For the Indian people of the Great Plains, the buffalo was not only the main source of food, but used for most of the essentials of everyday life. The hides were made into moccasins, clothing and tipi covers. The hair was woven into ropes and belts; the horn was carved into spoons and cups; the sinews were treated for bowstrings and thread; even the marrow and fat were stored for grease.
Catlin and Bodmer were among the first frontiersmen to document the spectacular abundance of the buffalo before large numbers of settlers arrived. But as the years passed, especially after the fire-wagons (railroads) arrived, the situation deteriorated rapidly. The Tribes and clans who once had celebrated the abundant gifts of the Great Spirit had to move their camps more and more often to stay near the life-line of their culture. The devastation of the buffalo ended their traditional way of life, and deeply puzzled the Indian people, as Black Elk, the great Sioux chief, reflected at the end of the 19th century.
"I can remember when the bison were so many that they could not be counted, but more and more Wasichus (white men) came to kill them until there were only heaps of bones scattered where they used to be. The Wasichus did not kill them to eat; they killed them for the metal that makes them crazy, and they took only the hides to sell. Sometimes, they did not even take the hides, only the tongues; and I have heard that fire-boats came down the Missouri river loaded with dried bison tongues. You can see that the men who did this were crazy. Sometimes they did not even need to take the tongues; they killed and killed because they liked to do that. When we hunted bison, we killed only what we needed."
