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American Buffalo: Spirit of a Nation
Introduction

Buffalo were the lords of the prairie. To European settlers traveling across America’s Great Plains in the early 1800s, the prairie wind was a constant companion: a gentle whisper echoing across the vast sea of grass that carpeted the center of the North American continent. Sometimes, however, the rumbling of thunder could be heard in the distance, though no storm clouds could be seen. Then the ground would begin to tremble, and suddenly the astonished newcomers would be surrounded by a thundering herd of hulking animals that stretched further than the eye could see. The majestic welcoming committee made it clear that the settlers had, at last, arrived in the buffalo nation — a land where tens of million of American Bison held sway.

The NATURE program American Buffalo: Spirit of a Nation tells the sad story of how the buffalo nation was destroyed nearly a century ago by greed and uncontrolled hunting — and how a few visionaries are working today to rebuild the once-great bison herds. It offers a remarkable portrait of America’s last significant wild bison herd, made up of a few thousand animals living within Montana’s Yellowstone National Park. And it highlights the efforts of Native American leaders dedicated to bringing back the animal that once gave life to their tribes. “Buffalo have to be there for our culture to exist,” says Fred DuBray, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe who appears in American Buffalo. “As we bring our herds back to health, we will also bring our people back to health.”

Like people, the buffalo — known to scientists as Bison bison — came to North America long ago from Asia, crossing a land bridge that once connected Siberia to Alaska. The early bison were enormous lumbering animals, weighing up to 5,000 pounds and sporting horns that spanned more than six feet across.

Bison can weigh up to a ton.

Bison can weigh up to a ton. Over time, however, the North American stock evolved into trimmer beasts. Still, modern bison can weigh up to 2,000 pounds; they can be more than a dozen feet long and stand up to six feet tall at their massive shoulder hump, which serves as a storehouse for energy-rich fat.

By the time America’s earliest peoples had established villages about 20,000 years ago, the bison dominated the rolling grasslands and forested hillsides that stretched west from the Mississippi River west to the Rocky Mountains. Researchers estimate that prairie bison alone numbered between 30 million and 200 million, while a woodland variant existed in smaller numbers. Though killing such large, fast animals was a formidable task — bison can run for long periods at up to 35 miles per hour — ancient tribes soon perfected several effective techniques. Some would surround small herds with a human chain, giving archers a better shot at the tightly packed animals. Others learned to stampede bison over cliffs. Such “buffalo jumps” provided tribes with critical supplies of nutritious meat and warm hides that allowed them to survive the region’s harsh winters. But flesh and skin weren’t the only prizes: tribes learned to use virtually every part of the animal, from horns to tail hairs.

“The Indian was frugal in the midst of plenty,” says Luther Standing Bear, a member of the Lakota tribe. “When the buffalo roamed the plains in multitudes, he slaughtered only what he could eat and these he used to the hair and bones.” Indeed, for thousands of years the huge bison herds were able to accommodate the loss of the relatively few animals taken by Native Americans. In the 1500s, however, things began to change. First, Spanish explorers introduced horses to the region. By the 1800s, Native Americans had learned to use the speedy steeds to chase bison, dramatically expanding their hunting range and effectiveness. Next, guns made their way into the hands of buffalo hunters, making them increasingly deadly hunters. But it was that arrival of vast waves of white settlers in the 1800s — and their conflict with the Native American residents of the prairies — that spelled the end for the buffalo. Among the earliest waves of settlers were trappers and traders, people who made their living selling meat and hides. By the 1870s, they were shipping hundreds of thousands of buffalo hides eastward each year: more than 1.5 million were packed aboard trains and wagons in the winter of 1872-73 alone.

The commercial killers, however, weren’t the only ones shooting bison. Train companies offered tourists the chance to shoot buffalo from the windows of their coaches, pausing only when they ran out of ammunition or the gun’s barrel became too hot. There were even buffalo killing contests. In one, a Kansan set a record by killing 120 bison in just 40 minutes. “Buffalo” Bill Cody, hired to slaughter the animals, killed more than 4,000 buffalo in just two years.

