Once the plentiful staple support of the American Plains Indians, in 1885 there were fewer than 1,000 American Buffalo (or "bison," the scientific name). Due to the efforts of dedicated ranchers & environmentalists, buffalo have made a comeback in the past 125 years so that the wonderful down is now available for spinning. A combination of painstaking de-hairing to remove the guard hairs and "hands on" processing makes Buffalo Gold yarns distinctly different from other bison down products on the market today.