CONDITION OF WILD LIFE IN ALASKA 



The opening of the twentieth century found the 

 game in the old territories of the United States 

 well on the road toward the conditions that pre- 

 cede extinction. The bison had been practically 

 gone for two decades. The mountain sheep had 

 been exterminated throughout a very large part of 

 its original range, and the number remaining in 

 remote mountains was sadly reduced. The wapiti, 

 while still living in herds numbering many thou- 

 sand, was rapidly withdrawing to the vicinity of 

 its last refuge, the Yellowstone Park. The prong- 

 horn of the plains was disappearing with increas- 

 ing rapidity, partly because of the increasing use 

 of the barb-wire fences on its former ranges. 



This rapid diminution of the game animals of 

 the United States was the inevitable consequence 

 of the settlement and occupation of the best graz- 

 ing lands. While there remain mountains where 

 the game is relatively undisturbed, so far as the 

 killing of individuals is concerned, and while these 

 ranges in summer appear well adapted to sustain a 



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