The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1897-03-06
THE BUFFALO REMNANT.
Interesting Account Of the Ante
lope Island Herd

Interesting Account Of the Ante
lope Island Herd
Fierce Fights Between the Males for
Supremacy Singular DemonstFs-
sion Of the Survival Of
the Fittest
The herd of buffaloes to which wide
public attention has been drawn by
the recent tragic fate of one of its
bulls, has been grazing on Antelope
island for three years. 1t is owned by
the Island Improvement company,
which is composed Of John E. Dooly
and White g. 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 it to the island.
The Antelope range is admirably suit
ed to its wants, and on the nutritious
grasses abound;ng there it has fed and
fattened. Though nomihally in captiv-
ity, it's freedom is only limited by the
water that surrounds the island,
and by the stout fences built to
protect tho 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 migra-
tory instinct. From end to end it is
nearly 30 miles, and at its widest point
it is six miles across. 1t has a surface
varied enough to suit the most odven-
turous buffaloes; nature has provided
watering places in most convenient
spots; delightful depressions abound
in which the herd may wallow to its
hides content, and altogether An
telope is an ideal home for the semi-civ-
ilized bison.
1"le herd has grown over there, until
row it numbers nearly 90. -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 un-
dergone two upheayals 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 to
tirne 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 a
contest, and the buffalo code requires
him to accept forthwith. He always
does, for his COWS are looking at him,
and even if he could remain among
them without fighting, which he could
not, he would henceforth be despised.
So he locks horns with his rebelliouS
antagonist, and the fight goes on to
a finish. Either the challenger is sub
dued or the reigning bull is driven from
the herd, and thereafter is an outcast.
The bull in command at the time the
herd was placed ON the island was
driven out about a year later by fierce
young gallant, who held sway but
year. The struggle in which he was
defeated lasted two days, and then he,
too, became wanderer. 1t WAS one or
those deposed bulls that was killed in
a recent desperate combat. The pres
ent king Of the herd is mammoth fell
low, one of the finest specimens OF his
kind, but he will not be allowed to re-
main much longer unmolested in his
sovereignty. Already there are indi-
cations that the younger bulls are
growing restive under his rule, and one
Of them may any day rebel, and when
he does h struggle viii follow that
will be worth encounteriug the perils
of a voyage to the battle-ground to see.
This system of rotation in office is
tha way the buffalo has Of applying the
principle of the survival of the fittest,
and is held by philosophers to have
been designed to insure the yigor OF
the offspring.
The disappearance from the plains
of the race of which this small bunch
is enc of the few remnants was caused
by the greatest slaughter OF wild an
inlals the world has ever seen. 1t has
been said by satirical expert that "of
all the quadrupeds that have lived upon
the earth probably no other species
has ever marshsled such innumerable
hosts as those of the American bison"
Before 1870 millions upon millions Of
buffaloes moved over the plains from
Manitoba to Mexico. In one great
herd that was encountered in Kansas
by one of the first trains that crossed
that state is estimated that there were
A.OUO, 900 of these animals, whose de-
struction was soon caused by the value
of their hides. After the war an army
of hunters spread over the feeding
grounds of the buffalo, and from river
bluffs and hilltops sharpshooters
brought down beast after beast, until
whole herds were dead. So vigorous
was this execution during the four
years succeeding 1870 that live buffa-
loes had become scarce, but every here
along the old trails skinned carcasses
were rotting. In 1870 the large profits
of the previous years were no longer
obtainable, but the slaughter was con-
tinued until nearly all the producers
of robes were gone. Now only few
hundred remain. Most of these are in
national and city parks, or, like the
Dooly herd, are held by private owners.
One Of the largest of the herds is that
on the Austin Corbin estate at New
port, N. H. Until recently there were
90 bu1faloes in this preserve, but about
a month ago 80 of them were given to
the city of New York, and placed in
Van Cortland park. The Corbin es-
tate consists of $4,000 acres. and in adj
ditjon to the buffalOes it contains / 200