Beach Head

A bison skull is what I saw when I came upon this piece of well worn driftwood while walking along Cavendish beach one evening in mid-October.

The beach seems to have been been well trodden this day — lots of footprints — but this evening it was all but clear of other people.

Two weeks before I had come across an old photo (apparently well known), posted online, from 1892. It showed an apocalyptic scene — a mountain of bison skulls, stacked upon each other, and two tiny humans (settlers), one at its base and one standing atop for context. I was reasonably well aware of the extermination of the bison on the plains through books I had read but this old photo was the first time I had a real-life picture to associate with this idea and it left an impression.

From about 1850 to the late 1870s, the bison (aka buffalo), a keystone species and a critical part of indigenous life, were all but wiped out by settlers. Over 99.9999% of the bison were killed. The estimated 30-60 million bison who had once roamed were reduced to under 500.

On the beach, standing over this notion of a bison skull all I felt was the need to take a picture. Now, writing this looking at the picture I took, alone on a beach covered with human footprints in the Prince Edward Island National Park, I feel the ache of this terrible history in my bones.

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