THE INDIAN BISON.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3438, 3 March 1932, Page 3

THE INDIAN BISON.

ALL PARTS UTILISED. It is generally knowjn that the slaughter-houses of Chicago utilise all parts of slain cattle, but it is not so well understood that the Indian of half a century ago was nearly as economical of the buffalo he shot on the Western Plains. How the bison carcase was used was recently related by Dr. Melvin R. Gilmore, Curator of Ethnology of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology. The flesh and fat, dried and p'acked in leather cases, and sealed over with fat, kept as "food for long periods. The hides made clothes, robes, bedding ,tent covers, mocassins, ropes, skin boats, and minor articles. The shoulder-blades were used in the manufacture of shoes and squash knives, spades and other tools; the long tendons were twisted into thread and made into cordage; the" horns served for spoons, cups and war-club heads, and to make tops and other toys for children; the hair was twisted into yarn, the teeth were fashioned into beads, and the hoofs, muzzle and tough forehead skin were boiled down to glue.