As we’ve traveled through the history of the Plains from North Dakota to Texas, we’ve seen references to buffalo jumps as a way for Natives to hunt bison that provided everything they needed for life. In a previous trip to North Dakota, we walked through a museum in Jamestown that talked about all things bison, including buffalo jumps. On one of our earlier trips along the Rio Grande, we saw a description and pictures of how the Natives killed bison about 10,000 years ago at the Seminole Canyon National Park’s interpretive center. On our Lewis & Clark trip this year, we saw more references. Now that we’re in the three forks area, we went to a local buffalo jump and learned more about them.
For 2000 years this grassy valley provided ideal grazing land for vast herds of bison. As many as 14 tribes used this cliff to hunt bison, sometimes simultaneously, which required cooperation between peoples despite their cultural differences.
Today remnants of this way of life can be found across the park, including stone rings, bison bone, and artifacts.
bison or buffalo?
While most of the information in our posts refer to the bison as buffalo, this distinction is clearly defined at this location.
Early explorers called the animals “buffalo” because they resembled African and Asian buffaloes. Both bison and buffalo belong to the Bovidae family, which includes cattle, goats, and sheep.
the jump
Throughout the year, scattered camps of around 25 people were in different places in the area doing different tasks.
When buffalo roamed the plains, native people followed seasonal patterns influence by the life cycles of plants, spawning of fish, and migrations of game. The Madison River Valley provided all of these resources, but this site specifically drew people for buffalo hunts.
Shoshone (Sacagawea’s people) probably used the jump most frequently. Over time other nations called this area home, including the Salish, Pend d’Oreille, Bannock, Crow, and Blackfeet. They came because of the area’s abundant resources.
For days the entire camp plans and prepares for the upcoming buffalo hunt. Tools, weapons, and hearths are ready. Medicine men perform rituals important to the success of the hunt, and bodies are purified in sweat lodges. Dancers move to the rhythm of the drum and prayers are offered to the animals. Ceremony and spirituality permeated the hunt, for the buffalo is one of the most important beings since it provides for most of life’s needs.
Runners locate the animals, and Scouts alert the village. Excitement builds. It is time. Hazers crouch behind cairns leading to the jump, ready to keep the herd on course. As the runners lure the bison onto the plateau, hazers begin shouting and waving hides. The earth rumbles with the thunder of pounding hooves. Dust billows from the plateau, and all eyes below are fixed upon the cliff.
Suddenly the runner appears and dives for cover, safe at the last instant as the huge animals tumble off the cliff, pushed by the stampeding animals behind.
More dust and bellows fill the valley as they hit the slope below. Injured animals are killed with clubs, spears, and arrows; the bellows grow quiet, and the dust settles.
The silence is broken by shouts of jubilation and success. Prayers of thanks are given, and everyone enjoys a great feast, able to survive another harsh winter.
Today, as in earlier times, knowledge of habitat remains central to effective hunting. Landforms, vegetation, and water dictate where to find animals, and their trails serve as tracking guides. Intelligent use of landscape provides vantage points and cover for scouting and stalking game.
- #1 is the Trail. Possibly an old buffalo path. From the meadows on top of the jump, it follows along the northern slope, connecting the river’s bottom lands to the grazing area.
- #2 is the Grazing Area. Buffalo are migratory, often returning to the same grazing areas year after year.
- #3 is the Drive Lines. Man-made piles of stones or cairns funneled the herd toward the cliff as hunters drove them from behind. The cairns may have been markers for crouching hunters or anchors for sticks or brush that provided cover for the men who kept the animals within the drive lane.
- #4 is the Cliff. The buffalo herd was driven over the 30-foot cliff, killing the majority. Hunters at the bottom killed the injured animals.
- #5 is the Butchering Area. Below the cliff, women began the butchering process, skinning the cutting the carcass into manageable pieces. Thousands of pounds of meat, hides, bones, and other parts were made into useful products.
Today, bison ranchers lament that you can drive a buffalo anywhere a buffalo wants to go. Imagine trying to drive an entire herd of these 2000-pound animals running 35 miles per hour. A successful hunt required remarkable skill and knowledge of the ways of the buffalo.
