Buffalo History

There are many books written about the history of buffalo. They tell the story of the species' rise to dominance of an entire continent; its subsequent fall from grace, and the beginnings of a comeback. Wild Idea Buffalo Company urges you to find and study one or more of the books listed at the end of this brief overview.

The modern buffalo descended from Bison latifrons, an enormous, shaggy, European herbivore that crossed the land bridge that once connected Asia and North America. The crossing took place between 200,000 and 800,000 years ago and not long thereafter the land bridge submerged and North American Bison latifrons was isolated from the old world forever.

The ancestor of the buffalo that we know was left to evolve on the North American continent during a time of climate warming. About 120,000 years ago that species died out and was replaced by two new forms. Bison antiquus was closely associated with early man in North America and became extinct about 10,000 years ago. But the second descendant of the first buffalo, Bison occidentalis survives to this day. Though still a huge herbivore, it is smaller than its predecessors and its horns angle back rather than protrude outward like the ancient buffalo's. As the years passed, Bison occidentalis learned to utilize the main ecosystems of North America and, in doing so, evolved into two distinct races: the plains buffalo, Bison bison and the mountain or wood buffalo, Bison athabascae. These two races still exist and make up what is now known as the North American buffalo or bison.

These two races of buffalo spread to most North America. Bison athbabascae inhabited the mountains and forests in moderate numbers and Bison bison filled the prairie niche. It was on the Great Plains in the center of the continent that Bison bison found the perfect habitat and it is there that they thrived. When Europeans arrived. they found buffalo on the plains in awesome numbers - at least 30,000,000. Lewis and Clark recorded thousands of buffalo early in their journals but when they reached the heart of buffalo country, they exclaimed that one herd held more buffalo "than we had ever seen at one time before at one time; and if it be not impossible to calculate the moving multitude, that darkened the whole plains, we are convinced that twenty thousand would not be an exaggeration."

But the consumptive traditions of Europeans and Americans could not tolerate such abundance and had no sense of conservation. By the 1870's an industry had developed to exploit the wild American buffalo. Tens of thousands were slaughtered yearly for their meat, hides, and bones and for senseless sport. It was a blood bath like no other known to the Planet. By 1894, when President Grover Cleveland made it illegal to kill buffalo, there were little more than 300 left. Imagine: From perhaps as many as 60,000,000 to 300 in a quarter century.

Far-sighted or sentimental men of the plains were protecting most of the surviving buffalo. Walking Coyote, Scotty Philips, Fred Duprere, Charles Goodnight, C.J. Jones are among the few who were passionate enough to save a few stragglers as seed stock for the recovery they dreamed might happen. Some of these men and officials from government agencies such as the National Park Service, state game agencies, and the United States Forest Service began to gather the survivors of the slaughter into herds and give those small herds range to live on. By the early 1900's the American Buffalo was showing signs of a tiny comeback. But until the middle of the century buffalo were still only a curiosity.

Only when Americans began to realize that buffalo are a fine source of healthy red meat did the herds began to grow in earnest. It was also discovered that these native herbivores can not only thrive, unaided, year around on the plains but, perhaps more importantly, do not damage the ecosystem the way cattle can. Conservationists have begun to see them as a tool to help restore the Great Plains to its former glory.

In 1998 Wild Idea Buffalo Company embarked on a program to raise buffalo on pure native grass, kill them humanely in their own pastures, and market them to health and conservation minded people across the country. The American buffalo herd numbers close to 100,000. As Wild Idea Buffalo Company's methods become accepted we expect to see that number increase dramatically.

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Further reference:

Allen, Joel A.
THE AMERICAN BISON LIVING AND EXTINCT

Barsness, Larry
HEAD, HIDES AND HORNES, THE COMPLETE BUFFALO BOOK

Callenbach, Ernest
BRING BACK THE BUFFALO, A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR THE GREAT PLAINS

Dary, David A.
THE BUFFALO BOOK, THE FULL SAGA OF THE AMERICAN ANIMAL

Hasselstrom, Linda
BISON, MONARCH OF THE PLAINS

Licht, Daniel
ECOLOGY AND ECONOMICS OF THE GREAT PLAINS

Manning, Richard
GRASSLANDS, THE HISTORY, BIOLOGY, POLITICS AND PROMISE OF THE AMERICAN PRAIRIE

Webb, Walter Prescott
THE GREAT PLAINS