| Show T A 0 HP P J 1 0 T A T TIE LAS lao I 1 otibe B ur ralo FAL X IN 4 V M N 4 i A W A codi I 1 buffalo bill buffalo on the nil tern prairies iries painted ial j tc H uv e kly lt it Is safe to state that there were in the neighborhood of buffalo ranging between manitoba and the staked plains of texas their numbers were literally innumerable so vast were they that the first trains on the union pacific railroad were often obliged to stop until the immense herds had crossed their tracks in 1871 it was not uncommon to see herds of buffalo from 20 to 60 50 miles in width that same year col richard irving dodge an army officer of over 30 years experience in indian 4 warfare drove in a light wagon along the arkansas river from walnut creek to pawnee fork through one herd of buffalo not less than 25 miles wide nod and extending north and south as far the could reach tile great match as eye 4 it was when the union pacific railroad was sy by ELMO SCOTT WATSON their followers to the left till they would final being built in 1800 70 that the real slaughter tho the following news dispatch IM from denver colo was wide ly printed in newspapers throughout the country coolie cooke rhea luiea one of 12 JA the last of the buffalo hunters who supplied meat to construction crews in pioneer days of the west Is dead here at the age of eighty eight rhea who was professional hunter for the union Paci pacific Is reputed to have hava killed 67 buffaloes in one day although there are still living plenty of old timers who at one time or another killed buffalo the majority of the professional hunters have already followed their quarry over the great divide hut but the passing of this one of their number serves to recall what has haa been characterized as an epic chapter of american history but one in which americans can take little pride because it fernl furnishes ashes a record of wasteful ruthless slaughter by a nation of people unparalleled in history As for the record of individuals in that wholesale killing mention of cheas rheas mark of 67 buffaloes in one day inevitably brings to mind the feat which won for william frederick cody the sobriquet coh riquet by which he became world famous buffalo bill in 1807 the kansas pacific railroad was ws belr being tg built west through kansas and the he firm of goddard brothers who had the contract for feeding the army of 1200 laborers were looking about for or a hunter to provide the mainstay in the laborers a fare buffalo meat at first they offered the job to the celebrated wild bill hickok but he be declined and suggested that they employ young bill cody who had find already won iron some renown as an indian fighter and guide the result was an agreement whereby cody for a salary of a month agreed to provide ibe bind quarters and humps of 12 buffaloes per day cody worked for goddard brothers a little less than 18 months and in that time according to his own count he killed a ithial total of buffaloes he became very popular among the workmen one of whom Is said to have made up the following jingle which fixed his hamoui nickname upon him buffalo bill buffalo bill never missed and never will always aims and shoots to kill and the company pays his bis buffalo bilt bill but having had the title of buffalo mill bill thus conferred upon him cody was soon called upon to defend that title army off officers leers stationed at fort wallace having seen the buffalo killing feats of billy comstock a noted guide and interpreter ter preter who was chief or of scouts nt that post arranged a match between comstock Corn stock and cody for a wager of a side the two men were to hunt bunt one dakof eight hours beginning at eight in the morning and closing nt at four in the afternoon and the roan man who should kill the greater number of buff buffaloes alnes from on horseback in that time was to be declared the winner the match took place in and was staged east of the new town of sheridan kan cody in his bis autobiography lias has given the following account of the match the buffaloes were quite plenty and it was agreed that we should go into the same herd at the ithe same time lime and make a run as we called it each one killing as many as possible A referee 7 was to follow each of us on vien we entered the herd and count the buffaloes killed by each man we were fortunate in the first run rtin in getting food ground comstock was pas mounted on one of bf hla favorite horses while I 1 rode old brigham I 1 felt confident that I 1 had the advantage of C corn om stock in two things first I 1 had find the best buffalo horse borse that ever made a track and second I 1 was using what was known at that time ns as the needle gun gua a loading springfield rifle calibre 60 it wils was my favorite old lucretha Luc retla borgia Borg lal alfe Cb ATAS armed with a henry rifle and could fire a few shots quicker than I 1 could yet I 1 was pretty certain that it alq not carry powder and lead enough to do execution equal to my caliber 50 at last the time came to begin the match comstock and I 1 dashed into a herd followed by the refe referees Aes the buffaloes separated comstock took the left bunch and I 1 the right my great fontein for teIn killing billing buffaloes from horseback was to get them circling by riding my horse at the head of tho tb herd ah noting the leaders thus crowding ly circle round and round on this morning the buffaloes were accommodating mo dating and I 1 soon had them running in a beautiful circle when I 1 dropped them thick and fast until I 1 had killed 38 which finished my ay run comstock began shooting at the rear of the herd which he was chasing and they kept straight on he succeeded however in killing 23 but they were scattered over a distance of three miles while mine lay close together I 1 had nursed my buffaloes as a billiard player does doea the aa balls ils when he makes a big run while taking a short rest we suddenly spied another herd of buffaloes coming coining toward us it was only a small drove and we ve at once prepared to give the animals a lively reception they proved to be a herd of cows and calves which by the way are quicker in their movements than the bulls we charged in among them and I 1 concluded ray my run with a score of 18 while comstock killed 14 the score now stood 50 66 to 37 in my favor after we had eaten a lunch which was spread for us we ire ame came up close to another herd As I 1 was so far ahead of my competitor in the number killed I 1 thought I 1 could afford to give an extra exhibition of my skill so leaving my saddle aind bridge with the wagons we rode to the windward of the buffaloes ns as usual and when within a few hundred yards of them we dashed into the herd I 1 soon had 13 laid out on the ground the last one of which I 1 had driven down close to the wagons where the ladles were it frightened some of the tender creatures to see the buffalo coming