234 CRUISINOS IN THE CASCADES 



first built it was no uncommon thing for herds of 

 buffalo to delay trains for several hours in cross- 

 ing the tracks, the animals being packed in so close 

 together that the train could not force a passage 

 through them. 



But, alas, those days are passed forever. This 

 noble creature, provided to feed the human mul- 

 titude who should people the prairies, is to-day 

 practically extinct; slaughtered and annihilated by 

 that jackal of the plains, that coyote in human 

 shape, the " skin hunter." Hundreds of thousands 

 of buffaloes were annually killed, their skins sold at 

 from seventy -five cents to a dollar and a half each, 

 and the meat which, when properly taken care of, is 

 equal, if not superior, to the finest domestic beef, 

 was left to rot on the ground. 



There are scarcely a hundred buffaloes left on the 

 continent to day in their wild state. A very few 

 stragglers are known to be in the Panhandle of 

 Texas, a small bunch in the Yellowstone National 

 Park, and a few in the British Northwest, but 

 they are being remorselessly pursued by large num- 

 bers of hunters, and it is safe to say that a year 

 hence not one will be left in the whole broad 

 West unless it be those in the park, and they will 

 escape only in case they stay within the park limits 

 where they are protected by United States soldiers. 

 Should they ever stray beyond the bounds of the 

 park they will all be killed in less than a week. 



Several small bunches have been domesticated by 

 Western cattlemen, and it is hoped the species may, 

 by this means, be saved from total extinction. 

 They are being successfully cross-bred with domes- 



