440 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.- 



" In 1881 we handled about 14,000 hides, average cost about $3.50, 

 and 12,000 robes, average cost about $7.50. 



"In 1882 we purchased between 35,000 and 40,000 hides, at an aver- 

 age cost of about $3.50, and about 10,000 robes, at an average cost of 

 about $8.50. 



"In 1883 we purchased from 6,000 to 7,000 hides and about 1,500 to 

 2,0;, robes at a slight advance in price against the year previous. 



''•In 1884 we purchased less than 2,500 hides, and in my opinion these 

 were such as were carried over from the previous season in the North- 

 west, and were not fresh-slaughtered skins. The collection of robes 

 this season was also comparatively small, and nominally robes carried 

 over from 1883. 



"In 1885 the collection of hides amounted to little or nothing. 



" The aforesaid goods were all purchased direct in the Northwest, 

 that is to say, principally in Montana, and shipped in care of our branch 

 house at St. Paul, Minnesota, to Joseph Ullinan, Chicago. The robes 

 mentioned above were Indian-tanned robes and were mainly disposed 

 of to the jobbing trade both East and West. 



" In 1881 and the years prior, the hides were divided into two kinds, 

 viz, robe hides, which were such as had a good crop of fur and were 

 serviceable for robe purposes, and the heavy and short-furred bull 

 hides. The former were principally sold to the John S. Way Manufact- 

 uring Company, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and to numerous small robe 

 tanners, while the latter were sold for leather purposes to various hide- 

 tan uers throughout the United States and Canada, and brought 5£ to 

 8^ cents per pound. A very large proportion of these latter were tanned 

 by the Wilcox Tanning Company, Wilcox, Pennsylvania. 



"About the fall of 1882 we established a tannery for buffalo. robes in 

 Chicago, and from that time forth we tanned all the good hides which 

 we received into robes and disposed of them in the same manner as the 

 Indian-tanned robes. 



" I don't know that I am called upon to express an opinion as to the 

 benefit or disadvantage of the extermination of the buffalo, but never- 

 theless take the liberty to say that I think that some proper law restrict- 

 ing the unpardonable slaughter of the buffalo should have been enacted 

 at the time. It is a well-known fact that soon after the Northern Pacific 

 Eailroad opened up that portion of the country, thereby making the 

 transportation of the buffalo hides feasible, that is to say, reducing the 

 cost of freight, thousands upon thousands of buffaloes were killed for 

 the sake of the hide alone, while the carcasses were left to rot on the 

 open plaius. 



"• The average prices paid the buffalo hunters [from 1880 to 1884] was 

 about as follows: For cow hides [robes?], $3; bull hides, $2.50; year- 

 lings, $1.50 ; calves, 75 cents; and the cost of getting the hides to mar- 

 ket brought the cost up to about $3.50 per hide." 



The amount actually paid out by Joseph Ullinan, in four years, for 



