The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-17
THE DAYS OF BIG GAVE IN TEXAS.
When the Buffalo ana Antelope
Were MuItitudfnous.

| those who ask about the West is, What
has BECOME OF all the game which former
! ~ covered the great plains and crowded
into the brakes along the streams of that
! country?" 1t has not been so long ago
when truly these plains were filled with
buffalo. But the story of them is known.
TO all. In the Smithsonian Institution at
| Washington there is a picture OF the last
! of these monarchs of the plains 1t repre-
! SCENTS a man lying in a small depression in
! the prairie, sighting his long-ranse gun at
small herd Of buffalo grazing not far
away. All around him were the skeletons
of this animal, which had been killed by
| those who had come before him. IL was
the saddest picture imaginable, and told
of cruelty, wantonness and greed.
| L remember when l went buffalo hunt
| ing back in 1876 that we came upon
| party of buffalo hunters-men who made
a business Of hunting and killing the ami
mails for their hides. They warned us
! away from where they were, as our pres
| enee disturbed their game. They talked
| as II they owned the animals and would
not brook our presence. We explained
that we were only hunting for sport and
| did not intend TO kill many of The beasts,
but this did not satisfy them, because, as
| they explained we ran after them with
| our horses, we frightened the whole herd
and drove them away, thus putting these
lords of the prairies to too much trouble
IN following them.
| Their manner of slaughtering the ami
! mails was TO lie in a depression in the
prairie or behind a rock and from these
| points calmly shoot at a long distance into
| the herd which fed about on the grass.
! The distance of the shooters from the
game prevented the latter from taking
! fright and thus they were killed by the
| hundreds of dozens before they would take
| the alarm.
Such parties as this were generally ac-
| companied by a wagon which carried pro-
/ visions ard ammunition and the camp out
| fit. When the slaughter of the day was
| about at an end the wagon would come
| up. The animals would be turned on their
| backs, the skin cut down the stomachs,
around the tail. then down the leg and
| around the ankles. Stakes were driven in
| the ground and the hind legs were tied
to them. A hook was then sunk into the
! hide near the tail a rope attached to
! the hook was tied to the wagon, and
| when it was driven away the hide was
| peeled from the body. 1t was quick and
| effective work, and many hide could
| be taken in a day by this process of skin
ming. In time all the buffalo which were
on the wild prairies, by which l mean
ed by wire fences, disappeared Then the
| work of collecting the bones of the de-
stroyed herds commenced. This work
| brought thousands of dollars to the coun-
| try. And when 1t was done II may be
said that the last vestige of the buffalo
had been wiped out.
! II may be asked why something was
not done in the past to preserve the buff
falo from extinction. The question is an
! entirely reasonable one. asked it myself
! fifteen years ago, when it became appar-
| ent that they had to go. 1 asked it of
| Gov Throckmorton. l was surprised
when he told me that the buffalo ought
| not to be preserved, and when the day
came when there were none it would be
| the best day in the calendar of the state.
| He then went on to explain that the buff
falo was the mainstay OF the Indian. AS
| long as there was herd in Texas, Just
| so long the rowing Comanche was an in
dependent being, and it would be impos-
! sfble to either tame him or make him re-
main on his reservation. Now, as he
would not remain on the reservation just
as long as he could leave IL to hunt buff
| faIo. Just so long would he depredate on
| the settlements. In fact, the Governors
| idea was that the preservation of life and
| property on the frontier depended on the
| extinction of this animal. which was the
| beef of the wild Indian.
The view held by Gov. Throckmorton
| was the view held by nearly, if not ALL of
the old settlers, and the consequence was
| that che slaughter of the buffalo went on
| undisturbed by law. AS long as-there was
no particular improvement in guns so long
| the destruction was not great. But with
the long-range rifles, which would shoot
a mile with deadly effect, il was an easy
matter TO almost destroy whole herd be-
fore they would take the alarm. OF all the
millions of these animals which roamed
these prairies twenty to thirty years ago.
the solitary representatives of them, am
informed, are now in the pasture of Chas
Goodnight, one of whose ranches is near
the town of Goodnight, on the Fort Worth
and Denver Railroad. The herd is in
creasing to some extent, and the value Of
them is increasing also.
The plains were filed with antelope, also
hut liKe their companions, the buffalo
they have suffered greatly in the last ten
years. The only thing that saved them
from total destruction was that their hides
were not as valuable as the hides of the
buffalo After the advent of the railroads
the slaughter of them commenced. Theh
carcasses were shipped to Northern mar
kets, and 1t looked as if in a short time
they would be an animal of the past But
lust as they were on the verge of sxtinc-
ton, the state passed a game law which
prevented them being killed. The result is
that in the last two years they have in
creased rapidly, and though they will
never again be as numerous as they have
been, because of the pastures. still they
are here to stay, and will always be plen-
tiful. The owners of the pastures are also
protecting them about as carefully as they
protect their cattle, and this in connection
with the law will prevent that total de-
struction threatened several years ago.
The deer have decreased greatly. for the
same reason that the antelope decreased.
that is, through the pot hunters for the
Northern markets, but the game laws
have also come forward for their protec-
ton.
The wolf is the terror of the stockmen.
and in some instances the large ranch
owners have standing bounties for the
scalps of the larger kinds known here as
the ''loafer' wolf a corruption evidently
of the Spanish name for wolf When
members Of this family Of wolves get hum
cry they will attack even a 2-year-old calf
F-sgV - IL