Blackfeet Reservation

Supposedly this Reservation is located in northwestern Montana and covers 1.5 million acres. Its origins are mysterious to me and for good reasons. It also includes the Blood First Nation located in Canada which borders the Blackfeet Reservation. Evidently this Blackfeet Reservation of Montana has long had a Chippewa population which has been ignored by both the whites and the Blackfeet Reservation. The new Reservation the United States set aside for the Chippewa's and their Indian allies, covered nearly all of northern Montana but the Chippewa's refused to ratify the treaty which established the over 21.5 million acre Blackfeet Reservation..

In 1887, the United States created the filthy Dawes Act which was created to open up Indian Reservations to white settlement. In that same year, 1887, the United States supposedly signed the Sweet Grass Hills Treaty but not with Chippewa ogimak. Once ogima Little Bear and other high ranking Chippewa ogimak, became aware of the filthy Dawes Act and the illicit American actions centered on the illicit Sweet Grass Hills Treaty, they obviously became enraged. American representatives attempted to negotiate with ogima Little Bear and other high ranking Chippewa ogimak, in the 1890-1892 time period, about signing the Sweet Grass Hills Treaty but they refused to. They knew if they signed the Sweet Grass Hills Treaty, it meant they would lose their huge Reservation in the western United States. Historically, this attempted treaty is referred to as the 10 cent an acre treaty.

Unfortunately, the whites have been constantly following a programmed conspiracy or cover-up, since the 1860s, and they will not allow the Chippewa's to know the truth. The truth is, the Chippewa's have a huge Reservation in the western United States. And this Chippewa Reservation is connected. There are no obstacles which separate any portion of this Reservation. After ogima Little Bear refused to sign the 1887 Sweet Grass Hills Treaty, the United States selected 32 Chippewa ogimak who did not have the authority to act on behalf of the Anishinabe Nation, to sign the illicit 1887 Sweet Grass Hills Treaty. Afterwards, the United States forced those Chippewa's who obeyed ogima Little Bear's demands to not agree to sign the illicit 1887 Sweet Grass Hills Treaty, off Reservation rolls then off the huge Reservation. Today, they are known as the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana, and Little Shell Tribe of North Dakota. Elsewhere, they are known by other tribal names. More information about the small Blackfeet Reservation is below. Below is a map of what the present day portion of the Chippewa's Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, really covers in Montana. However, it is just an extension of a much larger Anishinabe Reservation.

The Babb Reservation

In 1887, several Indian chiefs, probably Dakotas and Salishans, signed the illicit 1887 Sweet Grass Hills Treaty which supposedly established the present day 1.5 million acre (in 1887 what is now the Glacier National Park region was a part of the Blackfeet Reservation) Blackfeet Reservation. They did so without Chippewa approval. According to historians, Chippewa ogimak including Little Bear and Rocky Boy, pressured the government of the United States to set aside a new Chippewa Reservation for them, about 22 years after the establishment of the Blackfeet Reservation. Those historians claim that the new Chippewa Reservation was established in 1909 or about a year before the United States stole what is now Glacier National Park, near Babb which is on the Blackfeet Reservation and borders Glacier National Park. However, what is now Glacier National Park, was supposedly still a part of the Blackfeet Reservation until 1895. In 1895-1896, two events occurred which may indicate that both events are related and one possibly fabricated. The Americans supposedly rounded up scores of Chippewa's then deported them to Canada, and supposedly annexed the Glacier National Park portion of the Blackfeet Reservation. Since Glacier National Park was a part of the Blackfeet Reservation, that means Anishinabe people were living there in 1895-1896. However, we must deal with the events of 1909-1910 first.

The Exodus

After the huge Blackfeet Reservation was eradicated and the smaller Reservations left, the present day Blackfeet Reservation including what is now Glacier National Park, came into existence. Supposedly in 1895, the Americans once again broke treaty promises and annexed the western part of the Blackfeet Reservation (what is now Glacier National Park). However, what possibly occurred was an agreement between the non Anishinabe Indians living on the Blackfeet Reservation and the United States, to allow white mine companies to search for their greed. They couldn't find it. Trouble would start in the very early 1900s (between 1907-1913), when the Americans commenced to enforce the filthy Dawes Act's real intentions, which were to allot land to individual Indians who then could sell their land allotments to non Indians, after a period of several years. Chippewa ogimak knew what that meant. It meant losing their Reservation. During the years between 1900-1910, 1,000s of Anishinabek still lived at their original village sites scattered across all of Montana. They lived in the Anaconda, Billings, Butte, Choteau, Craig, Deer Lodge, Garrison, Glasgow, Great Falls, Havre, Helena, and Missoula regions and near other white settlements in Montana. The whites wanted them to either relocate to Reservations or move into white settlements.

