SELF-GUIDED TOUR SITES
Site 1
Grandest of All
Our tour of historic buffalo sites begins with a close-up of the animal William Hornaday called the “Grandest of them all!”
Hornaday probably described him best back in 1887, “The magnificent dark brown frontlet and beard of the bison, the shaggy coat of hair upon the neck, hump and shoulders, the dense coat of finer fur on the hindquarters, give the bison a grandeur and nobility of presence which are beyond all comparison amongst ruminants.”
Moving in day for Prairie Thunder as taxidermist Randy Holler and Dakota Buttes Museum volunteers Loren Luckow, Howard Nelson and Larry Jackson move him to his new home. Photo courtesy of Bonnie Smith.
In our Dakota Buttes Museum in Hettinger you’ll meet Prairie Thunder—our magnificent full mount buffalo harvested in early January 2009 by our raffle winner, a visiting hunter. He returned during a 20-below-zero cold snap—just when the buffalo’s deep brown hair had grown to its finest and thickest.
Prairie Thunder’s hair varies in length from 3.5 to 5 inches. You’ll find him hard to miss! He stands 5.5 feet high at the shoulder and is 8.5 feet in length from nose to tail. He was judged close to 2,000 pounds.
This buffalo mount was created by Randy Holler of Hettinger, a national award-winning taxidermist who took 18 months to complete the work, donating much of his time. They made their grand entrance on July 4, 2010.
Typically, Prairie Thunder stands in the front exhibit hall of Dakota Buttes Museum to greet visitors. But he wanders the hallways and rooms of the main museum on occasion to visit special events.
He represents not only the last great wild herds, which lasted years longer here than anywhere else, but the miracle of how a handful of men and women—including the Duprees from this area—saved the buffalo from extinction.
Hornaday went on lavishing his admiration: “The hair on top of the magnificent head lies in a dense, matted mass, forming a perfect crown of rich brown locks, 16 inches in length, hanging over the eyes, almost enveloping both horns and spreading back in rich dark masses upon the light-colored neck and shoulders.
“On the cheeks the hair is of the same blackish brown color, but comparatively short and lies in beautiful waves. On the bridge of the nose the hair is about 6 inches in length and stands out in a thick, uniform, very curly mass, which always looks as if it had just been carefully combed.”
For more on the magnificent Buffalo, their appearance, agility and numbers, see “Buffalo Heartbeats Across the Plains,” pg 76-91 or Site 1 in “Buffalo Trails in the Dakota Buttes,” pg 8-11.
Prairie Thunder is the first display to greet visitors in his new home at Dakota Buttes Museum. Photo courtesy of Wendy Berg.
On June 10 1882 a large party of 2,000 Dakota men and women left Fort Yates, North Dakota bound for this broad valley of Hiddenwood Cliff. Dressed in their finest, 600 hunters rode horseback, weaving back and forth among the wagons and people on foot. It took them about 10 days.
Site 2
Hiddenwood Hunt
Visitors tour Hiddenwood Hunt site near Hettinger. Hiddenwood Cliff, which can be seen across the broad valley at upper right, landmarks this ancient hunting campground for many tribes. Photo by Kathy Walsh, Harvey, ND
They didn’t know exactly where they were going—the scouts would identify and check out the big herd, riding ahead when they arrived. But older hunters had a general idea of the cliff that could not be seen from a distance. (Hence the ancient name of “Hiddenwood,” for the trees you didn’t see until you almost reached them.) Below the cliff flows Hiddenwood Creek which drains into La River Grande to the southeast. The cliff marks a wide flat valley, rich with the high protein grasses of the Northern Plains. A place favored by large herds of buffalo, elk, pronghorn antelope, whitetail and mule deer.
For 15 years these prime grasslands stood empty of buffalo. White hide hunters relentlessly pushed them farther and farther west. Elsewhere, buffalo herds seemed gone forever—killed off for their hides.
