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Great Plains Quarterly Studies, Center for

1987

Nowhere Left to go: 's , Metis, and Chippewas and the Creation of Rocky Boy's Resevation

Larry Burt Northern Montana College

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Burt, Larry, "Nowhere Left to go: Montana's Crees, Metis, and Chippewas and the Creation of Rocky Boy's Resevation" (1987). Great Plains Quarterly. 421. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/421

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. NOWHERE LEFT TO GO

MONTANA'S CREES, METIS, AND CHIPPEWAS AND THE CREATION OF ROCKY BOY'S RESERVATION

LARRY BURT

In the last third of the nineteenth century, the into Montana from the Dakotas after they had federal governments of and the Unit­ failed to conclude satisfactory treaty arrange­ ed States asserted their jurisdiction over the ments with the . Many members Great Plains through a series of treaties that of these three groups were united in a pro­ established reservations for the various Indian longed struggle for a place to live and for a life of the area. By the turn of the century, to be lived as much on their own terms as three small native groups found themselves possible. homeless relics of a distant past long after The Crees had a long history of relations other peoples had moved to their reservations. with whites. About the time of European Several bands of Indians and a number of arrival, they had inhabited much of east mixed-bloods, who called themselves Metis, central Canada. In 1670 Britain established had used lands on both sides of the line that the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Crees had become the border between the state of quickly became middlemen in the company's Montana and the provinces of and fur trading activities. As the focus of fur . The confusion over the ­ operations shifted westward and southward al identity and governmental responsibility for throughout the 1700s, many Crees slowly these two groups was exacerbated when mem­ migrated in response. Eventually they reached bers of both joined a rebellion against the the end of the woodlands, turned to the Canadian government. At about the same buffalo as their primary food source, and time a band of Chippewa Indians migrated adapted the characteristics that thereafter marked them as Plains Crees. By the 1800s they had penetrated as far west as the area Larry Burt is associate professor of history at north of present-day Montana. Their migra­ Northern Montana College. During the past tion continued, although it was stimulated by academic year he has been a visiting fellow at the a couple of new factors. The buffalo were American West Center at the University of Utah. already being hunted out, especially in the northern portion of their range. The Crees [GPQ 7 (Summer 1987): 195-209] sometimes crossed the forty-ninth parallel and

195 196 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1987 hunted on lands also used by the Piegans, Gros Metis, another group whose life-style and Ventres, and , but they generally range were being undercut by the elimination stayed close to the Canadian trading posts of the buffalo. Countless unions between where they obtained the European goods that European fur post employees (usually French, had already become indispensable to their life­ sometimes Scots) and Indian wives (usually style. Then the set up fur posts in Cree, sometimes Chippewa) in Canada had Montana. Crees occasionally came to trade at resulted in a mixed-blood population and a Fort Union in the late 1820s and at Fort Sarpy unique culture that combined both Indian and and Fort Benton several decades later. European characteristics. These Metis hunted The final destruction of the buffalo in buffalo, selling the robes to fur posts and dried southern Canada forced the Crees to negotiate pemmican to government facilities such as treaties with the Canadian government. Most military forts or Indian reservations. In their Plains Crees submitted at Fort Qu'Appelle in famous Red River carts the Metis crossed the 1874 and at and Fort Pitt in 1876. border with even greater frequency than the They then moved onto reserves and depended Crees. As early as 1810 they had made parts of on support from the government. But a and Minnesota regular stops in headman in the River People band named Big their hunting and trading routes.' Bear rejected treaty arrangements and led a Beginning in the 1860s, many Metis from faction that continued to practice a traditional the Turtle Mountain area on the border life-style by hunting the last of the remaining between Canada and North Dakota moved buffalo in northern and central Montana westward into Montana Territory after game Territory. Another earlier offshoot of the became scarce in their old homeland. They River People band, called the Cree-Ass in i­ settled in some of the best remaining hunting boines because of a close relationship with grounds in the northern Plains of the U.S., bands, at first agreed to a treaty, along the Milk, Teton, Missouri, and Judith but many of its members eventually migrated rivers. One of the largest Metis communities farther south as well after becoming disillu­ was on a portion of the Milk River known as sioned with the scanty provisions forthcoming the Big Bend, or Medicine Lodge, near where from the Canadian government.: Frenchman's Creek enters the Milk and north­ Thus, Cree presence in north central east of present-day Malta, Montana. It is Montana Territory was becoming increasingly difficult to ascertain exactly when the set­ common by the 1870s. Beginning in 1871, tlement originated, but the army first took small and hungry bands occasionally came in note of it in the 1870s. The Crees were most to the U.S. Indian agency on the Milk River likely there at the same time since that is when (named Fort Belknap in 1873) for emergency both civilian and military records first mention relief. A few skirmishes occurred between the a significant Cree presence in north central Crees and white settlers in the Marias and Montana Territory. As the army prepared for Teton river valleys in 1874. The next year a what would become the war of 1876, U.S. special Indian agent, William Fanton, officials became concerned about the Metis' discovered stolen horses in Montana among alleged trading of arms to the "hostile" Sioux. some Crees and north Assiniboines, who he Therefore, in the spring of 1875 General reported had "heretofore but seldom come to Alfred Terry ordered Colonel John Gibbon to the vicinity of Fort Belknap." And in 1875 the break up the mixed-blood settlement. i Fort Benton military headquarters for the first The Metis returned, however, as soon as time listed the Crees as among the surround­ the troops left the Frenchman's Creek area. By ing tribes in its annual report to the army's 1878 they were joined by some Lakota Sioux Department of Dakota.' who had escaped into Canada with Sitting The Crees often traveled and lived with the Bull following the Sioux war of 1876. The NOWHERE LEFT TO GO 197