Some U.S. government officials even promoted the destruction of the bison herds as a way to defeat their Native American enemies, who were resisting the takeover of their lands by white settlers. One Congressman, James Throckmorton of Texas, believed that “it would be a great step forward in the civilization of the Indians and the preservation of peace on the border if there was not a buffalo in existence.” Soon, military commanders were ordering their troops to kill buffalo — not for food, but to deny Native Americans their own source of food. One general believed that buffalo hunters “did more to defeat the Indian nations in a few years than soldiers did in 50.” By 1880, the slaughter was almost over. Where millions of buffalo once roamed, only a few thousand animals remained. Soon, their numbers dwindled, with the largest wild herd — just a few hundred animals — sheltered in the isolated valleys of the newly created Yellowstone National Park. As American Buffalo shows, it is from this tattered remnant that people are today trying to rebuild the once mighty buffalo nation.

To order a copy of American Buffalo: Spirit of a Nation, please visit the NATURE Shop.
Online content for American Buffalo: Spirit of a Nation was originally posted November 1998.

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42 responses
Dena Riley -- November 19th, 2008 at 2:59 pm

I own the only white buffalo that are dna tested and are 100% pure buffalo and i am interested in selling 2 of them. I am selling a male and a female who are compadtable in breeding and the female is pregnant. Please write me!

Thank you,
Dena Riley

noon -- November 21st, 2008 at 2:29 am

good and bad

Maria Gordon -- November 26th, 2008 at 4:02 pm

Dena,
Where are you located?

Suzanne Giummarra -- December 1st, 2008 at 2:51 am

Dena is just out of Flagstaff Arizona and her white buffalo are gorgeous. I went to see them from Australia last year.

robbie -- December 9th, 2008 at 10:59 am

it is pritty bad

Allie -- December 16th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

WOW! I want a baby!

Lily -- December 16th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

SO COOL!!!!!!!

Jen -- January 12th, 2009 at 9:13 am

SAVE THE BUFFALO!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO IT NOW THEY DESERVE TO LIVE….YAH!

caitlin -- January 12th, 2009 at 6:47 pm

o.k its my moms e mail but i think buffalo are very intelligent mammels that deserve to live long healthy lives my schools project is to write an essay of the life of a bison its awsome i love it so much my teacher gave me this site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

caitlin -- January 12th, 2009 at 6:55 pm

SAVE THE BISON THERE SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE THERE FACES ARE SO SQUISHY LITTLE GRUMPYGILLS

Rubystandingdeer -- January 13th, 2009 at 9:47 pm

Prove it. It they are real they Belong to the Native Americans. SHOW me a picture.

Joe -- January 30th, 2009 at 12:17 pm

Yo yO i eat BISSON FOR SUPPER!!!

Kirk -- January 30th, 2009 at 12:18 pm

Yo, Yo! I eat buffalo for supper!

Kirk -- January 30th, 2009 at 12:20 pm

YO JOE!
WE EAT BUFFALO FOR SUPPER TOGETHER YEAH!

Joe -- January 30th, 2009 at 12:24 pm

OMG!! YUou should come to my tiipee and we shall roast buffalo over an open fire. But i don’t like my buffalo fully cooked we have to cook it alive!!

Nikki G dog -- January 30th, 2009 at 12:25 pm

Thanks friggn intense man!! if your reading this i have to do a this so im posting, post back!!! o. . . cuase i am the bffalo. . i am one with the buffalo. i roll with the buff’s!!!

Kirk -- January 30th, 2009 at 12:30 pm

we’ll steel the horns and prance around the fire and have a buffalo pow wow!
YEAHH good plan! meet you at your Teepee for dinner tonight! YUH YUH!

Nikki G dog -- January 30th, 2009 at 12:36 pm

omg that was scary who ever did that . . .do it again!!!1 take me to addictinggames and start playing please!!!

ugly -- January 30th, 2009 at 1:29 pm

they are so ugly!! i hate i have to do a researcg on this!!!

