Madison Buffalo Jump State Park

South of Logan along the Madison River, this Montana site preserves a canyon cliff that Native American peoples used as a buffalo jump for about 2,000 years, from as early as 500 B.C. to around 1750 A.D. Archaeologists have found large deposits of bison bones below the cliffs and remains of nearby tipi villages, showing how families camped there to process the animals. Numerous tribes, including the Shoshone, Crow, Blackfeet, Salish, Cheyenne, and Nez Perce, used the jump to obtain bison for food, clothing, shelter, and tools, with runners, cairns, and logs guiding herds over the edge.

Montana · United States