Near Huntley in Big Horn County, Montana — The American West (Mountains)

Buffalo Country

The Eastern Plains of Montana

Photographed by Rev. Ronald Irick, July 13, 2016

1. Buffalo Country Marker

Inscription. The great plains of eastern Montana was home to thousands of buffalo before Euro-American hunters nearly wiped them out in the early 1800’s. The animals were central to the Indian lifeway. In the dog days, hunters herded buffalo into corrals where they were killed. They also stampeded the shaggy beasts over cliffs, called pishkuns. With the arrival of the horse in the 1700s, hunting methods changed. As much a sport as a necessity, hunting buffalo with bows and arrows on horseback was dangerous and exciting. A fat cow buffalo was the choice for meat. Women preserved the meat by making jerky and pemmican. Pemmican was dried and pulverized meat mixed with bone marrow and fat. Wild berries gave it flavor; the ascorbic acid in the fruit acted as a preservative. Pemmican, packed away in skin bags, kept indefinitely. Indians used tanned buffalo robes and rawhide for clothes, teepees, bedding, tools and utensils. Buffalo figured prominently in religious practices, and disputes over prime hunting grounds frequently caused intertribal conflicts.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

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This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Animals • Anthropology & Archaeology • Indigenous Peoples and Communities.

Location. 45° 46.951′ N, 108° 0.183′ W. Marker is near Huntley, Montana, in Big Horn County. It is on Interstate 90 at milepost 478. Marker is in the west bound Christiansen- Graham rest area at exit 478 on I-90. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Huntley MT 59037, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in andspecifically outheast Montana in Custer Country. It is also in the American Mountain West,

in the Lewis & Clark Corridor,

on the prairies,

on the Great Plains,

and specifically on the Northern Plains.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Rocky Mountains,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once Rupert’s Land

and also the Louisiana Purchase.

Photographed by Rev. Ronald Irick, July 13, 2016

2. Buffalo Country Marker

marker as seen from the rest area parking lot

Credits. This page was last revised on October 25, 2016. It was originally submitted on October 23, 2016, by Rev. Ronald Irick of West Liberty, Ohio. This page has been viewed 744 times since then and 44 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on October 23, 2016, by Rev. Ronald Irick of West Liberty, Ohio. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.