bison
Outstanding among these events were: the War with Mexico, 1844; the 1849 Gold Rush to California; the Gadsden Purchase in 1854; and completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1868. The first three added new and important territory to the United States. This made construction of transportation and communication facilities a vital necessity, hence the railroad. Completion of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1868 divided the bison population into southern and northern herds and made market hunting profitable. Three factors contributed to extermination: profit in the traffic of hides, meat, and bones; control of troublesome Indian tribes through elimination of one of their major sources of food; and finally, removal of any competition on the grassy plains of Texas and Kansas against the great herds of Longhorn cattle which were beginning to make Western range history. In 1874, only 6 years after completion of the Union Pacific, the slaughter of the southern herd was complete. It is of interest to note that not one piece of legislation was passed to protect the southern herd.
The northern herd did slightly better. Closed seasons were established in Idaho in 1864, in Wyoming in 1871, Montana in 1872, Nebraska in 1875, Colorado in 1877, New Mexico in 1880, North and South Dakota in 1883. Nevertheless, the herd dwindled, and by 1890 was nearly extinct. Since that time, through careful management, a few small herds have been established in Parks and refuges, but today the bison must be considered more a domesticated animal than a wild one.
Although the animal was not as important economically to the southwestern as to the plains Indians, it was a religious symbol of some value. Archeological finds far west of the historic range, and dances still used in ceremonies, reveal that several southwestern tribes sent hunting parties eastward into bison country. This must have been very dangerous, for plains Indians would have considered them invaders. Bison were food, shelter, and clothing to them. Imagine their consternation when white men began to slaughter the source of their living.
There are today but few reminders of the great herds of the west. Perhaps one well versed in the ways of these wild cattle could still find traces of the deeply cut trails which led to the watering places, or shallow depressions where the clumsy beasts once wallowed in the mud. Many of the Indian dances recall the importance of this animal to primitive man. Perhaps our most constant reminder is the coin which commemorates this symbol of the wild west, showing the Indian on one side and the bison on the other.
Mule deer
Odocoileus hemionus (Greek: odous, tooth and koilus, hollow. Greek: hemionus, mule)
Range: Western half of North America from Central Canada to central Mexico.
Habitat: Forests and brushy areas from near sea level to lower edge of the Alpine Life Zone.