Sioux refugees, finding buffalo scarce in Cana­ Crees, migrating out of Canada in destitute da, moved gradually southward until they condition and searching for buffalo to keep were encamped near the mixed-bloods along from starving. 's band of more than Frenchman's Creek on both sides of the line. three hundred Cree lodges encamped near Concern turned to paranoia as officials feared Carrol, a steamboat station on the Missouri that would attract disgruntled River. The Crees and Metis both negotiated elements from many groups on the Plains and with the agents, requesting permission to hunt spearhead a concerted action against either on the reservation. Although a few mixed­ whites or reservation Indians such as the Gros bloods had been granted permits earlier, all Ventres. In 1878 Congress quickly appropri­ were now denied. The agents were concerned ated money for the construction of Fort that the outside Indians would obliterate the Assiniboine in the Bear's Paw Mountains near buffalo that they zealously guarded for the sole the Milk River. And since it was still assumed use of their charges and insisted that all of the that Sioux arms came from the Metis, General intruders were Canadian, had no right to be Nelson Miles moved against the mixed-bloods south of the boundary, and should be run out in the summer of 1879, sending them north­ by the military.' ward across the border. 0 Higher-ranking officers at newly con­ General Miles withdrew to (he Missouri structed were far less certain shortly after chasing the Metis out of the Big that a campaign of removal was necessary or Bend area because government officials feared appropriate. Lieutenant Colonel H. M. Black precipitating an episode that might further noted that the military itself indirectly ap­ strain relations with Canada. The two govern­ proved of a Metis presence by purchasing ments did not agree on Indian policy in goods from them and by hiring them to general nor on the appropriate way of dealing perform various tasks from woodcutting to with Sitting Bull's Sioux in particular. More­ transporting supplies. He also submitted to his over, Canadians were suspicious of any hint of superiors a letter from a Frenchman's Creek American northern expansion after earlier mixed-blood named Charles Freschie, who signs of U.S. interest in taking parts of maintained that most of the Metis families had Canada, evidenced by invasions during the beerr born in the U.S. Freschie argued that this Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, as was not the same gun-trading group that Miles well as private adventures later in the century.; had run out earlier. He described his people as But the Metis moved back into the Milk increasingly desperate as the buffalo steadily River area almost immediately and were soon disappeared. The Metis had nowhere else to joined by other groups as well. The land go, and Freschie pleaded that they be per­ between the Milk and Missouri rivers on mitted to stay. But the fear that the Metis or reservations for the Gros Ventres, the Assini­ their well-armed Cree allies might supply the boines, and a few bands of Lakota Sioux Sioux undoubtedly tipped the balance in contained some of the last remaining buffalo. arriving at a decision. The annihilation of Neither the Canadian nor the U.S. govern­ Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and his ment was making adequate preparation and men at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in provision for the sustenance of 1876 had shaken the pride and confidence of a as the buffalo disappeared. Many nearby nation in the midst of a patriotic celebration of groups descended in desperation upon the its centennial and had discredited the Peace area. In the fall of 1879 the Fort Belknap Policy of a few years earlier. Politicians and the Indian agent, William L. Lincoln, and the Fort military dared not risk another embarrassing Peck Indian agent, Ned Porter, began alerting defeat by the Sioux, and so the assistant the military to a dramatic increase in the adjutant general ordered troops at Fort Assini­ number of Metis, Blackfeet, Bloods, and boine to expel the intruders." 198 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1987

It was a relatively simple matter to chase the Piegans, Bloods, and Blackfeet back to their reservations, but the Crees and the Metis had nowhere to go. Scouting reports in the spring of 1881 indicated unusually large num­ bers of mixed-bloods close to the Fort Peck agency and Crees along the Milk River and in the Little Rockies south of that river. Hungry and disillusioned treaty Crees migrating out of Canada constantly supplemented the ranks of Big Bear's following. About the same time many Montana ranchers began pressuring the Department of the Interior to remove the Crees. All of this prompted the first of the Milk River campaigns. Soldiers set out in the fall of 1881, equipped with cannon and Gat­ ling guns, but only a few confrontations occurred. The Crees and Metis usually suc­ ceeded in keeping ahead of troop movements and in escaping across the border when chased. The government ordered soldiers simply to put "foreign Indians" across the line and not to fight unless fired upon because it wanted to avoid anything that might further FIG. 1. Little BeaT. Photo courtesy of the Photo sour relations with its neighbor to the north. Archives Department, Vande Bogart Library, Canadian officials questioned the assumption Northern Montana College. that all Metis and Crees were Canadian and complained that U.S. Indian groups were allowed to hunt freely north of the border, th~mselves in to the custody of the soldiers. while the U.S. tried to prohibit the reverse. The mixed-bloods naturally objected, main­ Whereas some of the highest ranking officers taining that the area was theirs and even doubted the need for the action at all, many holding U.S. Deputy Marshall ].]. Healy soldiers and officers in the field resented the hostage for a while in March 1882. Soldiers restrictions that they felt emasculated them realized that the matter of nationality was not and wanted a free hand to end the Cree and as simple as the solution of ejection across the Metis affair quickly. 10 border would suggest. One later noted that When weather permitted travel in the "army officers knew they were here when the spring of 1882, the campaign began again with whites first came and no one knew how long more vigor. A few gun battles led to some before. Many were born south of the recently fatalities, but for the most part the Crees and surveyed boundary line."" the Me'tis still preferred escape over challeng­ In the spring of 1882 Big Bear and most of ing the well-equipped soldiers. The action was his band went back to Canada, where the old quickly diminishing the already seriously de­ leader was under intense pressure from many pleted resources of the Indians and mixed­ of his people to sign a treaty. He finally bloods. Troops began burning Metis cabins relented in December 1882, but some of his and the buffalo robes they sold for a living. band continued to resist and rallied around Occupants were given only a short time to the leadership of one of Big Bear's sons, Little gather their belongings, vacate, and turn Bear, or Imasees. Meanwhile, the Crees under NOWHERE LEFT TO GO 199

