Early Indian treaty territories in Montana

Last updated March 26, 2019

A number of different Native Americans living in present-day Montana entered into treaties with the United States during the 19th Century. Most of the treaties included an article that established the territory of the tribe (or tribes) entering into it. More and more of this Indian land turned into public or U.S. territory with the signing of new treaties. (See the maps).

Native Americans, also known as American Indians, Indigenous Americans and other terms, are the indigenous peoples of the United States, except Hawaii. There are over 500 federally recognized tribes within the US, about half of which are associated with Indian reservations. The term "American Indian" excludes Native Hawaiians and some Alaska Natives, while Native Americans are American Indians, plus Alaska Natives of all ethnicities. Native Hawaiians are not counted as Native Americans by the US Census, instead being included in the Census grouping of "Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander".

Montana is a landlocked state in the Northwestern United States. Montana has several nicknames, although none are official, including "Big Sky Country" and "The Treasure State", and slogans that include "Land of the Shining Mountains" and more recently "The Last Best Place".

Area 300

Assiniboine Indian territory as described in the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851).^[1]^:594–596 The area changed into U.S. domain on April 13, 1875. In 1866, the Assiniboine had actually ceded the area by a treaty, which was never ratified.^[2]^:880–881

The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people, also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota, are a First Nations/Native American people originally from the Northern Great Plains of North America.

The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 was signed on September 17, 1851, between United States treaty commissioners and representatives of the Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapaho, Crow, Assiniboine, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations. The treaty was an agreement between nine more or less independent parties. The treaty set forth traditional territorial claims of the tribes as among themselves. The United States acknowledged that all the land covered by the treaty was Indian territory and did not claim any part of it. The boundaries agreed to in the Fort Laramie treaty of 1851 would be used to settle a number of claims cases in the 20th century. The Native Americans guaranteed safe passage for settlers on the Oregon Trail and allowed roads and forts to be built in their territories in return for promises of an annuity in the amount of fifty thousand dollars for fifty years. The treaty should also "make an effective and lasting peace" among the eight tribes, each of them often at odds with a number of the others.

Areas 373 and 374

"Flathead, Kootenay and Upper Pond d'Oreille" used this range. The Kootenai and Upper Pend d'Oreille (Kalispel) lived north of Flathead Lake. The Flathead (Salish) made camps in the valley south of it. Area 374 is the "Jocko Reserve" established by the Hellgate treaty in 1855.^[1]^:722–725

Areas 398, 399, 565 and 574

The Blackfeet Indians and their Indian allies in the Gros Ventre tribe hunted and pitched tipis here. Areas 398 (extending into Wyoming) and 399 is the Fort Laramie treaty (1851) territory of the Blackfoot Nation.^[1]^:594–596 It is something of an oddity, since the Blackfeet did not attend the treaty councils.^[3]^:52 On October 17, 1855, area 398 became shared hunting grounds for "ninety-nine" years and the Blackfeet accepted camps of the Flathead, Upper Pend d'Oreille, Kootenay and Nez Perce, as well as whites, on the ranges. Further, they allowed the Assiniboine to hunt on a part of their easternmost treaty range (area 565) bordering present-day North Dakota (indicated with a black line).^[1]^:736–740 The green area 399 is not included in the 1855 treaty territory of the Blackfeet, but it was first formally relinquished on July 5, 1873, by executive order.^[2]^:812–813 Area 574 was ceded by executive orders of April 15^[2]^:874–875 and August 18, 1874.^[2]^:876–877 The reserve thus left to the Blackfeet in 1874 (area 565 without the common hunting ground bordering North Dakota) would diminish later. Today, both the Blackfeet Reservation, the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation, the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and the Fort Peck Indian Reservation is located within this former Blackfeet treaty land between the Missouri and Canada.

Blackfeet Nation Native American reservation in Montana

The Blackfeet Nation also known as the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation and headquarters for the Siksikaitsitapi people in the United States. Located in Montana, its members are composed primarily of the Piegan Blackfeet band of the larger ethnic group historically described as the Blackfoot Confederacy. It is located east of Glacier National Park and borders the Canadian province of Alberta. Cut Bank Creek and Birch Creek form part of its eastern and southern borders. The reservation contains 3,000 square miles (7,800 km²), twice the size of the national park and larger than the state of Delaware. It is located in parts of Glacier and Pondera counties.

