Campbell Farming Corporation and the Crow Indian Reservation in Big

A Contested Landscape Story Map: Campbell Farming Corporation

MOREHEAD STATE "' and the Crow Indian Reservation in Big Horn County, Montana UNIVERSITY

Introduction Authors: Erin Long* and Dr. Jason Holcomb Results This project explores the complex landscape of Big Hom County, Montana, Campbell Farming Corporation (CFC) records and other documents do indeed created by events surrounding the formation of the Crow Indian Reservation, Department of History, Philosophy, International Studies, and Legal Studies demonstrate a contested landscape in Big Hom County and illustrate the lasting Campbell Farming Corporation (CFC), and other key actors vying for control of legacy of Mr. Campbell in the area. One document shows the competition land in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The authors argue that this is a contested between CFC and a sugar beet company to lease farmland owned by Crow Indians. Many other documents concerning land leases confirm this, as well as landscape, which "evolve when differing environmental ethics and cultural EVER YBODYS MAGAZINE identities collide in places with deep meaning" (Blake 2001, pp ). Government Thomas Campbell and mechanized agriculture the power farming and sugar beet operations had to control the leasing documents from this time period and CFC records reveal a place where the 200,000 Acres and not a single Horse arrangements. The legacy of CFC is also illustrated in documents about the landscape actively incorporated the struggles over it (Mitchell2000). Dr. farm's role in hiring a rainmaking company in the 1950s and bringing Mexican