Little Bear intensified horse raiding against themselves to pay for increasingly scarce both whites and reservation Indians in Mon­ necessities or for liquor. A general breakdown tana Territory. In late 1882, for example, some of traditional social structures resulted from Crees stole all of the horses belonging to a both alcoholism and increased internal squab­ band of Gros Ventres camped on Big Birch bling over how to respond to the dramatic Creek. The same Crees then went on to steal crises that the group constantly faced. Many all of the horses at a Beaver Creek sheep ranch younger warriors wanted to confront the owned by some army officers from nearby Fort military more aggressively than did most

Assiniboine. Early the next year the Crees headmen. 14 struck the Gros Ventres again, taking sixty­ In the spring of 1885 Crees under Big Bear seven horses from a band on People's Creek. In took part in the North West Rebellion in May the Crees captured some Piegan horses, which Metis under rose up in arms and a fight between the two groups ensued against the Canadian government. when the Piegans gave chase. At almost the returned to Canada and, along with the war same time some Crees ran off with thirty-three chief Wandering Spirit, played a key role in horses from the Benton and St. Louis Cattle the killing of several settlers in an episode Company." known as the . After the In response, the military began focusing general collapse of the uprising, Big Bear's more attention on the Crees. It set up tempo­ band was thus wanted by Canadian authori­ rary posts close to the border at the Big Bend ties. Sources disagree on how many Crees of the Milk River and in the Sweetgrass Hills escaped southward, but Canadian officials northwest of Fort Assiniboine. Captured alerted Colonel Brook of on the Crees were usually held at nearby forts until Sun River west of Great Falls that twenty-five they could be escorted to the border. In a lodges of insurrectionary Crees under a son of typical instance, Lieutenant John Anderson Big Bear were heading toward the U.S. That and twenty men found eighty-one Crees in the number corresponds to the twenty-four lodges Bear's Paw Mountains in April 1883. The captured in late December 1885 by Lieutenant soldiers confiscated nine rifles and twenty Robertson and thirty-five soldiers at Rocky ponies and then brought the Indians to Fort Point, a spot in the rugged breaks country Assiniboine. The next month troops captured along the ." fifty-two Crees south of the Missouri near the Troops also took Crees into custody from Musselshell River. The Indians were disarmed seventeen lodges near Fort Belknap. They and all of their belongings burned before the found some items among these people that soldiers took them to Fort Assiniboine to they believed linked them to the Frog Lake await the journey to Canada. All of this Massacre and thus to the North West Rebel­ military action contributed to the further lion. As part of their larger assumption that all impoverishment of the Crees. Not many years Crees were Canadian, after 1885 American earlier they had been described by Indian authorities tended to believe that all Montana agents as strong with many horses and new Crees were Riel rebels, even though Crees had carbines and by one soldier as "the best been found in that area for over a decade. fighters on the plains." But by 1883 rifles were Nonetheless, all of the Indians captured near scarce, and many Crees captured were on Fort Belknap were taken to Fort Assiniboine. foot.ll The military immediately requested authority Other problems plagued the Crees as well. from the State Department for deportation, Alcohol was readily available from any of the but it was denied. There were questions about numerous traders in Montana Territory, and the legality of deporting people who in some the Crees consumed a great deal of it after cases were citizens and had undoubtedly been coming into the area. Cree women prostituted born south of the line. The primary sttfmbling 200 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1987 block, however, was the fact that Canada had Me'tis had become thoroughly integrated into never filed the necessary request for such the group. Busha also worked through Flat­ action. Canadians believed that many of the head Indian agent Peter Ronan in soliciting Indians were American wards not being prop­ help from the commissioner of Indian Affairs erly cared for. They viewed the situation as in finding a home, but the government would another reflection of a long-standing U.S. make no promises. 18 record of mistreating the Indians. But even if The same group returned to Willow Creek the American version was accepted, Canadi­ for the winter and suffered even more than the ans saw a double standard. Escapees from year before. The winter of 1887-88 was the Indian uprisings in the U.S., such as the hardest in memory with heavy snow and after the American Revolution and temperatures of thirty and forty degrees below the Sioux after warfare in Minnesota in the zero. The band found itself with only ten 1860s, had been treated in Canada as perma­ emaciated ponies, inadequate clothing, no nent refugees and given reservations, while the firearms with which to hunt, poor lodges, and U.S. turned away people in similar situations. 16 little food. A few local settlers had hired some With deportation out of the question for Crees to do odd jobs earlier, but by winter the the time, bands of Crees quickly scattered to money was used up. Samuel Ford again helped several different locations in Montana T errito­ as much as he could, but the starving and ry and began a several-decades-Iong struggle to freezing Indians were dying off. A handful of survive and find a home. Some stayed near residents in the Augusta area eventually took Fort Assiniboine and farmed or worked for action. John Watson and Elizur Beach wired either the military or private businesses in $100 to Phil Manix of Augusta for immediate tasks such as wood chopping, hunting, or-for relief. Others petitioned the territorial gover­ women-doing laundry. In 1886 a group under nor, who in turn telegraphed . Little Bear headed southwest toward the Crow Finally on 11 February the president signed Reservation but was turned back by soldiers legislation allowing the War Department to from south of the Missouri draw $500 out of a distress fund for the River near Lewistown. The band then went emergency relief of the Indians. 19 west through Fort Benton and made winter Another group of about two hundred camp on Willow Creek, fifteen miles west of Crees encamped along the Milk River did not Augusta, one-quarter mile from a camp of fare much better that winter. Only the car­ mixed-bloods on Breed Creek, and very near a casses of seve~al hundred coyotes poisoned by rancher named Samuel Ford, who was well cowboy employees of the nearby Home and known for his friendship toward Indians. 17 Land Cattle Company of St. Louis saved the The Indians experienced severe deprivation Indians from starvation. Thereafter, this epi­ that winter. A few drifted in to nearby Fort sode, together with the common assumption Shaw, where the army fed them, while Samuel that the Crees had survived on winter-killed Ford provided some food for the rest. The game and range cattle, would be used by local military contacted the commissioner of Indian newspapers as examples of how "the only Affairs, who drew up a bill to relieve the Crees, earthly good the Crees are known to be is as but Congress made no appropriation. That scavengers, for they eat everything from a spring the band traveled to· the Flathead mouse to a dead horse, and they are not very Reservation, and in August 1887 a council was particular how long it has been dead. "20 held in an unsuccessful attempt to convince In 1888 the government cut down the huge the Indians there to make room for the northern Montana reservation, and the migra­ homeless Crees. Mixed-blood Pierre Busha tion of cattlemen into the area north of the acted as spokesman, indicating that by this Missouri River dramatically accelerated. By time (and probably long before) a number of the early 1890s they had joined other white NOWHERE LEFT TO GO 201

