Daily Kennebec journal., 1899-05-23

bones. The meat was cureu ana soid lo
the military and mining camps 3n esai, liir
plains one firm used 70 Duy ptdiaIo
hams for shipping to Mckee
"NIany an old-time plalnSman has
eroaned in later years at the pare mem
n,v of Tho woful extravaganza in gathe"-
mo huffaIo hides twenty-five ana more
Years ago I think ! am conservative ~
saying that in the SIXTIES many thnus-
ands of superb specimens q piaohS were
killed merely to get their tongues. AS
many moro were shot merely to see the
beasts tumble and roll IN death. some
one once said that every buffalo hide
marketed represented three Ieit 70 rot %
the plains. remember that IN the great
buffalo hunt Of the eldef f.afi oi raven
huffaloes were never touched after they
were slain. ! have seen htcfhlly nun
drcds of rOtting po"ItS o. puil ila!|'S ~
one small range, where lhey had been
glain Cnr Hit fnn Of the thing. a cattle
man friend of mine tod me that ~ the
Panhandle or Texas he has known sew
eral hundred bUffaiucS 10 ne slain IN. one
season bv soldiers from the garriSnns,
simply for The sport / have no doubt
thar If tha meat. bones, horns. hoOf%
Skins and odds and ends Of all the bison
carcaSses abandoned nh the piA4hs ~
some seasons twenty-five years age cIu!l
hc marketed today by ocoh"ihiCaI pcpPI'
Ire aggregate sum realized from the
sales wouId De up among The millions.
The waste of raw maicrlal in the ennr-
nous herds Of butIalncS was lrghtiul
''\yhy thcr, are many authentic IN
stances III hunters vino have stampcdcd
\ herd of hufialDrs. 50 ihat S"hd Or 1000 N
them would follow q leader over a cli0
ana fan with broken n"cks ana legs be
low, where Il gang ni mNrh'EoHS huhl-
erS would slav the beasts at their con
vrnlrncr ana then skin them. The com
mon Wav ~ gknuiu@ a carcass, when n
yJs Iynr uu ID wholesale piIu, was tu
drive, IA bar ~ Steel likc slender, StHtp
crovhar through the beasts skull Ih"n
fun length of the belly 10 the tai ana
down each leg To- the knee. \ steel
clamp was fastened 49, ms h.te lt th"
neck ana u horse was hltchcd hE "A wh.i
nlctrrr tn THE clamp. Then While thr
head was hcld firm hy the Steel hIr th,
horse was started ANA thc h.dr w1-
icrkcd away from n" carcass a. ono tug.
| remember uute. ln !"'AHiy near
where TRINIDAD. COL. has sine" grown up.
seeing where several thousand biSnuS
,hut had been driven Oyer a l"1-iu"
prrcipicc \ frw years before, nId hcrH
skinned ana tnn2u'd Nothing bu' shrlE-
el!pd hcsh ana wh.tcued bones irmaiur
but there WaS ample evidence ihdt NcN-
cral hundred carloads nl WGpic~"mr m"''
had been ahauu1uvd tlcrn. NJ. I- ll'ru-
adly of the Smithsonian institution hIS
published II statement ihat IL trr n-ivI
States had collected tAr insignificant
sum uf ~ cents ilr each buffalo kiltr'l "n
he government domain from 1856 iu lNi".
q fund sufficient tu Hi-...,:-tI poke. I"E
uiaiinus ON th- plains might Udhr hrs'
hnd. and besides Yield several hundred
Thousand dOuurs M fhr treasury.
''Arc THE stories ut th. Na~tlr-- ut th,
herds thirty years ago tNlE-rratal.'
NO: thoy were go dOnurm4uE "H'r-
nous that one would not haE" iu stretch
the truth 10 make "a good story. Tho p'D-
pl, OF these days who cross ,h. pEiu-
in railroad trains Iud never -rr .t ~u-%"--
tiun Of Il wild beast. can scarcely believe
she truc Stories WI tHe Immense bison
herds that ruAmed over thc r"Hu'r.
when | first earn, ana lived nu tht ui.tu-