Buffalo hides

[Bungalo Bill]

This may seem like a silly question, but I hope not.  I understand that over a million buffalo were killed in the early days of the west by men such as Bill Cody.  I cannot help but winder, what happened to all of those hides?  I don't believe I have ever seen one.  Are any still around?  Where did they go?

[Terry Boniface (Malpaso)]

I know were one went.  I have it as a coat, Northern plains Buffalo made in 1880, you can see it on my profile photos.  Also they went to England to be used as drive belts on machinery as they were so tough.

[anthony martin]

  Bill,

    The vast number of hides were made into coats,gloves,capes,rugs,buggy robes and numerous other accessories and quite simply was worn out or with the passage of years simply lost structural integrity.About 5 buffalo and 10-12 other furs men's coats from that era have passed through my hands ranging in condition from appalling to still in one piece but fragile and easily damaged.Ask yourslf where all of the coonskin coats from the teens and twenties are.It's the same situation.Really in any area of 19th century mass manufactured goods we are seeing only a very small percentage of what was made, in some cases less than 2 percent.A surprising number of items  also don't exist at all.

   As an interesting sidebar  I own an original 1887 Montgomery Ward catalogue.In the mens clothing section under a woodcut of a buffalo they explain that due to the near extinction of the actual buffalo they could no longer supply the usual coats and robes but could supply substitutes in other furs or made from their" marvelous patent buffalo cloth, virtually indistinguishable from the real hide."

[anthony martin]

  Bill,

    A couple of additional thoughts.Terry was right- much was used on machinery.I f you look at an average factory or machine shop you would have seen a great many drive shafts and pulleys overhead all connected to anywhere fro one to several huge industrial steam engines and thence to many individual machines.Buffalo was the most durable  drive belting employed then.

   Huge amounts of these hides were exported,primarily to western and eastern Europe for garments and untilitarian objects as well.

[Dave McGowan]

For a variety of reasons, Regina is the capital of the province of Saskatchewan. The name was picked when the small town was in the "North West Territories" and was chosen to honor Victoria Regina who was the Canadian (as well as the British) Queen at the time. There was a serious, and somewhat embarassing need for a new name. Before it was called Regina it was called "Pile o' Bones" because there was a very large one there. Thousands upon thousands of Buffalo hides were sent on the CPR to Montreal, Toronto, New York and across the Atlantic to make industrial equipment work. Thousands upon thousands of tons of bones were shipped to those same centres (and many others you can all name) along with Saskatchewan potash to make fertilizer.

[Wolfgang]

Here at White Horse Ranch there are a couple of Buffalo Hides . . . still in use too . . . on beds . . . they will keep ya good and warm on freezing cold winter nights.