Feb., 191 2. Mammals oe Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 95 



''Old men tell me that marks of the old Buffalo trail 9 miles south 

 of Vincennes, where the Buffalo crossed the Wabash River from the 

 vast prairies of Illinois en route to the blue grass and lick regions of 

 Kentucky, are still visible." 



For many years after Buffalo had disappeared from Illinois and 

 Wisconsin they were found in considerable numbers in Iowa and 

 Missouri. Dr. J. A. Allen states in 1867 he was informed that a few 

 still remained in Iowa, and that up to that time one or more had been 

 killed every year as far south as Green County.* 



Farther west, however, at this time great herds still roamed the 

 Plains. Col. R. I. Dodge, while travelling from Old Fort Zara to Fort 

 Larned on the Arkansas River in May, 1871, states that for 25 miles 

 he passed through an immense herd of these animals. He says, "The 

 whole country appeared one mass of buffalo, moving slowly to the north- 

 ward."! In a letter to Dr. Homaday, dated September 21, 1887, he 

 writes: "The great herd on the Arkansas through which I passed 

 could not have averaged, at rest, over fifteen or twenty individuals 

 to the acre, but was, from my own observation, not less than 25 miles 

 wide, and from reports of hunters and others it was about five days in 

 passing a given point, or not less than 50 miles deep. From the top 

 of Pawnee Rock I could see from 6 to 10 miles in almost every direction. 

 This whole vast space was covered with buffalo, looking at a distance 

 like one compact mass, the visual angle not permitting the ground to 

 be seen."t 



Hornaday estimates that in 1870, shortly after the completion of 

 the Union Pacific Railroad, there were about four million Buffalo 

 south of the Platte River and probably one million and a half north 

 (jf it. He estimates that 3,698,730 animals of the Southern herd 

 were killed during the years 1872, 73, and 74, and of these, 3,158,730 

 were killed by hide and meat hunters, less than half being utilized. 

 The Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fe Railroad carried in those years, 

 459j453 hides; and other roads about twice as many (/. c, pp. 498-499). 

 This was the beginning of the end and a few years later all that was left 

 to mark the former presence of the countless herds of these splendid 

 animals were their whitened skulls and bones scattered about the 

 plains. 



*Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XIII., 1869 (1871), p. 186. 

 t The Plains of the Great West, 1877, p. 120. 



t Extermination of the American Bison, Rep. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1887 (1889), 

 p. 390. 



