THE WASTEFUL WEST 



1871, and no doubt later. These animals existed on 

 what is known as the Saginaw "Thumb," on the 

 eastern side of the state. Elk antlers have been 

 dug out of the marsh at the foot of Lake Winne- 

 bago, in Wisconsin, though the last elk in Wisconsin 

 was killed about forty years ago having the hill 

 where the deed was done named after him, by the 

 way. It is hard to believe that during the Civil War 

 there were great herds of elk around Spirit Lake, in 

 northwestern Iowa, and that long after the Civil 

 War farmers chased buffalo in central Minnesota. 

 For that matter there were wild buffalo alive in the 

 Panhandle of Texas the year before the World's 

 Fair at Chicago. Today there is no buffalo range 

 because there are no buffalo. The elk range is re- 

 stricted to small and lessening areas in the Rocky 

 Mountains localities of chief interest to pie-suf- 

 ferers whose physicians prescribe big-game shooting, 

 but who do not know how scarce our big game has 

 become. A man out in Billings, Montana, foresee- 

 ing this scarcity, years ago started a corner in elk 

 teeth. He has trunks full of them, strong boxes 

 full of them in safety-deposit vaults in the East. He 

 expects to unload some day before long. Alas, even 

 the Indians, among whom he planned to find many 

 purchasers, have grown forgetful of the old days! 

 Now they will as readily buy a celluloid elk tooth 



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