make a grand simul-
taneous rush into the very midst of the immense herds. An attack that
Mr. Ross witnessed he thus describes: “Our array in the field must have
been a grand and imposing one to those who had never seen the like before.
No less than four hundred huntsmen, all mounted, and anxiously waiting for -
the word ‘Start!’ took up their position in a line at one end of the camp,
while Captain Wilkie, with his spy-glass at his eye, surveyed the buffalo,
examined the ground, and issued his orders. At eight o’clock the whole
cavalcade broke ground and made for the buffalo; first at a slow trot, then
at a gallop, and lastly at full speed. Their advance was over a dead level,

- the plain having no hollow or shelter of any kind to conceal their approach.

.... When the horsemen started the cattle might have been a mile and a
half ahead; but they had approached to within four or five hundred yards
before the bulls curved their tails or pawed the ground. In a moment more

* McLean (John), Notes of Twenty-five Years’ Service in the Hudson’s Bay Territory, Vol. I,
pp. 297-302; Ross (Alexander), The Red River Settlement, pp. 255-264; Hind (H. Y.), Canad. Expl.
Expedition, Vol. H, pp. 110, 111.

rela ferent oii

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 209

the herd took flight, and horse and rider are presently seen bursting in
among them; shots are heard, and all is smoke, dust, and hurry. The fattest
are first singled out for slaughter, and in less time than we have occupied

- with the description a thousand carcasses strew the plain. Those who have

seen a squadron of horse dart into battle may imagine the scene, which we
have no skill to depict. The earth seemed to tremble when the horses
started; but when the animals fled it was like the shock of an earthquake.
The air was darkened; the rapid firing, at first distinct, soon became more
and more faint, and at last died away in the distance. Two hours, and all
was over; but several hours elapsed before the result was known, or the
hunters reassembled; . . . . m the evening no less than thirteen hundred
and seventy-five tongues were brought into camp.” *

The dexterity in loading and firing on horseback while at full speed exhib-
ited by these halfbreeds, as well as their tact in recognizing their game on
the field of slaughter after the killing is over, is represented as surprising.
Formerly, when hunting with: the old flint-lock musket, says Mr. Taylor,t
they would drop a charge of powder into the palm of the hand, thence into
the muzzle of the gun, following it with a bullet from a stock carried in the
mouth, firing as often as this operation could be repeated. The use of
modern breech-loading arms, however, long since rendered this process need-
less. They seldom leave a mark to designate their own animals, though
some do so, leaving first a cap, then a sash, and so on, until, as often hap-
pens, these means of designation fail, five or six to a dozen buffaloes being
generally killed in a single run by a good hunter. Riding in clouds of dust
and smoke, in company with hundreds of other horsemen, crossing and re-
crossing each other’s tracks, among dead and wounded as well as among the
terrified and fleeing animals, it certainly evinces, on the part of the hunter,
no small degree of discriminating power, after an hour of such wild, bewilder-
ing confusion, to tell not only the number of animals he has killed, but also
the exact spot where each lies. Yet this, we are told, is constantly done.

According to Simpson, the Red River hunter, in winter, when the snow
was too deep to pursue them on horseback, approached the buffaloes by
crawling to them on the snow, disguised sometimes by a close dun-colored
cap, furnished with upright ears, to give him the appearance of a wolf, which,
through constant association, the buffaloes regard without dread. Towards

”
é

* Red River Settlement, pp. 255 — 557.
+ MS. Notes, as previously cited.

210 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

spring, when the deep snow is covered with a hard crust, which, while it sup-
| ports the hunter, proves a great impediment to the buffaloes, they are easily
run down by the hunters, and despatched with daggers while floundering in
the deep drifts, even women and boys assisting in killing the then almost -
helpless animals.*
The two modes of hunting the buffalo chiefly practised at present are the
' pursuit on horseback and the “still hunt.” The first named is the one
usually chosen when sport and excitement are the things mainly desired, the
still hunt being practised when a supply of meat or of hides is the object.
i The latter method affords but little excitement, and entails, with proper pre-
cautions, little or no risk of life or limb on the part of the hunter. Parties
hunting for pleasure prefer the chase on horseback, shooting from the saddle
with heavy revolvers at close range when at full gallop.. Success depends
almost wholly, provided the hunter is a good rider, upon the speed and bot-
tom of his horse, and is really about as noble sport as attacking a herd of
domestic cattle would be. The chase on horseback of a drove of Texan cattle

would be far more dangerous, and attended probably with as much excite-
ment, except that in the case of the buffalo the hunter has the consciousness
of pursuing a nominally wild animal, and hence legitimate game. That the
chase on horseback affords the wildest excitement is an undeniable fact. The
swift pursuit of the flying mass of buffaloes, the mingling with the terrified
herd, the singling out of the victim, the rapid shots at the huge moving bulk
of hair and flesh, at so close range that the game is almost within reach of
the hand, the tottering fall or the headlong tumble of the doomed animal,

the risk of pursuit by a wounded bull maddened with pain, the general din
and confusion, with the double risk of collision with the blindly fleemg mon-

sters, or of being thrown by treacherous marmot or badger holes, or anon the
long pursuit of an animal which, though pierced with a dozen balls, still
rushes on, can, of course, yield only excitement of the intensest kind, both
for the rider and his steed. This method is the favorite one with hunting
parties from the East or from abroad, as well as of the officers and soldiers
of the United States Cavalry, when the latter are stationed within or near
the range of the buffalo, or are passing through its range, at the expense,
| usually, of several of the best horses in the command. The destruction of
Le the buffalo during these hunts is not generally very great, though amounting

annually, in the aggregate, to many thousands; but the demoralization of the

* Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America, etc., p. 404.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. : 211

herd produced by the fright and the chase has a most deleterious influence
on their stability and increase. |

The still hunt is far more fatal, and is the method adopted by the profes-
sional hunter, who throughout the year makes it his chief business to hunt
the buffalo for its commercial products. The buffalo being naturally unsus-
picious and sluggish, even to stupidity, is readily approached within easy
range, even in a level country, where the slight herbage of the plains is the
only shelter. Buffalo-hunting hence requires much less tact and skill than
the hunting of most other large game, especially deer and pronghorns. The
chief precaution necessary is to keep to the leeward of the herd, in order not
to give them the “scent,” as this alarms them even when no enemy is in
sight, being sufficient to “stampede” a herd at along distance. The buffa-
loes can ordinarily be approached to within a thousand yards in a perfectly
level and open country, and with a slight growth of herbage for shelter it is
easy to creep up to within a hundred yards, and by aid of ravines to within
twenty or thirty paces. I have seen hunters approach within thirty yards
of a herd when their only cover was grass and weeds a foot or so in height.
The old bulls are always less wary than the cows and younger bulls; they
also, to a great extent, keep in the rear and on the outskirts of the herd. As
generally only the younger animals are desired, and especially the young
cows, the hunters often have to creep past the old bulls in order to get
within range of the cows. Where slight inequalities of the ground have
favored the hunters, I have seen them pass within a few paces of the quietly
reclining, ruminating old bulls, in trying to get within range of the more
desirable game beyond without the patriarchs of the herd being alarmed by
the hunter’s approach. The half-wild Texan steers are often far more wary
than the unsuspecting herds of buffaloes.

The professional hunter, when desiring to load his teams with meat, will
rarely make his first shot at a greater distance than fifty to seventy-five
yards. If the shot result fatally, the herd rarely moves more than fifty
yards before stopping to look for the cause of the mishap to their fallen
companion, and turning half round to get a good view rearward, they thus
present themselves in the best possible position to the hunter at still short
range. Here others fall before the hunter’s shots; the herd, again slightly
startled, moves on a few paces, and again stops to gaze. The hunter, still
keeping prostrate, approaches, if necessary, under cover of those already
killed, and continues the work of destruction. The shots are thus often

212 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

repeated till fifteen, twenty, or even thirty buffaloes are killed before the
herd becomes thoroughly alarmed and, in hunter's parlance, “stampedes.”
By keeping prostrate the hunter is able to creep up to the herd again as it
recedes, till he has killed enough to furnish loads for his teams; and even
sometimes he has to rise and drive away the stupid creatures to prevent
the living from playfully goring the dead! When the hunter is thus success-
ful, it is termed “getting a stand on the herd.” A “stand” is most surely
made in nearly level ground. In shooting from ravines, the herd usually
runs away after three to five or six of their number have fallen. During the
rutting season, if a cow falls at the first shot, the hunter is pretty sure of a
“stand,” and of getting a dozen or more shots, if he keeps prostrate and. uses
due caution. As soon as he rises the buffaloes seem at once to recognize the
cause of their trouble, and generally immediately stampede; but so long as
he remains prone they seem to have no perception of the character of their
enemy, and often do not notice him at all. A “stand” can usually be
obtained, by due care, at any time from May to December, but during the
rest of the year the buffaloes are more wary, and often very lean, and the
hunters say that the poorer they get, the wilder they become.

The Kansas hunter for several years was generally able to reach the
herds by an easy drive from either of the railroads that now intersect
the State. Generally equipped with one to three four-mule teams, he
was able for a part of the season at least, to make daily trips from
the herds to the points of shipment, although not unfrequently two days
were required to enable him to load his teams and make the round trip.
The chief of a party is usually mounted on a pony, and, riding in advance,
often has enough animals killed to furnish loads for his teams by the time
the latter reach the scene of action. The dead buffaloes are then speedily
“butchered,” * a few minutes sufficing for each. The “saddle,” or the two
hind quarters, and the tongue are usually the only parts saved, but in the
case of calves and very fat yearlings the whole carcass is taken. The usual
weight of a saddle is about two hundred pounds, which is sold at an average
price of about three cents per pound delivered at the cars, the buyer being
generally on the spot to inspect it and superintend its packing for shipment.

The regular or “ professional” hunter formerly followed the buffalo herds

the whole year, moving eastward or westward along the lines of railroad as the

* The hunters appear to generally restrict this term to the dressing of the slain animals; “ butchering,”

in their parlance, does not include the killing.

tem: remem, ie OT RT rent

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 213

buffaloes at different seasons changed their range. When the weather was

too warm to allow of the shipment: of the meat to Eastern cities, they killed
the creatures for their hides, each hunter in this way destroying hundreds in
the course of a few months, though getting hardly enough for them to pay
his expenses. A few of the more enterprising preserved a portion of the
meat by salting and smoking it. As no skins can be taken from those from
which the quarters are taken, an animal is thus sacrificed for each hide taken
and for each saddle saved.

The life of a buffalo-hunter is one of hardship and exposure, and yet one
of remarkable fascination to those who have ever engaged in such pursuits.
In winter, owing to sudden changes of temperature, the hunter is often in
great danger, since he is liable to be overtaken by storms and extreme cold
when far out on the prairie, many miles from any means of protection. The
early part of the winter of 1871-72 was one of remarkable severity in the
West, even as far south as the plains of Northern Kansas, where in Decem-
ber, 46h, several hunters perished from the cold, and many others were
maimed from having been frost-bitten, some of whom narrowly escaped with
their lives. Within the winter range of the northern herds of the Kansas
buffaloes, a lone tree here and there, at the head of some ravine, usually
forms the hunter’s sole dependence for firewood. His own improvidence,
however, often deprives him of many comforts, as well as a considerable
degree of security, which a little trouble and care would secure to him.

The life of a hunter seems always to tend more or less to barbarism, but
especially is this the case with the buffalo-hunter. The “ buffalo rangers”
of the Red River Settlements are described by Ross, Hind, and others, as
speedily becoming unfitted for agricultural or other civilized pursuits. Im-
provident and unthrifty in their habits, they riot in plenty during a part of the
year, and again verge upon starvation before the arrival of their annual hunt-
ing season. The buffalo-hunter of the Plains contrasts unfavorably in many
respects with his Rocky Mountain brother. With the less degree of skill
required in the chase of the stupid, unwieldy bison, as compared with the
tact and caution required in the successful pursuit of the watchful prong-
horn, the timid deer, the elk, or the bighorn, there is a corresponding lack
of thrift and energy on the part of the hunter. In place of the buckskin
suit of the Rocky Mountain hunter, the buffalo-hunter goes clad in a coarse

dress of canvas, stiffened with blood and grease. His hair often goes uncut

and uncombed for months together, and his hands are frequently unwashed

ga

Se eee ee eee eee

rene

214 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

for many days. The culinary apparatus of a whole party consists of a single
large coffee-pot, a “Dutch oven,” and a skillet, and the table-set of a tin cup
to each man, the latter vessel often consisting merely of a battered fruit-can.
Each man’s hunting-knife not only does duty in butchering the buffalo, but is
the sole implement used in despatching his food, supplying the places of spoon
and fork as well as knife. The bill of fare consists of strong coffee, often
without milk or sugar, “ yeast-powder bread,” and buffalo meat fried in buf
flo tallow. When the meal is cooked the party encircle the skillet, dip their
bread in the fat, and eat their meat with their fingers. When bread fails, as
often happens, “ buffalo straight,” or buffalo meat alone, affords them nourish-
ing sustenance. Occasionally, however, the fare is varied with the addition
of potatoes and canned fruits. They sleep generally in the open air, in win-
ter as well as in summer, subjected to every inclemency of the weather. As
may well be imagined, a buffalo-hunter, at the end of the season, is by no
means prepossessing in his appearance, being, in addition to his filthy aspect,
a paradise for hordes of nameless parasites. They are yet a rollicking set,
and occasionally include men of intelligence, who formerly possessed an ordi-
nary degree of refinement. Generally none are more conscious of their
unfitness for civilized society than themselves, and after a few years of such
free border-life they can hardly be induced to abandon it and resume the
restraints of civilization.

Although successful in the pursuit of the buffalo, their success arises from
the unsuspicious nature of their victims rather than from skill in the use or
selection of their arms. The improved breech-loading United States musket
is their favorite weapon, and most of them will use no other. A few employ
Sharp’s and Winchester rifles; arms of small calibre, however, they generally
despise. Yet with these heavy arms, used, as they are, at short range, only
about one shot in three proves fatal, many of the poor beasts getting but a
broken leg in place of a fatal shot.* This is owing in part to carelessness or
lack of skill in shooting, and in part to the inaccuracy of the arms. However
good the gun may be originally, it soon deteriorates and is eventually ruined
by rough usage. A few of the hunters have good guns, take good care of
them, and use them effectively, killing their game as readily at three hundred
and four hundred yards as do the others at one fourth that distance. A rifle

* When returning from a buffalo-hunt on the Kansas plains in January, 1872, my party fell in with a
small band of these unfortunates, about thirty in number, nearly all of whom were in some way maimed,

the greater part having, broken legs.

eon. h caine sean tieticsininker

nM ceeaicasmliemneninNtttrti nein

bat

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 915

K

having a calibre of 745 inches is as effective a weapon against the buffalo as
need be used, if accurate and skilfully employed, the fatality of the shot
depending not so much upon the size of the ball used as upon the part of the
animal hit. I have seen, for instance, an old buffalo bull shot entirely
through the body at a distance of two hundred and thirty yards by a ball
from a six-pound rifle, having a calibre of only +% inches, the wound killing
the animal almost instantly.

4.— DOMESTICATION OF THE BUFFALO.

Now that the buffalo is apparently so nearly exterminated, it is greatly
to be regretted, not only that its ultimate extinction has been so rapidly
hastened by improvident and wanton slaughter, but that no persistent at-
tempts have as yet been made to utilize this valuable animal by domestica-
tion. Never, perhaps, was the time more favorable for such experiments
than now, since there are not only intelligent settlers living within or near
the boundaries of its range, where the experiments might be tried with-
out any of the risks that would attend a change of climate, but easy
access to its haunts from the Eastern States is afforded by railroads, by
means of which, at comparatively little cost and trouble, numbers might
be taken to any portion of the older States of the Union.

