The Extermination of the American Bison | Page 9

Salmon River and other
streams of the Columbia.
OREGON.--The only evidence on record of the occurrence of the bison
in Oregon is the following, from Professor Allen's memoir (p. 119):
"Respecting its former occurrence in eastern Oregon, Prof. O. C. Marsh,
under date of New Haven, February 7, 1875, writes me as follows: 'The
most western point at which I have myself observed remains of the
buffalo was in 187 on Willow Creek, eastern Oregon, among the foot
hills of the eastern side of the Blue Mountains. This is about latitude
44°. The bones were perfectly characteristic, although nearly
decomposed.'"

The remains must have been those of a solitary and very enterprising
straggler.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES (British).--At two or three points
only did the buffaloes of the British Possessions cross the Rocky
Mountain barrier toward British Columbia. One was the pass through
which the Canadian Pacific Railway now runs, 200 miles north of the
international boundary. According to Dr. Richardson, the number of
buffaloes which crossed the mountains at that point were sufficiently
noticeable to constitute a feature of the fauna on the western side of the
range. It is said that buffaloes also crossed by way of the Kootenai Pass,
which is only a few miles north of the boundary line, but the number
which did so must have been very small.
As might be expected from the character of the country, the favorite
range of the bison in British America was the northern extension of the
great pasture region lying between the Missouri River and Great Slave
Lake. The most northerly occurrence of the bison is recorded as an
observation of Franklin in 1820 at Slave Point, on the north side of
Great Slave Lake. "A few frequent Slave Point, on the north side of the
lake, but this is the most northern situation in which they were
observed by Captain Franklin's party."[17]
[Note 17: Sabine, Zoological Appendix to "Franklin's Journey," p.
668.]
Dr. Richardson defined the eastern boundary of the bison's range in
British America as follows: "They do not frequent any of the districts
formed of primitive rocks, and the limits of their range to the eastward,
within the Hudson's Bay Company's territories, may be correctly
marked on the map by a line commencing in longitude 97°, on the Red
River, which flows into the south end of Lake Winnipeg, crossing the
Saskatchewan to the westward of the Basquian Hill, and running thence
by the Athapescow to the east end of Great Slave Lake." Their
migrations westward were formerly limited to the Rocky Mountain
range, and they are still unknown in New Caledonia and on the shores
of the Pacific to the north of the Columbia River; but of late years they
have found out a passage across the mountains near the sources of the

Saskatchewan, and their numbers to the westward are annually
increasing.[18]
[Note 18: Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. 1, p, 279-280.]
Great Slave Lake.--That the buffalo inhabited the southern shore of this
lake as late as 1871 is well established by the following letter from Mr.
E. W. Nelson to Mr. J. A. Allen, under date of July 11, 1877:[19] "I
have met here [St. Michaels, Alaska] two gentlemen who crossed the
mountains from British Columbia and came to Fort Yukon through
British America, from whom I have derived some information about
the buffalo (Bison americanus) which will be of interest to you. These
gentlemen descended the Peace River, and on about the one hundred
and eighteenth degree of longitude made a portage to Hay River,
directly north. On this portage they saw thousands of buffalo skulls,
and old trails, in some instances 2 or 3 feet deep, leading east and west.
They wintered on Hay River near its entrance into Great Slave Lake,
and here found the buffalo still common, occupying a restricted
territory along the southern border of the lake. This was in 1871. They
made inquiry concerning the large number of skulls seen by them on
the portage, and learned that about fifty years before, snow fell to the
estimated depth of 14 feet, and so enveloped the animals that they
perished by thousands. It is asserted that these buffaloes are larger than
those of the plains."
[Note 19: American Naturalist, xi, p. 624.]
MINNESOTA AND WISCONSIN.--A line drawn from Winnipeg to
Chicago, curving slightly to the eastward in the middle portion, will
very nearly define the eastern boundary of the buffalo's range in
Minnesota and Wisconsin.
ILLINOIS AND INDIANA.--The whole of these two States were
formerly inhabited by the buffalo, the fertile prairies of Illinois being
particularly suited to their needs. It is doubtful whether the range of the
species extended north of the northern boundary of Indiana, but since
southern Michigan was as well adapted to their support as Ohio or