OVERDUE FINES ARE 25¢ PER DAY . PER ITEM Return to book drop to remove this checkout from your record. AN HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY BUFFALO BONE COMMERCE ON THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS BY Le Roy Barnett A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Geography 1979 ABSTRACT AN HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY BUFFALO BONE COMMERCE ON THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS BY Le Roy Barnett Traditionally the grasslands of late nineteenth- century North Dakota, Montana, and the Canadian Prairie Provinces have been defined economically in two terms: ranching and farming. Contemporaneous with these two endeavors, however, was a third occupation that often played a more interesting and equally significant role in the development of these areas. Because this competing enterprise was based on a widespread and limited resource, its duration was never very prolonged in any one place. As a result of its ephemeral nature, the activity received .little local or national attention and its importance in the settlement of the Northern Great Plains escaped notice. This overlooked industry was the commerce in buffalo bones, and it is the purpose of this study to reveal the history and geography of that trade. The business of gathering and selling bison remains first started in the study area around 1884, when carbon and Le Roy Barnett fertilizer works in the Midwest expressed an interest in buying the ruins. With a value suddenly placed on the wreckage of the herds, large numbers of people began scouring the prairies in search of buffalo bones. Soon millions of skeletons, rising like little white mountains above the landscape, were piled at nearly every siding along the routes of the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, and Canadian Pacific Railroads. Since most of the cargo carried by these lines was destined for points in the west, the firms welcomed the osseous freight as paying ballast for their returning box- cars. This export of bones from the Northern Great Plains continued for about a decade, amounting in the average year to about four hundred trainloads. Soon the last sun-bleached relic was gathered and hauled to a frontier market, and the trade in bison remains became a thing of the past.1 As the buffalo's spoils disappeared from the scene, so too did recognition of their former significance to the economy of the Northern Great Plains region. Subsequent arrivals in the area, viewing prairies devoid of bones, were unable to appreciate what the traces of the herds had meant to the early settlers and railroads. Evidence of this enterprise, however, was preserved in records created during and after the trade, and by consulting these sources it is possible to reconstruct the business and assess its contri- butions. In recognition of this fact, the author has care- fully perused all known primary and secondary sources Le Roy Barnett relating to the bone commerce and then organized his findings in a chronological/geographical fashion to trace the develOpment of the industry and its impact on the land. Through this approach it has been possible for the first time to tell the story of the traffic in bison remains and show its spatial characteristics. In specific terms, this dissertation initially documents the existence of the buffalo bone commerce and its variable nature from place to place. Concurrently, the study examines the exploitation of an unusual resource on the Northern Great Plains and the impact that this enter- prise had on the landscape. Secondly, this treatise recon- structs the geography of the trade in bison remains by determining its range, tracking its migration across the study area, revealing how a syndicate organized space to control the traffic, determining the commodity flows created by the business, indicating areal differences in bone values, and showing evidence of the commerce in regional place names. Each of these sections in the text are fully complemented by an abundance of maps, pictures, and charts showing visual evidence of the industry or its areal differentiation. lKenneth Hammer, "Buffalo Bones," American West Review, 15 March 1967, p. 14. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Though only one person is recognized as having authored this work, the study could not have been possible without the assistance of a number of other individuals. In a general way I must give thanks to the many librarians, archivists, and curators of historical collections across the country who furthered my research by helping me to find materials relating to the buffalo bone trade. Without the cooperation of these professionals this investigation of a forgotten industry would have been severely hampered. Among the supporting cast for this work are some personalities who deserve to be singled out for attention because of the special roles they played in its production. In this regard appreciation is due Dr. Clarence Vinge, under whom this inquiry was begun, for encouraging me to continue with my research at times when the critics of this work caused me to question its value. To Sherman Hollander, cartographer and remote sensing specialist for the State of Michigan, goes credit for the well-executed maps and graphs that accompany the text. Recognition is also deserved by Frank Vyzralek, Archivist for the State Historical Society of North Dakota, who discovered many of the references cited ii in this study and did much to keep my spirits alive. And, finally, a note of gratitude is in order for Dr. Ian Matley, the major professor of this dissertation, who motivated me to complete this examination of the bone trade after it had nearly been abandoned for other interesting projects. On the personal level, I would like to give recogni— tion to my parents for the support and encouragement they have provided during the course of my higher education. This treatise is, in many respects, the end product of their numerous contributions over the years. My wife, too, deserves some consideration for the patience and under— standing that she exhibited while this study was in progress. Because of her enduring aid it is perhaps appropriate to say that the following pages are not mine, but ours. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter 1. THE BUFFALO BONE TRADE ALONG THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l4 2. THE BUFFALO BONE TRADE ALONG THE MISSOURI AND YELLOWSTONE RIVERS . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 3. THE BUFFALO BONE TRADE ALONG THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILROAD O O O O O O O O I O O O O O 82 4. THE BUFFALO BONE TRADE ALONG THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 5. SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INDUSTRY . . . . 201 The Collecting Region Defined . . . . . . . . 201 Diffusion of the Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Organizing Territory to Control th Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Patterns of Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 Areal Differences in Product Value . ... . . . 243 Place Names and the Enterprise . . . . . . . . 245 SUMMARY 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O I O O O O O 2 4 0 APPENDIX.................. 255 REFERENCES . o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 2 6 3 iv Illustration 9a. 9b. 10. ll. 12. 13. 14. 15. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Bones on the Prairie. . . . . . . . . . The Money Crop . . . . . . . . . . . . Curing Hides and Bones . . . . . . . . Clearing Bones Before Plowing . . . . . Where the Millions Have Gone . . . . . Old Bone Man of the Plains . . . . . . Bones and Hides Awaiting Shipment . . . Receipt for Transport and Sale of Bones 0 I O O C O O O O O O O O O O 0 Bone Pile Near Devils Lake, North Dakota I O O O O O I O O O O O O O O .The "Minnie H" Loading Bones . . . . . Bone Pickers Practicing Their Trade . . Metis Bone Picker and Red River Cart . Discharging Bones at Devils Lake, North Dakota I O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Bone Gathering Outfit at Minnewaukan, North Dakota . . . . . . . . . . . . Unloading Bones at the Freight Yard . . Wagonloads of Bones at Minot, North Dakota 0 O O O O I O O O O O O O O 0 Bone Pickers Waiting to Have Their Harvests Weighed . . . . . . . . . . Page 26 36 46 58 7O 7O 76 85 87 87 96 100 109 111 127 132 Illustration Map 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 26. 27. 