The Gros Ventre, also known as the Aaniiih, A'aninin, Haaninin, and Atsina, 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.

The Nez Perce are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States for a long time.

Areas 517, 619 and 635

The three areas together indicate the Crow Indian territory in Montana as defined in the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851).^[1]^:594–596 Areas 619 and 635 show the smaller Crow Indian Reservation established on May 7, 1868.^[1]^:1008–1011

The Crow, called the Apsáalooke in their own Siouan language, or variants including the Absaroka, are Native Americans, who in historical times lived in the Yellowstone River valley, which extends from present-day Wyoming, through Montana and into North Dakota, where it joins the Missouri River. In the 21st century, the Crow people are a Federally recognized tribe known as the Crow Tribe of Montana, and have a reservation located in the south central part of the state.

Crow Indian Reservation reservation of the Crow Tribe of Montana

The Crow Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Crow Tribe of Indians of the State of Montana in the United States. The reservation is located in parts of Big Horn, Yellowstone, and Treasure counties in southern Montana. It has a land area of 3,593.56 sq mi (9,307.27 km²) and a total area of 3,606.54 sq mi (9,340.89 km²), making it either the fifth or sixth largest reservation in the country. Reservation headquarters are in Crow Agency.

Ares 532

This is a vacuum in the cessions of Indian land. With adjoining tribal areas outside Montana, the territory was claimed by "Methow, Okanagan, Kooteny, Pend d'Oreille, Colville, North Spokane, San Poeil, and other tribes". When tribal reservations were established in other states in 1872, the United States "simply took possession" of area 532 on "December 0, 1871".^[2]^:856–857

Areas 529 and 620

The combined areas show the westernmost land recognized as Arikara, Hidatsa and Mandan territory in the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851).^[1]^:594–596 The United States came into possession of area 529 by executive order of April 12, 1870, and area 620 by executive order of July 13, 1880.^[4]^{:map facing p. 112}

Area 597

The two gray areas at the right bottom of the map indicate the northwestern edges of a larger Lakota territory in the present-day Dakotas and Wyoming as described in the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851).^[1]^:594–596

The Northern Cheyennes

The Northern Cheyennes are not mentioned here, since the treaties defining Indian territories in Montana antedate the arrival of them. They (along with the Northern Arapahos and the Lakotas) advanced into Montana during the Sioux Wars in the mid-1860s and the 1870s.^[5]^:342 The western part of the present Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation is end-to-end with the eastern and longer border of the Crow reservation in the central part of the 1851 Crow treaty territory (yellow area 517).

The Chippewas and the Crees

The Chippewas and the Crees are other groups of Native Americans without a long history in Montana. The Rocky Boy Indian Reservation is located in the center of area 565.

The map

Related Research Articles

The Arapaho are a tribe of Native Americans historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. The Arapaho language, Hinónoʼeitíít, is an Algonquian language closely related to Gros Ventre (Ahe/A'ananin), whose people are considered to have separated from the Arapaho at an early time. The Blackfeet and Cheyenne also speak Algonquian languages, but theirs are quite different from Arapaho.

The Lakota are a Native American tribe. Also known as the Teton Sioux, they are one of the three Sioux tribes of Plains. Their current lands are in North and South Dakota. They speak Lakȟótiyapi—the Lakota language, the westernmost of three closely related languages that belong to the Siouan language family.

The Cheyenne are one of the indigenous people of the Great Plains and their language is of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese. These tribes merged in the early 19th century. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized Nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enrolled in the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma, and the Northern Cheyenne, who are enrolled in the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana.

The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, is a Native American Nation resulting from the alliance of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara peoples, whose native lands ranged across the Missouri River basin extending from present day North Dakota Through western Montana and Wyoming.

The Arikara War was an armed conflict between the United States, their allies from the Sioux tribe and Arikara Native Americans that took place in the summer of 1823, along the Missouri River in present-day South Dakota. It was the first Indian war west of the Missouri fought by the U.S. Army and its only conflict ever with the Arikara. The war came as a response to an Arikara attack on trappers, called "the worst disaster in the history of the Western fur trade".

The Treaty of Fort Laramie was an agreement between the United States and the Oglala, Miniconjou, and Brulé bands of Lakota people, Yanktonai Dakota and Arapaho Nation, following the failure of the first Fort Laramie treaty, signed in 1851.

The Hidatsa are a Siouan people.

