Buffalo Hunting
As told by Richard Bussell of Canadian, Texas to L.F. Sheffy December 27, 1929

"I hunted in Kansas from 1867 to 1874 and when buffalo quit coming north we went to Texas after them and cleaned them up in 1877. I sold about the first hides that were sold. I sold them to Loganstein, an honest Jew who came to be one of the biggest dealers in the country. I sold him four carloads and he shipped them to Fort Leavenworth. When we first went out, the Indians were so bad that we went back to Fort Hays. They killed two of our men. In 1875 the buffalo did not come further north than the Canadian River. I killed 800 on the Quitaque; one of the best little streams in this country. I had 8000 hides on Sweetwater Creek at one time. The Government did not try to keep me from hunting, but they would not let us hunt in the Indian Territory. There were 25 outfits and about 6 in each outfit but we camped as close together as we could get."

Buffalo Outfit

     This outfit consisted of two Spencer carbines with eight cartridges in the magazines. These were used for protection against the Indians.

     Two belts of cartridges which we tied around the horn of the saddle (we stayed close to our horses in those days). Reloading outfits (powder-patch paper-lead-wads-lubricator swedge to pack with charges of powder-primer and bullet molds. We had big ovens to melt the lead in. We bought lead and powder in large quantities of four to five thousand pounds.

     We shot shells about fifty times. Knives-three skinning knives and two rippers (the ripper was a straight blade and the skinner curved backward). Grindstone; a prod-stick which had a nail driven in one end and filed sharp and the other end sharpened. This stick was about three feet long. The nail was stuck in the flesh of the animal and the sharpened end of the stick was stuck in the ground to hold it up for skinning. There were always two skinners together.

Buffalo Camps

     One of the main camps was at Adobe Walls – started 1874. Billy Dixon had one on Dixon Creek. Fort Griffin was another and Fort Elliott another. Another was at the Teepee Buffalo Supply Store. There were no buffalo camps on the plains. It was too bleak and was too far from water. There were a great many killed within six or eight miles of the caprock and the watering places.

Medicine Lodge Treaty (1875)

     This treaty was signed by 150 buffalo hunters and about 5000 Indians. General Harney had about 1000 soldiers. A day or two before the treaty was signed he said to the buffalo hunters whom he had rounded up, “You will see one of the greatest sights you have even seen. The Indians will come 5000 strong and whatever you do keep your hand on your guns. They will try to get them, but do not let them have them. They are the most treacherous people in the world.” When they did come, they came racing up yelling to the top of their voices and the dust was flying.

     All of the buffalo hunters signed the treaty agreeing not to hunt buffalo south of the Arkansas, but it did no good. The hunters paid no attention to the treaty.

From Life in the Saddle Oklahoma University Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 1963 (1997) by Frank Collison

     p. 46. Jim White was a buffalo hunter in the spring of 1875 who had a large outfit including twenty-five yoke of oxen, six mules and both heavy and light wagons. Frank Collinson camped with him on Creek where they lived in Teepees. They were followed to their camp by wagons loaded with food, They had four 25-pound cans of DuPont Powder, four hundred pounds of lead and plenty of patch paper. Lead was a staple in the supply stores as were powder, patch paper and primers. It was sold in pigs which weighed fifty to 100 pounds apiece or it could be purchased in sacks of twenty-five pounds each. It was not uncommon to buy 100 sheets of patch paper, four or five 25-pound kegs of Dupont black powder and 500 pounds of lead at one time. There were still lots of buffalo on the plains and they saw them regularly. He hunted with White until the spring of 1878, when the buffalo were all gone. White once killed 4 buffalo with 47 shots. Collinson at one time killed 121 in one stand, but it took him 300 shots to do it. They killed their last buffalo where Motley County now is.

     In 1877, Collinson saw over 1 million buffalo hides at Rath and Reynolds store.

Additional Reading

The Buffalo by Wes Phillips
Adobe Walls Trading Post and Historical Battlefield
The Texas Panhandle Frontier
by Frederick W. Rathjen. Texas Tech University Press,1998.