Métis Nation

Buffalo Bone Commerce On The Northern Plains

  By LeRoy Barnett   A great many thanks to the State Historical Society of North Dakota for allowing me to publish “The Buffalo Bone Commerce On The Northern Plains” for all those interested in our buffalo history.    The destruction of the buffalo for its flesh and hide is considered, by most people, to be the end of the animal’s place in North American history. That the remains of the bison became, for a brief time, one of the major exports of the prairie region, is a fact unappreciated by all but a few students of the continent’s past. … Read more

1800’s

<< Previous  Next>> Plains Bison Mysteries That Remain Part I:  The Buffalo Population and Why It Crashed By Gene Gade President, Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation Volumes have been written about buffalo. Most emphasis has been placed on the historic period, immediately after the use of the Vore Buffalo Jump stopped (about 1800) through the era of Anglo American expansion into the Plains to the near-extinction of bison some 80 years later. How Many Buffalo Were There? Estimates of bison numbers vary from 30 to 75 million. 50,000,000 to 60,000,000 are the most common numbers cited as total buffalo population in … Read more