ARMING tW(I bundrOO wiU receive one·tcnlh of the ~ rop <: emp bell Fennlngcorpollltloo immigrant labor and custom harvesting operations to the area for harvest work. Holcomb and Ms. Long created an Environmental Systems Research Institute t.bous&nd 3cn'$ is anain· during the firs: five yea~ and one- Photo CounesyofBig Hom County Hlsto~c.ol MusO'Um-Hanlln. MT ly a rerular' job. 8ut fihh oJ tile crop during the """ond doing it without lhe usc fiV~·year po:riod, at lhe end ol Other documents demonstrate Mr. Campbell's contribution to introducing large Mechanization allowed CFC to farm great F of a single ho~ is r.ome· which time tho least ""Pi~. (ESRI) story map that visually illustrates some of this struggle through thl"l!! cJ.., ol!"--in- Vet, The ne~t ottp wa.< I<> fi,..nc~ th<> prq:.ooterous as it may sound. project, so Mr. CampbcU ~urried to swaths of what were once smaller parcels of this feat is actually being per· ?\cw York, prescnled him.clf o.lthe scale mechanized agriculture to Montana and the Soviet Union, as he made trips photographs, CFC records, and other information. Dr. Holcomb also conducted hrmed h)· a Monlana man. oflicesofj.I'.Morganandso:r.tin Thonw D. Campbell. This huge "·ord lhat &<:retary Lane harl Indian land but manpower was still needed to film, probably the la~t in lhe asked him to call on a ma\ler of to the Soviet Union to advise them on agriculture. Dignitaries from the Soviet an oral history interview in 2015 with a man, Alex Uffelman, who knew Thomas worW, is a dirttt rn;ult of the Gcv- businas. Wh~th~r Mr. Morgan eiJlmcot's eiTaru to stimuble th.& ha.d received odva.nc~ inform<\lion growing of wheat• during Lb( past of Mr. Campbell's coming or not is Union also visited CFC in later decades, thus revealing the importance of the complete many tasks. To the right workers two yraffl) ~ farm is devl.>ted unimponant. The Jact remains D. Campbell, founder of the farming operation, and whose family now owns entiz'.,ly to what, and if• l1 1>1"0- thai he was immcdi•tcly invited in d\la!5 SGIIkWhere uound the ooun· for a C<:>nferencc. thresh wheat to separate the grain from uy·~ H~ 111 LwmLy~fillhl· l>h, Nvr~fll li~L1u~'ll wliil' Mr. farm as a model of mechanized American agriculture. The oral history interview former Campbell lands. hsbd5 per o.cn:, which is practi· Cad "\'c'Y well ," ..Uci Mr. Morsan. before combine harvesters were developed ilty-sU lhousanddollan. Of course "y~u may . have it. And if that L11 this won't be net ~rofit. But i.n't en<>u~r:h. liS much m0r1: wiU be ~.here should be enouglllelt, alter available" and CFC hired independent contractors to all aprnses are piid, to make lhe ·And w tho lwo.bundred·lh<>u- vontUR ..onh while. 5and-ac~ wheat fann.carD<' Into a- Materials and Methods Thomas D. Campbell is th• man istmce) with M.r. Campbell as Conclusions supply crews. Below steam tractors pull who conceived the id"" of tk proosident of <~e Monl:3na Lllmling 100rld's lar~t whut facm, ~ • any C01poration and goneral ma~r ather sort of farm for that matter. of the whole projtt:. This project has several dimensions, including an oral history interview with a Originally of Grand forks, North llut aOOut the absence of """""' Thomas D. Campbell was an entrepreneur and leader in agriculture, government, plows to break sod on the Crow Dallota, mote recently of La; An· Tom Ca~npkU . tbc M 0.,_1..,._ foi"D>Cr. whG ootd. the on the fum. g.b, CaJL!urni.a, o.nd JIDW • ,.,.;. ·a. f k ld' b ' fu.m he U d S Allofl.lreworkU.bcirog~Nn u wotk. They plow on an avet~ oJ well as a lot of olher people, by the vastness him was wbat kind of tonlc..ct he wanted, ()ne acre a minute for the worldnslime. A Campbell. Dr. Holcomb used a Marantz professional recorder to record the of th~ eotc:~ undcc ft~ nuwll"mcnt. "Any lUnd," wu the rrply, " ju5\ "" 1 set ~tt<>rd .,...., made: one day .,r eighteen financing from J.P. Morgan. Campbell Farming Corporation ceased its It· WL!I dunng the su.'lll'l'ler of 1~1 •• tbll a chance to raise a lot ()f wheat." hundred and eighty acres turned and '!.b. Campbell 1\r!;t ti>oug~. ~ of. mi,.;ng "What do you want for yf interview with Mr. Uffelman in the summer of2015 and Erin Long transcribed lmds; and wrote to tho Indian Bul't'au at e r-t problerru~ Mr. Campbcll County and Crow Indian Reservation landscape and on American agriculture. obsru:e dcrk• in the department tba.t il chantt.to bn:ak even.'.! had 10 so!•·e was 1he number of the •·aM- couldn't be done. They cited certain rules Th-e Set:rt:tary saw that ~-e was dealina: ~us kinds of n>~chines ttw. would l>c re Corporation at the Montana State Historical Society Research Center. We ud regula lions and Law~ to prove their with a man and & patriot as well a.s an ex- 4uired 10 do 11'\c work on the entire farm. The Big Hom County Historical Museum in Hardin has Camp 4 buildings and Campbell Farming Corporation 3S5Crtiuns. . tra-sl~ Iarmer, so he asked him why he He $0l.,.,.-'l this by dividing the farm into Photo Cou rtesy of Big Hom County Historical Museum-Hard in, MT But rome th1rty yearsa11:0 Tom t.:ampbell akc it two hundred thomomd acres units of fiw lhGusnnd acm; and then al- look !.hem ""riousl.y when tlley told him in..~ l<'a~ of twenty thou,.,nrL lowing a rmain po.'riod for each operation, machinery on display, while the area's land use and land ownership patterns still analyzed these documents for evidence of a contested landscape and added some t~e"' """no such word &3 "can't" in tho "Coul<.l you 1'\oncb '>flit jocl arul had reltrrcd i1 tO Secretary Lane, romraCI wa< drawn and in due tim ~ hore a!:10 ~...... i~; group of pcnnan~nl and nrorl · Historical Museum in Hardin, MT and added them to the story map. who would ,ltive l~e mailer his fl"r><.~ l huildir.gs. ft i s~ gig"ntic finishing the story map for use by the Big Horn County Historical Museum and UnliOTL bureau chiefs am! Mr. Ca mrf>cll . The In· jlroposilion any ~·ay you luuk alit. ,Ind. T1w: upshot <>f the n1n11 ~ r was that a <:, w~r~ well 1aken care of ;ncidcntnlly . the man wh o i ~ lx·himl it i,; ,...,.,~;;or \WO laly thiny - >i~ Y"""' QILL I 7 as part of a book about the custom harvesting in the Great Plains. Co • .o-r! ' \..... :tOO l "

CompboH Formlnroll<>n l'!o

ca..,pt...ll F>~rmlng Corporation ;. .... -.- . . . Photo Courtasy of Big Horn County Historical Museum-Hardin. MT Camp 4 Headquarters -, ...... · .., , . . • . ' r· : .) , • •• ... - , -- ...

