The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1890-02-06

ton rs food y; the extrpation of The race is
attributable to mans reckless greed, his
wanton destructiveness, and imprOvdence;
TO the total and utterly ineXCusable
| absence of protective measures and agencies on
the part of the National Government and of
the Western States and Territories to the
fatal preference on the part of hunters gcuer-
ally, both white and red, for the robe and flesh
of the COW over that furnished by the bull to
the fatal stupidity of the animals themselves,
and their indifference to man, and to the per
lection of modern brcech. loading rifles and
other sporting firearms in general" The con-
dtion under which these destructive tcnden-
cies were enabled to exert their full force, was
the construction of three lines of railway
through the most populous part of the buffalo
country" With these there came n demand
for robes and hides, backed up by an unlimited
supply of arms of precision y; and then followed
a wild rush of hunters % eager to do
stroy rs many head as possible in the shortest
time. Mr.. Ilornaday fixes the period of sys-
tematic slaughter" as between 1880 aud 1888
Even without tho railroads these organized
campaigns against them would have resulted
in the destruction of the species, but up to 1870
several millions" of bsons still ranged their
western habitat and the race might readily
have been preserved, ut n cost who'll insignia
cant when compared with tho value of the ami
NAL. From an economic point of Wow alone,
and at tho lowest calculation if they had been
protected " the amount annually added TO the
wealth of tho United States would have been
S2,500,OOO." In many ways the buffalo could
have been made of great use, and was very val
liable. Experiment has shown that " the male
bison crosses readily with the opposite sex of
domestic cattle, but buffalo COW has never
been known to produce halfbrccd calf. The
domestic COW produces half brecd successfully.
The progeny of the two species is fertile TO any
extent yielding half-brceds, quarter, three
quarter, and so on. The bison breeds in cap
tivity with perfect regularity and success"
Only breeders themselves can perhaps estimate
fully the great Importance of these facts, aud
no one can pretend to appreciate the influence
which they might have exercised upon the
range cattle of tho West. This however. has
been demonstrated, viz that the three quarter
bred animal is IN every way an Improvement on
the ordinary steer-larger, far moro hardy, and
costing less TO keep. Up to the year 1880,
so long as buffalo were killed only for robes the
bands did not decrease very materially When
however the demand for hides was added "they
disappeared very rapidly From 1872 to 1874,
369S,730 bison OF the great Southern herd were
slaughtered, mot hunted,) and by 1873 il " had
ceased 10 exist" Tho fate Of tho Northern
herd was similar, and " the end of the hunting
season of 1882, 50 was also the end Of tho buff
falo.n
Ofthe millions that ranged tho continent 90
years ago, and who were then but remnant of
the universal herd . OF former days there re-
manned, free and unprotected, in January, 1859:
la The Pan handIo Of -
IN 'olnIA'o ~
In southern Wyoming 20
IN Mus-e shell County, Mont. 10
Ia western
Total in the United States -
In Athabnsca, Northwest Territory estimated $50
Total in North America 6Jl
Nothing IS more illusory" than tho hope
that buffalo in n free state will ever again ex-
ist OF this continent Captive herds may de-
velop and increase, but thoy cannot represent
IL. Lii. l.. l. T.