Montanans in petitioning Governor ]. K. know they are Canadian Crees."'4 Toole to work toward Cree deportation. 1-v10st In 1892 Secretary of State James G. Blaine complaints came from the west central part of answered demands from white Montanans by the state where Little Bear and his followers opening a dialogue with Canadian authorities continued to roam in search of game, a home, on deportation. The Crees, desperately fearing or ways of earning money. In June 1890, for any such action, made two separate moves to example, Little Bear made another futile avoid a forced return. A sympathetic Great attempt to talk Indians on the Flathead Falls attorney, John Hoffman, helped several Reservation into allowing the Crees to stay Crees request "declaration of intent" papers there. The next year a small group established that would lead to U.S. citizenship. Clerk of itself on Dog Creek, or Wolf Creek, near the Court William Cockrill was reluctant, so Craig, Montana, where Indians dressed he sought the advice of U.S. District Attorney deerskins and polished horns from old buffalo E. D. Weed, who at first ruled that the Crees skulls, selling the horns and buckskin gar­ were within their rights. Cockrill issued the ments to tourists at the nearby railroad depot. forms, but when Weed learned that Hoffman For several years there was a market for buffalo intended to bring more Crees in, he instructed bones in making fertilizer, and some of the Cockrill not to issue any more. The Crees Indians used rickety old wagons or Red River would thus have to go to court merely to carts to gather the tons of bones that littered acquire forms, something they had neither the the plains to sell to dealers near rail lines. 01 The time nor the money for. The Indians also passage of state game laws made traditional asked the new Montana governor, ]. E. Rick­ hunting illegal, and ranchers urging deporta­ ards, for help in convincing the federal govern­ tion frequently pointed to the Crees' slaughter ment to set aside a reservation. Rickards of scarce wildlife. They also complained about petitioned the Department of the Interior on the alleged depredation of cattle and plun­ the matter, but no action was taken. > dering of whites, but no Cree was actually In the spring of 1894, Little Bear initiated a convicted of crimes against property or people. money-making venture that the Crees would Army officers often defended them as usefully turn to again on several occasions. Through employed during warm months and as surpris­ interpreters, Little Bear talked the Great Falls ingly well conducted, considering their starv­ Chamber of Commerce into endorsing a sun ing condition in the midst of vast herds of dance at the fairgrounds as part of the cattle and horses." fair. When local ministers led a campaign to The prevailing attitude among most settlers forbid the dance, arguing that any such display was far more harsh. In 1890 the Fort Benton of "barbarism" would hurt the city's reputa­ River Press editorialized that "the day has tion, the Crees encamped next to the fair­ about passed when these lazy, dirty, lousy, grounds and invited the press and ministers to breech-clothed, thieving savages can intrude witness parts of the activity. The controversy upon the isolated households and nose around stirred considerable interest among a popula­ in the backyards of private residences in tion for whom the Indians represented a communities of civilized beings with impuni­ curious reminder of the past. The press de­ ty."" As the campaign for deportation inten­ scribed the Crees in typical frontier stereo­ sified, the Canadian press struck back, ob­ types. The men were "stoical and indolent," jecting to the American habit of considering the women formed "as complete an aggrega­ the Crees strictly Canadian. In early 1891 the tion of perfect ugliness as can be found on any Calgary Herald described them as "probably spot on the face of God's green earth," and the American Indians who have not been properly children were "fat, rugged, dirty, and hungry looked after by the U.S." To that, the Fort and will readily absorb anything from a section Benton River Press indignantly responded, "We of fence to the internal arrange- 202 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SUMMER 1987 ments of a deceased canine-and prosper on wan River area. Most important, Canada the diet." But the dramatic self-torture portion agreed not to prosecute for activities during of the never took place in Great the uprising. Little Bear then traveled through­ Falls because Governor Rickards issued a out Montana in a largely unsuccessful attempt proclamation banning it. Little Bear, however, to convince the dispersed bands not to resist./7 was able to thumb his nose at the governor Major J. M. J. Sanno of the Third Infantry when Helena invited the Crees to perform the arrived in June 1896 to investigate and orga­ ceremony as part of the Independence Day nize the deportation. Over the next two celebration in the state capital, the governor's months Fort Assiniboine troops led by Lieu­ o~n backyard./6 tenant John J. Pershing gathered bands from A number of Crees joined a Wild West locations near Great Falls, Havre, Malta, Show in 1895 and toured parts of the East Glasgow, Missoula, Butte, Crow Reservation, before the show disbanded near the end of the and Piegan Reservation. No fighting broke year. When the Indians returned early the out, but the Crees often attempted to escape next year, rumors of pending deportation capture. The Indians were collected in Great abounded. By early spring most Crees had Falls and then transported by rail to Coutts scattered, fearing retribution stemming from Station on the border, except for the group participation in the North West Rebellion. near Missoula that was marched on foot after Indeed, the deportation campaign had proven appropriations for the project had nearly run effective, and arrangements had been worked out. Attorney John Hoffman tried to stop the out between the U.S. State Department, procedure by obtaining a writ of habeas corpus Canadian Indian Commissioner A. E. Forget, in a state civil court, but it was dismissed when and Little Bear, allowing the Indians to the U.S. district attorney appeared and suc­ transport their belongings free of duties and cessfully argued that the matter was out of the thereafter to live on reserves in the Saskatche- jurisdiction of a state court. IS