28. Skeletons Assembled for Export at Minot, North Dakota . . . . . . . . . . . Bone Collecting Caravan at Glasgow, Montana 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Bone Pile at Gull Lake, Saskatchewan . Bone Ricks at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Bones Ready for Shipment at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan . . . . . . . . . . . . Receipt from Borden M. Hicks . . . . . The Beginning of Better Things . . . . Loading Bones on a Boxcar . . . . . . Advertisement for Buffalo Bone Meal . View of the Michigan Carbon Works, DetrOit O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Bone Yard at the Michigan Carbon WOrks, DetrOit O O O O O C O I O O C O O O Stockpile of Bones at the Michigan Carbon works, DetrOit . O O O C O C O O O 0 Circular for Buffalo Bones . . . . . . North Dakota, 1890 . . . . . . . . . . Montana, 1892 . . . . . . . . . . . . Saskatchewan, 1894 . . . . . . . . . . Alberta, 1896 . . . . . . . . . . . . Buffalo-bone Trade Region . . . . . . Diffusion of the Buffalo-bone Trade . Bone-buying Territories Granted by the Northwestern Bone Syndicate . . . . vi Page 138 147 156 172 179 187 193 196 224 227 234 236 240 15 53 149 160 202 208 212 Map Page 8. Trade Routes and Markets . . . . . . . . 218 9. Initial Price Per Ton Paid for Buffalo Bones. 0 O O O O O O O O O I O O O O 0 244 10. Evidence of the Buffalo Bone Trade in the Place Names of the Northern Great Plains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Graph 1. Bone Exports to the United States from canada 0 O O O O I O O O O O I O O O O 22 O 2. Importance of the Buffalo Bone Trade to canada 0 O O O O O I O O O O O O O O O 22 1 vii INTRODUCTION Everything seemed to be quite normal on the Northern Great Plains until late in 1884. That is when the fact was finally revealed that a great commerce had developed in bison remains. Describing this peculiar industry, a reporter observed that "the Dakota plains will soon be cleared of buffalo bones. The bleached heads strewn along the Northern Pacific have given the tourist a special sense of getting his money's worth of romance as he sped on toward the Missouri and the mountains. Now the stretches of prairie rarely show the gleaming white spots, and at nearly every station can be seen piled up for shipment the chaotic anatomy of countless thousands of buffalo. Farmers are paid $2.00 and $3.00 a wagon load for them. For months carload after carload, to the number of hundreds, has passed St. Paul on the way to eastern cities, where they are turned to account as fertilizers. Even the bones that surveyors have stood up as sighting points have been picked up and carried off, such is the demand for them."1 lNorthwest Magazine 2 (September l884):20. New York Times, 26 December 1884, p. 3. l Illustration 1. Bones on the Prairie. For centuries the Indians of the Northern Great Plains hunted the buffalo as a source of food and hide. This harvest appears to have been about equal to the annual increase of the animal, keeping the bison population at a fairly stable level. Such a balance was maintained until around 1830, when steamboats began operating on the Missouri and Yellow- stone Rivers permitting cargoes to be shipped out from the region. There were few products in the area at that time which had any commercial value, but one article for which there was a great demand was furs and buffalo robes. In response to this market, many northern tribes began killing more animals each year for the sole purpose of selling their hides. As a result of this activity, the skins of from "fifty to one hundred thousand" bison were annually shipped downstream to sell at eastern markets. The commerce in buffalo robes remained at this level until 1876, when the Northern Pacific Railroad finally reached the Missouri River at Bismarck. This new transfer point greatly shortened the distance that exports from Dakota and Montana had to be carried by expensive water transpor- tation, and the reduction in freight costs enabled buyers of the hides to offer more for the commodity. As the bison's skin increased in value so too did the numbers sought, causing waste of the animal to substantially in- crease. Such slaughter, however, was small when compared to what started in 1880, the year the Northern Pacific began building west through the last range of the buffalo. This new construction happened to coincide with the anni- hilation of the southern herds, prompting many hunters from that region to head for the Yellowstone country. The con- current arrival of the railroad and more hidemen left no doubt as to the bison's fate, and within four years nearly all of the beasts had been tracked down and destroyed. Only the bones of these creatures were left to betray their former presence, as evidenced by the skeletons strewn about this prairie scene.a (Courtesy Public Archives of Canada) aFrank Roe, The North American Buffalo. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970, pp. 447-466. .c. .. .1IWN .\ . ('1... .1 . - , «Humvfifi ,f . .....¢.A., .. 1 a... .R. .31....mc $441.... I . A traveler through Dakota on the Northern Pacific line that same year also commented on the trade. "Although the live buffalo had disappeared," he recalled, "his remains were still abundant. His bleaching bones, which were every- where scattered over the plain, were being industriously gathered together to be ground into bone manure. At almost every station along the line was a heap of bones of greater or less magnitude, ready to be loaded on the cars; while hundreds of men and teams were busy with wagons, gathering and bringing in more bones. It was said that the bones realised $8.00 per ton on the spot, and that they were shipped to Philadelphia to be ground."1 So intensive was this business that by winter the Dakota settlers had col- lected and shipped East the relics of 80,000 buffalo.2 The American scene, however, was not the only place in 1884 where this strange enterprise was taking place. "Along the Canadian Pacific Railway, as along the Northern Pacific further south, the old bones of the buffalo [were] carefully gathered up and carted off for manure." "Great piles of bones," remembered one witness, "ready for ship— ment, [could] be seen at many of the stations. The little creek on which Regina, the present capital of the Northwest Territories, now stands, had long been a favourite camping lMiller Christy, "The Last of the Buffaloes," The Field 72 (November 10, 1888):697. 2Rocky Mountain News, 26 November 1884, p. 2. ground of the Indians, and was known as the Wascana or Pile-of-Bones Creek, on account of the great heaps of bones . . . which existed there until the year 1884 when the railway was completed to the point and the whole heap was shipped off to Philadelphia."1 These glimpses of the buffalo bone trade stimulate a desire for more details in most inquisitive people, but the beginning of the story is actually a tale familiar to all Americans. It starts when the last herds of bison on the Northern Great Plains fell to the hunter's rifle in 1883. The hides were stripped from these animals, as from so many bison before, and the carcasses left to rot on the prairie where the bullets had brought them down. Before long the grassland carnivores, aided by the elements, consumed the flesh of these creatures and reduced them to sinew and bones. These skeletons joined millions of others that had earlier yielded their skins, contributing to an osseous cloak that covered much of the terrain.2 The waste of the bison that littered the land was allowed to rest in peace only briefly. Soon the region was visited by agents from Midwestern states who represented businesses that processed bones. These companies were carbon lMiller Christy, "The Last of the Buffaloes," The Field 72 (November 10, 1888):697. 2Tom McHugh, The Time of the Buffalo (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1972), pp. 277-280. and fertilizer works that used skeletons in making their products, and they had sent men to North Dakota, Montana, and the Canadian Prairie Provinces to find raw materials for their mills. After the emissaries of these firms had arranged for merchants in some towns to act as buyers, they announced to the public that bones were worth money if brought in to one of their dealers. Eager to earn some money or credit with which to buy supplies, many settlers and Indians picked bison remains to vend as a quick cash crop. The skeletons that were reaped by these pioneers or natives were hauled to the nearest market, there to be weighed and sold to a trader commissioned by the factories. Soon such activities were taking place across much of the Northern Great Plains, and it was this industry that the preceding accounts had brought to the attention of the country.1 The literature on this subject is all of a general nature, and nowhere is it possible to find anything but a superficial treatment of the trade in bison remains. For this reason few people appreciate the impact the business had on the North American steppe. Research on this matter, however, has shown that the commerce in skeletons radically altered the appearance of the Great Plains, changing a bone-littered landscape into a barren prairie in the course lDavid Dary, The Buffalo Book (Chicago: Swallow Press, 1974), pp. 134-141. of a few decades.1 In addition to this bearing on the area's physical features, the enterprise greatly affected the human elements thereby enabling many residents to survive at a time when no other source of income was present.2 The burgeoning railroads of the region, some struggling for existence like the settlers, were also able to gain substantial profits from shipping the relics of the herds.3 Because of these contributions the trade in skele- tons played a major role on the frontier, but ignorance of the industry has meant that its importance has gone unrecognized. The purpose of this study, then, is to tell the story of the buffalo bone commerce and its influence on the environment. To undertake this task for the entire midcontinent section would nearly take an individual's lifetime. There- fore, to reduce this project to manageable proportions the investigation has been restricted to the Northern Great Plains. This territory has been chosen because it was the last portion of the western American prairie to experience le Martin, The Saga of the Buffalo (New York: Hart Publishing Company, 1973), pp. 145-157. 