1909

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1909  The White House

Daily Industrial News, N.C. March 8, 1909

President Discusses Plans for Bison’s Preservation

Deeply Interested in the Work of the American Bison Association,
Which Has for Its Purpose the Care and Propagation of an
Animal Threatened With Extinction.
BY JOHN E. MONK.

…… Washington, D. C., March 7,

– At the White House recently there was a conference, and in the course of it, there was nothing to be heard about, currency, tariff, anti-injunction measures, employers liability bill, or about any of the other half hundred things which recently have had a large place in the attention of people and the President.
……Theodore Roosevelt was talking to William T. Hornaday about ways and means to make certain the future existence of the American bison, ordinarily and improperly called the American buffalo.
……No one will make a mistake if he holds that the President was pleased at the opportunity to get away temporarily from matters very likely more important, but certainly less interesting in the chief executive that is the question of saving the remnant of a tribe of be used that once numbered its members by the millions.
William T. Hornaday is the director of the Bronx Zoological Park in New York city. He is also the president of the American Bison Association, which has for its object the preservation of the animal whose name is carried in its title. There are buffalo – the error form is the easier – in nearly all of the zoos of the country, but the lives of the confined animals are at best precarious, and no one knows when accident or disease may wipe the captives out of existence. Mr. Hornaday desires that a government range be provided for a herd of buffalo in the northwestern country, where they may live in large measure as they lived when their only enemies were the red man and the wolf, the condition of life that made for longevity and for increase.
……A Flathead Indian named Pablo, living in Montana, had in his possession a few years ago a herd of 350 buffalo. The Canadian government learned of the existence of the herd, and brought it from the Flathead chief – it is though he is a chief – who was tempted by the offer because of its seeming generosity, and because probably he did not know the full value of the buffalo in this day of their scarcity.
Would Purchase Remnant.
……The Canadians took about half the herd, divided the half into two parts and turned the animals loose on ranges on the other side of the border, where it is said they are thriving. The remaining buffalo included in the purchase are, it is assumed, to be carted into Canada, there are to be given their freedom with fence limitations. It is understood, however, that Pablo will have remaining in his possession about fifty of the animals, the increase cents he agreed to sell his herd, added to some animals that he has picked up recently. It is the hope of Mr. Hornaday and his associates of the American Bison Society to buy the animals that Pablo now owns, and turn them loose on the Flathead reservation.
……The help of the President and Congress is needed to accomplish the end in view. Sen. Dixon, of Montana, will introduce a bill to set aside on the reservation a tract of land containing twenty square miles. The Flathead land holdings are soon to be open to settlement, and the land that the government is asking to reserve as a bison range is almost totally unfit for agricultural purpose. In other words, it is practically waste land. It is Mr. Hornaday’s belief, and he is one of the best informed men in the world on the habits of the greater animals, that the buffalo on the wide range given over to them will double their numbers and three or four years, and that the question of the preservation of an animal which supposedly had been doomed to extinction will be answered.

To Be Left to Themselves.
……It is the intention, if Congress grants the legislation necessary, to fence and the range and to leave the buffalo to themselves. There is an abundance of bunch grass upon which the animals thrive, there is timber enough for shelter under certain weather conditions, and there are ravines which will afford perfect protection in hard times of winter. Running water from an unfailing source of supply is to be found at several places on the land which it is proposed to set aside. The naturalist of the country, among them men who have made the bison a special study, are a unit in declaring that the problem of preservation is to be solved only by giving the animals the freedom of range, the food, and surroundings which were natural to their ancestors in the days before the white man began his war of extermination.
A year of ago Congress voted an appropriation of money for the fencing in of a bison preserved in Oklahoma. Fifteen of the animals were turned loose in the preserved, and they are increasing in number and are thriving physically. The range is known as the Wichita Preserve, and it is situated in the heart of a country where once vast herds of buffalo roamed at their own free will.
……When the American Bison Society was formed, the herd of 350 animals which has been sold to the Canadian government was still in the possession of Pablo, the Flathead Indian. The sale of the herd to the Canadian government, however, was completed before the American Bison Society had adopted its constitution, or was prepared to begin its work. The Western newspapers criticized the organization severely for allowing the Canadian government to forestall it in the purchase of the Pablo holdings. The criticism was severe, but absolutely undeserved, for the society was not in condition to do any active work, nor had it at that time either influence nor the money necessary to do what the members wanted to do. If the government will give its aid at the present time, however, it is a safe assumption that the American bison will not be allowed to perish from the earth.
……Most people do not know that there is still in existence a herd of wild bison. Little is known concerning it save the fact of its existence. How many animals there are and what their chance of continued existence are, may be put down at best as mere matters of guessing. Up somewhere in the northern part of the province of Saskatchewan there are left a few, possibly more than a few animals known to the people as wood buffalo.
……The laymen’s belief is that the wood buffalo and the buffalo of the plains are different species, but they are not. They are identical except for the fact that the wood buffalo are a little larger than are their southern family members. How long a lease of life the wood buffalo may have no one knows, but it may be that the Canadian government will undertake ultimately their protection and preservation.

