﻿532 
  REPORT 
  UNITED 
  STATES 
  GEOLOGICAL 
  SURVEY, 
  

  

  later 
  they 
  found 
  themselves 
  in 
  the 
  midst 
  of 
  immense 
  herds 
  on 
  the 
  Ee- 
  

   publican 
  Fork.* 
  

  

  Dr. 
  Hayden, 
  writing 
  of 
  his 
  journey 
  across 
  the 
  plains 
  in 
  the 
  summer 
  of 
  

   1858, 
  says, 
  " 
  Before 
  going- 
  into 
  the 
  interior 
  of 
  the 
  Territory 
  [of 
  Kansas] 
  

   we 
  had 
  expected 
  to 
  find 
  the 
  whole 
  country 
  immediately 
  west 
  of 
  Fort 
  

   Eiley 
  comparatively 
  sterile 
  ; 
  on 
  the 
  contrary, 
  however, 
  we 
  were 
  agree- 
  

   ably 
  disappointed 
  at 
  meeting 
  with 
  scarcely 
  any 
  indications 
  of 
  decreasing 
  

   fertility, 
  as 
  far 
  as 
  our 
  travels 
  extended, 
  which 
  was 
  about 
  sixty 
  miles 
  west 
  

   of 
  Fort 
  Riley. 
  Here 
  we 
  found 
  the 
  prairies 
  clothed 
  with 
  a 
  luxuriant 
  

   growth 
  of 
  grass, 
  and 
  literally 
  alive 
  with 
  vast 
  herds 
  of 
  buffalo, 
  that 
  were 
  

   quietly 
  grazing 
  as 
  far 
  as 
  the 
  eye 
  could 
  reach, 
  in 
  every 
  direction." 
  t 
  

  

  Lieutenant 
  E. 
  S. 
  Godfrey, 
  of 
  the 
  7th 
  United 
  States 
  Cavalry, 
  who 
  has 
  

   recently 
  spent 
  several 
  years 
  in 
  the 
  department 
  of 
  the 
  Missouri, 
  in- 
  

   forms 
  me 
  that 
  when 
  Fort 
  Harker 
  was 
  established, 
  in 
  1866, 
  the 
  buffaloes 
  

   ranged 
  regularly 
  as 
  far 
  east 
  as 
  this 
  point, 
  and 
  even 
  passed 
  beyond 
  it. 
  

   They 
  were 
  taken 
  here 
  for 
  several 
  years 
  after, 
  but 
  in 
  1870 
  had 
  almost 
  

   wholly 
  retired 
  to 
  points 
  further 
  westward. 
  

  

  Professor 
  B. 
  F. 
  Mudge, 
  of 
  the 
  Kansas 
  State 
  Agricultural 
  College, 
  has 
  

   given 
  me 
  the 
  following 
  general 
  statement 
  respecting 
  their 
  extermination 
  

   in 
  Eastern 
  Kansas. 
  Under 
  date 
  of 
  February 
  7, 
  1873, 
  in 
  kind 
  response 
  

   to 
  my 
  inquiries, 
  Professor 
  Mudge 
  wrote 
  as 
  follows 
  : 
  

  

  " 
  The 
  buffalo 
  ranged 
  to 
  the 
  eastern 
  border 
  of 
  Kansas 
  as 
  recently 
  as 
  

   1835. 
  About 
  that 
  time 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  authorities 
  removed 
  the 
  Dela- 
  

   ware, 
  Pottawattamie, 
  Kaws, 
  and 
  other 
  tribes 
  of 
  Indians 
  to 
  ' 
  reserva- 
  

   tions 
  ' 
  in 
  the 
  eastern 
  part 
  of 
  what 
  is 
  now 
  Kansas. 
  These 
  Indians 
  soon 
  

   drove 
  the 
  buffalo 
  as 
  far 
  west 
  as 
  the 
  Blue 
  Eiver 
  (one 
  hundred 
  miles 
  west 
  

   of 
  the 
  Missouri 
  Eiver), 
  which 
  was 
  as 
  far 
  as 
  the 
  reservations 
  extended. 
  

