Blackfeet Reservation

Glacier National Park Sun Tours

Join us for a memorable experience in Glacier National Park. On one of our daily tours you will learn some valuable insights and cultural past to this incredibly beautiful land known to the Blackfeet people as the "Backbone of the World".

We provide a Blackfeet perspective tour through Glacier National Park over Going-to-the-Sun Road. The tour narrative concentrates on Glacier's natural features relevant to the Blackfeet Nation, past and present. Spiritual and philosophical perspectives are interpreted in Blackfoot life in the buffalo days as well as modern times, commonly used plants and roots for nutrition and medicine are pointed out. Our guides are life residents of the reservation, knowledgeable in many facets of Blackfeet tribal history and culture.

We provide 25-passenger, large window, air conditioned coaches. Our tours depart daily from East Glacier Park, Browning, St. Mary and West Glacier.

Contact Information

29 Glacier Avenue
PO Box 234
East Glacier Park, MT 59434
Phone: (406) 226-9220
Toll Free: (800)786-9220
Fax: (406) 226-9220
web: www.GlacierSunTours.com
e-mail: edwarddr@3rivers.net

Blackfeet Historical Site Tours

Join in a Journey Through Time with Curly Bear Wagner, Blackfeet Historian, "Join me on a special journey.  Walk softly between the world of the ancient past and today's fragile Northern Plains."

Curly Bear Wagner
PO Box 2038, Browning, Montana 59417
406-338-2058, Fax 406-338-2084
Visit Curly Bear Wagner
PO Box 2038, Browning, Montana 59417
406-338-2058, Fax 406-338-2084
Visit

Lodgepole Gallery & Teepee Village

Our Blackfeet tipi camp is located west of Browning where prairie and Rocky Mountains meet. Stay overnight in one of our canvas tipis, which have a fireplace in the center, and are setup in a traditional manner. Take the opportunity and experience this traditional Plain's Indian's form of housing.

Enjoy the comfort of the unique tipi construction designed for the dry warmth while retaining airflow and outdoor acoustics of the natural environment. For example, during the summer months, when it can be hot and dry due to the continental climate in the rain shade of the Rockies, the double tipi walls will keep the inside of the tipi at a very pleasant temperature. You also will be able to hear crickets at night, under star-lit skies. Sometimes you can even hear coyotes howl.

Spend time with purebred Spanish Mustangs (the original Indian horse). Learn how this amazing species was brought back from the brink of extinction and how the Lodgepole Gallery helped to reintroduce these horses to the Blackfeet people in 1994.

Contact Information

PO Box 1832

Browning MT 59417

Phone:(406) 338-2787 Fax:(406) 338-2778

Website: http://www.blackfeetculturecamp.com

Blackfeet Tribal Business Council

PO Box 850

Browning MT 59417

Phone: (406) 338-7276     Fax: (406) 338-7530  

E-mail:  btbc@3rivers.net                         Website: http://www.blackfeetnation.com 

56th Annual North American Indian Days

July 12-15, 2007 in Browning, MT

Browning, Montana Website

http://www.browningmontana.com

Local Businesses

Listing of local businesses in Browning, MT

Colleen's Computer Corner, LLC

Colleen M. Barcus, MSIS
http://www.colleenscomputercorner.net
PO Box 1123
125 North Public Square
Browning, MT 59417
Phone and Fax: 406-338-7217

www.siyehdevelopment.com -- Blackfeet Indian Reservation Economic Development

http://www.pieganinstitute.org

Tribal College

Blackfeet Community College

Museum of the Plains Indian

Located in Browning, MT at Junction off Highway 2 and 89, the Museum of the Plains Indian is a permanent exhibition gallery, which presents a rich collection of historic arts created by tribal people of the Northern Plains. Open seven days a week during the summer season and there is an admission fee. 

