A History of Montana's Native Americans
The history of the various modern tribes in the part of America we now
call "Montana," is characterized by years of constant movement for many
of them. They traversed the plains to follow the bison and then retreated
in intertribal struggles for control of hunting territory. Finally, with
the bison nearly extinct and tribes decimated by battles with white men,
there came the final move onto reservations, marking the end of an era.
Archeological evidence shows that Native Americans inhabited Montana
more than 14,000 years ago. Artifacts indicate the Kootenai have roots
in the area's prehistory. The Kootenai inhabited the mountainous terrain
west of the divide, venturing only seasonally to the east for buffalo hunts.
The Salish and the Pend d' Oreilles occupied territory as far east as the
Bighorn Mountains. During the 1700s these two tribes and the Kootenai shared
common hunting and gathering grounds. With the signing of the Hellgate
Treaty, their massive landholdings were ceded and the tribes now share
the fertile ground of the Flathead Reservation.
The Chippewa and Cree were the latest tribal groups to come to Montana.
They came from reservations outside the state late in the nineteenth century
after Montana's reservation system was in existence. These tribes today
are intermixed and use the name, "Chippewa-Cree." They claim the windswept
Rocky Boy's Reservation in the north.
The bison-based economy deteriorated in the 1880s when several factors
affected the future of Montana's Indians. Bison were hunted to near extinction,
the Canadian and United States governments became the dominant force driving
Indians from their lands, and white men's diseases diminished the population
and faded the spirit of the Native Americans. By the 1870s large tracts
of land, through various treaties and executive orders, were formally reserved
for Indians.
Thus the reservations evolved. Today nine percent of the Montana land
base is reservations. Not all of this land is still owned by Indians, but
all is governed by tribal or federal law. Reservations are important, not
only because Native Americans have strong spiritual ties to the land, but
because reservations have become the Indians' last retreat and the last
chance to preserve their culture. Now, the people of Montana's reservations
are working to build strong economic bases so that their culture will survive
and flourish with future generations of Indian people.
|
Dates Reservations Were Established
(with main community and resident tribes) |
Blackfeet
(Browning) |
1851 |
Blackfeet |
Crow
(Crow Agency) |
1851 |
Crow |
Flathead
(Pablo) |
1855 |
Salish, Kootenai & Pend d' Oreilles |
Fort Belknap
(Fort Belknap Agancy & Harlem) |
1888 |
Assiniboine & Gros Ventre |
Fort Peck
(Poplar) |
1888 |
Assiniboine & Sioux |
Northern Cheyenne
(Lame Deer) |
1884 |
Northern Cheyenne |
Rocky Boy's
(Box Elder) |
1916 |
Chippewa-Cree |
|
|