at full speed directly toward them but when he had got within 50 yards of one of the wagons I 1 shot him dead in his tracks tins this made my gath buff buffalo alQ and finished my third and last run comstock having killed 46 As it was now late in the afternoon comstock and his backers gave up th the idea that hi he could beat be at me and thereupon the referees de dared me the winner of the match ng as well as the fhe champion buffalo hunter of the plains although cody won the title of I 1 champion buffalo hunter with his record of killing 69 of the animals in one day lie he was far from being the champion buffalo killer that dubious honor if indeed it could be awarded to td any individual was to be reserved for one of the army of hide hunters who in a little more than a decade were to drive the buffalo to the verge of extinction armed with the heavy sharps buffalo rifle which fired a slug of lead two inches in length half an inch in diameter and weighing eight to a pound and the complement to the rifle a shooting rest made of two sticks tied to together jether X which were vere set in the ground to support the barrel of the sharps the hide hunter would creep up on a herd of buffalo and methodically set to work shooting down the animals until he had killed everyone tn in range or until the of blood blond after it few had been killed stampeded the remainder of the herd the late wyatt harp earp famous gun fighter an and d peace officer of dodge city kau kati and tombstone ariz who was a buffalo hunter at one time in his career in an interview tnt erslev a few years before his death had the following to say about the work bork of the hide hunter with th the best of luck a single hunter might kill buffaloes in a day from several stands that would be all that four skinners could handle I 1 found that the average bunch would stampede by the time 30 or 40 of their number had been killed in my years on the plains the known record kill from a single stand was held by tom nixon nikon a famous shot who made headquarters at dodge ne he managed to knock over animals without moving his rest sticks but he ruined his sharps rifle in doing so I 1 have known other hunters h who boasted of records of more thane than from a stand TI the ie b best est acthen authenticated total for a seasons kill was set by nilly billy tilghman who afterward served with me as a pence peace officer fleer of ile he took hides between september first of one year and april first of the next nest no buffalo hunter that 1 I knew on the plains ever ever topped via that t score an adequate idea of the wholesale destruction of the animals may be obtained from the dat daan 11 collected by the well known fro frontier antler historian E A brininstool and presented in intone one chapter chap ter of his invaluable chronicle of border history fighting red clouds warriors in it he rays pays lu part of the vast numbers of these great animals on the western plains between 1850 and when the last big herd was practically exterminated mina ted statisticians differ but in the year 1850 of the buffalo began thousands of men flocked to the plains to enter this new and novel industry and so countless were the hides which were thrown upon the market that the price dwindled from 4 and 5 each to as aa low as 1 at one time buffalo hides was stacked in a corral coal at dodge city nan kan awaiting shipment the hide hunters took only the skin shin leaving the carcass to rot while thousands of men be it said to their disgrace slaughtered buffalo for the mere wanton pleasure of killing billing one night early in the COs gen phil sher idan and major inman were occue occupying ingilis the of Robert 31 wryght glit a prominent business man of dodge city kan they had just made trip from camp supply and mr wright was called into the office to consult with the off officers leeis as aa to the probable number of buffalo between dodge city and camp supply taking a strip 60 rilles miles east and 50 miles west they had bad first made an estl estimate mate of oc general sher idan said that wont do they figured a while longer and finally made it finally they reached the conclusion that there must be but said they were afraid to give out those figures lest they be accused of pre varl cating but they stated they believed it nevertheless the completion of the western railroad div aided the buffalo into two immense herds the northern and the southern the tha southern herd in 1871 was estimated at and was being diminished at the rate of to a day robert wright and charles rath of dodge city shipped over buffalo hides the first winter the A T S F railroad reached dodge and they estimated that other parties shipped as many more I 1 the santa fe railroad company complied compiled I 1 the fol following lowin g table showing ahe the shipments made aver over their line ns as well as the union and kansas pacific roads buffalo statistics I 1 for t the he yes year ye s 1872 2737 2 73 74 7 U P K P A ata T sn and all a 1 l other S SF F railroads railroad year hides hides hidei total 1872 1878 1873 1874 total me Meat a t lbs Ibs Hea tIbt lbs total 1872 N none 0 n none 1873 7 1874 total bones lbs Ibs Bo bones lbs total 1872 DO 1873 2 8 90 00 1874 total t from 1872 to 1874 it Is estimated that there were buffalo buffal 0 killed and wasted the ment meat being left to rot upon the plains plain the hides only being utilized atas it Is reckoned that in all were killed by white hunters find and the hides shipped over the santa fe during the same period the indians killed but besides these hee settlers and mountain indian tribes ara 10 awe luy so the grand total for these years wan wad during pie be following year 1875 the end came to the great sout southern heru lierd herd and at the close of the year it had been nearly swept from the 1 tord earth one diun hunter ter in ford county kan Is credited with having killed buffalo at ono one stand in 40 manu minutes tes and in 35 days to have hake slain 2173 another rodge dodge city man says he killed 7 days and that his greatest slaughter daughter was inai lna single day lie employed 15 skinners whose sole so leduty duty was pas to follow him up with wagons and remove rembie the hides as fast as he killed the animals the great bortl northern ian herd went the sa same me 6 way in 1882 it was d that there were 1000 alive in this herd but there were at least white hunters in inthe ahe field shooting and slaughtering the beasts at every point etien came thousands more grabbed rifles and took field such I 1 a merciless war of ex termination was neva known tn in a C civilized land I 1 the rinal Anal chapter in the orgy of killing mayi maybe be summarize dIn one fact in 1834 the northern pacific railroad carried one scanty carload op of buffalo lilach east the abe last it ever cari carided led the day of the buffalo was over I 1 9 by western newspaper union |
