Bears Paw Mountains

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Bears Paw Mountains
Bearpaws.jp.jpg
Bears Paw Mountains as seen from near Virgelle, Montana
Highest point
PeakBaldy Mountain
Elevation 6,916 ft (2,108 m) [1]
Geography
Little Belts.PNG
CountryUnited States
StateMontana
Range coordinates 48°12.5′N109°31.05′W / 48.2083°N 109.51750°W / 48.2083; -109.51750 Coordinates: 48°12.5′N109°31.05′W / 48.2083°N 109.51750°W / 48.2083; -109.51750
Geology
Age of rock Late Cretaceous

The Bears Paw Mountains (Bear Paw Mountains, Bear's Paw Mountains or Bearpaw Mountains) [2] are an insular-montane island range in the Central Montana Alkalic Province in north-central Montana, United States, located approximately 10 miles south of Havre, Montana. Baldy Mountain, which rises 6,916 feet (2,108 m) above sea level, is the highest peak in the range. The Bears Paw Mountains extend in a 45-mile arc between the Missouri River and Rocky Boy Indian Reservation south of Havre.

Contents

Name

McCann Butte in the Bearpaws, view to the west across glacial moraine. 1920 USGS photograph. Eagle Butte, Bearpaw Mountains.jpg
McCann Butte in the Bearpaws, view to the west across glacial moraine. 1920 USGS photograph.

Locals refer to the range as the Bearpaws. [3] Indigenous names include Assiniboine : Waną́be, lit. 'bear paws', [4] Crow : Daxpitcheeischikáate, lit. 'bear's little hand', [5] and Gros Ventre : ʔɔɔwɔ́hʔoouh, lit. 'there are many buttes'. [6]

While highway signs designate the range as the Bears Paw Mountains, historically, the names Bearpaw Mountains and Bear Paw Mountains also have been used, including on early state maps of the region. The U.S. Geological Survey continues to use Bearpaw Mountains on publications.

Geology

Bearpaw Mountains. View south near Clear Creek, Blaine County, Montana. July 31, 1920. Bearpaw Mtns.jpg
Bearpaw Mountains. View south near Clear Creek, Blaine County, Montana. July 31, 1920.

The core of the Bearpaws are composed of extensive Eocene aged igneous intrusions left over from one of the largest eruptive centers in the Central Montana Alkaline Province. Shonkinite, latite, & tinguatite are among the most common igneous rock compositions found in the Bearpaws.

The Cretaceous Bearpaw Formation outcrops in these mountains, and is named for the range.

History

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce surrendered to Col. Nelson Miles in the foothills of the Bear's Paw Mountains in October 1877 after the Battle of Bear Paw. [7]

Native American legend

Native oral history ties the name to a lone hunter in search of deer to feed his clan. He killed a deer but, while returning to the prairie, encountered a bear. The bear held the hunter to the ground, and the hunter appealed to the Great Spirit to release him. The Great Spirit filled the heavens with lightning and thunder, striking the bear dead and severing its paw to release the hunter. Looking at Box Elder Butte, one can see the paw, and Centennial Mountain to the south resembles a reclining bear. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

Nez Perce Indigenous peoples of North America

The Nez Percé are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.

Belt Creek (Montana) River in Montana, United States of America

Belt Creek is a tributary, approximately 80 mi (129 km) long, of the Missouri River in western Montana in the United States.

Arrow Creek is a tributary of the Missouri River in Montana in the United States. Approximately 45 miles (73 km) long, it rises in the Lewis and Clark National Forest near Highwood Baldy in the Highwood Mountains in southern Chouteau County. It flows south then east, then northeast and joins the Missouri in the White Cliffs Area on the border between Chouteau and Fergus counties.

Cow Creek (Montana)

Cow Creek is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 35 miles (56 km) long, in north central Montana in the United States. Cow Creek rises in the southern foothills of the Bear Paw Mountains in western Blaine County and flows east and then south, joining the Missouri approximately 25 air miles (40 km) northeast of Winifred, Montana—or 22 miles (35 km) upstream from the Fred Robinson Bridge.

