 Some sources report that the Cypress Hills area was considered neutral territory, and did not belong to any particular First Nation.The hills were a source of medicine plants that could not be found on the prairie, and, when bison were scarce, deer, elk and squirrel could be hunted there.From 1857 to 1860, a large area of Rupert’s Land – now southwest Saskatchewan and southeast Alberta – was explored as part of the Palliser Expedition, led by John Palliser.