The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-03-02
FORTUNE In BUFFALO
HORNS.
A woman's Expectations From n Coll
lection of 10000 Pains of Horns.

(From the Hartford Courant
The business enterprise many years age
Of an eastern man now a resident Of Min.
nesota, and his kindness and affection for
his sister In this city have resulted 10
placing her In q position of probable
future afiiusnos. She has become the
proprietor of probably the most singular
collection Of wealth In the United States,
nearly 1000 pairs of buffalo horns, which
onos adorned the heads Of herds Of bison
which occupied the plains Of the West.
Her fortune 10 made, for she 10 q trust,
not combination OF capitalists, but a
complete trust In herself, without fear
Of any competition. for she has monop-
oily of the product and there Is no fear OF
competition from any source.
Nearly go years ago, when tbs plains OF
the West ere covered with the remain
ing herds of buffalo, the woman's brother
was engaged In purchasing the rights Of
way for the Great Northern railroad, and
during his travels saw immense quAnti-
ties OF bones. skulls and horns of buffalo
being collected for shipment east, to be
ground into fertilizers for New England
farms. Two hundred carloads had bsen
collected and were being packed, when
this faRacious man reflected that the
slaughter Of buffalo would extlnRuish the
species, and. buffalo gene, there would be
no more buffalo shorns. which he had
seen converted into various articles oi
usefulness and decoration. With him.
to reflect was t, act, and ne soon decided
to purchase all he could buy. Setting
Indians at work. he soon made arrange
msnts for them 20 separate the o ms
from the skulls, which had lsin bleaoh-
ing on the plains OF Montana fer many
years. Horns we're q drug on the market
then and wers worth about a osnt @
pound of the hoof. Whsn ne bad got his
horny collection to1ether. there were
about 10. 0l0 p' rs OF buffalo horns sto ed
away up In a ocrner Of the state. aud he
tai cornered the market.
Other enterprises com msnded his atten-
ton, one little diversion being the pur-
chase of town sites along the line Of the
road which alone was sufficient to make
him immensely Iioh, and in course OF
time he almost forgot his collection OF
horns, Meantime, his sister in this city,
a woman who has displayed considerable
inventive genius In small way, had
beard OF her brothers COLLECTION and won
dered II she could make q market fo- the
horns. Samples OF to:ns we're ssnt on
to her and abe has now found that there
Ia q dsmand for the goods. Her iroths I
has made her sitt Of the entirs huncb,
nearly IL. 600 pairs, and she has made an
arrangement to place them on the mar
ket 10 several ferns.
The buffal horn 10 susceptible Of the
highest polish. After an outside covert q Z
h AZ been removed. the horn Ia the rough
10 as black as ebony all through. This
takes brilliant polish, the ethol OF
obtaining which was at one time secret
possessed By the Indians The Hartford
woman, In arranging to market her
strange COLLECTION. put some time Ia
Leomirstsr, Mass. where there are %
bone fat tories, and stud lad the subject OF
bones and bone manipulation, and soon
learned the way to polls h buffalo horns
to her complete satisfaction and gratifica-
ton. A PROF osition has been made to
her 20 design many effects In viii IN the
horns may be used, and she has now IN
der Contemplation an offer to sell the
entire lot Of horns. which on storage o.
oupies 1000 Quito feet Of space, but she
viii probably make other arrangements.