AN APPEAL FOR THE BUFFALO. 



The Committee on Public Lands, to 

 whom was referred the Lacey bill for the 

 preservation and perpetuation of the buf- 

 falo, submits the following report: 



A GOOD REPORT ON A GOOD BILL. 



Charles Mair, of the Royal Canadian So- 

 ciety, in May, 1890, made the following 

 statement : 



There is, perhaps, no fact in the natural 

 history of America which brings such re- 

 proach on civilized man as the reckless and 

 almost total destruction of the bison. * * * 

 At this time there are in all probability not 

 500 of these animals alive on the continent. 

 When America was discovered the 

 American Indians, measured by their flocks 

 and herds, were as opulent as any people 

 on the globe. The bison was the common 

 property of all. He took care of himself 

 both winter and summer, and furnished a 

 never failing supply of food and raiment 

 for the aborigines. Through inconceivable 

 ages this animal had become adapted to the 

 soil, climate, and surroundings. The bison 

 is the most typically American of all of 

 the indigenous beasts on the continent. 



In 1832 the last of the bison was killed 

 East of the Mississippi river. Before the 

 development of the railroads vast herds of 

 these animals avoided the destructive ef- 

 fects of the white settlements by emigration 

 to the Far West, and down to as late as 

 1870 they still numbered many millions". 

 The building of the Pacific Railroad was 

 the signal for the destruction of these vast 

 herds. They were slaughtered without 

 mercy, for sport and for profit. 



The most pitiful story in the history of 

 all animal life is Prof. William T. Horna- 

 day's report on the extinction of the Ameri- 

 can bison. The mania for slaughter seems 

 to have affected every one. The English 

 lord, the miner, the cowboy, and the emi- 

 grant slew right and left, dotting the plains 

 with thousands upon thousands of tons of 

 bleaching bones that have since been gath- 

 ered up and transported to the sugar refin- 

 eries on the Atlantic coast. These herds, 

 that could have readily been converted into 

 domestic animals and preserved as a per- 

 manent source of wealth, have been literal- 

 ly swept from the face of the earth. 



The cattle which have taken their place 

 are unable to withstand the rigors and se- 

 verity of the changeable climate. Where 

 the bison turned his head to the storm and 

 fought it out with the blizzard, the Ameri- 

 can cattle of to-day turn tail to the wind 

 and drift to destruction. The bison was 

 clothed expressly to resist the severity of 

 the climate in which he was living. Pre- 

 historic man, in his long warfare against 



the mammoth, left not one to tell the tale. 

 Necessity for food, no doubt, was his ex- 

 cuse, and the slow breeding of these gi- 

 gantic beasts made the extermination com- 

 paratively easy. When America was dis- 

 covered the bison was the king of Ameri- 

 can beasts. By ages of gradual modifica- 

 tion and natural selection an animal was de- 

 veloped fitted in the most admirable way 

 for a life in the vast region from Hudson's 

 bay and Great Slave lake to the Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



The United States Government has 

 tardily attempted to preserve some of the 

 wonders of nature on the continent. The 

 word "extinction" does not quite literally 

 apply to the bison, but we have arrived at 

 a point where nothing but heroic treatment 

 will prevent this animal from joining the 

 dodo, the great auk, and the mammoth. 



P.rofessor Hornaday thinks there are at 

 present 400 living buffalo in the whole 

 world. The herd of the Flathead Indians, 

 the "Buffalo Jones" herd, the Goodnight 

 herd, the Corbin herd, a few specimens 

 here and there in zoological parks, rem- 

 nants still of perhaps 20 in the Yellowstone 

 National Park, and a few scattered wood 

 buffalo West of Hudson's bay embrace all 

 that are left of the countless millions of a 

 generation ago . 



Col. C. J. Jones was engaged with others 

 in the general slaughter which nearly ex- 

 terminated the buffalo. He realized that 

 soon there would not be a living speci- 

 men of this wonderful animal, and he at- 

 tempted to preserve at least a small herd 

 from destruction.. Pie accordingly went 

 systematically about the capturing of calves, 

 driving with him milch cows to preserve 

 the little captives, and he has at present 

 about 100, the descendants of these cap- 

 tured calves. It is gratifying to find that 

 his humane experiment was not unprofit- 

 able. The Government tried to save 400 of 

 these animals in Yellowstone Park, but in 

 that high altitude, with its rigorous weather 

 and the relentless destruction of the ani- 

 mals when they wandered beyond the limits 

 of the park, it is not probable there are 

 more than 20 still alive. The climate of 

 the Yellowstone Park, the high altitude, 

 and the heavy snows there have all proved 

 great barriers to the preservation or propa- 

 gation of these animals. 



In a more favorable climate, with ade- 

 quate protection and opportunity for rang- 

 ing, breeding may be successfully carried 

 on. Experience has shown that in close 

 confinement most of the calves are males, 

 but on the open range, under more natural 

 conditions, the birthrate of the 2 sexes is 



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