Then, mysteriously, this last great herd of around 50,000 returned. Dakota elders said they came back to care for their own—the tribal people of the Northern Plains—before they’d be exterminated entirely.
Planning their approach, Running Antelope—leader of the hunt—and other leaders rode quietly up Hiddenwood Creek and came out on a high point behind the rocks.
Sign at Hiddenwood explains the Great Buffalo Hunt in June 1882, during which 2,000 people came here from Fort Yates and in three days harvested 5,000 buffalo. Photo by FMB.
They gasped to see the valley and hills beyond filled with thousands of grazing buffalo.
Using hand signals, they spread out as they waited for others to come up behind and across the creek on a far slope.
Every eye was on Running Antelope, waiting for his signal to begin. No one dared fire until he gave the go-ahead. He lifted his arm and drove it forward in a forceful gesture.
They were off!
For details of the Great Hiddenwood Buffalo Hunt in 1882 and Dakota religious ceremonies accompanying the traditional hunt, as recorded by Standing Rock Agent James McLaughlin, in 1882, see “Buffalo Heartbeats Across the Plains,” pg 10-25. See also Site 2 in “Buffalo Trails in the Dakota Buttes,” pg 12-17.
Indian Agent James McLaughlin at Ft. Yates, ND informed his Washington office in a May 28, 1883 letter that “Buffalo are reported in large numbers on this reservation.” Most of the big herds he said, still ranged in the rugged northwestern area between the Grande and Moreau Rivers, or “about halfway between the Black Hills and Bismarck.”
Site 3
Last Stand of the Buffalo—Sitting Bull Hunt
Panorama of North Grand River valley. This may have been where Sitting Bull’s band of Lakota slaughtered the final herd of 1,200 wild buffalo on Oct. 12 and 13, 1883, or within a few miles. Earlier called the “Butchering Site” for the many buffalo bones and skulls found here. Photo by Kendra Rosencrans, Kirkland, WA.
This located them In the North Grande River region. On Sept 15, 1883, McLaughlin authorized what may have been the Sitting Bull hunt—the final one. Likely he also issued ammunition. He wrote this letter to Philip Wells, Head Farmer and Chief of Indian Police of the Standing Rock agency:
“Sir: You are hereby directed to accompany the Indians of this Agency on a Buffalo hunt on the Sioux Indian Reservation . . .The time allowed is 40 days from the 14th and you will see that the Indians are all back at this agency on or before the 23rd of October.
“And if any parties wish to leave for home at any time before the main party you will see that they are permitted by the Indian Soldiers to do so . . . You will not interfere with the Indians as to their rules of hunting but you must see that no disorderly act is committed and you will use the police force in the enforcement of order. Running Antelope is appointed Indian leader of the hunt and he will aid you in all matters of this hunt.”
By this time, the numbers of buffalo on the reservation had dwindled swiftly as they were killed off by Indian hunters and the ever-present white hide hunters who patrolled the reservation boundaries and hunted illegally within it.
Vic Smith, a well-known hide hunter, told William Hornaday, “A host of white hunters took part in the killing of this last 10,000.”
Hornaday wrote that Smith claimed to be “in at the death.”
“Just at this juncture, October 1883, Sitting Bull and his whole band of nearly 1,000 braves arrived from the Standing Rock Agency and in two day’s time slaughtered the entire herd.”
The Sitting Bull hunting party was reportedly well equipped with ammunition, guns and bows and arrows. Their final hunt began Oct. 12, 1883 about 80 miles west of Ft. Yates Agency and killed 1,200 buffalo in two days.
As darkness closes in, women start fires and try to protect slain buffalo carcasses from the ravaging of wolves and other predators.
Thus, officially it was the Sitting Bull band from the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation that took down that final free-ranging herd of 1,200 buffalo. It was well documented as “The Last Great Buffalo Hunt” of all.
Hornaday again quoted Vic Smith, “There was not a hoof left. That wound up the buffalo in the Far West, only a stray bull being seen here and there afterwards.”
For more information on the very last big Buffalo Hunt in October 1883 by Sitting Bull and his band, as recorded by William Temple Hornaday, see “Buffalo Heartbeats Across the Plains,” pg 42-55. See also Site 3 in “Buffalo Trails in the Dakota Buttes,” pg 18-27.
Imagine you are riding with the 56 Lakota hunters and Missionary Thomas Riggs on the first big hunt after buffalo returned to what was then the Big Sioux Reservation in late December 1880. In fact, the buffalo seemed to be returning—band by band, at first into the Slim Buttes country.
The Duprees were a large family who lived at the mouth of Cherry Creek on the Cheyenne River—35 miles west of the Missouri River. Their father Fred Dupuis, a French Canadian, had built a fur trading post there.
Fred Dupuis (also spelled Dupree) and his wife Mary Ann Good Elk Woman, a Minneconjou Lakota, also ran a herd of 200 head of beef cattle on her reservation allotment. Over the years, as each son and daughter married, they moved into a row of cabins built of cottonwood logs on a beautiful wooded flat by the river.
The Duprees were some of the very first who heard the news that large numbers of buffalo were arriving in the Slim Buttes. They immediately called their family together for a winter hunt.
Unfortunately for them, it was the worst winter anyone could remember, with deep snow, cold and fierce blizzards howling day after day. Yet the Duprees and their relatives and friends stuck with their hunt for 3 months.
No one had seen buffalo in these buttes for 15 years. But more seemed to be arriving every day. The migrating buffalo were on their way to the safety of the Great Sioux Reservation.
Buffalo were just arriving—into the pine hills of the Slim Buttes, which was no longer a part of the reservation. This area had only recently been opened up for homesteading by a new Treaty that shrunk reservation size. Settlers would soon flock here.
Fred Dupree, an older man, opted to stay home, snug by the fire. while his sons—who were grown men—and Mary Ann packed a buckboard wagon for the hunt.
She and one son, known as Roan Bear, who worked for the Oahe Mission at Oahe, invited Thomas Riggs, Congregational missionary, to join them in their family tepee. Riggs recorded the details of that hunt.
The first glimpse of buffalo for the hunting party came the day before Christmas, in December 1880, when 5 or 6 big wooly stragglers plowed through deep snow on a ridge just ahead and vanished over the rocky slope.
The two scouts, riding ahead and off to the side, quickly waved the hunters out of sight, motioning for them to swing wide and come on to the buffalo against the wind.
Fearing this meant their prey would escape while they circled, the hunters hurried their horses through the ravine’s heavy snow. All rode silently. No one could see their way out of the ravine. Some lashed their horses into a frenzy, using heel and quirt.
One impatient hunter grew angry with the delay. He signaled that the scouts were directing them too far around.
He whipped up his horse to cut straight across the valley. Suddenly a cloud of snow shot up.
The man and horse disappeared into a deep washout hole. He came up on foot, fighting to break free of the wildly plunging horse, legs and hooves lashing out.
No one went to help him.
The Slim Buttes are in rugged country that present a spectacular view of huge clay formations known as “steamships, battleships and castles.” At higher elevations they are covered with pine trees. Photo by FM Berg.
After much effort he dragged his horse out and joined the hunters again, quietly cleaning snow from his gun.
“He’s cooled off now!” Roan Bear whispered to Thomas Riggs, with a grin, riding beside him.
It was their first day of the 3-month buffalo hunt—all of it spent in and around the Slim Buttes.
For details of the Slim Buttes Buffalo Hunt and Lakota religious ceremonies that traditionally accompanied the hunt, as recalled by Congregational Missionary Thomas Riggs, see “Buffalo Heartbeats Across the Plains,” pg 26-41. See also Site 4 in “Buffalo Trails in the Dakota Buttes,” pg 28-37.
Site 4
Slim Buttes Winter Hunt
Enjoy the huge rock and clay formations that have carved their way through rough country around the Slim Buttes. A party of 101 Lakota hunted here for many weeks in the deep snow winter of 1880-81. Near Reva, SD.
The panoramic view of the South Grande River may well be the valley where Pete Dupree and his family—including some of his 10 brothers and sisters—came with buckboard wagon and horseback in early summer 1881 or 1882 to rescue buffalo calves.
The last wild buffalo herds still ranged here and within 30 or 40 miles of this beautiful grasslands. The River Grande was also fairly close to where the Dupree family lived on the Cheyenne River, at the mouth of Cherry Creek.
Although early reporters—in the fashion of the day—gave credit to their father Fred Dupris for saving Buffalo calves, modern writers note the likelihood that women and whole families were involved.
The South Grand River meanders through towering cottonwood trees that offered shade to ancient herds of buffalo. The Duprees may have come to this very spot—or close by—to rescue buffalo calves the summer of 1881 or 1882. It was not far from their homes on the Cheyenne River. Photo by FMB.
The Duprees likely looked for calves young enough to handle, but sturdy enough to survive the trauma of interrupted nutrition and mothering. Photo by William S. Keller, NPS.
With the Duprees it seems likely the plan to save young calves was hatched during those long three months of the winter hunt when they spent a great deal of time in the family tent during fierce blizzards.
Their mother Mary Ann Good Elk Dupree was known as a capable woman who went along on the hunt to care for the meat and family needs. Their sons were grown men. Their father was an elderly man by this time and stayed home by the fire.
Thus, 5 family groups across the United States and Canada took responsibility for the work of saving buffalo calves and sustaining them into viable herds over a number of years.
All five were ranching families in the Great Plains. The first three, below, had Native American roots and the desire to save the buffalo as a necessary and integrated part of their culture.
They are:
1. The Pete Dupree and Scotty Philip families in South Dakota
2. Samuel Walking Coyote or his son-in-law and herd purchasers
Charles Allard and Michel Pablo in western Montana
3. James McKay, a Metis, and neighbors of Manitoba, Canada
4. The Charles Goodnights of Texas
5. CJ “Buffalo” Jones of Kansas
For more information on the efforts of these people to save buffalo calves see “Buffalo Heartbeats Across the Plains,” pg 169-185. See also Site 5 in “Buffalo Trails in the Dakota Buttes,” pg 38-45.
Site 5
Saving Five Calves
Native Americans on the Plains knew the secrets of the buffalo jump for thousands of years before they had horses or guns.
This ancient hunting technique was well suited to the rugged, broken terrain of La River Grande, where grassy plateaus rise above steep, rocky cliffs as seen along both the north and south branches of the river.
Buffalo frequently grazed these plateaus.
It took early people several days—or even weeks, and some good luck—to engineer the drive lines and stampede that could bring a big herd of grazing buffalo charging down to the edge of the cliff and plunge them over onto the rocks below.
Shadehill Buffalo Jump as seen from north side of Shadehill Lake. This SD Game, Fish and Parks sign describes the jump and about 115 possible prehistoric sites and artifacts found in area. Photo by Vince Gunn, Shadehill, SD.
To view what remains of the Shadehill Buffalo Jump you need to step out on the south side of the lake and look across the bay to the steepest cliffs. We call that Site 6. Thick juniper trees fill the near draws and on the other side of the trees are drop-off cliffs.
Two layers of buffalo bones—one 12 feet thick, the other 4 feet—once spread across the face of the cliff for some 100 feet up and down the river. The river bank was 150 feet above the water.
For an even better view, drive to Ketterlings Point on the north side of Shadehill Lake—Site 6b.
Now the water is dammed into Shadehill Lake and the bones are gone. Don Merriman who ranched nearby told me it happened during World War II—in the 1940s.
