Montana: Our HomeShaylene Potts

And Donnie Miller

The First Peoples Buffalo Jump

First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park is an archaeological site with possibly the largest bison cliff jump in North America

Native peoples used this site for at least a thousand years before Lewis and Clark passed through here

First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park

For hundreds of years, Indians stampeded buffalo over the mile-long cliff to which the bison jump site consists of a mile long sandstone cliff

There are remnants of drive lines on top of the cliff and there are up to 18 ft. of compacted buffalo remains below the cliff.

The tribes trained a young boy or two to be runners

The young boys would wear a young buffalo hide and make sounds like it was hurt

The adult buffalo would go to the boys who would start running

The tribes would make loud noises to keep the buffalo running as a stampede

The buffalo would run off and over the cliff

At the bottom of the cliff, the people would set to work processing the dead buffalo into meat, hide, and tools.

All parts of the animal were used. The tribes would work together and collect

enough meat in one day to last them many months

The buffalo provided the Plains Indians with far more than food.

Buffalo hair was used for making ropes and pads; the horns and hoofs were made into implements and utensils; the sinew was used for sewing and for making bow strings; and the hides were used for clothing, blankets, and tipi covers.

A typical northern Plains lodge required 12-20 buffalo hides for covering. Generally, the hides for lodges were obtained from hunts conducted in the late spring or early summer as the buffalo shed their winter coats at this time. The hides from buffalo killed during the fall and winter hunts were ideal for making robes.