The early explorers of the Mississippi Valley believed that the buffalo,
besides being valuable for its flesh and hide, might be made to take the place
of the domestic ox in agricultural pursuits, and at the same time yield a fleece
of wool equal in value, in respect to quality, to that of the sheep. That the
buffalo calf may be easily reared and thoroughly tamed needs not at this
late day to be proved. The known instances of their domestication are too
many to admit even of enumeration, but they have usually been kept
merely as objects of curiosity, and little or no care has been given to their
reproduction in confinement, and few attempts have been made to train them
to labor. :

As early as 1750, Kalm states that young buffaloes had frequently been
taken to Quebec, and kept among the tame cattle, but he adds that the cli-
mate there seemed too severe for them to bear, and that they commonly
died in three or four years. The same writer also states that the calves of

216 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

“the wild cows and oxen ... . which are to be met with in Carolina and
other provinces to the south of Pennsylvania,” had been obtained by “several
people of distinction” who “brought them up among the tame cattle.”
“When grown up,” he adds, “they were perfectly tame, but at the same
time very unruly, so that there was no enclosure strong enough to resist
them if they had a mind to break through it; for as they possess a
great strength in their neck, it was easy for them to overthrow the pales
with their horns, and to get into the cornfields; and as soon as they had
made a road, all the tame cattle followed them; they likewise copulated
with the latter, and by that means generated, as it were, a new breed.” *

Bernard Romans also says (writing a century ago), “The bounteous hand
of nature has here given us an animal which, by experience, we know may
easily be domesticated, whose fine wooll might yield good profit, and whose
flesh is equal at least to our beef, and yields as much tallow; i mean the
buffaloe.” +

Gallatin also says that they were not only domesticated in Virginia, but
that they were bred with domestic cattle, and that the mixed breed was
fertile. “As doubts have lately been raised upon that point,” he says, writ-
ing forty years ago, “I must say that the mixed breed was quite common
fifty [now ninety] years ago, in some of the northwestern counties of Vir-
ginia; and that the cows, the issue of that mixture, propagated like all
others. No attempt that I know of was ever made by the inhabitants to
tame a buffalo of full growth. But calves were occasionally caught by the
dogs and brought alive into the settlements. A bull thus raised was for a
number of years owned in my immediate vicinity by a farmer living on the
Monongahela, adjoining Mason and Dixon’s line. He was permitted to roam
at large, and was no more dangerous to man than any bull of the common
species. But to them he was formidable, and would not suffer any to ap-
proach within two or three miles of his own range. Most of the cows I
knew were descended from him. For want of a fresh supply of the wild
animal they have now merged into the common kind. They were no favor-
ites, as they yielded less milk. The superior size and strength of the buffalo
might have improved the breed of oxen for draft, but this was not attended

to, horses being almost exclusively employed in that quarter for agricultural

* Kalm (Peter), Travels in North America (Forster's translation), Vol. I p. 162.
+ Nat. Hist. of East and West Florida, p. 174.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 217

pursuits.”* He adds that the buffalo is very intractable, and is not known
to have been domesticated by the Indians.t

Sibley observes, in speaking of the buffalo of the Red River of the North,
that “in spring the calves are easily weaned, and when trained to labor
become quite useful. One farmer, who had broken a bull to the plough,
performed the whole work of the field with his aid alone.” ¢

Mr. Robert Wickliffe, in a letter addressed to Messrs. Audubon and Bach-
man, dated Lexington, Kentucky, November 6, 1843, has quite fully recorded
the results of his own efforts at domesticating the buffalo. He says: “The
herd of buffalo I now possess have descended from one or two cows that I
purchased from a man who brought them from the country called the Upper
Missouri; I have had them for about thirty years, but from giving them
away and the occasional killing of them by mischievous persons, as well as
other causes, my whole stock does not exceed ten or twelve. I have some-
times confined them in separate parks from other cattle, but. generally they
herd and feed with my stock of farm cattle... .. On getting possession of
the tame buffaloes I endeavored to cross them as much as I could with my
common cows, to which experiment I found the tame bull unwilling to
accede, and he was always shy of the buffalo cow, but the buffalo bull was
willing to breed with the common cow.

“From the domestic cow I have crossed half-breeds, one of which was a
heifer; this I put with a domestic bull, and it produced a bull calf. This I
castrated and it made a very fine steer, and when killed produced very fine
beef. I bred from the same heifer several calves, and then, that the experi-
ment might be perfect, I put one of them to the buffalo bull, and she brought

‘me a bull calf, which I raised to be a very fine large animal, perhaps the

only one in the world of his blood, namely, a three-quarter, half-quarter, and
a half-quarter of the common blood. After making these experiments, I
have left them to propagate their breed themselves, so that I have only had
a few half-breeds, and they always proved the same, even by a buffalo bull.
The full-blood is not as large as the improved stock, but as large as the ordi-
nary stock of the country. The crossed or half-blood are larger than either

* Gallatin (Albert), A Synopsis of the Indian Tribes of North America; Trans. Amer. Antiquarian
Soc., Vol. II, p. 139, footnote.

+ Dr. Woodhouse states that he had seen “a few of these animals tamed in the Creek nation, running
with the common cattle.” — Sirgreaves’s Report of an Exped. down the Zuii and Colorado Rivers, p. 57.

t Sibley (H. H.), in Schooleraft’s History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United
States, Vol. IV, p. 110.

ceetesemncsts

Se

218 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

the half-blood or common cow. The hump, brisket, ribs, and tongue of the
full and half-blooded are preferable to those of the common beef, but the
round and other parts are much inferior. The udder or bag of the buffalo is

smaller than that of the common cow, but I have allowed the calves of both

to run with their dams upon the same pasture, and those of the buffalo were
always the fattest; and old hunters have told me that when a young buffalo
calf is taken, it requires the milk of two cows to raise it. Of this 1 have no
doubt, having received the same information from hunters of the greatest
veracity. The bag or udder of the halfbreed is larger than that of full-
blooded animals, and they would, I have no doubt, make good milkers.

“The wool of the wild buffalo grows on their descendants when domesti-
cated, but I think they have less of wool than their progenitors. The
domesticated buffalo still retains the grunt of the wild animal, and is in-
capable of making any other noise, and they will observe the habit of having
select places within their feeding-grounds to wallow in.

“The buffalo has a much deeper shoulder than the tame ox, but is lighter
behind. He walks more actively than the latter, and I think has more
strength than a common ox of the same weight. I have broken them to
the yoke, and found them capable of making excellent oxen; and for draw-
ing wagons, carts, or other heavily laden vehicles on long journeys, they
would, I think, be greatly preferable to the common ox. I have as yet had
no opportunity of testing the longevity of the buffalo, as all mine that have
died did so from accident, or were killed because they became aged. I have
some cows that are nearly twenty years old, that are healthy and vigorous,
and one of them has now a sucking calf.

“The young buffalo calf is of a sandy red or rufous color, and commences
changing dark brown at about six months old, which last color it always
retains. The mixed breeds are of various colors; I have had them striped
with black, on a gray ground, like the zebra, some of them brindled red,
some pure red with white faces, and others red without any markings of
white. The mixed bloods have not only produced in my stock from the
tame and the buffalo bull, but I have seen the half-bloods reproducing, viz.,
those that were the product of the common cow and wild buffalo bull. I
was informed that, at the first settlement of the country, cows that were
considered best for milking were from the halfblood, down to the quarter,
and even eighth, of the buffalo blood. But my experiments have not satis-
fied me that the halfbuffalo bull will produce again. That the halfbreed

Rn ccsccoinsin,. anemeemcmmrmmnrnrmiin!*. mesnesesinineesistaiheitsentnrinrisn

Rad
®

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 219

heifer will be productive from either race, as I have before stated, I have
tested beyond the possibility of a doubt.

“The domesticated buffalo retains the same haughty bearing that dis-
tinguishes him in his natural state. He will, however, feed or fatten on
whatever suits the tame cow, and requires about the same amount of food.
I have never milked either the full-blood or mixed breed, but have no doubt
they might be made good milkers, although their bags or udders are less
than those of the common cow; yet, from the strength of the calf, the dam
must yield as much or even more milk than the common cow.” *

From the foregoing the following facts are sufficiently attested: (1) That
the buffalo is readily susceptible of domestication; (2) that it interbreeds
freely with the domestic cow; (3) that the halfbreeds are fertile; and
(4) that they readily amalgamate with the domestic cattle. The advan-
tages that arise from the mixed race are less clearly apparent, as their
adaptability to labor seems as yet to have not been properly tested, although
the experiments of Mr. Wickliffe offer encouragement in this direction. A
larger race than either of the original stocks seems, however, to result from
the crossing of the buffalo. with the cow, and a probable improvement in
milking qualities.

The domestication of the buffalo has heretofore been undertaken only
in regions where farm-labor was done chiefly by the use of horses or mules.
Galissoniére, as already noticed (see anted, p. 198), writing a century and a
quarter ago, believed the buffalo would “be adapted to ploughing,” and that

* Audubon and Bachman’s Quadrupeds of North America, Vol. Il, pp. 52-54. Mr. Wickliffe’s
account of his observations and experiments has been repeatedly quoted by different writers on the sub-
ject of the domestication of the buffalo (see Baird, Patent-Office Report, Agriculture, Part II, 1851-52,
pp. 126-128; Hind, Canadian Exploring Expedition, Vol. II, p. 118), and embraces nearly all of im-
portance as yet published relating to the subject.

In this connection may be noticed the astonishing dogmatism with which Schoolcraft, four years after
the publication of Mr. Wickliffe’s account of his experiments in domesticating the buffalo, and three years
after its republication by Professor Baird, asserts that while “the calf of the bison has often been captured
on the frontiers, and brought up with domestic cattle,” and been “measurably tamed,” that “it produces
no cross,” and ‘is utterly barren in this state.” He alludes also to the statement of Gomara that it is sus-
ceptible of domestication, his statement being revived, Schooleraft adds, and “in a manner galvanized by
a justly eminent writer [Humboldt], after the uniform observation of the French and English colonists
of America, disaffirming [!], for more than two centuries, the practicability of its domestication”; and fur-
ther states that “all visitors and travellers who have spoken on the subject coincide in the opinion that
the bison is incapable of domestication, and that it is not without imminent peril to themselves that the
fierce and untamable herds of it are hunted.” — History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of
the United States, Part V (1856), p. 49.

220 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

“they would possess the same advantage that horses have over domestic
oxen, that is, superior swiftness,” but the question has as yet received little
attention. Being more active than the domestic ox, it seems highly prob-
able that they might make a superior farm animal, especially since, as Pro-
fessor Shaler suggests to me, they would be far better able to endure the
intense heat of summer than ordinary cattle, besides being swifter and
stronger.

From what is already known of the behavior of the buffalo under domes-
tication, it seems altogether tractable and docile. A letter written by Mr.
P. B. Thompson, Sr., to Professor Shaler, respecting the domestication of the
buffalo in Kentucky, bears further on this point. Mr. Thompson says (under
date of “Harrodsburg, Ky., October 30, 1875”): “In reply to your inquiry
relative to the buffaloes formerly owned by Colonel George C. Thompson of
Shawnee Springs, Mercer County, permit me to say that my remembrance
of them runs back at least fifty years. My first recollection is that there
was a bull and three cows. They were kept in a park of about sixty acres
of blue-grass. In the same park were about fifty deer, and from seven to
twelve elk. The animals in the park were fed but little, and given the same
food as other cattle. The elk and deer were but slightly domesticated, but
the buffaloes became as gentle as any other cattle that were not constantly
handled. I have been often within a few feet of them, and have no doubt
that they could have been used as beasts of labor, or that the females would
have submitted to milking. There were but few young, they being poor
breeders, which was probably the effect of neglect. They were very long-

lived; one of them must have been thirty years old, the others over twenty. |

The bull died many years ago, the last cow about a year since.

“During the whole time I do not think they ever broke a fence, or went
beyond the limits of the park unless driven. Other cattle were put in the
park, and it was used at times for a calf lot. They were not vicious to either
cattle, horses, hogs, or sheep. “The two last left were cows, who survived
the bull at least fifteen years. They were calved in the park, and, as I
have said before, were docile and harmless.”

No attempt appears as yet to have been made to perpetuate an un-
mixed domestic race of the buffalo. Probably after a few generations
they would lose much of their natural untractableness, and when cas-
trated would doubtless form superior working cattle, from their greater

size and strength and great natural agility. While on the Plains in

“nian. seceemmmeenensin =, pment

iene, -
itil. sermamnmamesenn nig

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 221

1871 I made extensive inquiries as to the possibility of the buffalo being
domesticated and trained to work, and while the general opinion seemed to
be that such a thing was wholly feasible, I could not learn that it had been
properly attempted. I heard of instances where buffaloes had been broken
to the yoke, and, though strong and serviceable, they were at times rather
unmanageable. When on a journey they are liable, it is said, when thirsty,
“to break for water,” rushing precipitately down the steep banks of the
nearest stream to slake their thirst, dragging after them the wagon to which
they may be attached, with, of course, rather unpleasant results.

The fate of extermination so surely awaits, sooner or later, the buffalo in
its wild state that its domestication becomes a matter of great interest, and
is well worthy of the attention of intelligent stock-growers, some of whom
should be willing to take a little trouble to perpetuate the pure race in a
domestic state. The attempt can be hardly regarded otherwise than as an
enterprise that would eventually yield a satisfactory and probably a profit-
able result, with the possibility of adding another valuable domestic animal
to those we already possess. It seems probable, also, that a mixed race

might be reared to good advantage.

|
|
|
|

einai “PUM:

APPENDIX.

Occurrence of the Buffalo in Union County, Pennsywania.—On pages 87 and
108 reference is made to the traditional evidence afforded by such names as
“ Buffalo Valley” and “ Buffalo Creek,’ of the former existence of the buffalo
near Lewisburg, in Union County, Pennsylvania. Through the kindness of
my friend, Professor C. H. Hamlin, I am now able to show that such names
owe their origin to the former presence of buffaloes at. this locality. Pro-
fessor Hamlin, on writing to Professor J. R. Loomis, of the University at
Lewisburg, received from him the following in reply to his inquiries. In
a letter dated Lewisburg, Pa., March 14, 1876, Professor Loomis writes
as follows: “I have made such inquiries as I could. One man whose
grandfather he well remembers, as well as much of his conversation, and
who lived here one hundred years ago, never heard of the bison being
native of this valley. I went to see the oldest native-born citizen of our
town, who is now eighty-six years old. He says there were no buffaloes
in his early days, but it was a current notion in his boyhood days that there
had formerly been. . . . . Since writing the above I have received the
enclosed note from Mr. Wolfe, the first gentleman referred to on the other
page. The information, . . . . coming so directly, . . . . is probably the
best that can now be gathered up.”

In the note from Mr. J. Wolfe to Professor Loomis, Mr. Wolfe states as
follows: “Since seeing you this morning I have had a conversation with
Dr. Beck, and he informs me that, buffaloes, at an early day, were very
abundant in this valley, and that the valley received its name from that
circumstance. The Doctor received his information from Colonel John
Kelly, who was a prominent and early settler in the valley. Kelly told the
Doctor that he shot the last one that was seen in the valley. Kelly
received his information of the abundance of buffaloes from an old Indian

224 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

named Logan, friendly to the whites, and who remained among the whites
after the Indians were driven away.”

