 In 1886 Hornaday went out west, to the Musselshell River region of Montana, where the last surviving herds of wild American buffalo lived.He was tasked with collecting specimens from the region for the United States National Museum collections, so that future generations would know what the buffalo looked like, after their expected extinction.The buffalo that Hornaday mounted remained on exhibit until the 1950s, when the museum underwent an exhibit modernization program.