Antelope Island was named in memory, for all the antelope killed there by soldiers, guided by Kit Carson.
Rumor has it, somewhere in Texas, he (Bill Glassman) found 12 buffalo to put on display. (start of his herd?)
March 9 1890
BUFFALO
The representation of Buffalo Park is real, and shows the actual appearance of our Buffalo Herd now on the 
ground. The Utah Buffalo and Zoological Garden, of which Buffalo Jones is Manager, now own 100 head of Buffalo, 20 half-breed Buffalo, 13 Deer, 10 Elk, 12 Antelope, 9 Moose, 2 wild Ponies, captured on the plains of Mexico, 5 bears, 2 Seals, 6 Silver Grey Foxes, and other wild animals. Fifty-three head of these animals have already been shipped to Garfield City. It is the intention to congregate these animals at Garfield and make the largest Zoological Gardens in the world. A bill has been introduced in Congress to aid this enterprise. It has received the endorsement of the Department of the Interior, and the approval of the Commissioner of Agriculture. It will be only a few months when these Gardens will be one of the greatest and proudest monument of Utah and her industries.
In April of 1891, 6 head were shipped to England. 4 cows and 2 bulls.
Hot Springs Weekly Star
Hot Springs S.D. Mar 17, 1893
A Great Game Preserve
Antelope island, in the great Salt Lake, with an area of 32,000 acres, bids fair soon to afford the finest hunting of any place in North America. Col. W. F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) accompanied by some English capitalists. recently visited the island after having searched all through the inter-mountain country for a suitable place to establish and stock a game park, and it is reliably reported that, Cody has offered $1,000,000 for the island. J.H. White and J. E. Dooly, who own the property, refused the offer, as they also have plans for stocking the island with game. A carload of rare game was received on Tuesday, consisting of wild elk, moose and black tailed deer. Moose are nearly extinct, and the scarcity makes them very expensive, fine specimens being valued at from $2,000 to $5,000. Messrs. White and Dooley have made a good start in securing the herd of buffalo formerly owned by William Glassman. They intend to keep adding to their collection until they have one of the best stocked game preserves in this country. Antelope island is an ideal place for such a resort, as the winters are mild and there is good grazing till the year. Snow is seldom seen on the mountains of any of the islands of the lake.
1893: 12 bison purchased on January 7th from William Glassman (Buffalo Bill Glassman) by White and Dooly (1896) and brought to the island by Frary and Walker in February. (4 each of bulls, cows, and calves)
The Salt Lake Herald., April 05, 1893
H T HAPGOOD has returned from Kansas with the car load of Galloway cows he sold to the Island Improvement company a few weeks ago Messrs Dooly and White have also received another elk and two moose from Opal Wyo and these animals will all be taken over to Antelope island
The Salt Lake Tribune Sep 9 1894
GLASSMAN’S BUFFALO
The following correspondence needs no explanation:
Mr. William Glassman, Odgen Utah. Dear Sir: In looking after the interest of the Territorial Fair, I have again made an attempt to secure a buffalo for October. I understand that you still have one remaining at your ranch in Tooele country. What will be the chances of securing the animal for our coming show? It would be a drawing card and be of great interest to all of the people visiting the fair. Please answer at your earliest convenience. Very truly yours, GEORGE D. PYPER, Secretary. Salt Lake City, Utah. Sept 5, 1984
To Mr Pyper’s request. Mr Glassman wrote the following reply:
He (the bison) is tame just now, but a little activity will stir him up and he would kill and injure your people. If you had a special corral built of two or three-inch boards with heavy post six feet apart and eight to ten feet high you might be able to hold him, and you would have to bring him into town in the night with about four horsemen with ten-foot poles and steel points. If you will follow this to a dot I will let you get him.
Several years ago you invited me at my own expense to do this. I have no object in view that I know of that would do me any good to have him at that fair. I am now fattening him to be killed and to be roasted immediately after the fall election when it is known that the Republican party has been successful in both the Territorial and constitutional convention election. Then we propose to have a grand Republican buffalo barbeque
BUFFALO PARK In 1889 Dr. Clinton sold some of his holdings to Mr. William Glassman, a real estate developer. He had big plans to build a city. He mapped it out, planted 5,000 trees, and drilled 6 artesian wells. For added attraction, Mr. Glassman contracted with Buffalo Jones of Manitoba, Canada to deliver 100 head of buffalo. Thirty-five buffalo were received in poor condition. They did survive and increased. Notwithstanding the attraction of the herd of buffalo, Buffalo Park made no hit with the public. The buffalo were transported to Antelope Island and Buffalo Park was abandoned. (heritage.utah.gov)
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake City, Utah, Dec 14, 1896
ANTELOPE ISLAND HERD
History of the Now Famous Buffalo Remnant
HOW THEY WERE PRESERVED.
