Form 10-300 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (July 1969) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Montana COUNTY: NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Pondera INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY
ENTRY NUMBER all applicable sections)
COMMON: Two Medicine Fight Site AN/OR HISTORIC: ^**~\ . Sitei of^ Lewis'Fight with the Blackfeet (Jul /^'l ' i
STREET AND NUMBER: Township 31 North, Range 7 West, Section CITY OR TOWN: approximately 25 miles VSE of Browning COUNTY: Montana 25 Pondera
OWNERSH.P STATUS
District Q Building D Public Public Acquisition: D Occupied Yes: Restricted Site Q Structure B Private || In Process 13rsr Unoccupied1 1 • j D Both | | Being Considered Unrestricted D Object Qi — inPreservation • worki in progress ' — '
PRESENT USE (Check One or More as Appropriate)
|X| Agricultural I | Government n Park Transportation Comments
| | Commercial [ | Industrial I I Private Residence Other (Specify) I I Educational O Military I I Religious I I Entertainment I| Museum I I Scientific
OWNER'S NAME: Indian Trust Land - Allotment #766 Blackfeet STREET AND NUMBER: v • Bureau of Indian Affairs Office, Blackfoot Agency ff CITY OR TOWN: PJ Browning 25
COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC: Pondera County Court House Pondera OUNTY: STREET AND NUMBER:
CITY OR TOWN: Conrad Montana 25
TITLE OF SURVEY: State Inventory DATE OF SURVEY: Sept., 1968 D Federal State County Loca DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: State Fish^ and Game Department STREET AND NUMBER: Recreation & Parks Division 8.£ CITY OR TOWN: STATE: Helena Montana 25 fC/iecft One;
Q Excellent 1 S Good Q Fair I 1 Deteriorated |~~) Ruins 1 I Unexposed CONDITION (Check One) (Check One)
D Altered g] Unaltered D Moved £§ Origir-ol Site
DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (if known) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
The land is little changed since Lewis saw it. The same steep bluffs that figured in the fight, a similar growth of cottownwoods on the bottom. Perhaps as perfect integrity as a site of this kind can possibly have. The site lies within the following described boundary: Beginning at the NW point at intersection of west boundary of Section 12 and Two Medicine Creek; thence in an easterly direction following Two Medicine Creek 3/4 mile; thence in a southerly direction,1/2 mile; thence in a westerly direction 3/4 mile; thence," in a J northerly direction 1/3 mile to Two Medicine Creek, 'the beginning point.
IS* m rn
H 70 C n
o -2. (I] 18th Century 20th Century K] 19th Century ^PECOT^ftSTcSV (i/*#iicabie and Known) July 26 and 27. 1806 (Check One or More as Appropriate)
I \ Education n Political Q Urban Planning tistoric [ | Engineering D Religion/Phi JXJ Other (Specify) Historic | | Industry losophy Exploration [~1 Agriculture [ | Invention [| Science
| | Architecture || Landscape [~l Sculpture «*s D Art Architecture KM Social/Human
f~| Commerce O Literature itarian | | Communications Q Military | | Theater | | Conservation PI Music I | Transportation
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE On the evening of July 26, 1806, Leyis and his small party consisting of himself, George Drewyer, Joseph and Reuben Fields encountered eight Piegans (one of tfre Blackfoot tribes) , and agreed to camp with them at Two Medicine Creek. They arose on z the morning of the 27th to find the Indians stealing their guns o R. Fields pursued one Indian and killed him while retrieving his gun. Drewyer jumped up and seized his gun from another Indian and Lewis awoke, pursued and retrieved his gun from a third Indian. Then the Indians endeavored to make off with u the horse herd. The main Indian party attempted to drive the horses up the creek and were pursued by Drewyer and the Fields. These fleeing Indians were driven oiff but had been able to es cape with a few horses. The remaining horses were brought bad to camp by the Fields. Meanwhile Capt. Lewis pursued two othe Indians trying to head up the bluff in the opposite direction with the other horses. In the course of retrieving these horhorses Lewis shot and killed a second Indian and barely missed being LU shot in the head during the skirmish. Lewis and his party UJ then took the horses they needed and rode with great haste to the mouth of the Marias River ftearing pursuit by a larger band of Indians. This encounter was particularly significant: as the first, meeting between representatives of ^he U. S. and the Blackfoot tribes, as the first encounter fought between the army and the plains tribes and as the only ffght between members of the Lewis and Clark expedition and Indians during the entire trip. This encounter represented the most crucial point as an obstacle to the successful completion of the Lewis and Clark expedition. This event, also an omen of future relations between white men & Indians,closed the upper Mo.R.to whites for sometime In addition, the area surrounding the fight site contains much evidence of Indian culture including buffalo remains, Indian tipi rings, and a pislkun. V/ West, Helen B., Meriwether Lewis in BIA, Browning, Montana, 1964
LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY DEFINING THE CENTER POINT OF A PROPERTY OF LESS THAN TEN ACRES
LATITUDE LONGITUDE LATITUDE LONGI TUDE
Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds NW 48° 2V 50" 112> 28' 05- O i » NE 48° 21' 50" 112 27 07" SE 48° 21' 23" 112* 27 07 sw 9 f " ' " APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY: 220
ILIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES
COUNTY m m
COUNTY:
COUNTY:
COUNTY:
NAME AND Tl TLE: n Robert A. Murray ORGANI ZATION DATE S-tate and Game Deartment Sept., 1968 STREET AND NUMBER: ____Recreation & Parks Division CITY OR TOWN: Montana 25
As the designated State Liaison Officer for the Na I hereby certify that this property is included in the tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion National Register. in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service. The recommended ,______^ ____UT-^ Chief, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation level of significance of this nomination is: National |Xl State Q Local n 0CT 5 lm
Date Name Wesley R. Woodgerct ATTEST: Title state Liaison Officer Keeper of The Rational Register // flUG 1 9 197Q^ ' Bate Date TWO MEDICINE FIGHT SITE
Ocean via the Missouri and Columbia Riv there a more wildly beautiful, yet desolate, area than the Two Medicine
Fight Site. Located on the south side of the Two Medicine
River a few miles southwest of Cut Bank and on the Blackfeet
The description from the Journals of lewis reads:
— "we decended a very steep Huff about 250 feet high to the river where there was a small bottom of nearly 1/2 mile In length and about 250 yards wide In the widest part, the river washed the bluffs both above and below us and through it's course In this part Is very deep; the bluffs are so steep that there are but few places where they could be ascended, and are broken in several places by deep nltches which extend back from the river several hundred yards, their bluffs being so steep that It is impossible to ascend them; In this bottom there stand t(h)ree solitary trees'* -- Indians were killed. Lewis and his men then fled the area,
joining with Clark and the remainder of the men at the confluence
been killed In this encounter, and his Journals and records destroyed, the loss would have been Incalculable. The area
Is also of major significance because some 19 miles northwest of the Fight Site is the area Lewis named Camp Disappointment, and which is located on Cut Bank Creek. It marks the furthest point north of the expedition and determined the northern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase. Camp Disappointment has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and a large
-2- journal, ona can aaaily visualize tha descant of Lewis and his
man with tha Indiana to tha area, thalr camp that avanlng, and
conversations carrlad on through Drewyar by algn language. Tha i discovery of thla exact location was possible through tha
initiative, raaaareh and determination of historian, Halan B.
West, Scoutmaster Robert R. Anderson, and tha Boy Scouta of
Troop 444 of Cut Bank. Aa a result, thai Fight Site is now marked
by a large rustic sign made by tha National Park Service,
erected by the Scouta, with an inscription relating the events
that happened there. The three treea have been encircled by a
for which was carried into the area by the disastrous Two
Medicine River Flood of 1964.
marine life estimated to be millions of years old, buffalo adults have visited the site, a tribute to its inaccessibility*
and roads are constructed it will be a point of historical interest and Indian culture visited by thousands of persons.
The Montana Legislature in its 1969 Session adopted a Joint
develop the area as a National Monument. Form 10-301 STATE (Dec. 1968) Montana NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES COUNTY Pondera PROPERTY MAP FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY (Type all entries - attach to or enclose with map) ENTRY NUMBER
COMMON: TWO Medicine Fight Site AND/OR HISTORIC: site^ of Lewis' Fight with the Blackfeet (July 27, 18C6) u STREET AND NUMBER: Township 31 North, Range 7 ^ Section 12 D CITY OR TOWN: £*: approxxma teJ-V 25 miles ESE of Browning COUNTY:
|I*IHI..|. .nmn*,.,,,,.,,!,,,,„.,.,,,,, n t I iljl.MQ&t,an, SOURCE: U.S.G.S., Lake Frances. Mont, uadrancrle LLJ SCALE: ]_5 minute series 1^62.500 TO BE INCLUDED ON ALL. MAPS 1. Property broundaries where required. 2. North arrow. 3. Latitude and longitude reference. ; ^ ' : MX ! "-<;•'> ^ ' j.; '] I 7"' !«»<«.KJ '"'' '"' '• '" i"^T" . . • V. !"V^' "I *"""" ^'"""'^X J _ I • ! !;, l.Vu.'j,'.' 1 .«' !'fMA- ' '''' '' Form 10-301 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ST ATE (Dec. 1968) NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES cc UNTY PROPERTY MAP FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY (Type all entries - attach to or enclose with map) ENTRY NUMBER DATE //:>> / TO BE INCLUDED ON ALL MAPS \V", 1. Property broundaries where required. V' :>. "^ ,c7 2. North arrow. ^ 3. Latitude and longitude reference. ^EJ^