His neighbor, the landowner, bulldozed out the buffalo bones and shipped them to west coast factories by train. There the natural phosphorus was extracted from the bones for bombs and other explosives.
This was a way people on the home front could help win the war. It was called “mining bones” and happened to buffalo jumps all across Canada and the US.
Archeologists tell us Shadehill Buffalo Jump was used to hunt buffalo by the people who were here during the Early Plains Archaic tradition, 5,000 to 7,500 years ago. Some may have been ancestors of Native Americans who live here today; others perhaps were just passing through.
For more information on Buffalo Jumps as well as traps and other ways early people hunted buffalo before they had horses and guns, see “Buffalo Heartbeats Across the Plains,” pg 128-149. See also Site 6 in “Buffalo Trails in the Dakota Buttes,” pg 46-53
Shadehill Buffalo Jump from the lake’s south side. This computerized view suggests how drive lines—and a persuasive trail—could help direct a stampeding herd toward the cliff. People hid along the sides, especially at the cliff edge itself, to leap out and wave hides at the right moment. Photo FMB.
Site 6
Shadehill Buffalo Jump
The buffalo is honored as sacred by Plains Indians in story, song, dance, artwork and religious symbols and ceremonials. For thousands of years buffalo were interconnected with the Native culture, both physically and spiritually.
They were considered as relatives who protect the Indian people and deserve protection and gratitude in return. As brothers and sisters, they lived together in harmony.
In traditional Plains belief, buffalo gave themselves up willingly as food for Native people, and furnished many other gifts as well. Daily the people thanked the buffalo and prayed for them to continue helping them survive.
Picnic site at trailhead of the 7-mile Blacktail Trail for walkers, biking and horseback riding. The trail winds up and over rugged badlands. Photo FMB.
Built in 2004 by the US Forest Service, the Blacktail Trail in Grasslands Pasture 9—across the highway and south a bit from Summerville--is for non-motorized use, including biking and horseback riding.
It includes a small lake stocked with bass, a fishing dock, picnic area and a 7-mile walking loop through rugged badlands, gumbo buttes and fascinating rock formations. Interpretive signs along the trail explain topics like waterfowl, plants, wildflowers and the transition of this land from buffalo to cattle grazing.
Climbing the high plateau reveals sweeping badland views in all directions. This is a good place for us to contemplate the complex relationship between the buffalo and the Native people who lived and still live here—from being an important source of food to a font of social and cultural inspiration and connection to spiritual life.
Traditionally, buffalo figured into all aspects of their lives. This close relationship with the buffalo is expressed by John Fire Lame Deer, “His flesh and blood being absorbed by us until it became our own flesh and blood . . . It was hard to say where the animals ended and the human began.”
Signs along the Blacktail Trail give information on the grasses, forage, birds and wildlife found here, as well as a splash of history and US National Forests and Grasslands lore. My friends Carol Lindquist and Eleanora Evanson and I hiked the 7-mile trail on a beautiful fall day. Photo FMB.
As you consider the lore and culture related to the buffalo, we invite you to explore further and imagine the history played out in these ancient buttes and badlands.
Many traditional stories speak to the mystery of the origin of life.
For more information on Buffalo Traditions, Lore and Storytelling by early Plains people see “Buffalo Heartbeats Across the Plains,” pg 112-127. See also Site 7 in “Buffalo Trails in the Dakota Buttes,” pg 54-61.
Site 7
Blacktail Trail Lore
There’s nothing quite like seeing live buffalo up close and personal—with a sensible regard for fences and safe distances of course.
Buffalo may be in plain sight along the road or, more likely, over the next ridge. You are welcome to stop along public roads to view them—quietly and with respect, please, recognizing buffalo as often being still the wild animals they are at heart.
