Source - Handbook of Texas Online

December 26, 1874 

First commercial buffalo hunt in Texas 

On this day in 1874, Joseph McComb led a party out from Fort Griffin on the 
first commercial buffalo hunt in Texas. The party consisted of McComb; two 
assistants, John Jacobs and John W. Poe; and teamsters, skinners, and an ox-
drawn wagon. The season's kill brought 2,000 hides, which were marketed at 
Fort Griffin at $1.50 and $2.00 each. Other hunting trips headed by McComb 
followed in 1875, 1876, 1877, and 1878. McComb estimated that he killed no 
fewer than 12,000 buffalo during his five hunting seasons. The completion of 
the transcontinental railroad was a catalyst for the slaughter of buffalo in 
the 1870s and 1880s, since the railroad made possible the profitable shipment
of hides from the Great Plains to eastern markets. Thousands of hunters and 
skinners participated in the hunts. By 1884 the great herds had been 
exterminated. 

 
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