Buffalo Room, Cabin #10

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While you are visiting Wildcatter Ranch, we invite you to view our buffaloes who reside near our horse barn. In the early 1900s they would have represented almost a half percent of the entire herd left in the United States. Sadly the slaughter of this animal for the commercial purposes of selling its hides and then later its bones for fertilizer, along with natural factors such as drought and wolf predation had brought near extinction to this shaggy beast. Estimates of their population before the slaughter began ranged as high as 40 million. Not only did the bison harvest represent a rewarding market for the hunters it also provided a way for the government to control the hostile Plains Indians as the bison was their main food supply.

Wildcatter Ranch country was in the southern range of the millions of buffalo that migrated south to avoid the northern range cold winters. The hub of the buffalo hide processing and shipping was Fort Griffin, only 70 miles west of this ranch. Located near present-day Albany, it is estimated that 5 million buffalo hides were moved through here in the years 1874 – 1879. In fact it was in those years that S. B. Street brought his hides to Fort Griffin to sell. S. B. Street was the great-grandfather of the two primary owners of Wildcatter Ranch, Anne Street Skipper and Glenn Street. The following is taking from accounts of S. B. Street as remembered by his children:

Spencer went to Weatherford to buy guns, powder, lead and supplies for hunting buffalo in King County during two winters in the middle of the 1870s. During this time he killed over 5,000 buffalo. (The King County History said that Spencer killed 10,000 buffalo and that Fort Griffin was his chief market.) The salted hams and pickled tongues were taken to Sherman, Texas, along with the hides, by ox teams. From there they were shipped to eastern cities. Lap robes and overcoats were made from the hides. Spencer had a mattress made of the long hair taken from the bull buffalo’s neck. (The mattress is in the attic at 800 Third Street in Graham.) A set of buffalo horns was mounted and hung in the house where Spencer lived.

Two of the young men who worked as skinners on the first hunting expedition were from Denton County, over 100 miles away. In the spring when the season was over (the herds went north for the summer) these Denton boys said they would like to work for Spencer the next winter. He agreed to this, and the boys walked back to Denton from King County. The next winter Spencer was surprised to see these same two boys walking toward his camp. They had walked all the way back to join the hunt!

On one occasion Spencer was leading a number of ox-drawn wagons over the trail, possibly to Sherman, and coming around a hill, he saw two or three hundred Indians camped a short distance away. Knowing that it would be suicidal to attempt to escape, he ordered all teamsters to follow him to the camp. He was met by some of the Indians and, by signs and the Spanish language which some of the Indians knew, asked for the chief. They were taken to the chief and talked to him in Spanish. The chief inquired about where they were going, about U.S. soldiers in that section, and buffalo herds. Spencer gave him a supply of tobacco, flour, and salt, and asked for escort beyond their camp. Had the teams been horses or mules instead of oxen, it is likely that the white men would have been killed and their property taken.

In those days, it was considered unwise for one to travel alone, but one day Spencer decided to make the trip alone from Fort Belknap to Fort Griffin, a distance of about 30 miles. He was riding a fine race horse, of which he was very proud, and knew he could outrun any Indian pony in Texas. En route, five well-mounted Indians saw him and gave chase. It was easy for Spencer to keep ahead of them, but after a few miles’ chase, he decided that he might run into other bands so decided he had better dispose of the one chasing him. He selected a small hill, rode to the top if it, turned his horse around, facing the Indians, took his rifle and leveled it toward them. They ran their horses to the foot of the hill, slowed down a bit, scattered, and then started up the hill. Spencer kept his gun pointed at the leader but did not fire. When about halfway up the hill, the leader evidently decided that if he started to raise his gun to shoot that he would be killed, so he turned his horse around and waved a retreat to the others.

On one trip which he was making alone, Spencer used psychology to good effect. When he reached the top of a hill, he saw in the valley below about twenty Indians on horseback. He stopped his horse, raised his gun above his head with one hand, pointed to the Indians with the other hand, and yelled with all his might, looking back now and then in the direction from which he had come. The bluff worked! The Indians thought he was calling other whites from down the road, and then ran away. After a few minutes, Spencer raced his horse in the opposite direction, the climate being so much better that way.

On these hunting expeditions during the years of 1874 and 1875, Spencer did most of the shooting. He was quite strong for a man of twenty-five. It is said he could run a distance of five miles with a sixty-pound pack, consisting of a heavy “Spencer” breech-loading, single-shot buffalo gun, two hundred rounds of ammunition, six-shooter, field glasses, canteen, and other equipment. It was his custom to leave camp before dawn, locate a herd of buffalo, creep as close as possible, and select the bull which appeared to be the ring leader. He would then take careful aim and shoot him through the lungs. Such a wound would not knock him down, but his rearing and snorting would attract the other buffalo and cause them to circle around him. Spencer could get a stand of the herd, and often killed twenty-five before panic caused them to run away. This kill would enable the other men in the camp to start their day’s work. They would come up with their wagons and skin the animals, saving the hides, hams, and tongues. Hides were stretched and pegged to the ground to dry.

As a matter of safety it was the rule of the skinners, before starting work on a buffalo, to walk up behind the animal, take hold of a horn with one hand and cut the throat quickly with the other, since some might be stunned or not fatally wounded. On one occasion, Spencer saw a skinner walking up to a big bull, but before the man got to him, the bull was on his feet and charging. The man ran as fast as possible but it was evident that he could not escape, so Spencer grabbed his gun and dropped the buffalo dead in his tracks, just in time to save the man, who stated later that he heard the buffalo drop several seconds before he heard the report of the gun.

The buffalo trade was a means of survival for our pioneer ancestors and they no doubt did not realize the devastation brought on to this migratory animal. Fortunately our country woke up to the fact that the buffalo was becoming an extinct species. Now the North American herd had been restored to in excess of 500,000 animals. Even though the great buffalo trade was a colorful part of our history, most importantly it was a period in which we learned from our mistakes. Now our country has a much greater appreciation of managing our natural animal resources. If you would like to learn more about the buffalo we invite you to visit our library and our staff can give you directions to Fort Griffin State Park where so much of this history played out.