The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-11-12
BUFFALO BONE COLLECTOR.
THE war "JOHN BONE" ST4RrED
4 PLAINS INDUSTRY.
Got Tired out shooting Bufiaiors for Their
Hides and Gathered III Bones Made ,
Heap OF Money out OF II Before Others
Found out Tint IL Was Profitable,

Fo""" WV 'hh' ~ was IrohthhlC.
\ tall lnnk, long haired man IN a very wId,.
brmncd snmbrcro and wearing u rlnnking watch.
chain Of colossal size, was sauntrrnr along ,hc
principal street uf Los angeles Cal recently with
hands deep in his packets lunkinr over the hcnda
II almost every one. when his eye was caught ~
picture in window which represented s,uall
herd of buiTalocs lie stood ia FRONT " II ,un.s
time and as he rejuncl the crowd n knnSa, lry,,.
ness man remarked
no wonder he looked at II That VAS Old john
Bone don't know his right name hu, that,
what no was called because hr made u fortune out
Of bones buffalo bones after thrsr animals had
been wiped off the face II the earth llr', forgot
ten me hut was banking In those days and -
saw him often and knew his business nat [
reckon he lives 4omcv here hctcabnuts lint Won
ca bet he ism Z picking UP bones now he making
his own az comfortable as possible Twenty
years ago there were alive and roaming on tho
plains five " six million huInlocs. aud tncts
was an army II whites and Indians trying To- wips
them out The white hunters II collected would
make AN army Of six ~ seven thousand men, and
as for Indians they had n dozen armies In the
field killing huiIalucs for 81 apiece
This John Bone was a hustler on ranch in
northern Kansas. and was hired by the owner to
kill buHalocs; and expect next to Buffalo liill hs
has killed more bIInlocs than any one II wns
nara WORK, ana ne nnNlIN decided tD go lnbl nN~-
ness for himself but he didn't 20 I'm for hides hs
went after bones lie happened to see notice IN
an Eastern paper that old bones were wanted, nui
nc opened up correspondence and found that hs
could make SlS ur $50 n ton for them 50 he started
4, n, o,., ,o,,,d . ,i,.o g., ,,r,,, ,,,,h ,l,,,v
-, ~ NO. ',"'' " ,,"'' W. '","' w"
" acreage anu 'heh win ms 'hf'" ht",h'rS S"''n
out with carts collecting bones At that time tho
country was dotted with buffalo skeletons from
y, .,, ,'.,-,.' ,'t ,.'.
one emu VI Nhe o'n't inc huh'tS Only "'h Nho
hides sometimes III" tongues and left III" entire
animal -. II WAS nat , a nir,,l, IA get all the
, - :, ~, W " - -,
noheS NJ "ah"' h' W''n W'n np W he"'N
Then the carts came along and loaded ny and
dragged them Ia TN, r,uiu ia tbI. w,, bc hceu.i
~, ,y,a ,,'., - , ',,. a., =, ,,..
"p p,c "n' was sue, '"f"SN 'h'' "n'
Monument
~. ON. .o f., 49, r,,,, ,.. ,,,,ce, hon.
picker though there nigh, have been others in
what Was knn,n NO tho north H. I'd aud so Won
mny be sure he did no, tell any one ,,b,, he was
doing. The hunters thought he was crazy and
called him John BONES John WIS smart enough
"'" ','',' t, 49,. H.
I" hcip OUT thr ldea ana n" sald huthlhE ana JUST
piled up his bones lie told one man he was going
q, ,;Io ,,, nj. r,.,,. a. bio ,,ld 90, aud male. hi-
'" p''p W. "S many ~ Nv '"u'" XIV anu 'noA' u,S
nous" oi heaGS' ana men charge admission. Ihs
first lot he piled TN in big square. and the last
,i,,.Is I, !, On. ,,i,,, foo, tiyb and ,,c,,,.
49,. ~, ., - -,
iee' 'hick ana mad" up "i thousands "' bones
monument To thu, dcstr,,c, q d, Of the bison
"i,,,, u, r NINA. ,,.iD .,
called it. John had his brothers and some orc
inside At u,rL and ,h,s, men ground mn the hone.
''.S". q. W.T." %nu '.,'.'u -" VI, ,,...
ana parhrh mem TO- "" n'nte.' ra,,inan'
ana got SO t.n inr mem " d ana sometimes
more when NE supply was S EXHAUSTED h'f' II,
n n 1trl tons M;tr S'Gnins.N IN, Nnhnsi9,,.
whI H. @;, len M 9r m fdn
sas 10 Iriek 10 gel thousands iy and p "'be:t
began I" get On To- II and II Was one OF ne sights
IN ia" n%i,hsrn I"aas :" So" the plies OF buffalo
What John made don't Know. but = iofiuns
without doubt The RAILROADS could tell the story.
ana Sahta re- shipped l.'WnVN POUNDS, 'hdt r'N
IN ~ N 80 ih'A Sniptd about ihL"' nil,.inN
H. , me Norm The great llacrs Tor shipment W."
Bihhg>, Mon, aud jamestown. Dakota hCr'
y,'u could Sc" up I" ten q, twelve years ago piles
I" say Finally when hides b"gan 10 get scare.
the bone hunte'S were as lh,ck as hops and with
,ig bullock teams they went all over th" country
whercvtr buffalo bad been known and took every
bone They hauled them I" the Missouri River
and SHIPPED Them by steamer down I" central
places. from which tens 81 thousands Of tons wero
shipped all over the World ,-.
plains We "itcn adyanccd money to thc rcsronsi.
bic hunters for their outfit and was often in tho
Ssamps General! ih,tr "GF" three m'n t"Gethci
li"n and canned PROV lSionS, Each man was
armed with a rifle, three sklnninE knives and =
from WAY back; many ui them would kill fifty 10
eighty buHhlr,S a day. Their method was Ia
ste ] IN To herd, lie in CORCcalmcnt and shoot
the leader Tn" buffalo was a stupid beast and
would stand luuE ~ at the smoke and gather
around the first victim Finally another one would
start oil and the hunter would shoot II and the
seen" would W. p enacted, and until =
single man by firing about once minute has
Nearly all thcS' skins were handled in New
\ ork by two firms j. & y BuSkuwIK
houN hi in nine years 2i6l15 robes and
hides for which they paid $500 700 and
probably sold for ~ least two millions
The other firm, Joseph l.llman. paid ,ui
for robes and hides In four years about
o gu. 81 ,2S"" i"r hdtS ana r"h'S, 81 you can
'',lur n Bone worked at first fur men With car.
tai. then when they got twelve ur fifteen hundred
hsnu the brothers for themselves 10