16 Introductory 



to stir outside for fear that they would be 

 trampled to death under the hoofs of the 

 migrating herd. 



As late as 1874 a train upon the Union 

 Pacific Railroad was held up for nine hours 

 while a herd crossed the tracks, and this 

 was after the war of extermination had gone 

 on for several years, and the herds had be- 

 come partially depleted. 



For twelve years, beginning in 1871, when 

 the Union Pacific Railroad cut the herd in 

 sunder and sounded its death-knell, the war 

 went on. Millions of hides were obtained 

 each year, while as many more rotted on 

 the plains without being taken from their 

 wearers. No such colossal tragedy in the 

 animal kingdom was ever known upon a 

 single continent. 



The bleaching bones of the bison were as 

 common a sight upon the great plains as 

 are the stones upon our rock-strewn New 

 England acres. In parts of the West it has 



