148 THE AMERICAN BISONS. 
Kansas as far easterly as longitude 98°, the western boundary of Kansas 
being 102°. In a few years I think they will not range north of the Arkansas 
ihever.” : 
None of the government expeditions sent across the plains since 1840 
seem to have met with the buffalo east of the longitude of Fort Riley, or 
east of the 97th meridian, from the Platte southward to Texas. In the In- 
dian Territory they have not for a number. of years ranged to the eastward 
of Fort Sill.* It thus appears that the buffaloes were exterminated in East- 
ern Kansas and in the eastern part of the Indian Territory over a breadth 
of about four degrees of longitude between 1835 and 1870. 
The extermination along the western border of the southern herd has also 
extended over a considerable area. In 1806 Pike found them throughout his 
march across the plains from the western edge of Arkansas to the eastern 
base of the Rocky Mountains, meeting with them in the greatest abundance 
between the Smoky Hill Fork and the Arkansas.} In 1845 Lieutenant Tur- 
ner found buffaloes abundant in the valley of the Arkansas from Bent’s Fort 
thence eastward for over two hundred miles.t The following year (1846) 
Dr. Wislizenus reports that on Colonel Doniphan’s march across the plains 
all signs of the buffalo, even including the bois de vache, disappeared near the 
meridian of 101°, between the Arkansas and Cimarron.§ 
Frémont states that in 1842, at 103° 30’, between the two forks of the 
Platte, they absolutely covered the plains, and were abundant thence west- 
ward to St. Vrain’s Fort, situated a little to the southward of the present 
town of Cheyenne. Between the forks of the Platte and along the North 
Platte to Fort Laramie but few were found, but recent signs of them were 
abundant. On the Laramie plains westward as far as Laramie River, large 
herds were constantly met with, but this year none were seen on the North 
Platte above the junction of Laramie River, the grasshoppers and the dry 
weather having destroyed every blade of grass. || 
* Captain J. W. Powell, of the 8th United States Infantry, informs me that in 1872 the buffalo did not 
range as far east as Fort Sill, but occurred fifty miles west of this point in considerable numbers. Lieu- 
tenant Godfrey (7th Cavalry) also states that during 1871 and 1872 he met with them throughout that 
part of the Indian Territory west of Fort Sill. 
{ Pike (Z. M), Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi, and to the Sources of the Arkansas, Kan- 
sas, La Platte, and Pierre Jaune Rivers, etc. in the years 1805, 1806, and 1807. 
¢ Cong. Rep., 29th Congress, Ist Session, House Ex. Doc. No. 2, p. 217. 
§ Wislizenus (Dr. A.), Memoir of a Tour to Northern Mexico in company with Colonel Doniphan’s 
Expedition in 1846 — 47, Cong. Rep., 30th Congress, 1st Session, Miscel. Doc. No. 26. 
|| Frémont’s Explorations during 1842, 1843, and 1844, ete. 