FIG. 2. Deporting the Crees to Canada, Havre, Montana, 1896. Photo courtesy of the Photo Archives Department, Vande Bogart Library, Northern Montana College. NOWHERE LEFf TO GO 203 Both Canada and the U.S. violated the deportation agreement from the start.' Canada agreed to accept only Cree Indians, but many others were caught in the dragnet. The mili­ tary took enrolled members of the Fort Belk­ nap Reservation and some Turtle Mountain Chippewas into custody but later released them. Others could not convince the soldiers of the mistake until it was too late to avoid the move northward. Governor Rickards had pressured the Department of War to include mixed-bloods, and Canadian officers later told a number of hardship stories of people, usually Me'tis, who were forced to leave their homes and families behind. For example, an Ameri­ can mixed-blood who owned a ranch at the mouth of the Musselshell River was taken while he was cutting wood to sell to steam­ boats on the Missouri River.29 As the army was about to take the Crees across the border, rumors spread that Little Bear and his followers would be arrested. Little Bear then became reluctant and would not board the train until Canadian authorities FIG. 3. Rocky Boy. Photo courtesy of the Photo produced an actual copy of the amnesty Archives Department, Vande Bogart Library, proclamation. Upon reaching , the Northern Montana College. Indians' fears were realized when Little Bear and Lucky Man were arrested on a murder charge based on the killing of several priests near the end of the North West Rebellion. The two were soon released, since the sole witness the Crees hunted (always at the risk of arrest to the alleged crimes would not identify them, for violating game laws) and sometimes held but the breach of the amnesty proclamation sun dances with an admission fee or sold undoubtedly contributed to the quick return Indian-made goods. Life increasingly became a to Montana of most of those deported. This struggle for the unwanted Crees. A few breach was not the only reason because some members of a group staying on the Flathead of those questioned upon their return also Reservation in 1901 contracted smallpox, and noted that Canada did not provide enough the band was driven off the reservation and food and that they were too far from centers of quarantined north of Kalispell. A crowd of population to make a living by selling polished whites ran another group out of the Billings horns, moccasins, and leather clothing in the area the next year. 31 way that had become common in Montana. JO At about this time, Little Bear and his Before the end of 1896 bands of Crees were people came into close contact with a similarly once more scattered throughout Montana. homeless band of Chippewas, a group histori­ Groups usually wintered on the outskirts of cally close to the Crees. Not much is known towns, where white residents complained of about the origins of the roughly 110 Chippe­ their living out of city dumps or on offal from was under the leadership of Rocky Boy, but local slaughter plants. During warm months some evidence suggests that they may have 204 CJREAT PLAIl'.'S QUARTERLY, SU"I\IER 1987 been loosely associated with various Cree and beginning to see another opportunitv. Some­ Metis bands for many years, Thev migrated time shortly after 1905 Rocky Boy and the into Montana about the mid-1890, from the Chippewas moved to Birdseye, about ten miles Pembina, or Turtle lv10untain, district of northwest of Helena, and Little Bear and some l\:orth Dakota, That area had for decades been of his followers located in Montana Citv, a crucible where Chippewas, Crees, and Metis about seven miles southeast of Helena. The mixed, In 1892 the government attempted to Chippewas and Crees mixed and intermarried, negotiate a treaty and create a reservation but and the two leaders struck a lasting alliance. experienced great difficulty, in large part Rocky Boy continued his quest for a reserva­ because of problems between the Chippewas tion, pleading his case before Senator Joseph (many of whom were mixed-blood and carried Dixon, Senator Gibson's successor. His efforts French surnames) and the Metis, who had were made more difficult by the association in established themsekes in the area sometime the minds of many Montanans between the after the Chippewas. In the midst of this Chippewas and the "foreign" Crees. Newspa­ confusion and stalemate, some of the Chippe­ pers frequently referred to the Crees as Chip­ was, especially the most traditionalist elements pewas and vice versa. Little Bear, on the other who wanted no part of a reservation, moved hand, understood the advantages offered by westward In search of better hunting linking with the less tainted Chippewas and grounds. ;: wisely deferred to Rocky Boy in what became a After several years of wandering around joint effort to win a reservation for Indians