2Martin Garretson, The American Bison (New York: New York Zoological Society, 1938), pp. 160-165. 3Joel Allen, The American Bisons, Living and Extinct (Cambridge: Ufiiversity Press, 1876), Pp. 190, 200; Harper's Weekly 31 (15 January 1887):39. the buffalo bone trade.l Consequently, there is a greater abundance of information about the commerce of this realm than there is for any other. Another reason why the region was selected is due to the fact that nearly all of the skeletons exported from it were sent to the Middle West,2 an area in which it is convenient for the author to conduct research activities. Finally, the Northern Great Plains province was singled out for attention because one organiza- tion controlled most of the trade within the district, thus offering more unity to this study area than would probably be found elsewhere.3 Writing a description of a nearly unknown activity poses many difficulties to the researcher, the greatest of which is probably finding information. To acquire the data needed for this study the author went to a number of reposi- tories around the country looking for relevant facts. .Undoubtedly the most fruitful places to visit were local newspaper offices and libraries that had early periodicals or monographs documenting the trade in skeletons. Other lFrancis Haines, The Buffalo (New York: Thomas Crowell Company, 1970), pp. 201-202; Douglas Branch, 323 Hunting of the Buffalo (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1962), pp. 221-224. 2Major I. McCreight, Buffalo Bone Days (DuBois, PA: 1950), PP. 82-83. 3Letter from Fred Stoltze to Captain Heerman, 17 April 1913, Edward E. Heerman Papers, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. 9 valuable inputs came from archives and historical societies, which contributed such things as manuscript records, business journals, drawings,and photographs. Supplementing the holdings of the public institutions were a few private collections in the Great Plains region offering personal papers and other materials pertaining to the buffalo bone commerce. Once information concerning the trade in bison remains had been surveyed, it became apparent that one aspect of the business merited special attention. This distinct perspective was the industry's historical geography, and such a study represents the problem that this dissertation seeks to address. When describing an enterprise from such a view- point, the focus in on a variety of man/land and space/time relationships. To answer the questions raised by such an approach to the buffalo bone commerce it is necessary to: 1. Describe the variable character of the trade from place to place. 2. Document the impact of the commerce on the land- scape. 3. Reconstruct the geography of the industry. a. Determine its spatial dimensions. b. Trace its diffusion across the study area. c. Ascertain how a syndicate organized the terri- tory in order to control the commerce. d. Define the trade structure created by the business. 10 e. Indicate areal differences in bone values. f. Reveal evidence of the commerce in past and present place names. The pages that follow will consider these properties of the traffic in bison remains and illustrate them with numerous pictures, maps, and graphs. Items one and two will be a description of the trade in skeletons as it spread across the Northern Great Plains, and an examination of the spatial patterns that emerged during or as a result of that progression. The last item, three, will then analyse and explain these temporal and areal variations in the buffalo bone commerce. Though the subject of the buffalo bone trade is un- familiar to most geographers, the way in which the topic will be handled by this study certainly is not. The matters of concern outlined above solidly stand upon eight confirmed areas of research pursued by members of the discipline. The first, and perhaps most basic, of these traditions is that of man-land relationships, as recognized by such scholars in the profession as William Pattison, H. Roy Merrins, and Rhoads Murphy. A related pillar of geography supporting this investigation is a concern with human impact on the environment, and by looking at man as an agent in landscape change this dissertation will fall within a part of the field that has been established by such noted men as George Perkins Marsh, Nathanial Shaler, and William Thomas. Another foundation upon which this study will be built is that of 11 regional analysis, and by attempting to delimit the extent of the buffalo bone trade this undertaking rests upon a cornerstone of chorographic science layed by such individuals as Nevin Fenneman, Robert Dickinson, and Roger Minshull. Spatial organization has long been accepted as a legitimate part of the profession, and by noting how the Northwestern Bone Syndicate arranged the study area for its own benefit the author will be following a methodological trail earlier blazed by such pioneers as Carl Sauer, H. C. Darby, and W. Gordon East. Research on the diffusion of phenomena has increasingly become a part of geography, so as this work traces the spread of the bone trade across the Northern Great Plains it will be adopting an approach recently developed by the likes of Torsten Hagerstrand, Fred Kniffen, and William Bunge. Areal interaction or movement is a related concern of the dis- cipline that has been explored by such scholars as Jan Broek, Preston James, and Derwent Whittlesey, and this dissertation will follow their example by noting the relationships established between the study region and the Midwest on account of bison remains. The scope of geography also includes a search for relic features on the landscape, and by identifying place names created by the bone trade this thesis will be concerned with a facet of the discipline practiced by such individuals as J. B. Mitchell, Albert Perry Brigham, and Ellen Churchill Semple. Finally, the science of space has customarily attempted to reconstruct 12 landscapes of the past in the fashion of Ralph Brown, Andrew Clark, or Charles Paullin, and by documenting the early bone cover of the Northern Great Plains this inquiry will be able to describe a terrain that few people realize existed. 13 Late August glares, a wagon filled with bones, Strange harvest from the prairies seeks the town. The buyer pays a dollar for a ton. The square, squat houses, the low shedlike stores Weathering unpainted, toe the littered street That finds the railway station. By the track, A fenced lot heaped with well bleached skeletons,-- Mountainous wreckage, shin and back confused, Crowned with horned skulls grotesquely menacing. So ends the buffalo. Five years since he tossed In great earth-shaking herds his shaggy mane; Now not one calf. Once furious bulls did roar The challenge moving terribly to fight. 1 Dry bones--the price one dollar for a ton. lEdwin Ford Piper, Barbed Wire and Other Poems (Chicago: Midland Press, 1917). p. 3. CHAPTER 1 THE BUFFALO BONE TRADE ALONG THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD In the spring of 1881 Borden Mills Hicks moved from Michigan to Jamestown, North Dakota, to homestead on nearby government land. He farmed the property that first summer,1 but apparently found sodbusting not to his liking since by 1882 he had built a home in the city and was operating a fuel company there.2 This enterprise acquired a new dimen- sion the following year when Hicks expanded his business to include the buying of buffalo bones.3 This strange venture was made possible by the osseous legacy of the bison which covered much of the area around Jamestown and "lay gleaming white as far as the eye could see." These skeletons had generally been left undis- turbed since the great beasts had been slaughtered years before by hunters. But agents from fertilizer and carbon lBorden Hicks, "Obituary of Captain Borden Mills Hicks," typescript in the possession of Mrs. Robert Schmitt, Minneapolis . 