Actually, the activities of fur trappers were not bitterly resented by the natives. Notwithstanding their excessive exploitation of the game there were compensations. A measure of accommodation resulted, which does not imply that there was any lack of violence. Theft, rivalry, and sheer joy of conflict were motives always operating. But there was a community of interest existing between the trapper and Indian which was impossible between the settler and Indian. Primitive existence was based upon tribal land and native game; both of these methods were denied by white settlers. Two types of economy were in conflict, and the red man’s sun was already beginning to set. The clash is brought into clear relief in the story of the buffalo. The bison is America’s largest game animal, and for centuries it was most plentiful. Native to both plains and mountains it was a truly monarchial beast. A Spanish conquistador, Cabeza de Vaca, left an account of his observation upon the Texas plains in 1532: “The cows came from the north, and are found all over the land for over four hundred leagues.”[166] Several years later Coronado’s report stated that they “had seen nothing but cows and sky.” Ample supporting evidence sustains the fact that the number was legion. In 1832, Captain Bonneville stated, “As far as the eye could reach the country seemed absolutely blackened by innumerable herds.” No census was ever taken, but competent authority suggests that sixty million head was a conservative estimate for the American plains in the early nineteenth century. Dependable calculations place the number persisting until 1870 at one fourth that number. At the end of the century the species was on the verge of extinction. How did this remarkable diminution transpire? Here, indeed, is a roundup of mammoth proportions and far-reaching consequences. Bison were the natives’ base of life, their tribal grubstake, a divine heritage. Only by wise conservation of this wild animal wealth were they enabled to maintain such a free and easy life. After the Civil War railroads were projected into the buffalo country. Construction camps employed professional hunters to provide fresh meat. William F. Cody held a contract for the Union Pacific. It was this circumstance that gave him the name “Buffalo Bill.” Such hunters set amazing records for a day’s slaughter. Wasteful as this practice was, much greater prodigality emanated from the camps of certain foreign and American sportsmen and celebrities. Russian grand dukes, English lords, German counts, and American “no-a-counts” were alike in their insatiable instinct of destruction.[167] In way of extenuation it is fair to state that the emotional strain of bison chasing was overpowering.