BUFFALO JUMP NATIONAL PARK

Whether you choose to explore the center on your own or join a tour be sure to begin exploring at the top. The highest three levels are dedicated to Plains Indians. They show how the Natives lived and how important the buffalo was to their survival. These Indians moved across the plains to find more abundant hunting grounds. The women packed the village and it was transported either in packs on their backs or by travois.

The next level explains what impact the horse had on Native culture. Europeans introduced the horse to the Canadian Plains about 1750. This level also shows how the arrival of the Europeans contributed to the near extinction of the buffalo. Since the Indians depended on these great, shaggy creatures for their survival, bitterness grew between Natives and white. The whites slaughtered buffalo and often only took the skins, leaving the rest of the carcass to rot in the hot sun. When the Natives killed this creature, they gave thanks to the animals for giving their lives. Not one morsel of the meat, sinew or bone was wasted. Buffalo robes, clothing, weapons, tools and bowstrings are just some objects that the buffalo were used for.

Vivid light and sound effects show the method used at the kill sites, starting with the drive and ending with the skinning and preserving of robes and meat. When all of this was complete, the Native People danced, sang and ate, celebrating a successful hunt. There is a fascinating display of tools, clothing, teepees, weapons and rattles. All of these have been made from some part of a buffalo.

A lasar disc show brings the history of the Plains Indians to life. In July you may visit a Pow Wow and tepee village, where hundreds of native dancers perform.

Visitors to this site can also learn how to make pemmican, spear tips and arrows. They can do intricate beadwork that decorates the clothing of the Plains Indians. The hands-on experience is truly marvelous.

In summer you can visit the excavation site below the cliffs. Here, you can hold buffalo bones, arrowheads, and other artifacts that date back nearly six thousand years. The Native staff is knowledgeable and will explain their meaning and age.

Skulls and bones at the foot of the cliff are 10 meters deep where the buffalo were driven to their deaths.

The center has parking areas and a shuttle bus that

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