﻿530 
  REPORT 
  UNITED 
  STATES 
  GEOLOGICAL 
  SURVEY. 
  

  

  1820. 
  At 
  about 
  this 
  date 
  they 
  seemed 
  to 
  have 
  also 
  disappeared 
  from 
  

   Eastern 
  and 
  Southern 
  Iowa, 
  but 
  were 
  quite 
  numerous 
  in 
  the 
  northwest- 
  

   ern 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  State, 
  and 
  adjoining 
  parts 
  of 
  Minnesota, 
  as 
  late 
  as 
  1840 
  

   to 
  1845, 
  where 
  occasionally 
  an 
  old 
  bull 
  was 
  met 
  with 
  as 
  late 
  as 
  1869. 
  

   As 
  already 
  stated, 
  they 
  disappeared 
  in 
  Minnesota 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  

   Eiver 
  prior 
  to 
  1832 
  ; 
  * 
  and 
  they 
  appear 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  exterminated 
  over 
  

   the 
  whole 
  region 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  Eed 
  Eiver 
  as 
  early 
  as 
  1850, 
  and 
  to 
  have 
  

   survived 
  later 
  elsewhere 
  in 
  the 
  State 
  only 
  in 
  the 
  extreme 
  southwestern 
  

   counties, 
  where 
  a 
  few 
  lingered 
  till 
  about 
  1869. 
  

  

  Permanent 
  Division 
  of 
  the 
  Buffalo 
  into 
  tivo 
  distinct 
  Herds 
  ^ 
  and 
  their 
  Ex- 
  

   termination 
  over 
  the 
  greater 
  Part 
  of 
  the 
  Region 
  between 
  the 
  Northern 
  Bound- 
  

   ary 
  of 
  Texas 
  and 
  the 
  Platte 
  River. 
  — 
  As 
  is 
  well 
  known 
  to 
  those 
  who 
  have 
  

   given 
  much 
  attention 
  to 
  the 
  subject, 
  the 
  great 
  buffalo 
  herd 
  that 
  once 
  

   extended 
  continuously 
  from 
  the 
  plains 
  of 
  the 
  Saskatchewan 
  to 
  the 
  Eio 
  

   Grande 
  was 
  divided 
  about 
  1849 
  into 
  two 
  bands 
  by 
  the 
  California 
  over- 
  

   land 
  immigration, 
  and 
  that 
  since 
  that 
  time 
  the 
  two 
  herds 
  have 
  never 
  

   united. 
  The 
  great 
  overland 
  route, 
  as 
  is 
  well 
  known, 
  followed 
  up 
  the 
  

   Kansas 
  and 
  Platte 
  Eivers, 
  and 
  thence 
  westward 
  by 
  the 
  North 
  Platte, 
  

   crossing 
  the 
  Eocky 
  Mountains 
  by 
  way 
  of 
  the 
  South 
  Pass. 
  The 
  buffa- 
  

   loes 
  were 
  all 
  soon 
  driven 
  from 
  the 
  vicinity 
  of 
  this 
  line 
  of 
  travel, 
  thou- 
  

   sands 
  being 
  annually 
  slaughtered, 
  a 
  large 
  proportion 
  of 
  them 
  being 
  

   killed 
  wantonly.t 
  The 
  increase 
  of 
  travel, 
  and 
  finally 
  the 
  construction 
  

   of 
  the 
  Union 
  Pacific 
  Railroad 
  and 
  the 
  consequent 
  opening 
  up 
  of 
  the 
  

   country 
  to 
  settlement, 
  has 
  effected 
  a 
  wider 
  separation 
  of 
  the 
  herds, 
  the 
  

   buffaloes 
  retiring 
  every 
  year 
  further 
  and 
  further 
  from 
  their 
  persecutors. 
  

   None 
  are 
  now 
  found 
  for 
  a 
  long 
  distance 
  to 
  the 
  north 
  of 
  this 
  road, 
  and 
  

   they 
  approach 
  it 
  from 
  the 
  southward 
  only 
  along 
  that 
  portion 
  situated 
  

   between 
  Fort 
  Kearney 
  and 
  the 
  forks 
  of 
  the 
  Platte. 
  In 
  treating 
  of 
  the 
  

   "Southern 
  Herd," 
  as 
  the 
  southern 
  division 
  is 
  commonly 
  termed, 
  it 
  will 
  

   be 
  found 
  convenient 
  to 
  trace 
  first 
  its- 
  extirpation 
  over 
  the 
  region 
  to 
  the 
  

   eastward, 
  and 
  afterwards 
  to 
  the 
  westward, 
  of 
  its 
  present 
  range. 
  