2Stutsman County Record, 17 December 1931, p. l. 3Borden Hicks, op. cit. 14 15 ‘ 325m . , .8. 5.0! ‘ due 3521/4 a do .IFDOm ‘\ O—g—w mg? 1001 02—02(hm ‘ 83> an. . $04.. 9 A / a. 98 . 0 0.. . onto 1 0.0 . I// 09 _ 3. ,.r a108w /. A . 5.82.. _ . . . 358m 8 . . , .250 .. >34<> . x 1.2m . ...v .SSTR 232.835. m. Na . 006:5 m. J WV 9...». 22:8: to: I . - 3st. Asians. 3/ //,. , . g... / ,, 7,3. dc 2:8: 52:82 mi N 28.8 .. gala)...- 5. 5.532 32¢ .20 m to: S .1 38......ml d . .3 mg $.46 . .wxgm ._ uochuchil m “ mid->3 g g E . . 8:853 221! 22.5 .2... . :4 < :2 . on .i a n _ a as 8...; . w 2...... _ 3...... 2.8. 7////z 38.28 . sad .8 . p. . «motzqz A VHS ._ 885 - 243d. .. .. $.92: __ z 2... REE LI. IFHOZ 16 works in Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis announced their willingness to pay $10.00 a ton for these ruins, prompting many "Jimtown" folks to comb the surrounding plains for bones.1 The commerce in bison remains got underway at Jamestown in late summer of 1883.2 This fledgling business caught the attention of the city newspaper, which observed on August 10 that "there have been five or six carloads of buffalo bones shipped from this place last week."3 Local efforts to corner the market on this commodity briefly engendered some vigorous competition, but within a few weeks the Weekly Alert was able to announce the winner. "B. M. Hicks & Co.," it said, "the rustling coal and wood dealers, are now extensively engaged in the bone shipping industry, [exporting] large invoices to the far east. Several teams are constantly employed in collecting the skeletons of late lamented buffaloes."4 Thru November the resident pickers heaped their rigs to the top with sun-parched relics, bringing several wagonloads of chaotic anatomy into town for 1Laura Sanderson, In the Valley of the Jim (Bis- marck: Bismarck Tribune, 1933), p. 33. 2Jamestown Weekly Alert, 3 August 1883, p. 4. 3Jamestown Weekly Alert, 10 August 1883, p. 4. 4Jamestown Weekly Alert, 9 November 1883, p. 4. 17 Hicks each day.1 By the end of the month their labors for the year had filled twenty boxcars with bones, making Jamestown one of the major exporters of bison remains in North Dakota.2 Winter put a temporary end to the pursuit of spoils from the herds, but by spring the local gleaners were once again out searching for vestiges of the slaughter. Announcing this fact the Morning Alert in May of 1884 noted that some "enterprising farmers have commenced the profitable business of collecting buffalo bones. Two loads have made their appearance in town during this week."3 The fruits of these labors were taken to Hicks in exchange for merchandise or cash, then dumped in the freight yards to form what looked like a vast uncovered cemetery. When a sufficient volume of bones had been amassed along a railroad siding, the Northern Pacific line would be asked to bring in some rolling stock so that the relics could be shipped out. This situation had been reached by June according to the Jamestown newspaper, as it reported on the twenty-ninth of the month that "B. M. Hicks & Co. were loading four cars with buffalo bones yester- day from their immense [supply] of that useful commodity."4 1Jamestown Weekly Alert, 16 November 1883, p. 4. 2Jamestown Weekly Alert, 23 November 1883, p. 4. 3Jamestown Morning Alert, 17 May 1884, p. 2. 4Jamestown Morning Alert, 29 June 1884, p- 4- 18 Hicks, however, was not content to ship bones from Jamestown only, and by early June he had pretty much cor- nered the market at Page1 and, soon after, New Rockford.2 The commerce in skeletons had actually commenced at New Rockford in November of 1883, when local farmers began scouring the surrounding plains in quest of the buffalo's ruins.3 An item in the local newspaper on the sixteenth of that month noted that "the bone trade has become a very important industry in this town. Bones are collected for miles around, brought to this place, and shipped to St. Louis, Missouri. For the past ten days there has been an average each day of about fifteen loads of bones, which would make about as many tons. The value of this industry can be seen when it is known that one man with a team can gather in a day about a ton of bones, for which he receives in the local market from $8.00 to $10.00 in cash."4 Prompted by such handsome returns, the grangers near New Rockford gathered the bison's remains until December snows hid them from view. 1A. A. Schmirler, Our Page, 1882-1957 (Fargo: North Dakota Institute for RegiOnal Studies, 1958), p. 13. 2New Rockford Transcript, 5 September 1884, p. 3. 3New Rockford Transcript, 9 November 1883, p. 3. 4New Rockford Transcript, 16 November 1883, p. 3. 19 By April of 1884 the bone trade at New Rockford had assumed importance again,1 with large numbers of pickers bringing in their sun-bleached cargoes to sell at Strong & Chase's store.2 The local newspaper, noting this activity, remarked in May that the traffic in skeletons "has been very brisk for the past week or two. Large loads may be seen coming in at all hours of the day. There are at present several huge piles heaped up near the railroad track and a great many millions of these bones are being put to account. In picking them employment is furnished at good wages, which in these hard times is an important mat- ter. Besides, an excellent fertilizer is provided for market. This industry has become quite extensive over this part of the country, and it will be but a short time before these prairies will be cleaned of this article which can be turned to such value."3 Approximately 125 tons of bones were exported from New Rockford each month in 18844 until demand for the resource dropped abruptly in the latter part of June. "The market in the East on this article is at present over- stocked," explained the town newspaper, " and consequently 1New Rockford Transcript, 25 April 1884, p. 3. 2New Rockford Transcript, 30 May 1884, p. 3. 3New Rockford Transcript, 30 May 1884, p. 3. 4Pierre Free Press, 27 June 1884, p. 2. 20 not as many are shipped as were a short time since."1 With factories reluctant to accept any more consignments of bison remains, the local bone dealers were forced to stop buying the product. Most of the New Rockford merchants were caught with large quantities of skeletons on hand, and not until September was the last of the bones finally loaded onto cars and shipped out.2 The market for bones was active again in the spring of 1885, and once more wagons rolled into town loaded high with remnants of the herds.3 But the best prices for skele- tons were then being offered to the north in the settlement of Minnewaukan, and most of the pickers took their wares to that station where their profits could nearly be doubled.4 Hicks, Topliff & Company, the major bone dealer in New Rockford, transferred its operations to the west shore of Devils Lake where business conditions were better.5 The loss of this buyer severely crippled the local buffalo bone commerce, and trade in the commodity at New Rockford became a fraction of its former self. 1New Rockford Transcript, 27 June 1884, p. 3. 2New Rockford Transcript, 5 September 1884, p. 3. 3New Rockford Transcript, 17 June 1887, p. 1. 4Fargo Daily Argus, 17 August 1885, p. 7. 5New Rockford Transcript, 5 September 1884, p. 3. 21 A few loads of bones periodically straggled into town until 1887, when traffic in skeletons resumed again in the vicinity of New Rockford.1 The cause of the revival was an influx of Indians from the Turtle Mountain district seeking new sources of bison remains since the plains near their home had been cleaned. These busy people found that earlier pickers had overlooked many bones near New Rockford, so they began a more thorough harvest of the buffalo's denuded framework.2 "It is wonderful," crowed the local newspaper, reporting on the work of the Indians, "to see the amount of buffalo bones that are being marketed in this city this summer. Two or three years ago there were piles of them near the depot that contained dozens and dozens of carloads, and they were being shipped out very regularly, too. Last fall it was thought that the bone market was dead, so far as this city was concerned, but there has been enough marketed here already, if taken tOgether, to make two or three train loads. The Indians and breeds have nothing particular to do at this time of the year, so they go bone picking."3 These visitors from the Turtle Mountain country must have had much success in their labors, for sometimes as many as thirty of 1New Rockford Transcript, 17 June 1887, p. 1. 2New Rockford Transcript, 27 May 1887, p. 1. 