Montana and struggling to live, like the Crees, who were quickly merging into a single . '0 Rocky Boy in 1902 consulted Anaconda at­ Rocky Boy's efforts eventually drew more torney ]. W. James, who helped write a letter sympathetic attention in some quarters as to President asking for a reports of starving and helpless people slowly reservation. At James's urging, Rocky Boy also replaced images of fierce and threatening foes. conferred with Montana Senator Paris Gib­ The Indians gained powerful allies when son, whose requests prompted the Department Helena judge J ames Hunt, Great Falls Tribune of the Interior to launch an investigation, editor William M. Bole, and Helena insurance Because the Chippewas usually camped near man Frank Linderman began petitioning the Helena or Anaconda and because the Flathead Montana congressional delegation and the Reservation was nearest those locations, the Department of the Interior. In 1908 Senator matter was handled by Flathead agent Thomas Dixon won an amendment to an Indian De­ Downs. Downs recommended that room be partment appropriations bill for $30,000 to made on the Flathead Reservation, and the find a home for the Chippewas (not the Crees) Department of the Interior prepared a bill to on an existing reservation. Indian Office that effect, which Senator Gibson introduced inspector Frank Churchill investigated the in Congress in early 1904. But Flathead Blackfeet (Piegan), Crow, Fort Belknap, and opposition and a lack of enthusiasm from the Fort Peck reservations, but Indians on all of Montana delegation in the House of Represen­ them voiced strong objection. Churchill con­ tatives doomed the measure to failure in the cluded that the only feasible alternative was to lower body of Congress." set aside a reservation in Valley County, Meanwhile, moves were again underway to where lands were scheduled to be opened soon deport the Crees. Little Bear negotiated with for homesteading as a result of a reduction of Canadian authorities and U.S. War Depart­ the Fort Peck Reservation in 1909. The ment officials, but limited interest by both the Department of the Interior then withdrew a Crees and the Canadians dictated that the portion of the old reserve and forbade filing effort this time would not get beyond the until the issue could be settled." talking stages. Moreover, Little Bear was Everyone involved in the effort understood NOWHERE LEFT TO GO 20S that haste was paramount if the Chippewas a dry farming congress in Billings in October werc to rcceive a part of Vallcy Countv. The 1909, Hill, representativcs of local railroads plight of the Indians at times reached emcrgen­ and agricultural industries, and local land cy proportions, and supporters knew that speculators shot off a protest to President unless they hurried they might have no one to William H. Taft and the Department of the give a rescrvation to. For example, disastcr was Interior, demanding that the lands be rc­ avertcd among the Chippewas camped ncar opencd. ;; Helena during the winter of 1908-9 only when The document referred to "Rocky Boy residents lcd by thc local Commcrcial Club, by Indians, a Canadian band of rcnegade Crees," artist Charles Russell, and by William Bolc even though the government at this point was volunteered emergency supplies and began a trying to exclude the Crees. Deliberate or not, fund for the starving Indians. That, in turn, the mistaken association worked to create an prompted the Department of the Interior to image of giving land to totally undcserving investigate and provide governmcnt assis­ foreign Indians that was very effective in tance, but all such aid was tcmporary. Sup­ influencing public opinion. William Boles's porters also anticipated the intense opposition Great Falls Tribune supported the Valley that would certainly develop among white County reservation plan, but nearly every residents to thc Valley County proposal. other newspaper joined the opposition. The Senator Dixon was under great pressure to Havre Plaindealer, for example, attackcd the work for reopening the withdrawn lands. He Tribune for defending the "rights of Rocky Boy publicly supportcd that move but privately and the wasted band of his savages" and urged the (BIA) to sarcastically suggested that "the government hurry the process of creating a reservation could better afford to take Rocky Boy and his before opposition made it impossiblc. o o whole band to the Waldorf Astoria in Ncw Winter arrived early in the fall of 1909 as York and feed them until disease completes its the BIA made plans to move the Chippewas to labor."" Valley County. Rocky Boy tried to keep the The government backed down near the band assembled, but his eroding control over end of October, reopened Valley County to the group and the fear of having too many homesteading, and decided to ship the Chip­ people to feed in one placc during cold weathcr pewas' to an unused portion of the Blackfeet led many to scattcr in the way that had Reservation near Babb, Montana. The Indians become typical by this time. Morcover, people were loadcd onto railroad cars in mid­ in the Valley County area were openly hostile, November and arrived in Browning in the and railroad and homesteading interests midst of a snowstorm. Within a few months throughout Montana, North Dakota, and the BIA started to distribute land allotments Minnesota raised an overwhelming protest. to individuals, attempting to include only the The Great Northern Railroad delayed the eligible Chippewas. But this proved impossi­ move by quoting unusually high rates to blc. Crees and Chippewas, along with a transport the Indians to their destination. This number of Metis, had by this time so intermar­ forced the BIA allotting agent in charge of the ried that distinctions were blurred. Moreover, operation to request ncw authorization to pay Rocky Boy had sent word to Crees as well as the higher than expected costs. In addition, Chippewas to join him. Crec bands arrived on the president of Great Northern, Louis W. the Blackfeet Reservation throughout the Hill, had recently committed about two mil­ spring and summer of 1910 with Little Bear lion dollars toward the construction of a joining the group in July.;

