In 1874, 15 year-old James left Scotland to make his fortune in America. Hearing of gold in the Black Hills, he quickly made his way to the Dakota Territory. Alas, his fortune would be made in hay and cattle – not gold. Since his wife was half Cheyenne, he was allowed to ranch on Sioux land.
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| James "Scotty" Philip, 1858 - 1911 |
In 1881, a neighbor, Pete Dupree had rescued 5 buffalo (technically American bison) calves from one of the West’s last buffalo hunts. While the species had virtually disappeared elsewhere, Pete’s calves grew up and thrived, numbering 74 at his death in 1899. By this time, Scotty Philip saw the wisdom in preserving this noble species and bought the herd from Pete’s estate.
Scotty surrounded 1,000 acres of his ranch with a 7’ tall fence to create a preserve for his buffalo. He tried to convince the federal and state governments to purchase some of his animals to help expand their numbers but had little success.
By 1911, when Scotty died, nearly 1,000 buffalo roamed his land. Three years after his death, the state of South Dakota finally purchased 36 of Scotty’s buffalo for their new state forest, which would eventually become Custer State Park.
Today, thousands of buffalo in South Dakota and throughout the West are descendants from that little herd that Scotty built. For his efforts to save the iconic symbol of the Western plains from extinction, Scotty was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners at the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.
The students of tiny Philip High School (home of the “Scotties”) can learn an important lesson from their town’s namesake. Just because one can’t do everything, doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t do something. My guess is that Mother Lauren on nearby Rosebud Indian Reservation would agree.
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| Scotty's legacy in Roosevelt NP |
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