70 Fiero Musrum or Naturat History — Zoéxoey, Vou, XI. 
states that Elk were killed on the north branch of the Saranac in New 
York State as late as 1836 (J.c., p. 119). 
Nearly all of the early travelers in Illinois refer to the abundance 
of large game including Elk. André Michaux, writing of the country 
in the vicinity of Kaskaskia, Randolph County, Illinois (1793-96), says, 
“My guide killed an Elk called Cerf by the Canadians and French of 
Illinois. This animal is much larger than the dwarf Deer of the United 
States of which there is an abundance also in the Illinois Country and 
which the French of those countries call Chevreuil. Its antlers are 
twice the size of those of the European Stags.”* Woods (1822) states, 
“To the north of us [English Prairie, Illinois] there are buffaloes and 
elks, also beavers and others on the rivers.’”’} Caton writes, “The last 
account I get of their presence in northern Illinois was in the year 
1820 or thereabouts. In 1818 they were not observed east of the IIli- 
nois River and but few were then found on the western bank of that 
stream. An old settler of high respectability assures me that he saw 
their tracks in the forest north of Peoria in 1829 but did not see the 
animals.” (J.c., p. 80) Kennicott in his ““Animals observed in Cook 
County, Illinois,” says, ‘‘ Several elks have been shot in the county.” 
(L.c., p. 580) 
In southern Illinois they are claimed to have been common about 
1820. Mr. E. J. Chansler of Bicknell, Knox County, Indiana, writes: 
“The last wild Elk killed in Knox County in Indiana, so far as I 
know was killed by George Yeverbough in 1829, near Pond Creek. Mr. 
Ammon Stafford saw the Elk and told me about it. Mr. Bradway 
Thompson told me that he saw an Elk near Bruceville, this county, in 
1830. ‘These dates are reliable and so far as I know are the last records 
for the state, although Mr. I. N. Gilmore says he saw an Elk in 1850. 
This was perhaps a stray tame Elk.” 
In Wisconsin it was apparently found much later. Dr. Hoy writes 
(1882), “Elk, Cervus Canadensis, were on Hay River in 1863 and I have 
but little doubt that a few still linger with us. The next to follow the 
buffalo, antelope and reindeer”’ (J.c., p. 256). Strong says (1883), 
“Occurs very rarely in northern and central Wisconsin. It was for- 
merly quite numerous, but is now almost extinct” (l.c., P. 437). 
Brayton states on the authority of B. H. Van Vleck that in 1882 Elk 
were still found in the vicinity of Green Bay, Wisconsin.t 
In Michigan, according to Miles, Elk were numerous in the eastern 
part of the state as late as 1860. He says: “The Elk is found in abun- 
* Michaux, André. Travels into Kentucky, 1795-1796. (T i i 
Thwaites’s Early Western Travels, III, 1904, p. 7a) ci aes 
_ t Woods, J. Two Years’ Residence in the Settlement on English Prairie in the 
Illinois Country, 182c-1821 (1822), p. 194. 
ft Rept. Geol. Surv. Ohio, IV, Pt. 1, Zodl., 1882, p. 80. 
