496 
FOREST AND STREAM 
April 19, 1913 
Passing of the American Buffalo. 
The Noblest Roman of Them All. 
BY D. M. EDGERTON. 
Much study has been given and history 
written upon the race of the North American 
Indian—a history that carries with it much of 
the life of his four-footed and truly majestic 
companion, albeit his main sustenance. But few 
there are of men now living who have enjoyed the 
sport, the only grand sport of a “buffalo hunt’’—a 
sjjort which began dying away the day when the 
Pacific railways started under construction west¬ 
ward from the iMissouri River. Before that 
event he roamed in immense herds of thousands 
upon thousands all that part of the country called 
the plains eastward from the Rocky Mountains 
to the valley of the Missouri, and from Texas 
to British Columbia undisturbed except by 
the attacks of Indians for food and raiment, 
and up to the early 70's were still to be found 
in smaller bodies, the prey of white hunters for 
their hides who left on the plains a scattered 
covering of white horns and bones, which were 
later gathered and shipped by rail to be made 
into a farm fertilizer. And still may be seen 
far and wide spots made by this monarch of the 
plains, known as “buffalo wallows” where, in 
the absence of trees, they were wont to lie 
down and roll, to scratch themselves and get rid 
of the flies. How far eastward of the Missouri 
River, in far earlier times, they were to be 
found, deponent saith not, but Washington in 
his journal of a trip down the Ohio River from 
I'ort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) in a small boat with 
some companions—in 1770—mentions meeting an 
Indian chief, a former friend, on the river bank 
near where Marietta now stands, and who gave 
Washington a “quarter of a buffalo” and showed 
him buffalo tracks. 
To realize something of the proud nature 
and courage of the buffalo when in his native 
element, and to respect him, one had but to 
separate a bull from the herd, cut him out and 
ride up on him and alongside as he runs, give 
him a ball from the rifle, and round the buffalo 
comes, like a “liner” at sea. One glimpse 
of his dark eye, e.xhibiting his insulted dignity, 
as he charges your horse, until you are driven 
off, as he thinks, and then he is off again on 
his way. The writer, now past his hunting days, 
recalls such scenes and battles, as battles they 
often \vere. 
Perhaps the last buffalo hunt in which he 
participated was in 1872, at Fort Russell, then 
at the western boundary of Kansas and on the 
line of the Kansas Paciflc (now N. P.) railway, 
of which company he had become an official, 
between Kansas City and Denver. Going over 
the road we laid by our car to pay a call upon 
tbc officers at that post, and by them a hunt 
was proposed and accepted for the next day. 
We railway officers were each furnished 
with full sized cavalry horses, carbine and re¬ 
volvers, the horses green at the business, and 
mine, a fine black charger, as afraid of a buffalo 
as of an elephant, and the party, six in all, 
started off, followed by a four-horse army 
wagon. 
After a wide berth of a few miles, a small 
herd was sighted, and keeping under cover as 
much as possible, we came within striking dis¬ 
tance, and after them we went, every man for 
himself. The herd scattering, I selected the 
largest bull I saw, cut him out from the bunch, 
and putting my rampant horse—so afraid of the 
game that I had to hold by the starboard rein 
and under spur—alongside, I opened with my re¬ 
volver, at every report of which the buffalo bull 
would turn and charge me, so that I finally left 
him, to fall later if badly hurt, and made after 
another which I brought down, but not until 
between managing my cavalry horse, now wild 
from the shooting and scent of the game, I 
had put one ball up through the wide rim of 
my hat. 
When the chase was over, the soldiers 
skinned and hauled home to the fort, the robes 
and best parts of nine buffalo. 
At times, after the completion of the road 
to Denver, in August, 1870, small herds could 
be seen and sometimes shot at from the train. 
Upon one occasion, when the writer was aboard, 
a wounded buffalo, shot in the shoulder, fell. 
The train stopped, and when approached, the 
buffalo would struggle up and try to charge, 
until taking a rifle from one passenger, I walked 
up in front of the struggling animal, and as he 
rose I gave him his quietus. From then on they 
gradually disappeared, and these noble monarchs 
of the plains are a wild thing of the past. 
