The Time of the Buffalo

by Tom McHugh

The magnificent beast that once roamed from Alaska to the Carolinas "in numbers numberless" is splendidly memorialized in The Time of the Buffalo, which begins with its genesis in the Ice Age, traces its evolution and natural history, observes its patterns of behavior, and records its life-and-death relationship with three cultures of man. Here are the ways in which the buffalo crucially affected (and was affected by) the hunters of the Pleistocene epoch and, in our era, the life of the Plains Indians and nineteenth-century frontiersmen. Here is the creature itself—seen as an integral part of a rich ecological and cultural tapestry. Combining extensive field research on live herds with the study of historical records, Tom McHugh offers a rare closeup of the buffalo's habits and life cycle, detailing such aspects as mating, calving, stampedes, play, and aggression. In equally fascinating detail he tells how the Plains Indians used the buffalo for food, clothing, and shelter, and endowed it with spirit; how the European settlers viewed it first as an object of awe and then as a source of plunder and how, by nearly exterminating this single species, they destroyed all the Plains cultures. An account of the movement to save the buffalo completes this informative and moving work—the 1972 winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award in the nonfiction category as well as being voted the year's best western historical book by the National Cowboy Hall of Fame.

Genres: History, Animals, American History, Westerns, Nonfiction, Nature

383 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Chris]

This book begins with the buffalo/bison’s genesis in the Ice Age and its evolution and survival to 1972, when the book was written. So much more history has evolved from 1972 to this current day! One must grab a more recent writing or scour the internet to get up to speed on what’s happened with the buffalo in those last 48 years.

I liked reading about the genesis and evolution of this animal and their relationships with the Plains Indians/Tribes and the American and European settlers.
There are some interesting photos included in the book of petroglyphs, tribe ceremonies honoring the buffalo, baby buffalo pictures, etc.

I did not know about the buffalo life cycle and habits, so that was enlightening; their migratory patterns and wilderness history.
The Plains Indians used the buffalo for more than food - they used every part of the body to make dyes, clothing, shelter, hunting arrows, buttons, etc. They were highly valued not only by the Tribes, but the hunter/frontiersmen, who decimated large populations of the buffalo by plunder. The frontiersman nearly decimated the buffalo.
This act, contributed to the destruction of the culture of the Native Plains Indians.

There are descriptions of Tribal hunting procedures and hunting by frontiersmen and then, hunting just for sport, which resulted in much buffalo death and waste of animal resources and plain old ignorance.

Quite an interesting and comprehensive read. There are many pages at the back with reference info, most especially the bibliography. I found this book at a second hand bookstore.

[Brian Fagan]

McHugh created the book from his PhD thesis at the University of Wisconsin - published in 1972. It's apparent early on in the book that McHugh's account will be not only factual but also tinged with emotion, as our modern day values put the near-extinction of bison in a very different light from that of the 19th century. I bought the book because I love bison. I think they are majestic creatures.

Of course the book also deals quite closely with the Native American tribes of the plains, as both the time and cause of their decimation are tightly related. Chief Santana of the Kiowa asked an Army general, "Has the white man become a child, that he should recklessly kill and not eat ?", adding, "When the red men slay game, they do so that they may live and not starve."

The following are some of the most interesting facts McHugh puts across in The Time of the Buffalo:

Bison arrived in North America after traversing the temporary land bridge at the Bering Strait from Asia.

A description of a massive herd: "... we judged the herd (below us) to be 5 ... or 10 miles wide and the herd was more than an hour passing us at a gallop." They estimated that the herd contained one million bison.

McHugh estimates that the North American population was once about 30 million bison.

The bison is the largest land mammal in the New World - a male weighs 1,400 to 2,200 pounds, stands 6 1/2 feet high at the shoulder and, including the tail, is up to 10 feet long.

While fur trappers did their share of damage to the bison population, professional hidemen, after the development of good drying processes, engineered a wild massacre for buffalo leather that lasted for 12 years in the 1860's and 70's. The uses included those of the military, machinery belts, furniture, cushions, and the linings and tops of carriages, sleighs and hearses. The eastern herds, which stretched from New York to the Florida panhandle, were decimated first, followed by the central plains herds, the Texas herds, the Canadian herds and finally, the Northern U. S. plains herds.

The toll on Native Americans: "Although depletion of the herds caused serious physical discomfort, its effects on the minds and spirits of the Indians was even more debilitating. Many of the most important social and religious customs ceased to have meaning, and the Indians came to experience a tribal loss of identity."

In 1897 probably the last wild bison in the U. S. was killed.

By the time McHugh wrote the book, protected herds of bison numbered about 30,000 creatures.

[David Ward]

The Time of the Buffalo by Tom McHugh (Knopf 1972) (599.73). I recently became interested in the bison and its relation to the American Plains Indians after reading on Wikipedia that the US Army last fought the Apaches in 1924 when the Apaches crossed the Mexican border and carried out raids in Texas. Thus the US Army last fought a stone-age tribe in 1924! The Plains Indians survival depended upon the bison. This book describes in great detail the rich history and traditions of the tribes with the bison herds. I found particularly interesting the author's descriptions of the Plains peoples' buffalo hunting strategies both before and after the introduction of the horse into Plains culture. This is a great book! My rating: 7.25/10, finished 3/17/17. I purchased a used hardback copy of the first edition in good shape for $6.00 at McKay's. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Russ]

I’ve read a fair number of books on Buffalo and this is among the best. McHugh covers Native American hunting and rituals around the buffalo like none other, thoughtfully covers their slaughter by European setters, and gives insight into bison behavior and even the parasites that live with them. A pretty thorough look at the American Mammal.

[Robert]

Nice depressing work of 70's nonfiction.

[Deedee]

Dewey 599.735 (BPL)

[Theresa]

The Time of the Buffalo
McHugh, Tom
detailed information on buffalo and their times

[Maryanne]

The Time of the Buffalo
Tom McHugh