Buffalo are social animals living in maternal herds with a ranking order understood by all. Born with golden hair, young calves shed their baby coats after three or four months, replaced b find, dark hair.. Photo by Jim Strand
Buffalo are large, strong and unpredictable, swift, potentially dangerous, and easily stressed, especially during fall breeding season. Admire them from a safe area or vehicle, but do not approach.
Above all, do not enter pastures with buffalo inside or drive through gates without permission. Be aware that many people have been charged, flung in the air or severely injured by an angry bull buffalo.
Buffalo are social animals with a clear understanding of where they stand in the herd’s pecking order. In most seasons the bulls and cows sort themselves out into male and female groups. Young bulls hang around with their mothers until age two or three, when they join other males in bachelor herds. Only during rut do the two groups mingle.
An older cow is usually leader of the herd—the old grandmother who decides when to go for water, or to move on.
Buffalo cows are generally attentive and fiercely protective of their young calves. Known for ease of calving, they give birth to relatively small newborns weighing only 30 to 50 pounds.
Calves are red-gold at birth with a thick growth of long wooly hair—no hump or horns. Naturally hardy, they get up and walk within a short time after birth.
By about three months the hump and nubbins of horns begin to appear and light-colored hair is shed in favor of fine, dark hair like their moms. Young calves grow rapidly and within a year have gained 10 times their birth weight. As yearlings their horns have grown into straight spikes four or five inches long.
Bulls often display a sense of responsibility for protecting the herd. When feeling threatened, the herd may come together in a tight group with bulls on the outside, cows and calves inside.
In blizzards buffalo tend to face their large fore-quarters into the storm, rather than travelling away from the wind, as do cattle.
For more information on Noble Fathers and other behavior patterns see “Buffalo Heartbeats Across the Plains,” pg 92-111. See also Site 8 in “Buffalo Trails in the Dakota Buttes,” pg 62-69.
Buffalo Moms keep a careful eye on their new-born calf, but usually do not do well with twins. One twin gets left behind and may need special feeding.
Site 8
Buffalo Behavior
Buffalo have staged a homecoming throughout Indian country.
In February 1991, 19 tribal leaders met in the Black Hills to talk about how they might help bring buffalo back to Indian lands. These were men with considerable experience handling buffalo.
They discussed the challenges their own tribes had faced in raising herds. The costs—obtaining land, buffalo, fences, corrals, water and supplemental feed, if needed. The struggle to make a herd financially self-sufficient—which in some cases proves impossible. The need for an experienced manager and herdsmen. Determining how to distribute or sell buffalo meat.
Yet they knew many tribes long for buffalo herds. Many had tried and failed—or failed to restore the ancient relationship in a way that was compatible with their spiritual and cultural beliefs and practices.
These leaders formed the InterTribal Buffalo Council (ITBC) and began to reach out to tribes throughout the nation. In June, 1991, the US Congress agreed to authorize funding for tribal buffalo programs and to donate surplus buffalo from national parks and public herds to interested tribes.
Currently the ITBC is working to pass the Indian Buffalo Management Act, which would establish a permanent program within the Department of the Interior to develop and promote tribal ownership and management of buffalo and buffalo habitat on Indian land.
The ITBC has grown from 19 member tribes to 82 as of Dec 3, 2022, headquartered in Rapid City, SD.
Mike Faith, long-term vice-chair of the InterTribal Council and former chair of Standing Rock Indian Reservation, worked with many of these tribes. He says some own large buffalo herds for commercial and cultural purposes, while others set goals for a small herd mostly for cultural and educational purposes.
“Quality over quantity is what counts,” explains Faith. “Whether they want a small herd—20 or 30, or a larger commercial herd—we can give help and technical assistance.”
“We have many cultural connections to the buffalo,” pointed out Alvah Quinn, former Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribe’s fish and wildlife director. “I grew up hearing about the buffalo, but we didn’t have any around on the reservation.
Quinn said he will always remember the stormy night in September 1992 when he helped bring the first 40 buffalo to his home reservation.
