Land area
Land of the Blackfoot, Blood and others in Montana, ceded 1874 (area 574)
- 1855
Recognized as Native land
- 1873
Set aside as a reservation
The 1899 record: “President set apart a reserve for Gros Ventre, Piegan, Blood, Blackfoot, and River Crow Indians”
- 1874
Taken back by the United States
The 1899 record: “President restores to public domain country included in Executive order July 5, 1873, but not embraced by act of Congress Apr. 15, 1874”
In the record
Part of the 1873 reserve for the Blackfoot, Blood, Piegan, Gros Ventre and River Crow left outside the area fixed by an 1874 act, and returned to the public domain by executive order in 1874. The area covers about 4.0 million acres in what is now Montana.
The 1899 record names Blackfeet (Pikuni), Crow (Apsáalooke) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) as the people of this land.
How it was taken: a treaty or agreement. The treaty text and the Great Falls history site describe a council and signed peace treaty; neither describes coercion, though the site notes the parties' limited understanding.
Today, Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, Crow Tribe of Montana and Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana carry the history of the people named here.
Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources.
Shapes come from C. C. Royce’s 1899 maps as georeferenced by the US Forest Service. They are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land. Royce recorded land the United States treated as ceded; the shape does not show a nation’s territory.
Who is doing the work
Land return and Native-led work nearby
- Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Nation government National Bison Range restoration (about 18,800 acres) Website
- Potlatch Fund Native-led Native philanthropy and grantmaking to Native individuals and Native-led organizations Give on their site Website
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Connections
Links marked “suggested” were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.
Nations named for this land 6
- Blackfeet (Pikuni)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montanamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Crow (Apsáalooke)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Crow Tribe of Montanamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montanamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Gros Ventre (Aaniiih)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
Agreements recorded for this land 1
- Lame Bull Treaty (Blackfeet), 18551855suggested
Located in 1
Sources
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1855-10-17primary record
- Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1855-10-17primary record
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1873-07-05primary record
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1874-08-19primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Montana 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
- USDA Forest Service, Tribal Lands Ceded to the United States (digitized Royce maps)reference work
The record’s fields
- Area number in the 1899 record
- 574
- Dates in the 1899 record
- 1855-10-17; 1873-07-05; 1874-08-19
- Kind of instrument
- Treaty or agreement
- Peoples as named in the 1899 record
- Blackfoot; Blood; Gros Ventre; Piegan; River Crow
- States
- MT
- Counties
- Cascade; Chouteau; Flathead; Lewis and Clark; Liberty; Teton; Toole
- Map sheets in the 1899 record
- Montana 1
- Geometry
- Approximate shape from Royce’s 1899 maps
Research notes
geometry_role is 'cession' for every USFS feature: no field in the source distinguishes cessions from reservations.
- Kind
- Land area
- Confidence
- Medium