Uses of bison’s hair.—­Numerous attempts have been made to utilize the woolly hair of the bison in the manufacture of textile fabrics.  As early as 1729 Col.  William Byrd records the fact that garments were made of this material, as follows: 

“The Hair growing upon his Head and Neck is long and Shagged, and so Soft that it will spin into Thread not unlike Mohair, and might be wove into a sort of Camlet.  Some People have Stockings knit of it, that would have served an Israelite during his forty Years march thro’ the Wilderness."[46]

[Note 46:  Westover MSS., i, p. 172.]

In 1637 Thomas Morton published, in his “New English Canaan,” p. 98,[47] the following reference to the Indians who live on the southern shore of Lake Erocoise, supposed to be Lake Ontario: 

[Note 47:  Quoted by Professor Allen, “American Bisons,” p. 107.]

“These Beasts [buffaloes, undoubtedly] are of the bignesse of a Cowe, their flesh being very good foode, their hides good lether, their fleeces very usefull, being a kind of wolle, as fine as the wolle of the Beaver, and the Salvages doe make garments thereof.”

Professor Allen quotes a number of authorities who have recorded statements in regard to the manufacture of belts, garters, scarfs, sacks, etc., from buffalo wool by various tribes of Indians.[48] He also calls attention to the only determined efforts ever made by white men on a liberal scale for the utilization of buffalo “wool” and its manufacture into cloth, an account of which appears in Ross’s “Red River Settlement,” pp. 69-72.  In 1821 some of the more enterprising of the Red River (British) colonists conceived the idea of making fortunes out of the manufacture of woolen goods from the fleece of the buffalo, and for that purpose organized the Buffalo Wool Company, the principal object of which was declared to be “to provide a substitute for wool, which substitute was to be the wool of the wild buffalo, which was to be collected in the plains and manufactured both for the use of the colonists and for export.”  A large number of skilled workmen of various kinds were procured from England, and also a plant of machinery and materials.  When too late, it was found that the supply of buffalo wool obtainable was utterly insufficient, the raw wool costing the company 1_s._ 6_d._ per pound, and cloth which it cost the company £2 10_s._ per yard to produce was worth only 4_s._ 6_d._ per yard in England.  The historian states that universal drunkenness on the part of all concerned aided very materially in bringing about the total failure of the enterprise in a very short time.

[Note 48:  The American Bison, p. 197.]

While it is possible to manufacture the fine, woolly fur of the bison into cloth or knitted garments, provided a sufficient supply of the raw material could be obtained (which is and always has been impossible), nothing could be more visionary than an attempt to thus produce salable garments at a profit.