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Show [ 174 ] 144 interesting to throw a gl~nce bacln~ar~ thr.ongh the last twPnty years, and give 801ne account of their former d1stnbnt10n through the country, and the limit of their western range. The information is derived priucipally from Mr. Fitzpatrick, supported by my own personal knowledge and acquaiutan?e with the country. Our knowledge does uot go farther back than the spnng of 1824, ~t whtch time the buffalo were spread in immense numbers over the Green nver and Bear river valleys, and through all. the ~ountry lying: ~etwecn the Colorado, or Green river of the gulf of Cahforma, and Le w1s s fork of the Columbia river· the meridian of Fort Hall then forn1ing the western limit of their range'. The buffalo then remained for many years in that country, and' frequently moved down the valley of the Co.lmn~ia, on both sides of the river as far as the Fishing falls. Below th1s poult they never descended in any numbers. A bout the year 1834 or 1835 they beg au to diminish very rapidly, and continued to decrease until 1838 or 1840, when, wilh the country we have just described, they entirely abandoned all the waters of the Pacific north of Lewis's fork of the Columbia. At that time, the Flathead Indians were in the habit of finding their buffalo on the heads of Salmon river, and other streams of the Colm11bia; bnt uow they never meet with them farther west than the three iorks of the l\tlissoari or the plains of the Y ello wstoue river. In the course of our journey it will be remarked that the buffalo have not so entirely abandoned the waters of the Pacific, in the Rocky-1nountain region south of the Sweet Water, as in the conntry north of the Great .Pass. This partial distribution can only be accounted for in the great pastoral beauty of that country, which bears marl{s of having long been one of their favorite haunts, and by the fact that the white hunters have more frequent· ed the northern than the southern region-it being north of the South Pass that the hunters, trappers, and traders, have had their rendezvous for many Y.ears ~a:at; and from that section also the greater portion of the beaver and nch furs were taken, although always the most dangerous as well as the most profitable hunting ground. In that region lyingbetweeu the Greeu or Colorado river and the head waters of the Rio del Norte, over the Yanlpall, Kooyah, T·Vhite, and Grand rivers-all of which are the waters of the Colorado-the buffalo never extended so far to the westward as they did on the waters of the Columbia; and only in one or two instances have they been lrno\vn to descend as far west as the mouth of White river. In travelliuo- throuo-h the country west of the Rocky mountnius, observation readily led me to t>the impression that the buffalo had, for the first time crossed that rano-e to the waters of the Pa.ci~e only a, few years prior to the period we are ~onsidering ; aud in this opmwn I am sustain~d by Mr. Fitzpatrick, and the older trappers in t~nt country. In t~e regwn west of the Rocky mountains, we never meet With an~ of the ancient vestiges which, throughout all the country lying upon their ~aste~n waters, are found ~n the g reat highwa,ys, coutinuou··. for hun· dre~s of miles, always severalmches and sometimes several [eet 111 depth, wh1eh ~he buffalo have made in crossing from one river to another, or in traversmg the mountain range8. The Snake Indians more par ticnlarly those ~ow down upo!l Lewis's fork, have always been ~ery grateful to 11.1c ~'\.~encan trappers, ior the great kindness (as th ey frc<pw otly expressed 1.1) yh1eh they did lo them, in driviug nver. tho buffalo so low down the Colmnbln The extraordinary abnnuance of the bt.tifalo on the cast side of the Rocky 145 [ 174 J mountains, and their extraordinary diminution, will be made clearly evident fa·om tho following statement: At any time between tile years 1824 and 1836, a tr~\'Ciler might start frorn .\ny gi ven point sou th or north in the Rocky mountain range,journey inrr by the most direct route to the l\1i&souri river; and, during the whole distance, hiR road would be always amoncr large bands of buffalo, which would never be out of his view Llnt il he ar~ rived almost within sight of the abodes of civiliza tion. At this time, the buffalo occupy but a very limited sp:lcfl , principally alooCT' the eastern base of the Rocky mountains, sometim es extending at thei~ southern extremity to a consid erable distance into the pl ,lins between the Platte and Arkansas rivers, and along the eastern fron tier of New .l\1exico as far south as Texas. The following statement, which I owe to the kindness of .\1r. Sanford, a partner in the American Fur Compnny, will fur ther illu ·tratc this subject, by extensive knowledge acqui red d uring seve ral yea rs of travel thro uooh the region inhabited by the bu1fa lo : 0 "The total :unount of robe annually trad ed by our elves and others will not be found to dille r much from tho following statement: American Fur Company Hudson's Bay Company All other companies, probably . Rob<-~. 70,000 10,000 10,00 Making a total of 90,0()0 as an avPrnge annual re turn for the last ci!!;bt or ten years. . " In tile north west, the [I udson 's Bay Compa ny purchase from tbc Indwns but a very small number-their only market b c in ~ Canad a, to which th~ c.ost of transportation nearly C(Jil als the prod uce of tbr fur ; and it is only Wtthm a very recent period that they have received bufl'a lo robes in trade; and .ont of ~he great number of bufl'a lo annu ally killed throu~h out the extensive rcg10ns inhabi ted by the Camanch cs and oth er ki ndred tribes, no robes '~batever arc furni~hed for trade. During on ly four months of the year? ( fro.m November until March, ) the skins are ~ood for dressing; those ohb'dt atned m the retnainin~ eiO'ht months bc inO' Yal uc lrss to traders· and the 1 v ~ ~ ' es of bulls ar e never taken ofl' or dressed as ro bes at any season. Prob· ahly not more than one -third of the kin~ arc taken from the animals killed, ~ven wh~n they arc in good season, the labor of preparing and dressing the Jobes bctng very great; and it is seldom that a lodge trades more than twenty skins in a year. It is during the summer months, and in the early P3."t ~f autumn, that the ~reatcst number of bufralo arc killed, and yet :At thts ltmc a skin is never taken for the puri)ose of trade." b From these data, which are certainly limited, and decidedly ·within bounds, the reader is left to draw his own inference of the immense num-er annually killed. F .In 1842, I found the Sioux Indians of the Upper Pl atte denwn lcs, as th eir 1 re~ch traders expressed it, with the failure of the buffalo ; and in the folto:- vang year, large villag~s from the Upper Missouri ca1ne nv r r to the moun/~~ s at the heads of the Platte, in search of them. The r:\pidly progressive at ure of their principal and almost their only mean · of ~ ul;si te~ce has ;•:eated gl'eat alarm among them; and at this time there are only two modes lescnted to th1~m, by which they sec a good prospect for escaping t:u va.~ |
