73 



And again : 



" Thirty leagues up the river (Maumee) is a place called La Glaise (now Defiance, 

 Ohio), where buffaloes are always to be found; they eat the clay and wallow in it." 



The eastern limit along the Lakes was probably in Western Is'ew York, 

 in the locality of Buffalo Creek, which empties into Lake Erie. There 

 are, however, doubtful allusions in earlier writings of its occurrence 

 along the southern shore of Lake Ontario. 



There is ample evidence of the former existence and abundance of the 

 Buffalo in Northern Ohio; it occurred in other parts of the State. Colonel 

 John May met with it on the Muskingum in 1788, and Atwater says 

 " we had once the bison and the elk in vast numbers all over Ohio." 

 Hutchins says that in the natural meadows, or savannahs, "from twenty 

 to fifty miles in circuit," from the mouth of the Kanawha far down the 

 Ohio the herds of Bufftilo and Deer were innumerable, as also in the region 

 drained by the Scioto. 



Mr. George Graham, writing Mr. Allen, under date of "Cincinnati, 

 April 11, 1876," states : 



" That the last reliable killing of bnfFalo is taken from the Lacross manuscripts, and 

 partly from tradition from the lips of the children and grandchildren of those who 

 were present. Of the French who settled at Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1790, but one person 

 ever killed a buffalo. This man's name was Duteil. He was out hunting in the summer 

 of 1795, about two miles west from Gallipolis, and saw a herd of buffalo. He fired with- 

 out aiming at any particular one, and luckily killed a large one. He was so elated with 

 this feat that, without stopping to examine the animal, ha ran as fast as he could to the 

 town,' and, having announced his luck, came back followed by the entire body of colon- 

 ists, men, women, and children. They quickly formed a procession, with musicians 

 playing violins, flutes, and haut-boys in front of the fortunate hunter, proudly marching 

 with his gun on his shoulder, and the animal swinging from poles thrust through between 

 his tied feet, followed by the crowd, singing and rejoicing at the prospect of good and 

 hearty fare. 



" The animal was quickly skinned and dressed on its arrival at the town, and for sev- 

 eral days there was feasting, as the first and last buffalo of Gallipolis was served up in 

 such a variety of ways and means as none but the French could devise ; Charles Francis 

 Duteil remaining until his death the renowned marksman who killed the first and last 

 buffalo, of all the emigrants from France, who settled the town of Gallipolis.'' 



In a later communication to Mr. Allen, Mr. Graham adds: 



" From all that I know of the early settlement and history of the West, I am under 

 the impression that the buffalo disappeared from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky 

 about the year 1800." 



kxtirpation of the Bison. — The Buffalo was not driven to the westward 

 by the encroachments of settlements; a few herds may have migrated, 

 but it is more probable' it was exterminated, rather than driven from the 

 central States. 



