THE AMERICAN BISONS. 163 
as compared with those of the present year. The herds seemed to have 
occupied the whole valley as far as we followed it (from the 109th meridian 
to the Big Bend), as well as the plains on either side. Considerable bands 
had also ranged over the divide between the Musselshell and the Yellow- 
stone, particularly along the two Porcupine Creeks. General Custer met 
with small herds still further to the eastward, and the main expedition came 
in sight of a few near the mouth of Custer’s Creek, where several were 
killed by the scouts. On our return we found that during our absence small 
bands had visited the valley of the Yellowstone itself, and had ranged as far 
down as Powder River, while quite large herds had recently passed up Cus- 
ter’s Creek. 
“ Occasional skeletons and buffalo chips in a good state of preservation 
occur eastward nearly to the Missouri, but the only very recent signs ob- 
served this year east of the Yellowstone were the tracks of a few old strag- 
gling bulls a few miles east of the river.”* 1 was also informed by credible 
authorities that they then wintered in great numbers on the head-waters of 
the Big Horn, Tongue, and Powder Rivers, passing northward in spring to 
the Yellowstone and Musselshell. Mr. Reynolds, a hunter and scout of great 
experience, and an unquestionable authority, informed me that the buffalo 
range of the Upper Missouri embraced the regions of the Powder, Tongue, 
Big Horn, and Upper Yellowstone Rivers, and thence northward over the 
Musselshell, Teton, and Marias Rivers, to the Milk River. 
The recent rapid extermination of the buffalo over Southwestern Dakota 
and the adjoining portions of Wyoming has been undoubtedly effected 
mainly by the Sioux Indians, who have of late ranged over this region. 
This at least is the view taken by Colonel Dodge, and apparently with good 
reason. He refers to the subject as follows: “The great composite tribe of 
Sioux, driven by encroaching civilization from their homes in Iowa, Wiscon- 
sin, and Minnesota, had crossed the Missouri and thrust themselves between 
the Pawnees on the east and the Crows on the north and west. A long-con- 
tinued war between the tribes taught at least mutual respect, and an im- 
mense area, embracing the Black Hills and the vast plains watered by the 
Niobrara and White Rivers, became a debatable ground, into which none but 
war parties ever penetrated. Hunted more or less by the surrounding 
tribes, immense numbers of buffalo took refuge in this debatable land, where 
they were comparatively unmolested, remaining there summer and winter 
* Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. XVI, pp. 39, 40, 1874. 
