“In all my meanderings I have not found a place but I could count more carcasses [of cattle] than living animals.  Who has not ridden over some of the Western railways and counted dead cattle by the thousands?  The great question is, Where can we get a race of cattle that will stand blizzards, and endure the drifting snow, and will not be driven with the storms against the railroad fences and pasture fences, there to perish for the want of nerve to face the northern winds for a few miles, to where the winter grasses could be had in abundance?  Realizing these facts, both from observation and pocket, we pulled on our ’thinking cap,’ and these points came vividly to our mind: 

“(1) We want an animal that is hardy.

“(2) We want an animal with nerve and endurance.

“(3) We want an animal that faces the blizzards and endures the storms.

“(4) We want an animal that will rustle the prairies, and not yield to discouragement.

“(5) We want an animal that will fill the above bill, and make good beef and plenty of it.

[Illustration:  HALF-BREED (BUFFALO-DOMESTIC) COW.—­HERD OF C. J. JONES, GARDEN CITY, KANSAS.  Drawn by Ernest E. Thompson.]

“All the points above could easily be found in the buffalo, excepting the fifth, and even that is more than filled as to the quality, but not in quantity.  Where is the ‘old timer’ who has not had a cut from the hump or sirloin of a fat buffalo cow in the fall of the year, and where is the one who will not make affidavit that it was the best meat he ever ate?  Yes, the fat was very rich, equal to the marrow from the bone of domestic cattle. * * *

“The great question remained unsolved as to the quantity of meat from the buffalo.  I finally heard of a half-breed buffalo in Colorado, and immediately set out to find it.  I traveled at least 1,000 miles to find it, and found a five-year-old half-breed cow that had been bred to domestic bulls and had brought forth two calves—­a yearling and a sucking calf that gave promise of great results.

“The cow had never been fed, but depended altogether on the range, and when I saw her, in the fall of 1883.  I estimated her weight at 1,800 pounds.  She was a brindle, and had a handsome robe even in September; she had as good hind quarters as ordinary cattle; her foreparts were heavy and resembled the buffalo, yet not near so much of the hump.  The offspring showed but very little of the buffalo, yet they possessed a woolly coat, which showed clearly that they were more than domestic cattle. * * *

“What we can rely on by having one-fourth, one-half, and three-fourths breeds might be analyzed as follows: