The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-02-28
Tremendous Slaughter Of BufialOes In
Southern Kansas.

Dodge City, on the Atchison, Topeka
and Santa Fe road, is the principal
point of shipment of buffalo meat and
hides in Kansas. I'm fact, the trade of
the town, apart from its traffic with
camp supplies, consists i'll the Quitting
of hunters and exchange of their game.
The town is scarcely four months old,
and has in that time attained consider
able notoriety for its liveliness. While
the bison lasts, there will be "meat in
the house" in the Arkansas valley. The
terrible arithmetic of his destruction
would indicate that this flush season
cannot last long. The railroad reached
Dodge on the 23d of September, 1872,
and the following is the record of ship
ments of hides and meat during that
time:
Shipments of hides from Sept. %,
1872, to Dec. 81, 1909. Shipment of
meat, II cars, or l 1886, 800 pounds.
Each hide counts buffalo slain, and
43, 900 hides in three months convey an
idea of magnificent butchery that fore
casts the speedy extinction of the prairie
denizen. The buffaloes that are killed
i'll summer or in early autumn in wanton
cruelty miscalled sport, and for food for
the frontier residents, are not taken into
this account.
The bulk of this meat has been shipped
to Kansas City, though considerable
consignments have been made to st.
Louis, Chicago, and Indianapolis. The
raw hides of the buffalo which are sent
East are tanned and dressed by much
more rapid, but less perfect and effectual
process than that in vogue among the
Indians, and are not nearly so valuable.
1t is necessary to kill them in winter, or
the robes have no value whatever. The
meat market is not open until the middle
of November, when the weather is cold
enough for its transportion. The above
figures, though indicating an immense
slaughter, do not represent the total of
the seasons hunt. The horse disease
has interfered seriously with the trans
portation of hides and meats from the
hunting grounds to the line of road.
The disappearance of the disease has
put the trade briskly on it's feet again
the weather has moderated, and the re-
turns for the month of January will
exceed those of the preceding months by
$50 per cent, making the grand total of
killing around the station of Fort Dodge
and the neighborhood for the season of
1S72-73 over 100, 900 buffaloes.
The railroads and remorseless civiliZa-
ton have invaded the home of the buffalo
before he had time to get out of their
way and seek another solitary range
They will still pursue him westward, till
some sentiment-monger will immortalize
the last of the species in some bullet
SCARED bull, standing on the summit of
Mount Diabolo, gazing sullenly and
mournfully out through the Golden Gate
over the blue Pacific.
The buffalo is subscribing great pur-
pose in the social economy of the nation,
if that is any satisfaction to him. The
tide of emigration that has set in to the
Arkansas valley has subsistence until
they can open and improve their farms,
and by the time the last buffalo has dis
appeared from Kansas the frontier will
be subdued to civilization, and be self
supporting. The buffalo will in this, or
at the farthest the next generation, take
its place in the natural history book
along with the dodo, as an interesting
animal no living specimen of which can
be found III nature. Topeka Common
! lUeaiM.