The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-01-28
THE END OF THE BUFFALO.
How the Mighty Herds Have Been Exter.
minated From the Great PInIns.

!
minated From the Great PInInse
The first great transcontinental railway
in 1868 divided the butfaloes into two great
bands and put an end to their migration
The railroad also let in the hide hunters,
who went ut the thing in business-likt
| way. One good shooter in the employ oil
some trader would have eight or ten
sknners following in his wake while he
went on ahead and did the Strengthening.
Each hunter was pretty sure to drop from
80 to 100 animals day. and every hide
secured was worth from rs cents to 81 each
in its raw, untanned state. The SINNERS
received the meat as thoir portion, but IA
hey generally selected the tenderloins and
tongues the remainder of the meat was left
70 rot on the prairie.
The writer remembers, in the Fall Of
1881, while passing over the country tribu.
tnry to the Little Missouri River, in South.
eastern Montana, of meeting on knoll or
rise in the prairie hunter lying comforta.
bly, on his back with his long-range rife
resting between his legs, Pumping shot
after shot into an acre or SO Of buifaloes some
twelve or thirteen hundred yards away.
The gentleman was not a hunter, but rather
asportsman, well-knoNn long-range shot
IN the Creedmoor rifle range of Long Is
and, and had come West on pleasure ex-
sursion. He had the regulation Remington
Creedmoor long range rifle, with peep and
globe sights, yernier scale and spirit-level,
and was trying what effect his fne-siRhted
target rifle would have on buffaloes at long
range. He had evidently found the true
windage and correct elevation, for after
every shot could see visible commotion
in the herd, which told that the bullet had
hit something. The distance being so great,
the animals had not heard the noise of the
discharge, and consequently did not take
fright until the sportsman tired of his sport.
Then for some reason they bestlrred them
selves, and rolled off over the prairie after
an old bull, who seemed to be the loader.
Our friend had dropped exactly forty-five
buffaloes in all, but what to do with them
he did not know, and SO they remained
hide, horns, and all Ito rot where they had
fallen.
The division Of the buffalo herds by the
Union Pacific and Kansas Pacific Railroads
left two great bands OF them, one ON til,
north and the other ON the south side of th,
tracks, Those on the south side, in Texas
New Mexico, and Arizona, have long since
disappeared from the ranges, their places
being taken by the herds of domestic cattle
and numerous hocks of sheep The disap.
pearance of the buffalo from the Northwest
dates from the conquest OF Sitting Bull
When the military drove that great Indian
Warrior from the hunting grounds of his
ribe the buffalo went with the red men rr
.he country were thousands upon thouaandi
OF bufnoes that fell beneath the bullets OF
the soldiers when there were no Indians tt
shoot Mt. 1t was grand sport for the sol
diers, but it was death to the bulraloes
Upon the prairies of Dakota and Montana
where they once wandered in thousands,
not a single one is now to be- found. The
only remnants of these mighty herds that
once thronged the Northwest arc few hun.
frcd animals scattered In tho vicinity oi
Wood Mountain, across the lue in British
Manitoba. Last yenr u herd of about rs.
900 were corraled in the forks of the Little
Missouri, on the south side OF the Yellow.
stone River, but they were rounded up by
the Gros Yeptries and Crows, who attempt
| cd to drive them on their reservations be-
fore the white hunters could get shot Mt
them. In this they we're unsuccessful, for
the white hunters did get wind of the affair,
and by the time both reds ard whites got
through with them not 5000 of that
mighty herd were left to cross the Yellow.
stone. Tho remnant which did get over il
safety continued their journey into the
north, and Mt last found n refuge neal
Wood Mountain, in British territory.
The prairies of the Northwest are covered
with the bleached bones of the countless
dead, and here commerce steps in again to
ask for something else the very last rem
nant there is left of an annihilated race.
The white skeletons strewn along the
Northern Pacific have hitherto given the
tourist special sense of getting his moneys
worth of romance rs he sped on toward the
National Park and the Rocky Mountains.
That is all over now, for n regular business
has sprung up in the buying AMI selling Of
buffalo bones The harvest of furs In.
come to m end. but the harvest Of bones
has only just begun. Nearly every station
on the Northern Pacific Inns at present
bone buyer and all over the prairies can be
seen, piled up for shipment, the chaotic nm
atomy of countless thousands Of bufaloes.
Farmers and ranchmen, when they hnve
nothing else to do, harness up their teams
and go to gathering buffalo bones. These
arc hauled to the nearest railway station,
where are paid from 81 to 80 per wagon
load for them. The bones TINT surveyors
have stood up MS sighting points have been
picked up and carried off with the rest.
These bone-gatherers occasionally run acrosr
buffalo bones with Indian nrrow-heads
sticking into them. They tell the tale OF
the days gone by, when the red mon chased
the noble bison unmolested by the whites,
and claimed all the western country MS their
bunting ground,