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VOL. XL

OCTOBER, 1906

NO. 4

THE

L

AMERICAN BISON OR

BUFFALO

BISON AMERICANUS (GMELIN, 1788)

BY ERNEST THOMPSON SETON

ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR

ARGEST, and at one time most important of all America's big game, the Bison or Buffalo was the first to be discovered by the explorers of the sixteenth century.

In 1521, Cortez, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico, reached Montezuma's capital, the city of Mexico, and there, in the menagerie, saw the first American Bison to be viewed by European eyes. The menagerie and the beast are thus described by Antonio de Solis ("Conquest of Mexico," 1684):

"In the second Square of the same house were the Wild Beasts, which were either presents to Montezuma, or taken by his hunters, in strong Cages of Timber, rang'd in good Order, and under Cover: Lions, Tygers, Bears, and all others of the savage Kind which New-Spain produced; among which the greatest Rarity was the Mexican Bull; a wonderful composition of divers Animals. It has crooked Shoulders, with a Bunch on its Back like a Camel; its Flanks dry, its Tail large, and its Neck cover'd with Hair like a Lion. It is cloven-footed, its Head armed like that of a Bull, which it resembles in Fierceness, with no less strength and Agility."

species on its native range; as also did Coronado, the next explorer, who penetrated the country of the Buffalo from the West by way of Arizona and New Mexico.

The earliest discovery of the Bison in Eastern North America, or indeed anywhere north of Coronado's route, was made somewhere near Washington, District of Columbia, in 1612, by the Englishman, Samuel Argall, afterward deputy-governor of Virginia, and narrated as follows:

"As soon as I had unladen this corne, I set my men to the felling of Timber, for the building of a Frigat, which I had left half finished at Point Comfort, the 19th of March: and returned myself with the ship into Pembrook Potomac River, and so discovered to the head of it, which is about 65 leagues into the land, and navigable for any ship. And then marching into the Countrie, I found great store of cattle as big as Kine, of which the Indians that were my guides killed a couple, which we found to be very good and wholesome meat, and are very easy to be killed, in regard they are heavy, slow, and not so wild as other beasts of the wildernesse."

"It is to be regretted," says Hornaday, to whom I am indebted for these extracts, "that the narrative of the explorer affords no clew to the precise locality of this interesting discovery, but since it is doubtful that the mariners journeyed very far on foot from the head of navigation of the Potomac, it seems highly probable that the first American Bison seen by Europeans, other than Copyright, 1906, by Charles Scribner's Sons. All rights reserved.

But this was at least 300 miles from the proper range of the Bison; as a wild animal it was yet to be discovered. The discovery took place nine years later, and again the honor fell to a Spaniard. In 1530 Alvar Muñez Cabeza de Vaca was wrecked on the Gulf coast. Travelling inland to what is now South-eastern Texas, he met with the

VOL. XL.-42

the Spaniards, was found within 15 miles, or even less, of the capital of the United States, and possibly within the District of Columbia itself." From this time the region of the Buffalo was more often visited, and the explorer gave frequent description of the great beast and its numbers.*

The earliest portrait I can find is given in Gomara, 1553. It is reproduced, full size, on page 405. This was evidently drawn from the imaginative description of the discoverer, and while corresponding line for line with the text, which corresponds line for line with the animal, it presents, in the language of the times, "a monstrous beast" indeed.

The Buffalo is the bulkiest living land animal native to North America. A full-grown Buffalo bull stands about 5 feet 8 or 10 inches at the shoulder and weighs about 1,800 pounds. But specimens of over 6 feet at the withers have been recorded, and Mr. Hornaday tells me that he weighed a living bull at 2,190 pounds. A fullgrown cow stands about 4 feet 8 at the shoulders, and according to Audubon weighs about 1,200 pounds, though Henry says seldom over 700 or 800 pounds. The lower weight seems to be nearer the average run, but I have seen cows that stood as high and looked as heavy as ordinary bulls.

The total area inhabited by the Buffalo was about 3,000,000 square miles. Of this, the open plains were one-half. According to figures supplied me by Mr. A. F. Potter, of the Forest Service, the ranges of the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma (a total of about 750,000 square miles, or half of the plains) were, according to the census of 1900, carrying 24,000,000 head of cattle and

Head of big bull.

In collection of A. Gottschalck (331⁄2-inch spread of horns).

The early explorers who describe the Buffalo numbers do not give us anything more exact than superlative expressions, such as "countless herds," "incredible numbers," "teeming myriads," "the world one robe," etc. I have endeavored to get at a more exact idea of their numbers.

*These facts are largely drawn from two standard sources: Mr. W. T. Hornaday's Extermination of the American Bison" (1889) and Dr. J. A. Allen's "American Bisons" (1876). The map of range also, on page 397, is compiled chiefly from those published by these authorities.

horses and about 6,000,000 head of sheep. This means that when fully stocked they might sustain a number of Buffalo at least equal to the number of cattle and horses. The Buffalo had to divide their heritage with numerous herds of mustang, antelope, and wapiti; on the other hand, a Buffalo could find a living where a range animal would starve, many of the richest bottomlands are now fenced in, and we have taken no account of the 6,000,000 sheep. Therefore we are safe in placing at 40,000,000 the Buffalo formerly living on the entire plains

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area.

