THE AMEEICAK BISOXS. 



183 



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sippi River. The fur-hunters and trappers appear to have begun at this date 

 to contribute appreciably toward their ra,pid diminution, but not until the 

 establishment of the '' overland trails/' and the constant passing of laro-e emi- 

 grant parties across the plains, did their numbers here become very t>-reat]y 

 diminished. Steadily pressed back on their eastern boundary by advancing 

 .settlements^ they were at the same time rapidly thinned along the line of 

 the great emigrant routes. These thoroughfares becoming from year to year 

 more numerously travelled, especially the more northern route by way of 

 the South Pass, the buffaloes were driven to the right and left of the line 

 of travel, till finally by this intersection their range was divided mto two 

 essentially distinct regions. The construction of the Union Pacific Railroad 

 completely severed the northern from the southern herds, while the Kansas 

 Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Roads opened up new high- 



ways to their most populous holds. In the mean time adventurers and 



miners either gradually exterminated them in the parks and valleys of the 

 mountains, or drove them eastward into the plains, while they were at the 

 same time preyed upon by the great buffido-hunting parties from the Red 

 River Settlements and the United States, until they have dwindled to a few 

 hard-pressed bands lingering chiefly in the least-frequented parts of their 

 formerly almost undisturbed haunts. 



A century ago the rapid extermination of the buifalo had begun to attract 

 the attention of travellers, Romans, as early as 1776, alluding to the w^anton 

 destruction of ^Hhis excellent beast, /^r the sake of perhaj)s Im tongue onlij T "^ 

 As early as 1820 Major Long thought it highly desirable that some law 

 should be enforced for the preservation of the bison from wanton destruction 

 by the white hunters, who, he said, were accustomed to attack large herds, 

 and from mere tvantonness slaughter as many as they were able and leave the 

 carcasses to be devoured by the wolves and birds of prey. t 



Gregg, in 1835, also alludes to the wanton slaughter of these animals by 

 travellers and hunters, and the still greater havoc made among them by the 

 Indians, who often kill them merely for their skins and tongues. Their total 

 annihilation he regarded as only a question of time, although he beheved 

 that if they were only killed for food, their natural increase would perhaps 

 replenish the loss.l Almost every intelligent traveller who has crossed the 



* Natural History of Florida, p. 174. 



t Long's Expedition, Yol. I, p. 482, 



t Commerce of the Prairies, Vol. JI, p. 213, 



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