28 Sport and Life. 



us rather glance at the cause of the extraordinarily rapid destruc- 

 tion of the herds of big game that made the hunting grounds on 

 the eastern and western slopes of the Rockies the best of their 

 kind in the world. To have to acknowledge that the destruction 

 of the bulk of big game there was the work of one single genera- 

 tion is not a pleasant truth for the " Makers of the West.-' Until 

 the completion of the first trans-continental railway, thirty years 

 ago, the muzzle-loaders of white men had made no serious im- 

 pression upon bison and wapiti, upon bighorn and deer. That 

 gunpowder, whisky, and civilisation generally should have effaced 

 in four centuries the aborigines of a great continent is a detail of 

 the world's history that is even to-day being repeated in other 

 parts of the globe, and is one which was brought about as much by 

 the Old World as the New, for had Europe not poured its super- 

 fluous millions into America the westward march of civilisation 

 would hardly have succeeded in so speedily elbowing the natives 

 out of existence, or in linking the Atlantic to the Pacific by a chain 

 of farms, cattle ranches, mining camps, and deforested lumber 

 regions. Unjustifiable as the rapid extinction of the red man will 

 appear to our grandchildren, the extermination of the animals that 

 dwelt on his plains, that roamed his forests, or that filled his rivers, 

 must seem even less excusable, for, in their case, protection should 

 have been as possible, as is in civilised communities the enforcement 



being established. According to the New York Shooting and Fishing, the site 

 selected is an ideal one for the purpose. It will embrace 50,000 acres of 

 mountainous land lying in the Soshone Range, the tract being well watered, 

 and with food plentiful both in summer and winter. Twenty prominent New 

 York sportsmen have already, agreed to subscribe sooodols. each to carry 

 forward the enterprise. It is proposed to enclose the preserve with an 8ft. 

 woven wire fence. It is estimated that i,ooo,ooolb. of material will be required 

 for the fencing. A clubhouse, costing 5o,oobdols., is also contemplated. A 

 force of guardians will be employed the year round to take care of the property, 

 and to prevent trespass or poaching. The region abounds in elk, antelope, 

 deer, mountain sheep, bear, and other big game found in the Rocky Mountains, 

 besides feathered game of many kinds. No game will be killed in the preserve 

 during the next five years. It is reported that John W. Mackay and Theodore 

 Roosevelt, are in the forefront of the movement. 



