The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1897-03-13
THE ANTELOPE ISLAND HERD.

of the Buffalo Rens7 amt = How
They We're Preserved
The herd of buffaloes to which wide |
public attention has been drawn BY
the recent tragic fate of one OF its
bills, has been grazing on Antelope
island for three years. 1t is owned BY
the Island Improvement company.
which is composed of john +. Dooly
and White & Sons. When Buffalo Bill
Glassman gave up his ambition to re-
plenish the west with the American
bison the Improvement company took
the little herd he had gathered at Lake
Point and transported 1t to the island.
The Antelope range is admirably suit
I'D to it's wants, and on the nutritloue
grasses Astounding there it has fed and
fattened. Though nominally in captiv
ity, its freedom is only limited by the
water that surrounds the island.
and by the stout fences built to
protect the cultivated spots on
the range from being overrun.
Unlike the elk that swan away
from the island, the buffaloes have made
no effort to escape. Their domain Is
large enough to satisfy their migrsa'
tory instinct. From end to end it is
nearly 80 miles, and at it's widest point
it is six miles across. 1t has surface
varied enough to suit the most adyen-
turous buffaloes; nature has provided
watering places in most convenient
spots; delightful depressions abound
in which the herd may 'wallow to itA
hides content, and altogether An.
telope il an ideal home for the semi.civ-
ilised bison.
The herd has grown over there, until
ROW it numbers nearly 20. -Four calves
were born this year. and the interest
OF visitors to the island is most ex-
cited by these shy young buffaloes. The
domestic affairs of the herd have I'M
dergone two upheavals during its life
on Antelope. These experiences have
| corroborated the theory, disputed by
some buffalo authorities, that one bull
rules the herd, and that the question
of supremacy is settled from time te
time on the field of honor. The head
OF the family does not long enjoy his
championship in peace. Some young
ambitious bull challenges him to
contest, and the buffalo code requires
him to accept forthwith. He alway
does, for his cows are looking at him
and even If he could remain amonI
them without fighting, which he couls
not. he would henceforth be despised
So he locks horns with his rebellion
antagonist, and the fight goes on 7
a finish. Either the challenger is sui
dued or the reigning bull is driven iron
the herd, and thereafter is an outcas'
The bull in command It the time tn
hard was placed on the island wa
driven out about a year later by fierc
young gallant, who held sway but
wear. The struggle in which he wa
defeated lasted two days, and then h
too, became wanderer. 1t was one {
those deposed bulls that was killed
recent desperate combat. The pre-
ent king of the herd il q mammoth re
,, low, one of the finest specimens OF b
Kind, but he will not be allowed to r
', main much longer unmolested in n
sovereignty. Already there are ind
; cations that the younger bulls a
: growing FESTIVE under his rule, and OF
of them may any day rebel, and whe
: he does "a struggle will follow TIL
. will be worth encountering the peri
of voyage to the battle-ground to sc
This system of rotation in Office
: the way the buffalo has of applying t
{ principle of the survival of the fitte'
: and is held by philosophers to ha
. been designed to insure the vigor
I. the offspring.
The disappearance from the plai
of the race of which this small bun
;. is one of the few remnants was caus
. !. by the greatest slaughter of wild q
= imals the world has ever seen. It'll
= been said by a satirical expert that
= oil the quadrupeds that have lived up
: the earth probably no other spec
has ever marshaled such innumeral
! hosts as those of the American bisol
. Before 1870 millions upon millions
: buffaloes moved over the plains FRI
!, Manitoba to Mexico. In one gre
J. herd that was encountered in Kan'
= by one of the first trains that cross
q that state is estimated that there WI
100000 of these animals, whose
!" struction was soon caused by the va
r of their hides. After, the war an ar
of hunters spread over the feed
grounds of the buffalo, and from ri
!. bluffs and hilltops sharpshoot
= brought down beast after beast, vi
y whole herds were dead. So vigor'
/" was this execution during the fl
" years succeeding 1870 that live bu'
10 loes had become scarce, but everywh
:. along the old trails skinned carcas
~ were rotting. In 1870 the large pro
~ of the previous years were no lon
s. obtainable, but the slaughter was c
:" tinued until nearly all the produc
of robes were gone. Now only