PMB056 BUFFALO STONEY MOUNTAIN

PHOTOGRAPH
11 x 7 cm

Date: 1888 (From caption)

Publisher / Photographer: Unidentified

Notation: This is one of seven photographs that I acquired from a very old album.

The caption reads "Buffalo Stoney Mountain 1888 part of Col Bedson's herd."

This herd was actually am important part of Manitoba's history as it played a significant role in saving the North American Buffalo (plains bison) from extinction.

In 1879, Col. Samuel Lawrence Bedson, Warden of the Stoney Mountain Penitentiary, purchased a small herd of 13 animals. The protected herd thrived and by 1988, numbered 100 animals. In the same year Col Bedford sold the herd. to several different buyers. Descendants of this herd now form parts of the herds in Banff, Riding Mountain, Wainwright, and Elk Island Park.

For more information on the historical significance of this herd, please see: www.manitobabison.ca/about-the-bison/history-of-bison