Under date of March 30, 1876, Professor Loomis wrote again to Professor
Hamlin respecting the same matter, from which I quote the following:
«TI sought an interview with Dr. Beck. ... . The Colonel Kelly referred
to was a soldier and officer in the Revolutionary War, and was a leading
man in some fight in New Jersey during the war. A small monument is in
our cemetery to his memory, from which I take the following inscription :
‘Col. John Kelly died Feb. 18th, 1832, aged 88 years & 7 days’ He owned
a farm about five miles from Lewisburg, in Kelly township, which was
named from him. About 1790 or 1800 (such is the indefiniteness) Colonel
Kelly was out with his gun on the McClister farm (which joined that of
Colonel Kelly), and just at evening saw and shot a buffalo. His dog was
young, and at so late an hour he did not allow it to pursue. The next morn-
ing he went to hunt his game, but did not find it. Nearly a week later word
was brought him that it had been found, dead, some mile or two away. He
found the information correct, but the animal had been considerably torn and
eaten by wolves. He regarded the animal as a stray one, and had never
heard of any in the valley ata later day. Dr. Beck had the account from
Colonel Kelly about three months before his death. . . . . The Colonel also
told him that the valley was wooded originally with large but scattered
trees, so that the grass grew abundantly and furnished good pasturage for
the buffalo, and that the animal had been from this circumstance very
abundant in'the valley. The Colonel repeated the statement of a friendly
Indian, Logan (probably ot the native chief of that name), who said that
the buffalo had been very abundant. He, Dr. Beck, had the same statement
from Michael Grove, also one of the first settlers in the valley... - . I was
more particular than I should ordinarily have been, because this is about the
last stage when reliable tradition can be had.”

This, of course, affords satisfactory proof of the former existence of the
buffalo in the region about Lewisburg, which forms the most easterly point

to which the buffalo has been positively traced.*

* In respect to the supposed remains of Bison americanus from the Carlisle bone-caves, Professor Baird,
in a recent letter to me (dated May 13, 1876), expressed some doubt as to their being referable to that
species. A re-examination of them he thinks would be necessary in order to determine “whether they
are of the bison, and if so of which species.” During my recent visit to Washington, quite careful search
was made for the specimens, but unfortunately without finding them, though they are doubtless still stored

somerhere in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, and will some day be found.

notice
ee ge

ati monic amin

APPENDIX. 225

Buffaloes on the Shenandoah Rwer, Virginia. — On pages 85 to 87 evidence is
cited in proof of the former occurrence of the buffalo on the sources of the
James. My attention has since been called by Mr. Geo. Graham to the fol-
lowing passage in Watson’s “ Annals of Philadelphia” :* “The latest mention
of buffaloes nearest to our region of country is mentioned in 1730, when
a gentleman from the Shanadore, Va., saw there a buffalo killed of 1,400
pounds, and several others came in a drove at the same time.’ This was
probably a wandering herd “from the region of the Upper James River,
where, as already shown, they at that time existed.

A “Buffalo Creck” in Southern Georgia. — As will be presently noticed, the
buffalo extended, about 1720 to 1750, considerably to the southward, in the
States of Mississippi and Louisiana, of its range at the time De Soto and
La Salle traversed these States. Catesby also found the buffalo on the
Upper Savannah River, about “ Fort Moore,” in 1754, while Bartram refers to
the existence, in 1774, of a locality known as “Great Buffalo Lick” on the
divide between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers,—a region well known
to have been traversed by De Soto and others, one hundred to two hundred
and thirty years earlier, and who did not either meet with or hear anything
of the existence of buffaloes anywhere in that section of the country. In
the extreme southeastern part of Georgia (Camden County), however,
there is found a small creek emptying into the Santilla River, at its great
bend to the eastward, which still bears the name of “ Buffalo Creek.” If this
is to be taken as sufficient proof of the former presence there of buffaloes,
it may imply that the region was casually visited by a roving band of buffa-
loes from the region northward some time probably between the years 1700
and 1770. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries this region was
traversed by several different explorers, who, as is evident from their writ-
ings, did not meet with or hear of buffaloes here. It is, however, quite
possible that subsequently buffaloes may have occasionally wandered to
Southeastern Georgia, and even to portions of Florida. In all other cases
the name “Buffalo Creek” proves to have had its origin in the former
presence of buffaloes in the vicinity of the streams so named.

While it is certain that many of the allusions to the existence of the
buffalo in Florida do not refer to the present area of Florida, it is possible
that some of the later ones already discussed (see pages 97-101) may refer
to a brief occupation of portions of that State by this animal during the

* Page 674 of the edition of 1830; Vol. H, p. 484, of the later edition.

226 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

early part of the eighteenth century. That it was not there earlier seems
to me fully evident, and that if it was ever found there it must have existed
there at a comparatively recent date and for only a very short period. As
already stated (see page 101), I have met with no writer who claims to
have himself seen buffaloes within the present limits of Florida, though if
it ever occurred there an unquestionable record of the fact will yet doubt-
less be found.

The Buffalo in Mississippi.— On pages 102 and 115 I state that I had been
unable to find any evidence of the former existence of the buffalo south
of the Tennessee River, and the statement of Du Pratz that the Indians of
Lower Louisiana leave that country in winter to hunt the buffalo is cited in
proof of its supposed absence from that region. Du Pratz’s statement in full
on this point is as follows: “This buffalo is the chief food of the natives, and of
the French also for a long time past..... They hunt this animal in winter ; for
which purpose they leave Lower Lowsiana and the river Missisipi, as he can-
not penetrate thither on account of the thickness of the woods; and besides
loves to feed on long grass, which is only to be found in the meadows of the
high lands.”* This notice appears in the chapter devoted to an account of
the quadrupeds of Louisiana, and being misled by the import of the term
Lower Louisiana, which at that time was generally applied to all the Lower
Mississippi country, or that portion south of the 35th parallel, and by the
fact of the almost unquestionable absence of the buffalo from the country
south of the Tennessee at the time De Soto crossed this region in 1539 and
1540, I inadvertently omitted to examine with due care the earlier portions
of Du Pratz’s work. My attention, however, has since been kindly directed
(by my friend, Mr. L. Carr) to other reference by Du Pratz to the buffalo as
a former inhabitant of a considerable portion of the present State of Mis-
sissippi. In his detailed account of the “Lands of Louisiana” Du Prat
says: “From the sources of the river of the Paska Cgoulas, quite to those
of the river of Quesoneté, which falls into the Lake Sf. Lowis, the lands are
light and sterile, but something gravelly, on account of the neighborhood
of the mountains, that lye to the North. This country is intermixt with
extensive hills, fine meadows, numbers of thickets, and sometimes woods,

* The History of Louisiana, etc., English Ed. Vol. I, p. 49. The original reads as follows: “Ce
Beuf est la viande principale des Naturels, & a fait long-tems aussi celle des Frangois. . . . - On va a
la chasse de cet Animal dans V’hyver, & on s’écarte de la Basse Louisiane & du Fleuve S. Louis, parce

qwil ne peut y pénétrer, & cause de l’épaisseur des Bois, & que d’ailleurs il aime la grande herbe qui ne se

trouve que dans les Prairies des terres hautes.” — [Histoire de la Louisiane, etc. Tom. HU, p. 67.

aah nN rm

APPENDIX. 227

thick set with cane, particularly on the banks of rivers and brooks ; and is
extremely proper for agriculture. The mountains which I said these coun-
tries have to the North, form nearly the figure of a chaplet, with one end
pretty near the Missisipi, the other on the banks of the Modile. The inner
part of this chaplet or chain is filled with hills; which are pretty fertile in
grass, simples, fruits of the country, horse-chestnuts, and wild-chestnuts, as
large and at least as good as those of Lyons. To the North of this chain
of mountains lies the country of the Chicasaws, very fine and free of moun-
tains: it has only very extensive and gentle eminences, or rising grounds,
fertile groves and meadows. .... All the countries I have just mentioned
are stored with game of every kind. The buffalo is found on the rising
grounds; the partridge in thick open woods, such as the groves in meadows;
the elks delight in large forests, as also the pheasant; the deer, which is a
roving animal, is every where to be met with, because in whatever place it
may happen to be, it always has something to browse on.” *

Later he says in speaking of the country further north: “But to the east
[of the Mississippi River], the lands are a good deal higher [than on the
present Louisiana side], seeing from Manchac [near the present site of Baton
Rouge] to the river Wabache [Ohio] they are between an hundred and two
hundred feet higher than the Missisipi in its greatest floods. .... All
these high lands are, besides, surmounted, in a good many places, by little
eminences, or small hills, and rising grounds running off lengthwise, with

gentle slopes. . . . . All these high lands are generally meadows and forests
of tall trees, with grass up to the knees... .. Almost all these lands are

such as I have described; that is, the meadows are on those high grounds,
whose slope is very gentle; we also find there tall forests, and thickets in
the low bottoms. In the meadows we observe here and there groves of very
tall and straight oaks, to the number of fourscore or an hundred at most.
There are others of about forty or fifty, which seem to have been planted
by men’s hands in these meadows, for a retreat to the buffaloes, deer, and
other animals, and. a screen against storms, and the sting of the flies... ..
Those rising meadows and tall forests abound with buffaloes, elk, and deer,
with turkeys, partridges and all kinds of game; consequently wolves, cata-
mounts, and other carnivorous animals are found there.”

* The History of Louisiana, Vol. II, pp. 251 — 253.

+ The History of Louisiana, Vol. II, pp. 262-267. The last quotation reads in the original as follows:
“Ces Coteaux en Prairies & ces futayes sont abondantes en Beeufs, Cerfs & Chevreuils, en Dindes, en

Perdrix & en toute sorte de gibier,” ete. — Histoire de la Louisiane, Tom. I, p. 287.

228 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

On one of his accompanying maps this region is marked as “Terres
Hautes,” while the low country, or “drowned lands,” of the present Lower
Louisiana is marked “Terres Plates.” Hence, when in his later description
of the buffalo he speaks of the Indians leaving “Lower Louisiana” to hunt
the buffalo, he simply means that they leave the low flat country immediately
bordering the coast and the river, especially the low country south and west
of Baton Rouge, to hunt in the higher lands of the present State of Mis-
sissippi, where, if we take Du Pratz as trustworthy authority, the buffalo
must, at that time (about 1720 and later), have been abundant. Yet when
this very region was crossed by De Soto, two hundred years earlier, the
buffalo was evidently not to be found there. It hence appears to have
spread in the mean time from the region more to the northward. West of
the Mississippi, also, the buffalo, in Du Pratz’s time, extended southward over
regions where it was not met with by De Soto or by La Salle, which affords
further evidence that the buffalo extended its range considerably to the
southward and eastward in the valley of the Lower Mississippi between
1540 and 1720, or even between 1685 and the latter date, as seems to have
been also the case in South Carolina and Georgia.

It hence appears evident that at one time the buffalo occupied probably
most of the region between the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers. On
Du Pratz’s map, however, the course of the Tennessee is very incorrectly
laid down, as it is also on the earlier map of De I’Isle, and on maps pub-
lished much later’even than Du Pratz’s, its southern. bend on Du Pratz’s
map not reaching the 36th parallel, while it actually crosses the 33d. He
seems not to have himself passed above the Chickasaw Bluffs, and his
knowledge of the country beyond on the east side of the river was evidently
very vague.

The presence of “ Boeufs” in the country drained by the Mobile River is
also mentioned by un Offcier de Marine, in a letter published with Chevalier de
Tonti’s “Relation” * (the authorship of which work, however, Tonti disowns).

The presence of a creek in Southwestern Mississippi still bearing the name
of “Buffalo Creek” may be considered as further evidence of the former
existence of the buffalo in this region.

It is to be regretted that Adair, who spent many years (1735 to 1767) as
a trader and government official among the tribes south of the Tennessee
River, has left so little on record respecting the range of the buffalo at that

* Relation de la Louisianne, 1720, Vol. I, p. 11.

ii antag nn

APPENDIX. 220

period. In his “General Observations on the North American Indians” he
refers to their use of buffalo flesh as food, and its skins, horns, wool, and
sinews in the manufacture of clothing and utensils, but without specifying
by what tribes or at what localities.* Among the tribes mentioned are
those that lived north of the Tennessee River, and hence where the buffalo
was at that time abundant. In an account of one of his journeys he

‘mentions the killing of buffaloes somewhere, apparently, in the mountains

of Northern Georgia,t in 1749, and this is the only allusion in his work
that bears directly upon the range of the buffalo. He states also, however,
that “the buffaloes are now become scarce, as the thoughtless and wasteful
Indians used to kill great numbers of them, only for the tongues and
marrow-bones, leaving the rest of the carcase to the wild beasts.” = Elk,
deer, bears, and turkeys, however, are frequently mentioned as affording a
supply of food to the southern tribes of Indians, but in these statements he
never alludes to the buffalo. :
Former Abundance of the Buffalo along the Ohio River, with Notes respecting the
Date of its Extirpation in the State of Ohio.— On pages 106, 107, and 111 evi-
dence has already been given respecting the former occurrence of the
buffalo in Ohio. In answer to recent inquiries of mine, Mr. George Graham
of Cincinnati, well known as a reliable authority on matters relating to the
early history of the West, has kindly given me reference to notices of the
buffalo as an inhabitant of Ohio in Craig’s Olden Time, and also unpublished
traditional facts bearing upon the date of its extirpation from that State.
The “Journal of George Croghan,” § published in Olden Time,|| states that
buffaloes, bears, turkeys, and other game abounded about the mouth of the
“ Conhawa,” in 1765, as well as at the mouth of “Bottle River,” and also on
the prairies bordering the “Ouabache.” 4] They were also found and killed
by Washington, according to the “Journal of a Tour to the Ohio River in
1770,” at the mouth of the Kanhawa and also near the “Great Bend” of the

* See Adair (James), History of North American Indians, pp. 375 - 450.

+ Ibid., p. 335.

t Ibid., p. 415.

§ Not Colonel Croghan of Kentucky.
_ || The Olden Time; a Monthly Publication devoted to the Preservation of Documents and other
Authentic Information in relation to the Early Explorations, and the Settlement and Improvement of
the Country around the Head of the Ohio. Edited by Neville B. Craig, Esq. Two volumes, small 4to.
Pittsburg, 1846 — 1848.

{Olden Time, Vol. J, pp. 405, 410, 411.

230 THE AMERICAN BISONS.

Ohio, in 1770.* According to the “Journal of General [Richard] Butler,”
buffaloes were killed by his party at the mouth of Big Sandy Creek, in Octo-
ber, 1785, and also on Buffalo Lick Creek and Licking Creek the same
year,t at which time the buffaloes were there still quite abundant.

“In 1791,’ says Mr. Graham in one of his letters to me (dated “ Cincin-
nati, April 11, 1876”), “General Massie laid out the town of Manchester in
the Virginia Military District of Ohio, about thirty-five miles from Cincinnati.
This was the first settlement in the Virginia Military District. The woods
in the neighborhood supplied game, —deer, elks, buffaloes, bears, and tur-
keys, — while the river furnished a variety of excellent fish. In 1794 and
1795 McArthurf was settling a plan for his winter operations, when he fell in
with George Hardick, an experienced hunter and trapper, who was never at.
ease but when he was ranging through the solitary woods. Agreeing to go
into partnership for a winter hunt, they made a light canoe, procured ammu-
nition and beaver-traps, and set off from Manchester, travelling down the
Ohio River to the mouth of the Kentucky River, thence up the Kentucky
far above the settlements. Game of every description was found in abun-
dance; deer and buffalo were killed for their hides and tallow. Beaver and
otter were the principal game pursued, and were caught in great numbers.
They went up the river as far as they could find water to float their canoe,
and spent the winter in the spurs of the Cumberland Mountains, more than
a hundred miles from the habitations of civilized men,’ returning in spring
by the same route to Manchester.