Nikki G dog -- February 3rd, 2009 at 6:09 pm

Ugly, your momma is ugly you go out there and save dem animals they need to be saved , they may be as stuiped as hell, but who cares!!! so are you obiously

seheykid -- February 8th, 2009 at 8:16 pm

I love their wings. i like them without the hide bad with spicy red sauce on them. I eat them by the dozen with celery and beer. The wing bones are skinny. I have only eaten the wings.

pam duvall -- February 19th, 2009 at 1:12 am

i am interested in the pregnant white buffalo, i own a 2 yr old buffalo you can see him on gotpetsonline.com under pet of the month .please get ahold of me i really am interested in buying her thanks

Ivan -- March 1st, 2009 at 10:53 pm

Buffalo rock people who eat them are total idiots!

Mike -- March 3rd, 2009 at 12:23 pm

WOOT GO BUFFALO!!!!!!!

Mike -- March 3rd, 2009 at 12:24 pm

Oh and the people who said that they eat buffalo s need to get a life!

Jillian -- March 26th, 2009 at 8:41 pm

I like the way Mike thinks…that just sick!!! Its like eating a dog to me. They are just so cute, I can’t see how people can eat them.

Jillian -- March 27th, 2009 at 11:20 pm

Heyy i’m doing a semester long project about Buffalos and if you or anyone you know has information that i might be able to use please write me backk. =] <3

Lauren -- April 15th, 2009 at 11:19 am

im doing a project on bisons… :D any info?!

michael muchnock -- April 21st, 2009 at 10:52 am

Buffalo(bison)ranches exist that sell the meat for food-I think one must acquire a taste for it unless one is a vegitarian.Check out the book WHITE BUFFALO SPIRIT and the DVD WHITE BUFFALO MESSAGE-recorded at the WINNIE PALMER NATURE RESERVE(SAINT VINCENT COLLEGE,Latrobe.Pa.)for Eastern Woodland American Indian history and the spiritual significance of the birth of a white buffalo.By the way,wild buffalo roamed Pennsylvania but were extingushed by angry farmers in 1799 .Have a blessed day !!!!

Alex -- April 29th, 2009 at 5:53 pm

I am doing a group project on how animals affected history. This website really helped on the part about bison. I love bison!

Matthew -- July 4th, 2009 at 3:45 pm

ok i dont know much about buffalo but i love animals
and buffalo are my favorite so ggggggggggggoooooooooooo
bbbbuuufffaaalllooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bill A. -- August 4th, 2009 at 1:47 pm

Does anyone really get it. Us White Folk KILLED OFF most of the Buffalo in the 1800’s to get rid of the Indian and I mean all of them. All you ever hear about is all the other poor Minorities and their problems. But who Cry’s for them? I do and sometimes I’m embarrassed to be white, we’re always messing something or someones life up and it will NEVER CHANGE.

tanna -- August 31st, 2009 at 4:37 pm

there adorible there like stuffed animals :)

gary minshall -- September 24th, 2009 at 7:23 pm

the ole buffalo is a scralgley ole beast
he’s got a hump short horns and a beard
and millions roamed where the tall grass grows
passin’ hours before they cleared

my indian friends once used this beast
for their food their house and their clothes
and never failed to thank their god
and were blessed with the hunt that they chose

as time went on the long guns came
that could reach for a good quarter mile
and buffalo killed for just their hide
or from trains for the sport or a smile

literally tens of thousands would lay in waste
and the ole buzzards would pick their bones
while some stood wounded all glassy eyed
with every breath a pitiful moan

this all seems kinda strange to me
the fate of this man and his beast
where one would go the other to follow
and thats just me a sayin’ the least

i guess it’s just one way the west was won
a lesson we shouldn’t forget
tho’ we’ve built a great fence around these two
we’ll get it right next time i’ll bet

we can’t give back what’s already lost
no more than we can raise those dead
but we can give back or mankind love
and start thinkin’ ’bout what lays ahead

gary minshall

just a Native lady -- October 4th, 2009 at 8:21 pm

Bill A. …Thank you for your kind words. I’m a Native American lady and you were about the only person that posted something intelligent on here. The rest sound like a bunch of racist kids that grew up in daycare with no morals and values.

