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230 



THE AMEETCAK EISO^NS. 



Ohio, in 1770.^ According to the ^^ Journal of General [Richard] Butler/' 

 buffaloes were killed by his party at the mouth of Big Sandy Creek, in Octo- 

 ber, 1785, and also on Buffalo Lick Creek and Licking Creek the same 

 year,! at which time the buflRiloes were there still quite abundant. 



^^In 1791/' says Mr. Graham in one of his letters to me (dated " Cincin- 

 natij April 11, 1876"), "General Massie laid out the town of Manchester in 

 the Virginia Military District of Ohio, about thirty-five miles from Cincinnati. 

 This was the first settlement in the Virginia Military District. The woods 

 in the neighborhood supplied game, — deer, elks, buffaloes, bears, and tur- 



keys, 



while the river furnished a variety of excellent fish. In 1794 and 



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1795 McArthurt w^as settling a plan for his winter operations, when he fell in 

 with George Hardick, an experienced hunter and trapjoer, who was never at 

 ease but when he was ranging through the solitary woods. Agreeing to go 

 into partnership for a w^inter hunt, they made a light canoe, procured ammu- 

 nition and beaver-traps, and set off from Manchester, travelling down the 

 Ohio River to the mouth of the Kentucky River, thence up the Kentucky 

 far above the settlements. Game of every description was found in abun- 

 dance ; deer and buffalo were killed for their hides and tallow. Beaver and 

 otter were the principal game pursued, and were caught in great numbers. 

 They went up the river as far as they could find w^ater to float their canoe, 

 and spent the winter in the spurs of the Cumberland Mountains, more than 

 a hundred miles from the habitations of civilized men," returning in spring 

 by the same route to Manchester. 



^^The last reliable account of killing buffalo," says Mr. Graham, in the 

 same letter, *^ is taken from the Lacross manuscripts, and partly from tra- 

 dition from the lips of the children and grandchildren of those who v/ere 

 present. Of the French who settled at GaUipolis, Ohio, in 1790, but one 

 person ever killed a buffalo. This man's name was Duteil. He was out 

 himting in the summer of 1795, about two miles west from GaUipolis, and 

 saw a herd of buffaloes. He fired without aiming at any particular one, and 

 luckily killed a large one. He was so elated with this feat that without stop- 

 ping to examine the animal he ran as fast as he could to the town, and, 

 having announced his luck, came back, followed by the entire body of colo- 

 nists, men, women^ and children. They quickly formed a procession, with 



* Olden Time, pp. 426, 427. 



t Ibid., Vol II, pp. 447, 450, 453, 456, 458, 497. 



J "* McDonald's Sketches,' published in Cincinnati, in 1838, by E 

 McArthur." 



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Morgan, gives the life o£ General 



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