[Charles “Buffalo” Jones to George Grinnell on the Yellowstone buffalo preserve.]

Hot Springs, Wyoming, 8 July 1902. 8vo (9.5” x 6”). 4 pp. of manuscript on letterhead of the St. Charles hotel in Washington D.C.

A compelling letter involving two men whose efforts did much to save the buffalo from extinction, both of whom had close ties to President Teddy Roosevelt.

A noted professional hunter (turned preserver) of bison, Charles Jesse “Buffalo” Jones (1844–1919) gained international attention for capturing, taming, and breeding the endangered species. A notorious conman and profiteer, Jones started a business in Kansas inter-breeding captured buffalo and cattle to produce what he called “cattalo.” While the experiment ultimately failed (the species was unable to reproduce), Jones found success in taming, and even training, buffalo—his herd in time becoming the largest private bison herd in the U.S. at close to 150 head by 1889. Financial troubles in the 1890s forced Jones to sell his herd to pay off his debts, his bison forming the basis for new herds around the U.S. Descendants of Jones’s original herd served to restock the nearly-extinct species—establishing many additional private and public herds at the turn of the century. Jones would garner the attention of President Teddy Roosevelt who had built a reputation as a conservationist. At Jones’s suggestion, several refuges were established by the U.S. government to preserve the bison, with Jones serving as first game warden of the Yellowstone Game Preserve. Despite his questionable motives, Jones’s efforts nurtured and saved bison at a time when they may well have become extinct.

George B. Grinnell (1849–1938) edited Forest and Stream magazine, and was a prominent early conservationist whose writing and lobbying did much to raise awareness of the conservation of buffalo. Organizing the first Audubon Society, Grinnell was also a founding member with Teddy Roosevelt of the Boone and Crockett Club (dedicated to the restoration of America's wildlands). With the passage of the 1894 National Park Protective Act, the 200 wild buffalo in Yellowstone National Park were granted a measure of protection. Grinnell's actions led to ongoing efforts by the Department of Interior to find additional wild buffalo and to manage herds to supplement the Yellowstone herd.

Jones opens by noting that he has received Grinnell’s photo-illustrated articles “about the buffalo on the Flat Head reservation.” He continues: “Your supplement is of still greater interest, as I quickly recognize many of the older buffalo, as those I caught by almost superhuman efforts.” Revealing his intimate knowledge of the animals, Jones identifies various individuals pictured in the article; relates when and how he caught them (“the one I caught by the tail”); mentions the names of the animals, and describes their distinctive traits and injuries they sustained (some of which are described in a book Jones has published). One “large cow with drooped horns” was “purchased from Mrs Cole of Oxford, Nebraska, after her husband had been killed by a buffalo bull.” Jones notes that “the bull that killed Mr. Cole [is] #2.” He tells Grinnell he has purchased several copies of “your magazine just for the picturs, and send one herewith marked [no longer present].” Touting his own taming abilities, he comments: “No doubt the fact that my buffalo were so gentle is the reason they appear in the front and so close to the photographer.” He notes that he is leaving “for the Yellowstone National Park tomorrow for the identical purpous to in a small way do that I advocated [many years] ago. Viz: Try and rescue the buffalo in the park, as well as to establish a herd of domesticated buffalo there.” Observing that Congress has put some $15,000 towards this project, he relates that the Department of the Interior has put him in charge, and notes that he feels “equal to the occasion.” He continues at length, touching on his prior contact with Grinnell: “it is a pity to have had to wait so long, and until the herd has been reduced to such a few. You no doubt remember I endevorded to enlist your assistance five or six years ago, but you was afraid I would scatter the herd and make things worse… Had I gone up there then and mearly picked up the calves as fast as they droped, today there would have been a fine herd there… there is no use of worrying over the unfortunate part of it but hope and trust everything will work out to a satisfactory end, and a magnificent herd of Americas greatest animal will be perpetuated forever.” He signs off by noting he is currently in Big Hot Springs, Wyoming.

REFERENCES: Charles Jesse “Buffalo” Jones at kshs.org; Charles Jesse “Buffalo” Jones at nationalbuffalofoundation.org

CONDITION: Good, margins chipped, partial losses to the text at bottom of first three pages.