Their prairie range was a third as large, but it was vastly more fertile; indeed, the stockmen reckon one prairie acre equal to four acres on the plains. Doubtless, therefore, the prairies sustained nearly as many head as the plains; we may safely set their population at 30,000,000. The forest region was the lowest in the rate of population; for its 1,000,000 square miles we should not allow more than 5,000,000 Buffalo. These figures would make the primitive number of Buffalo 75,000,000.

Many other calculations based on different data give similar or slightly lower totals. From these facts it will appear very safe to put the primitive Buffalo population at 50,000,000 to 60,000,000.*

*Several authorities, including Mr. Charles Payne and Col. Jones, make their estimates double mine.

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1. Study of an old cow. 2. Young cow. 3. Buffalo cow. (Jardin des Plantes, March 25, 1892.) 4.

In 1800 there were practically no Buffalo east of the Mississippi. Their range had shrunken by one-eighth, their numbers had doubtless suffered in greater degree. Forty millions would be a fair estimate for that time. The Woburn Abbey herd of Buffalo began with 7 in 1896 and, notwithstanding a loss of 11, had increased to 25 in 1905. That is, it had added 20 per cent. each year, and in six years had doubled. A similar rate is seen in the Corbin herd. These figures no doubt represent an unnatural rate of increase, as the animals are constantly protected and suffer no lack of food. The total of Buffalo in captivity in 1889 was 256; since then they have added as nearly as possible 10 per cent. per annum. If, therefore, we set the rate of increase in the wild herd at 5 per cent. we shall probably be near the facts. In early days the Buffalo held their own very well against the savages with their primitive weapons. But in the full splendor of the Buffalo days, say about 1830, the Buffalo Indians, as will be seen later, aided now by horses, and armed with rifles, killed at the rate of over 2,000,000 each year. Allen estimates the destruction by Indians at 2,000,000 annually in the early '40s. Baird puts it at 3,500,000 annually in

Old cow.

the '50s. Other destructive powers native to the plains added at least half as many more to the number, so that 3,000,000 a year may have been reached as a total of loss in the '30s. To stand such a drain the herds, according to their rate of increase, must have been at least ten times as many. But they could not stand it, and were plainly diminishing; therefore they must already have fallen below 40,000,000 in the early part of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, they could not have been much less than that or they would have vanished far faster than they did.

All observers agree that the Buffalo came in great herds to parts of the country where, for months, they had been unknown and continued for a time until impelled to another change of residence. The questions are: Were these regular movements, up and down certain routes? Was the change made under stress of weather or famine or both? Or, in other words, Was the Buffalo truly migratory? Catlin says, "No." On page 248 of Volume I of "North American Indians," he writes:

"These animals are, truly speaking, gregarious, but not migratory. They graze in

immense and almost incredible numbers at times, and roam about and over vast tracks of country, from East to West, and from West to East, as often as from North to South."

There is, furthermore, abundance of proof that the herds were found, summer and winter, on most of the range. This is all the evidence I can find for the non-migratory theory.

On the other hand, all records, even those of Catlin, refer to the coming and the going of the Buffalo as not perfectly regular, but

The Buffalo had settled migratory habits; at the approach of winter the whole great system of herds which range from the Peace River to the Indian Territory moved south a few hundred miles, and wintered under more favorable circumstances than each band would have experienced at its farthest north."

Col. R. I. Dodge has also made very many valuable observations on the migratory habits of the Southern Buffalo, tending to the same conclusions.

"The herds which wintered on the Mon

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quite seasonal, and talk of the summer range and winter range, as regions where they were to be found at set times.

Colonel Dodge tells of the 4,000,000 head that he saw on the Arkansas in May, 1871, moving northward, at Beaver Creek, 100 miles south of Glendive. Mr. James McNaney says that the Buffalo began to arrive from the North in the middle of October (1882), and about the 1st of December an immense herd came; by Christmas all had gone southward, but a few days later another great herd came from the North and followed the rest.

The half-breeds and old hunters along the Red River have often told me about the northward coming of the Buffalo in spring and their southward fall migration.

Mr. Hornaday, after a very full investigation of the subject, writes:

"It was the fixed habit of the great Buffalo herds to move southward from 200 to 400 miles at the approach of the winter.

tana ranges always went north in the early spring, usually in March, so that during the time the hunters were hauling in the hides taken on the winter hunt the ranges were entirely deserted. It is equally certain, however, that a few small bands remained in certain portions of Montana throughout the summer. But the main body crossed the international boundary, and spent the summer on the plains of the Saskatchewan, where they were hunted by the half-breeds from the Red River settlements and the Indians of the plains. It is my belief that in this movement nearly all the Buffalo of Montana and Dakota participated, and the herds which spent the summer in Dakota spent the winter in Kansas and Nebraska."

Prof. H. Y. Hind, the leader of a famous exploring expedition to the North-west in 1859, left some valuable details of the Buffalo movements from which I have compiled the map on page 399. It is remarkable that the Saskatchewan herd should

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