Hunting in California. 
BY GOLDEN GATE. 
Now that the duck season is closed, goose 
hunting is attracting the attention of sportsmen, 
and some large bags are being made in the 
grain-growing sections of the San Joaquin and 
Sacramento valleys. Cool weather has been pre¬ 
vailing for several weeks and this waterfowl is 
making a longer stay here than usual. On the 
marshes curlew, plover and English snipe afford 
some sport, but it is to be noted that the supply 
of these birds is getting very limited. The sea¬ 
son on these is open until May i, but just why 
this is the case no one seems to be able to ex¬ 
plain. Snipe have been found nesting at this 
■time, but usually plover and curlew leave before 
this date. The long-billed curlew is getting very 
scarce in California, and immediate legislation 
is needed to preserve it from extinction. A bill 
introduced into the Legislature by A. H. Breed, 
of Oakland, will afford protection for all kinds 
of shore birds, rail, wild pigeon and woodduck 
if passed. 
E. K. Strobridge, of Hayward, has intro¬ 
duced a bill into the Senate designed to give 
the Fish and Game Commission greater power 
in time of immediate need. For instance, in 
case of an epidemic among deer or duck, which 
has occurred several times in the past, shooting 
could be stopped in any district, and in case 
there should be a sudden falling off in the num¬ 
ber of any species of wild life, immediate action 
could be taken instead of waiting for legislative 
action, which could easily be delayed for two 
years. 
Jack rabbit drives, once so common in the 
great valleys of California, are now but seldom 
held, owing to the scarcity of rabbits, but on 
IMarch 15 the farmers and gardners of Arboga, 
Butte county, organized a drive and killed about 
400 of the pests, covering an area five miles 
square. 
During the month of February the Fish and 
Game Commission paid $960 in lion bounty 
claims, this being the greatest sum paid in any 
one month for several years. In the past six 
years the bounty has been paid on about i, 7 St> 
mountain lions, about one-fifth of these having 
been killed in Humboldt county. A huge Cali¬ 
fornia panther was killed a few days ago in 
Marin county, within a few miles of San Fran¬ 
cisco, the beast weighing over 150 pounds. 
Mayor IMott, of Oakland, has suggested that 
a part of Alameda county’s exhibit at the 
Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San 
Francisco in 1915 be in the form of an exhibit 
of the fauna of California. He favors the erec¬ 
tion of a building to house five specimens of 
each animal typical to this State, in their original 
surroundings. 
Since the first of the year the efforts to en¬ 
force the Fish and Game laws of the State have 
resulted in two fatalities. The first of these 
occurred in Wildcat Canon in Alameda county, 
and for several weeks the authorities have been 
endeavoring to capture the guilty parties, but 
without avail. iMushroom hunters, while visit¬ 
ing this wild spot, came upon the body of 
Deputy Fish and Game Commissioner Bert 
Blanchard, of Oakland, who had been missing 
from home for two days. The deputy had been 
shot in the head with a shotgun from a distance 
of but a few feet at tbe most. Witnesses were 
found who had seen him two days before with 
two men in custody, these having been appre¬ 
hended for killing robins. The deputy intimated 
that he was after a third party, and it is be¬ 
lieved that this person is the murderer. 
The second fatality occurred near Larkspur, 
March 10. when Deputy Fish and Game Com¬ 
missioner John W. Gallaway attempted to place 
Herbert and George Le Cornec, of Kentfield, 
under arrest for illegal fishing. These men bore 
a bad reputation and had been carrying on 
poaching and illegal fishing for years in de¬ 
fiance of the authorities. The deputy had 
learned of a net being set for steelheads and 
was in hiding when the men visited the spot 
and were loading the fish into a wagon. He 
placed the pair under arrest and had them 
handcuffed, when one of them drew a revolver 
while the officer’s head was turned for a moment 
and shot him through the jaw. The handcuffed 
