﻿ALLEN.] 
  FORMER 
  RANGE 
  WEST 
  OF 
  THE 
  ROCKY 
  MOUNTAINS. 
  511 
  

  

  Schoolcraft, 
  writing 
  in 
  1821, 
  says 
  that 
  "the 
  only 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  country 
  

   east 
  of 
  the 
  [Mississippi] 
  river 
  where 
  the 
  buffalo 
  now 
  remains, 
  is 
  that 
  

   included 
  between 
  the 
  Falls 
  of 
  St. 
  Anthony 
  and 
  Sandy 
  Lake, 
  a 
  range 
  

   of 
  abojit 
  six 
  hundred 
  miles." 
  Sibley 
  says 
  that 
  " 
  two 
  individuals 
  were 
  

   killed 
  in 
  1832 
  by 
  the 
  Dacotahs 
  or 
  Sioux 
  Indians, 
  on 
  the 
  Trempe 
  a 
  I'Eau 
  

   [Trempeleau] 
  Eiver, 
  in 
  Upper 
  Wisconsin," 
  and 
  adds, 
  " 
  They 
  are 
  believed 
  

   to 
  be 
  the 
  last 
  specimens 
  of 
  the 
  noble 
  bison 
  which 
  trod, 
  or 
  will 
  ever 
  

   again 
  tread, 
  the 
  soil 
  of 
  the 
  region 
  lying 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  River."* 
  

  

  Most 
  writers, 
  in 
  alluding 
  to 
  the 
  extirpation 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo 
  throughout 
  

   the 
  region 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  Eiver, 
  speak 
  of 
  it 
  as 
  having 
  been 
  

   " 
  driven 
  out 
  " 
  by 
  the 
  encroachment 
  of 
  settlements, 
  t 
  While 
  a 
  few 
  of 
  the 
  

   herds 
  may 
  have 
  migrated 
  westward, 
  it 
  seems 
  more 
  probable 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  

   exterminated 
  rather 
  than 
  driven 
  out, 
  as 
  it 
  appears 
  to 
  have 
  existed, 
  in 
  

   West 
  Virginia 
  and 
  in 
  Eastern 
  Kentucky 
  to 
  quite 
  as 
  late, 
  or 
  even 
  to 
  a 
  

   later 
  period, 
  than 
  on 
  the 
  prairies 
  adjoining 
  the 
  Mississippi. 
  The 
  exten- 
  

   sion 
  of 
  settlements 
  down 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  River 
  would 
  tend 
  to 
  hem 
  the 
  

   buffalo 
  in 
  on 
  that 
  quarter, 
  and, 
  as 
  will 
  be 
  shown 
  later, 
  it 
  disappeared 
  

   at 
  nearly 
  the 
  same 
  time 
  over 
  a 
  considerable 
  breadth 
  of 
  country 
  border- 
  

   ing 
  the 
  western 
  shore 
  of 
  this 
  river. 
  

  

  Schoolcraft 
  says 
  that 
  the 
  buffalo 
  "was 
  found 
  in 
  early 
  days 
  to 
  have 
  

   crossed 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  above 
  the 
  latitude 
  of 
  the 
  mouth 
  of 
  the 
  Ohio, 
  and 
  

   at 
  certain 
  times 
  to 
  have 
  thronged 
  the 
  present 
  area 
  of 
  Kentucky," 
  etc. 
  ; 
  

   from 
  which 
  it 
  may 
  be 
  inferred 
  that 
  he 
  deemed 
  its 
  presence 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  

   Mississippi 
  River 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  of 
  comparatively 
  brief 
  continuance. 
  Gal- 
  

   latin 
  also 
  always 
  speaks 
  of 
  it 
  as 
  having 
  " 
  spread 
  from 
  the 
  westward 
  " 
  

   over 
  the 
  region 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi. 
  Professor 
  Shaler 
  has 
  referred 
  

   to 
  the 
  probability 
  of 
  its 
  having 
  been 
  unknown 
  to 
  the 
  moundbuilders,| 
  

   since 
  they 
  have 
  left 
  nothing 
  indicating 
  that 
  they 
  were 
  acquainted 
  with 
  

   it, 
  which 
  is 
  not 
  the 
  case 
  with 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  other 
  large 
  mammals 
  of 
  

   the 
  interior 
  of 
  the 
  continent. 
  § 
  He 
  also 
  states 
  that 
  in 
  his 
  exploration 
  

   of 
  the 
  salt 
  licks 
  of 
  Kentucky 
  he 
  had 
  found 
  its 
  bones 
  in 
  great 
  abundance 
  

