Welcome to the “My Place” page
 My name is Scott
I run the Rope and Wire website.
My original idea for this page was to give those living in the country the opportunity to tell others about the things that made their farm or ranch so special.
Well, I’ve come to the conclusion that either no one likes to brag or no one lives on a farm or a ranch. Whatever the case, no one submitted an article so I felt it was high time to try something different.
So for now this will be literally “My Place.” I’ll use this page to post a western blog or short articles. They will either be mine, or possibly one from a contributing R&W community member.
The theme will remain Western but the content will change weekly, or there about.
If you click on any of the links to past blog's, you can return to this page by clicking on the My Place button across from my picture.
I hope you enjoy it but if not, might I suggest you “stroll the grounds.” Read a story or watch a movie.
Thanks for visiting.
Scott
The Mighty Buffalo
“Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam…”
In case you didn’t already know, that is the opening line to a song written in 1876 by Brewster Higley. The song is called “Home on the range.” It’s the official state song of Kansas and the unofficial anthem of the American West.
The thing that strikes me about this is that in 1876, when the above words was first penned, This country was in the middle of a mass slaughter of over 30 million American buffalo. By 1889 there was reported to be only 1,091 American buffalo left alive. You read it correctly. Only one thousand and ninety one American buffalo left alive…out of 30 million.
Higley would have been virtually homeless.
So what was the reason behind this wholesale slaughter of the American bison?
Well, there are several reasons floating around out there. Two of them have to do with technology.
For instance, the advancement of hide tanning methods first developed in Europe. This new method made the soft hide of the buffalo much tougher and therefore highly marketable as industrial leather. Europe’s demand for American buffalo hides was extreme.
The other development was the breech loading carbine rifle. This new rifle gave hunters the ability to kill buffalo in large numbers. Buffalo hunters could kill in just a few minutes, all the buffalo they could skin in one day.
Except for the skin and the tongue, which was considered a delicacy, the carcass was left to rot.
There is also a more sinister theory behind the slaughter of the American buffalo.
It involves money, greed and man’s inhumanity to his fellow man.
It goes something like this.
White settlers were migrating to the West and Native Americans were not making it easy. The U.S. Government wanted to give white settlers clear passage to the West so they began a military campaign to remove and relocate the Native American population from the Western plains. As part of that campaign, it encouraged hunters to shoot and exterminate the buffalo. Why? Because Native Americans were dependent on the buffalo. It was their main source of food, clothing and shelter. The thought was that by eliminating the buffalo, you would eliminate the Native Americans who stood in the way of the Westward migration.
Well, it worked in part. During the same time span the buffalo herds were being wiped out, the Native American population dropped by fifty percent.
The other part to this little story is that there was also a high interest in the growing cattle industry. The buffalo were a hindrance to that growth as they were located on prime grazing land. They needed to be removed to make room for cattle.
What was left of the great American buffalo herds was moved to protected Federal land.
And just for the record.
What was left of the Native American population was moved to designated reservations.
The white man had successfully cleared the land of the American buffalo and the Native American Indian. The way was made clear for commerce and cattle.
Well, those are the theories; you can draw your own conclusions.
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