Buffalo, Luana 1901

BURGESS, HANSON

Posted By: Volunteer transcribers
Date: 5/18/2021 at 21:26:33

Posted by S. Ferrall:

McGregor News, Wednesday, June 19, 1901 (pg 3):

A Buffalo Ranch
Sharp competition is one of the marked features of nearly every line of modern industry, but Burgess & Hanson of Luana, Ia., have succeeded in establishing a business in which this element plays a very unimportant part. They own a buffalo ranch, and although it is not the only ranch in the country it is a business not likely to be overdone, since it is estimated that there are less than 1,000 buffaloes now in existence, and greater part of these are in parks and zoological gardens.

Their ranch, too, has this distinctive feature, that it contains the only living specimen of the real mountain buffalo, all others, so far as known, belonging to the species of prairie buffalo.

The mountain buffalo, which has been so designated by the secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, is called Old Tom, and is a recent acquisition in the herd although he has been in captivity for nearly 15 years, having been caught while a calf. He is an unusually fine specimen and is correspondingly valuable. The hair on his head and shoulders measures 22 inches in length. His body is rather small, and this makes his immense front seem even larger by contrast. His weight is about 1,300 pounds, while some of the buffaloes weight 1,800 pounds. In color he is darker than the others.

Buffalo Bill is authority for the statement that buffalos ordinarily live about twenty years. They shed their fur every spring, but never shed the hair of the head and shoulders. The age of an animal is judged by its generally shaggy appearance about the head, and more especially by the horns.

A ring forms about the base of the horn each year, as is the case with ordinary cattle; but with the latter the older they are the longer the horns become, while the opposite holds good in the case of the buffalo. A "stub horn" is invariably an old animal. The reason for this is found in the fact that the buffalo rolls like a horse, and as he is especially annoyed by flies the amount of rolling which he does wears away the outer shell of the horn, and then the inner soft part breaks off until in the case of a very old buffalo the horns become almost entirely worn away.

Burgess & Hanson's ranch contains 10 acres of pasture land, which is enclosed by a strong wire fence seven feet high. The buffaloes seem as gentle as ordinary cattle, unless annoyed, but strangers are never allowed inside the enclosure, and the attendants are always on their guard. The buffaloes are not considered treacherous, but they are nervous and easily startled, and are very quick in their movements and powerful when aroused.

They are a hardy animal and thrive well in confinement. They eat less than ordinary cattle, and are given the same sort of feed and care. The buffaloes are sometimes put in the same pasture with the cattle and horses. They show no fear and no disposition to annoy the other animals. The cattle and horses usually display some fear at first, but soon became accustomed to the presence of their strange neighbors.

Some of the buffalo can be lead if a long rope is used, 20 feet at the least; but there is trouble if anyone attempts to touch them. They will come to within a few feet of a person, but they never permit a hand to be laid upon them, even when being fed.

The park contains a shed as a shelter from storms; but the buffaloes have never been known to enter it, preferring to stay out through all the winter storms and cold. The is probably due to the wild instinct, which makes them fear being in any way cornered.

Another wild instinct which they retain, even after years of captivity, is the desire to migrate with every spring and fall. In their wild state the buffalo go North every spring and South in the autumn. In captivity, with the coming of warm weather they all gather at the north side of the enclosure and there pace back and forth day after day. In the fall they all go to the south side of the pasture and there take up their restless pacing. The young buffaloes born in captivity, do the same.

Burgess & Hanson's buffalo ranch is a point of interest for visitors from miles around, people driving sometimes 50 miles to gain a sight of the buffalo.

The herd has just been enlarged by the addition of several fine specimens purchased from an Indian half-breed in Montana, who owns probably the largest herd in the country. Messrs. Burgess and Hanson paid a visit to his ranch this spring.

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Posted by Joy Moore:

Source: Decorah Republican Aug. 15, 1901 P 2 C 3

Are You a Buffalo?
Burgess and Hanson, of Luana, Iowa, will exhibit at the County Fair the only herd of Buffaloes in the state. There are eleven in the herd including Old Tom, the only living Mountain Buffalo in the world. As there are many people who have never seen a buffalo this will certainly be a good attraction for the fair.