Blackfeet and Buffalo

In the days of the fur traders and trappers immediately following the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-06) all of this country bordering the Rocky Mountains from here north into Canada and south to the three forks of the Missouri and to the Yellowstone River was buffalo range and the hunting grounds of the Blackfeet Nation. These Indians were fierce and willing fighters who jealously guarded their territory from invasion. Like all of the Plains Indians they were dependent upon the buffalo for their existence. The herds meant meat, moccasins, robes, leggings and tepees. Board and room on the hoof. Some Indian legends say that the first buffalo came out of a hole in the ground. When the seemingly impossible happened and the buffalo were wiped out there were Indians who claimed the whites found the spot, hazed the herds back into it, and plugged the hole.