Why Native Americans Lost The Buffalos

The Reason Why the Plains Tribes Almost Lost the Buffalos The Great Plains in the United States is home to many Native American tribes. Those tribes have different cultural practices, food, clothing, shelter, and languages, but they had some things in common. Since they lived on the Great Plains, they used the same resources interchangeably. They used animals for many of their survival needs. The Blackfeet is among some of the larger tribes in the Plains. Even though they relied on a few types of animals, such as horses. The buffalos, also known as, bison, millions of them had been on the Plains until they almost went extinct in the nineteenth century. Native Americans thought that Waken Tanka purposely put buffalos on the planet
for the Indians to use. They only hunted the amount of buffalos they needed and believed in not wasting any buffalos because they did not want to upset their creator. When they hunted a buffalo, they removed the heart and left it on the Plains. For example, they used the tongue as hair brush, the tail as a fly swatter, and did not leave any body part un-used (“Buffalo”). Whereas, when non-white hunters started hunting buffalo, they were exploiting the bison by wasting the carcass. Buffalos were the most essential animals for the Natives because they provided food, clothing, shelter, and trade but were rescued from going extinct. Blackfeet hunted the buffalo with arrows and bows. Another way that they killed the buffalo was by coercing them to jump off of a cliff. In fact, they would go long distance, just to hunt buffalo(Wood 1). It was not a one-person job to hunt the buffalo. As many as six people were in charge of a single buffalo. They ate the stomach and organs just how they were. Then they let the meat to dry up, which was later mixed with dried fruit and stored. The bones were cut into pieces and then the fat from the bones was taken apart by boiling. Buffalo were usually limited during the winter and the stored food was used. As for ceremonies, they used buffalo hooves to make rattles. Also, they used the bones, hides, and hooves for utensils. And the Blackfeet tribe followed buffalo herds seasonally and moved to new places with them. (Kehoe 1) In addition, the bison skin provided the Blackfeet with clothing. Women sewed clothing made out of the bison skin. Typically, the men hunted the buffalo and the women did the rest of the work that was especially related to the skin of the bison. They had to create holes, tan the hides, meaning remove any fat or unnecessary part of the skin and craft geometric and other designs on the clothing. Moreover, they put in hard work to create several types of shirts, moccasins, robes, leggings, and dresses from the buffalo and other animals. Furthermore, they wore more items other than clothing. They made necklaces from hide, which had beads and was painted in various colors acquired from other animals. (VanStone) Natives needed shelter in order to survive. And tipis were usually their homes that accommodated five or more members. Those tipis had poles to grip them in place. Then approximately more than six skins of buffalo were used to shield the poles. There were various designs and patterns, such as images of animals that were engraved on the buffalo skin in order to make the tipi decorative. Lastly, on the inside of the tipi, there would be pillows, blankets, and beds made from buffalo hides and robes. (Hanes) When it was discovered that bison skin can be turned into leather, hunting became a significant business.
Native Americans sold buffalo hides to various companies especially in the European nations. There was an enormous amount of trade that happened because of buffalos. Often, hides of buffalo were traded with the European nations. Leather was a valuable material, especially during the industrial revolution. Since there were new innovations in the Europeans countries, the buffalo hides were durable materials for belts in machines. Then the demand was increasing, which lead to an increase in the amount of hunters. At this point, hunters were only hunting the buffalos for their skin and leaving the rest of the body to rot. After the body
had rotten, then the bones were used to make fertilizer and to refine sugar. And hunters came up with effective ways to kill buffalos efficiently. They learned to use various weapons and techniques to hunt a great amount of buffalos at a time. A hunter that had good skills, usually killed approximately eighty buffalos a day. (Taylor) Then millions of buffalos were killed.
When the transcontinental railroad was built and settlers started arriving, the habitat of the buffalos was being disrupted. On the trains, passengers shot buffalos as a sport without taking responsibility for their actions, they enjoyed it. The bison hunting had its benefits and its disadvantages because they provided the natives with their needs, but the lives of the buffalos’ were put in danger. As a result of several settlers coming to the plains, the supply for food had to increase, leading to more buffalo hunting. The price of buffalos increased, leading to more profit that hunters could obtain. By the end of the eighteen hundred, there were only a few hundred buffalos alive. There were a few years when there would be about a hundred thousand hides were auctioned within a couple of days. Consequently, the natives were affected by the buffalos being almost gone. Therefore, many Blackfeet individuals passed away because of starvation because the bison was extremely important to
them.(Taylor) For this reason, there was a movement to save endangered species. As a species has less members in it, therefore, it will have less genetic diversity. In 1905, the American Bison Society took efforts to restore the bison population (Allen 1). They made it them to goal to preserve the buffalos and increase their population. One way they are able to restore the population is by giving them the freedom to graze and reproduce without human intervention. Then the Congress was also taking actions to defend the buffalos. With the efforts of the Congress, zoos, and individuals, the population of the buffalos was coming back through the use of breeding. Also, Native Americans are assisting in protecting the buffalos by owning land where they can manage herds of buffalos. Not only are the bison coming back, the prairie is being restored along with the buffalos. Today, the bison is threatened but not endangered, but they still need protection in order to grow. (Freese) However, in today’s society, the buffalos are not to be hunted anymore. They are not allowed to be hunted because they are protected by the National Park Service. There are buffalos that roam freely and some that are in Yellowstone National Park. Unfortunately, because they had almost reached the edge of extinction, bison cannot live their lives the way they used to as large herds, but instead they have to be supervised. Now, there is only a small quantity of buffalos are left in the United States. (United States National Park Service) On the Great Plains, the numerous tribes of Native Americans had their own food, culture, languages, and beliefs. Living on the Great Plains allowed these tribes to use the same resources in various ways. Animals played a big role for the Native Americans, a few hundred years ago. The Blackfoot tribe used a few animals, but the most important animal to them was the bison, which almost went extinct in the nineteenth century. Natives believed that the buffalos were sacred because their creator had sent the buffalos for them, thus why they did not waste any part of the buffalo. However, when the white hunters began going after the buffalos, they were taking the parts they needed and wasting the rest of the buffalos. Bison were the most important resource for the Natives because they gave them shelter, food, and clothing, but were almost extinct because of over-hunting.