504 



RECREATION 



According to Mr. Ernest Harold Baines 

 and other authorities the buffalo (bison) in 

 United States territory are distributed as 

 follows : 



Pablo-Allard herd, Flathead Indian Res- 

 ervation, Montana 250 



Corbin herd, Corbin Park, Newport, 



N. H.... 150 



James Philips herd, Fort Pierre, S. D.. . 90 



Charles Goodnight herd, Goodnight, Tex. 50 

 U. S. Government herd, Yellowstone Park, 40 



Wild herd in Yellowstone Park 39 



New York Zoological Park 30 



John E. Dooley herd, Utah 30 



G. W. Lillie (Pawnee Bill) herd Okla. . 28 



Lincoln Park, Chicago 20 



Burgess and Hanson herd, Luna, Iowa. . 20 



J. J. Hill herd, Cardigan, Minn. 18 



Cincinnati Zoological Park 16 



C. J. Leander herd, Bancroft, Iowa 10 



Philadelphia Zoological Park 9 



Central Park, New York City 5 



Denver City Park 5 



Buffalo City Park 4 



St. Louis City Park 4 



Montebello Kennels, Philadelphia, Pa... 4 



Frank Rochefeller, Belvidere, Kansas... 3 

 In Parks in Pittsburg, Toledo, Roches- 

 ter, Omaha, San Francisco and other 



places 30 



Individuals or small numbers in hands 



of various persons 36 



The foregoing does not include calves of 

 1905, nor does it show changes and trans- 

 fers since 1904, so that it may only serve as 

 an approximation. 



In addition to those buffalo surviving with- 

 in the territory of the United States, there 

 are between one hundred and one hundred 

 and fifty in Europe, and about the same num- 

 ber in Canada. The Canadian animals in 

 confinement are at Toronto, Winnipeg, and 

 Banff, in the Rocky Mountain National 

 Park, but a herd of the so-called woods buf- 

 falo exists on the Smoky river, in the North- 

 west Territories. It is feared this interesting 

 band is greatly diminished in numbers, and 

 unless the Canadian government acts quickly 

 and vigorously, the last of the woodland 

 buffalo are nearing extermination. 



In 1892, Hudson's Bay officials estimated 

 the herd at 400; now it is placed at from 60 

 to 150 animals, at most; such a competent 

 authority as Dr. Robert Bell, Director of the 

 Canadian Geological Survey, inclining to the 

 smaller total. The decrease of the northern 

 herd, strange to say, is not being brought 

 about by man, but by the timber wolves that 

 kill the calves. All the surviving animals 

 are adults, the bulls being now too few to 

 protect the calves, as they were wont to do 

 when more numerous. Nothing but a gen- 

 eral war on the wolves is likely to be effec- 

 tive, and even a year or two's delay may be 

 fatal to the herd. 



The largest band of living buffalo is the 

 Allard herd, on the Flathead Reservation, in 

 Northwestern Montana. In 1884 Charles Al- 

 lard and Michael Pablo bought ten buffalo 

 from an Indian that had brought them from 

 the Eastern part of the State. They added 

 forty-four head, not all, however, pure, for 

 eighteen were the result of a cross between 

 buffalo and cattle, purchased from "Buffalo" 

 Jones of Nebraska. From this beginning of 

 36 full-blooded, and 18 cross-breed animals 

 the present herd has descended. We made 

 a pilgrimage to see this herd and were as- 

 tonished and delighted to find them healthy, 

 robust, aggressive, practically in a wild state. 



In February, 1902, the herd numbered 320 

 pure, and sixty cross-breed animals. Many 

 have been sold since to Zoological Societies, 

 circuses and individuals, and the number of 

 pure buffalo in it does not now exceed 250. 

 The increase of the herd has been very satis- 

 factory, and the average number of calves 

 is about seventy-five a year. The range con- 

 sists of less than 100 square miles of treeless, 

 upland, with coulees, and creek cut-outs, in 

 which the animals find all the shelter their 

 hardy natures demand. Horse Plains or the 

 Mission Valley, in the Flathead Reservation, 

 is some 3,000 feet above sea level, whereas 

 the Yellowstone band occupies a range fully 

 7,000 feet in altitude. According to Col. C. 

 J. (Buffalo) Jones and other men that are 

 competent to judge, the Yellowstone Park 

 is not the natural home of the buffalo. 

 But the Flathead reservation is, and when 

 we visited that country our guide was a man 

 who had hunted buffalo on the very grounds 

 at present occupied by the Allard herd; 

 there artificial feeding and shelter would 

 not be needed. 



The building of the Union Pacific Railroad 

 from Omaha to Cheyenne in 1866, cut 

 through the very center of the buffalo range, 

 and the great herd thus cut in twain was 

 never re-united. Henceforth, and until they 

 were wiped out, they were to be known as 

 the Northern and Southern herds. The 

 Staked Plains of Texas were in the center 

 of the Southern herd territory, and the town 

 of Glendive, Montana, in that of the North- 

 ern range. _ Other railroads followed, and 

 then, taken in front, flanks, and rear the buf- 

 falo decreased in number with pitiful rapidity. 



The Southern herd practically disappeared 

 during the years 1872-3 and 4. During three 

 years the railroads carried out a million and 

 a quarter of hides, and it is thought that 

 four and a half million buffalo were killed 

 out of the Southern herd in those three years. 



The Northern herd lasted but a short time 

 longer; by 1883 it had been completely ex- 

 terminated, although it was not until 18S0 

 that the excessive slaughter had begun. 



But, as has been said, regrets are vain. 

 The question we have to face, is the steps to 

 be taken to protect, preserve, and multiply 



