Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/144178
dealers in the eastern U.S. and in Europe were dictating the market. John and George were just part of the faceless and nameless thousands who saw the money to be made and rushed out West to hunt buffalo. One man could kill up to 100 animals from one location in less than an hour. Lebenstein of Ft. Leavenworth led the charge and controlled the market. Tannery operations in Manchester, England, and elsewhere in Europe had devised techniques to make the hides serviceable for clothing, high-end furniture and the carriage industry. Buffalo hunters were getting from $1.50 to $3 per hide. As the years progressed the hidemen became more organized and mobile camps were set up on the plains to process the meat and T he commercial slaughter of the buffalo herds continued through the 1870s. Hide dealers such as J.N. Dubois of Kansas City and William C. S P O R T I N G C 26 L A S S I hides. These crude camps proved to be very productive. Their crews erected scaffolding where meat and tongues would be hung to dry while the hides were being cleaned and pegged out to dry before hauling to market in ox-drawn wagons. The camps were complete with chuckwagons, tents, firearms and even a mobile grindstone to keep all the skinning knives sharpened. By 1876 professional hide hunters had become more brazen and cavalier about killing buffalo and were outshooting the amateurs who had flocked to the plains to make their fortune. Texas hideman John R. Cook walked to within 80 yards of a resting herd. Setting up his rest sticks, he placed his heavy Sharps in the crotch, then took aim and fired at the nearest bull. But the animals didn't act as they normally would. At the sound of the shot, about half the herd stood and looked at him menacingly, then turned and moved off toward a creek. Cook knew he still had a possible stand and continued firing and reloading, firing and reloading. When the smoke eventually cleared he had taken down 25 of the wooly beasts. His companion Charlie came up behind him and gave him another rifle and some more ammunition. Cook continued firing as the buffalo milled about, confused by the smell of death around them. Meanwhile Charlie was cooling the other gun by pouring water down the muzzle and letting it run out by pulling down the breechblock. The gun was then left to cool off, while Cook shot more buffalo. After an hour or more and a couple of gun changes, 88 buffalo lay dead in front of him. This was by no means the largest buffalo stand ever recorded. That same year, J. Wright Mooar, who was considered to be the dean of buffalo hunters, shot a stand of 96 buffalo and went on to harvest an incredible 20,500 bison over a period of nine years. The famous peace officer, Bill Tilghman, claimed to have C S