THE AMERICAN BISONS. 199 



this to wild breeding ; in other respects, they do not seem difficult to tame ; 

 a 4 or 5 year old Bull and Cow have been seen that were extremely gentle. 



"3 d Were the Illinois country sufficiently well settled to admit of the 

 people inclosing a great number of these animals in parks, some of them 

 might be salted, a business susceptible of being extended very considerably, 

 without Illinois possessing a large population for that purpose. This trade 

 would perhaps enable us to dispense with Irish beef for Martinico, and even 

 to compete with the English, and at a lower rate, for the supply of the 

 Spanish Colonies." * 



It appears that in 1821 a joint-stock company was formed in the 

 British Red River Colony, under the high-sounding title of the " Buffalo 

 Wool Compan}'," whose express objects were " to provide a substitute for 

 wool, which substitute was to be the wool of the wild buffalo, which was to 

 be collected in the Plains, and manufactured both for the use of the colonists 

 and for export, and to establish a tannery for manufacturing the buffalo-hides 

 for domestic purposes." A capital of two thousand pounds sterling was 

 raised, and orders sent to England for machinery, implements, dyes, and 

 skilled workmen. Two immigrations of operatives arrived, including " cur- 

 riers, skinners, sorters, wool-dressers, teasers, and bark manufacturers, of all 

 grades, ages, and sexes." For a time money was plenty, wages high, and the 

 ju-ospects golden. But events proved the scheme to be grounded on miscal- 

 culation, which, with the extravagant expenditure indulged in by the com- 

 pany, soon brought grief, not only to all the participants, but in a measure 

 affected the fortunes of the whole colony. It was found that " the wool and 

 the hides were not to be got, as stated, for the picking up ; the hides soon 

 costing the company 6s. each, and the wool Is. &d. per pound." But, accord- 

 ing to Ross (from whom these statements are compiled), "the bottle and 

 the glass" were too freely circulated ; spirits were imported by the hogshead, 

 and scenes of disorder and intemperance followed ; both officials and opera- 

 tives were " wallowing in intemperance " ; the hides were allowed to rot, the 

 wool to spoil, and the tannery proved a complete failure. The company, 

 besides expending their capital, found themselves irretrievably in debt to 

 their bankers, and bankruptcy followed. "A few samples of cloth," con- 

 tinues Mr. Ross, " had, indeed, been made and sent home ; but that which 

 cost two pounds ten shillings per yard in Red River would only fetch four 



* Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York ; procured in Holland, Eng- 

 land, and France, by John Romeyn Brodhead, Esq., etc., Vol. X, pp. 230, 231. 



