Of all the quadrupeds that have lived upon the earth, no other species has ever numbered as many as the American bison. Even in South Central Africa, which has always had great herds of game, it is probable that all its quadrupeds taken together on an equal area would never have equaled the total number of buffalo on the plains of North America. the most vivid picture ever afforded of the former abundance of buffalo is that given by Col. R. I. Dodge in his "Plains of the Great West," p. 120, et seq.:

"The great herd on the Arkansas through which I passed could not have averaged, at rest, over fifteen or twenty individuals to the acre, but was, from my own observation, not less than 25 miles wide, and from reports of hunters and others it was about five days in passing a given point, or not less than 50 miles deep. From the top of Pawnee Rock I could see from 6 to 10 miles in almost every direction. This whole vast space was covered with buffalo, looking at a distance like one compact mass, the visual angle not permitting the ground to be seen. I have seen such a sight a great number of times, but never on so large a scale. The advancing multitude had been at all points 50 miles in length (as it was known to have been in some places at least) by 25 miles in width, and still averaged fifteen head to the acre of ground, it would have contained the enormous number of 12,000,000 head."

Twenty years from when he wrote that, when not even a bone or a buffalo chip remains above ground throughout the West to mark the presence of the buffalo, it may be difficult for people to believe that these animals ever existed in such numbers. The decimation of the buffalo has probably never occurred before in any country, and hopefully never will again

With the expansion of Canada and the United States, the influx of settlers, and the need for their own organized law enforcement the Metis Nation Laws of the Hunt were abolished. The Laws of the Hunt spoke specifically about proper use and regulation of the kill, affording the buffalo some protection. The new laws were silent regarding conservation of the buffalo and therefore, a mass slaughter of this magnificent animal occurred. Some historians believe the silence by Canada and the United States regarding the extermination of the buffalo was political in that it took away the main source of food and the lifestyle of the Indian people, allowing them to be rounded up and placed on reserves.

The building of continental railways (in both countries) through the most populous buffalo country impacted significantly on the buffalo. As did the further widening settlement of North America. The disappearance of the buffalo from all the country east of the Mississippi was one of the inevitable results of the advance of civilization. To the early pioneers this valuable animal might well have seemed a gift direct from the hand of Providence. During the first few years of the early settler's life in a new country, the few domestic animals he had brought with him were far too valuable to kill. The bison was the first wild species to disappear before the advance of civilization.

The railroads allowed easy access to the buffalo by anyone who wanted to shoot and they did, right from the trains. Backed up by an unlimited supply of new accurate breech-loading rifles and plenty of ammunition, a wild rush of White buffalo hunters came to the buffalo country. In 1867 "Buffalo Bill" Cody entered into a contract with the Kansas Pacific Railway, then in course of construction through western Kansas, at a monthly salary of $500, to deliver all the buffalo meat that would be required by the army of laborers engaged in building the road. In eighteen months he killed 4,280 buffalos. "Buffalo Bill" was only one of thousands of hunters.

The majority of the White buffalo hunters killed for the buffalo tongues and hides only, leaving behind the skinned carcasses to rot on the plains. The slaughter which began in 1871 was continued with accelerated vigor and enterprise in 1872, and reached its height in 1873. By that time, the buffalo country fairly swarmed with hunters, each party putting forth its utmost efforts to destroy more buffaloes than its rivals. During this entire period the slaughter of buffalo was universal. These individuals invariably killed five times as many animals as could be utilized, and after cutting from each animal only the choicest parts (the tongue alone, possibly, or perhaps the hump and hind quarters) fully 4/5ths of the really edible portion of the carcass would be left to the wolves. It was no uncommon thing for a man to bring in for trade two barrels of salted buffalo tongues, without another pound of meat or a solitary robe. The tongues were purchased at 25 cents each and sold in the markets farther east at 50 cents.

The prices received for hides varied considerably, according to circumstances, but for the green or undressed ones it ranged from 50 cents for the skins of calves to $1.25 for those of adult animals in good condition. Such prices seem ridiculously small, but when buffalo were plentiful it was not uncommon for a hunter to kill forty to sixty head in a day. Even when the buffaloes were nearly gone, the country was overrun with men who had absolutely nothing else to look to as a means of livelihood, and so, no matter whether the profits were great or small, so long as enough buffaloes remained to make it possible to get a living by their pursuit, they were hunted down with no thought to the future.

The number of North American buffalo (bison) running wild and unprotected on January 1, 1889:

• In the Pan-handle of Texas .......... 25
• In Colorado .......... 20
• In southern Wyoming .......... 26
• In the Musselshell country, Montana .......... 10
• In Western Dakota .......... 4
• Total number in the United States .......... 85
• In Athabasca, Northwest Territory (estimated) .......... 550



• Total in all North America .......... 635

Add to the above number, the animals recorded in captivity (256) and those under Government protection in the Yellowstone Park (200), and the whole number of buffalo recorded in the year 1889 comes up to 1,091. The huge herds of buffalo had been almost decimated by 1884.

Eventually the bones of these majestic animals were all that were left littering the plains for many years. A brief industry was established in the last part of 19th and early 20th Centuries whereby the bones were collected and sold. The bones were shipped back East to manufacturers. The bulk of the bone product was converted into phosphate for fertilizing purposes, but much of it was turned into carbon for use in the refining of sugar. The gathering of bones became a common industry as early as 1872, during which year 1,135,300 pounds were shipped over the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. In the year following the same road shipped 2,743,100 pounds, and in 1874 it handled 6,914,950 pounds more. Even as late as 1886 overland travelers saw at many of the stations between Jamestown, Dakota, and Billings, Montana, immense heaps of bones lying alongside the track awaiting shipment. In 1885 a single firm shipped over 200 tons of bones from Miles City. This trade continued from that time on until the plains have been gleaned so far back from the railway lines that it was no longer profitable. The people who collected the bones received 8 to 12 dollars a ton for them. This grisly job provided a form of employment for many Metis for approximately twenty years.

The demise of the great buffalo herds that had once supported a way of life for Indian and Metis people and the subsequent starvation of these people that followed were major factors in the armed resistance of 1885 in Canada.

Today the old buffalo trails are followed by herds of cattle; who follow them in single file just as the buffaloes did a few years ago searching for water in the same way. In some parts of the West, old buffalo trails exist which the wild herds had worn down to a depth of 2 feet or more.