Buffalo pound
The buffalo pound was a hunting device constructed by native peoples of the North American plains for the purpose of entrapping and slaughtering American bison, also known as buffalo. It consisted of a circular corral at the terminus of a flared chute through which buffalo were herded and thereby trapped. David Mandelbaum's The Plains Cree contains diagrams and a complete description of the construction and use of such a pound.[1]
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Diorama of a buffalo pound at the Royal Alberta Museum
In 1758, explorer and fur trader Joseph Smith was the first European to record the use of a buffalo pound while travelling to the Assiniboine River.[2]
The common Cree name "Poundmaker", refers to someone who makes buffalo pounds.
References
- Mandelbaum, David G. (1940). The Plains Cree: An Ethnographic, Historical, and Comparative Study. New York: Aims Pr Inc. ISBN 978-0-404-15626-8.
- Ray, Arthur (1998). Indians in the Fur Trade: Their Role as Trappers, Hunters. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 249. ISBN 9780802079800. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buffalo pounds.
- Buffalo Pound Provincial Park, a park in south-eastern Saskatchewan, which takes its name from the above term.
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