89th
Annual Crow Fair Pow-Wow & Rodeo
August 16-21, 2007, Crow Agency "Teepee Capital of the
World", Montana
Tribal College
Little Big Horn College
1 Forest Lane
Crow Agency, MT 59022
406-638-3104
Big Sky Briefs
- On-line Newspaper of the Apsaalooke Reservation
www.bigskybriefs.net
P.O. Box 230
Hardin, MT 59034
406-665-1175
linda@bigskybriefs.net
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Chief Plenty Coups
State Park & Museum, Pryor, MT
Contact Information:
Phone: 406-252-1289
Website:
www.plentycoups.org
Email:
plentycoups@plentycoups.org
Crow Chamber of
Commerce
406-638-2637
CROW RESERVATION
PROFILE
LOCATION AND LAND STATUS:
The Crow Reservation is located in south-central Montana, south and east of
Billings. Its southern border is Wyoming. After treaties were signed in 1825 and
1851 with the U.S. Government, a final treaty in 1880 reduced the reservation to
its current size. Allotments were issued to tribal members after the 1887
Allotment Act, and from 1922 until 1962 allotment holders of the reservation
sold land mostly along the three rivers which run through it. The tribe has
mineral rights to 1.1 million acres near Billings and Hardin, Montana, and near
Sheridan, Wyoming.
CULTURE AND HISTORY:
The Crow Indians are known to have had their origins prior to the 1300s in the
Mississippi headwaters and as far as north as Lake Winnipeg, Canada. They made
incremental migrations through North Dakota, first entering Montana in the
1600s. They were part of the Hidatsa, with whom they had a sedentary life,
raising crops and hunting buffalo, deer, and elk. But they turned more to
hunting, and eventually separated themselves from the Hidatsa and became a
nomadic people, with their lives built around the buffalo. They were excellent
horsemen and a prosperous people.
In Hidatsa, the Crow are called Absarokee, literally translated, "children of
the large beaked bird." White explorers mistook the signing for Absarokee, the
flapping of one’s hands like the wings of a bird in flight, and just called them
Crow.
From their first encounter with Europeans in 1740, probably they have had
amiable relations with non-Indian cultures. Treaties with the United States
Government were signed as early as 1825, and the treaty of 1880 established
their reservation as it is currently defined. In 1869, a famous Crow Chief,
Chief Plenty Coups, emerged as a major leader and negotiator with the federal
government, and required the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide education to
the people.
While always friendly with the whites, the Crow have maintained their language
and traditions intact. Eighty-two percent of Crow tribal members still speak the
Crow language. Within the Crow culture the clan is almost as important as the
family. A knowledge of the clan system will help one to understand why, for
example, in 1984, State Senator Bill Yellowtail sought out his clan uncles and
asked them to pass judgment on his political desires before he ran for the
office.
GOVERNMENT:
The Crow Tribe did not choose to fall under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act,
and they adopted their own constitution in 1948. They have a general council
form of government, and all males 21 and over and females 18 and over are
members of the Tribal Council. The entire council meets quarterly with 199
members constituting a quorum. In addition to the Council, four officers are
elected for two-year terms. They are the chairman, the vice-chairman, the
secretary, and the vice-secretary. Several tribal committees assist in the daily
operations of law and order, enrollment, education, credit, health, oil and gas,
industrial development, land purchase, and recreation. An executive committee
coordinates all the committees and establishes the agenda for full Tribal
Council meetings.
Tribal Profile --
Tribal Data Resources®
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Tribal Council
