174 



THE AMEEICAI^ BlSOJ^iS. 



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herds, followed by the Sioux Indians, This migration seems to have ceased 

 before about the 2Gth of July? when they were confined to the limits 

 stated on the map^"^ and remained so till we left the country, in September. 

 The Sweet Grass Hills form their centre in the vicinity of the Line. The 



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pasture is good^ and the region is besides a sort of neutral ground among the 

 Indian tribes. We saw abundant traces of the passage of great herds in 

 spring on the upper branches of Milk Eiver^ and they come in to the foot of 

 the Rocky Mountains. I do not think they ever cross the mountains hi the 

 vicinity of the forty-ninth parallel, though I have seen their bones as far up 

 the South Kootanie Pass as the last grassy meadow." 



On the map referred to in the above-given letter, and reproduced in the 



adjoining w^ood-cut,It will be seen that a line drawn along Frenchman's Creek 

 or White Mud Eiver is given as the eastern limit of the present range of the 

 bufflilo, while the region a little to the west of this Ime is marked as the 



district where ^^ great herds" were seen ^^ going north in June." 



The line 



drawn parallel to the Little Souiis Eiver^ and about forty miles to the west- 



ward of it, following the Coteau de Missouri, is given as the '^ approximate 

 eastern limit of ^ buffalo chips.' " 



In addition to the information contained in Professor Dawson's letter, I 

 find the following in his recent "Report on the Geology and Resources of the 

 Region in the Vicinity of the Forty-ninth Parallel/' etc. : "From what I 

 could learn," says Professor Dawson, '^I believe that, at the present rate of 

 extermination, twelve to fourteen years will see the destruction of what now 

 remains of the great northern band of buffalo, and the termination of the 



trade in robes and pcmican, in so far as regards the country north of the 

 Missouri River." f 



■ Present Bange of the Northern Herd, — From the* foregoing it appears that 

 what may be termed the great Northern Herd of buffaloes ranges from the 

 principal southern tributaries of the Yellowstone northward over a large 

 part of Montana, far into British North America, extending northward, 

 doubtless, to the wooded region of the Athabasca and Peace Rivers. To 



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the westward, north of the United States, buffaloes still range to the base of 

 the Rocky Mountains, though doubtless soniewhat irregularly, and usually 



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* A belt about seventy-five utiles .wide, situated on both sides o£ the lllth meridian, but lying mainly 



between the lllth and 112th meridians, and stretching northward towards the South Saskatchewan. 



t Report on the Geology and Resources of the Region in the A^icinity of the 'Forty-ninth Parallel, etc., 

 1875, p. 296. " 



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