Buffalo Runners led the buffalo toward the jump. Chosen during boyhood, runners needed great physical endurance and intimate knowledge of buffalo behavior. Buffalo have poor eyesight but acute hearing and sense of smell. Runners purified themselves in a sweat ledge [to rid themselves of their bodily smells], then covered themselves with a hide, often antelope, wolf, or bison calf to disguise themselves. By imitating another animal, the runner aroused the lead buffalo’s curiosity, enticing it to follow. Since buffalo usually follow the leader, the runner could lead the herd toward the jump.
Hazers ensured that the herd stayed on course as the animals neared the cliff. Waving animal hides, hazers jumped from behind the cairns forming the drive lines on either side of the herd, startling the buffalo and making escape impossible. The alarmed buffalo ran in a dense mass, so only the lead animals saw what was ahead of them. In front of this thundering stampede, at the last minute, the runner sprinted off to a previously chosen ledge. Unable to stop, the lead animals tumbled off the cliff as the mass behind them charged forward, unaware of the danger ahead.
After witnessing a buffalo drive in 1776, fur trader Alexander Henry wrote, “The Indians’ gestures so closely resembled those of the animals that if I had not been in the secret, I would have been as deceived as the buffalo.”
After the hunt, the women begin the dirty, hard work of butchering and processing. Armed with stone knives, they remove the skins and cut off large chunks of meat—hundreds of pounds must be carried on their backs or by dog travois [an A-frame structure used to drag loads over land, most notably by the Plains Indians of North America] to the campsite.
The majority of the meat is preserved for winter food. Long, thin strips of meat are hung from pole racks to dry. Once dry, the meat is ground into small bits, mixed with the marrow and often chokecherries, buffalo berries, or other fruits dried in the summer. The mixture is spread out in sheets to dry and then cut into cakes. These ancient energy bars, called pemmican, provided nourishment throughout the winter.
Once sufficient food and supplies are obtained, the carcasses are burned, cleaning the site for the next hunt. The people depart then, leaving behind a simple limestone cliff. Luckily, oral tradition preserved the story of the drama that repeatedly played here, for the only other evidence is circles of stones, lost tools, and bones.
Once Shoshone people acquired horses in the early 1700s, the story of Madison Buffalo Jump began to draw to a close. Rather than hunting on foot or driving animals over a jump, hunters pursued bison on horseback with bows and arrows and later with guns.
According to AI, “The Shoshone acquired horses through early Spanish introductions in the Southwest and via Indigenous trade networks that spread them northward by the early 1600s.”
Digging below the cliff, archaeologists found projectile points of obsidian and chert with layers of bone deposits to a depth of over 5 feet. The extent of the deposits and the type of spear and arrowheads indicate that the jump was used from at least 2000 until about 200 years ago.
The location of artifacts helps describe what occurred there. The campsite contained projectile points, stone tools, fragmented bones, a stone bead, smoking pipe, and potsherds. Tools such as knives and scrapers used to cut meat and dress hides indicate a final processing site. Charcoal and charred rocks indicate fire hearths. While many tribes used these items, the potsherds are typical of Shoshone pottery.
Not a day went by without a bison product in sight, smell, or use by Montana’s Indian peoples. Bison were essential to their existence: their flesh gave food, their hide gave clothing and shelter, their bones gave tools, and buffalo chips fed campfires. Not even the bison’s beard or tail was wasted. Beards decorated clothing, bows, and lances; tails served as flyswatters.
- Sharpened bones made excellent scrapers
- Rawhide and tanned leather were made into containers
- Wet horn could be molded and carved to make spoons and ladles
- Wet rawhide made strong hafting for pounding tools. (Per Wikipedia, “. . . hafting is a process by which an artifact, often made of bone, stone, or metal is attached to a haft (handle or strap). This makes the artifact more useful by allowing it to be launched by a bow (arrow), thrown by hand ( spear), or used with more effective leverage (axe). When constructed properly, hafting can tremendously improve a weapon’s damage and range.”
- Tanned hides were made into clothing, lodge covers, moccasins, and other items. The tough leather was sewn together using bone needles pushed through small holes made with bone awls.
- Sinew (tough connective tissue) was separated into long, thin strips, which were used for bowstrings, string, and sewing thread.
- Meat was cut into thin strips with stone knives. Hung on pole racks and dried in the sun, the meat could then be stored for winter.
Now we get to see the three forks, a destination for which the expedition had been searching.
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