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LAST WILD BUFFALO KILLED BY HIS HERD

Manitoba Morning Free Press April 21, 1909

Old Sir Donald, the Patriarch of the American Bison, Trampled and Gored to Death in Corral at Banff _ Was captured in 1872 When a Two-Year-Old bu the Late Hon. James McKay, of Deer Lodge – Head of the Band For Many Years –

PATRIARCH OF THE AMERICAN BISON

Old Sir Donald, the Last Wild Buffalo in Captivity, Killed by Balance of the Herd at Banff Recently

Many thousands of visitors to Banff, the delightful resort in the middle of the Canadian National park, had seen and admired the grand old buffalo bull, Sir Donald, ____ had been the leader and chief of his herd for upwards of 38 years. But he never again will be the grand head and massive proportions of this animal, the only really wild bison in captivity, be viewed in their natural environment, for during the early hours of Tuesday morning, April 6, old Sir Donald came to his final end. He was found lying dead out in one of the paddocks, having apparently stumbled over some blogs, probably owing to his being blind in one eye, and while unable to rise he was surrounded by the rest of the herd, and, alas, for _____ respect among the bison some of the younger bulls took the opportunity to help him onto the happy hunting grounds by goring that huge beast with their short and sharp horns. Not content with this, the herd pawded and butted at the prostrate monarch till, except on the head and the legs, there was no hair left. The cowboy in charge of the paddocks saw Sir Donald walking about at five o’clock on Monday afternoon, and on looking for him next morning saw that he was down and apparently dead. He covered the carcass with tarpaulins to keep it safe from the prowling wolves and coyotes, but the buffalo herd returned to the scene and indulged in a further display of indignities to their fallen ____.

For some time past the advisability of shooting Sir Donald had been discussed, as he was obviously weakening with advancing years, and about a month ago Howard Douglas, the Commissioner of the parks, with a local taxidermist, went to the paddocks to inspect him, but so lively was the old bull than that he charged vigorously at his visitors, who prominently took refuge outside the fence. This was thought to indicate plenty of reserve strength in Sir Donald, and he was allowed to wander away. So that when the news of his death was telephoned to the superintendent’s office it caused quite a considerable sensation, and steps were at once taken with that view of having the whole animal mounted to be placed in the National Park Museum. A number of the park workmen with a few other interested persons in the government taxidermist, Ashley Hine, went to the animal paddocks with a large sleigh to transport the body to the Sign at the Goat taxidermy store for purposes of preparing and mounting it. On their arrival, however, they had to wait till the keeper had driven the buffalo herd far enough away to make it safe to go inside their enclosure. All inspection of the body showed that with the exception on the head and four legs there was nothing left with hair on that would be set up for exhibition. The remains were mass of jellied flesh, hair, and blood. This historic animal and the loss of him as a museum specimen is no small one. However measures were at once begun to secure pictures of him as he lay in his last sleep, and while this was being done and during the subsequent proceedings of saving the head and the four legs, several of the workmen had some exciting chases after the rest of the herd, as the animals kept closing in, in a compact half circle round the group engaged on the dead bull. The horses attached to the sleigh got very alarmed, and their drivers prompt action alone prevented a runaway. Highland Mary, a small bright colored cow buffalo, a very early daughter of the dead bull, was the most aggressive, coming within 12 or 15 feet of the workers, but as she was nearly as old as Sir Donald, she was treated with the respect she deserved.

It was the work of several hours to get the hide off, which was in some places 2 inches thick. This was finally accomplished and the remains were then loaded onto the sleigh for transference to the town; most of the men taking a short cut over the fence for home. But here the herd took a hand again. As soon as the sleigh load drew nearer them they charged up to it on mass jostling and crowding each other to get near the head of their dead companion which adorned the back end of the sleigh. Three times the driver of the team fell over obstacles before he reached the gates, having to keep his eyes on his frantic horses and on the bellowing herd hind him. His companion proceeded to open the gate, and for a few moments, it looked as if the whole herd would escape into the adjoining paddock. Very, fortunately, the two men were able to close the gate, after driving in the buffalo which got through and so prevented what otherwise would have been a very awkward state of affairs. The head of Sir Donald is now in the hands of the government taxidermist, and will eventually adorne the walls of the museum in Banff.

Captured about 1872 by James McKay, of Winnipeg, at which time the bull was about two years old, he was kept with that gentleman’s herd which roamed between Silver Heights and Little Stony Mountain and often mixed with the herd of the late Col. Benson. Mr. (afterwards Sir) Donald Smith was associated in business with Mr. McKay at that time, and on the death of the latter came into possession of his herd of bison. In 1898 Sir Donald Smith (now Lord Strathcona) presented his herd of 12 to the National Park, including the captured wild bull since named after his donor. These 12 have increased till at present there are over 95 in the herd, besides 13 head which have been presented to different ________ and coast cities. The __disputed headship of the herd remained with Sir Donald for over 30 years, but about five years ago a terrific battle for supremacy occurred between him and a young bull of almost equal size imported from Texas. The fight began early in the morning, the great lowered and little red eyes glaring, tearing up the turf with their hooves, and with tails straight up in the air. With the crash like colliding engines they met over and over again. Several mounted men endeavored to separate the infuriated animals, but were themselves charged and put to flight. Sir Donald at last lost his left horn in one of the shocks, at the same time getting a blow in the left eye which destroyed its sight. After being thrown on his back and pummeled while down by his victorious antagonist, he gave up the struggle and retired from the gaze of the watching herd to begin his lonely wanderings. Since that time he has seldom been seen with the rest, preferring to wander and wallow alone in some favorite sand whole. He was a grand specimen of the breed, measuring about __ inches from tip to toe of the horns, and about 15 ½ inches between the eye sockets across the four head. The remaining horn is 18 ½ inches long and its girth is 14 ½ inches. He answered best to the Indians description of the buffalo, being short and very thick and deep in the body, with great phone an extremely massive head in front. And he was undoubtedly a really pure-bred bison. W.H.K.

