The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-10-22
THE coRBIN HERD OF BUFFALoEs.
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 mcnths old, with innocent faces and absurd little horns, which must cause their mothers some discomfort. for these husky babies are as yet un- weaned. Then there are handsome young spike bulls and heifers, and scores of other buffaloes of all ages, up to those grand old partriarchs with deeply-curved horns and long black boards, whose shaggy heads, if mount. ed (which Heaven forbid), might be worth anything from $500 up. For rioment I forget that I am gazing on almost one-fourth of all the living buf- falo, and in imagination I ride with Colonel Dodge for fifty miles across the plains through single herd which numbered three million head. And I stand with Catlin in an Indian village, and watch the braves don their masks. each made from the skin of a buffalo's head with the horns upon it, and see them !oin iil the Buffalo Dance that weird ceremony performed in order Ito make the buffalo come" And I see the naked Indian hunters, astride the bare backs of their ponies, riding after the shaggy monsters Of the plains, shooting them down with bows and ar rows I see, too, herd of buffaloes standing in the snow, watching with disdain the approach of a big gray wolf. And ] see what the buffaloes do not sees-tl1e sineWy hand of an Indian creep out from the shoulder of the wolf ornd whistles to it's mark, and causes the biggest bull in tic herd to sink upon his knees. Then there is a change of scene and see fLe white butchers come. and by a series Of brutal mas- sacres never equalled by the people of any nation which pretends to be civil ized wipe the buffaloes from life earth, while America stands by with folded arms and watches che practical exter- mination of one of che grandest ani- mals of all time. For a moment my heart sinks, but as ] come lack to the present ard looking lip see the vigorous creatures before nc, new hope Is born. for there is proof that the buf- falo may yet be saved. f tic American people viii but stretch forth a hand to save him.
 Given ore conGition-a considerable area Of land over which to roam buff faloes are not difficult animals to keep. They are quite as easy to rear and less expensive to feed than dsmestic cattle, and in the bands Of men wealthy enough te stand the initial expense, buffalo farms could be made profitable in almost. any of the States north ot those which border on the Gulf. In tha first instance, the Ir.fted States Government should be most strongly urged to establish several small herds in different parts of the country, so as to avoid all possible chance of a large number being wiped out at one time by contagious disease. One such hero has already been established in an in. closure in the Yeilowsttne Nationa rark, under the management of MT z. J. f"Ruffalo'l Jones, and this has
 doubled in nLn1kers in a remarkably short time. If from four to six other hei'da of say fifty animals each were
 bought and maintained in the same way, the future Of the buffalo would bt
 assured, the day would soon return when a buffalo robe could be bought
 for less than hundred and fifty dol
 lars, and the American people would
 have freed themselves from the charge
 of having allowed their grandest-look ! ing and most valuale native anirna
 to become extinct. | Ernest Harold Baynes.