THE GAME BREEDER 



77 



quin Valley and adjacent foothills, and 

 through Livermore and Sufiol valleys 

 across to the Santa Clara Valley and 

 even to Monterey where Don Sebastian 

 Viscaino found them abundant when he 

 landed there December 10, 1602. Evi- 

 dence was also presented showing that 

 the range of this elk extended well up 

 into, if not throughout, the Sacramento 

 Valley. 



Throughout most of its range the 

 species was very abundant in those early 

 days and it continued to be abundant in 

 the San Joaquin Valley at least as late 

 as the early fifties. With the rapid in- 

 crease in population of California fol- 

 lowing the discovery of gold, the elk had 

 a hard time of it, and their numbers 

 rapidly decreased. Through persistent 

 and more or less constant harassment 

 they were soon driven out of the foot- 

 hills and down into the valley where 

 they found, when too hard pressed, a 

 comparatively safe retreat in the tule 

 marshes. But even there they were not 

 secure. The eager hunters soon devised 

 ways and means by which the animals 

 could be followed into the tule lands, 

 and their numbers went on decreasing. 

 In the early seventies it is said only a 

 few individuals were left of the once 

 vast herds which only a decade or two 

 before had roamed over the great in- 

 terior valley. One report has it thai 

 there was but a single pair. This may 

 not be literally true, but it doubtless cor- 

 rectly states the general fact that the 

 species was almost extinct. 



Then it was that a man of vision came 

 upon the scene and saved this magnifi- 

 cent animal from complete extermina- 

 tion. That man was Henry Miller, the 

 founder of the great cattle company of 

 Miller and Lux, the greatest company 

 of the kind in America, if not in the 

 world. It was Henry Miller who saw 

 the fate which inevitably awaited the 

 California valley elk unless prompt ac- 

 tion were taken to protect the few ani- 

 mals that were left. Fortunately, the 

 few remaining elk made their last stand 

 in the southern part of the San Joaquin 

 Valley in the vicinity of what is now 

 called Buena Vista Lake, and on land 



owned or controlled by Miller and Lux. 

 There they had been able to secure a 

 measure of safety in the willows and 

 tules, but. it was Mr. Miller's strict 

 orders to the employees of the company 

 that the elk must not be disturbed under 

 any circumstances, that saved them. 



In the article to which reference has 

 been made, it is told how the herd in- 

 creased in numbers until in 1914 there 

 were probably more than 400 animals 

 in it, how the herd was doing consider- 

 able damage each year to the alfalfa and 

 Egyptian corn fields on the Miller and 

 Lux Kern County ranch, and how the 

 California Academy of Sciences under- 

 took to reduce the herd somewhat by 

 transferring some of the animals to suit- 

 able places in other parts of the State. 

 It was believed that herds could be 

 established in a number of reservations 

 and parks in the State where they would 

 thrive and thus establish several new 

 centers for the propagation and preserva- 

 tion of the species. The thought was 

 to increase as much as possible the con- 

 ditions favorable to the preservation of 

 the species. In pursuance of this policy 

 54 elk were distributed in the fall of 

 1914 to seven different reservations and 

 parks. Many requests for elk could not 

 be supplied at that time, the number of 

 animals Messrs. Miller and Lux were 

 able to capture not being enough to go 

 around. Those who could not be sup- 

 plied in 1914 were quite anxious to se- 

 cure some of the elk and it was decided 

 to make another distribution in the fall 

 of 1915. This was done. Messrs. Miller 

 and Lux again built a large corral near 

 Buttonwillow in a field to which the elk 

 were in the habit of coming at night 

 to feed. The same method was followed 

 as was pursued .the previous year. A 

 total of 100 animals were captured and 

 92 of these were distributed to four- 

 teen different places. 



In order that the record may be com- 

 plete, there is given herewith a list of 

 all the shipments for the two years, to- 

 gether with the available data regarding 

 the present condition of the various 

 herds. The distribution in 1915, as in 

 1914, was under the immediate direction. 