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THE DAILY MISSOULIAN JULY 4 1909
ALL BUT OUTLAWS OF GREAT BUFFALO HERD MOVED
FROM FLATHEAD TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE SETTLER
PATRIARCH OF HERD (CENTER) WHICH DIED.

(By F. L. Baghy.)

WITH the shipment Wednesday of nearly 200 buffalo from Ravalli, Mont., to Canada,
all but the outlaw remnant of the largest herd of wild bison in the United States were removed from their native heath to the limited confines of a foreign park–to make: way for the advancing march of progress and development. Trapped into manmade corrals, roped and loaded into cages, bound down with chains and wire, hauled over long and rough roads, then dragged by main force Into freight cars and shipped like so many common cattle over the rail roads, nearly 600 of these lords of the plains have been dragged from the free and untrammeled range of their nativity into a national playground, where they will be kept as noble specimens of a rapidly vanishing species of American big game. And this is all done to maim room for the white man with the plow and the hoe, whose conquest of the soil has swept the red man, the buffalo and other wild game before him like mist before the wind. The settler, in the great battle of development,’ needed more lands to conquer. The Flathead reservation offered an enticing field for his activities. But there was not room for the red man’s buffalo and the white man’s cattle. perforce the bison had to make way for the munching cow, the tolling horse and the ravenous sheep and swine of him who was coming to transform the untamed wilds into an Arcadia of homes, farms ‘ and ranches. The grazing range of the buffalo was to become the feeding ground of domestic animals, so the bison were sold for a paltry sum and men were hired to capture and ship them into the country of the purchaser-the Canadian government.

And when the 150 head that remain upon, the reservation are rounded up and shipped this fall, there will be none of the noble animals left to dispute the right of the White man’s stock to- every blade of grass on the range where once the buffalo was lord of all he surveyed.
Countless Numbers. But a few years ago bison roamed the western plains in countless numbers. Herds so large that days were required for them to pass a given point frequently forced pioneer immigrants to encamp and wait patiently for them to pass before they could resume their journey over the new trail into the unknown wilderness of the vast west. In their migrations, the beat of their hoofs resounded like the mighty rumble of thunder, and the dust from their heels clouded the sun itself. Running before a prairie fire or stampeded by a flash of lightning these great masses of shaggy, wild-eyed, snorting beasts made the very earth tremble beneath their majestic forms. But these days have swiftly glided into the past, and with them are vanishing the buffalo like a mirage at the setting of the sun. The thunderous pound of their hoofs is heard no more, and the plains where they once were went to graze in peace or rush in maddened fright before some impending danger, are crossed with fences, dotted with farm houses and producing farm products to sustain life and pour dollars into the pockets of their conquerors – the white man.

Whitened Skulls. A few years ago whitened skulls’ and scattered bones marked the great immigrant trails into the west, grew some monuments to mighty herds that fell under the ruthless slaughter of countless hunters. But even these relics of pioneer days have disintegrated and have become indistinguishable mingled with the dust of the earth. Man’s appetite for fresh meat and the discovery that buffalo tongue was a delicacy to tickle the palate of an epicure first led to the’ ruthless slaughter of the animals, the lives of countless thousands being sacrificed for the sake of their tongues. When the bison began to get scarce and wealth developed a hobby for buffalo hides and heads, man’s greed for gold furnished a motive for the slaughter of more and more until he suddenly awakened to the realization that the bison was almost extinct. A desire to save and protect these noble animals found birth in the hearts of a few men, and the surviving buffalo were gathered together in small herds by animal fanciers, zoological gardens and bison societies in various parts of
UNLOADING THE HAULING CRATES.
the. country. The Canadian government took an interest in the matter and established herds in some of its parks. The United States government has, at last, been interested and has
established a bison range in Montana, but it failed to act in time to prevent the loss to this country of the largest herd within its borders.

