The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1901-01-12
Buffalo Among Cattle.
From the Chicago Record.


An immense buffalo bull has put in an
appearance among the cattle owned by
the Sioux Indians and ranged near the
Standing Rock reservation, sixty miles
south of this city. The animal came I'M
heralded, whence nobody knows. For
years it has been supposed that every
bison was extinct in this State, and the
last time that any were seen in the State
was back in the middle Sos, when Gov
ernor Roosevelt, hunting along the Little
Missouri river, killed one at crossing of
the river. The animal that has made its
appearance near Standing Rock is unus-
ually wild and fierce and disposed to attack
herdsmen who attempt to get near It,
Strict orders have been issued by the agent
against killing the animal, in the hope that
it will remain and that others may be dis
covered
The presence of this lone monarch of
the prairies recalls the time when the BIZ
son ranged the vast prairies in the western
part of the State by thousands, if not mil
lions, when every water hole was gath
ering place for them and the hills and val
leys were worn deep with trails along which
the animals went from feeding ground to
watering places. Even yet all through
the western part of the State there are
deep trails that were made by the bison
and that have not been wiped out in half
century. The suddenness of the extinc-
e Al = he
markable features of the development of
the West From thousands and hundreds
of thousands they dwindled away almost
at once.
In the early days of steamboating along
the Missouri river passengers were fire.
quently treated to an unusual sight in the
fording of the river by bands of thousands
of these animals. On one occasion boat
plying up the stream was forced to stop
and tie up forty eight hours while the i'm
mense moving mass of bison plunged into
the stream, swan through its muddy
waters and emerge on the other side. The
water was churned to foam and the
river literally black with the animals.
They made periodical trips of this kind
from one side of the Missouri to the other,
always moving in immense bodies. A
buffalo stampede was not uncommon, and
woe to the unfortunate who might be
caught in the path.
Then came the buffalo hunters. In the
early days of Bismarck hundreds of hunt
ers armed themselves and sought the feed
ing ground of the animals. Thousands
upon thousands of them were killed for
the hides, the carcasses being left to rot
on the prairies No precautions were
taken at that time against their extinction,
and the result was that in few years
there was not bison remaining. The
Indians also engaged in frequent hunts,
riding into the dense herds upon their
ponies and slaughtering them by thous-
ands
Buffalo coats and robes that were worth
few dollars twenty years ago in the West
now command fancy prices. Good robes
are impossible to obtain at any price and
coats are eagerly sought after. The Gov
eminent still has few rough coats in store
that are issued to the soldiers in the far
West. Buffalo heads that were sold for
little or nothing fifteen and twenty years
ago now bring as high as $500 when
mounted, and are difficult to obtain at that
price.
In the hills near Standing Rock the
country is rough aad broken and is seldom
visited 1t is thought, from the appear
ance of the solitary bison, that there may
be small bands of them ranging the in
closed feeding grounds, and every effort
will be made to locate and protect them