Land area
Land of the Blackfoot, Blood and others in Montana, ceded 1880 (area 622)
- 1875
Set aside as a reservation
The 1899 record: “President makes an addition to reservation, as follows: Commencing at a point on Musselshell river”
- 1880
Taken back by the United States
The 1899 record: “President restores to public domain a portion of the addition to reserve made by Executive order Apr. 13, 1875”
In the record
Added in 1875 to the reserve of the Gros Ventre, Piegan, Blood, Blackfoot and River Crow; this part was returned to the public domain in 1880. The area covers about 5.3 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.
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
Located in 1
Sources
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1875-04-13primary record
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1880-07-13primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Montana 2 (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
- 622
- Dates in the 1899 record
- 1875-04-13; 1880-07-13
- Kind of instrument
- Executive order
- Peoples as named in the 1899 record
- Blackfoot; Blood; Gros Ventre; Piegan; River Crow
- States
- MT
- Counties
- Dawson; Garfield; McCone; Richland
- Map sheets in the 1899 record
- Montana 2
- 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