The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-12
TO PRESERVE THE BISON.
Another Effort. t0 Be Enthusiastically
400 ,BuffDL0es Alive

Another EffOrt. to BE Made-Scarcely
400 ;BufaIoes Alive.
Col q. o. Shields, president of the
League or American Sportsmen, told an
Evening Post reported today that plans
have alreadysbe made by that organi-
cation Tor the, retnroduction. at the next
session OF congress. of the Buffalo re-
! serve Dill, drawn up this year by Repre-
sentative Lacey Of Iowa. but on winch
no action was taken. This bill provides
for the retention of 2090o acres of public
lands in New Mexico as a buffalo range,
nominal rent pf one cent an acre to be
be paid for twenty Years. Unless steps
Of some kind5are. taken within very few
years extermina ton. according to some of
the best observers, must be the fate OF the
American bisan- ~
Said Col. Shields: Nothing has yet
been accomplished towards the preserva-
ton OF one of the nobiest and most char
acteristic of American animals. We were
not able to give this bill the support it de-
served this year, because so much Of the
energies OF the league were concentrated
on the passage of the other Lacey bill,
now the se-called Bird protection law
Next year We can work for the bu1falo
with undivided enthusiasm.
III could take a map and mark on 1t
the present whereabouts OF every indi-
vidual buffalo in America. That shows
how nearly we come to losing an animal
which was once to be found all over the
Western plains The suddenness Of his
disappearance was remarkable Up to
1873 there had been little apparent de-
crease In the number Of buffalo, but by
1883 the wild herds had almost entirely
disappeared. About 1880 saw the rem
nant OF one of the last herds, surrounded
by the camps Of head and skin hunters
That herd was gone the next year
THE successful preservation of the Al
lard and Buffalo jones' herds gives an IN
dication Of what could be accomplished on
government reserves. The Allard herd,
under the care Of cowboys has actually
Increased from IS animals in 1888 to 280
at the present time. The Jones herd
which now numbers about go, Is descend
ed from less than a dozen. In each
OF these cases the plan has been to pre-
vent the animals from getting scattered,
tending them IN corral when sick, and
keeping the young ones from the wolves
and coyotes. The Allard herd Is almost
| profitable enterprise. The sales keep
about even with the natural increase.
Most go to parks or private estates. but
q few are killed for food. fulI-grown
live buffalo is worth $500 to $780, Dead
he will bring almost as much. The head
sells for $3.50. the skin for $780, and there
are in the carcass 200 to 1000 pounds OF
good meat, which will sell at 90 cents
| a pound.
! The Yellowstone Park herd, on the
other hand, has almost gone out Of ex-
tstence There were 400 head originally
but protected bears and wolves killed
the young buffalo, while poachers and
herd hunters Camped around them on
the borders Of the park and shot the
adults. There are not more than q score
left there today"
William T. Hornaday, director of the
geological park in this city. estimates
that there are not more than 400 buffaloes
In the world today.