﻿ALLEN] 
  EXTIRPATION 
  IN 
  ARKANSAS, 
  MISSOURI, 
  &C. 
  529 
  

  

  stone, 
  acting 
  as 
  interpreter 
  for 
  the 
  expedition 
  of 
  that 
  year, 
  and 
  who 
  

   moved 
  to 
  Minnesota 
  in 
  1837, 
  informed 
  me 
  that 
  buffaloes 
  were 
  abundant 
  

   within 
  fifty 
  miles 
  of 
  St. 
  Paul 
  as 
  late 
  as 
  1836, 
  and 
  were 
  common 
  on 
  the 
  

   head-waters 
  of 
  the 
  Cedar 
  and 
  Des 
  Moines 
  Rivers, 
  on 
  both 
  sides 
  of 
  the 
  

   Iowa 
  and 
  Minnesota 
  boundary, 
  as 
  late 
  as 
  1845. 
  They 
  have, 
  however," 
  

   been 
  for 
  many 
  years 
  extinct 
  throughout 
  the 
  present 
  State 
  of 
  Iowa, 
  with 
  

   the 
  exception 
  of 
  the 
  occurrence 
  of 
  a 
  few 
  stragglers 
  in 
  the 
  extreme 
  west- 
  

   ern 
  counties. 
  When 
  I 
  was 
  in 
  the 
  western 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  State 
  in 
  1867, 
  I 
  

   was 
  informed 
  that 
  a 
  few 
  still 
  remained 
  in 
  that 
  section, 
  and 
  that 
  up 
  to 
  

   that 
  time 
  one 
  or 
  more 
  had 
  been 
  killed 
  every 
  year 
  as 
  far 
  south 
  as 
  Greene 
  

   County. 
  They 
  were 
  represented 
  as 
  being 
  more 
  common 
  further 
  north, 
  

   but 
  that 
  no 
  herds 
  were 
  mot 
  with 
  south 
  of 
  the 
  Sioux 
  River, 
  and 
  rarely 
  

   east 
  of 
  the 
  Missouri. 
  Those 
  found 
  further 
  east 
  were 
  only 
  stragglers 
  

   from 
  distant 
  herds.* 
  Professor 
  Bessey, 
  of 
  the 
  Iowa 
  Agricultural 
  College, 
  

   informs 
  me 
  that 
  a 
  few 
  were 
  seen 
  in 
  the 
  bottom-lands 
  below 
  Council 
  

   Bluffs 
  as 
  late 
  even 
  as 
  about 
  1869, 
  and 
  also, 
  at 
  about 
  the 
  same 
  time, 
  in 
  

   the 
  northwestern 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  State, 
  — 
  stragglers, 
  of 
  course, 
  from 
  remote 
  

   herds. 
  

  

  In 
  Minnesota, 
  west 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi, 
  buffaloes 
  remained 
  until 
  a 
  

   recent 
  period. 
  In 
  1823 
  Major 
  Long 
  found 
  herds 
  numbering 
  thousands 
  

   of 
  individuals 
  about 
  the 
  sources 
  of 
  the 
  Red 
  and 
  Minnesota 
  (or 
  St. 
  

   Peter's) 
  Rivers. 
  He 
  states 
  that 
  in 
  1822 
  they 
  did 
  not 
  descend 
  the 
  Min- 
  

   nesota 
  River 
  below 
  Great 
  Swan 
  Lake, 
  and 
  that 
  in 
  1823 
  " 
  the 
  gentlemen 
  of 
  

   the 
  Columbia 
  Fur 
  Company 
  were 
  obliged 
  to 
  travel 
  five 
  days 
  in 
  a 
  north- 
  

   west 
  direction 
  from 
  Lake 
  Travers 
  before 
  they 
  fell 
  in 
  with 
  the 
  game, 
  but 
  

   they 
  soon 
  succeeded 
  in 
  killing 
  sixty 
  animals."t 
  The 
  buffaloes 
  are 
  said, 
  

   however, 
  to 
  have 
  lingered 
  about 
  Fort 
  Ridgely, 
  situated 
  a 
  few 
  miles 
  

   above 
  Swan 
  Lake, 
  till 
  about 
  1847, 
  and 
  that 
  as 
  late 
  as 
  1856 
  they 
  were 
  

   found 
  one 
  hundred 
  miles 
  to 
  the 
  northwestward 
  of 
  this 
  point.| 
  As 
  late 
  