Were Formerly the Property of Buffalo Bill Glassman, and Passed from Him to the Island Improvement Company –Thrive and Multiply in the Seclusion of Their Home in the Lake Where They Have Unlimited Freedom of Range—Surveyors of a Great Race
The herd of buffaloes to which wide public attention has been drawn by the recent tragic fate of one of its bulls, has been grazing on Antelope Island for three years. It is owned by the Island Improvement company, which is composed of John E. Dooly and White & Sons. When Buffalo Bill Glassman gave up his ambition to replenish the West with the American bison, the Improvement company took the little herd he had gathered at Lake Point and transported it to the island. The Antelope range is admirably suited to its wants, and on the nutritious grasses abounding there it has fed and fattened. Though nominally in captivity, it’s freedom is only limited by the waters that surround the island and by the stout fences built to protect the cultivated spots on the ranch from being overrun. Unlike the elk that swim away from the island, the buffaloes have made no effort to escape. Their domain is large enough to satisfy their migratory instinct. From end-to-end it is nearly thirty miles, and at its widest point it is six miles across. It has a surface buried enough to suit the most adventurous buffalo: nature has provided watering places in most convenient spots: delightful depressions abound in which the herd may wallow to its hides content, and altogether Antelope is an ideal _____ for semi-civilized bison.
CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLES.
The herd has grown over there until now it numbers nearly twenty. Four calves were born this year, and the interest of visitors to the island is most excited by these shy young buffaloes. The domestic affairs of the herd have undergone two upheavals during its life on Antelope. These experiences have corroborated the theory, disputed by some buffalo authorities, that one bull rules the herd and that the question of supremacy is settled from time to time on the field of honor. The head of the family does not long enjoy his championship in peace. Some young, ambitious bull challenges him to a contest, and the buffalo code requires him to accept forthwith. He always does, for his cows are looking at him and even if he could remain among them without fighting, which he could not, he would henceforth be despised. So he locks horns with his rebellious antagonist, and the fight goes on to a finish. Either the challenger is subdued, or the reigning bull is driven from the herd, and thereafter is an outcast. The bull and command at the time the herd was placed on the island was driven out about a year later by a fierce young gallant, who held sway but a year. The struggle in which he was defeated lasted for two days, and then he, too, became a wanderer. It was one of these deposed bulls that was killed in the desperate combat of Tuesday last. The present king of the herd is a mammoth fellow, one of the finest specimens of his kind, but he will not be allowed to remain much longer unmolested in his sovereignty. Already there are indications that the younger Bulls are growing restive under his rule, and one of them may any day rebel, and when he does a struggle will follow that will be worth encountering the perils of a voyage to the battle-ground to see. This system of rotation in office is the way the buffalo has of applying the principle of the survival of the fittest, and is held by philosophers to have been designed to ensure the vigor of the offspring.
REMNANT OF THE RACE.
The disappearance from the plains of the race of which this small bunch is one of few remnants was caused by the greatest slaughter of wild animals the world has ever seen. It has been said by a statistical expert that “of all the quadrupeds that have lived upon the earth probably no other species has ever marshaled such an innumerable host as those of the American bison.” Before 18 70 millions upon millions of buffaloes moved over the plains from Manitoba to Mexico. In one great herd that was encountered in Kansas by one of the first trains that crossed that State, it is estimated that there were 4,000,000 of these animals, whose destruction was soon caused by the value of their hides. After the war an army of hunters spread over the feeding grounds of the buffalo and from River Bluffs and hilltops hidden sharpshooters brought down beast after beast until whole herds lay dead. So vigorous was this execution during the four years succeeding 1870, that live buffaloes had become scarce, but everywhere along the old trails skinned carcasses were rotting. In 1870 the large profits of the previous years were no longer obtainable, but the slaughter was continued, and till nearly all the producers of robes were gone. Now only a few hundred remain. Most of these are in National and city parks, or like the Dooly herd, are held by private owners. One of the largest of the herds is that of the Austin Corbin estate at Newport, N.H. Until recently there were ninety buffaloes in this preserve, but thirty of them were about a month ago given to the city of New York and placed in Van Cortlandt park. The Corbin estate consists of 28,000 acres, and in addition to the buffaloes it contains 1200 deer, 1000 elk, 500 wild boars and 150 moose.
El Reno Evening Star
El Reno, Oklahoma 19 Mar 1897
LAST BUFFALO HUNT
Defiant Death of the Bison Monarch of the Great Salt Lake.
