4/13/2023 0 Comments Buffalo hides for sale![]() The Hudson’s Bay Company Archives (HBCA) gov.mb.ca I reached out to Canada, about this matter, as they have the records from the Hudson Bay Co. Hard to believe that so many call it a buffalo hide scale, if it was really never was. I will continue digging for proof of this scale being used for buffalo hides. In the early 1880’s it was published that buffalo bull hides were sold to tanners in the United States and Canada at 5 1/2 to 8 1/2 cents per pound. The hides were used then, just not traded as a huge commodity. The article also states that elk, bear and buffalo hides, were not sought after, because of their bulk. But as stated above (1750’s ish) They probably were sold, when they were sold, by the pound, as it seems most hides/pelts were. For all the millions of hides sold, we are more likely to read about the unit price, any where from 50 cents to a few dollars each. Were buffalo hides sold by the pound, yes. When a few hunters would have traded at Post or with the Natives. ![]() From everything I have read, I would say in the earlier times, before the great slaughter. ![]() But buffalo hides,……if it was, it was not widely used for buffalo hides during the most historic slaughter years, would be my guess. None had any literature as to buffalo hide use, the farm /ranch scale, yes. I even reached out to several antique dealers who offered them for sale. I have seen this scale all over the internet for sale as a “buffalo hide scale.” Yet I have found no evidence of it being used as such. In 1761 some was sold at Fort Pitt for 3.00/lbs. But there was value in the buffalo meat and tallow. Winter elk, bear and buffalo hides were not sought after, as they were considered too bulky to deal with. It was not uncommon for a buffalo hide to sell for 10 livres (franks). In 1750’s half dressed deer skins averaged 2 to 2.5 lbs and sold for 40 cents a pound, roughly a dollar per hide. Several of the earliest became very wealthy. There were a lot of tanners, they used the hides to trade for other things they needed or wanted. Thinking about it…to come to a new country and carve out a living.
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