Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-06

falo hides that the walls bulged. Fort
Benton. Mont, sent 10000 bullafo hides
TO market in 1876.
Toward the end of the COS the buff
falo had divided into two great herds
the southern and northern. The great
southern herd was the first to go. be
ing practically extinct at the close of
1872. After that date only a few strag-
Cling herds remained. The northern
herd became extinct in the early sos.
The greatest slaughter of the animals
took place in 1~S72-73-74. when the
number slain ran into the millions.
Hundreds of the most famous hunt
ers of this country and Europe visited
the plains in the early '70's to take a
farewell hunt before the bison disap-
peared. The Grand Duke Alexis.
Youngest son of Emperor Alexander of
Russia. with a numerous retinue, came
with a party from st. Petersburg and
went on a our through Buffalo
Land" in the winter of 1S11-72. After
a grand chase on the western plains in
Wyoming under the guidance of Buffalo
Bill and Generals Sheridan and Custer.
they realized that the buffalo as a wild
species was doomed.
Last Eastern Buffalo In 1892
The most conspicuous person en-
gagged in killing bison was Colonel Will
liam F. Cody. who s%obriguet. "Buf-
falo Bill" has been a household word
for more than half a century. In 1867
when the Kansas Pacific was being
built across tho plains to Denver. Cody.
then a young man. was employed ut
$500 a month to keep the army of
,y.n - ', -, r,r,1,nI ,-,4l .-
engaged in this work for IS months
during which time he killed on an aver
age of eight buffalo a day. After 1860
few buffalo were seen from the stage
lines near enough to permit of the pas
sengers shooting them, although thous-
ands could often be seen in plain sight
out of range. The buffalo soon became
shy and kept away from the travelled
roads. The last buffalo killed EAST of
the Mississippi river was shot in 1892.
The trading posts. and especially
those along the Platte river. made
enormous profits bartering for buffalo
hides. There were more than n dozen
OF these within n distance of 200 miles
between Fort kearney and Julesburg.
ana about half as many between Jules
burg and Denver. Many of the
shrewdest traders in the west engaged
in that business and acquired for
tunes in Il short time.
For a pound or two of a cheap grade
Of brown sugar or an equivalent of
cheap coffee they could buy a buffalo
robe worth from five 10 10 dollars at
the Missouri river towns. The finest
tanned COW robes would be obtained
for twice that amount of sugar or cof-
fee. Some Of these were painted in
aboriginal style. with many hero
glyphics of the red men. Eastern
tourists would pay from $50 ia 500
for a fine, painted robe. These cost
the traders perhaps 30 cents.
Traded Much With Indians
AS early az 1863 the trade in buffalo
robes with the Indians was enormous.
hundreds of thousands of the animals
being killed annually along the Platte,
and the hides became a staple article
of commerce. Every plainsman had one
or more robes and thousands were
made into overcoats. Every freigbter
and mule or OK skinner also had buff
falo overshoes, made with the hair in !
side.
During the immense overland travel
in the early COS portions of the plains
fairly white with the bones Of
No one then seeing the ap-
parently endless mass of bones in Kan
and Colorado, as well as farther
north, ever thought that any use could
De made of them. but after the com
of the Union Pacific railroad
md its branches across the plains, a
lew industry was inaugurated in the
and shipping of bones. The
-rade carried on in that line is as
.onishing to contemplate. In ten years
inc sales of bones aggregated So 600
400. AT an average price of SIS per ton.
N 1871 alone there we're shipped east
'ver the kansas-Tacific and Santa Fe
'oads 100000 O pounds Of bones. more
han oTO Nh huffolo hide aud COO