How Did the Plains Indians Manage to Survive on the Plains?

SURVIVAL ON THE GREAT PLAINS

The Great Plains have very hot summers and extremely cold winters. The Plains are also very dry, with very little surface water (streams or rivers). When rain comes, it is often in thunderstorms. Lightning flashes sometimes ignited raging fires that swept across the Plains, burning the dry grass and anything else caught in their way. These fires could be whipped up by the strong winds that also blew across the Plains.

Survival on the Plains depended on hunting buffalo on horseback. Huge herds of buffalo migrated across the Plains in search of fresh grass. The Plains Indians followed the buffalo migrations through the summer and autumn. As a consequence, Plains Indians had developed:

• amazing horse-riding and archery skills…