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Image Captured at American Refinery in the 19th Century Reveals Bison Extermination Campaign, Articulated by Economic and Military Interests to Weaken Native Peoples and Enable Western Colonization
In the 19th century, a photograph taken at an American refinery exposed piles of bison skulls and revealed a deliberate extermination strategy of the animal, used to weaken native peoples, facilitate the colonization of the West, and produce social, economic, and environmental effects that persist to this day.
The Image That Reveals a Colonial Strategy
Two men in black suits and top hats pose over a mountain of bison skulls, stacked in order, creating a disturbing scene captured in the 19th century.
The photograph, at first glance macabre, does not merely represent excessive enthusiasm for hunting in the United States, nor does it depict ordinary hunters responsible for the animal massacre.
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Experts indicate that the skulls evidence a calculated campaign to eradicate the bison in North America, depriving native peoples of a vital resource.
According to filmmaker Tasha Hubbard, a professor at the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, the image celebrates colonial destruction.
The Bison as a Strategic Target of Expansion
Hubbard describes the extermination of the bison as a strategic part of colonial expansion, seen as necessary to subjugate the territory and allow white occupation.
The mass slaughter had a lasting impact on tribes dependent on the animal, measurably altering their social and economic evolution.
Comparative studies report higher infant mortality among these nations, along with lasting consequences that persist to this day.
The native peoples hunted bison for centuries, integrating the animal into a predominantly nomadic culture spread across North America.
A Vital Resource for Survival and Culture
For these communities, the bison provided meat, hides for clothing and shelter, in addition to bones used in the production of essential tools.
Although often called buffalo by colonizers, the bison is a different animal, a distinction ignored by popular historical records.
Hubbard explains that removing this foundational species allowed the use of starvation as a weapon against indigenous peoples, weakening them for territorial control.
Estimates suggest that native hunters killed fewer than 100,000 animals per year, an insignificant number compared to the population present at the beginning of the 19th century.
From Peak to Near Extinction
At that time, there were between 30 and 60 million bison roaming the North American plains, sustaining entire ecosystems and societies.
On January 1, 1889, only 456 purebred bison remained in the United States, with 256 protected in captivity.
These animals survived in Yellowstone National Park and in a few other wildlife sanctuaries.
The drastic reduction did not happen by chance, but accompanied economic and political interests linked to territorial conquest.
Railroads, Weapons, and Lack of Protection
The construction of three railroads crossing areas with high concentrations of bison increased the demand for the animals’ meat and hides.
Modern rifles made large-scale hunting easier, while no laws existed to restrict or regulate predatory hunting.
Historians note that the quest for meat and hides was intrinsically linked to colonization and the transformation of nature into a commodity.
According to Bethany Hughes, a professor at the University of Michigan, the desire for wealth and power guided this process.
The Industry Behind the Skulls
In 1871, a Pennsylvania tannery developed a method to turn bison hides into commercial leather, accelerating the massacre.
Hunters began to decimate herds on the central plains at an alarming rate, as described in subsequent historical studies.
The famous photograph was taken at the Michigan Carbon Works refinery, where bones were processed industrially.
The bones were turned into charcoal used in the sugar industry, as well as raw material for glue and fertilizer, increasing the project’s profits.
Capitalism, Colonialism, and Consumption
Hughes asserts that the image captures a successful commercial initiative built on the debris of colonial expansion and the prevailing racial logic.
For her, colonialism and capitalism go hand in hand, transforming territorial violence into seemingly legitimate economic success.
The consumption of refined products, such as sugar purified with bone charcoal, concealed the ethical conditions of their industrial production.
The photograph, according to Hughes, indicts commercial practices that normalize human and environmental destruction behind everyday goods.
War, Famine, and Forced Displacement
The extermination of the bison also integrated military campaigns that used resource scarcity as a tactic of territorial domination.
Army officers sent soldiers to kill bison, aiming to exhaust the livelihood base of the indigenous peoples of the plains.
Historian Robert Wooster reports that General Philip Sheridan advocated this strategy.
Sheridan believed that eliminating the bison would force tribes to abandon nomadic habits and accept resettlement on controlled reservations.
Lasting Physical and Social Consequences
Deprived of the bison, indigenous communities were forced to migrate to reservations, coming to depend on agriculture for survival.
The strategy worked militarily, resulting in the displacement of the Kiowa tribe to a reservation in Oklahoma.
Within a generation, the average height of these populations dropped by more than 2.5 cm, indicating severe and prolonged nutritional impacts.
By the early 20th century, infant mortality was 16% higher, and per capita income remained 25% lower among these nations.
Debates on the Causes of Collapse
Researchers questioned how millions of bison were exterminated in such a short time, raising hypotheses beyond intensive hunting.
A 2018 study suggested that epidemic diseases, such as anthrax and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, may have significantly contributed to the population collapse.
According to this analysis, such diseases could be sufficiently lethal to eliminate tens of millions of animals in specific regions.
Regardless of the combined causes, bison populations never fully recovered in the following decades.
Attempts at Restoration and Current Legacy
Currently, the bison is still classified as nearly threatened, despite recent ecological restoration efforts on the Great Plains.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2023 allocated US$ 25 million, about R$ 149 million, for species recovery programs.
Initiatives include returning 1,000 bison raised by The Nature Conservancy to their ancestral pastures.
Projects in Montana anticipate the return of 5,000 animals, while tribes have returned 250 bison in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation.
A Message That Persists
For Hughes, the significance of the mountain of skulls has been diluted over time, reduced to a distant sorrow for the colonial past.
She asserts that the image should provoke reflection on how colonial and capitalist systems continue to shape current environments and societies.
More than historical memory, the photograph symbolizes the role of consumption in sustaining these persistent structures of exploitation.
According to Hughes, turning living beings into resources reveals a lack of humanity that still challenges contemporary understanding.
With information from BBC.
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