I have seen old photos of large mounds of bison skulls and bones, what was the value of the bones? Just curious
The bones and skulls were shipped to fertilize plants.
Partly - it was also heavily used in refining sugar
in addition to other causes listed above, the big drives of Texas cattle into the Musselshell country introduced tick disease into the last million or so of the northern herd, wiping them out in a mere two years or so Hide shipment records of the NP from Miles City, etc did not support the hide hunting factor in this time frame accounts of thousands of dead untouched bison littering the plains also support the disease factor
i suspect cattle diseases to which bison had no immunity may also have been a cause throughout the bisons range, not just in the north, tho this is not documented.
a perfect storm, the poor bastids!