The Allard Herd.
Among the individuals who took an Interest in preserving the buffalo was

BUFFALO IN LOADING CORRALS.
Charles Allard, who secured a few. animals and started a herd on the Flathead reservation near Ronan in the early eighties. He increased this herd by breeding and purchase to more
than a hundred head in a few years. In 1893 he purchased the herd owned by “Buffalo Jones” of Kansas, and drove them across country to his herd on the Flathead. Accompanied by his family and riding in an old-fashioned barouche, he followed the herd across plain and mountain until the members of the band were safely delivered on the reservation In Montana. This herd consisted of full-blooded and half-breed animals. The latter were products of cross-breeding with cattle, but they did not prove to be desirable animal, having all the undesirable and none or the good qualities of either ancestor. The mongrels were separated from the blooded animals, and the latter were permitted to range in a wild state on the reservation. They thrived and the herd grew until it numbered almost 800.
When Allard died the herd trussed into the possession of his partner, Michel Pablo, a half-breed Indian and an expert buffalo raiser. Pablo was induced to dispose of a few of the animals to zoological parks, but kept the larger portion of the herd intact until he learned that the reservation was to tie thrown open to settlement and that his buffalo must make way for the settler and his cattle. Then it was that Howard Eaton, expert hunter of Wolf, Wyo., attempted to interest the United States government in the purchase of the herd. Falling in this he turned to the American Bison Association, but again was unsuccessful.
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Makes an Offer. It was at this juncture that the Canadian government sent Howard
Douglas, superintendent of the western Canada national parks, out to the Flathead to see the herd and make an offer for It. Mr. Douglas recommended the purchase of the animals and an offer of about $130,000 was made. This was accepted, Pablo agreeing to deliver the animals in Canada for that price. Then came the task of rounding up these animals, transporting them from their range to Ravalli, Mont.,56 miles away, loading them upon freight cars and shipping them to Canada, where they had to be unloaded and delivered
in the parks. To say that such a task was Herculean is to express it mildly, but Michel Pablo was not daunted. He employed a force of expert riders, mounted them upon his own best horses and set forth to accomplish the task, riding at the head of his men on his own favorite mount. A corral into which the animals might be driven from the range was the first necessity. Taking advantage of a horseshoe bend in the Pend d’Orielle river, the outside bank of which Is of clay and stands almost straight up and clown, he had a fence constructed across the neck of the horseshoe and wing fences built for a distance of a mile or more from the end of this fence and a cut in the bank of the river out into the range.

Into this the buffalo were driven in three separate hands at different times. It required much hard and dangerous riding on the part of the buffalo punchers, and many of the animals escaped numerous times, but perseverance prevailed and two years ago 400 of the herd were successfully rounded up and then driven down the Mission valley into the corrals at Ravalli. From these corrals the animals were pulled and dragged by means of block and tackle into the railroad cars. Last year another round up was made, but just when the riders were about to drive the herd to Ravalli the band stampeded and made its escape from the corral at Ronan.
A New Plan.This spring it was decided to make no further attempt to drive the animals from Ronan to Ravaili. but to corral them, load them in crates mounted upon wheels and haul them over the mountains to the loading corrals. For this purpose heavy crates, large enough to hold two buffalo each, were constructed of heavy timber fastened together with steel and wire. Through a loading chute the animals were driven into these crates, securely roped in and hauled by means of six and eight-horse teams over the long and dusty journey to Ravalli. Here they were turned out into a series of corrals from which they were driven, one at a time, into the loading chute. A noose around each buffalo’s neck and the tugging of a score of men landed the animal in his car, where the struggling beast was held until a partition to separate him from his companions could be firmly put into place.The dangers attending the work of handling the buffalo were many and there were numerous narrow escapes from death and injury on the part of, riders and loaders, Fred Decker had

FEEDING FROM THE HAY RACKS.
his horse gored under him, and his brother. Johnnie Decker, twice had his mount gored and was slightly injured, his life being saved only by the prompt action of Pablo and his brother in firing pistol bullets into the neck of an infuriated beast that was trying to kill man and horse. In their maddened struggles against being dragged into captivity 20 or the animals were killed, some iof them rushing blindly against the sides of the corrals with such force as to break their necks. One, the patriarch of the herd, fought with a younger

PULLING A BISON ABOARD A CAR.
bull, then lay down in the loading chute and died.

Pathetic Picture.
It was a pathetic picture to one who stopped to think, as he gazed at the

SHAGGY MONARCHS OF THE RANGE.
lacerated, bleeding, ragged animals that stood in the corral at Ravalli, gazing longingly through the cracks of the high, strong fences out upon the hills, beyond which lay the wild free range from which they had been dragged in ignominious captivity to be loaded Into cramped stalls of rail road cars, there to be left to vent their fury in vain kicks against the walls of their prisons until steam and steel landed them at their new home. Slowness in hauling the bison from the round-up corral necessitated some of the animals standing in the cars for eight days before the last train started for Canada. At last all of the shipments save those that were killed and two that escaped were loaded, aboard and the long trip of 1,200 miles to the point of unloading was commenced. Canada has secured a bargain in buffalo and the United States has lost an asset which it may never be able to replace.
Much interest Is already being manifested in the coming roundup of the remaining portion of the herd which is scheduled to commence about the first of September. The riders who have been leading the strenuous life on the buffalo range for the past two lmonths will now turn their attention to, gathering together the cattle that have been wintering on the reservation, and this work will continue until haying time. When the season’s crop is gathered the sunburned riders will again dog their “schaps,” high -heeled boots and spurs, mount their favorite steeds and ride forth to the buffalo range. Then the work of maneuvering the outlaw buffalo from their stamping grounds into the corral at Ronan will he gotten under way. Since the work of shipping the present hand was begun the wilder members of the herd have strayed some 40 miles from their usual feeding grounds, and it was feared that they would migrate so far from their usual haunts that it would become an, almost impossible task to drive them back. But Indian riders report that within the past two weeks the straying bands have turned their noses back toward their accustomed range and are gradually moving back in that direction. It is hoped by the riders and Pablo that by the first of September the animals will have forgotten the excitement that has been in progress in the vicinity of Ronan and be back in that district, for enough trouble is anticipated in handling the beasts is it is without t having to search for roving bands of them over the entire reservation and rounding them in a bunch of three or four at a time.

