El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-07-15

$50 to 5000, and the skin fetehes a
good price, so that there is small chance
for any unguarded buffalo to escape.
Some buffalo there are i'll travelling
shows, small punches are scattered
about in geological gardens, and lew
are to be found here and there owned
by private individuals. The largest ex-
listing herd in captivity is the property
of C.. K Jones, otherwise known as
Buffalo Jones, at Garden City, Kan
Jones captured his animals by series
of expeditions into the Texas, Panhandle,
where, in a desert and almost waterless
region, he and his companions literally
ran down the buffalo, overtaking them
on horseback and lassoing them at full
run. In this way he secured IL adult
females and SO calves, the latter being
fed with milk from cows taken along
for the purpose.
Although the numbers of the buffalo
on the plains of the west had been
greatly reduced by persistent and ruth
less killing, there were still at least
100000 of them alive in 1870-these
being divided, roughly speaking, into two
immense herds. About that time, how
ever, the repeating or magazine rifle
made its appearance. and the death knell
of the American bison was sounded. War
and a campaign for the determination of
the species was Systematically under
taken
The Awful Slaughters.
Up to that time some sort of fairness
characterized the methods adopted in
hunting the buffalo, which at least had
some chance for its life But now all
idea OF sport" was abandoned for the
mere lust of Staying. Men boosted that
they killed hundreds OF buffalo in a sin
gle day, and, cutting out their tongues,
left the beasts to rot. Tongues thus
obtained were shipped in great quantities
70 market, in barrels, and were worth
70 cents apiece.
A favomte plan OF the Nsneak hunter"
was to take up his position in some
place of conceaiment-a for. example,
on the edge of a bluff beneath which
buffalo were browsing-and pot shoot
the animals at leisure. knocking them
over with his rifle one after another.
At every watering place frequented by
the bison, and along the principal rivers.
camps were established for organized
destruction, and the buffalo were driven
away from the water at night by great
fires, in order that they might be COM
PEELED by thirst to approach during the
day. when they could be murdered
wholesale
The Shipments One Year.
Thus it was that thousands OF square |
miles of the buffalo country. in Kansas,
Colorado and Nebraska, were covered |
with decaying carcasses of buffalo. a |
large proportion of them left TO rot /
with the skins still on. In the year 1873 /
one railroad shipped to the east PSI ,443
buffalo skins, 1,617 500 pounds of meat. /
and 2,743, 100 pounds Of bones. But |
this enormous output represented only /
a small fraction OF the total destruction
of animals. During four years the buf-
falo were slaughtered at az average rate
Of about 1 100000 per annum, and BY
1874 the great southern herd was prac-
tically wiped out.
It was not until 1880 that similar
methods of systematic slaughter were
directed against the great northern
herd. But in the meantime buffalo
skins had risen considerably in price,
and the war was planned on more scien-
tific lines, with less waste, though
merciless Thousands OF white
and indian hunters literally surrounded
the herd on all sides. armed with |
breech loading rifles. and proceeded to
destroy it. In less than three years it
had ceased to exist as a herd only a
few scattered punches remaining alive.
Lack of Food Prevents Breeding.
Lack of food would now operate as a
BAR to the multiplication OF buffalo in
indefinite numbers One hears OF the
approaching determination OF the elk
md antelope in this country, but the
destruction Of these valuable species is
icing accomplished through starvation,
nd not TO any great extent by hunters.
They are being literally eaten off the
ace of the earth by cattle and sheep.
When the buffalo, elk and antelope
canned in millions over the plains. ma
ure not only produced plenty OF grass
or them to eat in summer, but cured
for the winter food. It dried on the
TENS, being converted into a natural
ay, which the elk. coming down into
he foothills, ate during the cold sea-
on. But now the stockmen cover the
arth with their sheep and cattle and the
rairies are eaten bare. so that elk and
ntelope have persisted by tens of thou
ands for sheer lack of noarishment.
hey have died by hundreds about the
aystacks of ranehnien, climbing on each