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By Keara Lightning Long, 2022/23 Lillian Agnes Jones Fellowship Recipient
Elk Island National Park, Alberta; March 2023 -- We stood on a metal platform overlooking the park’s bison corrals. Positioning ourselves behind wooden planks attached to the overlook, which shielded us from the herd’s view. After a long, quiet wait, we saw the herd being directed onto a fenced path. In a short flurry of activity, the herd rushed past our perch and into a metal chute and a waiting horse trailer. The sound of hooves passed within seconds, and then the herd was loaded up neatly for transport to Samson Cree Nation.
Ravalli, Montana; circa 1909 -- “It took pretty well all that summer of 1909 to corral enough buffalo to load thirteen cars. The loading of these animals that weighed from a thousand pounds or more for the cows and a ton or more for the bulls was a job that would enjoy any rancher... patience was the password always. The corrals were so constructed that from the big yard where the main herd stood, a small corral led from it and from this smaller yard a chute led into the car.” (Recalled by Norman Luxton writing in 1937; edited slightly for readability) [1]
The bison of Elk Island National Park began with the Pablo-Allard Buffalo herd, which were raised by Michel Pablo and Charles Allard and sold to the Canadian government in 1907. As I watched the small herd loaded up for repatriation to Samson Cree Nation that morning in March 2023, the pattern of the corrals reminded me distinctly of the accounts and photos I’d read of the original herds being loaded out of Ravalli, Montana in 1907-1912. While it took a few park staff only a few minutes to load up a herd that morning, it took teams of 90 or more cowboys over five years to round up 700 bison from the Flathead Reservation to Ravalli and onto train cars up into Canada [2]. While many tellings of the sale of the Pablo-Allard herd praise the forward thinking of the Canadian government officials in purchasing and conserving the largest buffalo herd in existence at that time, I see how the strategic actions of Indigenous peoples kept that herd alive so that we can see their descendants restored back to our nations today.
According to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes [3], although a Pend d’Oreille man named Samuel Walking Coyote is usually credited for raising and selling the herd to Pablo and Allard, it was actually his stepson, Latatitsa (Little Peregrine Falcon Robe) who captured the herd and carried out the plans of his father Atatitsa (Peregrine Falcon Robe) who had years earlier proposed that the tribe save a herd of bison. Latitsa raised the small herd on the Flathead reservation, but while Latatitsa was away, Walking Coyote sold the herd from under his stepson [4].
Both Michel Pablo and Charles Allard were mixed-race Indigenous men who married into the Confederated Salish tribes and ranched on the Flathead reservation. Michel Pablo’s mother was Blackfoot and Charles Allard’s mother was Cree from Fort Garry. The two of them entered into business and purchased Latatitsa’s herd of 13 bison from Samuel Walking Coyote. By the time of Allard’s death, they had raised the herd to at least 300 head, which was split between them. When Pablo sold his share in 1906, he estimated he had 400 bison, but in the end he shipped more than 700 bison to Canada.
The buffalo were able to range freely across the Flathead reservation, which had natural boundaries as well as cowboys employed to keep them in the area. According to Pablo’s son in law, he was not growing this herd for profit—he saw them as “symbolical of the real soul of the Indians’ past... the buffalo had always been the greatest benefactor of the Indians” and so he “would protect the mighty monarch and provide the remnant a secure paradise” [5]. It was only after it was clear that the US intended to turn the Flathead reservation into allotments and the herds would no longer be able to freely range that he tried to sell them to the U.S. He hoped that the government would set aside a new refuge for them, and when Congress refused, “he was moved to manly tears” and “only as a last resort did he sell them to the Canadian officials” [6]. There’s no way to know exactly what Pablo’s wishes and intentions were, but after the news about the sale came out and Pablo received many higher offers from Americans, he still held up the deal with Canada [7]. Some say this commitment was motivated by spite towards the U.S. government, but I believe it’s more likely that he sought a buyer he trusted to protect the whole herd. He did not sell them off piecemeal for profit and instead made the best choice he could to transfer them where they would continue to prosper for future generations.
While the Canadian government created the Buffalo National Park specially to house this herd, the first shipments from Montana were temporarily held at Elk Island National Park. The majority of buffalo were eventually transferred to Wainwright, but 40-50 bison were left behind in Elk Island as a demonstration herd. Buffalo National Park’s herd grew rapidly, peaking at 8,832 in 1921 -- far beyond the park’s estimated carrying capacity of 5,000 [8]. Overgrazing and overcrowding provided conditions for disease and parasites to thrive, and the park’s management struggled to keep the population under control. Buffalo National Park was closed and its remaining animals were killed or sold off in 1939, after which the park was turned into a military base. It is that small herd which stayed at Elk Island that remained healthy and provided the nucleus by which bison restorations are still happening today.
The bison transfer of 1906-1912 was not a simple economic event that incidentally allowed for the buffalo to survive. Many of the Buffalo alive today are the result of a number of Indigenous people stewarding this herd the best they could in the throes of oppression. They were entrusted to Canada to ensure the Buffalo would continue to survive - and only by chance or blessing was there a surviving herd which has become a resource for Indigenous-led restoration projects today. This herd is evidence of the depth and power of the unbroken relationships to buffalo that Indigenous people continue to sustain, which we have the opportunity to restore today.
Endnotes
1: Luxton, Norman. Luxton family fonds, LUX-I-D4-3/4. Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, AB, p. 5
2: George D. Coder Fonds. M 288 Ref. Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, AB.
3: Glick, Daniel, dir. 2018. In the Spirit of ʔAtatíc̓eʔ The Untold Story of the National Bison Range. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1K2NQV3WyU.
4: Locke, Harvey. 2016. “Banff National Park and Plains Bison Conservation.” In The Last of the Buffalo: Return to the Wild, 8–51. Banff, AB: Summerthought Publishing.
5: George D. Coder Fonds. M 288 Ref. Folder 1. Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, AB, p. 6
6: George D. Coder Fonds. M 288 Ref. Folder 1. Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, AB, p. 6-7
7: George D. Coder Fonds. M 288 Ref. Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, AB.
8: Markewicz, Lauren. 2017. Like Distant Thunder: Canada’s Bison Conservation Story. Gatineau, QC: Parks Canada.
About the Lillian Agnes Jones Fellowship
In 2001, the Peter and Catharine Whyte Foundation/Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies received a bequest from the estate of Lillian Agnes Jones. From this bequest, a fellowship was created to promote the study and research of materials related to Western Canada. Initially, this fellowship was administered through the University of Calgary. The Whyte Museum began to oversee this fellowship in 2019.
The Call for Applications for the 2022-2023 year brought forth a variety of unique and exciting research topics. From the many applicants received, three individuals were chosen by the Lillian Agnes Jones Fellowship Committee. Kate Hanly, from Canmore, Alberta, explored the concept of how iconic mountaineering routes are changing in the Canadian Rockies due to climate change. Keara Lightning Long, from the Edmonton region, delved into the complex relationship of Indigenous ecology and the history of environmental management. Lastly, Amanda Foote, who lives in Mînîthnî facilitated a group of Îethka (Stoney Nakoda) people in hands-on archival, library, and curatorial research on a variety of topics.
Want to read the full research reports from each recipient? Please visit whyte.org/fellowship.
In the coming months be sure to watch for our upcoming events as these recipients will be presenting on their topics soon!
Are you looking to submit and application for an upcoming fellowship call? Stay tuned to our social media and newsletters. Announcement coming soon!
Interested in learning more about Canadian Rockies history? Book a research appointment at the Whyte Museum Archives and Special Collections Library.