The Ely miner., 1929-06-14


lTHE days of wild animals in any
region are numbered whenever
L man takes possession of it. This
is shown most plainly by the his
tory of wild creatures in North Amer.
lea. AT the time of it's discovery and
occupation by Europeans, this CONT
nent and the bordering seas teemed
with an almost incredible prOfusion OF
large mammalian life. The hordes OF
game animals which roamed the pri-
meval forests and plains of this con.
tinent were the marvel of early ex.
plorers and have been equaled in his.
toric times only in Africa.
Even beyond the limit of trees, on
the desolate Arctic barrens, vast herds
containing hundreds of thousands of
caribou, drifted from one feeding
ground to another, sharing their range
with numberless smaller companies of
musk-oXen. Southwark from the Arc
tic barrens. in the neighboring for
ests of spruce, tamarack, birches, and
aspens, were multitudes of woodland
caribou and moose. Still farther
south, in the superb forests of eastern
North America. and ranging thence
over the limitless open plains Of the
West, were untold millions of buffalo,
elk, and white-tailed deer, with the
prong-horned antelope replacing the
white tails on the western plains.
With this profusion of large game,
which afforded superabundance of
feed, there was corresponding abun-
dance of large carnivores, as wolves,
coyotes, black and grizzly bears, noun
tain lions, and lynXes. Black bears
were everywhere except in the open
plains, and numerous species of
grizzlies occupied all the mountainous
western part of the continent.
Fur-bearers, including beavers,
muskrats, land-otters, sea-otters, fish,
ers, martens, minks, foxes, and others,
were so plentiful in the New world
that Immediately after the colonial
tion of the United States and Canada
large part of the worlds supply Of
>furs was obtained here.
The wealth of mammal life in the
seas along the shore of North America
almost equaled that on the land. On
the east coast there were many mil
lions of harp and hooded seals and
walruses, while the Greenland right
and other whales were extremely abun-
dant. On the west coast were millions
of fur seals, sea-liOns, sea-elephants,
and walruses, with an equal abun-
dance of whales and hundreds of thou
sands of sea-otters.
When Game Was Abundant.
Many of the chroniclers dealing with
explorations and life on the frontier
during the early period of the occupa-
tion of America gave interesting de.
tails concerning the game animals.
Allouez says that in 1850, between
Lake Erie and Lake Michigan the
prairies were filled with an incredible
number of bears, wapiti, white-tailed
deer, and turkeys, on which the
wolves made fierce war. He adds that
On a number of occasions this game
was so little wild that it was neces.
sary to fire shots to protect the party
from it. Perrot states that during the
winter of 1670-1671, 2,400 moose were
shared on the Great Manitoulin island.
at the head of Lake Huron. Other
travellers, even down to the last GEN.
tury, give similar accounts of the
abundance of game.
The original buffalo herds have been
estimated to have contained from 3d.
100000 to 60000.000 animals, and in
1870 it was estimated that about g.
100000 still survived. number of
men now living were privileged to see
some of the great nerds of the West
before they were finally destroyed.
1t is probable that antelope were
even more abundant on the plains
than were buffalo. The latter, being
large and black, were to be seen at
great distances, whereas the smaller
"camouflaged" animals might be
passed by unnoticed.
The wealth of animal life found by
our forebears was one Of the great
natural resources of the New world.
Although freely drawn upon from the
first, the stock was little depleted up
to within century. During the last
one hundred years, however, the rapid
ly increasing occupation of the conti-
nent and other causes. together with
a steadily increasing commercial de-
mand for animal products, have had
an appalling effect. The buffalo, elk
and antelope ale reduced to a pitiful
fraction of their former countless
numbers.
Practically all other large game has
alarmingly decreased, and its exter-