Buffalo 293 



among large bands of Buffalo, which would never be out of his 

 view until he arrived almost within sight of the abodes of 

 civihzation. 



"At this time [1842] the Buffalo occupy but a very 

 limited space, principally along the eastern base of the Rocky 

 Mountains, sometimes extending at their southern extremity 

 to a considerable distance into the Plains between the Platte 

 and Arkansas Rivers, and along the eastern frontier of New 

 Mexico, as far south as Texas." 



Fremont reckoned the annual market of Buffalo robes 

 as 90,000;'' but robes were collected only during the four winter 

 months, and not more than a third of those killed at the season 

 were skinned, while half of the robes were used at home and 

 never sent to market. Therefore, 90,000 robes represented a 

 slaughter of about 1,920,000 Buffalo. But the rate of killing 

 was so much higher in summer that we may calculate the an- 

 nual kill at 2,000,000 or 2,500,000 a year during these palmy 

 Buffalo days. The Buffalo Indians had been decreased by 

 small-pox, but the white consumers more than made up the 

 shortage. Naturally, therefore, the herds shrunk fast. 



In 1842 Fremont found distress among the Indians along 

 the Platte on account of failure of the Buffalo."' In 1852 the 

 Buffalo was so far from the Red River country that Ross con- 

 sidered hunting it a thing of the past. In 1867 the Union 

 Pacific Railway reached Cheyenne, penetrating the heart of 

 the Buffalo country. It carried unnumbered destroyers with 

 it and split the remaining Buffalo into halves. Thenceforth 

 it was customary to speak of the "south herd" and the "north 

 herd," each of which appeared to recognize a boundary in 

 those sinister lines of steel. 



In 1 87 1 the Santa Fe Railway crossed Kansas, the favour- the 

 ite summer ground of the southern herd, now reduced to ter 

 about 4,000,000, according to Hornaday.'' Then began the 

 great slaughter by the white skin-hunters. Taking as a basis 



''Loc. cit., p. 145. "Expl. Exped., 1845, P- MS- 



^* Ext. Am. Bison, 1889, P- 504- 



SL.AUGH 



