The Demise of the Buffalo

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The Demise of the Buffalo
George Catlin, 1832-33, Smithsonian American Art
Museum
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The Demise of the Buffalo

• The number of buffaloes on the Great Plains had
  been declining since the 1840s
• Indians over-hunted the buffalo to trade robes
  for guns, tobacco, flour, sugar, tools, and
  whiskey
• Diseases brought to the Great Plains by horses
  and livestock killed the buffalo

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The Demise of the Buffalo
George Catlin, 1832-33, Smithsonian American Art
Museum

• Competition for grazing with pioneer livestock
  and Indian ponies

along the river valleys thinned the buffalo herds

• A decade-long drought hit the Great Plains in the
  1850s

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The Demise of the Buffalo

• The coming of the transcontinental railroad
  accelerated and expanded the destruction of the
  buffalo in 1860s-70s
• Union Pacific hired hunters to kill buffaloes to
  feed construction crews
• Railroad gave commercial hunters easier access to
  the herds and reliable transport of hides, horns,
  and hooves to eastern markets

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The Demise of the Buffalo

• New industrial uses for buffalo hides increased
  demand

George Catlin, 1832-33, Smithsonian American Art
Museum
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The Demise of the Buffalo

• U.S. government encouraged destruction of the
  buffalo as a way to control the Plains Indians
• House and Senate passed a bill for the protection
  of the buffalo in 1874
• President Grant vetoed it

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The Demise of the Buffalo

• Estimates of buffalo on the Great Plains in the
  early 19th century 24 to 30 million
• By 1885, fewer than 1,000 buffalo remained
• Congress did not act to protect the buffalo until
  1900 when only 400 were left

George Catlin, 1832-33, Smithsonian American Art
Museum