First Peoples named national historic landmark

First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park was officially designated Tuesday as a national historic landmark.

That designation, which was five years in the making, is significant and exciting, said Sara Scott, resource program manager with Montana State Parks.

“It’s a pretty prestigious designation in the preservation world,” said Victoria Stauffenberg, public information officer for the National Park Service, which granted the designation. “The site has to be significant on a national level.”

First Peoples Buffalo Jump fits that criteria because it is one of the oldest, largest and best-preserved bison cliff jump locations in North America.

The site features deeply stratified bison bone deposits, multiple tepee ring concentrations, and extensive evidence of ceremonies indicate that, for approximately 5,700 years, First Peoples Buffalo Jump held the paramount position in the Northern Plains “bison culture.”

Thirteen tribes have oral histories that include mention of what is now First Peoples Buffalo Jump.

The application process for national historic landmark designation officially began five years ago, Scott said, but managers first started to discuss applying for the designation in 2008.

That year, Montana State Parks hired archaeologist Steve Aaberg to survey the park.

In that survey, he found complex drive lines on the jump, tepee rings and other artifacts.

“He was kind of blown away by the significance of it,” Scott said.

At that time, the site was already listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but Aaberg thought it could qualify as a national historic landmark, which is a higher level of designation.

National historic landmark designation recognizes sites that possess exceptional value in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States.

While sites on the National Register of Historic Places can have local or state significance, national landmarks must have national significance, Stauffenberg explained.

There are about 2,500 national historic landmarks across the country, compared to about 90,000 listed on the National Register.

“They really are the stand-out icons for what our nation has stood for throughout our history,” Scott said of national historic landmarks. “It really sets you at that highest level of significance.”

However, the process to receive that high-level designation isn’t easy.

“It was a very involved process,” Scott said.

The application included a thorough archeological research of the site, along with photo documentation.

Final approval comes from the secretary of the Interior.

Buffalo jumps aren’t rare in Montana. The state has about 280 jumps, Scott said. However, most haven’t been preserved.

“A lot of the buffalo jumps in Montana were mined,” she explained.

In the 1930s and ’40s, buffalo bones, which can be stacked up more than a dozen feet deep, were mined and ground into fertilizer.

Mining did occur at First People, but the jump is still very well preserved, Scott said.

“The only other site that approximates First Peoples Buffalo Jump’s antiquity and integrity ... is Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, located in southern Alberta, Canada,” said Christine Whitacre, program manager for the National Historic Landmark Program for the Park Service’s Intermountain Region.

First Peoples has yielded, and will likely continue to yield, information of major scientific importance in archaeological research, she added.

There are two other national landmarks in Great Falls: one is the Charlie Russell house and studio, the other is the Lewis and Clark Portage, which is within Giant Springs State Park. Montana has 28 landmarks.

Receiving the designation won’t change the management of First Peoples Buffalo Jump. It will remain a state park. As a national historic landmark, First People Buffalo Jump State Park will be eligible for funding through the National Park Service.

Montana State Parks now administers eight national historic landmarks.

“It’s remarkable how many national historic landmarks are administered by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks,” Whitacre said.

She can’t think of any other state agency in the country that manages as many landmarks.

When people think of state parks, they often think of water access, such as parks on Flathead Lake or Placid Lake, Scott said.

“I don’t think they think about the incredible archeological and historical resource that our state park system has,” she said.

Erin Madison is the outdoors writer at the Great Falls Tribune. She can be reached at 406-791-1466. Follow her on Twitter @GFTrib_EMadison.

Montana’s national historic landmarks

Montana has 28 national historic landmarks they are: (name and year designated)

•Bannack Historic District, 1961

•Butte-Anaconda Historic District, 1961

•Camp Disappointment, 1966

•Chief Joseph Battleground Of Bear's Paw, 1988

•Chief Plenty Coups Home, 1999

•Deer Medicine Rocks, 2012

•First Peoples Buffalo Jump, 2015

•Fort Benton Historic District, 1961

•Fort Union Trading Post, 1961

•Going-to-the-sun Road, 1997

•Grant-Kohrs Ranch, 1960

•Great Falls Portage, 1966

•Great Northern Railway Buildings in Glacier National Park, 1987

•Hagen Site, 1964

•Lake McDonald Lodge, 1987

•Lemhi Pass, 1960

•Lolo Trail, 1960

•Northeast Entrance Station to Yellowstone National Park, 1987

•Pictograph Cave, 1964

•Pompey's Pillar, 1965

•Rankin Ranch, 1976

•Rosebud Battlefield/Where The Girl Saved Her Brother, 2008

•Charles M. Russell House And Studio, 1965

•Three Forks Of The Missouri, 1960

•Travelers Rest, 1960

•Virginia City Historic District, 1961

•Burton K. Wheeler House, 1976

•Wolf Mountains Battlefield/Where Big Crow Walked Back And Forth, 2008