Anna's Next Adventure: Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo-Jump ...

The buffalo jump

Crazy name, hey?! Several months ago when I heard about Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo-Jump, I knew I had to visit it. My chance came on Sunday - it was raining when we woke up and our bodies were sore from the hike the day before. Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo-Jump just happened to be a short detour on our way back to Calgary, so we decided to forgo a rainy hike and do some sightseeing instead. The tourist site, where the Indians used to drive herds of buffalo off the cliff, is now a World Heritage site. The name comes from the story of a young Indian boy who, wanting to watch the annual buffalo jump, stood beneath a ledge next to the cliff and watched the buffalo come tumbling down past him. As the buffalo piled up in their hundreds, the boy became trapped against the cliff and had his head smashed, hence the name Head-Smashed-In.

One of the cliffs used for the jump ... it used to be a lot higher but due to the build up of bone over the years, it is not so high nowadays

The base of the jump ... looking out towards the prairies

The process of the buffalo jump is fascinating and the Indians were clearly a highly organised group of people. When conditions were right and the drive run, a big lane marked by rock cairns and bushes, was in place, several male members of the tribe would dress up in wolf skins and slowly push the buffalo herd towards the cliff. A 'buffalo runner', another tribe member dressed in a buffalo skin, would move in front of the herd, enticing them towards the cliff. The tribe relied on the buffalos' instinct to move towards lost buffalo calves ... or in this case, the 'buffalo runner'. Once the herd were in the drive lane, the 'wolves' would quickly chase them while other tribe members, who lined the drive lane, would wave buffalo skins and shout at the herd. This created a frenzy and, in a panic, the buffalo would stampede to their deaths over the cliff. At the last minute, the 'buffalo runner' would leap behind the tribe members lining the drive lane - I sure wouldn't want this job! Most of the buffalo met their deaths at the bottom of the cliff, however some lived and the Indians were quick to kill these animals because they feared they would return to warn other buffalo herds, therefore ending the 'buffalo harvest' for future years. At the bottom, remaining tribe members were on hand to quickly begin the process of extracting the innards, meat and bone from each animal. The leading tribesman had the honour of eating the fresh buffalo kidney. Every part of the animal was used in some way, whether it be for food, clothing or tools. A favourite food was made by grinding buffalo meat and wildberries together into a paste and then drying the mixture. I found the whole idea of the buffalo jump incredibly intriguing and the museum presented this ancient Indian tradition in a very user-friendly manner, giving the viewer a real sense of the annual buffalo jump tradition.

A buffalo skin documenting the events from 1764 to 1879 - The first entry was the introduction of small pox to the Indian tribe, the last entry was 'No more buffalo left'

The symbols used to mark the yearly events

After several hours exploring the fantastic museum and wandering along the top of the cliff, we headed back to Calgary. Here are some of the sights we saw on the drive home ...

'Only in America ...' - hang on, we are in Canada! Southern Alberta, heavily influenced by America, with their neighbour Montana just being over the border. Oh, and check out the spelling - pallets? Pellets, me thinks