Buffalo Jumps - Ree Heights
A buffalo jump or kill is a place where buffalo were driven over a hill to drop to their deaths. Then the buffalo were "processed". The whole buffalo was used.
The jump at Ree Heights was discovered when water washed out an area near a dam and broken bones were found, in the 1960's. At first it was believed to be a dump site near a tent site. Later a place was noticed where the earth dropped down to form a cliff. After digging there, bones were found stacked one on top of another, three feet deep. With this discovery, the pasture was recognized as a kill site. All artifacts collected are on display at the Deuter Museum in Ree Heights.
There was a Buffalo Jump Kill discovered on Pearl Creek, near the Captain Miner Settlement southeast of Baum.
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. (http://www.wnet.org/nature/buffalo/nation.html)
Additional sites: http://www.wnet.org/nature/buffalo/herd.html
http://www.wnet.org/nature/buffalo/strength.html