Lamar Buffalo Ranch
The extermination of bison herds throughout the West in the 1800s nearly eliminated them from Yellowstone; even after the park was established in 1872 poachers faced few deterrents. With only 25 bison counted in the park in 1901, Congress appropriated $15,000 to augment the herd by purchasing 21 bison from private owners. As part of the first effort to preserve a wild species through intensive management, these bison were fed and bred in Lamar Valley at what became known as the “buffalo ranch.”
As the herd grew in size, it was released to breed with the park’s free-roaming population and used to start and supplement herds on other public and tribal land. Today the Yellowstone bison population of approximately 4,000 is one the largest in North America and among the few that is genetically pure because it has not been interbred with cattle. The buffalo ranch is therefore significant for its role in the history of wildlife management and the preservation of the American bison.
As listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Lamar Buffalo Ranch Historic District includes five buildings: a ranger station, constructed in 1915 as the buffalo keeper’s residence; a pole fenced corral built and rebuilt from 1915 to the 1930s, a log barn for hay and horses (1927), a bunkhouse (1929), and a residence used for the assistant buffalo keeper that was moved to the ranch in 1938 from Soda Butte, where it had probably been a ranger station. The vegetation around the ranch is mostly sagebrush and nonnative grasses that were planted during the period of hay cultivation or migrated into the area. Remnants of irrigation ditches, fencing, and water troughs can still be found.
