The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1935-01-04
Mont. Professor Tells About
Ancient Buffalo Slaughters

BUTTE, MISUNDERSTANDING buff
falo slaughters, an epoch of Nor
tana history forgotten even by the
Indians and only recently revealed
by excavations on the states CEN
tral and western prairies, is the
subject to be presented this week
by Prof. Melville. Sayre of the
Montana School of Mines before
the American Association for the
Advancement of Science at Pitts
buIgh -'Yiiicil convened Dec. o..
Aside rom millions of buffalo
bones buried in layers several fest
thick in hundreds Of places thru
out Montana, no record remains of
this ancient group of hunters. No
legend have been handed down to
the Indians who now inhabit Mon
tara: Just which tribes were such
mighty hunters and what became
Of them may never become known.
Notable among the Strengthening
places is the Madison Buffalo
Cliff situated about rs miles east
Of Butte on the Madison river
south. Of Logan. About 300 feet
from the bottom of 4O-foot cliff
bordering on the river is a great
deposit Of buffalo bones, at least
five feet thick.
The buffalo were evidently driv-
en- ever The cliff and those which
were not killed by the fall were
dispatched with arrows, Professor
Sayre says. "The Indians killed
Only az many as they needed for
food ard skins. The warriors
stood at the foot of the cliff to
XII any animals surviving the fall.
while the women of the tribe
smoked the meat over smouldering
camp fires nearby and tanned the
liu*S III ire sun"
-. Camp Life
Something Of the camp life of
VHeSe early peoples is being dis
covered from the study of this old
eann site which is an eighth of
a mile wide and a quarter of a
mile long ard is situated in a small
SaVlne Hidden from the main val
ley Of the Madison river. Manv
5eIee circles Of rock, eight to
y ~ Iecs IN diameter are still clear
ny dlstin"'lishable. Knives, scrap
@FS. " hers, points, hammerstores I
aa5 drills may still be found, as
well e: thousands of flint chips
ami fragments where stone weap- /
ems end tools were fashioned ont
y vi lint. a most unusual find near
logan was a copper arrowhead
%'l, ,r had apparently been made I
1@ M'cHlgan. A continuous LAYER /
W 9 o., frs and fireplaces under /
ll9S ne Thole campground. North
% OK the Camp Is a 9O-foot circle of
l@'ge 'o~'-a, possibly a marker for
come special ceremony. |!
a marked difference in the ar .
5SoWheads accompany the lowest
-eyel Of bones from those in the
~ PIPER levels, as we'll as the dis
~ ~ * qualification of the bones
themselves a. indicates that the Mad /
[ raOn buffalo cliff may have been
Ss,4 Tor many years. Another in
S @lcaVon Of the number of wears
q ssro pace: was used is the great
@I Of bones; the Indians kill
~ 80 Hniv enough at one time 60
clothing. WIN LOU anu
n Hunted On Foot
49,. .,e'agse the horse had not vet
t ges" introduced in North America.
Use sAS se early game drives were ac-
80 ..'Shed on foot, and long lines
Il. 1 S. aid turning the herds in
A. 1ssnt direction are characters
~ = u the killing cliffs" On the
an saSnoS beyond the Madison cliff
ro ~ remnants of an old line. of
GINS my sun exists. Round "tepee''
nro No. 'cf rocks also dot the an
- gtV ' to the cliff. Scientists are
eiro yIsrlance on the purpose of these
store es many believing that the
e -, were placed around the ed
So Of the skin tepeeg to hold them
Sa, against the wind.
disoo,'at years ago relic hunters
bio JOVe[ed a skeleton buried on
toS1 nj place near the cliff. En-
scoro so with the skeleton wefe
sior fs Of odd-shaped arrowbeads.
lonoi,,S lng that the occupant of the
me5 5iy Wind-swept grave was a
his b,, me- man or a chief and that
was .o In that particular place
cerec some significant centurieg-old
prosalal long since forgotten. +
Eng TI9i5sssor sayre, member he 9th Of the
department Of the Mon-l