Education by Bull Boat
At Wild Idea, we do everything in our power to see that all the parts of the buffalo are put to good use. Thatβs why I was so interested in the telephone call I got from Doctor Craig Spencer, biology professor at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
For several years, Craig has been bringing his biology classes out to our buffalo ranch to talk about grasslands and the history of the Great Plains and last year, one of the students asked if Iβd come to their campus to do a public reading and talk to some of the classes.
Augustana University is one of South Dakotaβs jewels: a liberal arts university with world-class standards, famous for bright, diligent, mostly Lutheran students who take education seriously. I was honored to be invited as a speaker and anxious to spend some time there.
During the winter, Craig got the okay from the administration and last month I found myself gathering my thoughts and a change of clothes for the trip to the other side of the state. That was when I got the call from Craig. βIβm teaching a class focusing on Lewis and Clarkβs 1803 expedition up the Missouri River,β he said. βStudying some of the technology they ran into. You know what a bull boat is?β
I knew what a bull boat was. Though Iβd never seen a real one, Iβd been reading about them for many years. Accounts of bull boats are found in about all the storiesΒ of the American fur trade, mountain men, hide hunters, and early Great Plains exploration. Lewis and Clark describe them in their writing about the Mandan Indians they wintered with on the Missouri River in central North Dakota. The technology behind bull boats was pretty simpleβa buffalo hide stretched over a frame of willow branchesβbut just how they could hold together as boat used to dependably cross the wide prairie river had always been a puzzle. βI was wondering,β Craig said. βDo you have access to buffalo hides?β
We harvest 15-20 buffalo a week. βSure,β I said. βThey are raw and heavy. They smell terrible.β
βDo you think we could buy a few?β
A tanned buffalo robe is worth a thousand plus dollars, but a raw hide in a pasture is worth only a few dollars. βIf I could figure a way to get them to you, Iβd give them to you.β
There was silence on the line. βWell,β Craig finally said. βI was wondering if you could bring them with you when you come.β
βYouβre going to try to make Buffalo Boats, arenβt you.β
βYep.β
βIt will never work. Theyβre nasty. They smell and weigh 70 pounds.β I could picture tough, skilled native women building bull boats, but I couldnβt see blonde-headed, privileged Lutheran kids dealing with all that gore. βAre you sure?β
βWeβre sure!β
The last thing I did, before I left for Augustana, was have our skinners help me strap four fresh, raw buffalo hides to the top of my Toyota Four Runner. I looked like an enormous buffalo driving down the interstate highway. At every gas station people stared at me. It was a warm day and by the time I got to Sioux Falls I smelled like a garbage truck. Increasingly, it seemed like a bad idea.
But I made it and when the students came out to look at the beginning of their project, I was amazed. They descended on the Four Runner like a group of Mandanβs surrounding a small herd of buffalo. In minutes they had the hides down on the ground and began the truly awful job of scraping the rotting meat and fat off the hides. Craig nodded and smiled at me. I could see he was proud and as I watched I was proud of those kids too.
My time at Augustana was finished before the boat was, but a couple weeks later I found the evidence of success in my in-box. This was real education. And most certainly it will be a memory that will forever be in the minds of those bright, ambitious students.Β
As a deep Lewis & Clark reader, I’d like to pass this along to our Mouth of the Platte chapter of the Trail for them to reprint. Okay?
great story very interesting, and many thanks!!!
What an interesting article. I feel more connected to the Ranch and its charges all of the time. Very glad to be a customer.
As someone who loves old canoes, I find this fascinating. I never would have expected that the fur would be left on! Thanks for helping to make this happen!
Now I want to build one. What a great story. Thanks for sharing, Dan.