“The last reliable account of killing buffalo,’ says Mr. Graham, in the
same letter, “is taken from the Lacross manuscripts, and partly from tra-
dition from the lips of the children and grandchildren of those who were
present. Of the French who settled at Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1790, but one
person ever killed a buffalo. This man’s name was Duteil. He was out
hunting in the summer of 1795, about two miles west from Gallipolis, and
saw a herd of buffaloes. He fired without aiming at any particular one, and
luckily killed a large one. He was so elated with this feat that without stop-
ping to examine the animal he ran as fast as he could to the town, and,
having announced his luck, came back, followed by the entire body of colo-
nists, men, women, and children. They quickly formed a procession, with

* Olden Time, pp. 426, 427.

+ Ibid., Vol. I, pp. 447, 450, 453, 456, 458, 497.

£ “*McDonald’s Sketches,’ published in Cincinnati, in 1838, by E. Morgan, gives the life of General
McArthur.”

APPENDIX. 2a

musicians playing violins, flutes, and hautboys in front, the fortunate hunter
proudly marching with his gun on his shoulder, and the animal swinging
from poles thrust through between its tied feet, followed by the crowd, sing-
ing and rejoicing at the prospect of good and hearty fare. The animal was
quickly skinned and dressed on its arrival at the town, and for several days
there was feasting, as the first and last buffalo of Gallipolis was served up
in such a variety of ways and means as none but the French could devise ;
Charles Francis Duteil remaining until his death the renowned marksman
who. killed the first and last buffalo of all the emigrants from France who
settled the town of Gallipolis.”

Mr. Graham adds that he has “no information that can be relied upon
of buffalo being killed in Ohio after the year 1795 or 1796.” In a later
letter he says, “From all that I know of the early settlement and history
of the West, I am under the impression that the buffalo disappeared from
Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky about the year 1800.”

The Bison seen by Cortes in the City of Mexico.— According to De Solis, Cortes
found specimens of the bison in Mexico, among the wonderfully varied pos-
sessions of Montezuma. In describing the animals in Montezuma’s menagerie,
De Solis says: “In the second Square of the same House were the Wild
Beasts, which were either presents to Montezuma, or taken by his Hunters,
in strong Cages of Timber, rang’d in good Order and under Cover: Lions,
Tygers, Bears, and all others of the savage Kind which ew-Spain produe’d ;
among which, the greatest Rarity was the Mexican Bull; a wonderful coos
sition of divers Animals: It has crooked Shoulders, with a Bunch on its Back
like a Camel; its Flanks dry, its Tail large, and its Neck cover’d with Hair
like a Lion: It is cloven footed, its Head armed like that of a Bull, which it
resembles in Fierceness, with no less Strength and Agility.”* These captive
individuals appear to have been the first specimens of the American Bison
seen by Europeans.

Specimens of the Bison taken alive to Spain prior to 1558.— According to The-
vet, living specimens of the bison were taken to Spain prior to 1558, of one
of which Thevet claims to have seen the skin.t

* De Solis's (Antonio de) History of the Conquest of Mexivo by the Spaniards. ‘Town end’s English
translation (London, 1724). Book III, Chap. XIV, p. 76.

_.+ “Lon en amena une fois deux tous vif en Espagne, de l'un desquels j’ay ven la peau & non autre

chose, & n’y. peurent vivre long temps.” — Les Singularitez de la France antar clique, etc., p. 144.

an
i

es

232 APPENDIX.

Il.

ON THE AGE OF THE BISON IN THE OHIO VALLEY.

BY N. S. SHALER.

In the foregoing Memoir of Mr. Allen, allusion is made to certain re-
searches carried on by me at Big Bone Lick in Kentucky, which have some
reference to the question of the age of the Buffalo in the Ohio Valley.
These investigations, begun in 1868 and continued in 1869, have only been
sufficient to point the way to further studies which it is in the plan of the
Kentucky Geological Survey to prosecute, but which it may not be in its
power to undertake for some time to come. I therefore give a short sketch
of the evidence collected at Big Bone Lick with a view to showing the limits
of the observations that have been made there.

The springs at Big Bone Lick, as at all the other licks of Kentucky, are
sources of saline waters derived from the older Paleozoic rocks. These
saline materials, as has been suggested by Dr. Sterry Hunt, have their origin
in the imprisoned waters of the ancient seas, or in the salts derived there-
from, which have been locked in the depths of the strata below the reach
of the leaching action of the surface water. Whenever the rocks lie above
the line of the drainage, these salts have been leached away. As we go
below the surface they increase in quantity until we reach the level, where
these waters remain saturated with the materials which existed in the old
sea-waters. The displacement of these old imprisoned waters is brought
about by the sinking down of water on the highlands through the vertical
interstices of the soil and rock, and the consequent tendency of the water
below the surface to restore the hydrostatic balance. This action is particularly
likely to occur when the rocks above the drainage are limestones or shales ;
while a bed of rock at some distance below the drainage is of sandstone and
permeable to water. This is the case at Big Bone Lick, where at about two
hundred feet below the surface we have the calciferous sandstone with a struc-
ture open enough to admit the free passage of water in a horizontal direc-
tion. That some such process is at work is shown by the fact that the water

will rise ten feet or more above the surface of the soil if enclosed in a pipe.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 233

The fact that the reservoir of these waters is below the general surface causes
them to appear in the bottom of the valleys, and the considerable abstrac-
tion of matter from the underlying beds, probably amounting to some hun-
dred cubic feet per annum in the case of Big Bone Lick, causes a depression
at the point of escape, and generally brings about the formation of

swamp in a depressed and constantly lowering basin, through which the
spring water creeps away, or is evaporated. This swamp forms a natural
trap for all the higher mammalia of this region. When excavations are
made near the existing outlets of the springs, we find remains of the large
mammals brought into the country by man,— the horse, cow, pig, and sheep.

A, Alluvial matter. b, Level where deposition of sediment is now taking
B, Limestone. place.
C, Calciferous sandstone. c, Present position of stream.

a, Oldest bone-bed as yet opened. _d,d, Springs in curbs or “gums” rising some feet

above the surface.

Diagrammatic Section of the beds at Big Bone Lick.

In the frequent change of outlet of these springs, it comes to pass that at
many points near the surface of the thirty or forty acres that lie in the little
basin where Big Bone Lick is found, there are old spring vents, about which
bones are found, that no longer give forth saline waters. It is a fact bearing
on the history of the buffalo, that their remains about Big Bone Lick are,
when found, always near the present position of the springs and never at any
depth beneath the surface. In the recent springs they are very abundant,
and not much more ancient in their appearance than the remains of the
domesticated animals. The evidence obtained at this point leads to the con-
clusion that the first appearance of this species in the country was singu-
larly recent, and also shows that their coming was like an irruption in its
suddenness. These buffalo bones are wonderfully abundant in some of the

shallow swampy places of this neighborhood. I have seen them massed to

(234 - APPENDIX.

.the depth of two feet or more, as close as the stones of a pavement, and so
beaten down by the succeeding herds as to make it difficult to lift them from
their bed.. io

As will be seen from the accompanying diagram, there seems to have been
some degradation of the surface of this swamp after the deposition of many
of the mastodon remains, and before the coming of the buffalo. This lower-
ing of level was apparently consequent on the erosion of the bed of the
small creek that drains the valley. The old elevated beds had probably
washed a good deal when. the buffalo came, but it was principally by its
wallowing and stamping that the bones of the mastodon, elephants, &c., were
exposed to the air.* At no point in this old ground did I find a trace of the
buffalo, though in some of it the bones identified by Mr. Allen as belong-
ing to Ovibos were found. There, too, were found the bones of the moose
and caribou. J am inclined to believe from these investigations that the
Bison americanus did not appear at Big Bone Lick until a very recent time.

All the observations made by the Kentucky Survey in the caverns of the
State, and the neighboring district of Tennessee, have led to the discovery
of no bison remains in these subterranean receptacles, where the bones of the
beaver, deer, wolf, bear, and many other mammals have been discovered. The
observation of the officers of the Survey to be published hereafter will show
that our caves have been used as the homes of the living and the receptacles
of the dead by more than one of the earlier tribes of this region, but they
seem never to have brought the bones of this animal to the caves.

Some years ago I ventured to call attention to the general absence of the
remains of this animal in all the mounds of the historic or prehistoric races,
and to the fact that on their pipes and pottery, though they figure every
other indigenous mammal and some of the birds of this region, seeking their
models even in the manitee of Florida, Ihave never been able to find any
trace of buffalo bones in any of the mounds which so often contain bones
of other animals, nor have I been able to ascertain that they have ever been
found in such places. At an ancient camping-ground on the Ohio River,
about twelve miles above Cincinnati, where the remains are covered by allu-
vial soil of apparently some antiquity, and where the pottery (hereafter to be
figured in the Memoirs of the Survey) is rather more ancient in character
than that made by our modern Indians, I found bones of deer, elk, bear, fox,
&c., but none of buffalo. At a number of other old camps on the Ohio River

* For the habits of the buffalo in this regard, see the preceding Memoir of Mr. Allen, p.-64, et seq.

THE AMERICAN BISONS. 235

there is the same conspicuous absence of the remains of this animal. These
evidences, negative and incomplete as they are, make it at least probable
that the buffalo was unknown to the people who built. the mounds and pre-
ceded the tribes which were found here, by the whites, in the seventeenth
century. The same arguments warrant us in supposing that the Bison lali-
frons, with its contemporaries, — the musk ox, the elephant, and the masto-
don,—had vanished before the advent of this race, or at least before the
time of which we have evidence in the. fossils already found.

I have long been of the opinion, without claiming originality therein, that
the tribes which built the mounds and the shapely measured forts of this
region were driven to the southward by an invasion of other tribes. coming
from the northward and northwestward. In the Memoirs now in preparation,
concerning the ancient peoples of this region, it will be claimed, on what

seems to Mr. Lucian Carr, ethnologist of tle Survey, and to myself, sufficient

evidence, that these mound-building peoples were essentially related to the

Natchez group of Indians, and were driven southward by the ruder tribes
of the somewhat related tribes which occupied the northern parts of the
Mississippi Valley, when we first knew it. All this seems to me to have a
possible significance in the problem of the coming of the buffalo; when we
remember that the Indians north of the Ohio were much in the habit of
burning the forests, and so making open plains, or prairies, and that, as Mr.
Allen has well pointed out, the buffalo cannot penetrate far into the denser
forests, it may be that it was this destruction of forests that laid the way
open to their entrance. The so-called Barrens of Kentucky, the southward
extension of the Wabash prairies, give us evidence on this point. As soon as
the Indians were driven away, these Kentucky prairies sprang up in timber,
and are now densely wooded. The same is in part true of the other prairies
of the Ohio Valley. I am inclined to think that the forcing back of the
timber line from the Mississippi is principally due to the burning of the
forests by the aborigines in their eastward working, aided by the continued
decrease of the rainfall, which I believe to have been a concomitant of the
disappearance of the glacial period.* The question of the origin of the buf
falo and its relation to the earliest tribes of people in this district is made
still more complicated by the fact that there is no doubt that there was an
earlier and closely related species of buffalo in this district, probably coeval
with the mammoth and mastodon, and possibly with the caribou and elk,

* Notes on the cause and geological value of variations in rainfall. Vol. XVII, p. 176, et seg. Pro-

ceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History.

236 APPENDIX.

which had doubtless disappeared before the coming of any race of men that
has as yet been identified in this country.

The succession of events in this region, as far as the species of bison are
concerned, seems to have been somewhat as follows, viz. : —

Ist. The existence of the Bison latifrons in company with the mammoth
and its contemporaries,—the mastodon, musk ox (Bootherium cavifrons), ete.
This species, like its contemporaries, by its size gave evidence of the even
climate and abundant vegetation of the time just following, and probably in
part during the glacial period.

2d. The disappearance of this fauna, followed by the coming of a race
{mound-builders) that retained no distinct traditions, and have left no art
records of the presence of any of the large animals of the preceding time.

3d. The disappearance of this race from the region north of the Tennessee,
probably leaving representatives in the Natchez group of Indians, followed
by the occupation of the country by a race that greatly extended the limits of
the treeless plains to the eastward, and so permitted the coming of the modern
bison into this region. —

I have long been disposed to look upon the succeeding glacial periods
as the most effective causes of the changes that led to the determination
of new specific characters among animals, and I am strongly disposed to
think that in the B. americanus we have the descendant of the B. dalifrons
modified by existence in the new conditions of soil and climate to which
it was driven by the great changes closing the last ice age.

When the exploration of Big Bone Lick is completed, it will doubtless
show that there was an interval of some thousands of years between those

two species.

eo i nd

j
|
|
|
|
|

. Aiken, C. a on buffaloes in South Park, Col., in

ApBert, Capt. J. W., reference by, to buffaloes in
Kansas, 146.

Adair, oe of references by, to buffaloes in the
aulf States, 102, 228.

Adams County, Ohig horn-cores of Bison latifrons
fro 2

mM, , il, 32.

1876, 1
Alameda . , California, remains of ore antiquus
from, 29, 34
Albinism in Bison americanus, 39.
en, Mrs. Frederic, supposed bison teeth in cabi-
net of, 89.
Allen, Capt J., large herds of buffaloes seen by, in
Southw acs Minnesota in 1844, 143.
Allen, J. A., on the range of the buffalo on the Yel-
lowstone ao Musselshell Rivers in 1873, 162.
Anonymous a authors, on the beasts of New England
in 1630, 77; do. of Virginia in 1649, 78 ; do. in
1650, 78.

Apes reported to have been seen in Virginia, 88.
Argoll, Sir Samuel, “cattle as big as kine” diseoy-
ered by, on the “ Pembroke” River in 1613, 85.

Arizona, probable absence of buffaloes from, 126
ee oe of the extirpation of the buffalo from,

41,
ae nite on buffaloes in Western Pennsylvania,
108-110; probable error of, respecting a buffalo-
trail to Onondaga Lake, 108 ; on the extirpation
n Western Pennsylvania, 116 ;
do. east of the Mississippi, 116.
Ashley River, S. C., bison remains from, 6, 13
Atlases of bisons, description and measurements of,

ae ee cab See by, to buffaloes in Ohio, 111.

Audubon, J. J., e habits of the buffalo, 62 ;
first Hel wih on S Missouri River in 1843
at Fort Leavenworth, 1

Audubon and Se on the occurrence of the
buffalo on the South Carolina seaboard, 92; on
the method of hunting the buffalo by the Indian
tribes of the Upper Missouri, 206.

Baird, Prof. S. F., on the former range of the buffalo,

vania, 77, 87, 224; on the former occurrence of
buffaloes in Honda: 98, 100 ; on the expulsion of
the buffalo east of the Misges ppi, 117 (footnote) ;
on legal protection of the buffalo, 180 ae): :
statistics of the trade in buffalo- tobes, 1

Bartram, Wm., mention by, of a buffalo lick in
oe 94; the buffalo extinct in the Carolinas
im 1773, 95.

Beck, L. 2 ., reference by, to buffaloes in Missouri in
. 1823, 1

Pleat = Mr., on buffalo-hunting by the Red
River half- eee 155; mode of preparing pem-
mican, account of, by, 194.

Belon, M., bulfslors seen by, on the Des Moines

iver in 1837, 142.
Bent’s Fert buffaloes near, 148, 151.
Ber dn Dr. J., on the range of the buffalo south
e Rio oe 129, 130.
one on stray buffaloes near Council Bluffs in

Big Lee lace Kentucky, remains of Bison latifrons
from, 3, 32; remains of B. antiquus from, . >
33; remains of B. americanus from, 30, 53, 2
on the saline springs at, 232; a natural trap for
the higher mammals, remains of domestic
animals at, 233; abundance of bones of Bison
americanus at, 233.
ison, ee synonymy of, 1, 3; distinctive char-
acter: 1-3; affinities of, 3; first discovered re-
mains oe 3 (footnote) ; first remains of, found in
North America, 3 ; ees of the existing, to
the extinct species of, 35, 36.