The last buffalo in Utah, one of the few remnant of the millions which roamed the vast plains of the west, was killed on Antelope Island, in Great Salt lake, lately by a party of hunters organized for the purpose.
He died as he had lived – with his face to them enemy, defiant to the last.
Antelope Island is on the southern end of the Great Salt Lake, 20 miles from the mainland, itself about 25 miles in length and from eight to ten miles in width. It is a wild and weird place. It is uninhabited, save for two or three small ranches, the owners of which indulge in cattle raising.
Here, undisturbed, save when some men invaded his feeding grounds, this buffalo had lived for a number of years. How he gained the island no one knows. He was found there seven years ago. It was against the law to kill buffalo, and those who found him let him go in peace.
About a year ago, however, the old buffalo changed his tactics and declared war. He came out into the open and fought everything living that crossed his path. Not having anything in the open to conquer the buffalo took to going through barbed wire. He treed every rancher on the island scores of times.
Some weeks ago, after he had slain a very valuable thoroughbred colt, it was decided that he must die.
Under command of Lannan, a party left Salt Lake City early one morning for Farmington, where they embarked is a sailboat for the island. The old fellow had taken up a position as far from the abodes of men as he could get, up a little canyon in the northern end of the island. All the party were on horseback and scouring the country for him. With a defiant snort the buffalo raised his shaggy head and started towards Edwards at a rapid rate. For three miles there was the prettiest race man ever looked upon.
Finally the buffalo halted. Shaughnessy was singled out by the enraged animal. He charged directly at him, and so suddenly that the colonel had no time for anything but a snap shot, which was not fatal. Then Brown sent a bullet through the old fellow’s heart. He halted, stood still for a minute, and with a half bellow, defiant to the last, fell dead.
( I find this article a little odd, not they had to put down an angry bull, but that they state they don’t where he came from. Notice the date of the above article Dec 14, 1896, this one is dated just a few months later. The above article says: “The herd of buffaloes to which wide public attention has been drawn by the recent tragic fate of one of its bulls”)
Deseret Evening News- LOC
Great Salt Lake City, Utah June 14, 1902
BUFFALO HERD ON ANTELOPE ISLAND
Recent correspondence between Mr. Dooly and the Smithsonian Institution and the department of agriculture at Washington relative to buffalo culture may result in the setting apart of Antelope island in the Great Salt Lake as a game preserve for these fast disappearing animals. The department of agriculture has recommended that Congress appropriate $30,000 for the purchase of a Montana herd and their transfer to the Yellowstone park, but it is held that climate conditions, winter feed and safety questions make the use of Antelope island far preferable to the park.
On Feb. 19 last, Mr. Dooly wrote to Superintendent Frank Baker of the National Zoological park at Washington, proposing to exchange buffalo bulls; but the superintendent replied that the distance was so great, and express charges so high, that it seemed inadvisable at present to do so. Mr. Dooly replied, March 1st, that he could ___________________ to Washington, and believed “it would be a good thing for us all to exchange bulls.”
Mr. Baker answered on March 29: “Most of our buffaloes are doing well, but one or two are not in satisfactory condition. We have had but one calf the past year and this is a male.” He added that the park needed more cows, and wished to exchange bulls for female stock. This exchange Mr. Dooly did not think it wise to make, and in April wrote to Secretary James Wilson of the department of agriculture as follows:
“I beg to inform you that I have on Antelope island, in the Great Salt Lake, twenty-six buffaloes in excellent condition.
“The island is covered with natural grasses, which maintain the animals in excellent condition during the summer and winter. Owing to this fact, they have not that rough and underfed appearance which buffaloes of the parks of San Francisco and Chicago do. I have tried to cross them with the Galloway, but never succeeded. I have one cross between a buffalo bull and a Hereford cow, which is now about 2 years old. Should the government desire to propagate such animals, I would respectfully suggest that the location where this herd is maintained and the herd itself be examined.”
The secretary replied through Chief C.H. Merriam of the biological survey, who started his intention of visiting Salt Lake this season, when he would visit Antelope island and inspect the buffalo. Mr. Dooly replied, expressing his pleasure at the attractions and advantages of the island. He also reiterated his wish to secure a fine animal from the Washington herd in exchange for one of the Antelope island herd. One of the Washington letters enclosed a spirited _____________from the secretary of_____ culture to the senate relative to the preservation of American buffalo in the United States and Canada, and which was ordered printed. In this letter the secretary says:
“ The American bison is on the verge of extermination. Scarcely a handful now remain of the millions which formerly roamed over the plains of the west. So far as the department is aware only two small herds of wild buffalo are in existence in the United States, one in the Yellowstone park, the other in Lost park, Colo. During the past autumn several of the latter herd were killed, and while the department has no recent information as to the exact number of animals in these herds at the present time, it has reason to believe that the Yellowstone herd does not exceed 25 and the Lost park herd eight or ten individuals.