“I was really surprised that night. There were 60 tribal members waiting in the cold and rain to welcome the buffalo back home. After a 112-year absence!”
The tribe increased their herd to 350—one of many success stories.
Herdsmen play a special role. Caring for buffalo enhances feelings of self-worth and pride in the men and women who work with them, reported Art Schmidt, SD’s Flandreau Santee Sioux buffalo herd manager.
“Knowing they are taking care of that beautiful magnificent creature—it becomes part of who they are and gives them a sense of pride in their culture,” he said. “They’re not just going out and doing their job and collecting a paycheck.” He saw an amazing change in the attitudes of people he hired.
The opportunity to eat buffalo meat is valued by Native Americans. “It’s healing,” say Native elders. “It keeps our people strong. It fills the soul as well as the body.”
For more information on Tribal Herds see “Buffalo Heartbeats Across the Plains,” pg 198-215. See also Site 9 in “Buffalo Trails in the Dakota Buttes,” pg 70-77.
Standing Rock tribal buffalo graze along ND Hwy 1806. The first permanent tribally owned buffalo herd arrived in 1955, a gift from Theodore Roosevelt National Park. A second herd is Photo by FM Berg
This herd of 39 buffalo on special quarantine from Yellowstone Park to the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Reservation in northeastern Montana was one of the first allowed to leave the park alive, in 2013. Robert Magnan, director of the Fort Peck Fish and Wildlife Dept, calls this their “cultural herd”—double-fenced in a large pasture. From the top of a hill I could see their much larger “business herd,” a mile or so to the west, filing down for a morning drink in the creek. Photo by FMB.
Site 9
Homecoming for Tribal Herds
One of the best places in the world to see an authentic white buffalo alive has been next to the official National Buffalo Museum in the Jamestown, ND herd, right off Interstate 94.
There White Cloud, a beautiful white buffalo, reigned for nearly 19 years until 2016 after she joined the Jamestown herd from a nearby commercial herd. She is now mounted—and well-brushed to a beautiful sheen—and stands in a glass case within the museum.
White Cloud birthed and raised a son that was white, “Dakota Miracle,” after giving birth to three brown calves. The next year “Dakota Legend”—believed to be White Cloud’s granddaughter—was born to a brown mother in the Jamestown herd. At one time all 3 white buffalo could be seen alive in that Jamestown herd. However there have been changes.
since the older 2 died.
The most famous and long-lived white buffalo known was “Big Medicine.” He was born in 1933 on the National Bison Range in Montana and lived there all of his 26 years. His eyes were blue and a thick top-knot of brown hair grew on top of his head between his horns. After his death he was mounted and exhibited at the Montana State Historical Society Museum in Helena.
Wherever rare white buffalo appear, Native people come to welcome them. They regard a little white buffalo calf as good news—a sign of peace and harmony—and good times to come. They burn sweet grass and leave gifts of tobacco ties, colored scarves and dream-catchers.
The national museum has a great collection of buffalo paintings, buffalo bones and other artifacts in their several rooms, donations from throughout the United States, as well as an amazing gift shop—and sometimes, homemade buffalo cookies.
On a hilltop just outside the museum door stands the “World’s Largest Buffalo.” His concrete monument tops 26 feet high, 46 feet long and weighs 60 tons. It has been a fun opportunity for shooting thousands of family photos.
World’s Largest Buffalo stands on a hilltop in Jamestown, ND near US I-94. The museum buffalo herd grazes nearby. Photo by ND Tourism.
For more information on White Buffalo see “Buffalo Heartbeats Across the Plains,” pg 226-229. See also Site 10 in “Buffalo Trails in the Dakota Buttes,” pg 78-83.
White Cloud, Dakota Miracle and Dakota Legend, grandson of White Cloud. Summer months are very hard on the albino buffalo, as they cannot regulate their body temperature as well in the heat. Photo by ND Tourism
Site 10
