\irarfare on other trilDes. The Indian never shared the v/hite man's conception 

 of sport ; 't-O provide meat and fish for himself and his family was a laborioiis 

 task* 



This different vic^^oint and the' fact that ahoriginal Indian popula- 

 tions v/ere too small and too poorly armed to deplete the game have led to the 

 vide -spread idea that Indians vrere natvirally conservative in their hunting. 

 Actually they v-ere very destructive at times; their "buffalo drives a.nd prairie 

 fires set to trap game v;ere just as v;a.steful, on a sniall scale, as any prac- 

 tices of the v.hite m.an. 



The v/hite settlers and pioneers, no douot, rega.rded gam.e primarily as 

 a source of food and clothing for it "became the general practice among, them 

 to depend upon their professional hunters to "bring the 'necessriry supplies of 

 game into the settlements, very much as the citizens of a modern cor.imianity 

 depend upon the "butchers and the meat markets for that type of food, ''.'ith 

 the occupation of the land "by the white settlers, hovrever, v/ildlife "began to 

 diminish. The decrease was impercepti"ble at first, "but it was definite never- 

 theless, for once the settlers had "brought the primitive land xander tillage 

 or exploited it "by industry, it long remained in that sta.tus. As they moved 

 westward, the new settlers su"bjugatcd more and more of the vdld land, and the 

 wildlife that remained'- in reax of the ad\^ancing line of front iersm.en and set- 

 tlers was forced to adjust itself to a new environment — one that for most 

 .'species v;as not nearly so favora"ble as it originally was. 



The" fertile ground that for ages had grov-n crops of wild game and fur 

 animals wa„s nov.r required to grovr corn, wheat, to"bacco, "beans, and cotton, 

 .and to support domestic flocks and herds. This condition, disastrous for 

 many species, actually "benefited others. The -"big-game- species suffered first 

 and most, VJhile the "bison, elk, deer, and l>ears-v-ere extirpated or forced 

 ■to retire to areas rem.ote from cultivation, some of the smaller creatures, 

 including the quail, the ra"b"bit , the raccoon, and the opossum, found the ad- 

 ditional food supply grown "by the farm.er an enco-iragement to increase their 

 nura'oers for a time and to extend their ranges, 



li^LUEl^CS 0? V'IIjDLI^ Oj COLOIIIZATIOIT AIQ SETTLEMENT 



The a"bundance of gam.e and fur animals and of fishes aided the pioneers 

 and settlers in estaolishihg themselves in the nev/ land; without it, indeed, 

 rapid colonization would have "been impossi'ole. Supplies from Europe had to 

 "be "brought over a long and hazardous ocean route, a cor^munication line far 

 too tenuous and inadequate to support even the smallest outpost of civiliza- 

 tion against the rigors of the wilderness, " Eor a long time after the land 

 had "been cleared and crops were "being harvested, the settlers still found 

 themselves dependent on the wild game and fur e.ninals- for a very ccnsider- 

 a"ble proportion of the essentials of life. 



The v.hite man's first ■•oiowledge of the nature of • the grefet region 

 lying v/est of the Mississippi Came from the heaver trappers, or "mountain 

 men" — the "long hunters" — so-called not "because of their lean "and rangy ap- 

 pearance, "but from their custom of disappearing into the wilderness for 

 months at a time. Resourceful, solitary men, they prided themselves on their 



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