Unit 2 - The Buffalo.

The buffalo is the largest North American animal. lt weighs as much as 2,000 pounds.
lt lives with other buffalo in groups or herds. Two hundred years ago, there were 60 million buffalo. They lived all over the center of North America. There were thousands of
herds. One herd was twenty miles long and twenty miles wide. The buffalo followed the
grass and the Indians followed the buffalo.

The Indians used the buffalo for many things. They used it for meat. Sometimes
they ate fresh meat. Sometimes they dried the meat in the sun. Then they ate it later.

The Indians also used the skin, or hide, of the buffalo. From the hide, they made tents, clothes, shoes, hats, and rope. They wasted nothing. But times changed.

People from other lands came to America. These immigrants crossed the country in wagon trains. They killed the buffalo for food and hides. More and more people came. And everyone wanted leather.
Hunters with guns killed the buffalo only for their hides. They wasted everything else. These hunters were very good at their job. By 1900, there were fewer than thirty buffalo alive.

Today, there are about 30,000 buffalo in America. But herds are very small. You can see them in states like Wyoming. Sometimes you can buy buffalo meat at a restaurant. But you will never see a herd of buffalo as big as a city.