﻿516 
  REPORT 
  UNITED 
  STATES 
  GEOLOGICAL 
  SURS^EY. 
  

  

  the 
  mountains, 
  on 
  the 
  head-waters 
  of 
  Salmon 
  Eiver, 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  tribu- 
  

   taries 
  of 
  the 
  Columbia. 
  While 
  I 
  was 
  at 
  the 
  Dalles, 
  the 
  party 
  of 
  Lieu- 
  

   tenant 
  Day, 
  U. 
  S. 
  A., 
  came 
  in 
  from 
  an 
  expedition 
  to 
  the 
  Upper 
  Salmon 
  

   Eiver, 
  and 
  I 
  was 
  assured 
  by 
  the 
  officers 
  that 
  they 
  had 
  not 
  only 
  seen 
  

   Indians 
  who 
  claimed 
  to 
  have 
  killed 
  buffalo 
  there, 
  but 
  that, 
  in 
  many 
  

   places, 
  great 
  numbers 
  of 
  buffalo 
  skulls 
  were 
  still 
  lying 
  on 
  the 
  prairie.'"*; 
  

  

  Dr. 
  Suckley, 
  writing 
  under 
  date 
  of 
  December, 
  1853, 
  also 
  says: 
  ^'Buf- 
  

   falo 
  were 
  formerly 
  in 
  great 
  numbers 
  in 
  this 
  valley 
  [the 
  valley 
  of 
  the 
  Bit- 
  

   ter 
  Eoot, 
  or 
  St. 
  Mary's 
  Eiver, 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  sources 
  of 
  Clarke's 
  Fork 
  of 
  the 
  

   Columbia], 
  as 
  attested 
  by 
  the 
  number 
  of 
  skulls 
  seen 
  and 
  by 
  the 
  reports 
  

   of 
  the 
  inhabitants. 
  For 
  a 
  number 
  of 
  years 
  past, 
  none 
  had 
  been 
  seen 
  

   west 
  of 
  the 
  mountains 
  ; 
  but, 
  singular 
  to 
  relate, 
  a 
  buffalo 
  bull 
  was 
  killed 
  

   at 
  the 
  mouth 
  of 
  the 
  Pend 
  d'Oreille 
  Eiver 
  on 
  the 
  day 
  1 
  passed 
  it. 
  The 
  

   Indians 
  were 
  in 
  great 
  joy 
  at 
  this, 
  supposing 
  that 
  the 
  buffalo 
  were 
  coming 
  

   back 
  to 
  them."t 
  Just 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  mountains 
  separating 
  the 
  sources 
  of 
  

   the 
  Jefferson 
  and 
  Salmon 
  Elvers, 
  buffaloes 
  still 
  existed 
  in 
  immense 
  

   numbers. 
  Lieutenant 
  Mullan 
  reports 
  meeting, 
  on 
  December 
  4, 
  1853, 
  

   with 
  several 
  bands 
  of 
  the 
  Nez 
  Perces 
  Indians 
  returning 
  from 
  their 
  hunt 
  

   east 
  of 
  the 
  mountains., 
  with 
  many 
  animals 
  loaded 
  with 
  meat 
  and 
  furs 
  

   "This," 
  he 
  says, 
  "has 
  been 
  a 
  great 
  hunting-season 
  with 
  all 
  the 
  Indians 
  

   both 
  east 
  and 
  west 
  of 
  the 
  mountains. 
  Hundreds 
  of 
  thousands 
  of 
  buffaloi 
  

   have 
  been 
  slain, 
  and 
  small 
  game 
  — 
  consisting 
  of 
  antelope, 
  deer, 
  beaver, 
  

   etc. 
  — 
  has 
  been 
  innumerable." 
  | 
  

  

  It 
  thus 
  appears 
  that 
  the 
  buffalo 
  formerly 
  existed 
  west 
  of 
  the 
  Eocky 
  

