Buffalo Skin

1883

<< Previous  Next>> The Last Great Buffalo Hunt  1882-1883   ” Slaughtered for a Pastime” ” Slaughtered for a Pastime” ” Shall the Buffalo Go? Reminiscences of an Old Buffalo Hunter” Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly, Vol. XV, May 1883, New York, Original vintage wood engraving, 1883 On loan from Historic Photographs by Imagi Gallery / Jamestown Weekly Alert Jamestown, North Dakota  Jan 12 1883 Bismarck Tribune: Two compositors on the Jamestown Alert went out New Year’s Day to slay a buffalo. They had crawled a quarter of a mile through the snow to get a shot at  a lot of … Read more

1881

<< Previous  Next>>   IN THE INDIAN COUNTRY   Steuben Republican Angola, Indiana Jan 12 1881 IN THE INDIAN COUNTRY (extract) by General Jason S. Brisbin, U.S.A. (At North Platte crossing the Republican River) The Indians had encamped in the grove not long before our arrival, in many of the frames of their lodges were still standing, some of them seeming to have been but recently abandoned. The frames were made of poles, stuck in the ground, the tops being bent over and fastened together with pieces of rawhide. Some had both ends of the poles driven into the ground, … Read more

1874

<< Previous  Next>> Wholesale Slaughter Nashville Union Jan 6 1874 Wholesale Slaughter With reference to the wholesale slaughter of buffalo on the plains, a Western paper says: Mr. Lessing estimates that there are at least two thousand hunters in camp along there waiting for buffalo. He came across one party of sixteen, who stated that they killed twenty-eight thousand buffaloes during the past summer, the hides of which only were utilized. If sixteen hunters can kill this many animals, how great must be the slaughter upon the broad extent of the bison range? Evidently millions of the animals must have … Read more

1873

< Previous  Next>> 1873 -“American Progress”  by George A. Crofutt    Print shows an allegorical female figure of America leading pioneers westward, as they travel on foot, in a stagecoach, Conestoga wagon, and by railroads, where they encounter Native Americans and herds of bison.   Chicago Daily Tribune Chicago, Illinois Feb 16 1873 BISON BUTCHERY Tremendous Slaughter of Buffaloes in Southern Kansas – Doomed to Speedy Extinction From that Topeka (Kan.) Commonwealth. Dodge City, on the A.T. & S.F. road, is a principal point of shipment of buffalo meat and hides in Kansas. In fact, the trade of the town, … Read more

1872

<< Previous  Next>> Spotted Tail and Company     This is a 30 x 40-inch oil on canvas painted in 1972.  A little background on the painting: it commemorates the 100th anniversary of Grand Duke Alexis of Russia’s buffalo hunt in Nebraska.  In 1872, Gen. Philip Sheridan, Gen. George Custer, and Buffalo Bill Cody rode along to ensure the duke’s success, but the duke’s aim was terrible; he fired six shots, missing buffalo from just 20 feet away.  Then the duke emptied Cody’s pistol without success.  Cody gave him his 50-caliber Springfield rifle and rode beside him to tell him when … Read more

1870

<< Previous  Next>> Height of the Destruction   Many Indians and whites considered buffalo tongues to be a great delicacy; western soldiers craved them. In 1870, General John Pope, new commander of the Department of the Missouri, wrote to his old West Point chum, Lieutenant Colonel Richard I. Dodge, in command at Fort Dodge, requesting twelve dozen buffalo tongues. Dodge quickly obliged by detailing a sergeant and a squad of marksmen to scour the Kansas plains for the shaggy beasts. In three days they returned with a wagon filled with more tongues than were ordered. To kill over 144 buffalo, … Read more

1869

<< Previous  Next>> The Brooklyn Eagle Jan 5 1869 Robe   “Very well,” said he. “Mike,” calling a hall – boy, ” run round to Snagg’s Stables, and toll him I’ll want my sleigh here at three o’clock; and say, toll him I want my best buffalo.” No sooner had he pronounced those words than the bison of the prairies sprung up before me, as I had read of him in a hundred books, with his huge tangled mane, his small bloodshot eye, his gigantic hoof, his terrible branching horns. I immediately determined to invent a pretext for not going; … Read more

1700’s

Early Explorers Sighting Bison << Previous  Next>> Early America’s explorers first seeing our bison, had no idea what they were, and they have been called many various terms; buffalo, bison, wild ocshen, buffelo, wild ox, wild cattle, cibola, vaca, wild beast, etc..It depends where and when I am searching. Many remarking they look like those of Europe but much larger and darker. Today, the European bison species is said to be larger than American. (a whole other subject I may or may not get into. A friend commented “rabbit hole”.)   I might also point out that I pretty much ignore … Read more