Big Sandy Creek is a tributary of the Milk River, approximately 50 miles long, in northwestern Montana in the United States.

Fort Assinniboine

Fort Assinniboine was a United States Army fort located in present-day north central Montana. It was built in 1879 and operated by the Army through 1911. The 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers, made up of African-American soldiers, were among the units making up the garrison at the fort. Determining that this fort was no longer needed after the end of the Indian Wars, the US Army closed and abandoned it.

Nez Perce National Historical Park Series of federally protected historic sites in the northwestern United States

The Nez Perce National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park comprising 38 sites located across the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, which include traditional aboriginal lands of the Nez Perce people. The sites are strongly associated with the resistance of Chief Joseph and his band, who in June 1877 migrated from Oregon in an attempt to reach freedom in Canada and avoid being forced on to a reservation. They were pursued by U.S. Army cavalry forces and fought numerous skirmishes against them during the so-called Nez Perce War, which eventually ended with Chief Joseph's surrender in the Montana Territory.

Battle of the Big Hole 1877 battle of the Nez Perce War

The Battle of the Big Hole was fought in Montana, August 9–10, 1877, between the U.S. Army and the Nez Perce tribe of Native Americans during the Nez Perce War. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. The Nez Perce withdrew in good order from the battlefield and continued their long fighting retreat that would result in their attempt to reach Canada and asylum.

Battle of Bear Paw United States historic place

The Battle of Bear Paw was the final engagement of the Nez Perce War of 1877. Following a 1,200-mile (1,900 km) running fight from western Idaho over the previous four months, the U.S. Army managed to corner most of the Nez Perce led by Chief Joseph in early October 1877 in northern Montana Territory, just 42 miles (68 km) south of the border with Canada, where the Nez Perce intended to seek refuge from persecution by the U.S. government.

Gros Ventre

The Gros Ventre, also known as the Aaniiih, A'aninin, Haaninin, Atsina, and White Clay, are a historically Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe located in north central Montana. Today the Gros Ventre people are enrolled in the Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana, a federally recognized tribe with 3,682 enrolled members, that also includes Assiniboine people or Nakoda people, the Gros Ventre's historical enemies. The Fort Belknap Indian Reservation is in the northernmost part of Montana, just south of the small town of Harlem, Montana. Chiefs: The Belly Government Council

Big Hole National Battlefield Historical battlefield in Montana, United States

Big Hole National Battlefield preserves a Nez Perce War battlefield located in Montana, United States. The Nez Perce fought a delaying action against the 7th Infantry Regiment here on August 9 and 10, 1877, during their failed attempt to escape to Canada. This action, the Battle of the Big Hole, was the largest battle fought between the Nez Perce and U.S. Government forces in the five-month conflict known as the Nez Perce War. In 1992 the park was made a part of Nez Perce National Historical Park, which consists of 38 locations in five states, following the flight of the Nez Perce tribe from the U.S. Cavalry, the route of which was designated Nez Perce National Historic Trail in 1986.

Nez Perce National Historic Trail

The Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail follows the route taken by a large group of the Nez Perce tribe in 1877 to avoid being forced onto a reservation. The 1,170-mile (1,883 km) trail was created in 1986 as part of the National Trails System Act and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The trail traverses through portions of the U.S. states of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana and connects sites across these states that commemorate significant events of the Nez Perce War that took place between June and October 1877, as several bands of the Nez Perce tried to escape capture by the U.S. Cavalry. The sites are among the 38 that are part of the National Park service's Nez Perce National Historical Park, managed over all by the National Park Service, with some sites managed by local and state affiliated organizations.

Looking Glass (Native American leader)

Looking Glass was a principal Nez Perce architect of many of the military strategies employed by the Nez Perce during the Nez Perce War of 1877. He, along with Chief Joseph, directed the 1877 retreat from eastern Oregon into Montana and onward toward the Canada–US border during the Nez Perce War. He led the Alpowai band of the Nez Perce, which included the communities of Asotin, Alpowa, and Sapachesap along the Clearwater River in Idaho. He inherited his name from his father, the prominent Nez Percé chief Apash Wyakaikt or Ippakness Wayhayken and was therefore called by the whites Looking Glass.