   as 
  1844 
  Captain 
  Allen 
  found 
  large 
  herds 
  in 
  the 
  southwestern 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  

   present 
  State 
  of 
  Minnesota. 
  He 
  says 
  : 
  " 
  Seventy-five 
  miles 
  west 
  of 
  the 
  

   source 
  of 
  the 
  Des 
  Moines 
  we 
  struck 
  the 
  range 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo, 
  and 
  con- 
  

   tinued 
  in 
  it 
  to 
  the 
  Big 
  Sioux 
  River, 
  and 
  down 
  that 
  river 
  about 
  eighty- 
  

   six 
  miles. 
  Below 
  that 
  we 
  did 
  not 
  see 
  any 
  recent 
  signs 
  of 
  them. 
  They 
  

   were 
  sometimes 
  seen 
  in 
  droves 
  of 
  hundreds. 
  .... 
  While 
  among 
  the 
  

   buffalo 
  we 
  killed 
  as 
  many 
  as 
  we 
  wanted, 
  and 
  without 
  trouble."§ 
  Pope 
  

   states 
  that 
  in 
  1850 
  buffaloes 
  were 
  still 
  killed 
  in 
  the 
  immediate 
  vicinity 
  of 
  

   the 
  settlements 
  at 
  Pembina, 
  and 
  that 
  they 
  existed 
  in 
  great 
  abundance 
  

   between 
  the 
  Pembina 
  and 
  the 
  Shayenne 
  River,|| 
  or 
  along 
  the 
  present 
  

   western 
  boundary 
  of 
  the 
  State. 
  They 
  appear, 
  however, 
  to 
  have 
  very 
  

   soon 
  after 
  left 
  the 
  whole 
  valley 
  of 
  the 
  Red 
  River, 
  being 
  rapidly 
  slaugh- 
  

   tered 
  and 
  pressed 
  westward 
  by 
  the 
  incursions 
  of 
  the 
  Red 
  River 
  half- 
  

   breed 
  hunters, 
  who 
  are 
  reported 
  to 
  have 
  killed 
  annually, 
  at 
  about 
  this 
  

   time, 
  twenty 
  thousand 
  buffaloes 
  south 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  and 
  British 
  

   Boundary.^ 
  A 
  few 
  lingered 
  in 
  the 
  southwestern 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  State 
  till 
  

   within 
  a 
  very 
  few 
  years, 
  or 
  occurred 
  there 
  rather 
  as 
  stragglers 
  from 
  the 
  

   herds 
  west 
  of 
  the 
  Big 
  Sioux 
  River, 
  in 
  Southwestern 
  Dakota. 
  

  

  From 
  the 
  foregoing 
  it 
  hence 
  ap[>ears 
  that 
  the 
  buffalo 
  was 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  

   abundant 
  over 
  large 
  portions 
  of 
  the 
  States 
  of 
  Arkansas 
  and 
  Missouri 
  

   as 
  late 
  as 
  1812 
  to 
  1815, 
  but 
  that 
  few 
  remained 
  in 
  either 
  State 
  later 
  than 
  

  

  * 
  See 
  Proc. 
  Bost. 
  Soc. 
  Nat. 
  Hist., 
  Vol. 
  XIII, 
  p. 
  18fi, 
  1869. 
  

  

  t 
  Expedition 
  to 
  the 
  Source 
  of 
  the 
  St. 
  Peter's 
  River, 
  etc., 
  Vol. 
  II, 
  pp. 
  9-24, 
  29. 
  

   t 
  Assistant 
  Surgeon 
  A. 
  B. 
  Hasson, 
  in 
  Med. 
  Statis. 
  U. 
  S. 
  Army, 
  1839-1854, 
  p. 
  67. 
  

   .$ 
  Allen, 
  (Captain 
  J.), 
  Congress. 
  Rep., 
  29th 
  Congr., 
  1st 
  Session, 
  Doc. 
  No. 
  168, 
  p. 
  5. 
  

   II 
  Pope, 
  (General 
  John), 
  Report 
  of 
  an 
  Expedition 
  to 
  the 
  Territory 
  of 
  Minnesota, 
  Con- 
  

   gress. 
  Reports, 
  31st 
  Congr., 
  1st 
  Session, 
  Ben. 
  Doc. 
  No. 
  42, 
  p. 
  27. 
  

   H 
  Rice 
  (H. 
  M.), 
  Pope's 
  Report 
  (cf.), 
  p. 
  4. 
  

  

  34 
  G 
  s 
  

  

  