Bobby and Frank were on a train trip, and they were riding through the Great Plains when the train came upon a huge herd of buffalo. They remarked at how many animals there were, and Frank said that he would count them, just for fun. By the time the train had passed the herd, Frank said there were 1,287 buffalo in the herd. Bobby said, in complete disbelief: "How could you count so many animals so quickly, all together in that vast herd?" Frank said: "It wasn't hard...I just counted their legs and divided by four!" Hal
Great story! That Frank was a pretty smart fella! These photos of buffalo bones have nothing to do with your story other than illustrating how plentiful buffalo were at one time. The bones were collected and sold to fertilizer factories.
@Beatrice Taylor At least some survived. So did a few trees; our prairie lands were once covered with both. Frank
Hmmm... Not to start a fight or anything (lol), but I thought the definition of prairie was grasslands and shrubs, no trees. Seems I remember that from stories as a kid, maybe in school? Maybe it depends on how far you go back.
Wasn't the prairie land of the Dakotas (and points) south covered by a huge glacial lake in our not-so-distant past? My understanding is that this is why the Dakotas were lacking trees, and also why the soil was so good for agriculture.
This old postcard supports Ken's comments. I think that trees were pretty much non-existent on the prairie until the settlers started planting them. Arbor day was a big deal on the prairie. The first American Arbor Day was originated in Nebraska City, Nebraska by J. Sterling Morton. On April 10, 1872, an estimated one million trees were planted in Nebraska.
I know that homesteaders in North Dakota were able to get an additional plot of land if they promised to plant it in trees.
@Nancy Hart I lacked the correct word for the mid-central portions of America which were treed, and "prairie" came to mind since that's what's left there now. Semantics. Maybe what is now "prairie" was treed long ago; what was it called then? Frank
@Ken Anderson Seems we were taught in grade school that huge plots of land in America were denuded of trees as land was cleared for agriculture. I picture that as having happened farther west, like Colorado way. Frank
For the most part, trees stopped in Indiana. There were few west of Illinois until you got to the Rockies except around rivers, lakes and streams, as fire would sweep the plains for thousands of miles. That left the prairies as grasslands since they could recover between fires, and the trees could not. There are more trees in the U.S. now than there have been in historical times, and probably since the Ice Ages. That is why The Midwest and Great Plains have the largest accumulation of rich soils in the entire world. Some of the myths about forests have been spread by those naturalists and environmentalists who think there should be trees covering everything. Wit large forests, you could not have had the large bison herds.