Journey" and Mrs. Clemence Gourneau Berger, 1824-81, (microcopy 234), MS, roll 517, RG 75, "Metis Come to Judith Basin," in The Metis NA; attitudes of soldiers and lower.ranking officers Centennial Celebwtion PLlblication, 1879-1979, ed. can be seen in many of the letters written by Glen Bill Thackeray (Missoula: Montana Committee for Doane, an officer in the Milk River campaign, to his the Humanities, 19(9), pp. 11-16; Reminiscences of wife, found in the G. C. Doane Papers, MHSL. Eli Gardipee, 27 September 1940, pp. 1-3, MHSL; II. Entry for 3 I March 1882, Fort Assiniboinc D. W. Buck to Edwin P. Smith, 15 December 1873, Post Returns (FAPR), National Archives Film and William W. Anderson to Edwin P. Smith, 1 (NAF) 617-42, MHSL; the quotation can be found May 1874, LROIA, 1824-81 (microcopy 234), MS, in C. W. Duvall, "Few Dull Days for Early Sol· roll 497, RG 75, l\:A; General Alfred Terry to diers," Great Falls Tribune, 17 l\'ovember 1935, rep. Commanding Post, Fort Ellis, 23 March 1875, in "North of the Missouri: The History of Hill LROIA, 1824-81 (microcopy 234), MS, roll 503, RG County and l\:orthern 1v1ontana," suppl. to the 75, NA. Havre Hi· Line Herald, 1971, found in Special 6. H. M. Black to Assistant Adjutant General, Editions: Havre, MHSL. Department of Dakota, 28 January 1880, and H. M. 12. Dempsey, Big Bear, pp. 109-13; Fort Benton Black to C. H. Potter, 26 November 1879, LROIA, River Press, 13 December 1882, p. 3, 11 April 1883, 1824-81 (microcopy 234), MS, roll 518, RG 75, NA; p. 6, and 9 May 1883, p. 5; The Benton Weekh Montana News Association Inserts, 31 May 1937 (l), Record,S May 1883, p. 4. p. 4; Robert M. Utley, Frontier RegLllars: The United 13. Entries for 31 July 1882, 30 April 1883,31 States Army and the Indian, 1866-1890 (New York: May 1883, and 31 August 1883, FAPR, NAF Macmillan, 19(3), p. 287. 617-42, MHSL; Benton Weeki), Record, 26 May 1883, 7. Utley, Frontier RegLllars, p. 287; S. F. Wise p. 5; the quotation from the soldier describing the and Robert Craig Brown, Canada Views the United Crees came from Frank Burke to his father, date States: Nineteenth CentLln Political Attitudes (Seattle: missing, 1882, Patrick Francis Burke Papers, MHSL. University of Washington Press, 1967), pp. 14, 98, 14. Dempsey, Big Bear, pp. 94, 96-97, 99. 124; Kenneth M. Curtis and John E. Carroll, 15. Peterson, "Imasees and his Band," pp. Canadian·American Relations: The Promise and the 24-27; Great Falls Tribune, 23 July 1885, p. 1; Fort Challenge (Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Benton River Press, 30 December 1885, pp. 1, 5. Books, 1983), pp. 5-6. 16. Fort Benton River Press, 30 December 1885, 8. Hugh A. Dempsey, Big Bear: The End of p. 5, and 6 Junc 1888, p. I; Great Falls Tribune, 1 Freedom (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, August 190 I, p. 1; an example of Canadian views 1984), p. 96; H. M. Black to Headquarters, Fort concerning U.S. treatment of Indians can be found Custer, 5 December 1879, LROIA, 1824-81 (micro· in Wise and Brown, Canada Vieu's the U.S., p. 98. copy 234), MS, roll 518, RG 75, l\'A; name missing 17. The Helena Independent, 9 January 1887, p. at Fort Belknap to General Thomas Ruger, 23 1; Montana News Association Inserts, 27 June 1932, p. September 1879, folder I, box 1, Fort Assiniboine 1; Pam Phillips interview with Mary Houle, 24 Records (FAR), MHSL; Black to Assistant Adju· August 1983, p. 3, transcript in author's files; tant General, 28 January 1880; for a discussion of Raymond Gray, History of the Cree Nation, 1942, conditions among northern plains Indians, especial. unpub. MS in the Chippewa·Cree Archives, Rocky ly the Blackfeet, from the late·1870s through the Boy's Reservation, p. 23. mid·1880s as the buffalo disappeared, see John C. 18. Gray, History of the Cree Nation, p. 25; U.S. Ewers, The Blackfeet: Raiders on the Northwest Plains Congress, House of Representativcs, Relief for the (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958), pp. Cree Indians, Montana Territory, Ex. Doc. 341, 50th 289-96. Cong., 1st Sess., 1888, p. 2; Fort Benton Ri,'cr Press, 9. Black to Assistant Adjutant General, 28 24 August 1887, p. I; Verne Dusenberry, "~1on· January 1880; Black to Potter, 26 l\:ovember 1879; tana's Displaced Persons: Rocky Boy Indians," Major Ruggles to Thomas Ruger, 6 November 1879, Montana Magazine of Histon 4 (Winter 1954): 3-4. LROIA, 1824-81 (microcopy 234), MS, roll 517, RG 19. The Helena Independent, 27 January 1887, 75, NA. p. I, and 2 February 1887, p. 4; House, Relief for 10. Thomas Ruger to Commanding Officer, Cree Indians, p. 2. Fort Assiniboine, 14 September 1881, folder 2, box 20. The Anaconda Standard, 19 January 1896, 1, FAR, MHSL; name missing to Thomas Ruger, 13 p. 7; Ewers, "Ethnological Report," p. 109. May 1881, folder 3, box 2, FAR, MHSL; Montana 21. Complaints about Crees by Montanans News Association Inserts, 5 September 1932, p. 2; appear in the Official Correspondence of Got'CTnor Dempsey, Big Bear, pp. 94-95, 100-101, 104; Sir Joseph K. Toole, 1892, pp. 83-85, MHSL; Gray, Edward Thorton (British minister to the U.S.) to History of the Cree Nation, pp. 52-53, 67-69; Ewers, William Evarts, 15 November 1879, LROIA, "Ethnological Report," pp. 122-23. NOWHERE LEFT TO CO 2,"1

