THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 445 



to 90 cents, and bull robes $1.15. On the northern range, from 1881 to 

 1883, the prices paid were much higher, ranging- from $2.50 to $4, 



A few hundred dressed robes still- remain in the hands of some of the 

 largest fur dealers in New York, Chicago, and Montreal, which can be 

 purchased at prices much lower than one would expect, considering the 

 circumstances. In 1888, good robes, Indian tanned, were offered in 

 New York at prices ranging from $15 to $30, according to size and qual- 

 ity, but in Montreal no first-class robes were obtainable at less than $40. 



Rides. — Next in importance to robes was the class of skins known 

 commercially as hides. Under this head were classed all skins which 

 for any reason did not possess the pelage necessary to a robe, and were 

 therefore fit only for conversion into leather. Of these, the greater por- 

 tion consisted of the skins of old bulls on which the hair was of poor 

 quality and the skin itself too thick and heavy to ever allow of its being 

 made into a soft, pliable, and light-weight robe. The remaining por- 

 tion of the hides marketed were from buffaloes killed in spring and sum- 

 mer, when the body and hind-quarters were almost naked. Apparently 

 the quantity of summer-killed hides marketed was not very great, for 

 it was only the meanest and most unprincipled ones of the grand army 

 of buffalo-killers who were mean enough to kill buffaloes in summer 

 simply for their hides. It is said that at one time summer-killing was 

 practiced on the southern range to an extent that became a cause for 

 alarm to the great body of more respectable hunters, and the practice 

 was frowned upon so severely that the wretches who engaged in itfo-md 

 it wise to abandon it. 



Bones. — Next in importance to robes and hides was the bone product, 

 the utilization of which was rendered possible by the rigorous climate 

 of the buffalo plains. Under the influence of the wind and sun and the 

 extremes of heat and cold, the flesh remaining upon a carcass dried up, 

 disintegrated, and fell to dust, leaving the bones of almost the entire 

 skeleton as clean and bare as if they had been stripped of flesh by 

 some powerful chemical process. Very naturally, no sooner did the 

 live buffaloes begin to grow scarce than the miles of bleaching bones 

 suggested the idea of finding a use for them. A market was readily 

 found for them in the East, and the prices paid per ton were sufficient 

 to make the business of bone-gathering quite remunerative. The bulk 

 of the bone product was converted into phosphate for fertilizing pur- 

 poses, but much of it was turned into carbon for use in the refiuing of 

 sugar. 



The gathering of bones became a common industry as early as 1872, 

 during which year 1,135,300 pounds were shipped over the Atchison, 

 Topeka and Santa ¥6 Railroad. In the year following the same road 

 shipped 2,743,100 pounds, and in 1874 it handled 6,914,950 pounds more. 

 This trade continued from that time on until the plains have beeu 

 gleaned so far back from the railway lines that it is no longer profitable 