   Mountains, 
  nearly 
  to 
  the 
  northern 
  boundary 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States, 
  and 
  

   that 
  they 
  had 
  become 
  completely 
  exterminated 
  there 
  as 
  early, 
  according 
  

   to 
  Fremont 
  (as 
  above 
  cited), 
  as 
  1840, 
  although 
  they 
  swarnaed 
  there 
  in 
  

   immense 
  herds 
  as 
  late 
  as 
  1835. 
  The 
  valleys 
  of 
  the 
  streams 
  in 
  that 
  re- 
  

   gion 
  are 
  represented 
  as 
  abounding 
  in 
  fertile 
  prairies, 
  and 
  as 
  being 
  gen- 
  

   erally 
  covered 
  with 
  perennial 
  grasses. 
  As 
  the 
  adjoining 
  country 
  west- 
  

   ward 
  is 
  barren 
  and 
  wholly 
  unproductive 
  of 
  grass, 
  it 
  is 
  probable 
  that 
  the 
  

   buffalo 
  ranged 
  further 
  westward 
  only 
  irregularly, 
  and 
  in 
  straggling 
  

   bands. 
  Bonneville, 
  at 
  least, 
  failed 
  to 
  meet 
  with 
  any 
  between 
  the 
  sources 
  

   of 
  Snake 
  Eiver 
  and 
  Fort 
  Walla- 
  Walla 
  in 
  1834 
  and 
  1835, 
  and 
  no 
  other 
  

   explorer 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  met 
  with 
  them 
  living 
  so 
  far 
  west. 
  Dr. 
  Hayden 
  

   informs 
  me 
  that 
  a 
  few 
  still 
  exist 
  in 
  the 
  valley 
  of 
  the 
  Gros 
  Ventres, 
  and 
  

   in 
  the 
  extreme 
  upper 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  Snake 
  Eiver, 
  — 
  merely 
  straggling 
  old 
  

   bulls, 
  the 
  last 
  survivors 
  of 
  former 
  populous 
  herds. 
  Professor 
  O. 
  C. 
  

   Marsh 
  writes 
  me 
  that 
  the 
  last 
  one 
  shot 
  on 
  Henry's 
  Fork 
  was 
  killed 
  in 
  

   1874. 
  Professor 
  J. 
  Marcou 
  informs 
  me 
  that 
  a 
  single 
  old 
  buffalo 
  bull 
  

   made 
  his 
  appearance 
  at 
  Fort 
  Bridger 
  last 
  summer 
  (1875), 
  but 
  that 
  none 
  

   had 
  been 
  seen 
  there 
  before, 
  according 
  to 
  Dr. 
  Carter, 
  for 
  thirty 
  years. 
  

   This 
  solitary 
  straggler 
  was 
  probably 
  a 
  wanderer 
  from 
  the 
  remnants 
  of 
  

   his 
  race 
  still 
  left 
  in 
  the 
  valleys 
  of 
  the 
  Wind 
  Eiver 
  Mountains. 
  

  

  Range 
  ivestward 
  south 
  of 
  the 
  Thirty 
  -ninth 
  Parallel. 
  — 
  According 
  to 
  Lieu- 
  

   tenant 
  Whipple, 
  "there 
  do 
  not 
  seem 
  to 
  be 
  any 
  well-authenticated 
  ac- 
  

   counts 
  of 
  the 
  existence 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo 
  west 
  of 
  the 
  Eio 
  Grande." 
  He 
  

   I 
  adds 
  : 
  "On 
  inquiring 
  how 
  far 
  west 
  the 
  buffalo 
  had 
  been 
  seen, 
  a 
  Tegua 
  

   Indian 
  stated 
  that 
  many 
  years 
  ago 
  his 
  father 
  killed 
  two 
  at 
  Santo 
  

  

  * 
  Newberry's 
  ZoiJlogical 
  Report 
  of 
  Lieuteuant 
  Abbot's 
  Report 
  of 
  Explorations 
  for 
  a 
  

   Railroad 
  Route 
  from 
  the 
  Sacramento 
  Valley 
  to 
  the 
  Colorado 
  River. 
  PacMc 
  R. 
  R. 
  

   Explor. 
  and 
  Surv., 
  Vol. 
  VI, 
  Zoological 
  Report, 
  p. 
  72. 
  

  

  + 
  Suckley 
  (Dr. 
  George), 
  Canoe 
  Voyage 
  from 
  Fort 
  Owen 
  to 
  Fort 
  Vancouver. 
  Pacific 
  

   R. 
  R. 
  Explor. 
  and 
  Suvv., 
  Vol. 
  I, 
  Governor 
  Stevens's 
  Report, 
  p. 
  297. 
  

  

  t 
  Mullan 
  (Lieutenant 
  John), 
  Report 
  of 
  a 
  Reconnaissance 
  from 
  Bitter 
  Root 
  Valley 
  to 
  

   Fort 
  Hall, 
  etc., 
  Pacific 
  R. 
  R. 
  Explorations 
  and 
  Surveys, 
  Vol. 
  I, 
  Governor 
  Stevens'a 
  

   Report, 
  p. 
  325. 
  

  

  