American Indians and the Buffalo

Satanta, the Kiowa war chief the board quotes, was born about 1815, the son of Chief Red Tipi and a Spanish captive. He signed the Little Arkansas and Medicine Lodge treaties. Sentenced in Texas after the Warren wagon train raid of May 18, 1871, he had the punishment commuted to life and was freed after two years. Arrested again in 1874, he went back to the Huntsville penitentiary, where on October 11, 1878 he died in a fall from a window reported as suicide. In 1963 his grandson, the artist James Auchiah, moved his remains to Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

What the plaque says

American Indians and the Buffalo For thousands of years American Indians depended upon the buffalo for food, materials for shelter, and numerous other necessities. This relationship ended toward the end of the 19th century when commercial hide hunters nearly drove the buffalo to extinction. Demand for buffalo hides grew in the East, and the railroad arrived in western Kansas, providing the means for transporting products. Because the buffalo was such an integral part of Indian survival, its near extinction had a profound effect upon Plains tribes. "A long time ago this land belonged to our fathers, but when I go up to the river I see camps of soldiers on its banks. These soldiers cut down my timber, they kill my buffalo and when I see that, my heart feels like bursting." - Satanta, Kiowa chief C. J. "Buffalo" Jones of Garden City had been a buffalo hunter before capturing and raising 10 buffalo calves at the local private zoo. He and others helped save the buffalo from extinction. Today many bison herds can be seen across Kansas. Erected by the State of Kansas

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lee Richardson Zoo — 1.4 mi
  Garden City's zoo in Finnup Park, begun in 1927 with two skunks and now accredited, free to walk in and open to cars on a drive-through loop for a vehicle fee.
• Sandsage Bison Range and Wildlife Area — 2.1 mi
  The 3,760-acre remnant of the Kansas National Forest south of Garden City, where federal tree planting failed and the state's oldest publicly owned bison herd now grazes sand sage prairie.

More markers nearby

• Santa Fe Trail Ruts, 1821-1872 — 18 mi
• Beersheba — 22 mi
• Chouteau's Island — 24 mi