Bison, American. See Bison americanus.

Bison americanus, same number of pairs of ribs as
the aurochs, 2; error of authors respecting the
number of its ribs, - (footnote) ; tooth of, from a

lead-crevice in Jo Daviess Co., Ill., 13 ; measure-
ments of atlases of, ay ; do. of metatarsal bones of,

15:5 ae of molar teeth of, 27 ; of lower jaw of,
3 do. of metacarpal bones o - synonymy of,
mo description of, 36— re ic and mela-
nism in, 39; varieties of, 3
ay 41-46; es of skeletons of.
4; of cede of, 47 ; individual variation In, 48 —

75; buffalo Nae: from the bone caves of Pennsy]-

: ; ae ribs in, 49; variations in the

238

form of the skull in, 49 ; in lower jaw, 50; in its
horns, 50; remarks on synonymy and nomencla-
ure, 50; common names of, 51; on figures of,

on
|
“Im
& (e)

ts of,
; gregarious propensity of, 55; character
of the herds of, 55 - 57 ; See 56 ;-mater-
nal affection, 58; moulting, 59 ; its adic. dis-
ee ion, 59; migrations of, 60; its e wake of
“wallowing,” 64; its “wallows,” how formed,
65 ; stupidity of, 66; man its chief enemy, 67 ;
attacks of wolves upon, 68 ; susceptible of domes-
tication, 68, 215-221 ; geographical distribu-
tion of, pas oe present, 71-191, 223-231 ;
erroneous opinions respecting its foonee range, 72 ;
probable extent of its range, 72 ; eastern limit of
its range north of North Carolina, 74-91; not
found within the present limits of He New
England, New York, or Florida, 75 ; absence of
its remains from the Indian shell-heaps - the
Atlantic coast, 76, the mountains of Vir-
ginia, 85; its occurrence on the sources of the
James ies — 85; supposed teeth of, from
Gardiner, Me., 1 ; its occurrence in the Car-
olinas and Geoni, 92 —96, 225 ; never found near
the coast in the ee 96 ; probably never in-
habited Florida, 97-101, 226; not met with in
Florida by the early ee 100, 225 ; range of,
east of the Mississippi, 103-115, 223-231 ; in
nion ©o., Pa., 87, 108, 223, 294. in ioe Vir-
ginia, 110, ne ; résumé of range of, east of the
Nicest 115 ; extirpation of, east of : Missis-
sippi, 116, 229-231 ; not “driven westward,” but
exterminated, 117; range of, west of the Rock
Mountains, 118-125 ; Rocky Mts. supposed by
some to be its western limit, 118 ; ranged over the
sources of the Colorado River, 118, 120, 122, ee
do. over the plains of the Columbia; EES,
125; do. as far west as the Blue Minin a
Oregon and the Sierra Nevadas, 118, 119 ;
western limit of the range of, 125-128 ; ee
limit of range of, 128-130; existed in the north-
eastern provinces of Mexico, 128-130; seen in
Texas in 1530, 128, 131 ; do. in 1685, 132; extir-
pated froma large part of Texas before 1850, 136—
141 ; date of ae ee from Arkansas, 141 ;
from Missouri, 144 5 do: a Towa, oh
144; do. fi ees 143 144; eee of,
into oss and Southern ee 144; extirpa-
tion of, from Eastern Kansas, 147; gre Lene
of, on the plains of Colorado, 148, 150, ie ; extir-
pation of, from the Parks of Colorado, 149 ;
from the Laramie Plains, 150; influence of o
Kansas railroads upon the decrease of, 151-15
extirpation of, from Eastern Dakota, 155 ; do. near
the 49th parallel, 156-160; do. in Eastern Ne-
braska, 160 ; decrease of, in the Upper Missouri

=

aes ntiquus, remarks on

INDEX.

aes 160-166; former range and decrease of,
in British America, 166-175 ; range of the Nort.
ern a in 1875, a ; a remarks on the
oe of, 175-177 ; recent destruction of, in
ansas, 177 — 180 ; Reis ae of, ae 85
ane remarks on the destruction of, 185-191 ;
probable number of, annually killed in ee
portions ofits habitat, 185-191 ; products of, 191 —-
201 ; importance of, as a means of subsistence to
the pioneer and explorer, 192; the flesh of, as an
article of food, 192 ; value of, to the Indians, 196 ;
wholesale destruction of, for their ae segs
former supposed value of the wool of, 5
importance of the excrement of, as an ie -
fuel, 200, 201; the chase of, 202-215; by the
Illinois Indians, 202; by the Sioux, 203 ; by the
Minnetarees, 204 ; by the Crees, 205 ; capture of,
by eae 205 — a estruetion of, by the
Red River half-breeds, -—210; do. by white
pee "10 213 5 still nies 210-212 ; get-
ting a “stand” on, ; domestication of, ne
221; ae crossed with domestic cattle, 216 — ;
fe of the mixed breed, 217, 218 ; occurrence
n the Shenandoah River, Va., 224; probable
occurrence of, in Southern Cae 225 ; possible
existence of, in Florida for a short perio, 225 ;
its occurrence in Mississippi, 225 ; southward ex-
tension of the range of, east of the Mississippi be-
tween 1685 and 1750, 225, 227 ; presence of, for a
short period eee a Tennessee and Missis-
sippi Rivers, 226-229 ; found by Cortes in the
possession of Montezuma, A duration of, in the
Ohio Valley, 232 — 236 ; s of, not found in the
caverns of Kentucky and ie , 234 ; proba-
bly unknown to the mound- Poles Indians, 234.

Sesh gues of remains - 21- 313 Dr. See

ae of the original specimen of 22°; do. of

a specimen from California, 22 ; notice of remains
of, from Eschscholtz Bay, 23; remains from St.
Michael’s and Tatlo River, Alaska, 24, 25 ; com-
pared with other species of Bison, 25-31 ; other
remains from ee 28, 29 ; remarks on
synonymy of, 31 ; aes eee and
geological position of remains of, 33, distribu-
tion of remains of, in Miva 168 oe:

Bison bonasus, measurements of atlas of, 14 ; do.

of metatarsal bones of, 15;-do. of skull of, 26 ;

do. of metacar es bones of, 30 ; compared with B.
amerveamnu 46 ; measurements of skeletons
of, 44 ; oe i of, 47.

nee crassicornis, remarks on, 6, 20, 21 — 31 (passim).
Bison, Great Extinct American. See Bison latifrons.
Bison latifrons, history of the original specimen,

-—5 >; views of Eur one writers respecting , a,
17, 20; synonymy of, 7; account of remains ”
8-17; compared with Bison priscus, 8, 11,

. INDEX. 239

r. Leidy’s description of, 8 ; i Carpenter’s de-
scription of remains of, from Texas, 10 ; horn-cores
of, from Adams Co., Ohio, 11; an of, from Natch-
ez, Miss., 13 ; supposed remains of, from Georgia,
3-15; Bes with B. priscus and B. anti-
quus, 16 ; arks on synonymy of, 17-213 geo-
graphical Aisin and geological position of
remains of,

Bison, Mountain 5 oo!

Bison priscus, remains of, where found, 3 (foot-

mgs ; 8 with B. ee 16; compared

ith B. antiquus, 25-31 (pai

Bison poe Tan meee on, 6, 7, 14, 20,
25.

pas

Bison, Smaller Extinct American. ee

Blac k Hills, buffaloes north of, in 1868, 164.

Boeuf ieee a ae frequently applied to the

oose and the elk, 87.

Bois de Vache. dee cee Chip.

Bojanus, L. H., on fossil bison oe from North
merica, 5; not author of the name Bos priscus,

tnote).

J., on the range eof the a in Texas in
1874-75, 140 ; n 1876,

Bones, ies oe of, - economic purposes,

190,
oe Capt., ae fee: with by, on the
sources of the Columbia,
Boone, Daniel, great oe . buffaloes seen by, in
Kentucky, 112 ; do. in Tennessee, 1
Neiede ae to buffaloes jdilled by, in
est Virginia, 111
Bos americanus. See Bison americanus.
Bos bonasus. See Bison bonasus.
Bos priscus, 5, 7.
Bos urus, 5, 21
Bowen, E, T., statistics of the shipment of buffalo
products over the Kansas Pacific Railway, 189.
rackenridge, on the restriction of the range of the
buffalo east of the Mississippi, 117; wool of the
uuffalo as a useful product, 198.
Pras ; n buffaloes in Eastern Nebraska

See also Bison priscus.

fae oa z EL, ee in the Black Hills

ee in 1868, 1

Brandt, ._ E., on a of remains of Biso
orgs : (footnote) ; on the rela’ oa of o
extinct and existing species of Bison, 20.

Brewer, Prof. W. H., on ae a woodland in
the United States

Brickell, John, on ths Dae of the Toteros and

apona Indians, 92; on the occurrence of buffa-

loes in North Carolina, 93

Bryne, J. H., reference to his itinerary of Gen. Pope’s
ei plone: in Texas, 139

Buckland, Dr. Wm., on fossil bison remains from
Eschscholtz Bay, 5, 13

Buffalo, on the use of the term, as a desienation for
the Am = Bison, 51.

Buffalo, e Bison americanus.

oe ees 39; Wood, 39, 167, 172.

“Buffalo chips,” use of, as fuel, etc., 200, 201.

Buffalo Creek, in Pennsylvania, &%, 108, 223, 224;
in Georgia, 225 ; in Mississi

eee hunters of the Plains, Lae of the, 211 —

aa, pounds, 205 — 207.
Buffalo Springs, Va., 86, 87.
Buffalo Wool Company, account of, 199.
ae a term often applied to the elk and moose, 74,

ae a tun applied to the moose and the elk, 74,
84, 87.
Burgoignon, N., buffalo seen by, in South Carolina,

_about 1580, 96.
Butler, Capt. W. F., buffaloes in British America, 170.
Butler, Gen. ee buffaloes along the Ohio River
in 1770, 2
Byers, a ides in the parks of Colorado in
1875, 3 great ee of buffaloes on the
pias . ee

California Academy of ae skull of Bison
ntiquus received from,
sae bison remains a om, 6, 7, 29, 34.

California overland emi ee a of, upon the
distribution of the buffalo,

Carlton House, buffaloes mee at, in 1840, 169.

Carolinas, early enumerations of the animals of, 78.

Carpenter, Dr. 2e description of fossil bison re-
mains from Texa: 10.

Carr, Lucian, eon received from, 226 ; affin-
iti mound-building Indians, 235.

Cartier, J., wild beasts met with by, on the St. Law-
rence in 1534, 75.

Carver, Jonathan, buffaloes seen by, about Lake
Pepin, 103

Castefiada, his description of the buffalo quoted, 135.

Catesby, Mark, buffaloes seen by, in South Carolina
and Georgia, 94

Catlin, George, buffalo “ wallows,” how formed, 65 ;
buffaloes attacked by wolves, 67 ; references to his
map of the Soups of the Indian tribes, and
incidentally of the buffalo, 129 (footnote), 144;
buffalo-hunting ce the Sioux Indians, 203.

Cattle, domestic, early rapid increase of, in “Mexie
84 (footnote) ; sub-fossil remains of, from ae
land, 85 (footnote) ; occurrence of bones of, at
Big Bone Lick, 233.

Champlain, his report of a “beast like an ox” seen
on the St, Lawrence, 80.
harlevoix, Francis X., occurrence of buffaloes on
the south shore of Lake Erie, 82 ; “wild lemons”
found growing about the Detroit River, 88 ; abun-

240

dance of buffaloes seen by, in the Ohio Valley, 105,
106 ; buffaloes seen by, on the Des Moines River,
142 ; on the use of the wool of the buffalo by the

Illinois Indians, 197; on buffalo-hunting by the |

Tilinois Indians, 202.

Chase of the buffalo, description of the, ae 215.

Cibola, situation of the ancient pueblo of, 126.

Cicuic, where situated, 126, 128 ; avuiidntice of buf-
faloes on the plains of, in 1540, 128, 134

Cincinnati Soc. of Nat. Hist., horn-cores a B. lati-
frons belonging to, 11.

Clayton, John, enamemtich by, of the beasts found

in Virginia in 1688, 78.

Cohacs es = to buffaloes in the Abbeville
District, 5; do. about Lake Ontario, 107 ;
on his aon evidence of the occurrence of the

uffalo in Western Mexico, 127.
ee decrease of the buffalo in, 150, 151.
Columbia River, plains of, buffaloes on, 118
GO ehh of a skull of B. an-
tiquus from Califor nia, 16; on the “mountain
pene of ae buffalo on the

bison,” 40 ;
Upper oe in 1860, 157.

Cope, Prof. E. i Sees existence of the
bison im ‘aad 85

Coronado, buffaloes where first seen by, 126.
Cortes, buffaloes found by, in captivity in Mexico,

231.

Coues, Dr. Elliott, reference by, to capture of buffa-
loes in West Virginia, 111; reference by, to evi-
dences of former occurrence of the buffalo in Ari-
zona, 126; decrease of and present range of buffa-
loes near the 49th parallel, 157-160 ; on “ buffalo
chips,” 200.

ee nee a term sometimes applied by early writ-

o the moose and elk, 74, 82, 83, 87
toe te buffaloes on the Assinniboine River, 168.
oes Geo., buffalo on the Ohio River in 1765,

cuming John, reference oe to buffaloes in Ken-
eky, 112; on the ees of the buffalo
ae the Ohio Valley,

Cuvier, Baron G., on - ee characters of
bisons, 1 ; on the number of ribs in B. amer LCUNUS
and B. bonasus, 2; on American fossil bison re-
mains, 4, 17.

Dakota, oo of the buffalo from Northern,
155, 156.

Dall, W. H., bison remains collected by, in Alaska,
24, 25 ; on aaa of bison remains in Alas-
iy 168 (footno

Darien, Ga., ee remains from, 13, 14, 15, 32.

Davis, W. H. H ., cited respecting the point where
Cabeca de Vaca was shipwrecked, 131 ; extracts
from his translations from Vaca’s journal,
reference to his account of Espejo’s journey, 134.

INDEX.

| Dawson, Prof. G. M., on the ee of the buf-
falo above the 49th parallel, 173, 174.

De Challeux, strange beast seen by, in Florida, 98.

De Kay, Dr. J. E., on the former range of the buf-
falo, 74.

De Laét, on a supposed reference by, to the buffalo
in Western Mexico, 127 ; reference by, to the buf-
falo as an inhabitant of the region of Quivira, 129.

De l’Tsle, Guill., map by, cited, 102.

De Solis, on bulffaloes seen by Cortes in Mexico,
231.

