Mr. C. D. Holmes, of Fargo, North Dakota, in a
letter to the Times denying that the crops have failed in that State, tells a story illustrative of the extraordinary rate at which wild animals are perishing on the North American Continent. When General Wolseley was on his Red River Expedition in 1870, the valley south of Winnipeg, three hundred miles long by sixty wide, was probably the largest preserve of wild game in existence. The Expedition, however, called attention to its fertility, and in ten years eight millions of buffaloes had been slaughtered out. The number seems incredible, being nearly four hundred and fifty buffaloes to the square mile—unless, indeed, we interpret the "territories immediately adjacent" in a very liberal way—but Mr. Holmes is officially charged to inquire into statistics. The disappearance of the beasts is not altogether to be regretted, for the valley is now " one continuous wheat-field, the most splendid under the sun ;" but the story nevertheless suggests waste on a colossal scale.
Previous page
