The buffalo and the bald eagle are two contenders for
the animal symbol of America. The American buffalo represents
America's land and, especially, the history of the American West.
The buffalo makes its most prominent appearance on the seal of
the United States Department of the Interior and also on the
buffalo nickel.
When the buffalo nickel was designed in 1913, the goal was to
make it a "true American coin," one that wouldn't be confused with
the coin of any other country. The American buffalo was the most
distinctive symbol the designers could imagine. The Plains Indian
was featured on the other side of the coin. It is interesting to
note that these two symbols of America were only used after both
had almost been eradicated from the American scene.
Vast herds of buffaloes lived on the western plains at the time
of European settlements and Europeans were the first to call the
American bison "buffalo".
The buffalo was the key to the survival of
Native
Americans living in the plains area of the western United
States. It provided them with all of their basic needs: food,
clothing, fuel, shelter, weapons, and utensils. The buffalo was so
important, it came to represent life itself to many Native
American nations.
But new settlers came from the East and wanted the land these
native people held. The settlers, knowing how important the
buffalo was to the Native Americans' survival, decided that the
best way to get the land was to destroy the buffalo. They were so
successful in accomplishing this that the buffalo population
dropped from fifteen million in 1880 to only five hundred in 1885.
Today there are buffalo preserves in the United States and
Canada to protect this important AMERICAN SYMBOL.
The
Brave Boys
