USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In mid-century, trappers who had depleted the beaver populations of the Midwest began trading in buffalo robes and tongues; an estimated 200, 000 buffalo were killed annually. Then the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad accelerated the decimation of the species.

Detailed explanation-2: -This scene was filmed in cuts. The buffalo that is shot and on the ground is a mechanical buffalo that raises its head and then is “shot” again. The buffalo liver that is cut out of a buffalo was actually made of jello. It took eight days of filming buffalo to get four minutes on screen.

Detailed explanation-3: -Army commanders who operated in the West often attempted to drive the Indians off of desired lands by killing the buffalo as a way to deprive the Indians of supplies. Between 1872 and 1875, only three years, hunters killed 9 million buffalo, most often taking the skin and leaving the carcass to rot in waste.

Detailed explanation-4: -Operating Head-Smashed-In The Piikani named this cliff pis’kun, or the Buffalo Jump. Exceptionally skilled hunters, called buffalo runners, disguised themselves as bison and wolves to lure the herd into position. At a given signal, the runners and other hunters stampeded the herd over the cliff.