3New Rockford Transcript, 17 June 1887, p. l. 22 them would drive into town with loads of bones.1 During most of the summer they sold their gleanings to the station agent, A. D. Greene, continuing to work the New Rockford area until not a vestige of the bison was left.2 Though the Indians did not gather buffalo bones south of New Rockford, a brisk trade in the relics did occur not far away in that direction. The site of the commerce was Carrington, and the person controlling the commerce there was Archibald Miller, the town's first dealer in farm machinery, lumber, and coal. Miller's business was financially troubled in 1883 because locally it had been a bad agricultural year. A number of Carrington farmers had purchased merchandise from him on credit, but the substandard harvests of that summer prevented most of them from paying their bills. These pen- niless grangers anxiously searched for a way of discharging their debts, and one sodbuster, named Olson, suggested that Miller take bones on account. The collecting and selling of bison remains was a big business elsewhere, and Olson believed that a similar trade could be started at Carrington. Miller was not acquainted with the commerce in skeletons, but he promised his hard-pressed customers that he would look into the strange enterprise.3 1New Rockford Transcript, 1 July 1887, p. 4. 2New Rockford Transcript, 20 May 1887, p. 1. 3Charles Sinnett, "Notes on the Early History of Car- rington, North Dakota," Manuscript Collection, State Histori- cal Society of North Dakota, Bismarck. 23 Upon inquiry Miller learned that bison remains were in great demand by manufacturers who made manurial phosphate and animal charcoal products. Midwestern carbon and ferti- lizer works paid a high price for the bones, he was told, and would take every carload of skeletons that he could ship to their mills. Miller spent two months investigating trans- port costs for the osseous freight, and then decided he could profitably enter the commerce. After contracting with a St. Louis firm to insure himself of a market, Miller offered to pay $8.00 a ton to anyone who brought him bones.l One of the Carrington settlers to respond to Miller's bid was the man who first recommended that the mer- chant buy bison remains. An item from the local newspaper announced this fact when it said that an industrious "Swede named Olson, living three miles north of town, is shipping a carload of buffalo bones this week. His children gathered them up in piles and they were collected in leisure moments. They are worth $8.00 a ton in Carrington, so that at almost no cost an item of about $80.00 is added to this enterprising settler's income. Another farmer, named Jones, is also shipping a carload."2 Olson, Jones, and other grangers were not the only ones picking bones, for the buyer himself had a number of lCharles Sinnett, "Notes on the Early History of Carrington, North Dakota," Manuscript Collection, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck. 2North Dakota Inter-Ocean, 22 September 1883, p. 1. 24 teams out searching for skeletons. Miller attached big hayracks to the sides of three "prairie schooners" and sent all eight of his children out to fill the boxes with bones. "The girls, armed with gunny sacks," gathered the bones into piles and the boys then loaded the assembled ruins on the wagons as they drove around the plains. Throughout each day they scoured the land for bison remains, returning to town with their gleanings at dusk or when the rigs had been filled.1 The bones were then arranged in ricks at a siding by the station, later to be placed onto freight cars and shipped out to processing plants.2 "With the help of all these busy hands," Miller once reminisced, "buffalo bones began to be scarce around the Carrington area." As bison remains diminished from the tributary country, the pickers were forced to range farther afield in quest of the sun-parched relics. One of the places the Millers found where skeletons still abounded was many miles away from town "up by Cottonwood Lake." The family erected a shanty on the shores of this glorified pond, and used the shack as a base of operations while working in the neighborhood. All bison remains gathered near the lake were hauled back to the hut, there to be guarded from men who 1Charles Sinnett, "Notes on the Early History of Carrington, North Dakota," Manuscript Collection, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck. 2Usher Burdick, Tales from Buffalo Land (Baltimore: Wirth Brothers, 1940). p. 211. 25 Illustration 2. The Money Crop. A British tourist, journeying through North Dakota in 1885, remarked that "quite an extensive industry has recently arisen in connection with the gathering up of the old buffaloes' bones which strew the plains, and shipping them eastward for the purpose of making artificial manure. Large heaps, a yard or two in height, are to be seen at most of the stations along the Northern Pacific, and I saw men and wagons at work bringing in more. . . ."a Often entire families would work to collect the relics that the writer had seen lining the tracks, and this fact was illustrated by Ernest Burke in 1962 as an oil on canvas entitled, "The Money Crop." It should be noted, however, that there is no evidence in the literature to support the belief that wheelbarrows were used in the bone-gathering forays. (Courtesy Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York) aThe Field (London), vol. 65, no. 1,672 (January 10, 1885), p. 57. 26 f..,{, 27 might want to take the labor out of picking. After a few days of hunting bones, when about ten tons had been amassed, the skeletons were taken to Sykeston to be loaded on a railroad car.1 The buffalo bone agent in Sykeston did not like to see competition there, so he tried to find ways of getting his rival to go back to Carrington. Once when the Miller boys were bringing in a load of skeletons to the Sykeston station, they overheard the local buyer send back the boxcar their father had ordered. "They'll dump their bones then, and sell them cheap," the dealer reportedly said. But his plans went awry when the boys told their father and he retrieved the car.2 On another occasion the Sykeston agent offered increased rates for bones, hoping to capture the bulk of the trade and force Miller out of town. The dealer appa- rently bid as high as $14.00 a ton,3 but not many pickers sold to him even though he had a better price. Mr. Olson obviously expressed the feelings of most bone hunters lCharles Sinnett, "Notes on the Early History of Carrington, North Dakota," Manuscript Collection, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck. 21bid. 3Walter Spokesfield, The History of Wells County, North Dakota, and its Pioneers (Valley City: 1929), p. 82. 28 when he said, "That Miller, he started the thing and we stick with him."1 Miller's involvement in the Sykeston bone trade proved to be a stimulus, for business became so good there that on just one occasion twenty-eight carloads were shipped out. The skeletons had been stacked in a huge pile which, according to accounts, was more than thirty feet in height and over a city block long. Smaller amounts of bison remains were exported quite regularly, providing a steady income for many Sykeston residents. The bones were truly a blessing, recalled one of the pioneers, for they offered "a way of securing some cash while establishing residence and Opening up a farm."2 Unfortunately such a source of income did not con- tinue on the prairies very long, for like any unrenewable resource the supplies of skeletons were soon exhausted. In the summer of 1886 Miller shipped the last load of bones from Carrington, "consisting of the smaller bones which at 3 first had been thought to be of little worth." The commerce in bison remains at Sykeston was able to survive a few months 1Charles Sinnett, "Notes on the Early History of Carrington, North Dakota," Manuscript Collection, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck. 2Walter Spokesfield, The History of Wells County, North Dakota, and its Pioneers (Valley City: 1929). p. 82. 3Charles Sinnett, "Notes on the Early History of Carrington, North Dakota," Manuscript Collection, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Bismarck. 29 longer, with Ben Russell bringing in the last 100 tons from the Antelope Valley in November.1 After that new settlers in the area had to find other means to "make ends meet," for the trade in the buffalo's ruins had gone the way of the great beast itself. Directly east of Carrington was the last place on the Northern Pacific line to join the bone trade in 1883. During the summer of that year the railroad built a spur track from its main route at Sanborn to the settlement of Cooperstown. The arrival of the iron horse at that site meant that bulk goods could be profitably shipped from the area, and one of the first commodities hauled out by the railroad was carloads of buffalo bones. The bison remains were brought in by farmers to the newly established depot and sold to dealers who paid as much as $10.00 a ton for the relics. That kind of money was a welcome addition to any sodbuster's income, so many wagons were filled with skeletons and driven to the freight yards for cash. Throughout the fall most of the Cooperstown grangers capi- talized on the high price for bones, continuing to harvest the remnants of the herds until the ruins were hidden by 2 snow. 1Jamestown Alert, 14 October 1886, p. 8; 18 November 1886, p. 8. 