The same methods and tactics used in handling the recent shipment will be employed in handling the outlaw herd, provided the herd does not upset all plans. Some changes are planned in the corral at Ronan, as experience has taught the riders that the buffalo is a wily animal and cannot be trapped twice in “the same place or manner.

A buffalo that has been driven into a trap once and succeeds in making hIs escape cannot be driven into the trap in the same place again, and will always attempt to escape from the place that afforded him freedom before. The entrance to the corral will be changed to another location, the loading chute will be moved and the entire corral will be strengthened to withstand the onslaughts of the obstreperous beasts. New crates of a little better construction than the ones used last time will be constructed for time hauling of the animals from Ronan to Ravaili to the loading pens. An effort will also be made in the fall to load and haul more bison at a time from the roundup corral, so that those loaded into the cars at Ravalli will not be forced to stand in their cramped stalls so long as many of the recent shipment were forced to do.

Though the riding on the recent roundup and the incidents attendant upon the work were more thrilling and sensational than any “wild west” performance ever dreamed of being, still greater excitement is anticipated when the next round up is gotten under way. But notwithstanding the dangers, they have passed through and the narrow escapes from death that some of them have had, the riders face the coming roundup with eager impatience. Those bronzed men who sit the saddle with as much comfort as a millionaire rests in his upholstered chair, and find more enjoyment and actual life in doing so, would rather ride than be the president of a railroad. To them the excitement, the danger and the thrill attendant until a chase either before or after a rushing herd of bison, constitute life.

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Fitchburg Sentinel, Massachusetts, July 15 1909

BUFFALOES

Largest Herd in the World Was Started by an Indian Outlaw

……On a stormy night, in 1871, of mud spattered rider galloped into St. Ignatius, Mont., with the news that Walking Coyote, a Pend d’Oreille Indian, had shot his wife and had fled over the mountains to the Blackfeet country. The crime created a brief sensation in the sleepy little Indian village, but Walking Coyote was not apprehended and for a time live quietly among the Blackfeet. By and by, however, he wanted to return to his own people, but feared he would be punished for his crime. He talked the matter over with the trader.
……“If you want to go back,” said the trader, “you ought to do something that will make people forget all about the shooting. Now, there are no buffaloes over in the Flathead Valley; why don’t you catch some calves and take them back with you? They’ll cause so much excitement that the people will forget to punish you for shooting your wife.”
……The Coyote acted on this suggestion and as a buffalo hunt was then in progress, he soon captured four calves and returned with them to St. Ignatius, writes Ernest Harold Baynes, in July Recreation, in a beautifully illustrated article on his recent inspection of the buffalo herds that still remain in the United States. The result was about what the trader had predicted, and the Indian was never punished. The little buffaloes grew up, and when the two heifers were four years old, each of them had a calf, thus was started what afterword became the largest herd of buffaloes in the world.
……In 1884, the Flathead buffaloes numbered thirteen head. At this juncture C. A. Allard, who was ranching on the reservation and who had long had his eye on these buffaloes, finally persuaded his old friend and neighbor, Michael Pablo, to join him in a deal which involve the purchase of Walking Coyote’s herd. The Indian refusing to accept a check, it was necessary to get the money, something over three thousand dollars, in currency, and Mr. Pablo told me how he and his partner set by the side of the road counting this money, laying a stone on top of each stack of bills. “We got it in small bills,” said he, “and it looked like a pile of money to pay for buffalo.” Apparently fate had not forgotten Walking Coyote, for with the money received for the buffaloes he indulged in a short round of dissipation, which ended in Missoula, where he was found under a bridge, dead.

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The Anaconda Standard

Anaconda, Montana Jul 25, 1909

Montana’s Buffalo Herds

Washington, JULY 21. –  The foundation of the Montana bison herd, on the Flathead reservation, is an accomplished fact. With the nucleus herd obtained by the American Bison society and with the aid of Senator Dixon in pushing through congress the necessary appropriations, the time is not far distant when Montana will have the largest buffalo herd, in the world. The second annual report of the society, just published, tells an interesting story of the establishment of the bison park and the remarkable progress that has already been made. After reviewing the preliminary work of the organization, President William T. Hornaday pays the following compliment to Senator Dixon:

“The above unvarnished history of the Montana national bison range in the Sixtieth congress is alone sufficient to show the American people, both of the present and a hundred future generations, the extent to which they were indebted to Senator Joseph M. Dixon, his colleagues in the senate and to Representative Scott. Haugen and Lamb for the celerity with which the bison measure was put through .congress and enacted into a law. “It was done with the same briskness and precision with which the best-managed business corporation takes up and acts upon an important matter when the urgency for action is very great.”

