For the Plains Indians, the buffalo was more than an important source of food, shelter, and clothing: the buffalo was also an important spiritual and cultural symbol. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there were an estimated 30 million buffalo roaming the Great Plains. A century later, in 1900, the buffalo had become an endangered species. At this time there were only 500 buffalo left.
Direct Genocide:
The near genocide of the Buffalo People was brought about by the actions of non-Indians, often purposefully intended to bring about the extinction of the species and with it, it was hoped, the extinction of Plains Indian cultures.
Many American officials, particularly those in the military, saw a direct correlation between the extermination of the buffalo and the extermination of Indians. Thus many advocated the genocide of the Buffalo People as a way of conquering the Indian nations of the Great Plains. In 1869, for example, General Sherman wrote to his superior, General Philip Sheridan, and suggested that sportsmen from the United States and England be encouraged to come out to the west to shoot buffalo.
In 1870, American hunters armed with the Sharps breech loading rifles killed an estimated two million buffalo. Colonel R. I. Dodge noted: "Every buffalo dead is an Indian gone." The buffalo population dropped to an estimated 7 million.
Testifying before Congress in 1871, Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano said:
"I would not seriously regret the total disappearance of the buffalo from our western prairies, in its effect upon the Indians. I would regard it rather as a means of hastening their sense of dependence upon the products of the soil and their own labors."
In testimony regarding a bill to protect the buffalo, General Sheridan told a joint session of the Texas legislature in 1875 that buffalo hunters "have done in the last two years and will do more in the next year to settle the vexed Indian question, than the entire regular army has done in the last thirty years" His recommendation:
"for the sake of a lasting peace, let them kill, skin and sell until the buffalo are exterminated."
In the debate over the buffalo in Congress in 1876, the administra¬tive position was stated by Representative James Throckmorton of Texas:
"There is no question that, so long as there are millions of buffaloes in the West, so long the Indians cannot be con¬trolled, even by the strong arm of the Government, I believe 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."
In 1882, a buffalo herd of an estimated 75,000 animals crossed the Yellowstone River near present-day Miles City, Montana. Passengers on a steamer shot the animals until the river ran red with blood. Fearing that the herd might reach Canada and be utilized by Sitting Bull’s Lakota, the army issued free ammunition to those who wished to shoot the animals. Only 300 animals reached Canada.
Indirect Genocide:
Part of the near genocide of the Buffalo People stemmed from the unintended consequences of the fur and hide trade. While the fur trade had begun during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with a focus on furs and on beaver pelts, by the early nineteenth century the focus was changing toward hides, particularly buffalo hides. Since buffalo hides now had value as a trade item, this changed the relationship between the Indian people and the Buffalo People. By 1835, there was a greater demand for buffalo hides than for fur pelts in the international trading markets.
Traditionally, Indian hunters had taken buffalo and had used the entire animal—hide, meat, horns, hoofs, and intestines. This had been a sustainable relationship which was celebrated in the Indian religious and spiritual traditions. The European traders, however, introduced Indian people to a globalized market in which they could obtain manufactured goods by trading buffalo hides. Before long, the desire for the manufactured goods overcame spirituality and buffalo were killed only for their hides. This ended the sustainable relationship between the Indian People and the Buffalo People.
The buffalo robe trade from the Missouri Valley generated an estimated $50 million. The production of buffalo robes by the Indians was limited by two things: (1) the number of animals which could be killed by the hunters, and (2) the number of hides which the women could process. The average number of robes which could be processed by a single woman during the winter was 18-20 with some doing as many as 25-30.
The buffalo hide trade changed women’s roles within the tribes. More of their time was now engaged in the production of buffalo hides for trade. It would take about 80 hours of work to prepare a hide for trade and the hide would bring the Indians $1.50 to $2.50 in trade goods. This meant that the women were earning about 2 or 3 cents per hour for their work.
Saving The Buffalo People:
Toward the end of the nineteenth century, a number of people, both Indian and non-Indian, were concerned about saving the buffalo. In 1874, Congress voted overwhelmingly to stop the slaughter of the buffalo on the plains, but the bill was pocket vetoed by President Ulysses S. Grant. There are conflicting theories about what Grant actually did with the bill. Some historians feel that he received the bill and then put the document into a pigeonhole for its India ink to become a rich brown before it was seen again. There are others who feel that he used it for lighting his cigar.
