Buffalo 271 



frequently fall, but when quietly feeding they avoid the stones 

 and boulders with wonderful skill." 



The obstinate adherence to one course that characterized bogs 

 the Buffalo often led many to their death in the treacherous 

 bogs. Hornaday says^'' that, in the summer of 1867, "over 

 2,000 Buffalo, out of a herd of about 4,000, lost their lives in the 

 quicksand of the Platte River, near Plum Creek, while attempt- 

 ing to cross. * * * jj- ^^g ^ common thing for the voy- 

 agers on the Missouri River to see the Buffalo hopelessly mired 

 in the quicksands or mud along the shore." I doubt not 

 that every great bog and quicksand in the Central Northwest 

 will prove on drainage to be a Buffalo bone-yard containing 

 countless bones that date from the earliest days. 



The primitive Indian was far from being the greatest enemy ixdians 

 of the Buffalo. Armed with bow and arrow or lance, and without 

 the aid of a horse, he could scarcely count solely on the Buffalo 

 for his livelihood. In winter, when snow was deep, he could 

 pursue the animals on snow-shoes and slay them easily enough. 

 But there was rarely sufficient snow for this; all the circum- 

 stances precluded the possibility of great destruction of Buffalo 

 life by this means. Moreover, the opportunities for such 

 slaughter were confined to the north. On rare occasions, the 

 tribe could unite and form a Buffalo pound. But there was 

 usually a sufficiency of small game to make this great effort 

 not worth the while; and I doubt not that, before the coming 

 of the horse and the rifle, the Red man did little harm to the 

 great Bison herds. These two principal aids arrived together 

 on the Buffalo range, about the close of the eighteenth century, 

 and they marked the beginning of the epoch of extirpatory 

 slaughter by man. 



By far the worst destroyer of the Buffalo in ancient days rivers 

 was treacherous ice in the spring. All winter the Buffalo 

 herds of the colder range were accustomed fearlessly to cross 



^''Ext. N. Am. Bison, 1889, p. 421. 



