Indian Country

Until the early 1880s this portion of Montana was wild unsettled country. Various Indian tribes used this region for hunting bison and gathering other resources. Many of these tribes lived in tipis. Most tribes used a tripod when raising the tipi. The Crow and the Blackfeet used a four based pole. Prior to the use of wooden stakes to hold the hem of the tipi down, rocks were used. When the camp moved they would pull the tipi out from the rocks leaving a circle of stones. Stone “tipi rings” can still be found throughout Indian country. Interactions between the tribes consisted of trade, marriage, and warfare. Warfare on the plains consisted of acts of honor or “counting coup.” Although many tribes used the area, it was generally occupied by the Binnéessiippeele or River Crow Band of the Apsáalooke Nation. The 1850s saw the beginning of treaties with the tribes that controlled the movement of Indians through reservations. Each subsequent treaty decreased the size of each reservation. In the late 1870s and early 1880s, hide hunters slaughtered the large bison herds for their skins and as a means to diminish the food source of the Indian nations. With the bison gone and the limitations of the reservations a way of life ended. The way of the warrior faded away.