Immense herds of bison once roamed the North American prairies, with as many as 30 million animals moving seasonally in herds of 25 to 300 along the same patterns year after year. Bison were the lifeblood of the native peoples who shared this vast domain, and for at least 11,000 years native groups seasonally lived on the grassy plains along the Milk River. By understanding bison habits, they carried out communal hunts at this place, where rolling prairie gives way to steep river valley walls well suited to a buffalo jump. Hunters drove hundreds of bison over the slope, where waiting hunters at the bottom killed injured animals and began butchering at once. Archaeology at Wahkpa Chu’gn shows that native peoples used this site extensively for at least 2,000 years. Wahkpa Chu’gn, pronounced walk-paw-chew-gun, is the Assiniboine term for Milk River. Discovered in the 1950s and protected by Hill County since 1964, the site has exceptional preservation of faunal layers that provides a unique chronology of use over time. It is of national significance for its superb archaeological record and as the first buffalo jump interpreted for the public.