De Soto, Hernandez, absence of reference by, to
buffaloes in present State of Florida, 98 ; do. Gulf
States, 101 ; a of ee and Georgia
ite 100 ; “ox-hides” obtained by, 100 ; authori-

ties route of, 102 (foo eee ; reference to
his exit reaching the range of the buffalo in
Arkansa

ees . ie buffalo, g

Dodge, Col hk, i on tue ts of the buffalo, Bf
58, 62, 66 ; extirpation ae y the Sioux Indians,
163; cause of the Hoa of the buffalo
from the Se Plains, 1

Domestication of t oe ‘215 - 221; not yet

roperly ee 215; early reference to the
supposed value of the buffalo as a domesticated
animal, 215; easily crossed with domestic cattle,
16-—

ee remarks on, 17°

ee ‘Jomn, buffaloes found by, on the Cum-
and River, 114
Drayton John, on ipnflaloes 4 in South Carolina, 96.
Du Pratz, Le Page, on absence of buffaloes in “ Low-
er Louisiana,” 102, 225; occurrence of buffaloes
in Mississippi, 225 - 227

Ellsworth, H. L., on the disappearance of the buf-
falo from Illinois, 117.
Elton, Mrs. Romeo, supposed teeth of a bison in
cabinet of, 89 ; Se received from, 90.
Elvas, Gentleman of, reference to his oe ol We
oto’ ee 100 aosinee 18
TY. ., on range of the one on the Arkan-
gas iver’ in ae ae
Erie, Lake, references to buffaloes on southern shore
of, 82, 107
Erocoise, Lake, position of, 108.
Escalante, Father, reference to MS. journal of, 125
Eschscholtz Bay, bison remains from, 5, 6, 10, 35.
Espejo, Father, great herds of buffaloes met with by,

o

n the Pecos River in 1584, 1383.

Faujas-Saint-Fond, Barth., description of Peale’s
original specimen of B. latifrons from a plaster-

cast, 4.
Figures of the buffalo, 51-53.
Filson, J ne reference by, to buffaloes in Ken-
tucky, 11

INDEX.

Fire, use of, by the Indian in hunting the buffalo,
202.
Fischer, Prof., on a Bison “latifrons” from Siberia,

Fletcher, J. E., on oe of the buffalo in
Northern Dakota, 15

Florida, early ee of the animals of, 77, 79,

faloes probably never found in the pres-

ent State of, 97-101; former vast extent of, -
(foo ae ee ke ee as found in, 97, 9

, LOU ; in about 1700, oe

F Fiort ae of the buifalo i in Florida reported

Fort UAbersomlieD T., buffaloes near, in 1858, 156.
Be p, Texas, rolerence to absence of buffa-
ee near, in 1852, 137.
Benton, remains of es west of, 157.
Carlton. See Carlton House.
Concho, Texas, references to buffaloes near, 138,
, 141.
ee ae great ae traction of buffaloes near,
153,
Ellice, = Be e ables near, in 1858, 170, 171.
Garry, uttioes at, in 1818, 172.
Harker, Kan., buffaloes nee: in 1866, ee
Hays, uffaloes near, in 1871, 15
ae sae to ee of aoe
near, in 1866, 146.
Larr an reference to buffaloes near, in 1846, 144.
Leavenworth, reference to buffaloes near, in

843, 146.

McKavitt, Texas, reference to buffaloesnear, 138.
Moore, S. C., buffaloes near, in 1750, 9

_ Pelly, BT,

Ridgely, cee es

Sill, range of buffs alo near.

Terrett, Texas, reference to oe of buffaloes

buffaloes a in 1859, 171.
ar, in 1847, 143.

near, in 1852, 137.
aoe Mont., oe near, 157, 1
Worth, Texas, J to absence ss paidons
near, in 1852,

Frémont, J. C., on the distribution of the buffalo
west of the oe hone 120, 121s abun
dance of buffaloes found by, at Grand Isle, Neb., in
1842, 146 ; statistics of the trade in buffalo-robes,
185 ; occurrence of buffaloes on oS North Platte,
148 ; do. in the Colorado Parks,

French, B. F., on the extent of a in the six-
teenth century, 131 (footnote).

Frenchman’s Creek, the eastern limit of range of buf-
faloes in 1873, 174

Gallatin, Albert, buffalo-routes across the Allegha-
nies, 92; the Tennessee River as the southern
noe a the buffalo east of the nee 102,

114; buffaloes in Pennsylvania, 110 ; n West
ee 111; on the wooded and ee areas

241

east of the ee 115 ae on the east-
ward migration of one breeding of

“ buffalo with ae ale

a Ohio, a buffalo aa near, in 1795,

eke M. de la, on the prospective value of
the buffalo to the Americans, 198, 199; on the
8.

, Henry, = — buffalo seen about the
at "Salt Lake,
ee EE, eee of the trade in buffalo-robes,

sane: Edward, on number of ribs in B. ameri-

canus, 2.

oo Prof. P., reference = all fossil remains of
ons by, to B. bonasus,

cies sir H., se ee by, to buffaloes
n New sodlond, 7

Glacial ne an effe a cause in determining new

specific characters among animals, 236
ae Gov., reference by, to buffaloes in the Caro-

linas, 96.

ace "la, reported as found in the eighteenth cen-
tury in oe valleys of the St. Lawrence, Missis-
sippi, in Florida, ete E

Godfrey, Lt. E. S., on the range of buffaloes in Kan-

2
Gomara, his description of the buffalo quoted, 134.

Gosnold’s Voyage, beasts of Virginia in 1602 men-
tioned in, 76.
raham, ee information ae oe 294,
230 — 232 ; alo Kentue 1795, 230;
date of ae of the ba a i region.
drained by the Ohio River, 231.

ae , Dr. J. E., on the char: ae of the genus Berson,

the number of ribs in B. americanus, 2; on
oe differences of B. bonasus and B. ameri-
canus, 43.

Gregg, on abundance of buffaloes in Texas in 1840,
130; on buffaloes in Arkansas and fo 142;
on the wanton destruction of the buffalo, 183

Groger, Lt., buffaloes on the ir Pie in

853, 157

Gunnison, Capt., buffaloes in Kansas in 1853, 147.
Hakluyt, enumeration of the “beastes of Florida,”
1

Hamlin, Prof. C. E., information received from, 223,
ariot, ee beasts of Virginia in 1587, 76, 79.

Harlan, Dr. Richard. oe by, of B. latifrons, 5
17; nee remains erroneously referred by, to the
genus Sus, 1

8, & genus aes based on remains of

near Pike’s Peak and in South Park in 1875, 149 ;

.

242

on the Upper eee 161 ; statistics of the trade
in buffalo-robes, 189.
Hennepin, Father Louis, buffaloes first seen by, on
25 bu aloes found by, on St.
do. in Ilinois, 105 ; buffalo-
hunting by the Illinois Inia 02.
Henry, Mr., aes a with by, on Lewis’s Fork
of the Columbia
Henshaw, finding of buffalo skulls at Utah
Lake ee bys 2
— Antonio de, aaa ace by, to “algunas
yacas” on the Yaquimi River, Mexico, 127
Hewit, A., on buffaloes in the Carolinas in 1674, 95.
Hides, Pose number of, eee in three months
fro odge : , 177; number taken in
one year in Kansa ae aan of shipments
of, 189, 190; uses and value of, 196, 197.
Hilton, a eee to his explorations in South
Carolina.
Hind, H. Y., on the “ wood Aa 167 ; distribu-
tion of buffaloes, a their migrations in Britis
; buffalo- floating by the Cree

Dr. W. J., on absence of evidence of the
eee existence of the buffalo in Arizona, 127
(footnote) ; ee a buffaloes from ee

western Dakota,

Hogan, Lt. M. E., on oe abundant about Fort-
Shaw, Mont., in 1873, 157.

Horn-cores oa skulls, ae of, of existing
and extinct bisons, 26.

Horses, wild, reported to occur in Newfoundland
prior to 1600,

Hughes, J. T., abetaloe: in Kansas, 144.

Hutchins, Thos, buffaloes met with by, in Ohio,

111; do. in Hlinois, 115.

Huy: sche; G. L., on the decrease of buffaloes in Brit-

ish America, 172.

Tilingworth, - H., buffaloes on Coteau des Prairies
in 1866,

Illinois, ad abundance of buffaloes in, 105.

Illinois Indians, mee hunting the buffalo by, 202.

Indiana, buffaloes i

a usefulness e ie buffalo to, 182 ; buffalo-

ng by the Crees, 205 ; by the fitenote, 202 ;

i: y a Minnetarees, 204; by the Sioux 2
useless slaughter of the buffalo by, 202 — 205, 228,

Individual variation in Bison americanus, 48 - 50.

Ingraham, David, buffaloes seen by, in 1568, 80.

Towa, buffaloes met ee by Charlevoix on the Des
Moines River, ; buffaloes in, in ae 142
date of ps from: 142, 143, 1

Irving, Thos., reference is his ee < De Soto’s
expedition, 100 (footn

Irving, Washington, his ce of Capt. Bonne-
ville s tour fad, 123.

INDEX.

Jones, Rev. lees ee met with by, on the
Li ttle Kanawha,

Joutel, reference : i néootint of La Salle’s journey,
132.

on. ae cattle” found in “ Canada,”
84 “ Carolina,” 95 ; on early attempts at do-
Sieshindti ing the bn italy. 215.

Kansas, extirpation of iraitalos from eastern pait of,

4,

Keating. See Colhoun.

Keeney, Dr. ©. C., reference by, to buffaloes on the
Des Moines River in 185%

Kelly, Col. John, a one killed by, in Union Co.,
Pa. Scat 1790, b

Kendal, G. W., buffaloes where met with by, in
Texas in 1841, 137.

Pega on aos in Illinois, 116.
ennedy, Wim., on buffaloes in Wei in 1841, 137.

Kentucky, buffaloes in, ne ; extirpation from, 116.
ern, R. H., reference to his map of Coronado’s
ro ue 134,
ootanie Plains, signs of buffaloes at, 171.

La Hontan, on buffaloes in Wisconsin, 104; buffaloes
on t ern shore of Lake Erie, 107.
ake Cin buffaloes supposed to have lived
aro 108.
eae sheanicnis of the Red River
half- nies near, 155, 169.
Erie, buffaloes on soutien shore of, 82, 107.
ee buffaloes near, 107 ; position n 108.
form

Great ghee buffaloes near, 166, 167.
Great ‘Swan, buffaloes abundant near, in 1823,

143.
Pepin, buffaloes on the plains about, 104.
Travers, buffaloes northwest of, in 1823, 143.
Utah, remains of buffaloes at, 12:
fe “wood buffalo” once common near,

Zi immense cae of buffaloes near, in
Lambert, i, +, Ol jyittalbes on the Upper Missouri in
56.

1856, 1
Laramie Plains, buffaloes on, 148 ; extirpation from,

ea
a

0, 165.
La Salle, immense numbers of buffaloes met with
y, in Texas in 1685,
Laudonniére, Réné, reference to his account of Jean
Ribaut’s explorations in Florida and Georgia, 99.
La Fe John, buffaloes seen by, in North Carolina,

oe Capt. H. M., on absence of the buffalo in
New Mexico and Western Texas in 1859, 140;
on range of the buffalo in Texas in 1859, 14

INDEX. 243

ae Dr. J., on bison remains from Natchez, Miss.,
; Georgia, 5 5,13; Ashley River, 8. C., 6, 13 ;

9,
21, 22; reference by, to the buffalo being driven
westward, 117 (footnote) ; on legal protection of
the buffalo, 184.
- pee Simon, eo S by, to “wild cows” on
e St. Lawrence
eee wild, ae growing about Detroit River,
88

Lewis and Clarke, reference by, to the absence of

buffaloes on the extreme sources of the Missouri

in 1805, 122; reference by, to buffaloes at the

mouth of the Kansas River in 1804, n. buf.

falo-hunting & the Indians of ke Upper Mis-
souri, 204, 205

Lilljeborg, Prof., ae by, of all the species of
bisons to Bish bonasus, 21.

Long, Maj. 8. H., on the range of the buffalo in
Minnesota in ce 22,117; on the distributions of
the buffalo west of the Rocky Mountains, 123 ; 0
buffaloes in Arkansas, 141 ; do. in Western Lowa,
142 ; do. on the Minnesota River in 1823, 1
do. in Kansas in 1820, 144; on the wanton de-
struction of the buffalo, 183.

Loomis, Prof. J. R., on buffaloes in Union Co., Pa.,

223.
Lophiodon, reference of bison remains to, by Prof.
wen, 19. :
=e fe of bisons, comparative measurements: of,

me eee on oe bison’s teeth from
Guan Me.,

Marcou, Prof. J., reference by, to a buffalo bull
killed at Fort ee in 1875, ee ; on distribu-
tion of the buffalo in Texas in 1853, 139.

Marcy, Capt. R. B., on the former range = the buf-
falo, 75 ; suppos sed ee of buffaloes about
Lake Champlain, ; buffaloes on is Canadian
and west fork of Ae Hirer in 1850,

~ Marest, Father, buffaloes met with by, in See
105 ; on the use of buffalo wool by the ile
Indians,

ae F athett buffaloes first seen by, on the
Wis n River. ; buffaloes seen by, on the
Miss 104 ; ee of the [linois coun-

m the use of buffalo wool by the
ino Indian, 1 197.

Marsh, Prof. O. C., bones of the poe found by, in
a eo

Maryland, ee a animals found in, - the
early explorers, 78; buffaloes not found in, 85 ;
sites remains of domestic cattle from, 5 Hoot -X

e

May, Col. John, one by, to buffaloes in Ohio, 111

eee C. J., reference by, to supposed occur-
rence of buffaloes in n Flor ida,

M-Ching, on buffaloes in ae 112.

Melaus John, buffalo-hunting by the Red River
half-breeds, 208

Meat, iden: shipment of, to aoe ae 189,

0, 192; quality of, as os manu-

facture . into eee ae

Mecham, E. D., ex pation S the buffalo

ee SS Salt Lake Valle

Lei eiggs, Gen. M. C., MS. notes on ae on quoted,
140, 152, 176, 178.

Melanism in Bison americanus, 39.

Metacarpal bones of Bison americanus, 29, 30; of

ison antiquus,

Metatarsal bones of Coon “ latifrons,” 15 ; of Bison
americanus, measurements of, 15.

Meyer, Dr. - v., on bison remains from North
America, 5, 18.

Mexico, en in the ee States of, 129,

130 ; seen in the city of, by 231.
Mexico, New, extirpation of i ne from, 136,

140.
Michigan, buffaloes not found in, by the early ex-
plorers, 104; probably once occurred in, 1065.
Minnesota, buds in, 103, 104; near St. Paul in
1837, 142 ; abundant in southwestern parts of, in
1844 sie 3; in northwestern parts of, in 1850, 143 ;
fin ae sappearance of, from, 144.
Misi the buffalo in, 225 - 227; buffaloes in,
n 1720-— 6.
Miscou extirpation of buffaloes from, 142, 144.
Molar teeth of bisons, measurements of, -
Monkeys, reported to exist in Virg
Moore, Francis, on buffaloes in South. ee 96.
Morse, C. F., statistics by, of buffalo See cts, 190.
Morton, Thong, pe by, of beasts found 4 in
New England in 1632, 78 ; mention ee of “ well-
owne beastes ” sa Lake Erocoise, 107
Moe buffaloes not met wes by, on the lower
a Red River in 1586, 1
Mig Prof. B. F., on the pee etion of the buffalo
om Eastern canes , 147.
re Lt. J., on eee of buffaloes by Indians
on felon of the Missouri, 124 ; buffaloes on
the Upper Missouri in 1853, 164.
se on Tes of oe in Hastern ae

Narvaez, Pamphilo de, explorations by, in Florida
and Georgia in 1528, 100.

Natchez, Miss., teeth of B. janfrone from, 5, 12, 32.

Newberry, Dr. J. S., on the former occurrence of the
buffalo on the sources of the Columbia, 124.

New England, early enumerations of - animals of,
77,78; buffaloes not found in, 75, 8

244

Newfoundland, s
of buffaloes in, 78.

Nica, Friar Marco de, “ox-hides” found by, in 1539,
in possession of the Indians of the Gila River, 126 ;
his journey in search of the “ Kingdom of Cibola,”
128.