In 1909, the United States rounded up some Chippewa's still living in the Craig, Helena and Garrison region, and relocated them to the Blackfeet Reservation. In 1910-1912, a few years after the land allotments commenced (1907), a group of Chippewa's agreed to break off the Babb and Blackfeet Reservation which obviously was quickly learned of by the whites. In 1909, the Chippewa's living on the Babb and Blackfeet Reservation, were obviously extremely upset about the illicit land allotments. According to historians, they forced the United States to set aside a new Reservation for them in the Blackfeet Reservation that same year. Supposedly, the new Chippewa Reservation near Babb, covered only 11,400 acres. It was really Glacier National Park.

According to white historians, the Chippewa's who commenced the 1910-1912 exodus, fled to their former homes in the Deer Lodge Valley or the Garrison, Montana region. What you should be very aware of is the eventual creation of the Rocky Boy Reservation in 1916. Ogima Rocky Boy was living on the Blackfeet Reservation when the 1910-1912 Chippewa exodus commenced. He supposedly did not participate in the exodus. But he obviously helped those Chippewa's who fled to get the new Rocky Boy Reservation established. Of course, many Chippewa's living on the Babb and Blackfeet Reservation fled into the Bear Paw Mountains during the 1910-1912 exodus.

During the 1910-1912 exodus, another large group of Chippewa's from possibly the Blackfeet Reservation or the Fort Peck Reservation (most likely the Fort Peck Reservation), fled to the north up to southern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan, to the Cypress Hills region, which is around 160 miles northeast of the Blackfeet Reservation and 160 miles northwest of the Fort Peck Reservation. A year later, Canada supposedly set aside over 1,440 acres for them. However, Canada probably set aside the entire Cypress Hills region for the Chippewa's who fled from the promised Reservation in Montana. Their First Nation is known as the Nekaneet First Nation. It is located about 20 miles to the east of the Cypress Hills, just southeast of the Canadian settlement of Maple Creek, by about 20 miles. What is unique about the prairie land that makes up the current Nekaneet First Nation, east of the Cypress Hills, is the forest that covers their land.

The Blood First Nation

Both the Blackfeet Reservation and Blood First Nation, are obviously connected. In 1877, around the time the wars for the Montana region including Alberta and Saskatchewan, came to an end, Anishinabe ogimak (in all likelihood non Anishinabe leaders) met with white leaders and reached an agreement with them in which they ceded close to 50,000 sq. mi. of their land in Alberta and Saskatchewan. According to historical records, the Canadian whites surveyed a Reserve for the Blackfoot (they are Chippewa's) and some Athabascans, located along the Bow River in Alberta. Some Blackfoot and T'suu T'ina (they are a mixture of Anishinabek and Athabascans) leaders agreed but ogima Red Crow refused. Ogima Red Crow made it clear where he wanted the Reserve located. It started at the Canada-United States border where the Blackfeet Reservation is located, then went north between the St. Mary's River and Waterton River, then west to the Rocky Mountains.

Waterton Lakes National Park is likely the missing land. They claim Waterton Lakes National Park was established in 1895 or about the same time the United States supposedly annexed what is now Glacier National Park. Most likely the whites set aside both what are now Glacier National Park and Waterton Lakes National Park in 1895, to be an Anishinabe Reservation. In 1910, they knifed them in the back. It led to the Chippewa exodus off the new Reservation.

In 1882, both the Indians and whites agreed to ogima Red Crow's demands. However, a year later Canada supposedly reduced the size of the Blood Reserve without consulting with Blackfeet ogimak. Of course, that means the original Reserve set aside for the Blackfoot and the T'suu T'ina in 1882, is still intact. They may claim the Blood Reserve covers 547 sq. mi., but it really covers 708 sq. mi. (it could be 742 sq. mi.), and is connected (a part of the Blackfeet Reservation) to the Blackfeet Reservation.

Since those times the Blackfeet Reservation and Blood Reserve have changed with the times. The Indians living on the Blackfeet Reservation and Blood Reserve, are a mixture of Anishinabek, Athabascan, Dakotas, Salishans, and Uto's. They have willingly accepted the new identity the whites have created for them. And yet there are still quite a few Chippewa's living on the Blackfeet Reservation now (2010) clinging on to their Chippewa identity. Today, the population of the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, is supposedly over 10,000 with whites making up about 13% of the population. Whites also own over 500,000 acres of the Reservation. In Canada, the Blood Reserve (an extension of the Blackfeet Reservation) supposedly has a population of 7,499.

Below are the demographics of this Reservation. According to official reports the average household size on the Blackfeet Reservation is 3.40. However, it is probably around 7.0 persons per housing unit or higher. There is a total of 2,932 housing units with owner occupied units numbering 1,627, while renter occupied units number 1,305. There may be over 21,000 Indians living on the Blackfeet Reservation of Montana. On the Blood Reserve, there is a total of 1,010 housing units which means the average household size is over 7.0 persons per housing unit there. Below is a list of predominantly Native American towns on the Reservation.