﻿ALLEN] 
  FOKMEE 
  RANGE 
  EAST 
  OF 
  THE 
  MISSISSIPPI. 
  509 
  

  

  authority, 
  the 
  buffalo 
  was 
  at 
  one 
  time 
  also 
  numerous 
  in 
  the 
  valleys 
  of 
  

   East 
  Tennessee. 
  He 
  states 
  that 
  in 
  1764 
  Daniel 
  Boone 
  left 
  his 
  home 
  on 
  

   the 
  Yadkin 
  to 
  explore, 
  in 
  company 
  with 
  others, 
  the 
  then 
  unknown 
  coun- 
  

   try 
  to 
  the 
  westward. 
  '« 
  Callaway," 
  says 
  Eamsey, 
  " 
  was 
  at 
  the 
  side 
  of 
  

   Boone 
  when, 
  approaching 
  the 
  spurs 
  of 
  the 
  Cumberland 
  Mountain, 
  and 
  

   in 
  view 
  of 
  the 
  vast 
  herds 
  of 
  buffalo 
  grazing 
  in 
  the 
  valleys 
  between 
  

   them, 
  he 
  exclaimed 
  : 
  ' 
  I 
  am 
  richer 
  than 
  the 
  man 
  mentioned 
  in 
  Scripture, 
  

   who 
  owned 
  the 
  cattle 
  on 
  a 
  thousand 
  hills, 
  — 
  I 
  own 
  the 
  wild 
  beasts 
  of 
  

   more 
  than 
  a 
  thousand 
  valleys 
  ! 
  '"* 
  Whether 
  or 
  not 
  the 
  buffalo 
  ranged 
  

   formerly 
  to 
  the 
  Tennessee 
  River, 
  I 
  have 
  been 
  unable 
  to 
  determine, 
  

   although, 
  as 
  already 
  noticed, 
  there 
  is 
  pretty 
  good 
  evidence 
  that 
  it 
  did 
  

   not 
  extend 
  beyond 
  this 
  boundary. 
  The 
  existence 
  of 
  a 
  stream 
  named 
  

   Buffalo 
  River, 
  near 
  the 
  Great 
  Bend 
  of 
  the 
  Tennessee, 
  seems 
  to 
  render 
  it 
  

   probable 
  that 
  it 
  extended 
  nearly 
  or 
  quite 
  to 
  the 
  Tennessee 
  itself. 
  Gal- 
  

   latin 
  gives 
  the 
  range 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  as 
  being 
  " 
  be- 
  

   tween 
  the 
  Lakes 
  aod 
  the 
  Tennessee 
  River"; 
  t 
  but 
  he 
  also 
  says 
  that 
  it 
  

   formerly 
  ascended 
  the 
  Valley 
  of 
  the 
  Tennessee 
  " 
  to 
  its 
  sources," 
  and 
  adds 
  : 
  

   " 
  They 
  were 
  but 
  rarely 
  seen 
  south 
  of 
  the 
  ridge 
  which 
  separates 
  that 
  

   river 
  from 
  the 
  sources 
  of 
  those 
  which 
  empty 
  into 
  the 
  Gulf 
  of 
  Mexico, 
  

   and 
  nowhere, 
  in 
  the 
  forest 
  country, 
  in 
  herds 
  of 
  more 
  than 
  from 
  fifty 
  to 
  

   two 
  hundred."! 
  I 
  have 
  found, 
  however, 
  no 
  positive 
  reference 
  to 
  their 
  

   being 
  found 
  anywhere 
  south 
  of 
  the 
  Tennessee. 
  

  

  As 
  previously 
  stated, 
  the 
  range 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi^ 
  

   with 
  the 
  excex>tion 
  of 
  its 
  occasional 
  appearance 
  on 
  the 
  eastern 
  slope 
  of 
  

   the 
  Alleghanies 
  in 
  North 
  and 
  South 
  Carolina, 
  on 
  the 
  head- 
  waters 
  of 
  the 
  

   James 
  River 
  in 
  Virginia, 
  and 
  possibly 
  in 
  Union 
  County, 
  Pennsylvania, 
  

   was 
  restricted 
  to 
  the 
  area 
  drained 
  by 
  the 
  Ohio 
  and 
  Illinois 
  Rivers 
  and 
  

   their 
  tributaries, 
  and 
  the 
  lesser 
  eastern 
  tributaries 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  in 
  

