The Extermination of the American Bison
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About This Book
When William Temple Hornaday wrote this text for the Smithsonian Institution in 1889, the thirty million buffalo that had once roamed North America had been reduced to a few hundred. Alarmed by this decimation, Hornaday--a hunter, zoologist, writer, and the Smithsonian's chief taxidermist--set out for Montana to collect specimens for preservation at the Smithsonian. One of the main results of his trip was The Extermination of the American Bison, a timely recounting of the history and destruction of the buffalo, and a landmark work in early conservation advocacy. Hornaday paints a vivid portrai...
Chapters (263)(click to expand)
- SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.
- THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON.
- Superintendent of the National Zoological Park.
- Inscription
- From the Report of the National Museum, 1886-’87, pages 369-548, and plates I-XXII.
- WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1889.
- CONTENTS.
- Group of American Bisons in the National Museum. Collected and mounted by W. T. Hornaday.
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
- MAPS.
- PREFATORY NOTE.
- THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON,
- PART I.—LIFE HISTORY OF THE BISON.
- I. Discovery of the species.
- II. Geographical Distribution.
- Head of Buffalo Bull From specimen in the National Museum Group. Reproduced from the Cosmopolitan Magazine, by permission of the publishers.
- III. Abundance.
- Slaughter of Buffalo on the Kansas Pacific Railroad. Reproduced from “The Plains of the Great West,” by permission of the author, Col. R. I. Dodge.
- IV. Character of the species.
- BISON AMERICANUS. (Male; four months old.)
- From photograph of group in National Museum. Engraved by R. H. Carson. Buffalo Cow, Calf (Four Months Old), and Yearling. Reproduced from the Cosmopolitan Magazine, by permission of the publishers.
- BISON AMERICANUS. (Male yearling, taken Oct. 31, 1886. Montana.)
- BISON AMERICANUS. (“Spike” bull, two years old; taken October 14, 1886. Montana.)
- Spike Bull. From the group in the National Museum. Reproduced from the Cosmopolitan Magazine, by permission of the publishers.
- Bull Buffalo in National Museum Group. Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.
- BISON AMERICANUS. (Male, eleven years old. Taken December 6, 1866. Montana.)
- BISON AMERICANUS. (Young cow, in third year. Taken October 14, 1886. Montana.)
- From a photograph. Engraved by Frederick Juengling. Bull Buffalo. (Rear View.) Reproduced from the Cosmopolitan Magazine, by permission of the publishers.
- BISON AMERICANUS. (Adult cow, eight years old. Taken November 18, 1886. Montana.)
- LENGTH OF THE HAIR OF BISON AMERICANUS.
- V. The Habits of the Buffalo.
- Development of the Horns of the American Bison. 1. The Calf. 2. The Yearling. 3. Spike Bull, 2 years old. 4. Spike Bull, 3 years old. 5. Bull, 4 years old. 6. Bull, 11 years old. 7. Old "stub-horn" Bull, 20 years old.
- VI. The Food of the Bison.
- VII. Mental Capacity and Disposition.
- VIII. Value of the Buffalo to MAN.
- Memorandum of buffalo robes and hides bought by Messrs J. & A. Boskowitz, 101-105 Greene Street, New York, and 202 Lake street, Chicago, from 1876 to 1884.
- Total number of buffalo skins handled in nine years, 246,175; total cost, $924,790.
- UTILIZATION OF THE BUFFALO BY WHITE MEN.
- Fig. 1. A Dead Bull. From a photograph by L. A. Huffman.
- Fig. 2. Buffalo Skinners at Work. From a photograph by L. A. Huffman.
- Fig. 1. Five Minutes’ Work. Photographed by L. A. Huffman.
- Fig. 2. Scene on the Northern Buffalo Range. Photographed by L. A. Huffman.
- IX. The Present Value of the Bison to Cattle-Growers.
- Half-breed (Buffalo-Domestic) Calf.—Herd of C. J. Jones, Garden City, Kansas. Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.
- Half-breed (Buffalo-Domestic) Cow.—Herd of C. J. Jones, Garden City, Kansas. Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.
- Young Half-breed (Buffalo-Domestic) Bull.—Herd of C. J. Jones, Garden City, Kansas. Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.
- Statistics of full-blood buffaloes in captivity January 1, 1889.
- PART II.—THE EXTERMINATION.
- I. Causes of the Extermination.
- II. Methods of Slaughter.
- Still-hunting Buffaloes on the Northern Range. From a painting by J. H. Moser, in the National Museum.
- The Chase on Horseback. From a painting in the National Museum by George Catlin.
- Number of carts assembled for the first trip.
- Cree Indians Impounding Buffaloes. Reproduced from Prof. H. Y. Hind’s—“Red River, Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Expedition.”
- The Surround. From a painting in the National Museum by George Catlin.
- III. Progress of the Extermination.
- A. The Period of Desultory Destruction, from 1730 to 1830.
- Indians on Snow-shoes Hunting Buffaloes. From a painting in the National Museum by George Catlin.
- B. The Period of Systematic Slaughter, from 1830 to 1838.
- Buffalo product.
- Southern buffaloes slaughtered by southern Indians.
- The slaughter of the southern herd.
- Where the Millions Have Gone. From a painting by J. H. Moser in the National Museum.
- IV. Congressional Legislation for the Protection of the Bison.
- V. Completeness of the Extermination.
- Number of American bison running wild and unprotected on January 1, 1889.
- VI. Effects of the Extermination.
- VII. Preservation of the Species from Absolute Extinction.
- PART III.—THE SMITHSONIAN EXPEDITION FOR MUSEUM SPECIMENS.
- I. The Exploration.
- II. The Hunt.
- Sketch Map of the Hunt for Buffalo. Montana 1886.
- Trophies of the Hunt. Mounted by the author in the U. S. National Museum. Reproduced from the Cosmopolitan Magazine, by permission of the publishers.
- III. The Mounted Group in the National Museum.
- THE ACCESSORIES.
- THE SIX BUFFALOES.
- THE TAXIDERMIST’S OBJECT LESSONS.
- Map Illustrating the Extermination of the American Bison. Prepared by W. T. Hornaday.
- FOOTNOTES.
- INDEX.
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