Tonya Ballman History 110 05 The Destruction of the Bison by Andrew Isenberg describes the decline and near extinction of the bison in the United States due to the conversion of Natives to Equestrian Nomadism, the establishment of the fur trade, and other abiotic factors combined with overgrazing and several other natural factors. Fortunately for the bison, however, an interest was taken in their preservation and they were brought back from the brink of extinction through breeding and protective programs. In the early 18th century, “the bison hunter Robert M. Wright and General Philip Sheridan calculated that 100 million bison roamed the Great Plains.” (Page 23) The bison were thriving on the abundant amount of shortgrass in the area. Although there were certain environmental obstacles that threatened the livelihood of the bison, such as wolves, blizzards, and drought, the carrying capacity of the plains allowed them to reproduce quickly enough to where their population remained the same and even grew in some years. It wasn’t until the introduction of the horse and equestrian related practices to Native Americans in the plains that the bison population would become threatened.
These horses fell under the control of the Pueblo Indians who traded them off to the Apache and Comanche. Following the construction of this early trade system, the Comanche began to funnel horses into the ancient Rocky Mountain trade network that connected them with their relatives, the Shoshone, in present day Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. [2] This explains how horses arrived on the northern Plains during the early 18th century. The major question that this paper is concerned with is: How did the acquisition of the horse change Plains Indian tribes? Certainly, Indians of the Great Plains region experienced fundamental changes after the horse was introduced to their societies.
This demand for fur allowed North American colonies to pay off large debts to England through beaver trapping. Much of this country was explored and mapped by trappers who traveled into unsettled territory in search of beaver pelts. North American beaver was nearly hunted to extinction due to the North American fur trade. Ernest Thompson Seton, one of the greatest naturalists of
The Comanche emerged as a distinct group shortly before 1700, when they broke off from the Shoshone people[11] living along the upper Platte River in Wyoming. This coincided with their acquisition of the horse, which allowed them greater mobility in their search for better hunting grounds. Their original migration took them to the southern Great Plains, into a sweep of territory extending from the Arkansas River to central Texas. During that time, their population increased dramatically because of the abundance of buffalo, an influx of Shoshone migrants, and the adoption of significant numbers of women and children taken captive from rival groups. The Comanche never formed a single cohesive tribal unit but were divided into almost a dozen
Fur trade: The mountain men thrived of off the fur trade. Many were employed by fur companies, or sold their fur to the whom offered the most money. There were two essential two realms of the fur trade industries, “Rocky Mountain Fur Trade” and “Upper Missouri”. The Upper Missouri worked quite differently from the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade. They required Native Americans to bring buffalo skins to trading points, from there the fur was sent down to St.Louis via the river.
“Even in South Central Africa, which has always been exceedingly prolific in great herds of game, it is probable that all its quadrupeds taken together on an equal area would never have more than equaled the total number of buffalo in this country forty years ago.” (Hornady, 1889, p387). This great animal was the life’s blood of the Native American people and was used for everything from food to clothing and tools for just about any everyday job. Although North American Bison were hunted by Native Americans for centuries, western expansion in the 1800s brought the bison to near extinction. The great herd It is a well- known fact that Native Americans hunted the bison for thousands of years with what seemed to be no impact on the enormous population of the great herd. Archeological studies have uncovered proof that Native Americans used virtually every part of the bison for almost all aspects of everyday life, from clothing to shelter and tools, even for jewelry.
Since the current food drought, the Colonist had to rely on Native American Indians and their hunting and gathering skills to help feed the English population. Many of the Native American Indians were not happy about the relationship between some Indians helping the Colonist, and saw it as they were just being used for food and not for respect. A time came when that European Colonist and Native American Indian relationship became spoiled as well. The deliverance of crops to the English Colonist were not as plenty, and the English Colonist were last on the Native Americans list of priorities, meaning the Native Americans had to feed their own families first before they even thought about supplying for the English Colonist. Even with those current issues at hand, the English Colonist had no choice but to maintain a descent relationship with the Native Americans because if not all the English Colonist would parish from starvation.
The cattle barons and homesteaders/ farmers are linked up together through history since the time of the gold rush when cattle barons started to really show up in the west as a dominant force even though the farmers and homesteaders could have overwhelmed them. Cattle barons are large ranch and cattle owners who took over parts of Wyoming and thought they could do what they wanted (Old West Legends). Some cattle barons teamed up together to enforce their rule and to take over more land. Homesteaders on the other hand were like farmers but they went from living off the land to living in the land and finally to change the land to fit their needs. They would get new equipment or new breakthroughs in equipment or technology and what not to increase production and things of that nature (Two Old West Legends).
Also, it hurts many meat processing companies. Meat processing companies rely on butchering deer to make money throughout the winter. Similarly, the lack of hunters hurts small towns
If you were wondering what the first settlement of Jamestown was like, try and picture a big swampy area with not a lot of resources to use. On top of that, the settlers weren’t too bright themselves. The inhospitable conditions severely challenged the settlers. Jamestown was a swampy area, and furthermore, it was isolated from most potential hunting game such as deer and bears which like to roam over much larger areas. The settlers quickly hunted and killed off all the large and smaller game that was to be found on the tiny peninsula.