The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-07-28

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 comotiye Of the Track-BuffaI,
 Robes Have Gone From Ten to Tw,
 Hundred Dollars in Price.
 The greatest Wild West show on re-
 cord was given not long ago at 1O1
 Ranch, near the town of Bliss in Okla homa.
 The ranch is said to be the largest in the world, and the Miller boys-as the owners are calIed-do most things on a big scale. When they gave buffa- To hunt and feast to forty thousand persons, they were going even them selves one better.
 Tn the old days, writes Gtorge c. Bain in the Wide World Magazine, a buffalo hunt was solemn ceremonial among the Indians. One of their num- Der acted as a lure to the beasts. I While thers ranged themselves in two concealed converking lines the leader went out-wearing, perhaps, buffalo skin over his head-and by curious an- ties attracted the attention of the herd.
 When one or two of them started to- ward him to examine him he retreated, the beasts following, and the whole herd falling in behind As the column of buffalo entered the unmarked trap the Indians on each side of it made de- monstrations to frighten them, so that the animals ran around in circle while the men of the tribe picked them off one by one.
 The Millers arranged their buffalo hunt as a spectacle, having construct ed stand for the spectators. It is estimated that forty thousand persons were on the grounds and partook of the dinner of buffalo meat, though if one old bull buffalo-which was the only member of the Miller herd sacri- ficed-supplied food for forty thousand men and women that day something like a miracle must have taken place.
 The land laid out for the buffalo hunt was about forty acres in extent. Seven tiers of seats were filled with in- terested spectators. In the foreground were gathered the picturesque cowboys of the range. With them was a group ot befeathered Indians, headed by that Tamous old murderer Geronimo.
 Twenty-Five years ago the plains sWarmed with buffalo, but it is proba- ble that less than a thousand of them exist to-day Most of these are in cap- tlVity, although there is one free herd in the Yellowstone Park. Its numbers can be only estimated, but it is thoug to be increasing.
 The next largest herd to that in the Yellowstone a few years ago was one of one hundred and fifty buffalo owned by c. J. Jones of Garden City, Kan, known as Buffalo Jones.
 Another owner is Michael Pablo, full blooded Indian of Flathead Agen- cy, Mon, who held at one time more than two hundred. The Good Night Ranch at Good Night, Tex, has be- tween forty and fifty; Major G, W. Lillie, of Pawnee, Okla, has tifty-fve; and James Philip, of Fort Pierre, S. D., has about seventy-five
 There is also the small herd in New Hampshire owned by the Austin Cor bin estate. In the Bronx zoo there are about twenty-five, which belonged to the herd of the late w. c. Whitney. Five other representatives of this herd are scattered through the east.
 At one time buffalo overcoat was considered a necessity by those living in the northwest, In St. Paul one could buy such coat for ten dollars. To-day buffalo robe is worth from two hundred to three hundred dollars. It was the pitiful sum of one dollar and a half to four dollars each paid for their hides which tempted men to kill off the buffalo.
 In 1870 the Pacific railroad had difi- culty in operating its trains because of the enormous herds of buffalo which crossed their tracks. At first the en- gineers tried charging these herds; but derailed and crippled engines warned them that the buffalo were not to be brushed off the track in this reckless fashion.
 After that the railroad trains were held up and passengers sometimes watched for two or three hours the herds crossing the lines. They were quite inoffensive, and be- Ing unusually stupid beasts, were not at all frightened at the approach of man.