Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-22
HERD OF DUFFALOES
The Largest and Finest Are
in Corbin Park.
ARE HUSKY BABIES
TOTAL EXTINCTION OF THE
ANIMAL WAS FEARED.
These Splendid Animals Survive Be-
cause Of the Thought Of a
Few Persons.
ARE HUSKY BABIES
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
AS 1 sit here in my home in the noun
tains Of New Hampshire see through my
study windows, to the east, the wondrous
blue hills of the Croydon range, stretching
away to the north and south as far as the
eye can reach. Along the nearer slopes
there are great belts of hardwood trees,
clothed in all the beauty of New England
autumn foliage-in raiment of crimson, OF
purple and of gold. Running through them
in places there are strips of dark evergreen
forest, mostly spruce and pine and hem
lcck, which extend upward and cover all
the peaks and ridges. And above all there
Is a sky of heavenly blue, across which is
sailing a fleet of white and fleecy clouds.
This side OF the mountain slopes, and ex-
tending to the very border of my garden
there are great stretches of rolling land,
almost bare of trees, covered with grass
which at this season is light brown in color,
and divided by living, leaping trout brooks'
whose liquid music comes to me through ene
open window of my study. This is the
view have of the Blue mountain forest.
known to many as Corbin Park, the largest
and finest fenced game preserve IN
America.
In this vast Enclosure of 24O00 acres
there are hundreds of deer and elk ana
moose, and there are wild boars, too, py
hundreds, but what is of far more import
ance TO the people of this country Is the
fact that in this great park Is preserved
the largest herd of pure-bred buffaloes TO
be found in any Enclosure in the world.
This fact is OF special interest at this time,
when our government and the 1ntellseht
people all over the country are pelng urged
to take the last chance to save from total
extinction one OF the grandest II not the
very grandest hoofed animal which ever
trod the earth. That the million OF buHa-
loes which darkened the plains OF the west
less than thirty-five years ago were sname-
lessly butchered to swell the purses OF a
few INSCRIPTIONS men is one OF the DARK
est blots on the history OF our country, dilu
it has disgraced US in the eyes OF the otnel
civilized nations Of the world. For years
If was supposed that the buffalo was gone
and in truth there seemed to be no posi-
bility of his survival, and that we now nay
one more chance to save TINS spiehulu
creature from total extinction Is due en-
tirely to the efforts of handful or aple
and public-spirited men like the late MI.
Austin Corbin, the founder Of the Blue
mountain forest game preserve.
Little Known Abroad.
People are so used to thinking OF the pu1-
falo as belonging peculiarly TO the west
and the owners of Corbin Park are SO MOD
est concerning their own achievements that
comparatively few people even know OF the
existence of this great herd. or course the
United States government and all authori-
ties on the buffalo, know all about II, Out
within the last week l have reao one lhasa-
zine article and one newspaper artlcle coii-
corning the last surviving buffaloes, ana IN
neither was there even the briefest mention
of the Corbin herd.
In the year 1890, the late Mr.. Austln Cor
bin. who had just fenced his large game
park near Newport, N. H., established there
a herd of about thirty buffalo OF the nness
stock, with a view to preserving some VI
Of fo G iva
from total extinction. They were taken OH
the cars at Newport, and driven between
five and six miles along the country roaos
to the park to the great astonishment OF
many of the farmers, who had never seen
buffaloes before, and who mistook these
huge shaggy beasts for some new breed OF
cattle which Mr.. Corbn had imported.
Take Care Of Themselves.
The little herd was allowed to roam at Will
over Croydon Mountain and the plains
which surround it for seven months OF the
year, and during those seven months the
animals got their own living, and were no
care to any one. But the winters In New
Hampshire being long and severe, 1t was
necessary to feed them on hay during the
five remaining months. and as matter OF
convenience they were yarded during these
months in smaller Enclosures, near the
barns where the hay was stored. All went
well with them until 1885, when the herd
had increased to seventy-fve, and 1t was
decided to ship twenty-five head to van
Cortlandt Park, New York Owing to bad
MANAGEMENT these twenty-five became so
diseased that they either died or had to be
shot. This constituted the most severe SET
back which the herd has ever sustained.
The fifty which were left in New Hamp-
shire continued to thrive, and in 1900 1t
again numbered seventy-five and from that
time until the present day there has been
steady increase. and now the herd num-
bers over one hundred and sixty as healthy
and as handsome buffalo as ever graced
western prairie or gladdened the eye OF a
hungry Indian: Even as write see from
my window this splendid herd grazing on
hillside not far away, their dark brown bod
les in strong relief against the light brown
grass. For month or more they have been
wandering on the other side of the noun
tain, but now they are back again, and we
shall enjoy the sight of them perhaps for
days to come. Something has startled
them, for they have stopped grazing and
have raised their heads in alarm.
A Great Sight.
And here they come down the mountain
side like charge of cavalry, their tails in
the air and their humps rising and falling
as the animals move on with their peculiar
bounding movement, which carries them
easily forward at speed with which we
should hardly credit such ponderous ami
mails. They come like landslide, the earth
trembles beneath their mighty hoofs and
the sound of their coming is like the roar
of an avalanche. AS they near the level
ground below they gradually slacken their
speed, the roar of their hoofbeats moderates
and dies away as the buffaloes finally come
to a halt on grassy plain which borders
my garden. And for the hundredth time
must go out to admire anew these pictur-
esque creatures which form the most inter-
esting link we have, connecting the twen-
tieth century with the early history of our
country-with the history Of the Indians
and the pioneer settlers. There are many
calves scarcely six months DID, with inno-
cent faces and absurd little horns, which
must cause their mothers some discomfort,
for these husky babies are as yet unweaned.
Then there are handsome young spike bulls
and heifers and scores of other buffaloes of
all ages up to those grand old patriarchs
with deeply-curved horns and long black
boards, whose shaggy heads, il mounted
(Which Heaven forbid, might be worth any
thing from $500 up.
Looking Backward.
For a moment / forgot that am gazing
on almost one-fourth of all the living buff
falo and In imagination I ride with Col.
Dodge for fifty miles across the plains
through single herd which numbered
100000 head. And I stand with Catlin in
an Indian village and watch the braves don
their masks, each made from the skin of
buffalo's head with the horns upon 1t, and
see them join in the buffalo Dance" that