The history of East Central Alberta is closely linked to that of the North American Buffalo, or Bison. These great animals once roamed from Canada to Mexico, spanning the plains and the mountains. Their former numbers are commonly estimated at 60 million.

Bison were the centre of life for the Plains Tribes of Native Americans and the Metis, providing them with food, shelter, clothing and spiritual inspiration. Bison hunting from horseback was part of the Metis lifestyle and developed into a sport for them. Over the years, the presence of the American Bison has affected the peoples of this continent in a way that no other species has been capable of doing. The bison, moreso than any other animal, is a unique symbol of the strength and determination of the people of North America.

Settlements known as hiverment camps were often the start and end points for great buffalo hunts on the plains. Because the bison were plentiful, these settlements flourished. The wintering site on the northeast corner of Buffalo lake had a population of close to 1500 at its peak. What is now Content Bridge had well over 2000 residents, which made it the largest place west of Fort Assiniboine. The inhabitants used the winters to hunt buffalo for fur and robes, which were then sold to the Hudson's Bay Company and American fur traders.

The names you see on a map of East Central Alberta hint at each location's place in Western Canadian history - names like Buffalo Lake, Meeting Creek, Battle River, Big Knife, Neutral Hills, and Paintearth.  The Buffalo lake itself is in the shape of a buffalo.

The near extermination of the American Bison did not occur in just a few short violent years. The fur trade, which began in the 1600’s, initially focused on beaver but then demanded that bison (buffalo) robes be shipped to Europe. By the early 1800’s, trade in buffalo robes and buffalo tongues significantly increased and caused approximately 200,000 buffalo kills annually on the plains. The 1830’s-1860’s were the four decades in which most of the slaughter of bison occurred. Wagon load after wagon load of robes, tongues, and, occasionally, selected cuts of bison meat, moved east. Soon, collection and shipping of bison bones to eastern cities where they ground them up for use as phosphorous fertilizer or bone char became common.

The arrival of the railroads further exacerbated herd conditions for the bison and by the early 1880’s there were only a few free-ranging bison. The last of which was reported to have been taken in the Forestburg/Alliance area. Yet, hunting of bison on this scale was not the principal cause of their decline as a population of close to 60 million easily supports an annual kill of close to 200,000. "Civilization" spread across the Western United States much quicker than in Canada, shrinking the range and the great herds were no more. The eventual disappearance of the Bison had been long foretold, but never expected to occur in the dramatic way it actually did in 1879. The Indians said it was as if a back hole had opened up and taken all the buffalo into it with one swallow.

Research has demonstrated that bison is a highly nutritious food. Comparisons with other animals also show that bison meat has a greater concentration of iron, as well as other essential ingredients. The legendary strength and endurance of the Native Plains Americans are perhaps testimony to the extraordinary nutritional values acquired from a diet that depended upon a constant supply of bison meat.

Due to recent efforts to recognize and preserve this noble animal, we can now travel the legendary buffalo trail and see them roaming the plains of Alberta once again and imagine what it might have been like when they populated the land in their original numbers.