Nearly 150 years ago, December 26 marked the very first commercial buffalo hunt to be organized in Texas, ushering in the near-disappearance of the species.
Spearheaded by Joseph McComb, the inaugural hunt that set out from Fort Griffin on December 26, 1874, was an immense financial success. The hunting party of just three men — McComb, John Jacobs, and John W. Poe — yielded approximately 2,000 bison, the hides of which were removed and sold for as much as $2 apiece, according to the Texas State Historical Association.
Not only did the next four hunting seasons lead to a total of roughly 12,000 bison being hunted by McComb’s groups, but it also inspired other enterprising hunters to do the same. Flooding the plains, these hunting groups would track and shoot down buffalo herds in the morning and help skin the carcasses in the afternoon. Just one hunter could kill as many as 100 in little more than two hours.
Fort Worth was one of several major railroad hubs from which bison hides would be shipped to be sold in the East. A considerable range of bison products emerged, ranging from tongues for consumption to bones for fertilizer.
Yet prices fell once markets became flooded with hunters’ yields. This prompted hunters to hunt even more buffalo to increase profits, driving the “Great Slaughter” of this iconic beast into near-oblivion.
By 1870, somewhere between 30 to 60 million bison were roaming the southern plains, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. By 1888, this number had dropped to about 1,000.
Thanks to the conservation efforts of Mary Ann Goodnight and her rancher husband, Charles Goodnight, bison numbers have since rebounded. What began as just a few calves they rescued in 1878 grew into a herd that would later supply bison to Yellowstone National Park and other zoos across the continental U.S.
As previously covered in The Dallas Express, the tiny Texas city of Quitaque had a near-miss with oblivion itself until a few of the descendants of this same herd of bison — scattered and depleted after the deaths of the Goodnights — were found wandering nearby in the late 1990s. Another conservation effort helped see this herd grow within the nearby Caprock Canyons State Park, with about 350 existing today.