St. Paul daily globe., 1896-02-09
Ransom 3 Horton
GO and 1o1 EAST SIXTH ST., ST. PAUL.

breech-loading rifles, killed the animals
by thousands. Capt. Jack Bridges
killed by contract 1,142 buffaloes of this
herd in six weeks. Buffalo Bill earned
his title by the numbers of buffalo he
killed in a short time, and Mr.. Horna-
day tells Of one hunter who told him
that he had killed sixty-three buffaoes
in less than hour. In some places the
buffaloes were driven over precipices,
breaking their necks by the fall and
being skinned afterward.
SKINNING BUFFALO.
With some of these hunter murderers
the ordinary process of skinning was
not fast enough, and they invented a
way Of skinning the buffalo by means
of horses. They would cut the skin at
the neck and down the belly and
around the legs at the knees. A stout
iron bar, like a hitching post. was then
driven down through the skull about
eighteen inches into the earth. Then
a rope was tied to the thick skin Of the
neck. The other end Of the rope was
| hitched to the whiff1e tree of a pair of
| horses, or to the rear axle of a wagon.
! The horses were whipped up, and the
skin was either torn in two or torn from
! the buffalo, with about fifty pounds
| of flesh sticking to it. This method,
! however, was not a success, and was
soon given up. About $4,000 buffalos
! have been killed for their tongues. no
! account having been made Of their
skins. For a long time every skin
! sent to the market represented about
| five buffalOes the others having been
| destroyed Thousands Of buffalOeS were
| killed by freight and moonlight, the
! fires in such cases being made for the
| purpose. During the year 1873 the At
Gibson, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad
alone carried a quarter of a million
hl1ff 10 md hnT mil ton
and a half pounds Of buffalo meat, and
during the three years following 1872
| more than 100000 buffaloes were
slaughtered by the white men, and Of
these 100000 were wasted. The great
southern herd had been annihilated by
1875 At this time the market had
been overstOcked with robes, and the
hunters got from So cents to $1.15 for
| them.
There was then left only the great
herd of the northern part of the
United States. Its destruction began
in 1880, at which time about 100000
! buffaloes were shipped out of the coun-
| try every year The Indians of the
Northwestern territory marketed about
$4,000 buffaloes a year. AS soon as rail
| roads came into the country the hun
ters came in, and in 1882 there were
5000 hunters and skinners at work.
They killed the buffaloes by the thou
! SanQS 1Or CnSn ropes, getting from
$3.50 to $3.50 a piece for them, and
within about four years this other vast
herd was wiped out. In 1876 it was es-
timated that there were half a million
buffaloes within radius of $50 miles
of Miles City. In 1884 the last carload
Of buffalo robes ever shipped to the
East was sent over the railroad.
MONEY IN BUFFALOES.
The hunting of the buffaloes was i'm
mensely prof1ta BILE. According to the
figures Of Mr.. Hornaday hundreds OF
thousands of dollars were made out OF
the slaughter long before 1910. From
1885 to 1910 there were five expeditions,
which killed buffaloeS, worth more than
a million dollars, and the buffaloes
killed up to that time within twenty
years realized a sum Of more than
S3,000,000 There are records Of single
fur firms who handled hundreds OF
thousands of dollars worth of hides
, Joseph Ullman, of New York and st
Paul, in 1881, bought about $50, 900 worth
of buffalo robes, in 1882 an equa
amount, and about S120,000 worth OF
: buffalo hides. This firm within foul
/ years paid more than $310,0 for buf.
falo robes and hides, and, In connection
with one other firm, they sold enough
skins to bring in about $4,000, 900. There
were a number of other fur dealer!
who made money out of the business
} to say nothing of those who got ricl
off buffalo meat and buffalo bones. II
a trip which 1 took over the Canadian
Pacific road a few years ago, l saw
mountains of buffalo bones at many o