RANGE OF THE ELK HERD 



67 



parks, it is also a forest animal. Originally its range coincided 

 to a remarkable extent with that of the buffalo, covering fully 

 three-fourths of the United States, from the Adirondacks and 

 the eastern foot-hills of the Alleghanies to California and Van- 



From a photograph. Copyrighted by S. N. Leek, 1913. 



ELK HERD IN JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING. 



couver Island. It was not found, however, on the Great 

 Plains north of the Saskatchewan. 



In summer it ascends the Rocky Mountains to the very 

 crest of the Continental Divide, 11,000 feet above the sea. 

 The species reaches its highest physical development on the 

 backbone of the continent, between northwestern Wyoming 

 and southern Colorado. 



From nineteen-twentieths of its original range this grand 

 animal has been exterminated. To-day it is abundant in 



