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CHAPTER IV
CONTINENTAL THOROUGHFARES
TURNING from a particular region, where, because of the close proximity of licks and feeding-grounds, the buffalo made local roads, it becomes of interest to look at the country at large and note the great continental routes.
For an animal credited with but little instinct, the buffalo found the paths of least resistance with remarkable accuracy.[1]
Undoubtedly the migrations of the buffalo caused the opening of the great overland trails upon which the first white men came
- ↑ "The stupidity of the buffalo, as well as its sagacity, has been by some writers overstated. A herd of buffaloes certainly possesses . . . the sheep-like propensity of blindly following its leaders. . . . A little reflection, however, will show that in such instances as the rushing of a herd over a precipice or into a pond . . . is not wholly an act of stupidity, but comparable to that of a panic-stricken crowd of human beings."—"History of the American Bison," Ninth Annual Report, Department of the Interior, p. 472.
