St. Paul daily globe., 1896-02-09

chats with Mr.. Langley. the secretary
of the Smithsonian institution; Prof.
GOode, the head of the National mu-
scum; DR.. Baker, the scientist in charge
+ of the Geological Park, and others, as
to this matter. The Smithsonian insti-
tuition has no interest in the matter
outside Of a scientific one. 1t has, how
ever, great amount Of information
concerning the buffalo, much of which
was collected by Mr.. w. T. Hornaday.
All Of this information has been placed
at my disposal, and through it l am
able to give some Of the details of one
! Of the most disgraceful deeds of Amer
lean history.
Few people are now aware of the
former wonderful extent of the buffalo.
No animal has ever existed in such
large numbers nor covered so much
territory. Buffaloes formerly roamed
over the country as far East as Wash
ington city, and there are records Of
herds of thousands being seen in Pen
nsylvania not long before the revolu-
ton. A hundred years ago they came
in great droves to drink at the Blue
Lick springs Of Kentucky. Daniel
Boone speaks of them and it is now
only few years since they existed by
the millions on the great plains of
the West. In 1871, now only twenty
five years ago, Col. r. l. Dodge rode
for fifty miles through herd of buf-
faloes which he estimated as being
twenty-five miles wide This was
along the Arkansas river.
FOUR MILLION BUFFALOES.
At one point he was able to get upon
hill, and he says he could see this
vast herd Of buffaloes stretching out
from six to ten miles in every direction.
The herd was moving and it took
I ertx,
Prof. Hornaday says that at the lowest
estimate there were 1900, 900 buffaloes
In this one herd, and this, as I have
said, was only twenty-five years ago.
In 1868 a traveller along the Kansas
Pacific railroad states that the train
at one time passed through one hun
dred and twenty miles Of solid buffalo.
Ihe plains were blackened with them
and more than once the cars were
stopped by them. The best authority
or the National museum as to the earIy
buHalo is George Catin, who spent the
greater part of his life in the West
studying the Indian, and who made
many pictures of the buffalo as they
existed before the great destruction be-
gan He tells Of herds of millions and
says that their roaring sounded like
thunder, and tells how the Indians
killed them by the hundreds Of thou
sands for the skins, for which they re-
ceived only pint of whisky apiece.
HOW BUFFALO WE'RE KILLED.
You would not think that such i'm
mense herds could be wiped out. The
buffalo, however, are very dull beasts
In many ways. They are a mixture of
stupidity and intelligence which it is
hard to understand. These mighty
herds were made up Of companies or
huffaloes of from 20 to 100 each. each
clCmp being led and taken care of by
one strong bull. In going for water
one of the old cows Of the clump would
start ahead and nose along the track
OF a dry stream for miles until 1t found
waterway, the others Of that com
peny following in single file. The herd
would then drink and would lie down
to rest before eating. This would seem
to mean high degree Of intelligence.
But such evidence is not shown in their
attempting to escape from man.
hunter might lie with a repeating rifle
near such herd and pick off one after
the other without apparently soaring
the rest. II they ran it was usually
against the wind, and they were cow
ards except when brought to bay. At
first the skins brought but little, and
the temptation to kill was not so great.
Still, thousands were killed for the
pure fun Of killing them. The Southern
herd, which contained about 1000 900,
existed up to as late as 1870 up to
which time only about half a million
buffaloeS year were killed from It,
AS soon as the railroads came in hum
ters came by the score, and, with