Contact Information:  Phone: 406-338-2230                                                                                                                   

Website: http://www.iacb.doi.gov
Email: mpi@3rivers.net  

Glacier Reporter - Newspaper of the Blackfeet Reservation

http://www.goldentrianglenews.com/glacier_reporter/

BLACKFEET RESERVATION PROFILE

LOCATION AND LAND STATUS:

The 3,000-square-mile Blackfeet Reservation (1,525,712 acres of trust land) is located in northwestern Montana and is bounded by Canada on the north and Glacier National Park on the west. The general topography consists of rolling plains, rising westward to the forests of the Continental Divide. The average elevation ranges from 4,000 to 5,000 feet, and achieves more than 9,000 feet at Chief Mountain, on the northwest boundary.

The reservation’s present size represents a significant depletion of the original Blackfeet territory. In 1855, Blackfeet lands extended through much of northern Montana west of the Rockies. The first treaty to affect the Blackfeet was the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie in which, despite the absence of any Blackfeet negotiators, the boundaries of the Blackfeet Nation were limited and set. In 1888, Congress ratified and confirmed the Sweetgrass Hills Treaty, which established the bulk of the reservation and also introduced the allotment system of individual land ownership. In an 1896 treaty, the Blackfeet ceded land which was later to became Glacier National Park.

CULTURE AND HISTORY:

The Blackfeet Indians are one of four closely related bands of Plains Indians, all members of the greater Algonquian linguistic family. The Blackfeet of Montana are the only Plains group to have a reservation in the United States; the other three groups occupy reservations in southern Alberta, Canada. Initial contact between the Montana band of Blackfeet and Euro-American settlers occurred during the mid- 1700s as fur traders and, later, railroad men began exploring the region. In exchange for their land, the federal government made treaties with the Blackfeet which promised peace, protection, agricultural goods, money, and inviolate reservations—all promises that were eventually breached.

Traditionally, the buffalo represented an essential resource for the Blackfeet, providing food and materials for clothing, lodging, tool-making, and so forth. In 1874 the northwest buffalo herd was estimated at four million; five years later the vast majority had been exterminated, largely by traders and settlers. With their natural economy gone, the Blackfeet became dependent upon the federal government for food and supplies and hence suffered greatly, both materially and spiritually.

By 1900, about 2,000 Blackfeet lived near Badger Creek, the site of the Blackfeet Agency. Catholic missionaries, who introduced anglo educational systems and Catholic religious practices to the tribe as early as 1859, were joined by the government in these education efforts; by the early 1900s, a government boarding school and day schools were established. During this period, the government began pressuring tribal members to embrace farming for subsistence; by 1915, the government was emphasizing stock-raising instead. Unfortunately, a 1919 drought, coupled with low beef prices, forced many Blackfeet to sell or give up their allotted lands because of nonpayment of taxes. Prospects improved somewhat during the 1920s when a forward-thinking superintendent implemented the Five Year Industrial Program, which emphasized small, manageable farming ventures of grains and vegetables.

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 stemmed the tide of Blackfeet land losses by placing most Indian land into trust status. In the 60 years since the IRA, the tribe has steadily progressed in terms of economics, health, education, and housing standards. The modest development of coal, oil, and natural gas reserves on the reservation has raised expectations even more, as have the establishment of two manufacturing concerns, an industrial park, and numerous small businesses. Culturally, the Blackfeet exhibit renewed interest these days in traditional practices: a small but steady percentage practice traditional religious ceremonies like the Sun Dance and sweat lodges. Likewise, the Blackfeet language is making a comeback after years of neglect by education and government officials.

GOVERNMENT:

The tribe is organized under the 1934 IRA, by which the tribe created a new Tribal Council and bylaws. The reservation is governed by a popularly elected Tribal Business Council, which consists of nine members elected to two year, non-staggered terms. The executive officers (a chairman, vice-chairman, and secretary) are nominated by the Business Council. The reservation is divided into four districts, each represented by two council members, except for the Browning District, which has three representatives.

Tribal Profile -- Tribal Data Resources®

TANF Manual    TANF Manual Part II

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Copyright © 2007 Montana Tribal Tourism Alliance
Last modified: 06/15/07