THE STORY OF THE BUFFALO. 
Were a second Col. W. F. Cody to become a scout in the great West, he 
could not win the title borne by the illustrious “Buffalo Bill,” for the innumer¬ 
able herds of buffaloes of thirty years ago have disappeared. When “Buffalo 
Bill” shot and brought in hundreds and thousands of buffalo to feed the labor¬ 
ers building the Kansas Pacific railway, and later to the United States troops 
stationed at the Nebraska and Wyoming forts, the number of buffaloes roam¬ 
ing the western plains was estimated at four or five millions. To-day the total 
number of buffaloes in the United States does not exceed one thousand. And 
these few would have been exterminated years ago had they not been given 
government protection. Such in brief is the story of the most characteristic 
animal of the great plains. 
When the first railroads were built west of the Missouri river, the trains 
were often stopped by the immense herds of buffaloes which in migrating were 
crossing the tracks. But these same trains carried many hunters to' the region 
inhabited by the buffalo', and the animal was doomed, for his extirpation was 
only a question of years. 
In 1901 there were but three herds of any size remaining; the one in the 
Yellowstone National Park, another in Lost Park, Colorado, and a third at 
Goodnight, Texas. The Goodnight herd is the largest in the country and is 
supported by the Goodnight estate. A ranch of several thousand acres has 
been set aside for the herd and great care is taken with the animals to prevent 
their wandering off and getting shot. A number of the buffaloes are sold 
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