   The 
  buffalo 
  held 
  that 
  range 
  till 
  1854, 
  when 
  Kansas 
  was 
  made 
  a 
  Territory 
  

   and 
  whites 
  began 
  to 
  settle 
  here. 
  For 
  fifteen 
  years 
  from 
  that 
  time 
  the 
  

   buffalo 
  receded, 
  on 
  an 
  average, 
  about 
  ten 
  miles 
  a 
  year. 
  For 
  three 
  years 
  

   past 
  they 
  have 
  been 
  hunted 
  in 
  summer 
  for 
  their 
  hides 
  for 
  tanning 
  : 
  this 
  

   is 
  exterminating 
  them 
  very 
  rapidly. 
  Now 
  they 
  are 
  not 
  found 
  in 
  North- 
  

   ern 
  Kansas 
  east 
  of 
  100° 
  of 
  longitude 
  ; 
  in 
  Southern 
  Kansas 
  as 
  far 
  east- 
  

   erly 
  as 
  longitude 
  98°, 
  the 
  western 
  boundary 
  of 
  Kansas 
  being 
  102°. 
  In 
  

   a 
  few 
  years 
  I 
  think 
  they 
  will 
  not 
  range 
  north 
  of 
  the 
  Arkansas 
  Eiver." 
  

  

  None 
  of 
  the 
  government 
  expeditions 
  sent 
  across 
  the 
  plains 
  since 
  1840 
  

   seem 
  to 
  have 
  met 
  with 
  the 
  buffalo 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  longitude 
  of 
  Fort 
  Eiley, 
  

   or 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  97th 
  meridian, 
  from 
  the 
  Platte 
  southward 
  to 
  Texas. 
  In 
  

   the 
  Indian 
  Territory 
  they 
  have 
  not 
  for 
  a 
  number 
  of 
  years 
  ranged 
  to 
  the 
  

   eastward 
  of 
  Fort 
  Sill.f 
  It 
  thus 
  appears 
  that 
  the 
  buffaloes 
  were 
  ex- 
  

   terminated 
  in 
  Eastern 
  Kansas 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  eastern 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  Indian 
  Ter- 
  

   ritory 
  over 
  a 
  breadth 
  of 
  about 
  four 
  degrees 
  of 
  longitude 
  between 
  1835 
  

   and 
  1870. 
  

  

  The 
  extermination 
  along 
  the 
  western 
  border 
  of 
  the 
  southern 
  herd 
  has 
  

   also 
  extended 
  over 
  a 
  considerable 
  area. 
  In 
  1806 
  Pike 
  found 
  them 
  

   throughout 
  his 
  march 
  across 
  the 
  plains 
  from 
  the 
  western 
  edge 
  of 
  Arkan- 
  

   sas 
  to 
  the 
  eastern 
  base 
  of 
  the 
  Eocky 
  Mountains, 
  meeting 
  with 
  them 
  in 
  

  

  * 
  Beckwith's 
  Report 
  of 
  Captain 
  Gunnison's 
  Exploration 
  of 
  the 
  Thirty-eighth 
  and 
  

   Thirty-ninth 
  Parallels, 
  Pacitic 
  Railroad 
  Explorations 
  and 
  Surveys, 
  Vol. 
  II. 
  

  

  t 
  Geological 
  Report 
  of 
  the 
  Exploration 
  of 
  the 
  Yellowstone 
  and 
  Missouri 
  Rivers, 
  p. 
  

   122. 
  

  

  t 
  Captain 
  J. 
  W. 
  Powell, 
  of 
  the 
  8th 
  United 
  States 
  Infantry, 
  informs 
  me 
  that 
  in 
  1872 
  

   the 
  buffalo 
  did 
  not 
  range 
  as 
  far 
  east 
  as 
  Fort 
  Sill, 
  but 
  occurred 
  fifty 
  miles 
  west 
  of 
  this 
  

   point 
  in 
  considerable 
  numbers. 
  Lieutenant 
  Godfrey 
  (7th 
  Cavalry) 
  also 
  states 
  that 
  dur- 
  

   ing 
  1871 
  and 
  1872 
  he 
  met 
  with 
  them 
  throughout 
  that 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  Indian 
  Territory 
  west 
  

   of 
  Fort 
  Sill. 
  

  

  