Extremely High Bison Numbers:

Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from Sierra Holt’s paper, “Reinterpreting the 1882 Bison Population Collapse.” The full text was presented at the 2017 Winter Grazing Seminar in Glasgow.

Many sources indicate large bison numbers. Lewis and Clark are popular (Moulton, 1987); others include J. Bradbury in 1810, Edwin James in 1820, Jacob Fowler in 1822 (Hart, 2001), James A. Fisk in 1862, Captai Grant Marsh, Captain William T. Twining in 1874, and Lt. G. C. Doane (Koucky, 1983). For example: [Clark, Aug. 29, 1806] “I must have Seen near 20,000 feeding on this plain [near Dry Island, SD]” (Moulton, 1993, p. 328). [James, June 22, 1820] “immense herds of bisons... at least ten thousand here burst on our sight in the instant” (Hart, 2001, p. 91) “The James A. Fisk expedition in 1862 encountered so many buffalo in northwestern Dakota that one member claimed they saw ‘one million’ in a single day.” (Koucky, 1983, p. 23)

People in the late 1800s believed the bison numbers to be normal and sustainable. If this was a “lost-starfish” collapse, the stable Great Plains ecosystem had not existed since 1780. It had never been witnessed by Europeans (except De Soto in about 1540, far to the south and writing in Spanish). “The disappearance of the buffalo was so sudden that, in 1883, the local people did not realize that the buffalo were gone. The hunters assumed that the buffalo had wandered to some other area and would return.” (Koucky, 1983, p. 27) “And yet nobody believed, even then, that the white man could kill all the buffalo. Since the beginning of things there had always been so many!” (Pretty-Shield, 1932, p. 250) “Buffalo roamed the plains in vast herds. I could not calculate their numbers – no man could... and the only regret I have of the life which I have led is that I thoughtlessly slaughtered many hundreds of these animals when I could have easily refrained from doing so. I wish now that my aim hadn't been so good." (Smith, 1900, p. 233-234) “I was born in the buffalo trade and I expected to die in it... The buffalo are gone, I don't know what to do.-Joseph Kipp, 1882.” (Lepley and Lepley, 1977, p. 69).

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