BISON HERDS AND INDIVIDUALS IN CAPTIVITY AND DOMESTICATION, JANUARY 1, 1889.

Herd of Mr. S. L. Bedson, Stony Mountain, Manitoba.—­In 1877 Mr. Bedson purchased 5 buffalo calves, 1 bull, and 4 heifers, for which he paid $1,000.  In 1888 his herd consisted of 23 full-blood bulls, 35 cows, 3 half-breed cows, 5 half-breed bulls, and 17 calves, mixed and pure;[51] making a total of 83 head.  These were all produced from the original 5, no purchases having been made, nor any additions made in any other way.  Besides the 83 head constituting the herd when it was sold, 5 were killed and 9 given away, which would otherwise make a total of 97 head produced since 1877.  In November, 1888, this entire herd was purchased, for $50,000, by Mr. C. J. Jones, and added to the already large herd owned by that gentleman in Kansas.

[Note 51:  In summing up the total number of buffaloes and mixed-breeds now alive in captivity, I have been obliged to strike an average on this lot of calves “mixed and pure,” and have counted twelve as being of pure breed and five mixed, which I have reason to believe is very near the truth.]

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

Herd of Mr. C. J. Jones, Garden City, Kans.—­Mr. Jones’s original herd of 57 buffaloes constitute a living testimonial to his individual enterprise, and to his courage, endurance, and skill in the chase.  The majority of the individuals composing the herd he himself ran down, lassoed, and tied with his own hands.  For the last five years Mr. Jones has made an annual trip, in June, to the uninhabited “panhandle” of Texas, to capture calves out of the small herd of from one hundred to two hundred head which represented the last remnant of the great southern herd.  Each of these expeditious involved a very considerable outlay in money, an elaborate “outfit” of men, horses, vehicles, camp equipage, and lastly, but most important of all, a herd of a dozen fresh milch cows to nourish the captured calves and keep them from dying of starvation and thirst.  The region visited was fearfully barren, almost without water, and to penetrate it was always attended by great hardship.  The buffaloes were difficult to find, but the ground was good for running, being chiefly level plains, and the superior speed of the running horses always enabled the hunters to overtake a herd whenever one was sighted, and to “cut out” and lasso two, three, or four of its calves.  The degree of skill and daring displayed in these several expeditions are worthy of the highest admiration, and completely surpass anything I have ever seen or read of being accomplished in connection with hunting, or the capture of live game.  The latest feat of Mr. Jones and his party comes the nearest to being incredible.  During the month of May, 1888, they not only captured seven calves, but also eleven adult cows, of which some were lassoed in full