Bison (Buffalo)
Largest mammal in North America extensively slaughtered in
the 1870s and 1880s for hides, meat, and tongues.
When Europeans arrived in the new world, two subspecies
of bison roamed much of the North American continent—
north to south from present-day Canada into northern
Mexico and west to east from present-day California to the
Appalachian Mountains, northern Florida, and Pennsylvania.
The most prolific of the species was the Plains bison (Bison,
bison, bison), which roamed the plains and prairies. The
wood or mountain bison (Bison, bison, athabascae) thrived in
the Rocky Mountains. Bison population peaked in the midnineteenth century. Although scientists and historians have
had difficulty determining exact numbers, most accept that
the plains species totaled between 30 and 70 million and the
mountain variety between 3 and 5 million.
The bison was critical to the survival, advancement, and
development—both physical and spiritual—of the indigenous populations of the North American plains. Native peoples organized massive hunts and then used all parts of the
animals for everything from food to shelter to utensils.
Immediately following a kill, the tribes had what some have
described as a feeding frenzy, eating some parts of the bison
raw. They made jerky and pemmican via a process somewhat
Bison 27like canning that used the hide as the container and fat for
curing. Hides provided clothing, shelter, canoe-like floating
vessels, and even shield and decoy material in battle. Dung
proved an excellent source of fuel. Hair, horns, tails, and other
body parts made cooking utensils, shoes, saddles, tools, containers, and much more. Bison hair made jewelry and rope,
and the heads were used for ceremonial dress. Perhaps no
animal proved more important to the development of North
American indigenous populations than did the bison.
When white settlers began the westward rush to the plains,
they, too, recognized the utility of the Great Plains animals.
Most of the great travel routes were trails that the bison had
trekked for centuries. Railroads, too, followed the overland
trails of the great bison herds, and bison were food for the
men who built the rails. Soon after the land rush of the midnineteenth century, buffalo robes and the delicacy of bison
tongues became popular in both the Eastern U.S. and
European cities.
With leather supplies from the South American market
dwindling, bison products filled consumer needs. Between
1870 and 1883, hide hunters decimated the plains bison population. Between 1872 and 1874 the major rail companies
shipped more than 1,378,000 hides and 6,751,000 pounds of
meat to Eastern markets, representing $4,823,000 in hides
alone, which sold for $3.50 apiece. These shipments represented more than 3,158,700 slaughtered bison. The carcasses
proved useful as well: they attracted wolves, which were dangerous to cattle operations booming in the West, so ranchers
laced the decaying bison with poison and helped eradicate
the predator from the plains. Entrepreneurs also shipped carcasses east, where bones were used for fertilizer, horns for
sugar refining, and hoofs for glue. Between 1872 and 1874,
the major rail lines shipped roughly 32,380,000 pounds of
bison bones, representing approximately 550,000 animals
and more than $161,900 in revenue (at an average of $10 per
ton).
By 1880, a few well-intentioned laws forbade the hunting
of bison in several Western states, but by all accounts the legislation was too little, too late. In 1900 only a handful of
bison remained on the Great Plains. Private individuals
began to ask for federal intervention in saving the nearly
extinct animals; success came slowly and at the expense of
the mountain species when the U.S. Army introduced a tame
herd of plains animals into Yellowstone National Park in
1902. They eventually mixed with the mountain herd to
form a hybrid species. Today Yellowstone boasts the largest
free-ranging bison herd in the world, with a population of
more than 3,000.
The nineteenth-century market for buffalo robes and
meat died as quickly as the herds had died. Several marketing
operations have developed since, including the raising and
sale of “cattalo,” a mixed breed of domestic cattle and bison,
and the breeding and selling of domestic bison.