﻿510 
  EEPORT 
  UNITED 
  STATES 
  GEOLOGICAL 
  SUEVEY. 
  

  

  settlements 
  over 
  this 
  region, 
  the 
  extermination 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo 
  progressed 
  

   ■with 
  wonderful 
  rapidity. 
  Its 
  history 
  is 
  a 
  shameful 
  record 
  of 
  wasteful 
  

   and 
  wanton 
  destruction 
  of 
  life, 
  like 
  that 
  which 
  ever 
  marks 
  the 
  contact 
  

   of 
  man 
  with 
  the 
  larger 
  mammalia. 
  The 
  extermination 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo 
  in 
  

   Western 
  Pennsylvania, 
  West 
  Virginia, 
  Ohio, 
  Kentucky, 
  and 
  Tennessee, 
  

   was 
  very 
  rapid, 
  this 
  animal 
  surviving 
  at 
  most 
  points 
  for 
  but 
  a 
  few 
  years 
  

   after 
  the 
  first 
  permanent 
  settlements 
  were 
  made. 
  In 
  Illinois 
  and 
  In- 
  

   diana 
  it 
  existed 
  for 
  about 
  a 
  century 
  and 
  a 
  quarter 
  after 
  the 
  country 
  was 
  

   first 
  explored 
  by 
  the 
  Jesuit 
  missionaries, 
  and 
  for 
  more 
  than 
  half 
  a 
  cen- 
  

   tury 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  scarcely 
  diminished 
  in 
  numbers. 
  As 
  late 
  as 
  1773 
  it 
  

   was 
  abundant 
  on 
  both 
  sides 
  of 
  the 
  Kaskaskia 
  Eiver, 
  and 
  also 
  along 
  the 
  

   Illinois, 
  and 
  apparently 
  over 
  all 
  the 
  prairies 
  of 
  the 
  intermediate 
  region.* 
  

   Later 
  its 
  extermination 
  was 
  more 
  rapid, 
  its 
  disappearance 
  here 
  apparent- 
  

   ly 
  antedating 
  by 
  several 
  years 
  its 
  extirpation 
  along 
  the 
  upper 
  tributaries 
  

   of 
  the 
  Ohio. 
  The 
  date 
  of 
  its 
  disappearance 
  from 
  Illinois 
  and 
  Indiana, 
  

   however, 
  I 
  can 
  give 
  less 
  definitely 
  than 
  that 
  of 
  its 
  extermination 
  at 
  

   points 
  more 
  to 
  the 
  eastward. 
  In 
  Pennsylvania, 
  according 
  to 
  Mr. 
  Ashe, 
  

   they 
  were 
  all 
  destroyed 
  within 
  a 
  few 
  years 
  after 
  the 
  arrival 
  of 
  the 
  first 
  

   settlers, 
  being 
  apparently 
  wholly 
  exterminated 
  prior 
  to 
  the 
  year 
  1800. 
  

   It 
  lingered 
  in 
  West 
  Virginia 
  till 
  a 
  few 
  years 
  later, 
  as 
  it 
  did 
  also 
  in 
  por- 
  

   tions 
  of 
  Kentucky. 
  Toulmin, 
  writing 
  about 
  1792, 
  says, 
  " 
  The 
  buffalo 
  

   are 
  mostly 
  driven 
  out 
  of 
  Kentucky. 
  Some 
  are 
  still 
  found 
  upon 
  the 
  

   head-waters 
  of 
  Licking 
  Creek, 
  Great 
  Sandy, 
  and 
  the 
  head-waters 
  of 
  

   Green 
  Eiver." 
  t 
  It 
  appears, 
  according 
  to 
  Audubon, 
  to 
  have 
  lingered 
  

   here, 
  however, 
  only 
  a 
  few 
  years 
  longer. 
  " 
  In 
  the 
  days 
  of 
  our 
  boyhood 
  

   and 
  youth," 
  says 
  this 
  author, 
  " 
  bufftiloes 
  roamed 
  over 
  the 
  small 
  and 
  

   beautiful 
  prairies 
  of 
  Indiana 
  and 
  Illinois, 
  and 
  herds 
  of 
  them 
  stalked 
  

   through 
  the 
  open 
  woods 
  of 
  Kentucky 
  and 
  Tennessee; 
  but 
  they 
  had 
  

   dwindled 
  down 
  to 
  a 
  few 
  stragglers, 
  which 
  resorted 
  chiefly 
  to 
  the 
  'bar- 
  

   rens,' 
  towards 
  the 
  years 
  1808 
  and 
  1809, 
  and 
  soon 
  after 
  entirely 
  disap- 
  

   peared."! 
  Cuming 
  adds 
  that 
  all 
  had 
  been 
  driven 
  from 
  the 
  salt 
  licks 
  of 
  

   the 
  Licking 
  and 
  Ohio 
  Rivers 
  before 
  1807, 
  while 
  Mr. 
  Ashe,§ 
  an 
  appa- 
  

