THE AMERICAN BISONS. 161 
when three were killed from a herd of ten old bulls that had wandered con- 
siderably to the eastward of the main herds. According to Dr. W. J. Hoft- 
man, to whom I am indebted for other interesting facts relating to the sub- 
ject of the present paper, the buffaloes disappeared from the region between 
the Cheyenne and Grand River Agencies at about the same time (1869), 
although occasional stragglers frequented the plains toward the Black Hills 
till somewhat later. He states that fresh hides were brought into the Grand 
River Agency in 1872, that were obtained about one hundred miles to the 
westward of that place.* Dr. Hayden also informs me that a few were found 
until a few years since south of the Black Hills, on the sources of the Nio- 
brara and Cheyenne Rivers, from which localities they have, however, been 
since exterminated. 
As already stated, they were abundant about Fort Union at the mouth of 
the Yellowstone, in 1853, and for some distance below this point west of the 
Missouri, where they remained for some years later. Dr. Hayden informs 
me that they were abundant there as late as 1859, and that even as late as 
1866 they occupied much of the country between Fort Union and Fort Pierre. 
In 1861 Dr. Hayden published the following general statement in relation 
to the range of the buffalo at that time on the Upper Missouri. “They oc- 
cur,” he says, “in large bands in the valley of the Yellowstone River, and in 
the Blackfoot country, but their numbers are annually decreasing at a rapid 
rate. Descending the Yellowstone in the summer of 1854, from the Crow 
country, we were not out of sight of large herds for a distance of 400 miles. 
....In 1850 they were seen as low down on the Missouri River as the Ver- 
milion, and in 1854 a few were killed near Fort Pierre. But at the present 
time (1861) they seldom pass below the 47th parallel on the Missouri. Every 
year, as we ascend the river, we can observe that they are retiring nearer 
and nearer to the mountainous portions.” + 
General W. F. Raynolds, in passing from Fort Pierre westward in July, 
1859, says that the whole country, for one hundred and forty miles, was a 
dry, desolate tract, a few antelopes forming the only living things met 
with; “but buffaloes,” he says, “have evidently been here, and may return 
at more favorable seasons of the year. Six bulls were seen to-day in the 
distance, as we drove into camp, being our first sight of the famous ‘lords 
of the prairie’ We are now approaching the Black Hills, however, and will 
* In a letter dated April 16, 1875. 
t Transact. Amer. Phil. Soc, Vol. XH, 2d Series, p. 150. 
