The Extermination of the American Bison

William Temple Hornaday

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• Publié par: mashag
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 118
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Extermination of the American Bison, by William T. Hornaday This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Extermination of the American Bison Author: William T. Hornaday Release Date: February 10, 2006 [EBook #17748] Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXTERMINATION OF THE *** Produced by Chuck Greif, Tony Browne and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. BY WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, Superintendent of the National Zoological Park. Inscription From the Report of the National Museum, 1886-’87, pages 369-548, and plates I-XXII. [Pg 366] WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1889. CONTENTS. PREFATORY NOTE PART I.—THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE BISON I. Discovery of the species II. Geographical distribution III. Abundance IV. Character of the species 1. The buffalo’s rank amongst ruminants 2. Change of form in captivity 3. Mounted specimens in museums 4. The calf 5. The yearling 6. The spike bull 7. The adult bull 8. The cow in the third year 9. The adult cow 10. The “Wood” or “Mountain Buffalo” 11. The shedding of the winter pelage [Pg 369] V. Habits of the buffalo VI. The food of the buffalo VII. Mental capacity and disposition of the buffalo VIII. Value to mankind IX. Economic value of the bison to Western cattle-growers 1. The bison in captivity and domestication 2. Need of an improvement in range cattle 3. Character of the buffalo-domestic hybrid 4. The bison as a beast of burden 5. List of bison herds and individuals in captivity PART II.—THE EXTERMINATION I. Causes of the extermination II. Methods of slaughter 1. The “still hunt” 2. The chase on horseback 3. Impounding 4. The surround 5. Decoying and driving 6. Hunting on snow-shoes III. Progress of the extermination A. The period of desultory destruction B. The period of systematic slaughter 1. The Red River half-breeds 2. The country of the Sioux 3. Western railways, and their part in the extermination of the buffalo 4. The division of the universal herd 5. The destruction of the southern herd 6. Statistics of the slaughter 7. The destruction of the northern herd IV. Legislation to prevent useless slaughter V. Completeness of the wild buffalo’s extirpation VI. Effects of the disappearance of the bison VII. Preservation of the species from absolute extinction PART III.—THE SMITHSONIAN EXPEDITION FOR SPECIMENS I. The exploration for specimens II. The hunt III. The mounted group in the National Museum INDEX [Pg 368] GROUP OF AMERICAN BISONS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. Collected and mounted by W. T. Hornaday. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Group of buffaloes in the National Museum Head of bull buffalo Slaughter of buffalo on Kansas Pacific Railroad Buffalo cow, calf, and yearling Spike bull Bull buffalo Bull buffalo, rear view The development of the buffalo’s horns A dead bull Buffalo skinners at work Five minutes’ work Scene on the northern buffalo range Half-breed calf Half-breed buffalo (domestic) cow Young half-breed bull The still-hunt The chase on horseback [Pg 370] Cree Indians impounding buffalo The surround Indians on snow-shoes hunting buffaloes Where the millions have gone Trophies of the hunt MAPS. Sketch map of the hunt for buffalo Map illustrating the extermination of the American bison [Pg 371] PREFATORY NOTE. It is hoped that the following historical account of the discovery, partial utilization, and almost complete extermination of the great American bison may serve to cause the public to fully realize the folly of allowing all our most valuable and interesting American mammals to be wantonly destroyed in the same manner. The wild buffalo is practically gone forever, and in a few more years, when the whitened bones of the last bleaching skeleton shall have been picked up and shipped East for commercial uses, nothing will remain of him save his old, well-worn trails along the water-courses, a few museum specimens, and regret for his fate. If his untimely end fails even to point a moral that shall benefit the surviving species of mammals which are now being slaughtered in like manner, it will be sad indeed. Although Bison americanus is a true bison, according to scientific classification, and not a buffalo, the fact that more than sixty millions of people in this country unite in calling him a “buffalo,” and know him by no other name, renders it quite unnecessary for me to apologize for following, in part, a harmless custom which has now become so universal that all the naturalists in the world could not change it if they would. W. T. H. [Pg 372] [Pg 373] THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON, By WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, Superintendent of the National Zoological Park. PART I.—LIFE HISTORY OF THE BISON. I. DISCOVERY OF THE SPECIES. The discovery of the American bison, as first made by Europeans, occurred in the menagerie of a heathen king. In the year 1521, when Cortez reached Anahuac, the American bison was seen for the first time by civilized Europeans, if we may be permitted to thus characterize the horde of blood thirsty plunder seekers who fought their way to the Aztec capital. With a degree of enterprise that marked him as an enlightened monarch, Montezuma maintained, for the instruction of his people, a well-appointed menagerie, of which the historian De Solis wrote as follows (1724): “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.” Thus was the first seen buffalo described. The nearest locality from whence it could have come was the State of Coahuila, in northern Mexico, between 400 and 500 miles away, and at that time vehicles were unknown to the Aztecs. But for the destruction of the whole mass of the written literature of the Aztecs by the priests of the Spanish Conquest, we might now be reveling in historical accounts of the bison which would make the oldest of our present records seem of comparatively recent date. Nine years after the event referred to above, or in 1530, another