Historic Diaries: James Doty, 1820
July 27, 1820: The First Buffalo
Editor's Note:
On this day the expedition moved through a transitional zone in which the northern pine forests gradually gave way to hardwoods, and those later thinned out along the edge of a prairie. These edges between ecological regions were immensely rich in game, which led to warfare between the Sioux and Ojibwe because both felt entitled to the same territory.
Historian James Bokern explained, "Battles occurred most frequently during the summer and fall, usually centering on valuable economic resources. The tension zone was populated by large herds of buffalo, elk, deer, and other game animals of importance. The tension zone became both a geographic and a political divider. In 1820, Henry Schoolcraft described the tension zone in his journals, "In this debatable land, the game is very abundant; buffaloes, elks, and deer range unharmed and unconscious of harm. The mutual hostilities of the Chippewas and Sioux render it dangerous for either, unless in strong parties, to visit this portion of the country. The consequence has been, a great increase of all animals whose flesh is used for food, or whose fur is valuable for market." [History and the Primary Canoe Routes of the Six Bands of Chippewa from the Lac Du Flambeau District: An Unpublished Masters Thesis…(Univ. of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, 1987)]
Location: vicinity of modern Aitkin, Minn.
View Schoolcraft's complete description in his 1821 Narrative
[Schoolcraft:} ...We quit our encampment at five o'clock. The pine lands which commenced yesterday at the junction of Pine river with the Mississippi, continued to within a short distance of the mouth of the river De Corbeau. They are elevated from sixty to a hundred feet, and lie in ridges. The principal timber is the yellow pine... At twelve o'clock was passed the mouth of the river De Corbeau, the largest stream which has yet entered the Mississippi, and by which a communication is maintained with the Red river... The river De Corbeau joins the Mississippi in north latitude 45° 49' 50" and is the largest tributary which it receives above the falls of St. Anthony, being nearly of equal magnitude. -- The lands upon its banks are rich, and covered with a heavy growth of hard wood, chiefly elm, sugar tree, black walnut, and oak.
We descended the river a distance ninety miles, having been eleven hours in our canoes, and encamped on the prairie on the left bank. Here our Indians killed an elk and a buffalo, a number of which were seen upon the contiguous plain. A short distance above, we passed a hunting camp of Chippeways, consisting of probably one hundred and fifty souls. On landing, we were received with a salute in the Indian method, and exchanged some corn, of which they were much in need, for pemmican, and dried buffalo beef.
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