| Show writers trace story of bison in utah front from the lie hies files of the utah Wr lors PI aj 1 dison bison the shaggy buffa buffaloes loos of pioneer days roamed the great plains by y the millions but were never numerous in tho the mountains of 0 utah according to source materials on file with tho the utah writers project whilo W hilo the buffalo was an important food supply for plains indians utah tribes were forced to seek out wilder and scarcer game ethnologists account tills this lm important in explaining tile the more primitive standard of living found among mountain moun tala tribes in pioneer days early trappers of the rocky moun tain and hudson day companies wintering in uraih after aft or 1824 speak frequently of buffalo moat BB as part of their diet indicating that buffalo were in the northern utah ra region at that time jim bridger and other trappers however toll of the severity of 0 thu tho winterhof winte and the immense piles ot of buffalo skeletons found in the dear boar river valley and the uintah basin indicate that deep snows about that time practically prati cally wiped out the me alaon in utah the utah pioneers of 1847 found scarcely a buffalo in tho the whole mountain region an animal was reported killed in utah up to 1850 1860 but the mountain buffalo became extinct several decades before their relatives on oil the great plains phalna to wholesale slaughter to na as late lalo an aa 1890 isolated herds survived on oil the plains early sources from tile trapper and explorer era speak of material differ ances between the plains slid the mountain or vo bison according to these reports the mountain variety was or of sligh slighter tor sita at aturo ture had shorter logs legs and shorter hair and was waa always several shades darker in color those reli reports orts interest tho the smith institution which in the authorized a study of the american hlson bison tho the institute succo oded in fit taking several specimens of flu hi buffalo but wore were to it locate a example of the anui tain buffalo which italy hail had become extinct many years before thie the dependent wholly upon the secondary evidence ot of tho the trappers and mountain men finally resolved that they had sufficient oyid evidence ence to justify classifying the mountain bison as a separate variety of bison and suggested that mountain and plain bison were biologically identical |
