history of the project

History of the Project

Modern Rediscovery. The Vore family homesteaded in the Redwater Valley in the late-1880’s. The extended family farmed part of the land and grazed livestock on the remainder. In the early 1970’s, the route for Interstate Highway 90 was surveyed across the southern portion of the Vore ranch. The originally intended route of the east bound lane would have passed over the north rim of a large sinkhole, requiring that the hole be filled and compacted with enormous quantities of earth. Moreover, sinkholes are, by their very nature, unstable and the highway engineers were rightly concerned that the bottom might subside further and collapse the highway into the sinkhole. To determine the stability of the site, the Wyoming Department of Transportation created a crude road into the sinkhole and used a small rig to drill several holes in the bottom. Almost immediately the drill brought up quantities of buffalo bone. A decision was made to move the interstate south of the sinkhole and to notify archaeologists from the University of Wyoming (UW) that a cultural site of unknown size and importance had been discovered.

The aerial photograph above shows the Vore Buffalo Jump sinkhole sandwiched between the access road and I-90. As originally surveyed, I-90 would have gone over the Vore Site. Discovery of the major archaeological site caused the highway to be rerouted 200 feet to the south.

Initial Excavations. In the summers of 1971 and 1972, Dr. George Frison brought a crew of archaeologists from UW to excavate the Vore Site. The crew was led by then graduate student Charles Reher. To determine the horizontal extent of the site, Reher and his crew created two excavation trenches that essentially formed a large “X” across the floor of the hole. To determine the vertical profile of the site, they excavated a 3 meter by 3 meter shaft. This effort proved that the Vore Site is in fact massive: Bone and cultural materials extend throughout the sinkhole almost 200’ in diameter.

The bone and artifacts that were removed went primarily to the University of Wyoming where they are still used in research and teaching. The excavation units were backfilled and no further excavation occurred for over 20 years. Charles Reher used the volumes of data obtained from the initial excavation as the basis for his doctoral dissertation at the University of New Mexico and later returned to UW to assume his present position as Professor of Anthropology. Reher and others have published numerous technical papers based primarily on materials collected in the 1970’s and Reher is still the principle scientific investigator at the site.

The panoramic view of the Vore Site above was produced by Daniel R. Holloway; he essentially "stitched" together multiple digital images using Photoshop 6.

A Wonderful Gift To The World. In 1989, the family of Woodrow and Doris Vore agreed to donate 8.25 acres that included the sinkhole to the UW with the stipulation that it be developed as a research and education center within 12 years. Unfortunately, the University had funding limitations and other priorities and was unable to create the Center within that time period. In 2001, the property was transferred to the non-profit Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation (VBJF), which is committed to realizing the Vore Site’s incredible potential for scientific, educational, and cultural programs and to making the site available to visitors from all parts of the world.

The VBJ Foundation is small and has very limited resources, but it has succeeded in making site improvements each year. Most importantly, the VBJ Foundation has sponsored interpretive programs to visitors each summer since 2004. The Foundation is actively working to establish permanent facilities with the goal of creating a world-class research, education, and cultural center at the Vore Site. A new, asphalt-covered parking lot was completed in September, 2007 with funding from the Wyoming State Division of Tourism and the Wyoming Department of Transportation.

This photograph of the Vore sinkhole taken in the 1970’s shows the “X” formed by the horizontal excavation units and the beginning of the shaft that documented the vertical profile.