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THE AMERICxiN BISOK^S. 



163 



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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 sirfit 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 

 dowai 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 eastw^ard nearly to the Missouri, but the only very recent signs ob- 

 served this year east of the Yellow^stone were the tracKs of a few old strag- 

 dino; bulls a few miles east of the river." * I 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, 

 Bv^ Horn, and Upper Yellowstone Rivers, and thence northw^ard over the 

 Musselshell, Teton, and Marias Rivers, to the Milk River. 



The recent rapid extermination of the buffalo over Southwestern Dakota 





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and the 



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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 v/ith good 



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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 AVhite 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. XVII, pp. 39, 40, 1874. - 



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