   rently 
  reliable 
  authority, 
  affirms 
  that 
  as 
  early 
  as 
  1806 
  not 
  one 
  was 
  to 
  

   be 
  found 
  in 
  a 
  wild 
  state 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi, 
  referring, 
  doubtless, 
  to 
  

   the 
  Mississippi 
  below 
  latitude 
  41"^. 
  Brackenridge,|| 
  in 
  1814, 
  says 
  the 
  

   buffalo 
  may 
  be 
  said 
  to 
  have 
  retired 
  to 
  the 
  northward 
  of 
  the 
  Illinois 
  and 
  

   to 
  the 
  westward 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi, 
  and 
  other 
  writers 
  confirm 
  this 
  state- 
  

   ment.^ 
  

  

  * 
  See 
  Kennedy's 
  Journal 
  of 
  an 
  Expeditiou 
  tiom 
  Kaskaskia 
  Village 
  to 
  the 
  Head- 
  

   waters 
  of 
  the 
  Illinois 
  River, 
  in 
  Hutchius's 
  Topog. 
  Descrip. 
  of 
  Virginiaj 
  Pennsylvania, 
  

   etc., 
  pp. 
  51-64 
  ; 
  also 
  Hutchins's 
  Topog. 
  Descrip., 
  etc., 
  pp. 
  35, 
  41, 
  44. 
  

  

  t 
  Toulmin 
  (Henry), 
  Description 
  of 
  Kentucky, 
  p. 
  85. 
  

  

  t 
  Quadrupeds 
  of 
  Nortli 
  America, 
  Vol. 
  II, 
  p. 
  36. 
  

  

  § 
  Travels 
  in 
  America, 
  etc., 
  p. 
  49. 
  

  

  II 
  Views 
  of 
  Louisiana, 
  p. 
  56. 
  

  

  i 
  Ellsworth 
  states, 
  in 
  his" 
  Notes 
  on 
  the 
  Wild 
  Animals 
  of 
  Illinois," 
  published 
  in 
  1831, 
  

   that 
  " 
  the 
  buffalo 
  has 
  entirely 
  left 
  us. 
  Before 
  the 
  country 
  was 
  settled, 
  our 
  immense 
  

   prairies 
  afforded 
  pasturage 
  to 
  large 
  herds 
  of 
  this 
  animal, 
  and 
  the 
  traces 
  of 
  them 
  are 
  

   still 
  remaining 
  in 
  the 
  'buffalo 
  paths' 
  which 
  are 
  to 
  be 
  seen 
  in 
  several 
  parts 
  of 
  the 
  State. 
  

   These 
  are 
  well-beaten 
  tracks, 
  leading 
  generally 
  from 
  the 
  prairies 
  in 
  the 
  interior 
  of 
  the 
  

   State 
  to 
  the 
  margins 
  of 
  the 
  large 
  rivers 
  ; 
  showing 
  the 
  course 
  of 
  their 
  migrations 
  as 
  

   they 
  changed 
  their 
  pastures 
  periodically, 
  from 
  the 
  low 
  marshy 
  alluvion 
  to 
  the 
  dry 
  

   upland 
  plains. 
  In 
  the 
  heat 
  of 
  summer 
  they 
  would 
  be 
  driven 
  from 
  the 
  latter 
  by 
  prairie 
  

   flies 
  ; 
  in 
  the 
  autumn 
  they 
  would 
  be 
  expelled 
  from 
  the 
  former 
  by 
  the 
  mosquitoes 
  ; 
  in 
  

   the 
  spring, 
  the 
  grass 
  of 
  the 
  plains 
  would 
  afford 
  abundant 
  pasturage, 
  while 
  the 
  herds 
  

   could 
  enjoy 
  the 
  warmth 
  of 
  the 
  sun, 
  and 
  snuff' 
  the 
  breeze 
  that 
  sweeps 
  so 
  treely 
  over 
  

   them 
  ; 
  in 
  the 
  winter 
  the 
  rich 
  cane 
  of 
  the 
  river-banks, 
  which 
  is 
  evergreen, 
  would 
  fur- 
  

   nish 
  food, 
  while 
  the 
  low 
  grounds 
  thickly 
  covered 
  with 
  brush 
  and 
  forest 
  would 
  afford 
  

   protection 
  from 
  the 
  bleak 
  winds."— 
  Ellsworth 
  (H. 
  L.), 
  lUhiois 
  jh 
  1837, 
  p. 
  38. 
  (First 
  

   published 
  in 
  the 
  Illinois 
  Magazine, 
  July, 
  1831, 
  and 
  republished 
  in 
  Featherstonhaugh's 
  

   Monthly 
  American 
  Journal 
  of 
  Geology 
  and 
  Natural 
  Science, 
  October, 
  1831, 
  p. 
  180.) 
  

  

  