Daily Kennebec journal., 1899-05-23
LAST OF THE BUFFALOEs.
The Work Of determination Now
Nearly Complete.

merly United States Land Commis-
sioner in Wyoming, and later connec-
ted with the Yellowstone Park Com
mission, and the mortality among the
surviving beasts has been greater this
winter than ever before during their
captivity. The Yellowstone Park herd
comprised los head in 1898, but the
temptation to get a buffalo skin. worth
nowadays from $3.50 to $3.50. ana a
buffalo head, which is worth rs much
more. has been too much for poach-
crs. Despite the severe penalty for
killing th. big animals in the national
park, q dozen or more buffaloas have
been slain up there every year. Last
Year the herd WAS reduced tn about
seventy ana this season u form uf in
llucnZa has helped the illegal shooting
To make inroads upon the veteran
butfalocs. ! believe there cannot bo
more than fifty Of them left
"T Mess Congress soon dos some
thing there win not hc Il dozen bufta
lors left in the world five years hence.
/ mean specimens of the genuine buf-
fIlo, the American bison. not the in
bred specimens which are found at
some geological gardens. ana were
grown al buffalo farms in Texas. Kan
ssts and Colorado. There are now be
fore Congress a dozen petitions signed
altogether by more than 10000 people
In the West. praying that the few rs
manning bunalues Of the former "nor-
nous herds ho taken in charge by
commissioners. who shall be resp"n-
sible for the preservation of the beasts
i'm a region with milder climat" than
Yellowstone Park. Congress has been
urged at each session for several years
ID az something to protect the surviv-
ing specimens of the genuine buffalo
species, but it looks now as if the in
irresting and characteristic beast nf
tile great American plains would bc as
extinct lin the next generation as tha
.r.at aux ur ne Iroqur.s. \ good many
Of the Smithsonian Institution people
believe that the government herd of
bunaloes ought to BE- taken 70 the Ma
tional geological park at Washington.
Others believe that they ought to he
Kept in Texas. their natural home"
Mr. Durham is an authority concern
ing the American buffalo. He came
West from Brooklyn in 1856 and has
lived on the plains ever since. He has
written several papers for the smith
sonian Institution concerning his in
vrstigltions Of the habitat and eXter-
mination of the buffalo He went to the
city of Mexico in 1850 To search the
government archives there for records
uf the opinions If the Spanish con-
puernrs. who went as far north as
Colorado and as far east as the Ais
souri, river in 1913. concerning the Luf-
f,lo.s at that time.
-The wholesale determination or ih.
huffalo-s seems almost incredible tn ma
uov. as look back at its r,al begin
ing thirty wears ago" continued MIR.
Dunham. ITO he sure the Indians
soldiers ANA catt1.m,n uu th,. nIains;
HAD killed buffalnys TN thousands for
a generation before 1864 blit thu NAT
uraI incroas. Of the herds more than
rmlaIIad the annual losses. The build
inn Of the Union ana Kansas Pacific
Railroads from the Missouri river
westward to tia Si-1.rls created u mar
KIT value for buffalo meat. hides. tom
gucs ana bones. ana the most rrmor4r-
laee caasaI.ss sIaught..r. nf wild .,ni-
,,,.,1s ,,.,,. l,ro,,.,, VOC t,a-,D E,o,,
lQez ,-bo, III. roilroad construction
.,,.+i,,.,r,- hao,, ,In,iI 1SGo .,bnnt aop oao
h,rfaIo.s were sI,fu hut fran, 1>fo NJ
I>-c r,,ir,. : ono o,o ,,.... i.iII.l t,,n,
INA ,,nt.t fy>i y.ba,, fine l,,,tr.,Ir north