ON THE PRAIRIE 107 



white man, in his march westward, first 

 encroached upon the lands of the buffalo, 

 for these animals had never penetrated in 

 any number to the Appalachian chain of 

 mountains. Indeed, it was after the begin- 

 ning of the century before the inroads of the 

 whites upon them grew at all serious. Then, 

 though constantly driven westward, the 

 diminution in their territory, if sure, was at 

 least slow, although growing progressively 

 more rapid. Less than a score of years ago 

 the great herds, containing many millions of 

 individuals, ranged over a vast expanse of 

 country that stretched in an unbroken line 

 from near Mexico to far into British Amer- 

 ica; in fact, over almost all the plains that 



now known as the cattle region. But 

 since that time their destruction has gone on 

 with appalling rapidity and thoroughness; 

 and the main factors in bringing it about 

 have been the railroads, which carried 

 hordes of hunters into the land and gave 

 them means to transport their spoils to 

 market. Not quite twenty years since, the 



