Eighty-Three Elk on a Train

Most elk you see in Arizona, from the herds that graze in the Kaibab forest above Williams to the bulls that range across the White Mountains in the east, descend from a shipment of animals that arrived by train in nineteen thirteen. The original elk of Arizona were a subspecies called the Merriam's elk, which lived in the forests of the Mogollon Rim and the White Mountains for thousands of years. By the early nineteen hundreds, hunting pressure and habitat pressure had pushed them to extinction.

The last confirmed Merriam's elk was killed around the turn of the twentieth century. Arizona wildlife officials recognized what was happening and began planning to replace the lost population with a similar subspecies from elsewhere. In nineteen thirteen, eighty-three elk were loaded into railroad cars at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and shipped to Arizona.

Most of the tens of thousands of elk living in Arizona today trace back to those eighty-three animals. The population recovered slowly through the early decades, aided by hunting restrictions and habitat protections, then expanded dramatically in the second half of the twentieth century as forest conditions improved and management became more sophisticated. The Kaibab Plateau north of Williams and the plateau country in this part of Arizona now support some of the largest elk herds in the American Southwest, and trophy bulls are a significant draw for hunters who come from across the country.

Most of them trace their lineage to a train that left Yellowstone carrying eighty-three animals and the possibility of a comeback.