2North Dakota, Collections of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, Volume I (Bismarck: 1906), pp. 140-141. 30 The trade in skeletons came to life again in May of 1884, with large numbers of settlers picking bison remains to sell at the Cooperstown station. The local newspaper, commenting late in the month about the commerce, said "250 tons of buffalo bones are now waiting shipment at this point, representing at least 10,000 animals. The price is now $8.00 per ton, cash. The shipment is made to Detroit, Michigan, where the bones are ground up into fertilizers to enrich less productive lands than ours."1 Eight dollars a ton was $2.00 below the going rate of the previous season, a fact which would ordinarily have caused the market in bison remains to decline. But many immigrants came to the C00perstown area in 1884, and the pickings of these pioneers helped to compensate for the volume of bones lost due to the drop in price. For the rest of the year old and new settlers alike sold the buffalo's ruins to local merchants, and car- loads of skeletons rolled out of the freight yards destined for mills in the East.2 Under normal circumstances the bone trade at C00perstown would probably have declined and then ended in 1885. All of the skeletons within a radius of about ten miles had been collected in the two previous years, and at $8.00 a ton men had little incentive to go beyond that 1C00perstown Courier, 30 May 1884, p. 1. 2Cooperstown Courier, 19 September 1884, p. 1. 31 distance in search of the buffalo's wreckage. But competi- tion between two local merchants eventually raised the value of bones to $20.00 a ton, and all around Cooperstown pickers hitched up their wagons and set out to fill the rigs with bison remains. John Syverson and the Whidden Brothers were the men who struggled for control of the Cooperstown bone trade, outbidding one another for skeletons in an effort to attract customers to their stores. As early as May, Syverson was offering $12.00 a ton for bison remains, and was receiving for his generosity about a carload of chaotic anatomy each day.2 To counter Syverson's success the Whidden Brothers matched his price for buffalo bones and announced that they were willing to buy 2,000 tons of the sun-parched relics.3 This rivalry became so intense that by the end of the month the local newspaper could remark that "several hundred tons of buffalo bones await shipment at this point. Messrs. Whidden and Syverson will have a duel over the bone business yet. The jaw bone of a buffalo is a good weapon, competently handled."4 lMyrtle Porterville, "Griggs County Story," Manu- script, North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, Fargo. 2COOperstown Courier, 22 May 1885, p. l. 3COOperstown Courier, 22 May 1885, p. 8. 4Cooperstown Courier, 29 May 1885, p. 1. 32 Though the town weekly was able to joke about the competition for bison remains, the opponents involved in the conflict did not take the matter so lightly. By the second week in June, Whidden and Syverson were paying $18.00 a ton for bones, and about six men were said to be on watch day and night for teams bringing in the buffalo's ruins. These lookouts must have been very busy finding wagonloads of bones for their employers, for by June 12 the newspaper could report that $6,000 had been "paid out in Cooperstown for the denuded framework of the American bison. The trade for 1885," the item speculated, "will amount to about $8,000."1 Most of this money found its way into the pockets of settlers living in or around Cooperstown, but residents of other areas also benefited from the local bone trade. Some pioneers near Hope, for example, eager to profit from the high price offered for skeletons, drove to Cooperstown with their pickings and doubled the return of their loads.2 HOpe had a bone trade of its own ongoing since early 1884, but buyers there could not match the quotations of Syverson and Whidden and lost a good deal of business as a result.3 1Cooperstown Courier, 12 June 1885, p. l. 2Hope Pioneer, 29 May 1885, p. l; 5 June 1885, p. 1. 3Hope Pioneer, 30 May 1884, p. 1. 33 The trips of bone hunters from Hope to Cooperstown were short-lived journeys, however, for by July the price war was over with the Whidden Brothers apparent victors.l In the absence of competition the rate for skeletons dropped to $10.00 per ton, and pickers from other communities returned to trading with their local agents. Only settlers near Cooperstown continued to deal with buyers there, bringing in bones from far afield to sell at the local market.2 A representative of the Northern Pacific Company, visiting Cooperstown in July of 1885, remarked that, in the area surrounding the city, "picking up the buffalo bones off the prairie and hauling them to the railroad is an important industry. As I write," the observer continued, "a con- siderable hill of these bones is growing apace from the constant contributions from farmer's wagons. Some say they are ground up to make fertilizer in Chicago, and others declare that they are burned to refine white sugar in New York. Whichever is the fact, they are in active demand, and the sale of them has kept the wolf of poverty from many a poor settler's door. A little ready money is the great need of the farmers in a new country, and this need becomes sorest after they have been on their land a year or two and 1Cooperstown Courier, 7 May 1886, p. 1. 2Northwest Magazine 3 (July 1885):10. 34 have expended small reserves of cash they brought with them. The harvest of buffalo bones has proven a great help to them." For the rest of the year many penniless grangers sold skeletons at Cooperstown, living off the ruins of the bison as others once survived on its flesh.l Some fragments of the vanished herds had been missed by farmers who earlier covered the district, so a handful of scavengers continued to freight bones to Cooperstown in 1886. The Whidden Brothers offered $12.00 a ton that year for dry, clean bison remains, but required all of the pickers to take out their earnings in trade.2 This meant that the purchasing agent was able to profit twice from each sale, a fact which disturbed some bone hunters who wanted cash for their wares. The controversial practice, however, did not last very long, for soon there were no more skeletons to exchange at the Whidden store. By the end of summer the last of the bones had been gathered from the neighborhood, and men who dealt with the resource had to move on to whiter pastures. One of the more promising new areas for bone pickers on the Northern Pacific line was Bismarck, where the prac- tice of gathering the sun-bleached relics began in 1884. By mid-May of that year the local newspaper felt compelled to note that "one of the enterprises which is bringing a 1Northwest Magazine 3 (July 1885):10. 2Cooperstown Courier, 7 May 1886, p. 1. 3Edgeley Mail, 17 June 1937, p. 5. 35 Illustration 3. Curing Hides and Bones. This picture, "Curing Hides and Bones," was drawn by two vagabond artists, Paul Frenzeny and Jules Tavernier. The illustration was described as representing "a frequent scene along one of the Northwestern railroads. The large heap of bones seen in the background has been collected out on the plains, ready to be shipped Eastward to be used for various manufacturing purposes. Hundreds and thousands of such heaps may be seen along the tracks of these railroads."a aHarper's Weekly 18 (April 4, 1874):307-308. ‘ . ’! "‘.*“'.|'i'.'.‘.“-'T‘ 5‘: q: :11"! a, , '. 3.- :‘n "l. n .' . Llifii’fin , 5|! [u ( 'l IL 1,; u i: l 37 vast amount of money into the country and putting it in circulation among the farmers is . . . the gathering and shipment of bones. Hundreds of teams are now engaged in the work, and hundreds of tons of bones are being bought at the rate of $8.00 per ton. While these bones, which are strewn in immense numbers over the prairie in Dakota, have been looked upon as useless by the settlers, they are of great value and now the men who are making from five to twenty dollars per day in gathering them and bringing them to market realize this fact."1 The Bismarck weekly, continuing with its report, observed that between $250 and $400 were being paid out each day for bison remains, giving "farmers and laborers an opportunity to make a neat sum outside of their regular income. The myriads of buffalo horns and heads and various other bones of the animals that were wont to roam over these rolling plains are, when ground, the very best ferti- lizing material known. . . ."2 Because of this fact, the first skeletons collected from around Bismarck were shipped to a Philadelphia firm where they were rendered into manu- rial phosphate.3 1Bismarck Weekly Tribune, 16 May 1884, p. l; Medora Bad Lands Cowboy, 5 June 1884, p. 3. 