The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-09-14
EARLY DAYS ON THE
PLAINS OF The WEST
Thousands of BuHaloes in a
Single Herd Was No
Uncommon Sight.
BUNCH OF OVER 1000, 900
Indians Held a superstitious Belief
That the Bison Issued from the
Earth in a Never Ending
Column.

Since the beginning of the now wide.
spread movement to preserve the buff
falo, and particularly since the rgan"
ization of the American Bison society,
it is interesting to consider the dis
cOvery OF the animal, it's life history
and methods of it's determination, says
Ernest Harold l3aynes in the Boston
Herald.
Although authorities differ on this
subject, the buffalo was probably first
seen by white men i'll Aariahuac., the
Aztec capital of Mexico. in ISL, when
Cortez and his men paid their first
visit to the menagerie of King Montes
yuma. Nine years later the animal was
first seen in a wild state in southern
Texas by a ship-wrecked Spanish sailor
who had very little to say about it
beyond r%e:narking hat he had eaten
the flesh, which in his judgment was
finer and sweeter than the meat to be
had in Spain.
The next explorer to penetrate the
buffalo country was Coronado, who
crossed Arizona and New Mexico and
the southern part of the Panhandle OF
Texas. In 1912 the expedition was
crossing the plains, which were de-
scribcd as being las full OF crooked
backed oxen as the mountain Serena in
Spain of Sheep 1t is from some OF
Coronado's men that the first published
descriptions of buffalo are given.
IN CCunIlCSS t7CFCSS.
How many buffHloes there we're at
this time no one knows, and probably
no one ever will know, but there must
have been many many millions. h
buffalo's range extended over about
cne-third of the entire continent OF
North America, from the inhospitable
shores of the Great Silver AXE on the
north to the scorching plains of north
western Mexico on the south. and from
n line following closely but never touch
ing the Atlantic coast on the east. and
across the Rocky mountains into New
Mexico, Utah and Idaho in the west.
There boundaries, of course, marked
the limits OF his rarge; it's center OF
abundance was the great plains region
of the west, where at certain times.
notably in the breeding season. the anl-
mails gathered in countless thousands,
darkening the earth as far as the y
could reach when at rest, and when IN
motion filling the air with dust and
with the thunder notes of their gallop-
ing hoofs. Even as late as 1871 this
animal was present in this country In
numbers almost beyond belief.
A faint idea of the vast hordes which
made the p~rairies trenble beneath their
tread at that time may be had from an
account given by Colonel r.. 1. Dodge in
his plains of the Great West
I'm May. 1871, he says, II drove in q
light wagon from Old Fort cara to Fort
Larned on the Arkansas, %thirty-four
miles. At least twenty-five miles of this
distance was through an immense herd
composed of countless smaller herds Of
buffalo then on their journey north.
The road ran along the broad, level
bottom, or valley OF the river.
THE whole country appeared one
great mass of buffalo. moving slowly
to the northward: and it was only
when actually among them that it could
be ascertained that the apparently solid
mass was an agglonaeration of innum-
ara 1N 80 n 1,a,le of Trnr, fffyy tn CNn
animals. separated from the surround
ing herds by greater or less space, but
still separated"
More Than 4,ooogG0.
1t is ~conservatively estimated that
Colonel Dodge saw at least 100000 buff
faloes, and these We're but Il fraction
of a great herd of at least 900, 600, an
army greater in number than all the
men, women and children OF Greater
New York put together. The Indians
the buffaloes issued from the earth in
an unfailing stream, and. indeed. 1t
might readily seem difficult to account
for such numbers in any other
is it any wonder that many men be-
lieved that it was quite impossible to
exterminate the bison? Yet in the short
space of a dozen years from the date
on which Colonel Dodge passed through
the herd of 1900. 600 the buffalo a
ceased to exist as a wild animal in this
country.
This buffalo was gregarious in its
habits and at certain seasons the herds
We're larger and more compact than at
others. Especially was this true of the
breeding season. which cane chiefly in
July and August. Then vast hordes
gathered on the plains, which were the
scenes of the greatest activity for sew
eral weeks, during which the roaring
of the bulls was continuous and could
be heard for miles. There was also
much fighting among the bulls. After
the breeding season the herds became
less densely massed. The compact
herds dissolved into groups of from
twenty to a hundred or two and the
usual peaceful life was resumed.
How They Travelled.
There is no doubt that buffaloes were
migratory, but their miSrations were
probably rot nearly SO extensive az
many people have supposed. In their
ordinary wandering buffaloes frequent
ly Travelled for away from water, but
as they became thirsty the herd would
start to search for some spring or wa
ter course. The principal trails usual
ly extended north and south and con-
nected the rivers which, in the main,
run east and west. Such trails also
led to the great salt 1icks, such as the
Big Zone lick in kentucky. which was
frequented by bnffaloes in vast num-
bers up to the beginning of tho last
century, when, of course, the animal
disappeared forever from the country
east of the Mississippi.
Considering the great weight of tho
animal. the gallop of 4 buffalo is a
very easy. elastic movement In the
Wild state the buffalo was Il very sure
footed animal and n FOOD climber. It
not only assembled steep mountains,
along narrow Lodges. where it would
nave beer impossible for a horse or
even a mule to have followed. but was
able to leap downward in places where
there was Il sheer descent of several
feet and alight in safety in the rocks
below.
The buffa,ocs now in Corbin Park,
New Hampshire, where I have been
tud.lng them f9r the last two years.
old time agility, as they seem to de-
light in .iourneying up steep ascents
to some of the highest points of Croy--
don mountain. and I have seen them
leaping nimbly down from points four
feet above the ground. where they have
landed safely.
The population of Bombay is within