truth that mere size and strength, unaccompanied by intelligence, 

 are insufficient to prevent extinction in the animal kingdom. When 

 he might have overwhelmed his enemy by his mass alone, this 

 dull-witted beast ofttimes preferred to stand idly by and, in stolid 

 ignorance, watch the slaughter that was to mean the extermination 

 of his kind. One unique factor in hastening the final result was 

 the completion of the Union Pacific Railway in 1869. This divided 

 the main body of the buffalo family into a northern and a south- 

 ern group, destined again never to be reunited. At the same time, 

 by furnishing better means of transportation, it stimulated the de- 

 mand for the highly prized flesh and hides and thus proved of two- 

 fold importance in increasing the rapidity of destruction. 



Both in size and general appearance this big creature would 

 seem more than the equal of any other of our hoofed animals. He 

 stands over five feet from the ground, measures some ten feet in 

 length, and weighs almost a ton. His bulkiness is further in- 



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