2Bismarck Weekly Tribune, 16 May 1884, p. 4. 38t. Paul Weekly Pioneer Press, 22 May 1884, p. 8. 38 So great was the influx of bison remains that thoughts were given to erecting a bone mill at Bismarck. The principal local buyer, J. C. Nudd, expressed his intention to build an apparatus that would grind up his purchases and make them more economical to ship. With this thought in mind, he rented a structure in the downtown area as a place from which to conduct business. The money for acquiring a machine, however, was more difficult to generate than the idea, and the proposed equipment was never installed.1 Nudd was not the only bone dealer who had trouble getting funds. His major competitors in the business, Ansley & Knapp, also experienced some problems due to a shortage of available cash. According to the local news- paper, "there was a lively rattling in the bone yard [in early June] by the arrest of Messrs. Ansley & Knapp, who have been buying bones [in Bismarck] for some time." These two men had "been purchasing loose bones from farmers with the understanding that payments should be made every Saturday night. Numerous farmers and laborers left their work to haul bones expecting to realize a little sum from the enterprise. The farmers discovered that the money was not forthcoming as per agreement, and began a vigorous remonstrance. Attorneys have been retained and it now looks as though the bone magnates [will] fare rather roughly 1Bismarck Weekly Tribune, 16 May 1884, p. 4. 39 at the hands of the law. They were arrested upon the charge of obtaining the prOperty under false pretenses. Those who are informed say that the amount due farmers in the aggregate [comes] to nearly $2,000."1 Ansley & Knapp were released pending trial, but their troubles were far from over. A number of unpaid pickers went to Ansley's boarding house and demanded to receive their money. When the owed funds were not delivered, George Gibbs, one of the complainants, began to talk about hanging the defaulting bone dealer. Obviously upset at this idea, Ansley grabbed a pistol and shot Gibbs, "the ball taking effect just below the nose and passing through to the back of the neck, where it lodged. Gibbs fell upon the sidewalk, and at first it was thought he had been instantly killed. He soon revived, and the first words he said were, 'I'm a pretty good man yet.‘ Ansley escaped to the Main Street sidewalk, giving himself over to" the police chief. Gibbs was taken to a nearby home, where doctors worked to save his life.2 Ansley was immediately lodged in jail, as much for the crime as for his own protection. "In order that no injustice be done" to the defendant, a reporter for the Bismarck paper sought an interview with the accused and asked him to present his side of the story. Ansley said 1Bismarck Weekly Tribune, 13 June 1884, p. 3. 2Bismarck Weekly Tribune, 13 June 1884, p. 8. 40 that the claim he and Knapp had defrauded the farmers was "totally and absolutely untrue. We have paid out about $8,000 along the line of the Northern Pacific, several thousand of which has been paid to the farmers and laborers of Burleigh County. The statement that we owe nearly $2,000 in this county for bones is false, as $500 will cover every cent of our indebtedness. We have to our credit in the Bismarck banks and coming to us from the bone business, not less than $3,000. There are large piles of bones along the banks of the river, which we have paid for to these very men who are now causing us this embarrassment."1 While Ansley was describing his problems to the reporter, three Bismarck physicians worked to prevent the charge of murder from being added to his list of woes. The efforts of these practitioners were successful, and Gibbs was spared from almost certain doom.2 With his recovery well under way,3 the wounded man said that he did not wish to prosecute Ansley, but simply wanted the "revolver to show the boys in after years."4 As a result of this gesture, Ansley was released on $1,000 bail, whereupon he immediately lIbid. 2Bismarck Weekly Tribune, 20 June 1884, p. 8. 3Bismarck Weekly Tribune, 27 June 1884, p. 8. 4Bismarck Weekly Tribune, 4 July 1884, p. 8. 41 left town.1 One week later Gibbs started hemorrhaging,2 and within a few days he was dead from loss of blood.3 Ansley was subsequently indicted by a grand jury for murder, but he was never found and brought to trial.4 Through all of this controversy and violence the trade in bison remains continued to boom in and around Bismarck.5 A local newspaper, for example, saw fit to note during May and June that a number of wagons heaped high with skeletons were coming into town enroute to the other bone dealers.6 And just across the river on the west bank, one businessman was offering $100 cash to anyone who would gather and load ten tons of the buffalo's relics at any telegraph station between the Northern Pacific Missouri River bridge and Miles City.7 Perhaps in response to this overture the Mandan Pioneer was able to report that "E. R. Knapp, the gentleman who lately went through [this city] lBismarck Weekly Tribune, 25 July 1884, p. 3. 2Bismarck Weekly Tribune, 1 August 1884, p. 8. 3Bismarck Weekly Tribune, 15 August 1884, p. 8. 4Bismarck Weekly Tribune, 14 November 1884, p. 5; 12 December 1884, p. 8. 5Bismarck Weekly Tribune, 27 June 1884, p. 8. 6Mandan pioneer, 30 May 1884, p. 4; 5 June 1884, 7Palma Fristad, Historic Mandan and Morton County (Mandan: 1970), pp. 30-31. 42 with five wagons for the purpose of collecting bones, was in town yesterday arranging for more men and teams. He has been very successful so far in his search, and at last accounts was finding rich fields in the vicinity of New Salem."1 Apparently Mr. Knapp's recruiting pitch was well received, for just two weeks later the New Salem correspondent announced that "about twenty tons of bones have been brought in by settlers and are now awaiting shipment east."2 A similar activity was underway about forty miles up the tracks at Hebron, where the commerce in bison remains also started in 1884 when Harvey Haven arrived from Minne- sota and began picking bones for a living.3 He was soon joined in this enterprise by Swen Swenson,4 but no other competition appeared until the following year when John Kreutz commenced chasing after relics on the plains.5 All three men sold their osseous harvests at the Krauth and lMandan Pioneer, 16 May 1884, p. 4. 2Mandan Pioneer, 30 May 1884, p. 1. 3C. B. Heinemeyer and B. Janssen, History of Mercer County, North Dakota (Hazen: 1960), p. 19. 4Marion and Theodore Mark, Early Hebron (Hebron: 1935), p. 11. 5Palma Fristad, Historic Mandan and Morton County (Mandan: 1970), p. 31. 43 Leutz store in Hebron, where they received from six to seven dollars a ton for their efforts.1 These three men had the trade to themselves until 1886, when a large caravan of German immigrants from Russia arrived in town. This group made a "permanent camp north of Hebron and immediately began to gather bones and haul them to the railroad."2 Perhaps as a result of their efforts, the Mandan newspaper reported in June that skeletons "have been pouring in [to Hebron] and about four or five carloads are on hand ready for shipment. The bone piles seem to be curiosit[ies] for every passenger on trains number one and two, and many [individuals] generally leave the train and get possession of a [souvenir] in the form of an elk or buffalo horn."3 A few other settlers came to the Hebron area in 1886 after the Germans, and out of economic necessity they too were obliged to pick "bones to exchange for groceries."4 The "skeletons were pretty much scattered over the prairies," recalled one of these old-timers, and "sometimes it would take three or four days to gather a ton." Such an lIbid. Marion and Theodore Mark, Early Hebron (Hebron: 1935), p. 11. 2C. B. Heinemeyer and B. Janssen, History of Mercer County, North Dakota (Hazen: 1960), p. 27. 3Mandan Pioneer, 4 June 1886, p. 3. 4C. B. Heinemeyer and B. Janssen, History of Mercer County, North Dakota (Hazen: 1960), p. 98. 