Nilsson, Prof., reference by, of all fossil bison re-

ains to Bison bonasus, 19.
es Herd, range of, in 1875, 174.
No . D., measurements of horn-cores of

supposed. references to the existence

. : ee pereiied from, 11
Nuttall, ‘Thos., on buffaloes in Arkansas in 1819,

Ogilby, reference by, to the occurrence of the buffalo
in “ Maryland,” 84.
Oglethorpe, Gov., on buffaloes in South Carolina, 96.
Ohio Valley, successive So in the fauna of, in
relation to the bisons
Oregon, supposed bison remains oe 34; bones of
the buffalo found in Eastern,
Ovibos, tooth of, from Pittston, ba: 3,
found at Big Bone Lick, , 33, 234.
Richard, on the dante characters
the bisons, 2; on the number of ribs in dif-
ferent species of bisons, 2; employment of Urus as
name for the bisons, 18; reference of
bron remains to ‘Lophiodon, 19; close affinities
of the extinct bisons with the sete 19 ; letter
from,

remains of,

Packard, Dr. A. S., Jr., on supposed bison’s teeth
from Gardiner, Me -» 89, 90, 91.

Parker, Samuel, buffaloes found by, on the Salmon
and Snake Rivers in 1835, 124.

Parkhurst, ao suppor a reference by, to the
occurrence of t o in Newfoundland, 78.

Peale, Rembrandt, on a oxen, 4.

Pemmican, eee of, as an article of food, 193 ;
how made, 194, 195 ; different kinds of, 194.

Pennsylvania, buffaloes formerly in Union Co., 87,
993 — 295 ; | pada in western part of, 108-110.

Perkins, Dr., on supposed bison remains from Ore-

gon, 34.

Pike, Z. N., buffaloes met with by, in Minnesota in
1804, 104; in province of “ Cogquilla” in 1806,
129°; not mentioned by, as inhabiting other parts
of eee = 1806, 129; buffaloes in Kansas in

1806, 1

Pittman, cat Dri on buffaloes in eek 106.

Pope, Gen. John, on the scarcity o pila! oes in
Texas it oe 139, 140; the she of his route
in Texas 0; on sundaes of buffaloes in
Northern Minnesota in 1850, 143.

Powell, Capt. J. W., on buffaloes in Kansas, 148.

ring, Martin, beasts found in Virginia in 1603, 76.
Pritchett, C. W., traditionary evidence of the former

INDEX.

occurrence of the buffalo on ae sources of the
James River, Va., received fro
Products of a muffalo, ce ae over the Kan-
sas railroads, 189, 190 ; enumeration and uses of,
201.

WON

Protection, legal, of the buffalo, 180.

Putnam, F. W., on absence of bison remains in the
Indian shell-heaps of the Atlantic coast, 76.

Quivira, references to buffaloes in province of, by the
early Spanish writers, 125 ; buffaloes met with in,
by Coronado, 134.

Railroad, Atchison, oe and Santa Fé, immense
destruction of buffaloes along, 152; amount of

uffalo products ew over.

Railroad, Kansas Pacific, coacnen of buffaloes
along, 152; amount of buffalo products shipped
over, 189.

Railroad, Union Pacific, buffalo products shipped
over, 190.

Railroads of Kansas, influence of, upon the destruc-
tion of the buffalo, 151 - 154.

Ramsey, reference by, to buffaloes in Tennessee, 114.

Raynolds, Gen. W. F., on abundance of buffaloes in
the Upper Missouri country in 1858, 161 ; on the
wanton destruction of the buffalo 184,

Red River half-breed hunters, immense destruction
of buffaloes ee ee ; their methods of hunting the
208 —

H. M., on ae destruction of buffaloes by Red
Riv er ieee in Northern Dakota, 155.
Richardson, Sir John, on fossil bison remains from
See ee ; on the probable number of
es of extinct American bisons, 20; on the
ae range ee nm americanus, 74; on the
range of the buffalo i in » Bri tish America, 166, 167 ;
buffalo si as food, 193 (footnote) ; wool of the
buffalo.
lo de ibe a See Pecos River.
Rio Grande, buffaloes not found west of, 125, 128.
River, Arkansas, range of the buffalo on, in 1846,

146.
ie buffalo lick on, 94.
Bear, buffaloes on, 120, 121, 123.
Big Sioux, buffaloes on, in 1844, 143.
pulley: in Tennessee, 102.
olorado, Great, 5 buielos on head-waters of,
19,

Colorado, of Texas, buffaloes on, 132.
oe plains of, buffaloes on, 118.
Des Moines, buffaloes on, 142, 143.
Detroit, “ wild lemons” growing near, 88.

Illinois, abundance of buffaloes on, 105.
ames, Va., buffalo on upper parts of, 76 — 79.

INDEX.

River, Jefferson’s Fork of pee buffaloes on, 123.
ooyah, buffaloes on.
Milk, buffaloes on. 157.
innesota, range of the buffalo on, in 1828,

Missouri, absence of buffaloes on extren

head-waters of, in 1805, 122 ; first met ait
n, by Lewis and Clarke, in 1804, at mouth

of Kansas, 146 ; He eae in 1843 at
Fort Leavenworth,

eee buffaloes ne seen on, 104; on
he of, 103; absence of on lower
part of, in 1685, 134

ioae Fiifaloes on the source of, ne

Ohio, buffaloes in the valley of, 1

Peace, buffaloes on, 166, 174.

ae buffaloes on, 126, 134.

Platte, buffaloes on, 146.

ve North, do. 148; extirpation of buffa-
loes from, 149.

Red, of the North, buffaloes last seen on, 143,

144,
Red, of te gee absent from lower
, 1384.

part » ie
Rock, ae of pulladoes on, 106.

=
ce
=
(on
i=]
Be
cy
j=)
oD
RB
i}
=
ie

, 224,
Snake, country of, ou ie by
buffaloes, 122 ; buffaloes on
St. Lawrence. See St. Law
Tatlo, remains of Bison ek from, 7.
Tennessee, buffaloes not known to have been
found south of, 102, 114 ; on upper parts of,
115; range of the buffalo south of, 225
Vermilion, bulilloes on, 120.
Wabash, buffaloes on, 106.
Washita, buffaloes not found on lower part of,
685, 133.
White, buffaloes on, 122.

ste supposed reference to hls on, 127.
rimi. See Yi

nD)
Riviere aux oe in Texas, 132.
Roberaul, Sir Francis, beasts found by, on the St.
awrence in 1542, 76.

Roberts, Wm, , enumeration of the animals of Flor-
ida by, in 1763, Ol.

Robes, ne statistics meee the trade in,
185-191; the most important commercial or
uct of ie ‘bulbilo, 195.

Roemer, Ferdinand, on the range of the buffalo in
Texas in 1849, 138.

Romans, Bernard, supposed tracks of buffaloes seen
by, in Florida, 97, 101 ; on the wanton destruction
of the buffalo, 183 ; the buffalo susceptible of do-
mestication, 216.

245

Rosier, “ ames, beasts found by, in Virginia in 1603,

76.
Ross, Alexander, on the hunting expeditions of the
Red River half-breeds, 188 ;
“Buffalo Wool Company” quoted, 199; on
Red es half- oa ante: fling expeditions,

108, 210,

Riitimeyer, Prof. L., on the relationship of the re-
cent and extinct bisons, ; comparison of B.
americanus with B. bonasus, 42. °

Sabine, J., on the occurrence of buffaloes around
Great Slave Lakes, 166 (footnote).

Salmon, T., on buffaloes in i mountains of Vir-
ginia, 85

San EPS Texas, remains of Bison lutifrons from,

id
Saco, Lt, on buffaloes near Fort Union in 1853,
157.

pee H. R., on buffaloes in Minnesota in
, 104; range of the buffalo east of the Missis-
ce in 1821, 117; on eastward migration of the
buffalo, 118; on the buffalo being unsusceptible
of domestication, 219 (footnote),
Shaler, Prof. N.S., remains of a americanus col-
cted by, at Bie Bone Lick, Ky., 33; on position
= do., at Big Bone Lick, 53, 118, 233 ; information
received from, 86, 220; on the buffalo eing
probably unknown to the mound-builders, 118,
234; on the time of — of the buffalo
in the Ohio ees
Sibley, H. H., on last ie killed east of the
Mississippi, ae buffalo-hunting in Eastern Da-
i

Simpson, J. H., on buffaloes in T exas in , 1849, 1

Simpson, ee on buffaloes in British Ameri in
1836, 169 ; on buffalo pounds, 205 - 207,

ee Indians, their method of hunting as ae

ee of are ee Leos measurements
of, 16, 26 ; of Bison americanus and B. bonasus, 47.
Schick, “buckingham, reference . to buffaloes in
a, 99)
Smith, a John, on the beasts found in Virginia
in 1606, 76; in New England in 1616,
Soule, George, statement of, respecting the indie of
supposed bison’s teeth at Gardiner, Me., 90.
Southern Herd, area occupied by, in 1876, 154.
Southesk, Earl of, on buffaloes in British America,
170.

St. Lawrence, early oe of the animals of
the valley of, 75, 76, 80, 8

St. Michael’s, Alaska, reniat of Eison antiquus
from, 24, 92.

St. Vrain’s Fort, buffaloes near, 148.

“Stand,” a, in buffalo-hunting, 212.

246

Stansbury, Capt. Howard, buffaloes seen by, on the
head waters of Green River, 118, 121; on the
ons of the California re emigration

m the range of the buffalo, 144; on the ab-
sence of a buffalo east of the “Forks of the Platte

in 1849, 145.

Statistics of hie trade in robes, 185-191; of the
trade in hides, 189, 190; of the shipment of buf-
falo meat, 189, 190, a of the shipment of the
bones of the buffalo, 19

Stevens, Gov. I. L., on ee of buffaloes on the
Shayenne River in 1853, 155

Stevens, pe on the range of the buffalo in Texas in

76,
“Still a ” the buffalo, 210—
Stow, reference by, to buffaloes in fa oo;
Strachey, on beasts found in Virginia in 1620, 76.
Suckley, Dr. Geo., on buffaloes west of the Rocky
Mountains, 124.
“Surround,” a, of buffaloes by Indians described, 207.
Sus americanus, Harlan, based on remains of an ex-
tinct bison, 5, 18.
Swine, wild, reported as found in Canada = the
Middle States in the eighteenth century, 8

Taylor, J. W., on buffaloes in British America, 172 ;
on number of robes taken in, in 1872, 191; on re-
cent destruction of buffaloes in British America,
191; on the Red River half- ae hunters, 209.

Tennessee, buffaloes in, 102, 1

Texas, buffaloes in, in 1530, = a about
anes aay in 1685, 2; range of, along
coast in 134 ; extirpation of, from, 136; ab-
sence of, e greater part of, - om. to 1860,
140; present range of, in, 1

- André, first figure of ‘elle published by,

5 Du aoe pigs by, as occurring near

mpa Bay, Fla., 9
Thompson, a B., on the domestication of the
buffalo, 2
hompson, “Ga Geo. C., domesticated buffaloes
owned by, 2

inkham, A. - on buffaloes in Dakota in 1853, 155.
Toulmin, Mr., on the extermination of the buffalo
a | Rentueky, 116.
. W. S., on the recent great destruction
of ie in Kansas 52, ee ; on the range of

1875,
Turner, Lt., on buffaloes j in ihe ae of the Arkan-
, 148

INDEX.

Urus priscus, 5, 7, 17, 18.

Vaca, Cabega de, first Emopes who saw the buffalo
in its native haunts, 128, 131; buffaloes met with
by, in Texas in we ve 131; his description of
the buffalo quoted,

Vache sauvage, a oe ye applied to the elk and

e moose, 74, 83, 87.

Variation, individual, in Bison americanus, 48 —

audreuil, Mr., on buffaloes in Illinois, 106 ; a
e Ohio ae ae

ining, E. P. shipment of ee products over

es Chick Pacific Railroad, 19

Virginia, early enumerations of 2 animals of, 76-
79; fafisloes found in, 85, 86, 225.

Virginia, West, buffaloes found in, 110, 111.

a Dr. Asa, on a occurrence of buffaloes near
Fort Abercrombie, 1
Warden, D. B., reference eae to bulfolons | in Western
Benne yleueis, 110
Warren, Gen. G. x on the route of Father Esca-
lante, 126 (footnote
ee ae lies on the Shenandoah River,

a. 225.
we Capt. A. W., reference by, to the absence

of the buffalo west of the Rio Grande, 125; on
= distribution of the buffalo in Texas in 1853,

139.
White, ae Andrew, his enumeration of the beasts
of Mar

ere one o execs attempt of, in domesti-
ating ie bu iffalo, 17-219; mixed breeds de-
scribed by, 218

es ulfalcos met with in, by Hennepin, 82 ;
t seen in, in 1832, 117.
Wien, Dr. A., reference by, to buffaloes in Kan-

Wolf . on buffaloes in Union Co., Pa.
ool, bute, weaving of, by the dies 1; oie
ne fro ae He formed to utilize, 199.
ce Prot Je the absence of bison remains
n the Indian shell. Bass of the Atlantic coast, 76 ;
in shell-heaps of Florida, 101 ; on the existence of
the buffalo in Florida, 98 — 100.

2

Yates, Dr. L. G., ae of remains of Bison an-
tiquus in California by, 3

Yukon Valley, Alaska, Ae of the remains
of Bison antiquus in, 34.

MAP.

The portion of the accompanying map south of the forty-ninth parallel is based mainly on the map of this
region by Stiilpnagel and Berghaus in Stieler’s Hand-Atlas ; the portion north of the forty-ninth parallel
is based on Johnson’s map and recent surveys, including Mr. W. H. Dall’s map of Alaska and adjoining
regions, recently published by the United States Coast Survey.

Owing to the influence the overland emigration and the construction of the different railroads across the
Plains have had in restricting the range of the Bison, the course of the overland trail and the Union Pa-

cific and Kansas and Colorado railroads has been laid down on the map. The routes of De Soto and

Coronado have been added on account of their historic interest in connection with the former range

of this animal, the former being from Schoolcraft’s map of De Soto’s route (Hist., Cond., and Pros. of

7 Ind. Tribes of U. 8., Part III, Pl. xliv), and the latter from Mr. R. H. Kern’s map of Coronado’s
route, published also by Schoolcraft (Hist., Cond., and Pros., etc., Part IV, Pl. iii).

In order to better adapt the map to the illustration of the geographical distribution of animal and vege-
table life (the need of such a map being apparent), isothermal lines have been added, based on Mr. C.
A. Schott’s Temperature Charts of the United States ; permission for their use being kindly granted by
Professor Joseph Henry, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, under whose direction they were
prepared. Only the lines of mean annual temperature have been extended across the continent. The
isocheimal and isotheral curves, owing to their great complication over the more broken country to
the westward of this limit, are carried merely from the Atlantic coast to the eastern base of the Rocky

Mountains.

aoe

| | | |
| i \ \

‘ a 55
| | f' | \ 0 Meridian ian of Washi re
\ \77°2’Wese pf en
; | ae

- “al, ©
Wig Mi, ln,
Fly,

iM y

lly,

B

Pathurst I.

ro
Fis Pn
y
an
illu
I sunyhtar
CS MOS an

—f /- .

wef
Werpn drat
Mt Marie it

Cll
ii

cA ZyiWily,
Mlagighll ay

NY,

nly, tlt
Sa me
ue Gy,

ig

Wing
we

Y
iy,
ll Ma Wily
Mpa
| Ms
/

Kony sagt 4 "ty

i

CH.
a
4 227

\
Ne
\Fox

Zi gin
Scar
\
inn

Cansaveice

peter een seeserere™

ws

\
\. yy i <
\ oe S

aS
*,0 “|
Be Hii

‘

xin

ry

\ iy

N I) ( me

& = —
=

lay

ee Lae
NEy,

\ f

>,
“ail rau,
ang \*

Gillon

ibaa
Cm i

a ewilla
AY

Pe s, oe at P EXPLANATION.
ri ) \ 1 rh ‘\ pen a
CA ll Si AVE Y | Extreme limit of the Range of Bison anvericanws, and
a te eee ae eee Area over which it had become extinct prior to the year 1800.
s =a
Ui ae SS as Restriction between 1800 and 1825. ]
tis Sy 2S ee

N S S H A L iD 12 1) irector 7 Restriction between 1825 and 18350.

