The Buffalo Horse

The Buffalo Horse One good horse was usually considered worth twenty buffalo skins. The Indian horses are rated as “five-cow,” “ten-cow horse.” This means that the horse has speed and bottom to overtake a herd under ordinary circumstances and place his master alongside of twenty cows, to be dispatch in succession. A twenty-cow horse is beyond price with the Crows and Sioux. Like the Arab mares, they are, as a rule, not to be bought.   What Was a Horse Worth? (americanindian.si.edu) In the early 1800s, on Native trade routes, the going rates for horses were: 1 ordinary riding horse is worth 8 buffalo robes … 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, animals … Read more