Col Dodge

W.T. Hornaday

William Temple Hornaday, Sc.D. (December 1, 1854 – March 6, 1937) was an American zoologist, conservationist, taxidermist, hunter, and author. He served as the first director of the New York Zoological Park, known today as the Bronx Zoo, and he was a pioneer in the conservation movement in the United States. He was the President of a conservation group called the Campfire Club in 1905 as well as the President of the American Bison Society from 1907-10   THE MAKER OF ZOOS Greatest Wild, Animal Man in the Country.  WILLIAM T. HORNADAY “There goes the man who knows more about wild animals than anybody … Read more

Bison Timeline

Bison History Timeline As I research historical accounts of bison, most of which I located from Newspapers.com, new information and articles are being added almost daily. It’s a long process, but a mission worthy of my time investment, and I hope; worthy of your time spent reading the articles. I have re-typed the historical news articles, word-for-word, so as to capture the spirit and essence intended by the authors. If you see “____”, this means I cannot transcribe a word for reasons of legibility. Note: You may notice conflicting information as you read. This is not unusual when researching history. … Read more

1875

<< Previous  Next>> The Decline of the Buffalo.  Chicago Daily Tribune Chicago , Illinois Jan 2 1875  BUFFALO ROCK This was formally a part of the main north bluff, from which it became detached during some great natural convulsion, perhaps in the Glacial or Draft epoch. The rock is St. Peter’s Sandstone, overlaid with a thin bed of good coal, and above the usual Drift series. It’s surface covers some 80 acres. The canal and the railroad run through the deep natural cut between it and the main bluff. It is a prominent landmark, and is interesting as being the … Read more

1914

<< Previous  Next>> / The Kinsley Graphic Kinsley Kansas, Jan 1, 1914  Profits in Bones. From the Hutchinson News. The Santa Fe handled a shipment this week which reminded one of the similar shipments made frequently forty years ago. It was a car of bones picked up on the prairie. John Seaberg and Peter Neufeld, who live above the hills in McPherson County, gathered the bones and at odd times within a couple of weeks, they succeeded In gathering up a carload of the bones, which had whitened on the prairie, in pastures and on stock farms. The shipment of … Read more

1900’s

<< Previous  Next>> / Santa Fe New Mexican Sante Fe New Mexico Feb 8 1900 To Grab the Staked Plains. “Buffalo Jones” of Kansas long ago achieved fame as the grower of buffalo upon his farm in the sunflower state, and for his theory that by a cross between the bison and the domestic cattle he could produce a hardy animal which would combine the qualities of both. But the latest scheme of the Kansas man should entitle him to rank as the great practical joker of the wide west. He conceived a plan for grabbing the staked plains in … Read more

1899

<< Previous  Next>> 1899 National Zoological Park Washington D.C. Smithsonian Institution Archives.  Image #2003-19498 /   The Morning Post North Carolina Dec 27 1899 HOW BISON PERISHED (Scientific America) One of the most extraordinary events that has characterized the last half of the present century is the extermination, the wiping out of the American bison. There is little use in restoring to invective or endeavoring to stigmatize those who are guilty of this crime, but it would be well if the acts could be held up in a bright light that those who committed them might be excoriated in the crime … Read more

1887

<< Previous  Next>> / Written for The Evening Star THE LAST BUFFALO HUNT FAREWELL TO THE GREAT AMERICAN BISON. The End of a Bloody and Relentless Persecution – A Search for Specimens. By WILLIAM T. HORNADAY Author of “Two Years in the Jungle.” Copyright, 1887. I am obliged to confess that I have been guilty of taking part in the extermination of the buffalo. Were it at all to my credit I could even boast of having just killed a greater number in proportion to the whole number now alive than any other man in this country except Jim Mc … Read more

1877

<< Previous  Next>> STILL HUNTING AFTER BUFFALO The Graphic: An Illustrated Weekly Newspaper London, England Feb 10 1877 STILL HUNTING AFTER BUFFALO As Col. Dodge has shown in his interesting book lately published, the Buffalo, countless herds of which used to roam over the plains of the central portions of North America, are being rapidly extinguished. Every season numerous sportsmen, among whom are many parties of Englishmen, who cross the Atlantic especially for the purpose, wage war against these animals. Their operations are usually conducted thus. A party of well mounted men dash  up to a herd of buffalo. Each … 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