The work of raising the necessary funds for the purchase of bison was immediately begun and quickly brought to a happy issue by the generous responses not only from the United States, but also from abroad, England, France and British Columbia being represented by contributions to the fund. New York led with a contribution of $5,213 and Massachusetts came next with 2,230, while Minnesota was third with $1,054. Montana’s contribution was $336.

This campaign for subscriptions contained two surprising features. The most prominent of these was the failure of the West; to contribute becomingly. The other was the splendid support the undertaking received from the women of America. Notwithstanding the great interest taken by the women in the protection of birds, it was not expected that the plan for the creation of a bison herd in Montana would appeal to them. The generous-way in which the women responded was a great surprise to the officers of the society and the result has proven that he who thinks that there is any laudable enterprise that does not interest the women of America has made a grave mistake. The first subscription toward the creation of the Montana national bison herd was received on May 26 from Miss Emma L. Lee of Concord, Mass., and the amount was $5. The second largest sum raised by subscription from any one person outside of the president’s office was obtained by another woman of the old Bay state. When the campaign first started Mrs. Ezra R.Thayer of Boston wrote, in response to the circular call, that she would contribute and raise by subscription at least $400 for the bison fund. Mrs.Thayer’s efforts began right away and even during the heat of mid-summer were kept up with unflagging industry. On Nov. 30, 1908. she remitted to the society her own contribution of $200, which brought her total amount up to $510, or one-twentieth of the whole amount necessary to purchase the nucleus herd.

The president of the society was extremely gratified by Mrs. Thayer’s example and he states as much in the second annual report of the American Bison society with the following paragraph:

“Mrs. Thayer’s example was to the president of the society not only encouragement, but actual inspiration, and it is respectfully commended to about 1,000,000 of the men of America who shoot, fish and who think that they take an interest in wild life. In these days of destruction, any man’s interest in wild life can be measured by the cash and in the hours of labor that he annually expends in the promotion of measures for the protection of wild life. It is no longer sufficient to say ‘Be ye warmed and fed’ and do nothing. Altogether 112 women contributed to the bison fund, and their subscriptions reached a total of $1,227.”

In response to a suggestion from the president of the society, J. J. Hill presented to the society for the Montana herd three pure-blooded bison which he promises to deliver at Ravalli whenever they are wanted. Mr. Hill also offered to present his herd of eight cattaloes. three of which contain only one-eighth domestic blood, but owing to the obligation of the society to the government to provide only pure-blooded animals for the nucleus herd, the mixed bloods were refused. Secretary Baynes has secured promises of five pairs of bison as gifts. They, are to come from the. C. E. Conrad estate, the Blue Mountain Forest association (Corbin herd), John E. Dooley, James Philip and Mr. and. Mrs.Charles Goodnight. “

ANTELOPE ARE DESIRED.

With the fund of $10,500.50 now in the treasury, about 40 bison can be purchased, and with the 14 head of gift bison, a nucleus herd of over 50 head is now assured. Just how much of the fund will be needed for transporting the gift bison it is at present impossible to say, but at all events, the society must deliver its gift upon the range free of all freight charges and other claims. The president, vice president, and treasurer have been formally authorized to purchase the nucleus herd and provide for its delivery upon the range, and at the proper time this duty will be performed.

It is extremely desirable that in the near future a herd of at least 25 prong-horned antelope should be colonized on the bison range as a measure toward the preservation of that unique and interesting species from complete disappearance. The continued settlement and agricultural development of the states that now contain remnant herds of antelope are certain to crowd that species out of existence within the next fifty years or less, just as the range steer would have crowded the bison off the great pasture region, even had the hide hunters spared them. It is believed that a majority of the founders of the. Montana bison herd will live to see the antelope disappear from every portion of the United States except the thoroughly protected game preserves, such as Yellowstone park and the Wichita and Montana bison ranges.

The report of E H. Baynes. the secretary of the American Bison society, gives an interesting account of his visit to the buffalo herd of Charles Goodnight in Texas, where experiments in the breeding of cattalo are now being carried on. Similar experiments are under consideration for the Montana bison range. The buffalo herd owned by Mr. Goodnight is of more than usual interest inasmuch as it is doubtless the only one descended exclusively from animals roped on the plains either by the owner or under his direction. But it is chiefly to Mrs. Goodnight that America is ‘indebted’ for this famous herd. In 1878, when the buffaloes were being slaughtered all around her, she conceived the idea of saving some of them. She begged her husband and brothers to get her some of the tawny calves and let her try to raise them at the Palo Duro ranch, then the Goodnight home. Personally, Mr. Goodnight was not very cheerful over the suggestion, but, thinking that the calves would amuse his wife in their isolated home, one day when he was off with his cattle outfit he roped two, tied their legs and sent them back to her in a cart. Shortly after this, her brothers, the two Dyer boys, roped two more. She reared them all though one of the heifers died before it reached breeding age, leaving one bull and two heifers as the nucleus of: the now famous herd.

A MATTER OF BUSINESS.