“There are no wild buffalo in Canada except in the Peace River country, where a few woodland buffalo, believed to be a different species from our plains buffalo, still exist. A number of buffalo have been domesticated and half domesticated. In addition to the small herds in Zoological parks and in the hands of private individuals, there are three important herds; the Corbin herd on the game preserve in the Blue Mountain Forest association in New Hampshire, the Allard herd on the Flathead Indian reservation in Montana and the Goodnight herd containing about seventy full blooded animals and about one hundred cross breeds at Goodnight, Tex. Both the Allard and Goodnight herds consist in part of cross-breeds known as ‘cataloes,’ obtained by crossing buffalo bulls with domesticated cows. C.J.Jones, the originator of this breed, states that he has succeeded in crossing the buffalo with almost all the different breeds of cattle, but that he considers Galloway and Polled Angus the best for this purpose.
“recent information indicates that the Allard herd is being broken. Thirty-five animals were sold last year, and a number of others within the past few months. If the government could acquire possession of these buffalo they might be placed on some reservation under competent management, and if properly protected could be preserved indefinitely. Unless this is done there is little or no hope of maintaining the herd in it’s entirety. So far as is known, the Goodnight herd is not for sale, but a proposition has several times been presented to Congress regarding the reservation of certain public lands in New Mexico for their preservation. Under proper restrictions this plan might result in the perpetuation of the herd for some years. Should the government acquire possession of a considerable number of full blooded animals it is possible that the absolute extermination of the species might be long delayed. To avoid danger of destruction by epidemic disease and deterioration by too close in-breeding the government herd should be divided and kept in at least two widely separated localities. This would admit of interchange of blood when necessary.”
Antelope island is considered the best place that could be thought of for the maintenance and propagation of the buffalo. The island is about 20 miles long and five broad and has sufficient vegetation and water for a large herd of these creatures. The island is safe from poachers, and the animals cannot get away. In fact there is absolutely nothing to disturb them; and when left alone in quiet they will breed as fast as can be expected. The buffalo now on the island are for the most part descendants of Bill Glassman’s Garfield park herd of 10 years ago. One of Glassmann’s buffaloes “ a fine old gentleman,” lost a rear leg, and of course death was at once suggested as a relief for the sufferer. But Glassman wouldn’t have it. He had a wooden leg made for the animal, and nearly bankrupted his wits in designing it. The leg was strapped on to the buffalos intense amazement, and the animal put in all of his spare time for a week gazing at the new appendage, and wrenching his brains trying to make out what it was all for. But one happy day, he suddenly caught on, and seemed to sense what it all meant. After that there was no more trouble, and he was grateful enough to Glassman to have passed resolutions of the thanks as long as the moral law. The buffalo finally died, and went the way of all flesh, but no buffalo ever lived that was prouder of a wooden leg: and he used to take solid pride in grazing near the railroad track so that when the excursion trains went by he could wave that wooden leg in triumph, as though it were the pride and joy of his life. The buffalo laid great store by that wooden leg, and when death came, he willed that leg to the Smithsonian institution at Washington, with his compliments, in the interest of science.
The San Francisco Call., April 22, 1903
Salt Lake, Utah, April 21.—Mayor Thompson to-day sent a formal invitation to President Roosevelt to participate- Ina buffalo hunt on Antelope Island, in Great Salt Lake, during his visit to this city. The hunt will take an entire day and as the President’s scheduled stop here is but four hours a rearrangement of his plans would have to be made. It is hoped this can be done. Antelope Island is about twenty miles long- and from three to five miles wide. It is made up of mountains and plains, and the small herd of buffalo on the Island, owned by a private company, is exceedingly wild.
The Coalville Times,.Utah, May 01, 1903
President Roosevelt will not participate in the proposed buffalo hunt on Antelope Island owing to the limited time he will remain In Salt Lake City.
Buffaloes on Antelope Island Contradict Plaint
That Their Species Is Rapidly Becoming Extinct
The Salt Lake Tribune, April 23, 1911
Eighteen Calves Added to the Herd
This Spring: Queer Animals Live-in Natural Wild State:
The Strenuous Career of “Boaz”, the Hybrid That Would Not Be Tamed;
When Great Bands Dotted Western Plains
……18 little buffalo calves are doing their best to prove that the race of buffalo – or bison, as the naturalist still persist in calling the American buffalo – is not becoming extinct. These eighteen little buffalo calves were born this spring on Antelope Island, and are now up part of the increasing herd started on the island of quarter of a century ago by John E. Dooly.
