The Legacy of C. J. “Buffalo” Jones
As bison people here in Goodnight, Texas we here spend a lot of time talking about the Goodnights – Charles and Mary Ann. It’s time I spent a bit more talking about one of the Goodnight’s contemporaries … and another true savior of the American Plains bison.
Charles Jessie Jones earned his reputation just a bit north of us here in the Texas Panhandle. Jones lived a great deal of his mid to later life in Kansas. If you know who he is and what he contributed to the saga of keeping the bison from extinction, then you might as well stop reading now. However, if you want more info, keep on going.
If you don’t, and/or you would like to broaden your understanding of just how fragile the thread of extinction was for our “critter”, keep on going here.
Jones was inducted into the National Buffalo Foundation Hall of Fame in 1982.
.. one of the earliest historical inductees. .
Jones and Goodnight actually knew each other, and Jones acquired some of Goodnight’s bison to strengthen his own breeding stock
There are five (at least) books on Mr. Jones. All are classic. They are in no particular order:
· “Buffalo Jones; Adventures on the Plains”:, Col. Henry Inman (1899 with later reprints – actually the first part of 40 years on the prairie in it’s entirety)
· “Lord of the Beasts; the saga of BUFFALO JONES” (1961) Robert Easton and Mackenzie Brown
· “Buffalo Jones, the Man Who Saved American’s Bison”; (2000)
· “Buffalo Jones; 40 years on the Prairie”, Col. Henry Inman (1899)
· “The passing of the frontier;: A chronicle of the old West,” (The Chronicles of America series, Allen Johnson, editor) - Emerson Hough
· “The Last of the Plainsmen”:, Zane Grey - (1908 … with multiple reprints)
As Grey himself describes in the Prefatory Note to the book;
“In the spring of 1907 I was fortunate companion of the old plainsman on a trip across the desert, and a hunt in that wonderful country of yellow crags, deep canyons and giant pines. I want to tell about it. … and particularly I want to throw a little light upon the life and nature of that strange character and remarkable man, Buffalo Jones.”
It is the saga of a heck of an adventure … and as close to an eye witness narrative about Jones’ travel as exists. But then it is Zane Grey!
The “40 years on the prairie” should be made into a movie; it’s got that much interest … and larger than life exploits. Great read …. Greater life.
But “Lord of the Beasts” is the grit of Jones life. In the Forward to the book, Jack Schaefer, himself an accomplished Western scholar, starts out with:
“It took two men (i.e. - the authors) several years to rope Buffalo Jones and tie him down in this book. Not surprising. He was bigger, tougher, more rambunctious quarry and he led them a longer chase than any buffalo or musk ox or lion or rhino or gorilla he ever looped with his own rope”
The did-you-know part about that intro is that Jones actually did rope .. or tried to rope … each of those named “critters” on his various and varied “expeditions”. Thus the comparison and the nod to both Jones’ and the authors accomplishments. The book is the original untainted version … and has more about Jones and nothing about the authors … unlike the other reads. That is not to take anything away from the earlier writings, they are each true Western genre. However, “Lord of the Beasts” is all Jones … and all of Jones.
There is also a superb little Museum – The Finney County Kansas Museum - Finney County Museum - that while not exclusively dedicated to his life, has a very fine permanent display with one of Jones buffalo rifles and other interesting pieces from the world Mr. Jones created. Jones settled in what became Finney County and it was there he raised most of his bison herd. He was responsible for a lot of the development of the area, including the founding of Garden City, Kansas. He served as it’s first mayor and donated substantial land for several of the necessary public buildings for the new city.
And of course, there is some Wikipedia on him, but none of it in the prose that he deserves.
Another of Mr. Jones accomplishments was to convince Teddy Roosevelt that Yellowstone .. the newly formed First National Park … needs someone to protect the bison there from poaching. Jones knew just the man for the job … and he got it. He served as Yellowstone’s first Game Warden from 1902 until 1907. Yellowstone itself
was created in 1901. He took the job very seriously, and actually got Charles Goodnight to send 3 of his breeding bulls to strengthen the genetic and breeding population of bison within the park.
Somewhere along the way to now I made some reproductions of this photo I found of that is called “Three Famous Bills”. It is Buffalo Bill Cody; Col. “Pawnee Bill” Gordon Lilly (look him up if you aren’t familiar … might have to write about him later) and …. C. J. “Buffalo” Jones. No idea why he gets called Bill … but three famous buffalo guys …. That is a fact. Photo’s is available; ” I’ll talk about later.
It might seem like I am pushing books a lot … but all I am trying to do is to share. Whether it is a recipe, a story, a movie or an email…. passing on information is one of the most important ways to share experience, knowledge and blessings. Just letting you know both about where this info originates … and what you can do if you want “more”. That’s really why we do these emails to all you good folk. We let you know “what’s there”. Yes, there may be some selling involved but truly it is not the primary motivation.
This “side note” occurred to me as I wrote the above series with groups of three descriptors words. Back in the olden lawyer days, when scribes wrote out contracts, deeds and pleadings (oops another three word group) the “story” was that since they got paid by the word and so ….. well, you get the message, idea and thought … right? It became ingrained in my writings when it seemed appropriate. However, in legal docs that I prepped, I deliberately tried to avoid “threes”. Might use two or four, but most times I was not paid by the word but by the desired result.
Now back to our bison history lesson.
All of the books, in one printing or another, are available. Likewise, the picture of Jones with the other 2 famous Buffalo Guys is also available should anyone just want an old timey picture… free while supply lasts … just pay the shipping. You may now know enough about C. J. Buffalo Jones to satisfy your needs, and that would still be a win in my book (pun intended).
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