THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 525 



that there are uow about five hundred and fifty buffaloes in the region 

 named. If we are to believe in the existence there of any stragglers 

 his estimate is a fair one, and we will gladly accept it. The total is 

 therefore as follows : 



Number of American bison running wild and unprotected on January 1, 1889. 



In the Pan-handle of Texas 25 



In Colorado 20 



In southern Wyoming 26 



In the Musselshell country, Montana 10 



In western Dakota 4 



Total number in the United States 85 



In Athabasca, Northwest Territory (estimated) 550 



Total in all North America 635 



Add to the above the total number already recorded in captivity 

 (256) and those under Government protection in the Yellowstone Park 

 (200), and the whole number of individuals of Bison americanus now 

 living is 1,091. 



From this time it is probable that many rumors of the sudden appear- 

 ance of herds of buffaloes will become current. Already there have 

 been three or four that almost deserve special mention. The first ap- 

 peared in March, 1887, when various Western newspapers published a 

 circumstantial account of how a herd of about three hundred buffaloes 

 swam the Missouri River about 10 miles above Bismarck, near the 

 town of Painted Woods, and ran on in a southwesterly direction. A 

 letter of inquiry, addressed to Mr. S. A. Peterson, postmaster at Painted 

 Woods, elicited the following reply : 



u The whole rumor is false, and without any foundation. I saw it 

 first in the — - — newspaper, where I believe it originated." 



In these days of railroads and numberless hunting parties, there is 

 not the remotest possibility of there being anywhere in the United 

 States a herd of a hundred, or even fifty, buffaloes which has escaped 

 observation. Of the eighty-five head still existing in a wild state it 

 may safely be predicted that not even one will remain alive five years 

 hence. A buffalo is now so great a prize, and by the ignorant it is con- 

 sidered so great an honor (?) to kill one, that extraordinary exertions 

 will be made to find and shoot down without mercy the " last buffalo." 



There is no possible chance for the race to be perpetuated in a wild 

 state, and in a few years more hardly a bone will remain above ground 

 to mark the existence of the most prolific mammalian species that ever 

 existed, so far as we know. 



VII. Effects of the Extermination. 



The buffalo supplied the Indian with food, clothing, shelter, bedding, 

 saddles, ropes, shields, and innumerable smaller articles of use and 

 ornament. In the United States a paternal government takes the place 



