﻿AiLEN.J 
  DISTRIBUTION 
  IN 
  BRITISH 
  AMERICA. 
  551 
  

  

  110°, 
  latitudo 
  51°, 
  was 
  seven 
  days 
  in 
  passing 
  through 
  a 
  herd. 
  The 
  Sas- 
  

   katchewan 
  district 
  sent 
  17,930 
  bufifalo-robes 
  through 
  Minnesota 
  to 
  market 
  

   during 
  the 
  year 
  ending 
  September 
  30, 
  1872, 
  while 
  an 
  equal 
  number 
  was 
  

   either 
  consumed 
  in 
  the 
  country 
  or 
  despatched 
  to 
  Europe 
  by 
  vessels 
  from 
  

   York 
  Factory, 
  on 
  Hudson's 
  Bay."* 
  

  

  During 
  the 
  summer 
  of 
  1873, 
  Mr. 
  A. 
  E. 
  C. 
  Selwyn 
  made 
  a 
  journey 
  from 
  

   Manitoba 
  to 
  Eocky 
  Mountain 
  House, 
  in 
  describing 
  which 
  he 
  says 
  not 
  a 
  

   single 
  buffalo 
  was 
  met 
  with 
  on 
  the 
  whole 
  journey, 
  although 
  the 
  region 
  

   he 
  traversed 
  was 
  " 
  swarming" 
  with 
  them 
  not 
  many 
  years 
  before. 
  He 
  

   saw 
  only 
  their 
  " 
  skulls 
  whitening 
  on 
  the 
  plains, 
  and 
  their 
  deep-worn 
  

   and 
  grass-grown 
  tracks" 
  — 
  evidences 
  of 
  their 
  former 
  recent 
  existence.t 
  

  

  Eespecting 
  the 
  present 
  range 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo 
  in 
  that 
  portion 
  of 
  the 
  

   British 
  Possessions 
  immediately 
  north 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States 
  line, 
  I 
  have 
  

   been 
  favored, 
  through 
  Principal 
  J. 
  W. 
  Dawson 
  of 
  McGill 
  College, 
  Mon- 
  

   treal, 
  with 
  the 
  following 
  important 
  communication 
  from 
  Professor 
  George 
  

   M. 
  Dawson, 
  Geologist 
  of 
  the 
  British 
  and 
  United 
  States 
  Boundary 
  Sur- 
  

   vey, 
  dated 
  McGill 
  College, 
  Montreal, 
  June 
  3, 
  1875 
  : 
  " 
  Understanding 
  

   from 
  Principal 
  Dawson 
  that 
  you 
  wish 
  to 
  collect 
  information 
  as 
  to 
  the 
  

   range 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo 
  in 
  British 
  ISTorth 
  America, 
  I 
  have 
  marked 
  on 
  the 
  

   inclosed 
  portion 
  of 
  a 
  map 
  the 
  range 
  of 
  the 
  animal 
  on 
  the 
  forty-ninth 
  

   parallel, 
  of 
  which 
  alone 
  I 
  can 
  speak 
  from 
  personal 
  knowledge. 
  During 
  

   the 
  last 
  sixteen 
  years 
  it 
  would 
  appear 
  that 
  the 
  buffaloes 
  have 
  been 
  driven 
  

   back 
  over 
  two 
  hundred 
  miles 
  on 
  the 
  forty-ninth 
  parallel, 
  and 
  now 
  do 
  

   not 
  extend 
  in 
  any 
  force 
  beyond 
  White 
  Mud 
  Eiver, 
  or 
  Frenchman's 
  

   Creek 
  (longitude 
  107° 
  3U'). 
  They 
  reached 
  this 
  point 
  when 
  we 
  arrived 
  

   there 
  late 
  in 
  June 
  of 
  last 
  summer, 
  and 
  were 
  going 
  north 
  in 
  great 
  herds, 
  

   followed 
  by 
  the 
  Sioux 
  Indians. 
  This 
  migration 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  ceased 
  

   before 
  about 
  the 
  20th 
  of 
  July, 
  when 
  they 
  were 
  confined 
  to 
  the 
  limits 
  

   stated 
  on 
  the 
  map.f 
  and 
  remained 
  so 
  till 
  we 
  left 
  the 
  country, 
  in 
  Sep- 
  

