Our Vanishing Wild Life: Its Extermination and Preservation

by William T. Hornaday

In it, in 1908 Mr. Avery saw fifty-one moose in three days, Mr. Fullerton saw 183 in nine days, and Mr. Fullerton estimated the total number of moose in Minnesota as a whole at 10,000 head.

In area it contains 1,420,000 acres, and the creation of this great preserve was accomplished on April 13, 1909.

The Wichita National Game Preserve. —In the Wichita Mountains, of southwestern Oklahoma, there is a National game preserve containing 57,120 acres. On this preserve is a fenced bison range and a herd of thirty-nine American bison which owe their existence to the initiative of the New York Zoological Society. On March 25, 1905, the Society proposed to the National Government the founding of a range and herd, on a basis that was entirely new. To the Society it seemed desirable that for the encouragement of Congress in the preservation of species that are threatened with extermination, the scientific corporations of America, and private individuals also, should do something more than to offer advice and exhortations to the government.

Accordingly, the Zoological Society offered to present to the Government, delivered on the ground in Oklahoma, a herd of fifteen pure-blood bison as the nucleus of a new national herd, provided Congress would furnish a satisfactory fenced range, and maintain the herd. The offer was at once accepted by Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, and the Society was invited to propose a site for a range. The Society sent a representative to the Wichita National Forest Reserve, who recommended a range, and made a report upon it, which the Society adopted.

By act of Congress the range was at once established and fenced. Its area is twelve square miles (9,760 acres). In October, 1908, the Zoological Society took from its herd in the Zoological Park nine female and six male bison, and delivered them at the bison range. There were many predictions that all those bison would die of Texas fever within one year; but the parties most interested persisted in trying conclusions with the famous tick of Texas.

Mr. Frank Rush was appointed Warden of the new National Bison Range, and his management has been so successful that only two of the bison died of the fever, the disease has been stamped out, and the herd now contains thirty-nine head. Within five years it should reach the one-hundred mark. Elk, deer and antelope have been placed in the range, and all save the antelope are doing well. The Wichita Bison Range is an unqualified success.

The Montana National Bison Range. —The opening of the Flathead Indian Reservation to settlement, in 1909, afforded a golden opportunity to locate in that region another national bison herd. Accordingly, in 1908, the American Bison Society formulated a plan by which the establishment of such a range and herd might be brought about. That plan was successfully carried into effect, in 1909 and '10.

The Bison Society proposed to the national government to donate a herd of at least twenty-five bison, provided Congress would purchase a range, fence it and maintain the herd. The offer was immediately accepted, and with commendable promptness Congress appropriated $40,000 with which to purchase the range, and fence it. The Bison Society examined various sites, and finally recommended what was regarded as an ideal location situated near Ravalli, Montana, north of the Jocko River and Northern Pacific Railway, and east of the Flathead River. The nearest stations are Ravalli and Dixon.

The area of the range is about twenty-nine square miles (18,521 acres) and for the purpose that it is to serve it is beautiful and perfect beyond compare. In it the bison herd requires no winter feeding whatever.

In 1910 the Bison Society raised by subscription a fund of $10,526, and with it purchased 37 very perfect pure-blood bison from the famous Conrad herd at Kalispell, 22 of which were females. One gift bison was added by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Goodnight, two were presented by the estate of Charles Conrad, and three were presented from the famous Corbin herd, at Newport, N.H., by the Blue Mountain Forest Association.