TIMELINE OF THE AMERICAN BISON

Rani Foster POPULATION

1500’s
30-60 million bison in North America

1884
325 wild Bison, 25 in Yellowstone

1000 total (85 free-range, 200 in a

1889 federal herd in Yellowstone, 500 in
Canada, 256 in zoos and private
herds)

1902
700 in private herds, 23 in Yellowstone

1905 100 in government herds

(Yellowstone and the National
Zoological Park)

2,108 bison in North American

(1,076 in Canada and 1,032 in the 1910
U.S.) Bison in public herds in the U.S.
totaled 151

1919 12,521 total bison in North

America

20,000-25,000 in public herds, 1990’s

250,000 in private herds by the
end of the decade
TIMELINE OF THE AMERICAN BISON
PRESSURES
1700 - 1800
No bison left in Ohio; pioneers and settlers
pushed them out.
1820
Mass destruction of the once great herds of
bison began.
1840
75,000 bison robes traded to posts in Canada by
the Hudson Bay Company.
1860
An estimated two million bison were killed on the
southern plains.
1871
During this year and the next two, an average of
5,000 bison were killed each day. Bison hunting
became a popular sport among the wealthy.
1873
his year marked the seeming end of the great
southern herd. Auctions in Fort Worth, Texas
were moving 200,000 hides every day or two.
1876
A few remaining free-roaming bison were
discovered in Texas and were killed.
1878
Slaughter of the northern herd had begun.
1881
Over 10,000 bison were taken during one hunt of
a few days in the Dakota Territory in September.
1883
The Smithsonian Institute sent an expedition out
to obtain bison specimens for the National
Museum.
1887
Last commercial shipments of hides anywhere
in the United States.
Westward Expansion changed bison habitat through
plowing and farming.
1802
Native American tribes were forced off the land in
the east, bring horses and guns to the Great Plains
which increased pressure on bison.
1830
West of the Rocky Mountains, bison began to
disappear. Native American market hunters
considered their hides to be prime for trading.
1844
Railroads built across the Great Plains divided the
bison into two herds; the southern and the northern.
Many were killed to feed the railway crews.
1870
This year marked the beginning of the end of the
southern herd. With new commercial tanning
processes, bison were now hunted year-round.
1872
On the southern plains, slaughter reached its
peak. One railroad shipped nearly three million
pounds of bones.
1874
The estimated three to four million bison of the
southern plains were now dead.
1877
Bison in Canada were disappearing rapidly.
1880
This year’s winter marked the largest slaughter of
the northern herd. One county in Montana
shipped 180,000 buffalo skin
1882
By mid-year, nearly all the bison in the United
States were gone.
1886
The American Museum of Natural History held an
exhibition to Montana. They found no bison. One
of the last lots of bison robes sold in Texas.
1889
TIMELINE OF THE AMERICAN BISON
LEGISLATION
1864
Delegate in Arizona introduced a bill
that made it illegal for any person to kill a
buffalo on public lands in the United
States, except for food or preserving the
robe.
1872
Secretary of the Interior, wrote in an 1873 report,
“I would not seriously regret the total
disappearance of the buffalo from our western
prairies, in the effect upon the Indians. I would
regard it rather as a means of hastening their
sense of dependence upon the products of the
soil and their own labors.”
1874
A bill passed that protected female bison
and did away with wanton destruction.
President Grant refused to sign the bill.
1877
Canada repealed the 1877 law.
1880
The Dakota Territorial Legislature enacted
a law to protect bison; it was not
enforced.
1884
Idaho State Legislature passed the
first law to protect the bison - after
they were gone from the state.
1871
The Kansas legislature passed a law
prohibiting the wasting of bison meat, but
the Governor vetoed it. Colorado passed a
law prohibiting the wasting of bison meat; it
was not enforced. The legislation creating
Yellowstone National Park
1873
A bill passed that protected female bison
and did away with wanton destruction.
President Grant refused to sign the bill.
1875
A law was passed in Canada that forbade
the use of pounds (corrals), wanton
destruction, the killing of buffalo under 2
years of age, and the killing of cows during a
closed season.
1878
New Mexico passed a law to protect the
bison; unfortunately, the bison were
already gone from this state.
1883
Congress gives the Army the task of
enforcing laws in Yellowstone National Park
to protect the final few wild bison from
poachers.
TIMELINE OF THE AMERICAN BISON
RECOVERY EFFORTS
1866
It became obvious that owning bison was
profitable. More and more people were
capturing free ranging bison to establish
private herds.
1873
William and Charles Alloway of Manitoba,
Canada, with the aid of a milk cow,
captured three bison calves to start their
own herd.
1877
The Glidden and the Dupree herds (of the
Dakotas) were established.
1883
Charles Goodnight re- established his herd.
Michel Pablo and Charles Allard of
Montana purchased 13 bison from Walking
Coyote for $2000 in gold.
1885
Austin Corbin established a herd of bison on
New Hampshire’s Blue Mountain Game
Preserve.
1896
The American Bison Society founded by
private citizens to protect and restore bison.
1906
National Bison Range established for a
permanent range for the herd of bison to
be presented by the American Bison
Society.
1909
Wind Cave National Park (SD) received 14
bison from the New York Zoological Society.
1924
Because of the secure populations of bison
in public herds, the American Bison Society
votes itself out of existence.
1990
Charles Goodnight began a captive herd on his
ranch in Texas. The bison were sold shortly after,.
1870
Walking Coyote, a Pend d’Oreille Indian,
acquired some bison calves, bringing them
into the Flathead Valley with the intent of
starting a bison herd.
1874
Lt. Col. Samuel Bedson of Stoney Mountain,
Manitoba (Canada) purchased bison from
the Alloway herd, the McKay herd and from
some Native Americans.
1881
In Oklahoma, the McCoy brothers and J.W.
Summers caught a pair of bison calves, 2 of
very few left on the southern plains.
1884
C.J. Jones purchased a few bison from
Charles Goodnight, along with capturing 13
bison from southern Texas, starting his own
private herd.
1888
The Pablo/Allard herd in the Flathead Valley
totaled about 300. Allard died, and his widow
sold her portion to Charles Conrad of Kalispell,
MT.
1905
Pablo sold his bison herd to Canada, after
Congress turned down funding for purchase
for the United States
1908
Thirty-four bison purchased from the Conrad
herd (Kalispell, MT) by the American Bison
Society, donated and release on National
Bison Range.
1913
The National Bison Range donates 218 bison
from a herd total of 675 to other public herds.
This is the first of many donations and sales of
live bison.
1935
Private bison herds on the rise. Many bison
raised for eventual slaughter, bison meat is it
leanness and low levels of cholesterol.
 WORK CITED
“TIME LINE of the AMERICAN BISON .” Timeline,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
www.fws.gov/bisonrange/timeline.htm.