Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump

Today we didn’t have a guided walk because these don’t happen as often at Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump. It would have been nice to see the actual lines that were used, but there was a film and there were plans of the area showing where all the people were and how the people planned the jumps. The visitors centre is stepped into the hillside, but you can see some of the seven levels as well as the top (which is at the very right in the photo).

From near the top of the jump, you can see the jump itself, and along the cliff to the next jump location. Because there were so many bones, the vegetation is very lush where the actual jump was - the soil has built up by 10 metres over the 5000 years that the jump was used.

Each level in the visitors centre explained different aspects of the jump - the archeology, the life of the Blackfoot people, the mechanics of the jump, how European settlement changed the lives of the people... They had a buffalo skin that was used to tell the history of a tribe - each symbol represented a year, and what had happened that year.

We walked along the lower trail, which included the site where a tent ring was, and where the butchering took place. The choke cherry trees were dripping with fruit.

We saw a mule deer and her fawn.

Then we went to the Fort MacLeod Museum to the RCMP. It recreates the fort that was built when the Mounties were established, after they had been sent on a gruelling journey from Manitoba to set up the fort and protect Canadian sovereignty after whiskey traders from the USA had moved in.

There was a very good history of the indigenous people of the area and there were some fantastic artifacts on display.