The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-07-03
THE EXTINCTION OF THE BISON.

THE EXTINCTION or THE BISON.
-. Cssvsr. ~ 0rsaa sAsA 1slAs Absss
le-ssas Bsssv eessies.
Al the Indians hunted them, the
saee Of bison would probably have
Asaed forever. but about 1855 tho
white men turned thafrA 11lnlion 70 The
shaggy monsters Of II plpinA Large
enstAsn aEms organiled lnn1lnS pr
tiss and paid the sh0otelD e9.O for
each bison whsEp he lay dsed q ~
plains. I thep Went y scuthesn ~
braska And became Z professional
hunter. The bison conGlGesd Of tW0
large divisions The ons living In ~
south and the other h he north,
Their only common feeding groOn1
NJ. along the Republican i've and
II 6raackes In NebeoslrA. The Indians
wese well aware 81 that fAet and hos
We txibss have had napy . light ter
that tegsitosy. II waS nit until 1910
>hat III government put IN end b
this Sby sending the PAwnces south
and - SIOUX 70 their pothern reeee-
vationi Prior to that time we had 70
DO al Of our hunting At the risk Of b.
ing sc0ped at any time.
Our, tavorite gun was an army
modal Of the Springfield rife, - call.
Der and loaded with ninety grains Of
powder The whites patterned after
the Indians and hunted on horseback.
Having wagons to haul our game, We
did not care 10 "circle" them - the
Indians did. When herd was located
we would mount our best horses and
q quietly Is possible approach the
herd from the leeward side. A. soon
! aathey. saw US the fun would begin.
hpnah Of q low build, the bison
nl "a very interesting race with
ten miles. We would pres
right flank Of the herd and
se to the animals that our
Id touch the side when fred.
deadly shot was to fire quar-
trough the lungs 70 that the
0Auld bleed to death. In this
Wpld folloy fkesherd a. long
z ~ 49, Ind it. On one
SSS S;sl lllsd lis bison, none
~ Rhfc]A ~ more than 100 yards
III a = ing BACK an awful sight
- reonent8 to The eye. The Dali
RI l1xfked by dead and dying anti
An occasional big bull would
broken back 20 that he could
w. ~ get up ON his fore legs, and moth
q fna could look more furious than biz
shaking head, with coal black efes
fGlaring in q death stare from his
shaggy 'front.' We received our pay
for the animals dead on the plains,
and wagons followed Us up. Quartered
the animals and shipped the saddle
and tallow to eastern markets.
About 1871 the hide hunting be-
gan. Prior TO this time little or no At
IGNITION was paid to the skins, but
!: when the demand for them created Z
. high price the meat was allowed 10 rot
on the plains, and this magnificent
race was extinguished simply that OK
. travagant tastes might 30 satisAed.
With the improvements in firearms an
entirely different mode Of hunting
. was adopted. The Springfield army
gun was superseded by 4 Sharp 50
caliber and loaded with no grains Of
powder. The hunter used his horse
only in finding q herd. This done
!. we would 60 to the leeward side q
}. that the scent Of the powderand report
y would not reach the animals, and hnd
J. Q suitable shelter about 1000 yard
p distant from them. / have killed them
at distance of a mile Hunting
!. in this way we had to be very par
a ticular, and watch the herd closely
!. Like herd Of cattle, the bison are q
q ways on the go and are apt to wall
% out Of rife range in ;ADhort time. II
moving, however, they always have, {
: leader and the trick was to kill any az
: that started to lead the others of. By
Il thus Filling the leaders, we could OF
. ktea ahoot for an hour from behind on,
3 Hump Of grass, and when they ha(
&al loved out Of range, the ''skinners'
y would come up, cut the hide in tn
u ordinary way for skinning, tie tn
l. animals head to stake, hitch team
Of horsesto the hide, and jerk 1t of
% No one will ever know what, immens'
!, G,Ambefsof bison were killed by thes'
ID hide hunters, but to my certain know
edgo 3,0OO, 900 hides were shippet
ttom the Fr4nahman river in one win
liter. The ~ Hunters, by system Of
= 6ress;kor4 - hi1on from the stream
e until ms q them persisted and thou
h sand * 0eh&B were easily killed. A
l. the cf66T6I that winter man coull
90 along the banks Of the Frenchmal
a for fifty miles BY simply jumpinl
10 from the carcass Of one bison to thu
~ of another. Considering facts Of thi
! kind, it is not surprising that Q small
!; tame herd and few old circus AMI
mails represent the great herds which
less than a quarter Of aseentury agt
blackened miles Of prairio q thur
der cloud darkens the sky.-lntel
% view in The Kansas City Times.
IL Kssa ssass - Pressahe.
~ The relative senibility to pressul
as Of different parts Of theSbody isssee
in tanned by placing weights of the ~
h. sise but Of different amounts upca 4
skin. By this means it has been f0un
that the parts which have the ksenG
sense Of pressure afe generally tho
in which sensibilty Of touch u mo