The Extermination of the American Bison

by William T. Hornaday, William T. Hornaday, John Mack Faragher (Foreword)

When William Temple Hornaday wrote this text for the Smithsonian Institution in 1889, the thirty million buffalo that had once roamed North America had been reduced to a few hundred. Alarmed by this decimation, Hornaday--a hunter, zoologist, writer, and the Smithsonian's chief taxidermist--set out for Montana to collect specimens for preservation at the Smithsonian. One of the main results of his trip was The Extermination of the American Bison , a timely recounting of the history and destruction of the buffalo, and a landmark work in early conservation advocacy.

Hornaday paints a vivid portrait of the buffalo's natural history, describing its distribution, habits, character, and "mental capacity," as well as the history of recorded encounters with buffalo since the sixteenth century. He then provides a haunting account of the animals' slaughter, lamenting the horrific destruction of almost the entire species. His final section describes the planning, construction, and reception of the Buffalo Group, his innovative museum display of six taxidermied buffalo that was intended to serve as both a scientific record of and a national monument to a nearly lost species.

Hanna Rose Shell's insightful introduction emphasizes how Hornaday's appeal for wildlife conservation continues to resonate today. It also provides a unique window into a forgotten network of taxidermists, hunters, and animal preservationists that shaped contemporary conservation movements.

Genres: Westerns, History

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1889

About the author

From Wikipedia:
William Temple Hornaday, Sc.D. was an American zoologist, conservationist, taxidermist, and author. He served as the first director of the New York Zoological Park, known today as the Bronx Zoo, and he was a pioneer in the early wildlife conservation movement in the United States.

Reviews

[Mikel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is "the book" to read if you plan on starting any serious study of bison. William Temple Hornaday was the president of The American Bison Society. He is considered either a hero or villain depending on who you ask. Some consider him selfless while others consider him a self righteous, elitist who took credit for other peoples work. I fall in the middle, he was like all of us, very human. He had strengths and weaknesses. Many passages in The Extermination of the American Bison are full what is considered wildly racist terminology. Yet, they were completely common place in his time (calling the Metis people 'half-breeds' made me cringe every time I read it.) It is important to read Hornaday's book to see where bison scholarship started and to understand how far we have come.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1889, this work traces the role of the American Bison in history. It examines how it was used by Native Americans and later hunters who were after its hides and shot for sport. Many facts and figures are provided. The book does stop short of describing how the bison was preserved.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an audiobook on LibriVox.


https://librivox.org/the-exterminatio...

[Eric Graves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh boy, it’s a good book for reference but it was written in 1889 so a lot of the terms he uses to describe the Indians is rather harsh but it was the feelings of the day. Some of his numbers seemed a little-bit off but most of his numbers and information was pretty good.

With all that said, if you have not read a book or two about this topic do not read this one. Let this text fill some gaps in you knowledge and don’t base everything on it. There are assumptions that the author makes that he expects you to know and had I not known about them before hand I would not have known what he was talking about.

In short, good resource but be careful and mindful when it was written.

[Richard Capogrosso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grim account of one of the darker moments in American history, when the American Bison was almost completely removed North America. Well written, if a bit clinical at times, but it was written as a report for the U.S. government and not as entertainment. Still, it is informative and a compelling read for anyone who is interested in the history of the American West.

[S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this e-book on Barnes & Noble instead:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/exte...
(The Amazon link went to a blank page with a picture of a dog.)

[Ava Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hornaday is extremely detailed and informative. It’s noticeable when he switches gears towards interpretation/call to action, so it doesn’t get mixed up with the straight facts. Extremely helpful for research (American Gilded Age, history of conservation, closing of the frontier).

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its interesting to see how people used to think about conservation.