Jane -- October 5th, 2009 at 10:26 am

I’m with Native Lady in wanting to thank Bill A. for his comments. I have been involved in the plight of the Yellowstone Bison for 20 years or more, making phone calls, attending ceremony, writing letters and distributing information. I, too, notice the great lack of attention given to what the Europeans did when they came across the pond. I stand firmly on the belief that until we are willing to own responsibility for the destruction of not only the bison, but of The People also, we will not heal or grow in a good way as a nation, There is no way we can make amends except to apologize from the heart and then take some action to show, not tell, that we mean it. Thanks Bill A. for your thoughtful comments!

John 3 Hawks -- October 15th, 2009 at 11:19 am

The slaughter of the Buffalo is a sad part of American history and indicative of social greed and quest for power over another people. Settlers came and stole land from the First People and nearly destroyed an entire species. We can regret the past, but it is important to know that even today ranchers lure Bufflao out of park boundries at Yellowstone in the winter to kill them. Their logic is that the Buffalo are a threat to the cattle industry…again…greed still alive and well. The quest for ‘the yellow metal that makes men crasy’ (a dollar) has not diminished. The way the Buffalo were treated is ongoing with the way Native people are treated on reservations such as Pine Ridge and the Rosebud. As Jane noted, a public apology would be a good thing, but words mean nothing without action for sure. Native people live ‘with’ nature…not above nature. We would be well to remember that we need the bugs, plants, trees, animals and birds to keep nature in good balance, yet not one of them needs a human to do this. We are part of nature….not apart from. The near extinction of the Buffalo should be a wake up call to human destructive ways. There is a saying, I believe it may be Cree, that goes something like this: “Only when the last tree has been cut down, only when the last river has been poisoned, only when the last fish has been caught, only then will you realize your money cannot be eaten.”

Jade -- October 19th, 2009 at 12:17 am

I know that white people killed off a lot of buffalo for greedy purposes, but I really get annoyed when everyone talks about how the different tribes were never wasteful and were really respectful to the buffalo. If you believe this, perhaps you should “buffalo jumps.” It’s basically where some Native Americans would round up a ton of bison and run them off a cliff. One of the most famous locations is called “Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.” People need to learn that history can never be simplified down to one aspect. Yes, the white people were wrong for what they did, but that does not mean that they should be the only ones condemned for their choices.

Drayden Butterfield -- October 22nd, 2009 at 10:59 am

I did not know bison weighed a ton. Now I am wondering how much they eat a day?

Drayden Butterfield -- October 22nd, 2009 at 11:06 am

How many buffaloes are in Kansas?

3Hawks -- October 30th, 2009 at 11:57 pm

Jade…remember the natives at that time had no horses…I would like to see you feed your family with only a bow and arrow and no way to drive to a store. Buffalo Jumps were a necessity to eat, but much ceremony and honor was given the animals..nothing wasted. How much do you waste each day? Tribes were not wasteful…that was a trait of settlers and by the way, rounding up a ton of buffalo would only be one…yes…LEARN history…and even now you will see ranchers who are so afraid of buffalo meat being better than beef that they lure them out of the parks and kill them for protection of their own money. Perhaps you could go to the Nez Perce and spend some time with them…learn our old ways and open your eyes. When over 60,000,000 buffalo were destroyed in a mere two decades something was going on…if you killed one thousand a day it would take 164 years to bring them to near nothing but this was done between 1870-1890. Yes…check your REAL history…not your history. Native kills did not diminish the herds. Hope this helps.

koln -- November 2nd, 2009 at 12:08 pm

i love buffalo they are great ive seen a lot in south dakota

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