Wednesday, March 9, 2016

The Verge Of Extinction...!

The american buffalo was a major source of food for some of the native American tribes. Besides food, the fur had many uses and benefits in the culture of the natives. Sadly, they were almost hunted to extinction.

Bison skulls to be used for fertilizer, 1870



By RHP | Posted on: June 23, 2014 | Updated on: June 23, 2014

Bison were hunted for their skins, with the rest of the animal left behind to decay on the ground.

Bison were hunted almost to extinction in the 19th century and were reduced to a few hundred by the mid-1880s. They were hunted for their skins, with the rest of the animal left behind to decay on the ground. Hides were prepared and shipped to the east and Europe (mainly Germany) for processing into leather. Homesteaders collected bones from carcasses left by hunters. Bison bones were used in refining sugar, and in making fertilizer and fine bone china. Bison bones brought from $2.50 to $15.00 a ton.

How many bison skulls might be in the photo? Hard to tell without being able to see the whole pile. Some rough calculations based on skulls volume and the dimensions of the pile calculate 180,000 skulls on that pile.

If you would like to see more photos of the bison skulls and read some more of the article, you can find it right here!

Hard to believe we could kill that many animals mainly just for sport. Sometimes I just don't understand!

Coffee in the kitchen again. The rain is still around !

9 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

As you realize, the real reason to allow the slaughter the bison was to put the last nail in the coffin of the native Americans.

linda m said...

Gorges, you are so right. The PTB wanted to eliminate the Native Americans food source and thus eliminate the Native Americans. To this day I still can't understand the need to hunt for sport.

Chickenmom said...

A lot don't realizes that Gorges is right. Take away a food supply and people perish. Same thing happened with the Irish potato famine. The were starved out by British.

JO said...

Just horrible the way man will kill another man for lack of understanding them. Or to empower themselves.

see you in the kitchen

HermitJim said...

Hey Gorges...
That would seem to be the focus of the time. Hit them where they hurt, so to speak!
Thanks for stopping by today!


Hey Linda...
Starving them out is a terrible way to go. That doeas seem to be the main idea, though.
Thanks for coming by today!


Hey Phyllis...
Cutting off the food source or water source seems to be an acceptable part of warfare.Cruel!
Thanks for the visit this morning!


Hey Jo...
Seems like mankind is very quick to kill off those who they disagree with. Nature of the beast, I reckon!
Thanks for dropping by today!

Dizzy-Dick said...

Wow!! That is a huge pile of skulls. I wonder how many of them were killed by Bat Masterson?

HermitJim said...

Hey Dizzy...
No telling how many. Must have been hard doing that with a cane, don't you think?
I appreciate you coming over today!

Dizzy-Dick said...

Now that was a good one Jim. Yep, he just hit the buffalo over the head with that fancy cane of his. Thanks for the grin, Jim.

JMD said...

Yellowstone is busy rounding up the spare buffalo and sending them to slaughter. Today's news. Check.