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State Historic Preservation Office
Cheyenne Historic Preservation Board receives award from State

National Register of Historic Places


Lamar Buffalo Ranch

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Date Added to Register

Tuesday, December 07, 1982

Smithsonian Number

48YE680

Read all about it

The Lamar Buffalo Ranch is located just east of Rose Creek in the Lamar River Valley in the northeast quadrangle of Yellowstone National Park. The Historic District consists of five structures including a barn, two residences, a bunkhouse, and corral constructed between 1915 and the 1930s. The District is nationally significant for its role in the history of wildlife management and preservation of the bison in the United States, and for its importance in the history of park rangers in Yellowstone. Yellowstone National Park was one of the few areas that took a lead in preserving and building up the remnant herds of bison in the country. In 1902, Congress appropriated funds to save the bison from extinction. A small free-roaming bison herd was native to Yellowstone National Park and to that herd bison from semi-domesticated herds in Montana and Texas were added. Initially, the semi-domesticated herd was enclosed near Fort Yellowstone at Mammoth Hot Springs. In 1907, 28 bison from the Fort Yellowstone enclosure were moved by Army scouts to a new enclosure in the Lamar Valley (Lamar Buffalo Ranch). Park rangers have performed many of the duties at the ranch during its long period of use into the 1950s.

Department of State Parks & Cultural Resources