L.TRQUYELOT, Artist. ; eae | me: A
| Restriction between 1850 and 1873.
= canoe |

To illustrate facts of Geographical Distribution. ‘ i” |
3 Range wr 1875.

Compiled from ress a : eo :
fe eee ae ve 4 Localities where Remains of Bison antiquus have beer found.
the Maps of ISTTELERS Atlas, the isothermal Maps of SCHOTT, records of the
LES COAST SURVEY and other Authorities. : 4 Localities where Remains of Bison latifrons have been found.

==

.

7

A Meisel. Lith.64 Federal St.-

7 110 . 105 “100 95 30 a5 EGE from Ferro 80

|
i
|

PLATE I.

Horn-cores of Bison latifrons, from Adams County, Ohio. (From a photograph kindly furnished by
Dr. 0. D. Norton of Cincinnati. Figures about one fifth natural size.)

PLATE ft.
Atlases of Bisons. (Figures one half natural size.)

Figs. 1-4. Atlas of Bison latifrons ? from Darien, Georgia. (The specimen described by Dr. Leidy.)

Figs. 5-8. Atlas of a very large old male Bison americanus.

:

o

Prouvelot, li

BISON LATIFRONo

PEATE i1f.

Rami of Bison antiquus and B. americanus. (All natural size.)

Fig. 1. Fragment of a jaw of Bison antiquus, from California. (Specimen received from Professor J. D.
Whitney.) :

Fig. 2. Corresponding part of the jaw of Bison americanus.

Fig. 3. Fragment of a jaw of Bison antiquus, from California. (Specimen received from Professor J. D.
Whitney.)

Fig. 4. Corresponding part of the jaw of Bison americanus.

Fig. 6. Teeth from above of the jaw-fragment of Bison antiqwus, represented in Fig. 1.

Fig. 7. Corresponding teeth of Bison americanus.

Fig. 8. Teeth from above of the jaw-fragment of Bison antiquus, represented in Fig. 3.

Fig. 9. Corresponding teeth of Bison amerscanus.

Fig. 10. Section showing the thickness of the jaw-fragment of Bison antiquus, represented in Fig. 1.

Fig. 11. Corresponding section from Bison americanus.

EDR AE MPN RE eT AEE Ee TNT ORDERS Ra

|
|
|

LLATE (Vv.
Imperfect skull of Bison antiquus (probably a female) from St. Michael’s, Alaska. (Specimen received
from the California Academy of Sciences, through W. G. W. Harford, Esq., Director of the Academy.)

Fig. 1. Occipital view. (One fourth natural size.)
Fig. 2. View from above. (One fourth natural size.)

RRL Scams ORES
Saepeesee “

ELATE V.

Skulls of Bison americanus, males, showing the great diversity of form that obtains in adult individuals
of the same sex. (One fourth natural size.)

Fig. 1. Occipital view of the skull of an old male from the plains of Kansas (specimen No. 1215).

Fig. 2. Occipital view of the skull of a male five or six years old from Kansas (spec. No. 94).

Fig. 3. Occipital view of the skull of an old male from Big-Bone Lick, Kentucky (spec. No. 2047).

Fig. 4. Octvipital view of the skull of a middle-aged male from Big-Bone Lick, Kentucky (spec.
No. 2050).

Fig. 5. Occipital view of the skull of a male about six years old from Kansas (spec. No. 102).

Fig. 6. Occipital view of the skull of an old male from Kansas (spec. No. 10).

Fig. 7. Occipital view of the skull of a male about six years old from Kansas (spec. No. Uh

Fig. 8. Occipital view of the skull of a male four or five years old from Kansas (spec, No. 100).

pi eee ceee ee

Print by A.Meisel

sis os ETRE TaN Ae ere HSER an PR EN eS SRNR

i
,
i
I
u
i
i
|
i
i
i
i

PLATE VI.

Skulls of Bison americanus, males, showing the great diversity of form that obtains in adult individuals
of the same sex. (One fourth natural size.)

Fig. 1. View in profile of the skull of an old male from the plains of Kansas (specimen No. 1215).

Fig. 2. View in profile of the skull of a male five or six years old from Kansas (spec. No. 94),

Fig. 3. View in profile of the skull of an old male from Big-Bone Lick, Kentucky (spec. No, 2047).

Fig. 4. View in profile of the skull of a middle-aged male from Big-Bone Lick, Kentucky (spec.
No. 2050).

Fig. 5. View in profile of the skull of a male about six years old from Kansas (spec. No. 108).

Fig. 6. View in profile of the skull of an old male from Kansas (spec. No. 10).

Fig. 7. View in profile of the skull of a male about six years old from Kansas (spec. No. 11).

Fig. 8. View in profile of the skull of a male four or five years old from Kansas (spec. No. 100).

P. Roetter, lithog

BISON AMERICANUS.

PLATE Vit.

Figures of three skulls of Bison americanus, females, showing the great diversity of form that obtains in
adult specimens of the same sex. Also figures of a skull of Bison bonasus, female, and of metatarsal
bones of Bison americanus and B. latifrons ? (Skulls, one fourth natural size ; metatarsal bones,

one third natural size.)

Fig. 1. Occipital view of a skull of a female B. americanus, about six years old, from Kangas (specimen
No. 105)

Fig. 2. Occipital view of a skull of a female B. americanus, about six years old, from Kansas (spec.
No. 12).

Fig. 3. Occipital view of a skull of a female B. americanus, about six years old, from Big-Bone Lick,
Kentucky (spec. No. 2059). :

Fig. 4. View in profile of a skull of B. wmericamus, female, about six years old, from Kansas (spec.
No. 105).

Fig. 5. View in profile of a skull of B. americanus, female, about six years old, from Kansas (spec.
No. 12).

Fig. 6. View in profile of a skull of B. americanus, female, about six years old, from Big-Bone Lick,
Kentucky (spec. No, 2049).

Occipital view of a skull of B. bonasus, female, about six years old (spec. No. 1790).

oa

Fig.

Fig. 8. View in profile of the same. :

Fig. 9. Metatarsal bone of B. americanus, female (spec. No. 12).

Fig. 10. Metatarsal bone of B. americanus, male (spec. No. 10).

Fig. 11. Metatarsal bone of B. latifrons? from Darien, Ga. (The original specimen described by Dr.
Leidy, now in the Museum of the Boston Society of Natural History.)

VII.

P, Roetter,

itheg

-§, 9-10, BISON AMERICANUS-7-8, B BONASUS-11. B. LATIFRONS 2

PLATE Vill.
Horns of Bison americanus and B, antiquus. (One third natural size.)

Figs. 1-5. A series of the horns of the male Bison americanus, showing variation in size and form with age.
(Fig. 1, from a specimen about six months old ; Fig. 2, from a specimen about one year old ; Fig. 3,
from a specimen about three or four years old ; Fig. 4, from a specimen about ten or twelve years old ;
Fig. 5, from a specimen twenty to twenty-five years old.)

Figs. 6 and 7. Horns of very old males of B. wmericanus, showing diversity in size and form in males of
corresponding ages.

Fig. 8. Horn of a six-year-old female of B. americanus.

Fig. 9. Horn of a six-year-old female of B. bonasus.

Figs. 10 and 11. Horns of old females of B. americanus.
Fig. 12. Horn of B. antiquus (male ?), from St Michaels, Alaska. (Specimen presented by W. G. W.
Harford, Esq., Director Cal. Acad. Sciences.)

eee cs)
eo Ce
a i
a
6)
(a)
a)
Coy)
ea
—
a)
oN
os
i
fe oD
)
pes
<q
>
aC
=
=
ze
Ce
CO
a
ee)
a
aa
bd
3

<2 SE eR RRR RMR

PLATE IX.
Milk Dentition of Bison americanus. (All the figures natural size.)

Fig. 1. Right lower pre-molars seen from above, from a very young individual (the first true molar is
just in sight). Specimen No. 590.

Fig. 2. The same seen from the outside.

Fig. 3. Right upper pre-molars seen from above, from the same specimen.

Fig. 4. The same seen from the outside.

Fig. 5. Right lower pre-molars, seen from above, from a somewhat older specimen, in which the first true
molar is fully in sight. Specimen No. 1153.

Hig. 6. The same, seen from the outside.

Fig. 7. Right upper pre-molars, seen from above, from a specimen of about the same age as No. 1153.
Drawn from specimen No. 1155.

Fig. 8. The same, seen from the outside.

PLIX.

i 2rint. by A.Meisel
2LLer, lithog 2 Pyar ry A.Meis

PLATE X.

\
Teeth of Bison americanus, showing different stages of attrition, etc. (All the figures natural size.)

Fig. 1. Left lower molars, seen from above, of a very old specimen from the plains of Kansas (No. 10),
showing an extreme stage of attrition.

Fig. 2. The same, seen from the outside.

Fig. 3. Left lower molars, seen from above, of an aged specimen from the plains of Kansas (spec.
No. 105), showing a less advanced stage of attrition.

Fig. 4. The same, seen from the outside.

Fig. 5. Right lower molars, seen from above, of a middle-aged specimen from Big-Bone Lick, Kentucky
(No. 2046), showing the small amount of attrition.

Fig. 6. The same, from the outside, showing the deeply serrated outlines of the crown surface of the
molars.

Fig. 7. Left upper molars, from above, of a middle-aged —— from Big-Bone Lick, —
(No. 2132), showing the small amount of attrition.

Fig. 8. The same, from the outside, showing the deeply serrated outline of the crown surface of the
molars.

Fig. 9. Right lower molars, seen from above, of a rather young or middle-aged specimen from the plains
of Kansas (No. 102).

Fig. 10. The same, from the outside, showing the nearly even outlines of the crown surface of the molars.

Fig. 11. Upper molars of the same specimen, seen from above.

Fig. 12. The same, from the outside, showing the nearly even outlines of the crown surface.

N. B. Figs. 11 and 12 are strictly comparable, as respects the age of the specimens, with Figs. 9 and 10.
If there is any difference, the specimen illustrated by Figs. 11 and 12 is yownger, rather than older, than
the specimens from which Figs. 9 and 10 were made.

Figs. 9-12 also serve to show the mature dentition of B. americanus.

P. Raett

Print. by A. Meisel
>, lithog.

BISON AMERICANUS

PLATE XI,

Metacarpal bones of Bison americanus, showing Individual and Sexual Variation in size and form.
The specimens are all from Big-Bone Lick, Kentucky. (All the figures one third the natural size.)

Fig. 1. Female. Specimen No. 2466.
oo oe
7 « +o 2 2
8 oe
ee “ & 9463,
“ 6. Male “ “ 9483
“97 “ “ 9467
“5 « “« & 9489
“9 # cabs

‘74 10. 6c 66 a IA8E.

|
|
1

pLo0N

AME

RICANUS.

Print.

y A.Meisel.

al teen nine remem

PLATE XII.
Upper molar teeth of Bison americanus and Bos taurus. (All natural size.)

Fig. 1. Right upper molars, from above, of B. americanus (specimen No. 12). In this specimen the last
true molar is just through its alveolus, and the last pre-molar of the temporary set is about two thirds
grown ; the second true molar is still almost unworn. :

Fig. 2. Right upper molars, from above, of B. americanus, from a specimen (No. 100*) somewhat older
than that represented in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3. Right upper molars, from above, of B. americanus, from a specimen (No. 94) of the same age as
that represented in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4. Right upper molars, from above, of B. americanus, from a specimen (No. 11) sodewhat older than
those represented in Figs. 2 and 3.

Fig. 5. Right upper molars, from above, of B. americanus, from a specimen (No. 102), still older than
that represented in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6. Right upper molars, from above, of B. americanus, from a specimen (No. 3940) still older than
that represented in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7. Right upper molars, from above, of Bos taurus, from a specimen (No. 4500) corresponding in age
with the specimen of B. americanus represented in Fig. 1, the last pre-molar of the temporary set being
still in place.

Fig. 8. Right upper molars, from above, of Bos taurus, from a specimen (No, 4501) corresponding in age
with the specimens of B. americanus represented in Figs. 2 and 3.

Fig. 9. Right upper molars, from above, of Bos tawrus, from a specimen (No. 4) corresponding in age with
the specimen of B. americanus represented in Fig. 4

Fig. 10. Left upper molars, from above, of Bos tawrus, from a specimen (No. 5003) a very little older
than the specimen represented in Fig. 9.

Fig. 11. Right upper molars, from above, of Bos taurus, from a specimen (No. 3) corresponding in age
with the specimen of B. americanus represented in Fig. 5.

Fig. 12. Right upper molars, from above, of Bos tawrus, from a specimen (No. 2) corresponding in age
with the specimen of B. americanus represented in Fig. 6.

Fig. 13. Second right upper molar, from Gardiner, Me., corresponding in age with the specimen repre-
sented in Fig. 12. The resemblance of this tooth to the corresponding tooth (second molar) of Bos
taurus, represented in Fig. 12, with which it is strictly comparable in age, is very close, while it differs
quite tangibly from the corresponding tooth of B. americanus represented in Fig. 6, with which it is
also strictly comparable in respect to age. (This specimen is one of the original lot found at Gardiner,

Me., and now belongs to the Boston Society of Natural History. It bears the following label: “ Bison

* This specimen is the only one among a large series of skulls of Bison americanus in which the crescents of enamel
of the first and second true molars have a prominent entering fold on their anterior and posterior borders, not, however,
exactly corresponding in this respect with the infolding seen in Bos tawrus, The specimen, in every other respect, is
apparently normal. The specimen represented in Fig. 3 exactly corresponds in age with this, and illustrates the usual

form of the enamel crescents in B. americanus in specimens of this age.

PLATE XII. (Coneluded.)

tooth from Gardiner, Me. Presented by Dr. C. T. Jackson.” Some of the blue clay of the original
matrix still remains between the fangs of the tooth.

Fig. 14. Third right upper molar, from Gardiner, Me., from Dr. Packard’s Plate (Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat.
Hist., Vol. I, Pl. vii, Fig. 18 a). Strictly comparable with the corresponding tooth in Figs. 12 (Bos tau-
rus) and 6 (B. americanus). Its much closer resemblance to that of Bos taurus than to that of B. ameri-
canus will be at once noticed.

Fig. 15. First right upper molar, from Gardiner, Me., from Dr. Packard’s Plate (Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat.
Hist., Vol. I, Pl. vii, Fig. 18). Strictly comparable with the corresponding tooth in Figs. 12 and 6.
The infolding of the enamel at the inner posterior corner of the hinder crescent marks it distinctly as a

tooth of Bos taurus, and as not at least a normal tooth of .B. americanus.

Norn. —In the text of this work (pages 90, 91, put in type over four months ago) I left the question of the
identity of the teeth from Gardiner, Me., a somewhat open question, though stating it to be my conviction that
they were those of Bos taurus. A re-examination of the subject, in the light of a larger series of specimens of the
latter, fully confirms this conviction. Of such identity I now believe there is not a reasonable doubt.

To complete the history of the subject I have copied Dr. Packard’s figures of the two molar teeth of which I

am unable to give original figures.

Pia

Print. by A. Meisel.

5» blo 12 0Gde

ce

i-6 BlOCN AVERICANUS 77

way

Date Due