Tatanka: Magnificent Slow Roamer

American bison grazing in Custer State Park, South Dakota.
The amazing American bison grazing in South Dakota (one of many photos). 

I met many Tatanka in Custer State Park, South Dakota. Tatanka is the Lakota name for the buffalo/bison.

"What shall we do?" said a young Sioux warrior to an American officer on the Upper Missouri some fifteen years ago. "What shall we do? the buffalo is our only friend. When he goes all is over with the Dacotahs. I speak thus to you because like me you are a Brave."

The quote comes from the book The Indian Sign Language by Captain William Philo Clark. This American officer commanded Native American scouts in the late 19th century and later documented their sign language. 

Sir William Francis Butler also grasped the importance of the bison in The Wild North Land.

House, boat, food, bed, and covering, every want from infancy to age, and after life itself had passed, wrapt in his buffalo robe the red man waited for the dawn.

True. The bison was their only friend.