22. C.S. Congress, Senate, RefLlgee Canacliun September 1905, pp. 1, 6; Gray, Histon of [he Cree Indians, S. Rept. 821 to Accompany H. R. Montana Cree Indians, p. 37; Ewers, "Ethnologic31 8293, 54th Cong., 1st Sess., 1896, pp. 5-7. Report," p. 123; Wessel, Histon oj Ruck> p.21. 23. Fort Benton Rit'er Press, 28 May 1890, p. 2. 3S. Ewers, "Ethnological Report," pp. 136-37; 24. Both quotations can be found in Fort Benton Raymond Gray, Landlcss Indians, 1942, unpub. tvlS Riter Press, 11 February 1891, p. 2. in the Chippe\\'8.Crel' Archives, Rocky F\m''s 25. Great Falls Leader, 20 July 1893, p. I, and 21 Reservation, p. 5; \Vessel, Histon oj Roch D()\'s, July 1893, p. 4; Fort Benton Riter Press, 18 October pp. 25-26. 1893, p. I. 36. Grear Falls Tri/JLlne, 12 J anua[\' 1909, pp. 2, 26. The quotations describing the Crees appear S; Helena Daih Independent, 10 Januarv 1909, p. 5· in Hill'Te Adt'ertiser, 7 June 1894, p. 1; Thomas Wessel, Histon of Roch Bo,'s, pp. 27-28. Wessel, A Histon of the Rock>: Bo,'s Indian Reserl'Ll' 37. Wessel, Histon of Rock:> Do:,,'s, pp. 28-10; tion, unpub. MS, pp. 13-15, MHSL. Great Falls Daih- Tribune, 3 ~ovember 1909, p. 4, 27. Raymond Gray, Histon of the Cree Indian.l, and 7 November 1909, p. I; Great Falls Leader, 26 1942, unpub. MS in the Chippewa·Cree Archives, October 1909, p. I. Rocky Boy's Reservation, pp. 8, 32; Great Falls 38. All of the quotations are found in Hane Leader, 12 June 1896, p. 4. Plaindealer, 13 November 1909, p. 2. 28. Gray, Histon of the Cree Indians, pp. 3-8; 39. Great Falls Daih Tri/JLlne, 12 i\:ovember Montana Neu's Association Inserts, 16 August 193{ 1909, p. 1; Gray, Landless Indians, pp. 17-22. (1), p. 1; entries for 4 July 1896, and 3 August 1896, 40. The Conrad ObsCH'er, 1 FebrU8ry 1912, p. 1; FAPR, l\:AF 617-43, MHSL; Helena Independent, 26 Gray, Landless Indians, pp. 25-28; \Vessel, Histon of June 1896, p. 8; Ewers, "Ethnological Report," Rocky 80)'s, pp. 35-36. pp. 120-21. 41. Wessel, Histon of Rock> Do"s, pp. 38-39; 29. Helena Independent, 26 June 1896, p. 8; Gray, Landless Indians, p. 34. Raymond Gray, Histor,' of the Montana Cree Indians, 42. The quotations can be found in Hatrc 1942, unpub. MS in the Chippewa.Cree Archives, Plaindealer, 29 November 1913, p. I, and 11 January Rocky Boy's Reservation, pp. 8-9; Dusenberry, 1913, p. 4, respectively; see also HatTc Plaindealcr, 27 "Montana's Displaced Persons," pp. 6-{. December 1913, p. 1, and 27 June 1914, p. 4. 30. Great Falls Leader, 3 July 1896, p. 4; Gray, 43. Havre Plaindealer, 13 February 1915, p. 1; History of the Cree Indians, pp. 12-13; Great Falls Wessel, Histon of Rock:> Bo,'s, pp. 47-48. Leader, 18 October 1897, p. 4. 44. Rocky Boy to Cato Sells, 29 ~o\'Cmber 31. Montana Daih Record, 1 August 1901, p. 1; 1915, and Little Bear to Cato Sells, 29 November Gray, Histor:v of the Montana Cree Indians, pp. 19, 37; 1915, File-Indians, Rocky Boy, box 85, RG 7S, Dusenberry, "Montana's Displaced Persons," Fort Belknap Agency (FBA), Seattle Federal Re· pp. 10-11. cords Center (SFRC); Robert Livingston to Com· 32. Ewers, "Ethnological Report," pp. 62-68; missioner of Indian Affairs, 14 June 1915, File­ Gray, History of the Montana Cree Indians, pp. 19-22. Letters Received from Commissioner of Indian 33. Ewers, "Ethnological Report," pp. 128, 132; Affairs, 1915-16, box 12, FBA, RG 75, SFRC; C.S. Gray, History of the Montana Cree Indians, pp. 37-39; Congress, Senate, Fort Assiniboine Militan Reserta· U.S. Congress, Senate, Wandering Ameriwn·Born tion, Montana, S. Rept. 347 to Accomp8ny S. 3646, Indians of Rock>: Boy's Band, Montana, S. Rept. 1020 64th Cong., 1st Sess., 1916, pp. 2-4. to Accompany S. 2705, 58th Cong., 2nd Sess., 45. Rocky Boy to Frank Linderman, 1 April 1904, p. 2; Wessel, Histon of Rocky Bo,'s, pp. 22-23. 1916, Linderman P3pers, Museum of the Plains 34. Great Falls TribLlne, 1 August 1901, p. 1, and Indian, Browning, Montana; Gray, Landless Indians, 12 October 1905, p. 3; Hane Plaindealer, 30 pp. 75-79.