Buffalo Jones, a man of vision

People throughout the world have heard stories about Buffalo Bill, but -- except for true-blue history buffs -- few know about the exploits of Buffalo Jones. That's a shame, says John Hubert, a McCook man who became fascinated with Jones' efforts to save the American Bison from extinction during the final years of the 19th century.

Hubert, a retired railroader and theater operator, spoke of the adventurous life of Buffalo Jones on Saturday as featured speaker at the 2005 annual meeting of the High Plains Historical Society.

For residents of this area, the most striking fact about Buffalo Jones is that McCook was one of the places where he tried to rebuild the buffalo population. "He lived here from about 1890 to 1893," Hubert said. "He moved from Garden City, Kan., to Culbertson, then on down to McCook." Buffalo Jones started with a herd of about 50 bison, which he kept at a location northeast of McCook.

"It was on Section 16," Hubert said, surmising that the location was north of where the Willow Ridge Retirement Community now stands.

McCook residents watched the bison herd with great interest. "Townspeople rode out in their wagons and kids rode out on their bicycles to see the herd," Hubert said. Most interesting to Hubert was the fact that, while Buffalo Jones was in McCook, he shipped 10 of the bison to England. Still, by the time Buffalo Jones was ready to move on for new adventures, his herd in McCook had grown to 80 buffalo.

Jones -- who lived from 1864 to 1919 -- took on many other challenges during his life, including efforts to start two irrigation projects while living in Culbertson and McCook. He also attempted to bring musk oxen to the United States from the Arctic Circle; produce cattalo in Arizona; and bring back zoo animals from Africa. On one of his trips to Africa, he came down with jungle fever, and later died from the disease at his daughter's home in Topeka, Kan.

In years to come, Hubert hopes the McCook community can find some way to honor Buffalo Jones' memory. "One of my ideas is to have Gary Ginther do a sculpture of Buffalo Jones on a horse, carrying a bent rifle and watching over a bison cow and calf," Hubert said.

That would be a symbolic tribute to Jones, who bent his rifle around a wagon wheel to signify that bison should be saved, not slaughtered.

Buffalo Jones was a man of vision ... a conservationist who was ahead of his time. As Hubert suggests, it would be fitting to remember him with a memorial in McCook.