The noted zoologist and buffalo authority William T. Hornaday wrote in 1887:
"The wild buffalo is practically gone forever, and in a few more years, when the whitened bones of the last bleaching skeleton shall have been picked up and shipped East for commercial uses, nothing will remain of him save his old, well-worn trails along the water-courses, a few museum specimens, and the regret at his fate."
While zoologists and Congressmen were lamenting the passing of the buffalo, there were a few Indians and others who were trying to do something to save the Buffalo People. In 1872, Walking Coyote, a Pend d’Oreille from the Flathead Reservation in western Montana, crossed the Rocky Mountains and joined a Blackfoot hunting party along the Milk River where it crosses into Canada. After a successful hunt, a dozen stray motherless buffalo calves grazed alongside the horses in Walking Coyote’s camp and followed the hunters around. When Walking Coyote returned to the Flathead Reservation, he brought some of the calves with him to start his own herd.
The following year a man known as Samuel Welles or Indian Sam brings four buffalo calves from the Plains area across the Rockies to the Flathead Reservation. Elder Que-que-sah recalls:
"Buffalo hunting had ended owing to the fact that the herds had all been killed. We were all greatly interested in the welfare of Samuel’s calves. I think that every Indian upon the reservation looked upon this little herd as the last connecting link with the happier past of his people. I know we all protected them, wherever they were grazing."
On the Flathead Reservation in Montana, Charles Allard and Michael Pablo started their own buffalo herd in 1884 with animals purchased from Walking Coyote. They later added some additional buffalo which had been raised with cattle. In the 1890s they added some additional buffalo obtained from Nebraska. When Charles Allard died in 1896, the buffalo herd was broken up. Michael Pablo retained 150 head.
Raising buffalo on the Flathead Reservation was not encouraged by the government. In 1900, 27 buffalo from the Allard-Pablo herd were purchased by banker and entrepreneur Charles Conrad. Conrad, who had a Blackfoot wife and family in addition to his non-Indian wife and family, purchased the herd because he felt that the buffalo were near extinction and wanted to support the propagation and perpetuation of the species.
In 1902, 21 buffalo from the Allard-Pablo herd were purchased by Yellowstone National Park.
President Teddy Roosevelt established the National Bison Range near Moise, Montana on the Flathead Reservation in 1908. The mission of the National Bison Range is to provide a representative herd of buffalo, in natural conditions, to help ensure the preservation of the species for the public benefit and enjoyment. While the Bureau of Indian Affairs discouraged buffalo on the reservation, it freely gave up reservation land for the new Bison Range. As usual, the Indians were not consulted in this transaction.
The following year, 34 buffalo from the Conrad herd (which had been the Allard-Pablo herd) were purchased by the American Bison Society and placed on the National Bison Range. Thus the buffalo which had been discouraged by the Bureau of Indian Affairs came home to the Flathead Reservation.
By 2003, the American government was interested in getting out of the business of government through a process known as privatization. At this time, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes of the Flathead Reservation once again expressed their desire to manage the National Bison Range at Moise. Under the 1976 Indian Self-Determination Act the tribe could assume management of federal programs within the reservation. While the tribe had successfully assumed management of other programs, the Department of the Interior had been reluctant to give up management of the National Bison Range. The Fish and Wildlife Service had managed the Range as a wildlife refuge. In 2004, the tribes signed an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to assume management functions at the National Bison Range Complex. The tribes were to take over the responsibility for five activities: administration; the biological program, including habitat management; fire control; maintenance; and visitor services. Ownership and overall management authority was to remain with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The tribal take-over of the management of the National Bison Range was vigorously opposed by non-Indian groups and by members of the Montana Congressional delegation.
In 2006, the Fish and Wildlife Service took the management of the National Bison Range away from the tribes citing concerns over the tribes’ ability to manage the facility. Many observers, both Indian and non-Indian, felt that the tribes had been set up to fail and had not been given adequate support for the transition. In 2008, the tribes resumed management. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall stated:
The Bison Range occupies a special place in the hearts of Tribal members. I know the passion that they have for the land of their ancestors, and for the wildlife that sustained them. Fish and Wildlife Service employees also care passionately about the future of the Bison Range, and I strongly believe this agreement will serve to bring everyone together to accomplish great things for the refuge.
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