﻿ALLEN.] 
  BUFFALO 
  DESTINED 
  TO 
  SPEEDY 
  EXTERMINATION. 
  553 
  

  

  about 
  twenty 
  degrees 
  of 
  longitude. 
  This 
  immense 
  habitat 
  of 
  almost 
  a 
  

   third 
  of 
  the 
  continent 
  has 
  been 
  reduced 
  in 
  three-fourths 
  of 
  a 
  century 
  to 
  

   a 
  region 
  not 
  larger 
  in 
  the 
  aggregate 
  than 
  the 
  present 
  territories 
  of 
  

   Dakota 
  and 
  Montana. 
  Over 
  a 
  large 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  former 
  vast 
  region 
  they 
  

   inhabited 
  they 
  were 
  as 
  numerous 
  as 
  they 
  now 
  are 
  in 
  Western 
  Kansas 
  

   or 
  Northern 
  Texas, 
  and 
  ranged 
  at 
  different 
  seasons 
  over 
  the 
  whole. 
  

   Particular 
  portions 
  of 
  this 
  area 
  have 
  ever 
  formed 
  their 
  favorite 
  places 
  

   of 
  resort, 
  where 
  they, 
  were 
  sure 
  to 
  be 
  found 
  at 
  almost 
  any 
  season 
  of 
  the 
  

   year. 
  There 
  is, 
  for 
  instance, 
  abundant 
  historic 
  evidence 
  that 
  over 
  

   the 
  plains 
  of 
  Kansas, 
  especially 
  near 
  the 
  forks 
  of 
  the 
  Platte, 
  along 
  

   the 
  Eepublican, 
  the 
  Pawnee, 
  the 
  Canadian, 
  and 
  other 
  tributaries 
  of 
  

   the 
  Arkansas, 
  they 
  were 
  as 
  numerous 
  when 
  these 
  parts 
  were 
  first 
  

   visited 
  by 
  the 
  early 
  explorers 
  as 
  they 
  have 
  ever 
  been 
  since, 
  and 
  that 
  

   subsequent 
  travellers 
  have 
  always 
  found 
  them 
  in 
  immense 
  numbers 
  at 
  

   all 
  these 
  points, 
  the 
  plains 
  there 
  literally 
  swarming 
  with 
  them. 
  

  

  In 
  this 
  connection 
  two 
  questions 
  naturally 
  arise, 
  especially 
  in 
  the 
  

   minds 
  of 
  those 
  not 
  fully 
  conversant 
  with 
  the 
  subject: 
  Have 
  the 
  buffalo 
  

   really 
  decreased 
  to 
  the 
  extent 
  these 
  statements 
  imply 
  ? 
  or 
  have 
  they 
  

   simply 
  been 
  driven 
  in 
  by 
  the 
  "encroachments 
  of 
  civilization 
  " 
  and 
  con- 
  

   centrated 
  upon 
  a 
  smaller 
  area 
  ? 
  Not 
  a 
  few 
  otherwise 
  intelligent 
  persons, 
  

   on 
  visiting 
  Western 
  Kansas 
  or 
  Northern 
  Texas 
  and 
  seeing 
  the 
  herds 
  

   which 
  there 
  recently 
  literally 
  blackened 
  the 
  plains, 
  at 
  once 
  adopt 
  the 
  

   latter 
  hypothesis, 
  and 
  proclaim 
  that 
  this 
  vast 
  amount 
  of 
  talk 
  about 
  the 
  

   decrease 
  of 
  the 
  buffalo 
  is 
  ail 
  "nonsense"; 
  that 
  they 
  are 
  just 
  as 
  nu- 
  

   merous 
  as 
  ever, 
  and 
  are 
  not 
  at 
  all 
  decreasing; 
  that 
  the 
  extermination 
  

   of 
  the 
  wolves 
  and 
  the 
  Indians 
  more 
  than 
  comj)ensates 
  for 
  the 
  slaughter 
  

   made 
  by 
  the 
  professional 
  hunters 
  and 
  by 
  the 
  numerous 
  sporting 
  parties 
  

   from 
  the 
  East.* 
  The 
  hunters 
  often 
  adopt 
  the 
  same 
  theory, 
  from 
  the 
  

   most 
  evident 
  reason 
  of 
  self-interest, 
  fearing 
  that 
  some 
  restrictions, 
  

