eighteenth degree of longitude made a portage to Hay River, directly
north. On this portage they saw thousands of buffalo skulls, and old
trails, in some instances 2 or 3 feet deep, leading east and west. They
wintered on Hay River near its entrance into Great Slave Lake, and here
found the buffalo still common, occupying a restricted territory along
the southern border of the lake. This was in 1871. They made inquiry
concerning the large number of skulls seen by them on the portage, and
learned that about fifty years before, snow fell to the estimated depth
of 14 feet, and so enveloped the animals that they perished by
thousands. It is asserted that these buffaloes are larger than those of
the plains."

[Note 19: American Naturalist, xi, p. 624.]

MINNESOTA AND WISCONSIN.--A line drawn from Winnipeg to Chicago, curving
slightly to the eastward in the middle portion, will very nearly define
the eastern boundary of the buffalo's range in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

ILLINOIS AND INDIANA.--The whole of these two States were formerly
inhabited by the buffalo, the fertile prairies of Illinois being
particularly suited to their needs. It is doubtful whether the range of
the species extended north of the northern boundary of Indiana, but
since southern Michigan was as well adapted to their support as Ohio or
Indiana, their absence from that State must have been due more to
accident than design.

OHIO.--The southern shore of Lake Erie forms part of the northern
boundary of the bison's range in the eastern United States. La Hontan
explored Lake Erie in 1687 and thus describes its southern shore: "I can
not express what quantities of Deer and Turkeys are to be found in these