•■\ 



'M- 



■J 



I ' 



108 



THE AMEEICAN BISONS. 



\ 



-! 



.L 



■■1 



r 



..- "1 



!■> 



;. r 



=-> Tr . 



not so easily settled. Colhoun regards it^ and probably correctly^ as iden- 

 tical witli Lake Ontario^ while other writers (among them Marcy) have ap- 



r 



plied this reference to Lake Champlain.* The context states that this lake is 

 three hnndred miles west of Massachusetts Bay, and that it may be reached 

 by the Hudson River, while it is also given as the source of the Potomac. t 

 The e!ktreme northeastern limit of the former range of the buflFalo seems 



^ ■ 



to have been, as above stated, in Western New York, near the eastern end 

 of Lake Erie. That it probably ranged thus far there is fair evidence. As 

 also already noticed, buffaloes may at times have passed over to the eastern 



r 



slope of the Alleghanies, since near Lewisburg, Union County, is a stream 

 still bearing the name of Buffalo Creek ; but the accounts of the explora- 

 tion and early settlement of this region make no mention of its occurrence 

 there at the time it was first visited by Europeans. The earliest evidence 



r^ 



cd by a map published by 

 Forster, in 1771, accompanying the English translation of Peter Kalm's 

 travels. On this map a marsh called ^'Buffalo Swamp" is indicated as situ^ 



of their former existence in this region is 



ated between the Alleghany River and the* West Branch of the Susque- 

 hanna, near the heads of the Licking and Toby's Creeks (apparently the 

 streams now called Oil Creek and Clarion Creek). The most exphcit tes- 

 timony, how^ever, is that furnished by Mr. Ashe,t who has given an account 



>, 



F 



\ 



l\\\ : 



* Marcy (R. E.) says, *' Formerly buffaloes were found in countless herds over almost the entire north- 

 ern continent of America, from the 28th to the 50th degree of north latitude, and from the shores of Lake 

 Champlain to the Rocky Mountains," and cites this passage from Morton in proof of its existence around 

 Lake Champlain. — Explorailon of the Red River of Louisiana, pp. 103, 104, 1853, 



f *' And from this Lake Southwards, trends that goodly River called of the Natives Patomack, which 

 dischardgeth herselfe in the parts of V^irginea, from whence it is navigable by shipping of great Burthen up 

 to the Falls (which lieth in 41. Degrees, and a halfe of :N'orth latitude :) and from the Lake downe to the 

 Falls by a faire current." He adds : *' It is well knowne, they [the, Dutch] aime at that place, and have a 

 possibility to attainc unto the end of thier desires therein, by meanes, if the River of Mohegan, which of 

 the English is named Hudsons River (where the Dutch have settled : to Avell fortified plantations already. 



The Salvages make report of 3 great Rivers that issue out of this Lake, 2 of which are to us knowne, 



the one to be Patomack, the other Canada, and why may not the third be found there likewise, which they 

 describe to trend westward, whichis conceaved to discharge herselfe into the South Sea [probably a refer- 

 ence to the Mississippi]." — iVr^w Englhli Canaan, p. 99 ; Force's Hist. Tracts, Yol. H, No. 5, p. 67, 



t Mr. Ashe speaks of the fondness "all the animals of those parts" have for salt, and of their resorting 

 in large numbers to " Onondargo" Lake to drink of its brackish waters, and adds that the best roads to 

 th's lake were the " buffalo tracks ; so called from having been observed to be made by the buffaloes in 



L 



their annual visitations to the lake from their pasture-grounds ; and though this is a distance of above 

 two hundred miles, the best surveyor could not have chosen a more direct course, or firmer or better 

 ground." The region about Onondaga Lake was thoroughly explored as early as 1C70, and settlements 



r 



were made and a fort erected before 1705. Prior to 1738^ lines of communication liad been established 





^ 

 V 



\ 



\ 