   Northern 
  Wisconsin 
  and 
  Minnesota. 
  It 
  was 
  also 
  absent 
  from 
  the 
  low- 
  

   lands 
  of 
  the 
  lower 
  portion 
  of 
  the 
  Ohio 
  River. 
  The 
  foregoing 
  citations, 
  

   however, 
  show 
  it 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  originally 
  very 
  numerous 
  and 
  uniformly 
  

   distributed 
  over 
  the 
  prairies 
  of 
  Illinois 
  and 
  Indiana, 
  and 
  also 
  through- 
  

   out 
  the 
  country 
  immediately 
  bordering 
  the 
  Ohio 
  and 
  its 
  upper 
  tributa- 
  

   ries, 
  as 
  the 
  Licking, 
  Great 
  and 
  Little 
  Kanawha, 
  and 
  the 
  Alleghany 
  and 
  

   Monongahela 
  Rivers. 
  It 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  somewhat 
  less 
  uniformly 
  

   and 
  less 
  numerously 
  dispersed 
  over 
  the 
  States 
  of 
  Ohio, 
  the 
  western 
  parts 
  

   of 
  Pennsylvania, 
  West 
  Virginia, 
  Kentucky, 
  and 
  the 
  northern 
  parts 
  of 
  

   Tennessee, 
  although 
  it 
  regularly 
  frequented 
  portions 
  of 
  each 
  of 
  these 
  

   States, 
  and 
  was 
  probably 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  abundant 
  throughout 
  the 
  open 
  

   woods 
  and 
  " 
  barrens" 
  of 
  the 
  two 
  last 
  named. 
  Its 
  range 
  was 
  hence 
  re- 
  

   stricted 
  to 
  the 
  prairies, 
  the 
  scantily 
  wooded 
  districts, 
  and 
  the 
  narrow 
  

   belts 
  of 
  open 
  land 
  along 
  the 
  streams.§ 
  

  

  Its 
  Extirpation. 
  — 
  Upon 
  the 
  establishment 
  of 
  the 
  first 
  permanent 
  white 
  

  

  * 
  Ibid., 
  p. 
  69. 
  ^^ 
  

  

  \ 
  Transactions 
  Amer. 
  Ethnological 
  Society, 
  Vol. 
  I, 
  p. 
  1. 
  

  

  X 
  Transactions 
  Amer. 
  Antiquarian 
  Society, 
  Vol. 
  II, 
  p. 
  139. 
  

  

  § 
  The 
  area 
  of 
  wooded 
  and 
  woodless 
  territory 
  is 
  thus 
  given 
  by 
  Gallatin 
  : 
  As 
  is 
  well 
  

   known, 
  the 
  whole 
  Atlantic 
  slope 
  " 
  was 
  covered 
  with 
  a 
  dense 
  and 
  uninterrupted 
  forest 
  

   when 
  the 
  European 
  settlers 
  landed 
  in 
  America 
  ;" 
  and 
  the 
  country 
  south 
  of 
  the 
  40tb 
  

   parallel 
  excepting 
  " 
  the 
  Barrens 
  " 
  of 
  Kentucky, 
  westward 
  to 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  Valley, 
  and 
  

   north 
  of 
  the 
  Great 
  Lakes 
  as 
  far 
  west 
  as 
  Winnipeg, 
  was 
  similarly 
  forested. 
  Betweec 
  

   the 
  40th 
  parallel 
  and 
  Lake 
  Erie 
  there 
  were 
  areas 
  destitute 
  of 
  wood, 
  or 
  prairies, 
  whict 
  

   increased 
  in 
  size 
  westward, 
  till 
  in 
  Central 
  and 
  Northern 
  Illinois 
  they 
  equalled 
  the 
  tim 
  

   bered 
  areas, 
  while 
  west 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  the 
  forests 
  were 
  confined 
  to 
  narrow 
  belti 
  

   along 
  the 
  rivers. 
  — 
  Trans. 
  Amer. 
  Antiq. 
  Soc, 
  Vol. 
  II, 
  pp. 
  137, 
  138, 
  1836. 
  

  

  In 
  respect 
  to 
  the 
  former 
  distribution 
  of 
  forests 
  in 
  the 
  United 
  States, 
  see 
  also 
  Pro- 
  

   fessor 
  W. 
  H. 
  Brewer's 
  map 
  of 
  the 
  distribution 
  of 
  woodland 
  recently 
  published 
  in 
  General 
  

   Francis 
  A. 
  Walker's 
  " 
  Statistical 
  Atlas 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  btates," 
  Plates 
  III 
  and 
  lY 
  ^1873). 
  

  

  