Book dossier

The buffalo hunters

by Mari Sandoz

In 1867 the total number of buffaloes in the trans-Missouri region was estimated, conservatively, at fifteen million. By the end of the 1880s that figure had dwindled to a few hundred. The destruction of the great herds is the theme of this book. The development of the West and the fate of the plains indians are inextricably bound up with the fate of the buffalo.