   tember. 
  ' 
  The 
  Sweet 
  Grass 
  Hills 
  form 
  their 
  centre 
  in 
  the 
  vicinity 
  of 
  

   the 
  Line. 
  The 
  pasture 
  is 
  good, 
  and 
  the 
  region 
  is 
  besides 
  a 
  sort 
  of 
  neu- 
  

   tral 
  ground 
  among 
  the 
  Indian 
  tribes. 
  We 
  saw 
  abundant 
  traces 
  of 
  the 
  

   passage 
  of 
  great 
  herds 
  in 
  spring 
  on 
  the 
  upper 
  branches 
  of 
  Milk 
  Eiver, 
  

   and 
  they 
  come 
  in 
  to 
  the 
  foot 
  of 
  the 
  Eocky 
  Mountains. 
  I 
  do 
  not 
  think 
  

   they 
  ever 
  cross 
  the 
  mountains 
  in 
  the 
  vicinity 
  of 
  the 
  forty-ninth 
  parallel, 
  

   though 
  I 
  have 
  seen 
  their 
  bones 
  as 
  far 
  up 
  tlie 
  South 
  Kootanie 
  Pass 
  as 
  

   the 
  last 
  grassy 
  meadow." 
  

  

  On 
  the 
  map 
  referred 
  to 
  in 
  the 
  above-given 
  letter, 
  a 
  line 
  drawn 
  along 
  

   Frenchman's 
  Creek 
  or 
  White 
  Mud 
  Eiver 
  is 
  given 
  as 
  the 
  eastern 
  limit 
  

   of 
  the 
  present 
  range 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo, 
  while 
  the 
  region 
  a 
  little 
  to 
  the 
  Avest 
  

   of 
  this 
  line 
  is 
  marked 
  as 
  the 
  district 
  where 
  " 
  great 
  herds" 
  were 
  seen 
  

   "going 
  north 
  in 
  June." 
  The 
  line 
  drawn 
  parallel 
  to 
  the 
  Little 
  Souris 
  

   Eiver, 
  and 
  about 
  forty 
  miles 
  to 
  the 
  westward 
  of 
  it, 
  following 
  the 
  Coteau 
  

   de 
  Missouri, 
  is 
  given 
  as 
  the 
  "approximate 
  eastern 
  limit 
  of 
  'buffalo 
  

   chips.'" 
  

  

  In 
  addition 
  to 
  the 
  information 
  contained 
  in 
  Professor 
  Dawson's 
  letter, 
  

   I 
  find 
  the 
  following 
  in 
  his 
  recent 
  " 
  Eeport 
  on 
  the 
  Geology 
  and 
  Eesources 
  

   of 
  the 
  Eegion 
  in 
  the 
  Vicinity 
  of 
  the 
  Forty-ninth 
  Parallel," 
  etc. 
  : 
  " 
  From 
  

   what 
  I 
  could 
  learn," 
  says 
  Professor 
  Dawson, 
  "I 
  believe 
  that, 
  at 
  the 
  

  

  * 
  Captain 
  Butler 
  states 
  that 
  in 
  1872 
  " 
  not 
  less 
  than 
  30,000 
  robes" 
  foiiud 
  their 
  way 
  to 
  

   tlie 
  Red 
  River, 
  and 
  that 
  " 
  fully 
  as 
  many 
  more 
  in 
  skins 
  of 
  parchment 
  or 
  in 
  leather 
  had 
  

   been 
  traded 
  or 
  consumed 
  in 
  the 
  thousand 
  wants 
  of 
  savage 
  life." 
  The 
  Blackfoot 
  tribes 
  

   alone 
  are 
  said 
  to 
  kill 
  twelve 
  thousand 
  annually. 
  — 
  Wild 
  Xoj-ih 
  Land, 
  p. 
  62. 
  

  

  t 
  Canadian 
  Naturalist, 
  second 
  series, 
  Vol. 
  VI(, 
  1875, 
  p. 
  199. 
  

  

  tA 
  belt 
  about 
  seventy-tive 
  miles 
  wide, 
  situated 
  on 
  both 
  sides 
  of 
  the 
  lUtb 
  meridian, 
  

   but 
  lyiufT 
  mainly 
  between 
  the 
  111th 
  and 
  H2th 
  meridians, 
  and- 
  stretching 
  northward 
  

   toward 
  the 
  South 
  Saskatchewan. 
  

  

  