The following bit of information was written by me for my own records just after it happened. I want to share it now, here with you, because I feel like the magic of the moment can continue to spread if we let it.
In October of 2016 something magical happened in Cannonball, North Dakota. Inside the most major Native American protest in history, a herd of bison appeared in a stampede. Whether by human hand or Sioux prayer, this herd was sent forth.
One early report of the day appeared on Thursday, the 28th, which focused on the bison (or buffalo, depending on your colloquial preference). This report suggested that “thousands” of buffalo stampeded toward the protest. That report comes from the following sources:
• Link #1 recently down: https://usuncut.com/resistance/thousands-wild-buffalo-appear-nowhere-standing-rock/
• Link #2 : http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2016/10/givers-of-courage-thousands-of-wild.html
As the video below makes clear, the appearance of these buffalo certainly had an emotional impact.
This video was edited together from several sources, all of which are credited below.
The video above combines videos from several sources, all captured at the event at the same time:
• Video #1 near fence by Myron Dewey: https://www.facebook.com/myron.dewey1/videos/10104033718881989/
• Vertical video by Holly Young: https://www.facebook.com/holly.young.946/videos/10157632759585333/?permPage=1
• “Yes people look” by Kaden Jeray (Néso’eoeve), Montana Firefighter: https://www.facebook.com/Nesoeoeve/videos/1341906569188087/
• Video 4: NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt: https://www.facebook.com/nbcnightlynews/videos/10154742997228689/
The photo seen above (array of buffalo, air view) came attached to several publications telling this story, and isn't actually showing the buffalo that arrived at Standing Rock. The real source of that photo is here: http://suburbanmen.com/american-bison-finally-new-national-mammal-20160517/576642
The photo below shows a crowd very near a herd of buffalo. This photo also appeared in articles and shares of articles on this subject. The photo shows a public bison roundup at Custer State Park in 2008. One of several original sources: http://www.dakotagraph.com/2008/10/custer-state-park-buffalo-roundup.html
While the two images above do not depict the buffalo at Standing Rock, the story is true. It wasn't as unbelievable as the headlines of the day made it all out to be. The true story was a bit more believable than the headlines containing “thousands” and “out of nowhere”, but it was all just as awe-inspiring. The following three accounts, together, tell the full story:
• Sacred Stone Camp (dot org) included the following account: “Members of the horse nation herded around 100 buffalo from the west and southwest of the Cannonball Ranch onto the the DAPL easement. One rider was reportedly hit with up to four rubber bullets his horse was reported to be hit in the legs by live rounds. Another horse was shot and did not survive.”
• The Bismarck Tribune included the following account: “And in an uplifting moment, hoots and hollers were heard from the retreating crowd as two men on horseback herded buffalo through the Cannonball Ranch. Within minutes, the same horse riders were fleeing police in side-by-side ATV’s and disappeared over the hill.”
• Journalist Ryan Redhawk’s Standing Rock Rising included the following account: “BUFFALO PEOPLE // Spirit riders on horseback opened a fence just east of Treaty camp and once again hundreds of buffalo were allowed to freely run the North Dakota plains as police and military forces were trying to overrun the camp with violence and intimidation. The cheers and emotion from the water protectors were a force upon itself when the crowd watched the buffalo run full speed through what is now being nicknamed “Buffalo Hill”.”
Redhawk, the same fellow speaking just above, also took the following photo. This photo shows the true buffalo run at Standing Rock in October of 2016.
Long story short: During the most massive gathering of North American natives in over 100 years, Standing Rock reservation and allies from many tribes protested the construction of an oil pipeline through their most important water source. During the protest, a heard of bison were released from the nearby Cannonball Ranch. The release raised the spirits of the people, and the land was christened Buffalo Hill.