The Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

We started a recent camping trip through the Rocky Mountains in Calgary, Canada. We actually wanted to tour the US-part of the Rockies, but the type of RV we wanted was only available in Canada. Our first stop was only a few hours south of Calgary near the town of Fort Macleod in an RV Park and campground called "Buffalo Plains," a name which seemed appropriate for these wide open spaces at the foothills of the Rockies.

While reading the guidebook to see what attractions awaited us in the area we came across a curious reference to a place called "Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump." We first thought of a replica of a Wild West saloon where frequent brawls led to the strange name. When reading further, however, we found out that this place with the strange name had actually been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 and is one of the world's oldest, largest, and best preserved buffalo jumps in existence. It had been used continuously by native peoples of the plains for almost 6,000 years.

But what is a "buffalo jump" and where does that curious name "Head-Smashed-In" come from? A buffalo jump is a cliff over which the native inhabitants of the North American plains drove herds of bison by stampeding them and luring them in the direction of the cliff. The stampeding bison fell over the cliff, the first over would be killed outright while the following animals were only injured because they fell on the dead ones below. It was then easy for the natives to kill the injured animals with arrows and lances.

The way the natives got the herd to stampede was to have a young man called a “runner” drape the skin from a buffalo calf over himself as a disguise and ease up to the lead cow. She would then think this was a calf, or even that it was her own calf. Other braves draped wolf skins over themselves and approached the herd as if they were wolves. This caused the herd to squeeze together for protection. The crowding together excited the animals and they started to run. When the buffalo started to run, the brave disguised as a calf started to run toward the cliff and the lead cow would follow, trying to protect what she thought was a calf. This was very dangerous for the runner. A man can run about 15 mph, a buffalo can make 30 mph! The stampeding herd thundered ever closer to the runner. Meanwhile, other braves jumped up from hiding places on both sides of the path to the cliffs, waving and shouting, thus directing the herd toward the cliff. If the runner survived long enough to reach the cliff, he would jump down unto a ledge and let the thundering herd fly to their death over him. To the shortsighted buffalo the edge of the cliff appeared as a dip in the prairie. Even if the buffaloes at the front recognized the danger and stopped, the rest of the frenzied herd would push them to their deaths.

This all sounds cruel, but before guns and horses, this was the most efficient way for the natives to obtain food to feed their tribe and to obtain buffalo hides for their lodges and clothing. If the kill was great enough, they used the extra meat and hides as bartering materials with other tribes and later on with white traders.

As to the name, when one envisions a stampeding herd of bison plunging head-first over a cliff, it isn't hard to imagine where the name "Head-Smashed-In" came from.