The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-03-28
THE BUFFALO COUNTRY.

THE BUFFALO COUNTRY.
A TERRITORY LARGER THAN THE STATE OF
NEW YoRK-ITS STREAMS AND BOUND
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. OF THE BUFFALO
TIMES AND WAYS OF HUNTING-EATING
THE MEAT AND CURING THE ROBES.
GREELEY, Col. Ter.
Cor. of Neu York Tribune.
The region now most known as the buff
falo country lies between the Arkansas and
the South Platte, and is 200 miles wide
from north to south and 800 miles from
west to east, making territory consldera-
bly, larger than the State of New York.
Although there are heavy settlements and
large towns along the base of the noun
tains, and although two railroads run
through this buffalo land, only an ex-
or even visited. The buffalo are most
numerous this Winter along the South
Platte, and particularly along the Repub-
lican, the course of which is to the south
east on diagonal line. The buffalo come
up from the south in the Fall, along
northerly and southerly line, which, east
of Denver, is considerably further from
the mountains than fifty miles to the north,
because there are cattle ranches and some
farms on various tributaries of the Repub-
lican that run nearly north. What kind
of a country it is for 200 miles on the upper
waters of the Republican is unknown, for
it is unexplored; but it has been gathered
by sort of tradition that, for part of
the distance, water stands in pools and
timber is scarce; while lower down, say
$50 miles east of the mountains, the stream
is large and timber is plentiful. Here
hickory, oak, maple and ash are found,
and wild turkeys are abundant 1t is GER
tain that the buffalo die here in untold
thousands, possibly millions, and that
Sioux, Arrapohoes, and Cheyennes and
some Pawnees, live here the year round,
the chief attraction being the buffalo. 1t
is to be said in favor of the Indians that
they never kill more than they need, and
that whatever animals they kill they dis
pose of entirely.
PRESENT RANGE OF THE HERDS.
Before the Union Pacific was built, the
buffalo roamed as far as the North Platte,
and even to the Missouri, but now only
few cross this road, and their range termi-
mates in the valley of the South Platte and
of its tributaries, which are small streams
coming through the grassy meadows and
craggy cansns from the north. But there
is another vast buffalo range further north,
and it's limits are between the North
Platte and the Missouri, a space from north
to south at least 800 miles wide. The set
worth naming. 1t begins nearly 200 miles
west of Omaha and Kansas City, and ex-
tends to the mountains 800 miles, and in
fact to the Pacific. The buffalo region,
for scarcely any are found within the noun
tains. The Salt Lake people have, it is
true, received tradition from the Indians
that once buffalo were plentiful in that
.
cold winter; but this is doubtful. For
everywhere in the mountains are sheltered
valleys and slopes furnishing grass, so that
no severity of cold could have destroyed
buffalo if living in that country. The
grass of the plains east of the mountains is
different from any found west or east, and
it is pre- eminently we'll suited to the buff
falo; hence it may also be doubted whether
these animals ever roamed in large mum
bers on the prairies of Iowa and Illinois,
and even in the forests of Kentucky, as
alleged, and for the sufficient reason that
the grass of these regions loses its nutri-
tious qualities by the fall rains and winter
frosts and becomes wholly unfit for sus-
timing life. Hence it may be said with
almost positive certainty that the buffalo
region, as it now exists, has been unchang-
ed in character and limits for centuries,
and that so far as the range itself is con-
cerned, it will remain unchanged; those on
the east are only found in eastern Dakota.
So that here is buffalo region 800 miles
broad and GOO miles long, where millions
upon millions are. to- day feeding, and
where they are likely long to remain. Be
yond the Missouri is still another range,
longer and broader, reaching into British
America, and extending far toward McKen-
zie's river.
LESS DESTRUCTION OF BUFFALO THAN
FORMERLY.
But when the valleys of the Arkansas,
the Republican, the Platte, and the Mis-
souri,, shall be settled, the buffaloes will be
deprived of water, and their extinction
will be inevitable-not for want of food,
for this always must remain, but for want
of water, unless some especial provision
shall be made. There are, however, many
springs and small streams between these
rivers, which always must be remote from
settlements, and here the buffalo may lin
ger long, unless ranchmen seek them out,
as they are likely to do, as headquarters
for cattle ranches.
Considerable is said about the wanton
destruction of the buffalo, but this is pro
badly much less now than it was ten years
ago. when thousands upon thousands of
teams traversed the valleys of the Platte,
the Smoky Hill, and the Arkansas, and
when the slaughter was great. Now that
all travel is done by rail, two lines being
completed and another nearly so, only a
few hunters, comparatively. enter upon the
feeding grounds and the increase of buff
falo must be greater than it has been since
the days when the Indians occupied the
whole country, at which time these ami
mails occupied all that part of Colorado
now settled, and wide border beside, that
is, country 800 miles long and 100 to $50
miles wide.
The great mass of the buffalo between
the Arkansas and the Platte are winterng
these months in the Republican Valley,
but good sized herds of from 500 to 10,0 600
have come over to the Platte, and some
have even crossed this stream in places in
heavy force. Perhaps half Il million head
have come to the Platte Valley this winter,