Jamestown, ND

Thundering herds of buffalo have inhabited the grasslands around Jamestown, N.D., (pop. 15,527) for centuries, and they still do—just in much smaller numbers.

In the early 1800s, hundreds of thousands of buffalo roamed the plains of North Dakota, supplying American Indians with food, clothing, and shelter. Today, the herd at the National Buffalo Museum south of Jamestown totals just 57 head, and one animal in particular—an albino bison named White Cloud—receives special respect and recognition.

“The community embraces White Cloud as one of their own,” says Donna Zimmerman, museum director. “Whenever I go downtown, people ask me about her. They really care.”

During the summer, Stacy Petrek brings her 2-year-old son, Zachary, to the museum grounds a few times a week. “It’s thrilling to bring him here,” she says. “We think White Cloud is cool, the way she stands out and the way she’s linked to religion and history.”

Albino buffalo such as White Cloud—with their snow-white coats and pink eyes—are rare and considered sacred by American Indians, who regard them as a sign of peace, prosperity, unity, and hope.

White Cloud was born in 1996 on a ranch owned by Dan and Jean Shirek of Michigan, N.D. When she was a year old, the Shireks leased her to the North Dakota Buffalo Foundation, which owns the National Buffalo Museum. Now the Shirek family makes the 220-mile round trip to Jamestown several times a year to visit White Cloud and her 1-year-old normal-colored calf, Princess Winona.

“It’s a wonderful place for White Cloud, with the hills, native grasses, and coulee,” Jean Shirek says. “It makes more sense for her to be there than with us, because more people can see her and enjoy her. She’s well taken care of and looks great.”

Originally known as the “Pride of the Prairie,” Jamestown was nicknamed the “Buffalo City” in 1959 after “The World’s Largest Buffalo.” The 60-ton concrete monument, measuring 26 feet high and 46 feet long, was built atop the hill overlooking town. Its buffalo image grew in 1991 when real bison from Theodore Roosevelt National Park were transplanted to 150 acres of pasture around the buffalo monument. It grew further when the National Buffalo Museum opened in 1993.

In 1997, White Cloud, then 1 year old, was added to the museum’s herd. Now, tens of thousands of visitors a year pull off Interstate 94 to look for the albino buffalo among his brown-colored cousins.

David Schutten and his 15-year-old son, Joe, of Bloomington, Minn., were among them one sunny day in July. “Just three miles down the road, I was telling Joe about how this area once had nothing but buffalo,” Schutten says. “I was saying how the buffalo herds were so big that it would take days for them to all cross this road. Then I saw the buffalo along the road and figured it was too much of a coincidence to pass up.”

So the Schuttens pulled off the highway to pose for photographs by the buffalo monument and to watch White Cloud, who hangs on the periphery of the roaming herd, grazing on prairie grasses.

On some days, White Cloud and the rest of the herd are out of sight, staying cool in the woods by a ravine.

“People get upset when they can’t see her,” Zimmerman says. “But our answer is that they wouldn’t want her caged up all day. You want them to be able to roam as they always have.”

Ryan Bakken is a newspaper columnist and freelance writer who lives in Thompson, N.D.

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