……The Antelope Island herd of buffaloes now comprises all told seventy head of the monarchs of the plains. It has been slowly increasing since the original herd was established, but it’s increase was never as marked as this year. The Antelope Island buffaloes are of exceptional interest because they are a part of the remnant of the great herds of millions of buffaloes that once ranged throughout the continent. Ernest Seton Thompson’s census of American buffalo alive in 1908 showed approximately 2000 buffalo remaining from the 75,000,000 estimated to have existed in America in 1830.
Nearly Extinct in 1898
……This census, however, showed that the number of buffaloes was now slowly increasing. In 1898 the buffalo was practically extinct. There were all told not more than 800 alive in that year. Of these about one half were then in the wild state in northwestern Canada. Of those then wild there are now estimated to be about 300 still running wild. The other buffalo still in existence comprise a large herd fostered by the Canadian government, Buffalo Jones’s herd in Oklahoma, a Texan herd, a herd in Montana, the government herd in Yellowstone National Park, the Dooly herd on Antelope Island and a few score scattered around at various zoological gardens.
……At Antelope Island in 1905 the herd numbered 27. Prior to that time the increase had been very slow. Only a few calves were born each year and the herd did little better than hold its own in numbers. From that time on, however, the increase has been more rapid. Two years later there were 40 in the herd and now it numbers 70. If this rate of increase continues the herd, within another decade, will number several hundred.
……This makes possible the belief that through almost extinct the buffalo race may rally and continue through the centuries, though it is certain that it will never attain the vast numbers that once thronged the great plains from the Alleghenies to the Rockies and even went to the west of the Rockies.
Trail Marked With Skulls
……When Brigham Young and his pioneers crossed the plains and came to settle Utah they mark the “Mormon Trail” with buffalo skulls, on which were written legends as guides to those who should follow as to the path to Utah. These buffalo skulls were found in great quantities by the pioneers on their journey. The bleaching of the skulls on the range marked the beginning of the end of the buffalo.
At that time one vast herd of millions of buffalo roamed the Rio Grande almost to Hudson’s bay. The great range was the feeding ground for this vast herd. A combination of circumstances conspired to and the career of the buffalo. Early encroachments of civilization to the east limited the territory over which the buffalo might roam. Civilization and the buffalo did not agree.
……Originally the buffalo, the Indian and the wolf shared the great plains. The buffalo furnished food and warmth for the aborigine. There was no great demand by the Indians four buffaloes, and no serious inroads on the buffalo were then made by the savages. Slaying of buffalo was then not an easy task. The Indian with his primitive weapons had all he could do to keep his tribe supplied with meat and robes from the buffalo.
……But with the advance of civilization the buffalo was doomed. White man’s weapons the buffalo hunting easy. The white man killed the buffalo for is me and for his hide. Then he began to kill the buffalo for a past time. Before the white man’s guns, the buffalo moved westward. And the Indian followed the buffalo. The Indian learned to use the white man’s guns and he to learned to slay for pleasure. At the time Mormon migration buffalo was west of the Mississippi, but on these vast plains he still existed in great numbers. Then came the railroads. The construction of the Union Pacific was of times blocked by the passage of a great over the right of way. Grades were often leveled by the passage of the buffalo.
Period of Commercialism
……Finally the great herd was cut in two by the transcontinental railroad. Then the hunters came on express trains and with Winchesters picked off thousands of beautiful specimens. The buffalo robe and coat industry was growing. It was the rage to wear of buffalo overcoat. The gathering of robes became a commercial enterprise and the end of the buffalo was near at hand. In one year 2,000,000 buffalo skins were gathered and it is estimated each skin represented the death of for animals. Young buffalo were killed for meat. Some people considered buffalo tongue a great delicacy in many animals were killed merely for their tongues.
……In Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma, buffalo hunting became quite an industry and the millions slaughtered annually quickly exterminated the great southern herd. Although it was realized that the entire buffalo race was quickly being exterminated, no provision for the protection of the animals was made. The northern herd shared the fate of the southern herd. The animals were pushed farther to the north by the hunters, where the blizzards and the wolves aided in the extermination.
Another factor in the great decrease of the animals was race suicide. During the last fifty years the percentage of increase of the buffalo has been very small in comparison with other animals, seldom more than 5%. Of the calves born a large percentage was male, while the case with other animals is that the majority of the animals are females.
……This fact has been developed recently through attempts to establish large herds and it has been a question in the minds of naturalists as to whether or not the buffalo undisturbed by the invasion of the white race would not have become extinct in time through race suicide.
