FOREST AND STREAM 
273 
ing state herds of buffalo was accomplished 
during the year, legislation was enacted in sev¬ 
eral states providing for game refuges, and a 
member of the committee visited one or two of 
the preserves which may be utilized for buffalo. 
Very few of the states have seriously entered 
upon the problem of re-stocking with big game 
or establishing parks or preserves for deer, elk, 
or other big game, although Pennsylvania, 'West 
Virginia, Utah and Oregon have placed deer or 
elk in preserves, and several of the western 
states have liberated elk in National forests. 
During 19x3 fifteen new state game preserves 
were provided in several of the western states. 
Only a few of these are suitable for buffalo, 
among the more promising being the Capitol 
Preserve in Oregon, and the state game pre¬ 
serve in Custer County, South Dakota. There 
are, however, several other state preserves al- 
report of the society is a letter from John 
Schuyler Crosby, the distinguished naturalist 
and sportsman, whose death occurred only a 
short time ago. The communication was prob¬ 
ably one of the last written by Major Crosby, 
and is intensely interesting, particularly in its 
relation of incidents of older days, and state¬ 
ments showing why the buffalo has been ex¬ 
terminated. It is appended herewith: 
In compliance with your written request that 
I give the Society the benefit of my experience 
and knowledge of the buffaloes, the country in 
which they roamed, their rapid destruction, and 
their almost extinction in the United States, I 
beg to give a short report on the American 
Bison, in whose preservation we are so keenly 
interested. 
Cortez, in his early reports of his journeyings 
and campaigns in North America, speaks of see- 
States in 1865. It was estimated that there 
were over three millions. 
During our Civil War very little powder or 
lead reached the Indians and their only way of 
killing buffaloes was with bow and arrows, con¬ 
sequently they increased very rapidly. 
During the Indian campaigns of 1867, 1868 
and 1869 against the Sioux, Cheyennes, Kiowas, 
Arapahoes, Comanches, etc., as adjutant-gen¬ 
eral of these expeditions under General Sheri¬ 
dan, with Custer, I had many opportunities of 
seeing these immense herds, both quietly graz¬ 
ing, or on the move.. 
The only way I can describe it is by saying 
they covered the whole country in detached 
herds, numbering from 5,000 to 20,000, as far 
as the eye could reach, with only clear spaces 
here and there. 
Often in skirmishing with the Indians these 
ready in existence which might be utilized in 
this way. 
The Government herds, including animals fur¬ 
nished by the New York Zoological Society, are 
also flourishing, and Secretary of Agriculture, 
Houston, writing to the American Bison 
Society, says: 
“The new preserve on the Wind Cave Na¬ 
tional Park, established on the recommendation 
of your Society, is one of the most accessible, 
and in certain respects, the best of any of the 
bison ranges. It is admirably adapted not only 
for buffalo, but also for elk, deer, and antelope, 
and preparations are now being made for the 
transfer of a herd of elk this winter. Work 
on the fences will be pushed as rapidly as pos¬ 
sible, and we hope that at an early date the 
South Dakota preserve will be ready for visi¬ 
tors and will fulfill in every way the expecta¬ 
tions of the American Bison Society.” 
One of the most interesting features of the 
A Herd of American Bison. 
ing buffaloes in the early part of the 16th cen¬ 
tury in Mexico; and Coronado in 1540 in his 
march through what is now Oklahoma Terri¬ 
tory saw large herds, and in the early years of 
the 17th century numbers of buffaloes were 
found in what is now the District of Columbia 
and the capital of the United States. In i860 
buffaloes were reported in Ohio and Illinois, 
and in 1730 they were roaming fin Virginia and 
the Carolinas. 
In 1867-68-69-70 I served on the staff of Gen¬ 
eral Sheridan who Commanded the military 
division of the Southwest, which included the 
States of Louisiana, Texas, Indian Territory, 
Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Colorado, and 
Missouri. 
In these years the buffaloes grazed from the 
State of Texas on the south to the British 
possessions on the north, where they found 
plenty of water and grass. Few people are 
aware of the number of buffaloes in the United 
herds, numbering thousands upon thousands, 
would thunder, by with a noise and roar and 
dust, impossible to describe, rendering our 
position very dangerous, often compelling the 
halting of our pack trains and horses. Late 
one afternoon General Sheridan halted the 
command on the top of the “divide” between 
the Cimmeron and Lower Canadian Rivers. 
After dismounting, the General asked the offi¬ 
cers of the staff, which temporarily included 
also General Custer and Scout Bill Cody, “Buf¬ 
falo Bill,” and eight other officers, “How many 
buffaloes have you seen to-day? We had been 
marching since daylight and it was then four 
o’clock in the afternoon, during most of the 
day passing immense herds of these mighty ani¬ 
mals. General Sheridan said to Forsyth, one of 
his aides—“Take a pencil and note-book, put 
down your estimate first, and then put down 
the number of each one of the eleven present.” 
The aggregate was 243,000! 
One of the most interesting incidents con- 