  

  As 
  previously 
  stated, 
  Nuttall 
  found 
  buffaloes 
  in 
  1819 
  in 
  Southwestern 
  

   Arkansas 
  and 
  the 
  adjoining 
  portions 
  of 
  the 
  Indian 
  Territory.! 
  Pike, 
  

   however, 
  in 
  1806, 
  first 
  met 
  with 
  these 
  animals 
  on 
  the 
  divide 
  between 
  

   the 
  sources 
  of 
  the 
  Osage 
  Eiver 
  and 
  those 
  of 
  the 
  Neosho 
  Fork 
  of 
  the 
  

   Arkansas, 
  near 
  the 
  98th 
  meridian, 
  or 
  near 
  Council 
  Grove 
  in 
  Eastern 
  

   Kansas, 
  and 
  reports 
  that 
  they 
  were 
  already 
  nearly 
  exterminated 
  over 
  

   the 
  hunting-grounds 
  of 
  the 
  Osages 
  and 
  Pawnees.§ 
  In 
  1820 
  Major 
  Long 
  

   found 
  no 
  large 
  herds 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  mouth 
  of 
  the 
  Little 
  Arkansas, 
  near 
  

   the 
  98th 
  meridian. 
  At 
  the 
  Great 
  Bend 
  of 
  the 
  Arkansas, 
  however, 
  he 
  

   met 
  with 
  them 
  for 
  several 
  days 
  "in 
  vast 
  and 
  almost 
  continuous 
  herds."|| 
  

  

  * 
  See 
  anted,, 
  p. 
  117. 
  

  

  t 
  Respecting 
  the 
  influence 
  of 
  the 
  overland 
  emigration 
  upon 
  the 
  buffalo, 
  we 
  find 
  

   Captain 
  Stansbury, 
  who 
  passed 
  over 
  the 
  emigrant 
  trail 
  in 
  the 
  summer 
  of 
  1849, 
  speak- 
  

   ing 
  as 
  follows: 
  Under 
  date 
  of 
  June 
  27, 
  he 
  says, 
  "To-day 
  the 
  hunters 
  killed 
  their 
  first 
  

   buffalo, 
  but 
  in 
  order 
  to 
  obtain 
  it 
  had 
  to 
  diverge 
  some 
  four 
  or 
  five 
  miles 
  from 
  the 
  road 
  

   and 
  to 
  pass 
  back 
  of 
  the 
  bluffs, 
  the 
  instinct 
  or 
  experience 
  of 
  these 
  sagacious 
  animals 
  

   having 
  rendered 
  them 
  shy 
  of 
  approaching 
  the 
  line 
  of 
  travel. 
  This 
  has 
  always 
  been 
  

   the 
  case, 
  for 
  it 
  is 
  a 
  well-attested 
  fact, 
  that 
  when 
  the 
  emigration 
  first 
  commenced, 
  travel- 
  

   ling 
  trains 
  were 
  frequently 
  detained 
  for 
  hours 
  by 
  immense 
  herds 
  crossing 
  their 
  track, 
  

   and 
  in 
  such 
  numbers 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  impossible 
  to 
  drive 
  through 
  them. 
  In 
  many 
  instances 
  

   it 
  was 
  quite 
  difiicult 
  to 
  prevent 
  their 
  own 
  loose 
  cattle 
  from 
  mingling 
  with 
  the 
  buffa- 
  

   loes, 
  of 
  which 
  they 
  did 
  not 
  seem 
  to 
  be 
  at 
  all 
  afraid." 
  — 
  Salt 
  Lake 
  Expedition, 
  p. 
  34. 
  

  

  X 
  Travels 
  into 
  the 
  Arkansas 
  Country, 
  pp. 
  149, 
  150. 
  

  

  ^ 
  Pike 
  (Z. 
  M.), 
  Expedition 
  to 
  the 
  Sources 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi, 
  and 
  to 
  the 
  Sources 
  of 
  

   the 
  Arkansas, 
  Kansas, 
  La 
  Platte, 
  and 
  Pierre 
  Jaune 
  Rivers, 
  etc., 
  in 
  the 
  years 
  1805, 
  1806, 
  

   and 
  1807. 
  

  

  II 
  Long's 
  Exped. 
  from 
  Pittsburg 
  to 
  the 
  Rocky 
  Mts., 
  Vol. 
  II, 
  pp. 
  204, 
  207. 
  

  

  