Visiting Antelope Island, Utah, Where the Buffalo Roam, For Now

On Antelope Island, the buffalo roam. And it’s a beautiful miracle.   Not so many years ago, the American Bison, or buffalo as they’re commonly called, were almost extinct. They say that once in the late 18th century, these glorious beasts numbered over 60 million. There were so many buffalo in this country that a buffalo crossing could last up to six days. If your path crossed theirs, you’d have to wait as they lumbered and rumbled past, like waiting at a passing train. But then they were hunted. And hunted and hunted and hunted.   One day you didn’t see any more buffalo. None at all. By 1889 there were just 541 buffalo left in the United States.  Now, through repopulation programs in various western states and places, the buffalo have made a comeback.  Still, I never expected to see them roam in herds. I’d watched the National Geographic series on national parks. They created one about Yellowstone and featured the buffalos. So many of them, rutting and repopulating themselves now. Seemingly unstoppable, if not for humans.  Technically, there aren’t any free-roaming buffalo left in the country. They’re all regulated to public or Native American lands – and ranches, where they are bred and sold for meat. The Buffalo of Antelope Island  I’d heard that I might see buffalo on Antelope […]

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