44 investment of time and effort might produce small dividends, "but nevertheless it was this unique industry that kept the wolf from the doors of so many of the early pioneers."1 In 1887 some more penniless plowmen came to west central North Dakota, and like those before them they made a living picking bones "until farming was well underway."2 Some of these aspiring grangers traveled forty miles or more to reach Hebron with a load of sun-parched ruins. It was not uncommon for such trips to require three or more days, with the total receipts amounting to between $10.00 and $15.00.3 Additional sodbusters reached the Hebron area in 1888, hoping to homestead some land. With little money and no immediate crop to harvest, they adopted the customary practice of scouring the plains for bones.4 The fruits of their search were taken by wagon to town, where the local shopkeepers gave $10.00 a ton in trade for the buffalo's wreckage.5 With one hundred pounds of flour selling for a dollar, and good work shoes for eighty-five cents, the proceeds from a load of bones could help support a family until their farm began to produce.6 The supply of bones for the indigent newcomers could not last forever, and by 1890 the last remnants of llbid., p. 28. 2Ibid., p. 93. 3Ibid., p. 28. 4Ibid., p. 106. SIbid., p. 96. 6Ibid., p. 106. 45 Illustration 4. Clearing Bones Before Plowing. This illustration was drawn by Martin Garretson for his book, The American Bison.a While his pen has greatly exaggerated the actual number of skeletons found lying upon the plains, his depiction of the need to remove such ruins before tilling the soil is accurate. A. G. Divet, a young North Dakota farmhand in the 18805, complained that bison remains "were an obstacle to the breaking of the land, and had to be removed from the path of the plows."b F. J. Clifford, writing about the buffalo bone picking industry, noted that many of the sun-bleached relics "had to be gathered anyway before the sodbuster could mow any of the prairie grass, as one of the hard bones was sure to break the sickle of his mower."C Thus, many grangers had to harvest the remnants of the herds before they could plant their first crop or cut the hay. aNew York: New York Zoological Society, 1938. Opposite p. 172. bFargo Forum, 3 February 1950, p. 6. CDearborn Independent, 16 June 1923, p. 12. 46 47 the herds were collected and hauled to Hebron.l Though the local skeleton trade had finally expired, residents in the area were able to benefit from the business much longer than their neighbors. At nearby Dickinson, for instance, the commerce in bison remains lasted for only three years, though at a different level of intensity. As was the case elsewhere along much of the Northern Pacific 1ine,the bone industry got underway at Dickinson early in 1884. By mid- May of that year the town newspaper reported the developing trade, and suggested that "quite a number of men and teams" could find employment in the new enterprise.2 In response to this observation scores of peOple began combing the sur- rounding plains, gathering up the buffalo's ruins and hauling them into town. Since at first one man could easily get a ton of bones on each trip,3 it was not unusual for up to sixty loads of skeletons to be mustered at the freight yards each day.4 Initially the pickers sold their gleanings to a colorful character named Tbm Evans, a small-time operator who shipped bones by the carload to mills in the St. Louis 1Ibid., p. 110. 2Dickinson Press, 24 May 1884, p. l. 3Dickinson Press, 7 August 1915, p. 4. 4George Aberle, From the Steppes to the Prairies (Bismarck: 1963), p. 163. 48 area.1 But when the profitable nature of his dealings became apparent to other merchants, they maneuvered for a share of the commerce by offering higher prices for the bones. Of the various businessmen competing for the traffic in bison remains, the partnership of Becket & Foote nearly gained complete control of the market. Within just a few weeks of their entry into the venture of buying bones, they had purchased seventy-five tons of the remnants and were asking for 1,000 tons more.2 It would have taken the local residents quite some time to meet the needs of Becket & Foote had the pickers not received a good deal of assistance from a group of teamsters to the south. Many freighters hauling goods to Deadwood, in the Black Hills, from points along the Northern Pacific, decided in June of 1884 that they might make more money gathering bones.3 Accordingly, a number of these bullwackers, some with up to twenty-seven yoke of oxen, began driving about the Dickinson area in quest of the buffalo's ruins.4 Most freighters had at least one big wagon that could carry a five-ton load, and some had a lDickinson Press, 20 February 1915, p. 4. 2Dickinson Press, 7 June 1884, p. 1; 14 June 1884, p. l. 3Dickinson Press, 14 June 1884, p. l; Medora Bad Lands Cowboy, 29 May 1884, p. 4. 4Dickinson Press, 28 June 1884, p. l. 49 couple of smaller vans fastened on behind as trailers. Into these rigs the South Dakota teamsters heaped all of the skeletons they could find, returning to town with their cargoes when the vehicles had been filled.1 The pickers brought in the fruits of their labors to Dickinson, Bel- field, and Medora, but most of the bones were apparently sold at Sully Springs, now a ghost town west of Fryburg.2 After about three weeks of collecting bones and selling them at $8.00 a ton, the bulk of the teamsters returned to their old routines of carting goods south.3 Few of the drivers found their incomes improved when working as skeleton hunters, and of the two occupations most preferred that of hauling freight. But the money received for the bison's remains was welcome lining to many pockets, so some bullwackers resumed harvesting bones on their journeys back from the Hills. As most teamsters left Deadwood empty when returning to pick up more loads, they filled their wagons with bones on the way to sell at the Dickinson market. Throughout the summer these freighters 1Wayne Gard, The Great Buffalo Hunt (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1968), p. 301. 2George Aberle, From the Steppes to the Prairies (Bismarck: 1963), p. 163. 3Medora Bad Lands Cowboy, 19 June 1884, p. 4; 10 July 1884, p. 4. 50 brought the buffalo's ruins to town, helping Becket & Foote meet their contract for 1,000 tons of bones.1 Winter put an end to bone picking activities on the prairies around Dickinson, but by spring of 1885 the business had been revived. Scenes of the previous year were repeated as wagons heaped with skeletons queued at the depot, and trainloads of the buffalo's ruins rolled out for mills in Chicago and St. Louis.2 Becket & Foote continued to be the major dealers in town,3 buying bones from local settlers and industrious freighters returning from the south. Some of the teamsters with sizable outfits brought in over ten tons at a time, enough sun-bleached relics to completely fill a Northern Pacific boxcar.4 Such quantities of bison remains must have frequently been discharged at the station, for during the year nearly 5,000 tons of bones were shipped from the Dickinson freight yards.5 In early May of 1886 the bone trade resumed in town, though on a smaller scale than had been the case the picking seasons before.6 After two years the bulk of the 1Dickinson Press, 5 July 1884, p. l. 2Dickinson Press, 20 June 1885, p. 2. 3Dickinson Press, 6 June 1885, p. l. 4Dickinson Press, 26 September 1885, p. l. 5Northwest Magazine, August 1886, p. 19. 6Dickinson Press, 8 May 1886, p. 3. 51 bison remains had been cleaned from the nearby plains, and the routes used by the Deadwood freighters were devoid of skeletons.l A few loads of sun-bleached relics were col- lected from some spots missed earlier, but they amounted to little more than a hundred tons at best. The buffalo's ruins could still be found in profusion beyond the Cannon- ball, and many people went south of the river to fill their wagons with bones. But the best price offered for the skeletons was $10.00 a ton at Gladstone, so most of the pickers took their loads to that station and abandoned the Dickinson market.2 lMandan Pioneer, 2 July 1886, p. 4. 2Mandan Pioneer, 9 July 1886, p. 4. CHAPTER 2 THE BUFFALO BONE TRADE ALONG THE MISSOURI AND YELLOWSTONE RIVERS At the same time that Dickinson was witnessing an end to its buffalo bone trade, a similar conclusion to a once-thriving industry was occurring to the west in Montana. Though there is evidence that the Northern Pacific began shipping skeletons from the Yellowstone Valley as early as 1883,1 the commerce in bison remains did not fully develop there until the following year.2 In 1884 personnel from Midwestern firms began visiting towns along the river, con- tracting with dealers at various points to buy all of the skeletons they could supply. The Michigan Carbon Works, of Detroit, proved to have the most aggressive field agents, and it was able to purchase "most of the bones" that pickers gleaned from the surrounding territory.3 1E. W. J. Llindesmith, "Miles City Parish Records, 1883-1885," Llindesmith Collection, Archives of the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. 2 Glendive Times, 7 June 1884, p. 3, 4 October 1884, p. 3. 3Glendive Times, 23 August 1884, p. 3; Miles Cipy Weekly YeIIbwstone Journal, 4 October 1884, p. 1. 52 53 0°. é a. {W57 //..4. u DAKOTA J _ in: .1 . so 3.. so O x. . \ o« '0 9 o «.0 .... o \W/ .. \: 2(3u10hd1m‘0 \ :5 =8. m44