Though the Goodnights have plenty of healthy sentiment, this herd has not been perpetuated for sentimental reasons only. Charles Goodnight is a practical ranchman and he has treated his buffalo as he has treated his cattle, his sheep, and hogs as a business proposition. He has sold many buffaloes at splendid prices and after an experience of a lifetime, he maintains that the buffalo is the most profitable farm animal in America today. So far, he has made no use of buffalo wool, but .upon learning of the secretary’s experiments with this material he said that this spring he would shear a number of animals and send their wool to be woven into cloth.

Mr. Goodnight was also the pioneer in the breeding of cattalo, an animal which, as its coined name suggests, is a cross between domestic cattle and the buffalo. It has been his experience that these animals will be interbreed only when they have been reared together practically from infancy. In all his experience he has used black polled Angus cattle, partly because this breed greatly resembles the buffalo and partly because of its coal black color. There are doubtless 100 of the crossbred animals on the Goodnight ranch, ranging all the way from what are practically full-blood polled Angus cattle to the creatures with so little domestic blood in them that one but the keepers could tell that they were not full-blooded buffaloes.

Between these two extremes, the animals vary greatly in appearance. Some, favoring the buffalo, have horns; others, leaning toward the polled Angus in this respect, have none. Some are almost black, others a rich seal brown and among the rest, many shades of brindle are represented.

Many of the animals among those of the first and second crosses are of great size, much larger than. either the buffalo or the Angus cattle. Where the buffalo predominates it is shown in the general formation of the body, by the great height of the hump, and by the length of the hair. The tail, too, is usually very much shorter than that of the pure domestic animal. As the amount of buffalo blood is increased, these characteristics become more pronounced; as it is eliminated, they tend to disappear. By crossing backwards to either race four or five, times in succession, the characteristics of the other race are usually so nearly wiped out that no trace of them is visible. Some of the animals observed at the Goodnight ranch, notably those in which the buffalo blood predominates, have wonderful. Coats. These were fairly long, lustrous and silky and in the cases of the dark-skinned animals, very beautiful.

According to Mr. Goodnight the value of the cattle as a farm animal will be based, first, on its hide, which is more beautiful and more useful than a buffalo robe; second, upon its beef, of which it produces a large quantity, said to be of excellent quality, and third, upon its hardiness, since it is said to be able to thrive under conditions which are fatal to range cattle. A. W. U.

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The Anaconda Standard

Anaconda Mont. Oct. 10, 1909

A Game Census.

(extract)

“There were 2,407 buffalo in existence at the beginning of 1909, according to the report of the American Bison society. During the summer attempts were made to round up the remaining buffalo of the Pablo-Allard herd on the Flathead Indian reservation in Montana – for the purpose of transferring them to Canada, but without complete success.

“The buffalo stock was distributed as follows: Wild, 25 in the United States and 300 in Canada; captive, 1,116 in the United States, 476 in Canada and 130 in Europe. The number of buffaloes in captivity in this country was 1,592, as compared with 1,010 in 1903, an increase of 50 percent in five years. The number of cattalo was 260 in the United States,  57 in Canada and 28 in Europe, a total of 245 as compared with  281 five years ago.”

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The Bismark Tribune

Bismark, North Dakota Oct 23, 1909

BISON HERD FORCE STATE OF MONT. IS COMPLETE

New York, Oct, 21 – Dr. W. T. Horniday, president of the American Bison Society, has received a telegram from A. R. Hodges, warden of the new bison range at Ravalli, Mont. stating that the thirty-four head of bison selected and purchased last month at Kalispell, from the Conrad herd, to form the principle part of the Montana bison herd, were delivered at the range in perfect condition

With the thirty-four head purchased came the finest bull and cow of the! Conrad herd, a gift from the .C C. Conrad estate and also one bison from Charles Goodnight, which had been kept since last spring at Kalispell. Although all of the gift bison are not yet on the range, the Montana national bison herd is now an accomplished fact. In addition to the thirty-seven head now on the range, twelve other gift bison will be delivered as soon as conditions will permit.

It is probable that the gift of Jas. J. Hill will be delivered at Kalispell immediately but the calves to come from the Corbin herd, and the Dooley herd, as gifts, will be held over until next spring, because it is not considered wise to turn them out on the new range at the beginning of winter.

The government’s construction party finished the erection of the fence on, October 8, and the purchasing committee for the bison society consisting of Dr. Hornaday, and F. H. Kennard, of Boston, which inspected the work near the end of September, was highly pleased with it

The committee reported that the bison range was the most nearly perfect for its purpose that could be conceived, and they estimated that it would support 1,500 head of bison. Over a large portion of the range, the grass is a foot high, and the cattle and horses that have heretofore been grazing upon it have made no impression upon the grass covering the higher grounds.

The thirty-four bison purchased by the society from the Conrad estate, consist of twenty-two males and twelve females, and the animals were selected by the Bison Society’s purchasing committee out of ninety-two animals contained in the Conrad herd.

Owners of the Conrad herd never have permitted any cross-breeding, and the herd contains not a drop of mixed blood. The animals were found in the best condition, and the representatives of the society feel greatly elated over their purchase.

The price paid was $275 per head, delivered on the range. The thirty-seven buffalo were all crated separately at Kalispell, shipped down Flathead Lake by boat to Polson, and from that point hauled on wagons to the bison range, a distance of about twenty miles.

