Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-03-26

tains we're OF no interest to the plo-
neerS, whose hopes were fixed on the
fertile Pacific coast slopes ahead. All
they wanted was safe passage for their
wagons and herds of stock through
country which, Mr.. Brown says, they
never considered "a white mans land"
For this purpose a treaty was signed
with the chiefs of the Blackfeet and
other mountain tribes, just as if they
had been independent nations, by
which the tribal territories were linn
tied. At that time the Blackfeet we're
a powerful nation, numbering about
10000 souls, who lived almost entirely
off the buffalo. Now a point evidently
overlooked in drawing the boundary
lines was the fact that there were nc
buffalo west of the Rockies, while the
country about He'll Gate pass, the
easiest route for the wagon trails.
abounded with them. This was claimed
by the Blackfeet. The Nez Perces and
the F1atheads of the Washington terri
tory began to send raiding parties
across the mountains. These would
clash with the Blackfeet hunting par
ties and bloody skirmishes would ensue.
To meet this difficulty Gov. Isaac
I. Stevens of the Washington terri
tory arranged in 1885 another treaty
between the Blackfeet, the Nee Perces
and the Flatheads setting aside a com
mon hunting ground, just south of the
Musselshell and Missouri rivers.
In 1863 gold was found in the heart
of the common hunting ground. Pros
pectors and settlers poured in, villages
sprang up, and the bison were slaugh-
tered. The Montana territory was
established. At this time a new treaty
was negotiated with the Blackfeet but
it never was ratified by the senate.
In 1864 the law was enacted that
no case originating from a treaty with
a foreign power or with an Indian
tribe could be heard in the court of
claims. A special act of congress was
necessary to bring the present action.
In 1873 the Indians we're declared
wards of the government rather than
independent peoples. No more treaties
could be negotiated between the gov
eminent and the tribes.
Governor Stevens, in negotiating the
lllSU tlCdly, lldo CdlNQidcCu tAAab o>Ai
Indian of the three tribes was entitled
to a minimum Of 20 bison a year to
maintain him in comfort. So the
Blackfeet have calculated the mean Of
the tribal numbers between 1868 and
the present and demand the value of
20 bisons a year for each person, and
this alone accounts for $4,000, 900 of
the claim.
But, they claim, the Montana in
vasion overran the territory assigned in
the unratified treaty of 1868 exclusively
to the tribe. After the establishment
of Montana as a state in 1889 the tribe,
at that time greatly reduced in num-
bers, sold the greater part of its land
and retired to its present reservation
in the northwestern part of the state.
The value of the land that was ap-
p%ropriated by the settlers before they
could sell it is the basis of the rest OF
the Blackfeet claim. The tribe claims
that it had ratified the treaty Of 1863
in good faith as an independent nation
and it was five years later that the
status of the tribe was declared to be
that Of wards.
The tribe now numbers approx
mately 5000 souls. They are repre-
sented in Washington by three mem
bers of the tribal council, an elective
legislation body. These are Joseph w
Brown, president of the council; Robert
j. Hamilton and Richard Grant. There
are no longer any hereditary chiefs.