494 



lot of baled buffalo skins in a corral, the solid cubical contents of which 

 he calculated to equal 120 cords. 



At first the utmost wastefulness prevailed. Every one wanted to 

 kill buffalo, and no one was willing to do the skinuing and curing. 

 Thousands upon thousands of buffaloes were killed for their tongues 

 alone, and never skinned. Thousands more were wounded by unskill- 

 ful marksmen and wandered off to die and become a total loss. But 

 the climax of wastefulness and sloth was not reached until the enter- 

 prising buffalo-butcher began to skin his dead buffaloes by horsepower. 

 The process is of interest, as showing the depth of degradation to which 

 a man can fall and still call himself a hunter. The skin of the buffalo 

 was ripped open along the belly and throat, the legs cut around at the 

 knees, and ripped up the rest of the way. The skin of the neck was 

 divided all the way around at the back of the head, and skinned back 

 a few inches to afford a start. A stout iron bar, like a hitching post, 

 was then driven through the skull and about 18 inches into the earth, 

 after which a rope was tied very firmly to the thick skin of the neck, 

 made ready for that purpose. The other end of this rope was then 

 hitched to the whiffletree of a pair of horses, or to the rear axle of a 

 wagon, the horses were whipped up, and the skin was forthwith either 

 torn in two or torn off the buffalo with about 50 pounds of flesh adher- 

 ing to it. It soon became apparent to even the most enterprising buf- 

 falo skinner that this method was not an unqualified success, and it was 

 presently abandoned. 



The slaughter which began in 1871 was prosecuted with great vigor 

 and enterprise in 1872, and reached, its height in 1873. By that time, 

 the buffalo country fairly swarmed with hunters, each party putting 

 forth its utmost efforts to destroy more buffaloes than its rivals. By 

 that time experience had taught the value of thorough organization, 

 and the butchering was done in a more business like way. By a coin- 

 cidence that proved fatal to the bison, it was just, at the beginning of 

 the slaughter that breech-loading, long-range rifles attained what was 

 practically perfection. The Sharps 40-90 or 45-120, and the Keming- 

 ton were the favorite weapons of the buffalo-hunter, the former be- 

 ing the one in most general use. Before the leaden hail of thousands 

 of these deadly breech-loaders the buffaloes went down at the rate of 

 several thousand daily during the hunting season. 



During the years 1871 and 1872 the most wanton wastefulness pre- 

 vailed. Colonel Dodge declares that, though hundreds of thousands 

 of skins were sent to market, they scarcely indicated the extent of the 

 slaughter. Through want of skill in shooting and want of knowledge 

 in preserving the hides of those slain by green hunters, one hide sent to 

 market represented three, four, or even Jive dead buffalo. The skinners 

 and curers knew so little of the proper mode of curing hides, that at 

 least half of those actually taken were lost. In the summer and fall 

 of 1872 one hide sent to market represented at least three dead buffalo. 



