THE AMEEICAN EISOXS. 



199 



this to wild breeding; in other respects, they do not seem difficult to tame; 

 a 4 or 5 year old Bull and Cow have been seen that were extremely gentle.. 





Were the Illinois coimtry sufficiently well settled to admit of the 

 people inclosing a great number of these animals in parks, some of them 

 might be salted, a business susceptible of being extended very considerably,' 

 without Illinois possessing a large population for that purpose. This trade 

 would perhaps enable us to dispense with Irish beef for Martinico, and even; 

 to compete with the English, and at a lower rate, for the supply of the 



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Spanish Colonies."* ' ; 



It appears that in 1821 a joint-stock company was formed in the 



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British Red River Colony, under the high-sounding title of the ^^ Buffalo 



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Wool Company," whose express objects were " to provide a substitute for 

 woolj which substitute was to be the wool of the wild buffalo, wdiich was to 



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be collected in the Plains, and manufactured both for the use of the colonists 

 and for export, and to establish a tannery for manufacturing the buffalo-hides 

 for domestic purposes." A capital of two thousand pounds stei^ling was 

 raised, and orders sent to England for machinery, implements, dyes, and 

 skilled workmen. Two immigrations of operatives arrived, including ^^ cur- 

 riers, skinners, sorters, wool-dressers, teasers, and bark manufacturers, of all 

 grades, ages, and sexes." For a time money was plenty, wages high, and the 



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prospects golden. But events proved the scheme to be grounded on miscall 

 calation, which, with the extravagant expenditure indulged in by the com- 

 pany, soon brought grief, not only to all the participants, but in a measure 

 affected the fortunes of the w^hole colony. It was found that "the w^ool and 

 the hides were not to be got, as stated, for the picking up ; the hides soon 



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costing the company 65. each,' and the wool Is. ^^d. per pound." But, accord- 

 ing to Ross (from whom these statements are compiled), ^Hhe bottle and 

 the glass" w^ere too freely circulated; spirits were imported by the hogshead, 



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and scenes of disorder and intemperance followed; both officials and opera- 

 tives were "wallowing in intemperance"; the hides Avere allowed to rot, the 

 wool to spoil, and the tannery proved a complete failure. The company, 

 besides expending their capital, found themselves irretrievably in debt to 

 their bankers, and bankruptcy followed. "A few samples of cloth," con- 



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tinues Mr. Ross, "had, indeed, been made and sent home; but that which 

 cost two pounds ten shillings per yard in Red River w^ould only fetch four 



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* Documents relative to the Colonial History o£ the State of New York ; procured in Holland, Eng- 

 land, and France, by Jolm Romcyn Brodliead, Esq., etc., Yol. X, pp. 230, 231. 



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