Thomas Campbell and his Stutz Bearcat

This is a more recent photograph of the headquarters at Camp 4. Dr. Opening Indian lands for agricultural production during World War I A 5000 a.cre wheat field is harvested by 18 combines Holcomb harvested wheat here several times when he worked for a custom --- belong lo Reed Combining, a custom harvesling crew harvesting crew from Sterling, Kansas. April 611 19lB. from Sidney, Nebraska. "These enormous areas of dry lands (about .. .., ...... ,._ ~- · I " r ~'- '·'~ ~~~~· ~·~· ~~:!:::!::!.:=:

50,000 acres) have not yet been touched, nor Co mpt>ell Fonnlng Corpono~011 O()Crl' OO Y jo,. Pl>:>to Cou,_y ot 8ior ventr" Lene • _}>;r. ?'rank !•• Tlm c-kery , Chief Su pervisor or P'u.r:dng for CFC employed as many as 250 people Asainiboine Crow Reservation. There are places on these Pend d' Orcillc- 11idilt... the Indian Serv1ee ,. a.ri.d the wr lter spent aboflt..__a m.onth Campbell had a World CompbeiiFarmbg CorporaOon • Crow ...... - golng over var1ous Indtan reaor~ationa with the idea of,_o,-·o"' War II Halftrack Pholo Coonesy of Big Hom CoLlnty Hioloricol M.-.m-Hordi'l, MT west areas where the plows can be driven six Sali~h >'\rik•ra• miles without a turn, and many where they t..erm.1n1ns; wba.t areae m~ght be available truck converted to a COM...,. HUHn....:; GlouN(); 1855 can go three and four miles without a turn. 10-'.HO standard truck for The handling of these areas will be part of the hauling grain, parked

1919 task in readiness for the sowing of winter and ot which eo .ooo acree are under good i rrigation ayster.e here in front of the Tribal Territories io Montana wheat in September, 1919." - Report on an floond.or"• .. ~<~n.d IP,Ith. kin Uromldoy ""'-" 1n rod * St.< 1..X...<<> ...,.,;, u! ">bol <;op"ol investigation ofland available for farming, http://w ww. montanatribes. orgil earning_ acti vi ties/maps.html or ltainte-nar.ee . 'l'h1s land un:.1er gocx1 Clry tarm1ng lf.etbods Corporation office in obtainedfrom the Campbell Farming and o~lnar, aitent1on to lbe 1rr1a ated portion ahQuld produce Hardin, Montana circa from throe to four million bueUela or ·~at per year a!tor Corporation records archived at the Montana 1946. Janet Miller, Jane Slattery The Crow Reservation (above) and Bighorn it ts brought into a good &tate of oultivatlon. There 1& State Historical Society in Helena, MT. and cook, Emma Petros, County Montana (below) occupy much of he also a great deal at oott on lanO on Indian reearvat1one 1u same territory. southel"n Arizona eu1table for the produotlon of long tiber stand in the Camp 4 cott-on eo neoesaa.ry now in the production or ot.r orai't w-1nge kitchen where Petros Checkerboarding and automobile ttraa. Legacy of CFC \ prepared meals for the men "Indian lands that were rrom this available land ws seloot~ 20 1 000 acrea t

of whoa lAnd on the Crow l.c.dlan eaerYat1on n M.ont~na and working at Camp 4. alienated as a result of the I -~------~ General Allotment Act of 10.0011 1887 ... were sold or ,o. C RfS Excerpt from a 1927 letter transferred to non-Indian J.!r, L . L . t!a'iibbono:r . Campbell conceived of the idea of using land on llur1.11 Campbell secured $5 million from J.P. Cl. t>f' e& to dclltw r al l ,y our g r: ooar l o• lWH1 y o>Jr .tue1 t o y our k l t ~ JJ.oa Reserve 0 fee 0 d oor " l t lu;n~ t; rc.l.n:lltln. l; e oeto (1.1\ol 'frill ;r .. nt ,rou thoc uac o l' aa P.\ll'

Land Tenure Foundation https://www.iltf.org/land Crcm- .rl.gcncy, Uo nt.J.m , Ho.roh 'lG, 1'?20- patriotic undertaking to produce more wheat for ...... Alex Uffelman's father is sues/checkerboarding ~---=-= the country during World War I. Yet this giant ~ C - • \.(· ,.•~I'l worked for Campbell and Tbil Montl:i re ~''<- nning Co 1'po ra tlon, new mechanized farm added to the complex &rdin, !:iontana. Uffelman and his family now References Ge nt l ane u :- land ownership patterns on the Crow "Department of the Interior, United States owns land and elevators once [nfonnation and materials for this project are from Campbell Farming Indian Service ... 1920 ... Lease No. 1234 from Ia"'S'3 Fo . 1 234 fro: