Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1904, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $2. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1904 
j VOL LXIII.-No. 26. 
1 No. 84* Broadway. Nbw York. 
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BUFFALO RELICS. 
The note on buffalo wallows, printed in another 
column, brings up many memories of a feature of the 
old West that is fast disappearing. Much has been 
printed about the buffalo trail, the buffalo wallow, the 
buffalo chip, and the buffalo rubbing stone— all of them, 
except the last, rapidly passing out of memory, and never 
again to be studied. All that is known about such relics 
left by America's greatest modern mammal should be set 
down. How valuable would be any observations— if we 
had them— concerning the ways of certain creatures that 
used to be, but are no more! Suppose that a naturalist 
like Mr. Chapman had spent a few weeks in the home 
of the great auk, or the dodo or Steller's sea cow, study- 
ing the habits of either of these; how great would have 
been the value of his observations to science. 
As suggested by our correspondent, some buffalo wal- 
lows remain which to the present day bear no vegetation 
in the center, while others contain a growth of grass and 
weeds much more luxuriant than that of the surrounding 
soil, presumably on account of the water caught and held 
in the wallows. We are disposed to attribute this differ- 
ence to the amount of use that the wallow has had ; one 
used infrequently, or for a comparatively few years, still 
retaining the seeds and soil needed to produce the grass 
and weeds common on the prairie. A wallow which had 
been used for many years, however, would eventually be 
without seeds for germinating. The rolling and rubbing 
of the great beasts would grind up and destroy a certain 
proportion of the seeds, while a far greater proportion, 
mixed up with the mud of the wallow, would be carried 
away on the backs and sides of the animals that used 
the wallow for a bath. The tramping through the con- 
cavity and the rolling and spinning about of the buffalos 
would gradually wear through the loam or soil lying on 
the top of the prairie, turning it into mud which would be 
so carried away, and the gravel or hardpan beneath would 
at length be reached. 
In time the buffalo, using the wallow in wet weather 
or when it contained water, would have carried away not 
only the seeds which would produce the grass and weeds, 
but also the soil necessary for the germination of seeds. 
After the soil had been removed, the chance that grass, 
would sprout and grow on the hardpan, gravel or rock 
at the bottom of the wallow would be very slight, for are 
we not told of seed falling upon a rock that "as soon as 
it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked 
moisture?" These reasons seem to afford satisfactory 
explanation of the lack of vegetation in some of the old 
buffalo wallows. 
In the old buffalo trails the situation is somewhat 
different. Here the soil, ground up by the passage of 
countless feet for many generations, was blown away in 
fine dust by the constant winds of the prairie, but only 
the lightest of it was carried away, and many of the seeds 
would remain, sinking down lower and lower as the trail 
was deepened. 
Another set of conditions prevailed in the old paths 
which still form trenches close about the rubbing stones 
in the buffalo ranges of the north. These trenches now 
hold only gravel and large stones, for the soil and the 
seeds, triturated against the stones and the gravel by the 
hoofs of the animals which walked about the rubbing 
stone, have been blown away. Here again there remain 
neither seeds to germinate nor soil to support them if 
they did germinate. 
In many portions of the West, especially on the more 
unsettled northern plains, within the former range of the 
buffalo, the old trails may still frequently be seen, lead- 
ing over the hills in different directions down to watering 
or crossing places that the buffalo once used. These trails 
are usually greener than the surrounding prairie. In them 
{here has been no lack of seeds to germinate. Not only 
have they held the seeds of the past, but the seeds of 
recent times have blown into them and grown, and now, 
nourished by the richer soil of the trail, they show up 
brightly, green long after the remaining prairie has turned 
brown. 
And the buffalo bird is still in the land ! Not so notice- 
able as in old days, yet still frequently seen, perching 
calmly on the back of horses or cattle, or walking on the 
ground among their feet. There was a time— but it is 
many years ago— when a flock of buffalo birds accom- 
panied each little bunch of buffalo— almost each lonely 
old bull that fed on the prairie. But his name has re- 
cently been so far forgotten that it is only in 1900 that 
a student of birds in a printed paper said of the buffalo 
bird that it would be interesting to know if it formerly 
associated with the buffalo ! 
This species has been seen with buffalo, cattle, horses, 
and elk, and may very well have accompanied other 
species of large game. 
SOMETHING ABOUT FURS. 
Very few people, except those connected with the fur 
trade, or who have had their attention directed to it, 
have any nction of the enormous destruction of animal 
life which takes place each year among fur-bearing ani- 
mals, or of the very extraordinary way in which the 
supply of these animals appears to keep up. Even indi- 
viduals in the fur trade, unless their attention is espe- 
cially called to it, have little information on this point, 
and for the outsider the only way to gain any comprehen- 
sion of it is to study the catalogues of the great fur 
dealers of England and the Continent. 
There are only a few species which seem to be verging 
towaid extinction; such are the sea otter, the beaver, 
over large tracts of country, certain sorts of fur seals, 
and a West African monkey. Northern Asia and north- 
ern North America still produce vast quantities of fur, 
and will long continue to do so. 
Perhaps the most valuable fur in the world is that of 
the sea otter, formerly abundant on the shores of the 
Pacific Ocean in northern Asia and North America, but 
now in great danger of extermination, unless it shall 
soon be efficiently protected. Between 1772 and 1774 
about 10,000 skins of the sea otter were taken in 
the Aleutian Islands, and the fur was so eagerly sought 
after that at the end of the eighteenth century 120,000 
skins were taken each year. The results of such destruc- 
tion could not be doubtful. The number killed soon fell 
to 15,000 each year, and in 1867, when Alaska was sold 
to the United States, it was 700. In 1901 it was 
406, while in 1903 Messrs. Lampson & Co., of London, 
sold 463 skins, but they had none in January, 1904, and 
none in October. It is not unusual for a sea otter skin to 
sell for $500,. while remarkably good skins may bring two, 
three, or five times that price. 
The only skin which approaches the sea otter in value 
is that of the black or silver fox. It is said that good 
skins of the black fox have been sold in St. Petersburg 
at from $1,500 to $4,000. A pair of silver skins in London 
sold for $2,400, while a single skin is said to have 
brought $i,ooo. 
The Arctic foxes, known as white fox and blue fox, 
are in great demand. In 1903 Lampson & Co. sold more 
than 20,000 white skins and nearly 3,700 blue ones. Both 
these skins seem to be increasing in value. It is not long 
ago since the price of white fox skins ranged from $1 
to $4. They are now said to be worth from $16 to $25, 
while the price of the blue fox skins runs from $50 to $75. 
Almost 50,000 wolverine skins were sold in London 
last year, at prices ranging from $4 to $8 for good skins. 
Of Russian sable, nearly 30,000 were sold, or three times 
as many as were sold in all London in 1891. These ex- 
pensive furs run from $2.50 to $75 in price, but occa- 
sionally skins are found which bring from $250 to $350 
each. The Siberian sable, which is much more abundant, 
more than 470,000 skins having been sold last year, is an 
inexpensive fur, worth only about 50 cents apiece. 
Mink and marten are cheap furs, and bring low prices, 
but the best pine marten bring from $7.50 to $12.50. 
Otter skins again are costly, as are beaver, the supply 
of which, as has been said, seems to be failing. 
Passing over a multitude of smaller and less well- 
known skins, it is to be noted that in the March sale of 
1903, no less than 403 musk-ox skins were sold, as agams£ 
practically none at previous sales. These are valuable 
for robes, but the surprising increase in the number leads 
one to imr.gine that there is great danger of the exter- 
mination of this ancient species. 
The Alaska seal catch this year was small, only 13,000 
skins, against 19,000 last year. The skins taken at the 
Commander Islands appear to have been lost by the 
foundering of the ship that was bringing them. There 
are a multitude of other pelts used for different purposes, 
but hardly known to most readers, of which we need not 
speak, further than to say that last year nearly 1,000,000 
skunk skins were sold at prices ranging from 25 cents 
to $i-7S- ___ 
WHITE MOUNTAIN FOREST RESERVE. 
Last week Senator Burnham, of New Hampshire, pre- 
sented to the Senate a favorable report of the Committee 
on Forest Reservations on a bill to establish a White 
Mountain Forest Reserve. The report presents strong 
reasons in support of the measure ; for careful investiga- 
tion shows that the attacks on the forests of New Hamp- 
shire are to-day more severe than in any other part of the 
country. 
The bill provides for the appropriation of $5,000,000, 
of which $T,ooo,ooo shall be made immediately available, 
for the purpose of establishing in the White Mountain 
region a forest reserve, not to exceed 1,000,000 acres. It 
is pointed out that New Hampshire cannot afford to do 
this by herself, nor should she be asked to when the 
question is largely one of regulation of streams, which is 
of importance to Massachusetts more than to New 
Hampshire. No less than five rivers passing through 
Massachusetts have their sources in the White Mountains. 
It is well recognized that the growth of timber is slow, 
and that the reafforesting of areas cut over is a matter 
of from 60 to 100 years in the case of many species of 
trees. It can hardly be expected that private owners will 
look ahead far enough to conserve their forests for so 
distant a crop, and the Government should step in. The 
White Mountains have been for many years a health and 
pleasure resort visited by many eastern people, and only 
through the preservation of the forests can this aspect of 
the section be preserved. 
In the County Court of Malone county, N. Y., the 
suit of William G. Rockefeller against Oliver Lamora for 
trespass has been decided in favor of the plaintiff, and 
Mr. Rockefeller has been awarded 18 cents damages. 
The suit was a test case to determine Mr. Rockefeller's 
right to exclude the public from his Adirondack property. 
It was contended on behalf of the defendant that certain 
trails through the Rockefeller lands having been used 
for more than twenty years were public ways from which 
the people could not be shut out ; and that the waters had 
been stocked from the State hatcheries and were in con- 
sequence free to the public for fishing. Both of these 
contentions were overruled. This prolonged fight be- 
tween the two opposing interests has aroused much feel- 
ing in the vicinity and through the Adirondacks, where 
the old residents are naturally jealous of their rights, 
real or fancied, and the newcomers are impatient of inter- 
ference with their estate-forming schemes. Local senti- 
ment is illustrated by the fact that while Lamora had no 
personal means to fight his legal battles, funds were 
promptly forthcoming by popular subscription. The re- 
sult of the present contest will probably not change local 
feeling; the men who have fished all their lives in Adiron- 
dack waters will still consider that they should enjoy the 
privilege perpetually. 
We have read with regret and sympathy the report of 
the affliction of Dr. J. H. Long, who has been suddenly, 
and it is feared permanently, bereft of sight. The same 
feelings must be shared by everyone; we can conceive of 
no other sentiment being entertained, not even by the 
harshest critic of Dr. Long's animal stories. In the ab- 
sence of any authorized information which would indicate 
that this author's misfortune has resulted from criti- 
cisms of his nature writings, it should not be assumed 
that the criticisms have had anything to do with it. Cer- 
tainly such a charge as a correspondent makes to tt^is 
effect in another column should be sustained by some- 
thing more substantial than mere sympathetic surmise; 
and until enlightened to the contrary, we shall cherish, 
a belief that it has no other basis, " " 
