Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 98, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1907 — “Bone Age” In Kansas. [ARTICLE]

“Bone Age” In Kansas.

The pioneers of Kansas will never forget the "buffalo bone age," says the Kansas City Star. When central and southwestern Kansas were settled the prairies were strewn with buffalo bones. Those were hard times in Kansas and the gathering of these bones enabled the early settlers to live while they were getting their claims “broken out" for the producing of crops. Ninetenths of "the pioneers of that section of Kansas—and there weren't very many at that —had household goods that they had hauled from the east in a single wagon. Of course there was no buffalo, for this was in the late ’7os, but their bones strewed the plaifis, and these bones were the only thing that had commercial value and they were utilized. They were hauled in great wagon loads to the nearest railway, often from sixty to 160 miles away and sold. The horns were the more valuable and they went first, but the rest of the skeleton soon followed. There were no fortunes made by these early bone hunters for a large load>&T--buf-falo bones brought, only-ffoffi $5 to $8 at the railroad towns, but the proceeds from a load enabled the settler to buy a little flour, coffee and occasionally meat and lumber.