   which 
  will 
  act 
  unfavorably 
  upon 
  their 
  business, 
  may 
  be 
  placed 
  upon 
  the 
  

   wholesale 
  and 
  indiscriminate 
  slaughter 
  now 
  carried 
  on; 
  yet 
  the 
  more 
  

   candid 
  are 
  willing 
  to 
  admit 
  that, 
  at 
  the 
  present 
  rate 
  of 
  destruction, 
  

   the 
  buffalo 
  can 
  last 
  but 
  a 
  few 
  years 
  longer. 
  That 
  such 
  is 
  the 
  truth 
  is 
  

   evident 
  on 
  a 
  moment's 
  reflection, 
  when 
  one 
  has 
  a 
  full 
  knowledge 
  of 
  the 
  

   facts. 
  Less 
  than 
  fifty 
  years 
  ago 
  the 
  buffaloes 
  swarmed 
  in 
  as 
  great 
  — 
  or 
  

   certainly 
  in 
  very 
  nearly 
  as 
  great 
  — 
  numbers 
  as 
  at 
  the 
  present 
  time, 
  not 
  

   only 
  over 
  the 
  regions 
  they 
  now 
  frequent, 
  but 
  at 
  the 
  same 
  time 
  over 
  the 
  

   Laramie 
  Plains, 
  over 
  much 
  of 
  the 
  Ureen 
  River 
  Plateau, 
  over 
  the 
  head- 
  

   waters 
  of 
  the 
  Colorado 
  and 
  Coluu)bia 
  Elvers, 
  over 
  the 
  plains 
  of 
  the 
  

   Yellowstone, 
  and 
  especially 
  over 
  the 
  vast 
  plains 
  of 
  the 
  Red 
  River 
  of 
  

   the 
  North 
  and 
  the 
  Grand 
  Coteau 
  de 
  Missouri 
  ; 
  throughout 
  all 
  of 
  which 
  

   region 
  they 
  have 
  been 
  gradually 
  exterminated, 
  leaving 
  nothing 
  to 
  mark 
  

   their 
  former 
  presence 
  but 
  their 
  rapidly-crumbling 
  skeletal 
  remains 
  and 
  

   their 
  well-worn 
  trails. 
  Over 
  much 
  of 
  this 
  region 
  they 
  have 
  been 
  not 
  

   merely 
  driven 
  out 
  and 
  pressed 
  on 
  to 
  some 
  more 
  secure 
  retreat, 
  but 
  

   actually 
  exterminated, 
  the 
  vast 
  majority 
  J)e%ng 
  Icilled 
  on 
  the 
  sjjot, 
  as 
  we 
  

   have 
  seen 
  was 
  the 
  case 
  east 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  during 
  the 
  last 
  quarter 
  

   of 
  the 
  eighteenth 
  century. 
  

  

  * 
  In 
  Geueral 
  Meigs's 
  MS. 
  notes 
  on 
  the 
  buifnlo, 
  already 
  quoted, 
  he 
  says 
  : 
  " 
  It 
  is 
  a 
  ques- 
  

   tion 
  whether 
  the 
  buffalo 
  west 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  have 
  diminished 
  or 
  increased 
  in 
  num- 
  

   bers 
  to 
  this 
  time," 
  and 
  quotes 
  General 
  Sberidau's 
  opiuiou 
  iu 
  confirmatiofi 
  of 
  this 
  view. 
  

   He 
  says 
  : 
  " 
  General 
  Sheridan, 
  the 
  year 
  after 
  the 
  Grand 
  Duke 
  of 
  Eussia 
  hunted 
  with 
  

   him 
  on 
  the 
  Kansas 
  Pacific, 
  told 
  nie 
  that 
  he 
  thouy;ht 
  there 
  were 
  probably 
  more 
  hujfala 
  

   ihat 
  year 
  than 
  there 
  had 
  ever 
  been 
  he/ore. 
  Ho 
  had 
  travelled 
  through 
  seventy 
  miles 
  < 
  f 
  buf- 
  

   falo. 
  He 
  thought 
  the 
  killing 
  by 
  strychnine 
  of 
  wolves 
  for 
  the 
  hides 
  had 
  saved 
  many 
  

   butlalo-calves, 
  and 
  the 
  hostilities 
  with 
  Indians 
  had 
  prevented 
  them 
  from 
  huutiug 
  as 
  

   freely 
  as 
  usual 
  for 
  some 
  years. 
  

  

  