White Bird (Native American leader)

White Bird, also referred to as White Pelican, was leader, war chief and tooat of the Lamátta or Lamtáama band of the Nez Perce tribe with the Lamata village along the Salmon River. His band and the village took its name from Lahmatta, by which White Bird Canyon was known to the Nez Perce.

Battle of Canyon Creek

The Battle of Canyon Creek was a military engagement between the Nez Perce Indians and the United States 7th Cavalry. The battle was part of the larger Indian Wars of the latter 19th century and the immediate Nez Perce War. It took place on September 13, 1877, west of present-day Billings, Montana in the canyons and benches around Canyon Creek.

Big Snowy Mountains Mountain range in Montana, United States

The Big Snowy Mountains are a small mountain range south of Lewistown in Fergus County, Montana. Considerably east of and isolated from the main crest of the Northern Rockies, they are one of the few points of significant elevation in the immediate area and are considered one of Montana's island ranges. The range's highest elevation is 8,681 feet (2,646 m). The smaller Little Snowy Mountains are a contiguous range immediately to the east.

Ollokot

Ollokot,, was a war leader of the Wallowa band of Nez Perce Indians and a leader of the young warriors in the Nez Perce War in 1877.

Nez Perce in Yellowstone Park

The Nez Perce in Yellowstone Park was the flight of the Nez Perce Indians through Yellowstone National Park between August 20 and Sept 7, during the Nez Perce War in 1877. As the U.S. army pursued the Nez Perce through the park, a number of hostile and sometimes deadly encounters between park visitors and the Indians occurred. Eventually, the army's pursuit forced the Nez Perce off the Yellowstone plateau and into forces arrayed to capture or destroy them when they emerged from the mountains of Yellowstone onto the valley of Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River.

Most popularly known for his contribution to the Nez Perce people during the Nez Perce War of 1877, Poker Joe went by several monikers to include Little Tobacco, Hototo, and Nez Perces Joe. Half French Canadian and half Nez Perce, his birth name was Joe Hale, and his tribal name was Lean Elk. Joe Hale gained the nickname Poker Joe through his obsession with gambling and poker.

Big Spring Creek (Montana)

Big Spring Creek is a tributary of the Judith River in Fergus County, Montana near Lewistown, Montana. The creek originates from a first magnitude artesian spring approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Lewistown and flows north, northwest for 30 miles (48 km) to its confluence with the Judith River. The spring is the one of the largest in the world flowing at approximately 50,000 to 64,000 US gallons per minute out of the Madison-Limestone formation in the foothills of the Big Snowy Mountains. The creek flows through and under the town of Lewistown. For three blocks spanning Main Street, the creek runs underneath the town in a man-made channel that was created as the town was built over the creek. The spring provides Lewistown's water supply, which requires no treatment for use by consumers.

References

  1. "Baldy Mountain". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved 2019-05-17.
  2. "Bears Paw Mountains". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved 2019-05-17.
  3. Montana Place Names Companion Website Aarstad, Rich, Ellie Arguimbau, Ellen Baumler, Charlene Porsild, and Brian Shovers. Montana Place Names from Alzada to Zortman. Montana Historical Society Press
  4. "AISRI Dictionary Database Search--prototype version. Assiniboine. "Montana"" . Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  5. "Apsáalooke Place Names Database". Little Big Horn College Library. Retrieved 2019-05-17.
  6. Cowell, A.; Taylor, A.; Brockie, T. "Gros Ventre ethnogeography and place names: A diachronic perspective". Anthropological Linguistics. 58 (2): 132–170. doi:10.1353/anl.2016.0025.
  7. Greene, Jerome A. (2000). "13". Nez Perce Summer 1877: The U.S. Army and the Nee-Me-Poo Crisis. Helena, MT: Montana Historical Society Press. ISBN   0-917298-68-3.
  8. "An Island on the Plains: the Bears Paw Mountains" (PDF). Montana Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 20, 2010.