The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1896-07-15

ger able to secure the desired trophies.
With the exception of small and rap
idly-diminishing herd in the Yellow
stone country and another among the
hills of New Hampshire, the types of
buffalo to be seen to-day are almost
entirely confined to one or two NANCY
specimens in menageries and ZOOS at
tached to public parks. Their propaga-
ton by private enterprise has, however,
recently been attempted. and what
promises to be well-equipped and sue
cessful breeding ground has just been
established with fiattering prospects
in the suburbs of the city of Adrian,
Mich. Two of the leading spirits in the
enterprise are Messrs. j. Wallace Page
and Walter Clement.
Commencingina small way some time
ago they fitted up coral in which were
inclosed cub bear, a coyote, a wolf,
a wild cat and some deer, trophies of the
hunt and donations from time to time
of friendly Nimrods. These constituted
u sort of happy family, until their num-
bers increased to such an extent that it
no longer became possible to maintain
the necessary entente cordiale. Final
ly the advent of some trained elk made
an extension of the territory devoted
to this incipient zoo a matter of neces-
sity.
A picturesque location of some 40
acres was purchased in the northwest
ern suburb of the city, which was
strongly fenced in and duly partitioned,
and into this the amateur menagerie
was turned loose. The park consists
of rich, rolling land, partially wooded,
with lots of good pasture, and minia-
ture lake of about three acres. In the
southwest corner is what was once a
commodious farm dwelling, which is
now used as residence by the keeper of
the grounds. The original arrivals
turned loose here comprised number
of deer, Indigenous to the forests of
upper Michigan. These were reinforced
by some IS elk, several of which have
been trained to harness. About one
third of the total number were females,
and during last summer number of
deer and elk were bred there.
A short time ago Mr.. Clement con-
celved the idea of introducing herd of
buffalo, believing that the shaggy de-
scendants of the erstwhile monarchs Of
the plains would increase, flourish and
grow fat. The elimination of this idea
was seen little later. when a massive
male specimen, about nine years old,
with four females as a retinue, was i'm
ported and turned out to browse on the
rich sward of Page park. The female
quartet of the combination consists of
one yearling heifer and three COWS, just
past two years old, their weights rang
ing from 600 to 900 pounds.
The procurement of the Page herd
was not altogether an easy matter. 1t
was one thing to resolve to get and
raise buffaloes, and quite another thing
to find the necessary nucleus for such a
family. In order to carry out his prof.
ect Mr.. Clement found it necessary, in
stead of seeking the land of the setting
sun, to stalk the wilds and Businesses Of
Lincoln park, Chicago. Not long ago
he noticed that the superintendent of
Lincoln park, II. c. Alexander, had de-
termined to dispose of surplus of a
great variety of the animals there, in
order to introduce better and choicer
variety. Mr.. Clement at once decided
upon Lincoln park as his future field of
operations, but before he could get