RANGE OF THE ELK HERD 67 
parks, it is also a forest animal. Originally its range coincided 
to a remarkable extent with that of the buffalo, covering fully 
three-fourths of the United States, from the Adirondacks and 
the eastern foot-hills of the Alleghanies to California and Van- 
From a photograph. Copyrighted by S. N. Leek, 1913. 
ELK HERD IN JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING. 
couver Island. It was not found, however, on the Great 
Plains north of the Saskatchewan. 
In summer it ascends the Rocky Mountains to the very 
crest of the Continental Divide, 11,000 feet above the sea. 
The species reaches its highest physical development on the 
backbone of the continent, between northwestern Wyoming 
and southern Colorado. 
From nineteen-twentieths of its original range this grand 
animal has been exterminated. To-day it is abundant in 
