The Topeka state journal., 1919-10-25
of Hybrid One of Fa-
nous Topekan's Experiments.
Crossed Buffalo With Cattle
While Science Watched.
SPENT FORTUNE IN VENTURE
Raised Big Herd of Buffalo in
Yellowstone Park.
Was One of Last of Hardy
Frontier Characters.

Creation of the catalo by crossing
cattle and buffalo. was one of the un-
dertakings of the late Charles Jesse
("Buffalo') Jones. widely known from
tiersman, who recently died here at
the home of his daughter. The ex-
pertinent, which Mr.. Jones declared
was a success, attracted nationwide
interest among scientists as well as
livestock producers. At the same time
Mr.. Jones is said to have declared
that the expense attached to the prop
agation of the cataIo, had proven dis
coura ging to cattlemen and admitted
that he had expended many thousands
of dollars more in the venture than
he got out of it.
Mr.. Jones raised several herds of
the hybrids at various times, the first
Kan, in the early SOS, according to
Mr.. Jones's daughter, Mrs. Olive
Jones' -Whitmer, of this city.
Last Herd to Goodnight.
'In 1891 this herd Numbered 1875
head, and was sold by father to the
FIathead lMont.) Indian agency." ;"
said Mrs. Whitmer. HE frequently
sold small herds of catalo to ranchmen
| in Oklahoma and Texas and the last
herd he raised, 10 catalo and 40 buff
falo. was sold at Portales, N. M, in
1915. to Charles Goodnight. of Good
~.
| herd at that time. because his lease on
government land in the Grand Canyon
| country ran out, and he was getting
| too old to look after his herd.
1.-The catalo proved superior in many
ways to the ordinary breed of cattle,
father always maintained. in that it
was a better forager on the plain, it
carried more weight and the hide was
of most excellent texture. Father
sold some of the hides for as much as
tn Vfa1-ly
They were used as buggy robes, but
with the advent Of the automobile the
| demand fer such robes ceased
One of the last herds of buffalo
raised by Mr.. Jones was that in Yel-
| lowstone National park. After he
was appointed custodian of the park
| by Roosevelt in 1902, Mr. Jones took
a herd of twenty buffalo from his New
Mexico ranch to the Yellowstone.
Shortly before his death on October /,
Jones received a letter from Franklin
K. Lane, secretary of the interior. stat
| ing that the herd now numbers 400
! head and no longer is confined, but
roams at will. Hundreds of ZOOS thru
out the country obtained the nucleus
buffalo for their herds from Buffalo"
1 Joness ranch.
/ Last of Fronfiersmcn.
| buffalo" Jones was a typical from
ftierSman. one of the last of his type.
/ Born in Bloomington, Ill, seventy-ffve
| years ago, he came to Kansas in 1885.
He was dubbed Buffalo" thru his ex-
tensive contracts in furnishing buffalo
meat to the construction gangs of the
| Union Pacific and other railroad lines
| in their pioneer operations in Kansas.
| He saw~the animals slain by the hun
| dreds and their carcasses for the most
part left to rot on the prairie. I'M
pressed with the thought. that before
many Xears the species would become
| extinct, Jones captured buffalo calves
and confined them on his ranch near
| Garden City, thus building up herd
which he maintained thru a long pc
riod of years. Jones was credited with
being the original founder of Garden
| City.