Buffalo Jones is responsible for the creation of a new species. By mating cattle and buffaloes he has been able to create this species known as catalo. A combination, three quarters buffalo and one quarter range cow, has proven a decidedly hardy and productive animal. The meat is somewhat coarser than beef, but is not as strong as that of buffalo. The cost of maintaining such an animal is much less than that of range cattle and Buffalo Jones believes that catalo raising will prove profitable. The animal is as hardy as the buffalo and is well able to withstand the wintry blast. The catalo will live for weeks without food and will find a comfortable existence on a range considered worthless for grazing purposes.
……Several experiments in raising catalo have been conducted in the Dooly herd on Antelope Island. A cross between Herford cattle and the buffalo has been obtained that is large and hardy. In every instance save one the catalo has been the of a buffalo cow, sired by a domestic bull. In only one instance has a catalo than the calf of the domestic heifer.
……This instance was a result of an experiment conducted on Antelope Island. I Herford cow with considerable difficulty raised a monstrous hybrid, half buffalo and half Herford. This hybrid was born on March 4, 1904, the date of the inauguration of Pres. Roosevelt, and was promptly christened “Teddy.” Recently his name, for some reason, was change to “Boaz.” Perhaps his nature was not fierce enough to justify the name of “Teddy.”
……“Teddy”remained with his mother all of the time, refusing to run with the buffalo. He was large and in color resembled the Herford. His coat was black, within an immense shaggy mane hanging low from his shoulders and extended over his head. His for head was blazed and his horns short and blunt like the buffalo. He was constructed much after the buffalo within an enormous head and a large, on his shoulders. He was much larger than average buffalo and he was almost as large as the largest buffalo known. He was much larger than the other catalo heretofore produced and disposition was even more ferocious than that of the buffalo.
Keep Close to Mother
……When undisturbed this mammoth catalo would graze quietly with the rest of the Herford herd, always keeping close to his mother, who appeared tiny in comparison to her huge offspring who in three years time had become full-grown, but who still preferred to graze near his mother. “Teddy” resented the approach of man and was always ready to fly to the defense of his mother whenever he thought she was in danger.
……“Teddy”became quite an attraction at Antelope Island, especially for naturalist who examined him at a safe distance. He had upset all the “dope” because scientists had declared that no such animal could be so created. In the words of the farmer who viewed the hippopotamus they declared emphatically:” it’s a lie; there ain’t no such animal.” Finally they called him a freak and let it go at that.
……Finally show people saw exhibition possibilities in “Teddy” and he was purchased for touring purposes. His capture was interesting. After he had easily snapped a number of rawhide lariats tossed by cow men about his shaggy neck and charged the Mustangs on which his would-be captor were mounted, it was decided to resort to strategy.
……A large cage was built and placed out on the range on the island. All sorts of tempting grain and feed were placed inside of the open cage and every effort made to induce the monster to go inside. For several days he disdained the temptations, but finally he was attracted and stepped inside. The trap was so arranged that when “Teddy” once stepped inside he was a prisoner. This he did not seem to mind until the food supply was gone. Then he discovered that he was a prisoner.
Does Stunt in Show
……“Teddy” roared loudly and attacked the cage viciously. It was strong, however, and that protesting catalo finally wearied in his efforts to get out. He was hauled away in triumph by the show people. Then he was christened “Boaz” and began his tour about the country. In captivity he was measurably tamed. The man who brought him feed and water he soon looked on as a friend and he never protested when the keeper entered the cage. As far as can be learned no one else ever tried. Spectators at a safe distance from the cage were kept in a state of constant terror by the bellowing, threatening animal.
……The exhibition tour was not of financial success and on a judgment an Ogden man finally came in possession of “Boaz.” The appetite of the monster was enormous and Ogden creditor soon devoutly wished “Boaz” back with the show people. Finally he was disposed of to another and amusement enterprise and is again touring the country and providing material for the lecture of the “harker.”
The transportation of ”Teddy” alias “Boaz” from Antelope Island was not the only transportation of animals from the island. A number of attempts, most of them successful, have been made to ship buffaloes from the island. Every year or two Mr. Dooley exchanges buffalo calves with the Montana herd in order to improve the strain of both herds. In most cases these calves are separated by some ruse or another from their mother when they are very young and transported as quickly as possible. Experience has taught buffalo owners that healthy young buffaloes as they become older are hard to handle.