Arikara, also known as Sahnish, Arikaree or Ree, are a tribe of Native Americans in North Dakota. Today, they are enrolled with the Mandan and the Hidatsa as the federally recognized tribe known as the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.

The Pend d’Oreille, also known as the Kalispel, are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Their traditional territory was around Lake Pend Oreille, as well as the Pend Oreille River, and Priest Lake. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington. The Kalispel peoples referred to their primary tribal range as Kaniksu. It extended from roughly present-day Plains, Montana, westward along the Clark Fork River, to Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho, and the Pend Oreille River in eastern Washington and into British Columbia (Canada).

The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still reside in the area of the reservation; the rest reside around the United States and in Canada.

The Hunkpapa are a Native American group, one of the seven council fires of the Lakota tribe. The name Húŋkpapȟa is a Lakota word meaning "Head of the Circle". By tradition, the Húŋkpapȟa set up their lodges at the entryway to the circle of the Great Council when the Sioux met in convocation. They speak Lakȟóta, one of the three dialects of the Sioux language.

The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is a U.S. Indian reservation in western North Dakota that is home for the federally recognized Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes. The reservation includes lands on both sides of the Missouri River.

The Fort Belknap Indian Reservation is shared by two Native American tribes, the A'aninin and the Nakoda (Assiniboine). The reservation covers 1,014.064 square miles (2,626.41 km²), and is located in north central Montana. The total area includes the main portion of their homeland, as well as off-reservation trust land. The tribes reported a total of 2,851 enrolled members in 2010. The capital and largest city is Fort Belknap Agency, at the reservation's north end. This is just south of the city of Harlem across the Milk River.

The Swan Valley Massacre was an incident in 1908 in which four Pend d'Oreilles Indians, members of an eight-person hunting party, were killed by a state game warden and his deputy in the Swan Valley in northwestern Montana. The state of Montana did not honor off-reservation hunting permits, although the hunting right was established by federal treaty. The game warden confronted the Pend d'Oreilles party and a gunfight ensued.

Native Americans from various tribes lived in North Dakota before the arrival of settlers. With time, a number of treaties and agreements were signed between the Indians and the newcomers. Many of the treaties defined the domain of a specific group of Indians. The three maps below show the treaty territories of different Indians living in North Dakota and how the territories changed and diminished over time in the 19th century.

Arikara scouts were enlisted men from the Arikara Nation serving in the U.S. Army at different frontier posts in present-day North Dakota from 1868 to 1881. The enlistment period was six months with re-enlistment possible. Each scout received a uniform, firearm and drew rations. Scout duties ranged from carrying mail between commands to tracking down traditional enemies perceived as hostile by the Army in far ranging military campaigns. Detailed to secure the horses in located enemy camps, the scouts were often the first to engage in battle. The Arikara took part when the Army protected survey crews in the Yellowstone area in the early 1870s. They participated in the Great Sioux War of 1876 and developed into Colonel George Armstrong Custer's "… most loyal and permanent scouts …".

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kappler, Charles J. (1904): Indian Affairs. Laws and Treaties. Vol. 2. Washington.
1 2 3 4 5 U.S. Serial Set No. 4015, 56th Congress, 1st Session.
↑ Kvasnicka, Robert M. and Herman J. Viola (Ed.) (1979): The Commissioners of Indian Affairs, 1824-1977. Lincoln and London.
↑ Meyer, Roy W. (1977): The Village Indian of the Upper Missouri. The Mandans, Hidatsas, and Arikaras. Lincoln and London.
↑ White, Richard: The Winning of the West: The Expansion of the Western Sioux in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. The Journal of American History, Vol. 65, No. 2 (Sep. 1978), pp. 319-343.

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[Kap1904-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kappler, Charles J. (1904): Indian Affairs. Laws and Treaties. Vol. 2. Washington.

[US4015-2] 1 2 3 4 5 U.S. Serial Set No. 4015, 56th Congress, 1st Session.

[KandV1979-3] Kvasnicka, Robert M. and Herman J. Viola (Ed.) (1979): The Commissioners of Indian Affairs, 1824-1977. Lincoln and London.

[Meyer1977-4] Meyer, Roy W. (1977): The Village Indian of the Upper Missouri. The Mandans, Hidatsas, and Arikaras. Lincoln and London.

[White1978-5] White, Richard: The Winning of the West: The Expansion of the Western Sioux in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. The Journal of American History, Vol. 65, No. 2 (Sep. 1978), pp. 319-343.