•r O 



'■^ J 



might recognize that distant 

 white dots might be antelope 

 and not biififalo bones or puff 

 balls. I used to talk on this 

 subject with men who were 

 on the plains in the '6o's and 

 '70's, and all agreed that, so 

 far as their judgment went, 

 there were more antelope than 

 buffalo. Often the buffalo 

 were bunched up into thick 

 herds and gave the impression 

 of vast numbers. The ante- 

 lope' were scattered, and, ex- 

 cept in winter, \Yhen I have 

 seen herds of thousands, they 

 were pretty evenly distributed 

 over the prairie. 



ANTElvOPES EVI^RVWHERE 



"I have certain memories of 

 travel on the plains, whenVfor- 

 the whole long day one would 

 pass a continual succession of 

 small bands of antelope, num- 

 bering from ten to 'fifty or 

 sixty, those at a little distance 

 paying no attention to the 

 traveler, while those nearer at 

 hand loped lazily and uncon- 

 cernedly out of the way. In 

 the year 1879, in certain val- 

 leys in North Park, Colorado, 

 I saw wonderful congregations 

 of antelope. As far as we 

 could see in any direction, all 

 over the basins, there were 

 antelope in small or consider- 

 able groups. In one of these 

 places I examined with care 

 tlie trails made by them, for 

 this was the only place where 

 I ever saw deejily worn ante- 

 lo])e trails, which suggested 

 the l)uffalo trails of the 

 plains." 



The wealth of animal life 

 foimd by our forebears Avas 

 one of the great natural re- 

 sources of the New World. 

 Although freely drawn upon 

 from the first, the stock was 

 •but little de])leted up to within 

 a century. During the last one 

 hundred years, however, the 

 rapidly increasing occuj)ation 

 of the continent and other 



390 