Starves Himself to Death
……Some years ago John E. Dooly decided to present the late John Sparks, Gov. of Nevada, with the young buffalo for his large stock farm. Mr. Dooly’s cowboys roped several young buffaloes, but each on finding himself taken captive through himself headlong breaking his neck. Finally one was separated from the herd and driven to the barnyard. A cage was built for him and he was placed inside of it. Then he was transported successfully to Gov. Spark’s farm. There the young buffalo refused to eat. A vicious hunt forestalled all efforts of the ranch hands to make friends with him. On the range where there was excellent pasturage the young buffalo refused to eat and soon grew so weak and starvation that he could not stand. Still he resisted all efforts to make him eat and he was finally shot to and his sufferings.
……The buffaloes at Antelope Island are theoretically in captivity. Actually they are as wild as their forebears which roamed the plains long before the arrival of the white man. They live on the wild range and do not encroach on the cultivated portion of the island. The wild buffaloes Only a few have been domesticated and these few animals remain close to the ranch house, they are educated taste been satisfied by the domestic food that the wild provender of their roaming kin.
……The wild buffalo on Antelope Island have exactly the same traits that characterize their ancestors and__noted by the early naturalist who studied the wild buffalo. There is ___ ways a king for the herd, but his government is as unstable as that of ____ head of a South American republic.
Revolutions are constant and so ____as the King buffalo can put down ___insurrections he is the recognized _____r. When he fails he is not only ____ osed, but ostracized. Conflicts are constantly going on between the old buffalo who is leading the herd, and the younger Bulls who are ambitious to succeed him. Ungrateful great-grandson’s of the monarch are always leading as an attack against him. Long experience wise generalship and superb strength often wins for the monarch, but he grows older and his adversaries ____ powerful and skillful his ___ totter. Finally the old bull is best and expelled from the herd and a new leader of the attack on the old bull is recognized as the king. The —-____ of the King buffalo is about the years.
Doesn’t Emulate Jeffries
……An ostracized and deposed monarch never tries to “come back.” He becomes grouchy and melancholy as ___ as very vicious. He ranges by himself and often lives to an extreme old age. Last winter in a buffalo hunt on the Antelope Island eight at bees ex monarchs were slain. They were all old, but despite their age and loss of power they were in the full glory of ____ majesty of their beautiful heads and coats.
……One of these old bull estimated to be nearly 25 years old, was one of the largest buffaloes ever measured. His head, coat and bones were sent to the Smithsonian Institute at Washington D.C. Some of the others also will be mounted, while the robes of some will be made into rugs. All of the heads will be mounted. On account of the age of the old bulls the meat was to tough and some of it was used for food.
……The Antelope Island buffalo herd is beginning to attract attention all over the country and the news that it’s growing larger will be received with genuine pleasure by all Americans, who look upon the buffalo as symbols of the power and the freedom of the country. Thousands of tourists a year asked to see the buffaloes when they come to Salt Lake, but many of them are unable to do so. This summer a large number of both parties had planned to cruise among the islands and the lake, none of which is most attractive then Antelope Island, the _____of the buffaloes, and it is hoped their arrangements may be made to transport a greater number of tourist to the island this year than ever before in order that the buffaloes may be seen and listed among the wonders bounty by the Great Salt Lake.
Great Falls Tribune
Great Falls, Montana 01 Jun 1922
COMMERCIAL MEN TO EAT BUFFALO
Odgen Promises U. C. T. Delegates Treat, June 8, 9 and 10.
Barbecued buffalo meat, cooked to a rare brown, will be the delicacy handed out in Ogden to friends of the commercial travelers, who assemble there June 8, 9 and 10 for the grand council meeting of the United Commercial Travelers of Utah, Idaho, and Montana. Five of the herd of buffalo ranging on Antelope island in the Great Salt lake will be hunted down and killed in the old frontier style.
Great Falls is expected to send a large delegation to the grand council meeting and other cities of the state are to be well represented as the railroads have granted special round trip rates from all parts of Montana and also Utah. Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada. Bands from Ogden. Salt Lake City. Logan and Provo will furnish the music, according to advance announcements.
The big day of the gathering will be Saturday, the final day, when a program of jollification will be staged for the benefit of visitors. Ball games, a parade, a street carnival and a Mardi Gras ball are some of the features slated for the final day. Shriners enroute to San Francisco expect to take time off at Ogden to put the patrols through a little exercise.
Part of the Dooley herd on Antelope Island
Lansing State Journal
Lansing Michigan Dec 15 1923
Pioneers Helped Make This Nation a Power
How They Did It Is Graphically Shown in Picture, “The Covered Wagon.”
Thus is the story of “The Covered Wagon,” an epic of the great wagon trains, which in 48’ crossed the plains to Oregon from Westport Landing Mo.
