The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1901-12-18

Upon the rolling sun Drowned plains
of eastern Montana was made the
last stand of the buffalo. Hunted Tor
centuries by the primitive red man
with bow and arrow, yet their mum
bers had increased until the plains
were covered with countless thou.
ands of the shaggy monsters. But with
the advent of the white man and the
repeating rife their days were num-
bered and now the Kalispel resident
or visitor who looks to the north of
the city on almost any pleasant af-
ternoon will see grazing upon the
gently sloping hills surrounded by a
substantial fence the last remnant of
the once monarch of the plains.
Excepting the few to be found in
the Yellowstone National Park, Flat
head county contains the only herds
of American bison or buffalo in the
world. and strange to say the buffalo
is not a native of the Flathead valley
In 1882 few captive buffalo were
driven into Missoula county from east
of the Rocky mountains and coming
into the possession of Charles Allard
on the Flathead Indian reservation
their numbers have increased to sew
eral hundred head From this herd
the 35 head now kept near kalispcll
were purchased by Mr.. c. T.. Conrad.
Scattered to the four winds of the
earth are the few remaining hunters
whose efforts so nearly wiped out the
last vestige of the buffalo The buf-
falo hunter in his day was as distinct
class as the cowboy who succeeded
him upon the American plains.
Beginning upon the prairics Of
Texas and gradually working north,
the slaughter of the buffalo was con
tinued until the vast clouds that once
covered the plains and foothills from
the gulf to the Canadian line were
made to disappear as a mist before
the morning sun.
While the lover of nature and the
sportsman-and who does not belong
to one or the other will never cease
to deplOre what seems to have been
a wanton destruction of the noblcst
American game, the destruction of
the buffalo was but an incident in the
irresistible march OF civilization. SO
long as the warlike tribes OF Indians
could subsist upon the herds of the
plains they were not to be conquered
and but for the existence of the buff
falo the gallant Custer and his band
would never have been massacred.
AS the buffalo aud the hunter re-
treated to the north their places were
filled by the stockman and his herds
of cattle, and they in turn are civ
ing way to the farmer and builder of
homes.
The buffalo hunters as a rule were
men of adventurous spirit Injured to
the hardships and dangers Of the
plains. Some of them it is true were
outlaws and hard characters, but al
most to "a man they were generous
and kind hearted, while hospitality
for friend or stranger was never lack.
ing. The hunter who CHANGED upon
another's camp in his absence never
hesitated to make himself at home
well knowing that he was welcome.
The last great killing of buffalo was
made in the winter of 1SS0Si on thc
plains between the Yellowstone and
the Missouri river in eastern Mon
tana. In that season approximately
100000 buffalo were killed and then
hides stacked upon the river banks ot
those two streams to be taken away
by steamboat in the following sum
mer The hunting season usually be
gan in September or rather the hun
tiers began to prepare their winter
camps in that month The actua
work of hunting not beginning unit
October and ending in March or April
when the animals began to shcd thcil
fur.
The principal outfitting point FOL
hunters for the season of 'S0-Sl was
Miles City, situated in the valley o
the Yellowstone under the protecting
shadow of Fort Keogh, two mile;
distant. In the fall of that season
the person who stood upon the street:
of Miles City and looked to the nortl
through the hazy atmosphere coul'
see grazing upon the high patea,
which skirts the river numerou
herds of buffalo, while leaving tn,
streets of the busy frontier tow
hunters with their outfits could Otter
be seen fording the limpid waters o
the nearby Tongue river and vending
their way to the government cabl
ferry which spanned the broader le1
lowstone near the government fort.