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The Evening Chronicle N.C. Nov 4 1909

MOVING A HERD OF BUFFALO

……Among the individuals who took an interest in preserving the buffalo was Charles Allard, who secured a few animals and started a park on the Flathead reservation, near Ronan, in the early eighties. He increase this herd by breeding and purchase to more than hundred head in a few years. In 1833 he purchased the herd owned by “Buffalo Jones,“ of Kansas, and drove them across country to his herd on the Flathead. Accompanied by his family and writing in old-fashioned barouche, he followed the herd across plain and mountain until the members of the band were safely delivered on the reservation in Montana. This herd consist of full-blooded and half-breed animals. The latter were products of cross-breeding with cattle, but they did not prove to be a desirable animal, having all that undesirable and none of the good qualities of either ancestor. The mongrels were separated, from the blooded animals, and the latter were permitted to range in a wild state on the reservation. They thrived and the herd grew and tell it numbered almost 800.

……One Allard died the herd passed into the possession of his partner, Michael Pablo, a half-breed Indian and an expert buffalo raiser. Pablo was induced to dispose of a few of the animals to zoological parks, but kept the larger portion of the herd in tact until he learned that the reservation was to be thrown open to settlement and that the buffalo must make way for the settler and his cattle. Then it was that Howard Eaton, expert hunter, of Wolf, Wyo. attempted to interest the United States government in the purchase of the herd. Failing in this he turned to the American Bison Association, but again was unsuccessful.
……It was at this juncture that the Canadian government sent Howard Douglas, superintendent of the Western Canada national parks, out to the Flathead to see the herd and make an offer for it. Mr. Douglas recommended the purchase of the animals and an offer of about $130,000 was made. This was accepted, Pablo agreed to deliver the animals in Canada for that price.

……Then came the task of rounding up these animals, transporting them from their range to Ravalli, Mont. 36 miles away, loading them upon freight cars and shipping them to Canada, where they had to be unloaded and delivered in the parks. To say that such a task was herculean is to express it mildly, but Michael Pablo was not daunted. He employed a force of expert riders, mounted them upon his own best horses and set forth to accomplish the task, riding at the head of his men on his own favorite mount. A corral into which the animals might be driven from the range was the first necessity. Taking advantage of a horseshoe bend in that Pend d’Oreille River, the outside bank of which is of clay and stands almost straight up and down, he had a fence constructed across the peck of the horseshoe and wing fences built for a distance of a mile or more from the end of this fence and a cut in the bank of the river out into the range. Into this, the buffaloes were driven in three separate bands at different times. It required much hard and dangerous riding on the part of the buffalo punchers, and many of the animals escaped numerous times, but perseverance prevailed and two years ago 400 of the herd were successfully rounded up, then driven down the Mission Valley into the corrals at Ravalli. From these corrals, the animals were pulled in dragged by means of block and tackle into the railroad cars. Last year another roundup was made, but just when the riders were about to drive the herd to Ravalli the herd stampeded and made its escape from the corral at Ronan.

This spring it was decided to make no further attempt to drive the animals from Ronan to Ravalli but to corral them, load them in crates mounted upon wheels, and hauled them over the mountains to the loading corrals.
For this purpose heavy crates, large enough to hold two buffalo each, were constructed of heavy timber, fastened together with steel and wire. Through a loading chute, the animals were driven into these crates, securely roped in and hauled by means of six and eight horse teams over the long and dusty journey to Ravalli. Here they were turned out into a series of corrals, from which they were driven, one at a time, into the loading chute. A noose around each buffaloes neck and the tugging of a score of men landed the animal in his car, where the struggling beast was held in till of partition to separate him from his companions could be firmly put into place.
The dangers attending the work of handling the buffalo were many, and there were numerous escapes from death and injury on the part of the riders and loaders. Fred Dekker had his horse gored under him, and his brother, Johnny Dekker, twice had his mount gored and was slightly injured, his life been saved only by the prompt action of Pablo and his brother in firing pistol bullets into the neck of an infuriated beast that was trying to kill man and horse.

……In their maddened struggles against being dragged into captivity 20 of the animals were killed, some of them rushing blindly against the sides of the corrals with such force as to break their necks. One, the patriarch of the herd, font with a younger bull, then laid down in the loading chute and died. It was a pathetic picture to one who

stopped to think, as he gazed at that lacerated, bleeding, ragged animals that stood in a corral at Ravalli, gazing longingly through the cracks of the high, strong fences, cut upon the hills, beyond which lay the wild free range from which they had been dragged in ignominious captivity, to be loaded into cramped stalls of railroad cars, there to be left to vent their fury in vain kicks against the walls of their prisons and tell steam and steel landed them at their new home. Slowness in hauling the bison from the roundup corral necessitated some of the animals standing in the cars for eight days before the last train started for Canada. At last, all of the shipments save those that were killed and two that escaped were loaded aboard and the long trip of 1,200 miles to the point of unloading was commenced. Canada has secured a bargain in buffalo, and the United States loses an asset which it may never be able to replace.

Montana Historical Society By N. A. Forsyth