How did this remarkable diminution transpire? Here, indeed, is a roundup of mammoth proportions and far-reaching consequences. Bison were the natives' base of life, their tribal grubstake, a divine heritage. Only by wise conservation of this wild animal wealth were they enabled to maintain such a free and easy life.
After the Civil War railroads were projected into the buffalo country. Construction camps employed professional hunters to provide fresh meat. William F. Cody held a contract for the Union Pacific. It was this circumstance that gave him the name "Buffalo Bill." Such hunters set amazing records for a day's slaughter. Wasteful as this practice was, much greater prodigality emanated from the camps of certain foreign and American sportsmen and celebrities. Russian grand dukes, English lords, German counts, and American "no-a-counts" were alike in their insatiable instinct of destruction.[167] In way of extenuation it is fair to state that the emotional strain of bison chasing was overpowering.
However, it was the railroad itself that dealt the deadliest blow. Bison robes were too bulky to be handled by pack train, and only marginal profits accrued to wagon masters, but the effect of the iron horse was revolutionary. During the early seventies several lines conducted hunting excursions at low rates, guaranteeing shots from the windows. These facilities, supplemented by horse-and-wagon outfits, made the conquest of buffalo easy, especially when a definite profit was in view. That condition developed when the tanneries discovered bison hides could be used in leather wear. Thereafter, hides sold from $1.00 to $4.00 each, and a party of six hunters could kill and skin fifty or more in a day. In 1873, the Santa Fe alone carried 754,529 hides to eastern markets.[168] The traffic in buffalo hides grew and prospered and finally degenerated into debauching butchery.
[Illustration: Courtesy Union Pacific Ry. _The iron horse in Buffalo country--an early Wyoming scene_]
Thus, for a score of years, hundreds of expert riflemen combed the plains. They were armed with heavy Sharps and Winchester rifles, which boomed relentlessly at the ponderous bellowing herds. They took away the hides, brains, and tongues, leaving the rest to waste. It was wanton business written in crimson carcasses that dissolved into whitened bones. The railroad, therefore, destroyed frontier isolation and quickened the process of transforming a wilderness into a settled community. This increase in the tempo of frontier life was most apparent in the solution of the Indian problem.