   "just 
  below 
  the 
  recent 
  mould, 
  in 
  a 
  bed 
  about 
  eighteen 
  inches 
  thick"; 
  

   but 
  that 
  " 
  in 
  the 
  rich 
  deposits 
  of 
  extinct 
  mammals 
  just 
  beneath, 
  immedi- 
  

   ately 
  above 
  which 
  traces 
  of 
  worked 
  flint 
  were 
  also 
  found, 
  no 
  buffalo 
  

   bones 
  were 
  discovered." 
  

  

  THE 
  FORMER 
  RANGE 
  OF 
  THE 
  BUFFALO 
  WEST 
  OF 
  THE- 
  ROCKY 
  MOUNT- 
  

   AINS. 
  

  

  The 
  vast 
  region 
  situated 
  between 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  River 
  and 
  the 
  Rocky 
  

   Mountains, 
  excepting 
  the 
  lowlands 
  bordering 
  the 
  Lower 
  Mississippi, 
  is 
  

  

  * 
  Sibley 
  (H. 
  H.) 
  in 
  Schoolcraft's 
  History, 
  Condition, 
  and 
  Prospects 
  of 
  the 
  Indian 
  

   Tribes, 
  Part 
  IV, 
  p. 
  94. 
  Major 
  Long 
  states 
  that 
  in 
  1822 
  its 
  wanderings 
  down 
  the 
  St. 
  

   Peter's 
  River 
  did 
  not 
  extend 
  beyond 
  Great 
  Swan 
  Lake 
  (Camp 
  Crescent). 
  — 
  Exped. 
  to 
  

   the 
  Sources 
  of 
  the 
  St. 
  Peter^s 
  Eiver, 
  eic, 
  Vol. 
  II, 
  p. 
  29. 
  

  

  t 
  Even 
  scientific 
  writers 
  speak 
  of 
  it 
  as 
  having 
  " 
  gradually 
  retired 
  westward 
  in 
  ad- 
  

   vance 
  of 
  the 
  migrating 
  column 
  of 
  the 
  white 
  race 
  of 
  man." 
  — 
  Leidy, 
  Mem. 
  Ext. 
  Sj). 
  Amer. 
  

   Ox, 
  1852. 
  

  

  "At 
  the 
  time 
  of 
  the 
  discover^ 
  by 
  the 
  Spaniards 
  an 
  inhabitant 
  even 
  down 
  to 
  the 
  

   shores 
  of 
  the 
  Atlantic, 
  it 
  has 
  been 
  beaten 
  back 
  by 
  the 
  westward 
  march 
  of 
  civilization, 
  

   until, 
  at 
  the 
  present 
  day, 
  it 
  is 
  only 
  after 
  passing 
  the 
  giant 
  Missouri 
  and 
  the 
  head- 
  

   waters 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  that 
  we 
  find 
  the 
  American 
  bison 
  or 
  buffalo. 
  Many 
  causes 
  

   have 
  combined 
  to 
  drive 
  them 
  away 
  from 
  their 
  old 
  haunts 
  ; 
  the 
  wholesale 
  and 
  indis- 
  

   criminate 
  slaughter 
  by 
  the 
  whites^ 
  the 
  extension 
  of 
  settlements, 
  the 
  changes 
  of 
  the 
  

   face 
  of 
  the 
  country; 
  but 
  above 
  all, 
  the 
  mysterious 
  dread 
  of 
  the 
  white 
  man, 
  which 
  per- 
  

   vades 
  animal 
  life 
  in 
  general 
  as 
  a 
  congenital 
  instinct." 
  — 
  Baird, 
  Pat. 
  Of. 
  Eep., 
  Agricult., 
  

   1851-52, 
  Part 
  II, 
  p. 
  124. 
  

  

  t 
  Proc. 
  Bost. 
  Soc. 
  Nat. 
  Hist 
  , 
  Vol. 
  XIII, 
  p. 
  136. 
  

  

  § 
  See 
  further 
  Professor 
  Shaler's 
  remarks 
  on 
  this 
  point 
  already 
  given. 
  

  

  