The men on the Hill wanted fresh buffalo hides to clean to make drum coverings.  They wanted to learn how to do something in a traditional way.  Their request to do this was approved and I was designated to bring in the hides one at a time.

There is a locker about 10 miles from the prison which processes buffalo among other animals and was selling buffalo hides for $10.  I would make arrangements ahead of time to come on a day they were putting down a buffalo.  It usually happened in the morning.  I lined the trunk of my car with trash bags so I wouldn’t get buffalo blood all over it.   The men at the locker would load the hide enclosed in trash bags into my trunk and off I would go.  Most of the time the hides were so fresh they were still warm.

When I returned to the prison, I would need to wait until all the inmates were locked down at noon to bring in the hide through the West Gate, an entrance for trucks.  I always hope to find an officer going by at the time I was bringing in a hide because they are heavy.  I couldn’t lift one so I had to drag it from my car trunk into the prison.  I was always happy when a young, strong officer would help me.

The sweat lodge area is close to the gate so when I dragged it through the double gates, I could leave it close to the lodge area and the men would drag it the rest of the way after count cleared and they were back in the yard.

The men would stretch it out and make a paste out of ashes from the sweat lodge fire and water to put on it to loosen the hair.  They would then roll it up and cover it with a tarp for a day or two depending on how warm it was outside to allow time for the hair to loosen.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  It didn’t always work out that way.  One inmate thought there must be an easier way so he cut off some of the hair with a scissors and then tried to shave off the remaining hair.  His razor got all gunky nearly immediately so he learned that didn’t work.

Another time there were still some hot coals in the fire pit from the sweat that morning.  One of the fire keepers noticed there were some chunks of meat on the hide, so he pulled them off, put them on a shovel, and placed them in the fire pit. It didn’t take long until the yard smelled like a barbecue was taking place as the meat cooked.  One of the Associate Wardens smelled it and came storming out of his office to see what was going on.  One of the inmates cooking the meat said there was nothing in the Inmate Handbook saying they couldn’t do it.  The Associate Warden replied there was nothing in the Inmate Handbook about pulling down your pants and crapping on the floor inside in the rotunda, but common sense would tell a person that wasn’t allowed.  He made them discontinue the grilling and he wasn’t very happy with me either since I was out there and didn’t make them stop.

Still another time, the inmates had the hide stretched out hair side down as they removed chunks of fat and meat from it.  I was out there and asked them what one part of the buffalo was.  I told them I had never seen that on a buffalo.   They looked at each other and then one of them told me it was a purse.  I told them I knew buffalo didn’t have purses.  Another one finally told me that it was a part needed to make baby buffalo.  I turned red as I realized I was looking at half of the scrotum.  I said, “Oh.” and they all burst out laughing.  That was the only time the locker had left that part of the buffalo attached to the hide.

The inmates were locked down for three days while a hide was covered with ashes and water.  When they were allowed in the yard again and unrolled the hide, it looked like cheese cloth.

All good things come to an end.  The school is next to the sweat lodge area and the teachers complained loudly about the odor from the hides being cleaned and the influx of flies.  The school isn’t air- conditioned so they had their windows open in the summer. Their complaints were heeded and fresh buffalo hides are no longer allowed.

Mary Montoya