well as in the pineries. Caribous by tens of thou- 

 sands, ranged the country from Mille Lacs to Lake 

 of the Woods and eastward to Lake Superior. Moose 

 were occasionally found and later, to a large extent, 

 displaced the caribou. Myriads of wild fowl prairie 

 chickens and other grouse, ducks, geese and swans 

 as well as wild pigeons, and even wild turkey in the 

 southeast corner of the state added to the larder of 

 the early settler. 



How many million pounds of wild meat fell to 

 the gun of the pioneer, before domestic stock and 

 poultry came to take its place, would be hard to con- 

 jecture. The buffalo, the elk and the deer of south- 

 ern Minnesota alone would represent many million 

 pounds, the wild fowl many more. The logging 

 camps for years were provided, as a matter of course, 

 with venison, caribou and moose meat ; hunters be- 

 ing hired to shoot and bring in the game. Not only 

 did the early settler feed to a large extent upon wild 

 game ; he found in fur a ready article of trade, a 

 commodity more easily transported than the pro- 

 ducts of his clearing or his " breaking, " and more 

 readily sold for cash. 



Whenever I see a bleached and broken elk horn 

 adorning the fence or barn of a farmstead up in what 

 used to be the great hardwood region, I feel like 

 taking off my hat in silent reverence to the herds 

 and flocks of game sacrificed to make possible the 

 speedy settlement of a great state. At such times 

 it requires little imagination to picture again my 

 father faring forth with the old long rifle or the 



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