This story, new to motion pictures, was made by James Cruze for Paramount with a wealth of detail, great spectacular effects and unlimited effort. It will be shown at the Gladmer theater December 20, 21. and 22.
Most of the picture was filmed in Utah and Nevada. A buffalo hunt was staged on Antelope Island, in the Great Salt Lake, where one of the largest herds of bison in the world is located. The Baker Ranch in Snake Valley, Nevada, was employed for most of the backgrounds an untrodden wilderness for the most part.
Five hundred covered “prairie schooners” were built or purchased, and thousands of Indians and oilier characters are employed. “The Covered Wagon” will be acclaimed one of the greatest dramas of the century and one that will be an invaluable historical record.
The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles, California Dec 10, 1922
WILD INDIANS WERE ACTORS
Four Tribes “Counted Coup” in the Movies
Real Buffalos Are Hunted in “ Covered Wagon”
Trained Oxen by Tying Their Tails Together
A lot of wild Indians Arapahoes, Shoshones, Crows, and Bannocks are wending their ways back to the reservations, swollen with the pride of victory, covered with glory and decorated with, coup sticks each coup stick denoting an enemy slain with great valor.
That the enemies were slain in a motion-picture battle with blank cartridges is regarded by, them as an unimportant detail. If you shoot at an enemy with a gun and he flops off his horse and you touch him with your lance, he’s good for a coup stick the Injun Croix de Guerre by jinks!
This was but one of the colorful incidents In the making of the “Covered wagon,” the most ambitious attempt ever made to reproduce the old West and the struggles of those who came across the plains.
A REAL BUFFALO HUNT
When finished, it will be one of the most important historical documents that record this period of American history. Also, one of the most stupendous motion pictures ever made.
James Cruze, the director, reproduced old Fort Bridger, the jumping-off place for the Argonauts when they started on the long journey across the plains; 500 old-fashioned “prairie schooners” were built and 300, spans of oxen were trained to the yoke.
They even had a real buffalo hunt.
The Boston Globe
Boston, Massachusetts May 27, 1923
BRINGING BUFFALOS TO THE CAMERA
How the Exciting Bison Hunt in “The Covered Wagon” Was Made for the Screen
Among the wonder of “The 
Covered Wagon” at the Majestic Theatre Is how in the world an American bison hunt could be staged in this day and generation. Certainly there aren’t enough of the nearly extinct animals in the few private preserves or zoos, nor would their use he permitted.
But James Cruze, the director, learned of buffaloes on a big barren Island 18 miles out In Salt Lake. So he proceeded to investigate and discovered that a firm known as the Buffalo Livestock Corporation owned the shaggy beasts and for a consideration was willing to let them be used for the picture.
The spectacle of charging wild buffalo is a sight not soon to be forgotten. They have a bad eye. Also they are evil tempered and they seem to dislike horses and men especially. They can outrun a horse up hill.
Driven by Cowboys
They are quick as cats and can turn on a circle. If they get headed in one direction, nothing can stop them. So the big problem that confronted Cruze was to get them to run before the camera.
Cowboys drove the buffalo in herds of a hundred or so across the mountain and down into the level plain, where the bulkhead for the cameras had been erected.
Sometimes the punchers would “spill them,” which means that the herd would split and part would take their own course, generally uphill again. The calves ran beside their mothers as fast as the old ones.
Three or four days were consumed in this way, but finally they got a big bunch to run past, and during this the actors took after them.
Thus the hunt was filmed. Thrills? Well, take all the Wild West shows and combine them and you get some idea of what It was like. Work? Those actors never worked so hard in their lives before and never will again for they don’t make pictures like this more than once in a lifetime.
Casualties Barely Escaped
It was hotter than the hinges of Tophet, with alkali dust and alkali wind and salt water breezes that burned your face and blistered your lips and made your eyes water.
There were no casualties, but some near ones. Karl Brown, the chief oarsman, wanted to experiment on a close-up of a buffalo, so the punchers roped a big bull and brought him in. Karl and his assistant with the cameras were in a wagon drawn by a team of horses.
“Turn the buffalo loose and-rope him right near,” said Brown.
The cowpunchers turned the buffalo loose and the buffalo turned loose on his own account. He went for the horses. The latter turned quickly and spilled Brown right under the bison’s heels. Old Ed Jones, a movie actor, a puncher and a dead shot, calmly sighted with his sawed-off Winchester from his hip, shot between horses, men, cameras and wagon a space about a foot !n diameter and brought down the buffalo.
It saved Brown’s life probably, and thats how they had buffalo meat the first day in camp, and in that respect they were real “covered wagoners.”
Island Images taken in 2012 by Hermann Luyken
