Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1903-03-07
VAST BUFFALO TRUST.
Pawnee Bills Plans For Saw
ing the Bison
TO BE HERDBD on WISCONSIN FARM
All the wild Ones of the World Said
to rsave Been Observation-Disclosures
viii he Supplied with Meat OF the
Prairie Monarchs Mt Fancy Prices,
as There Is a Large Demand.

as There Is a Large Demand.
Major Gordon w. Lille, president Of
the Arkansas Valley National bank at
Pawnee. o. r., who is known through
out the west as 'Pawnee BILL" has
bought a tract of 500 acres of land just
west of Kenosha, Wis. In the early
spring he viii take to that city the first
herd of wild buffalo ever brought east
Of the Mississippi river. says the st.
Louis Post-Dispatc1.
Incidentally Major Lille will teach
the people Of the middle west some
lew things in regard to the organiza-
ton of trusts and combines in the live
stock world. 4 million dollar buffalo
trust is one of the oldest combinations
Of capital ever formed in this time of
combination, but Major Lille, through
the aid Of Lloyd II. Nicodemus, has
managed to bring about such a COM
bination, and his trust is so securely
formed that the statistics Of the gov
ernment show that the trust has cor
rallied every wild buffalo in the United
States and Canada and in fact the en-
tire world.
The monarch of the plains has served
his time in his original state, and in the
future It is the purpose of Major Lille
to force this great herd Of buffalo to as
slst in furnishing the meat supply for
great cities like Chicago and New
York.
Major Lille is one of the great be-
levers in the west. He has made and
lost half a dozen fortunes among the
western wilds and is one of the few
men who are loath to see the disap-
pearanee OF the features that have
made the western part of the country
famous as the home of the Indian and
the cowboy. To hand this picture of
early America down to posterity Major
Lille has arranged to transport to the
east a portion of the people who have
made this life possible, and they will
be settled on the large farm along with
the buffalo.
The Indians who were formerly scat
tered over the plains and mountains
are fast disappearing. The buffalo has
disappeared, the cowboy with his big
hat and leather %trappings is nothing
more than a commo herder OF cattle
and the trapper who dealt in the pelt
of the denizens of that western borde
is only d tradition. Major Lille grew
UP in this scene. and it is his purpose
to preserve a little of the primeval life
and hand down to other generations
one Isolated colony of the representa-
tives Of the forgotten past.
The land that has been bought by
Major Lille and his associates is one
of the finest pieces of property on the
shore of Lake Michigan. Its buildings
were built years ago in the form OF a
southern plantation. The little cot
tages which were formerly used as the
homes of tenants will become the
homes of the Indians brought from the
plains. In these modern wigwams, far
from the home of their sires and the
campdres of the past, will live the
representatives of the Cheyennes, the
Arapahoes and the Kiowas.
For the last ten years Major Lille
and Mr.. Nicodemus have been at work
getting into a single herd all the buff
falo in the world, but the task is now
practically completed, and the major
has a single herd consisting of 365 ami
mails. All of these will be brought to
the east, where they will be in easy
touch with the markets of New York
and Chicago. In getting this herd to-
gether Major Lille has recently bought
the famous Goodnight" herd In Texas
and the AIvoid herd in Montana. The
only animals of the race low to be
found outside Of this herd are in the
parks of New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Yellowstone and Cincinnati.
In removing his stock from the west
to the shores of Lake Michigan Major
Lille states that the move is purely a
business one. The plains of the west
are no longer a fit place for the home
of the valued herd. Every year a
scourge of Texas fever sweeps up from
the south. and several times in the last
few years the herd has been almost
wiped out. Even at the present time
the animals are being guarded to pre-
vent the return OF the fever. Bees des
this fact the Indians have becoms E'ou-
blesome. and a band Of soldiers IL alto
gether insufficient to defend the ani-
mails against the onslaughts OF the In-
dams. The annual buffalo feast is one
of the established customs Of the In
dams. and they would willingly face a
full army Of soldiers rather than let a
year pass without observing the feast.
Buffalo meat has eve been a com
mercial product lii this section Of the
world, but in the last few years the
meat of the animal has become a fad
IN the ultrafashionable society, ard
| fancy prices have been offered for even
small quantities OF the meat. During
the holiday season Major Lille shipped
a score of butehered buffalo to New
York. and for them be received more
than 50 a pound.
Novel Prison Sentence.
Three days Of each year III solitary
onnHrnn,o1t t. .4ayt ~ thn ayf1.o Nrdf.