Glacier Administrative History

EARLY APPROACH TO THE AREA

Pre-History

"It is generally believed that the first human beings to reach North America came from Asia during the last great Ice Age, crossing the Bering Straits on the ice that covered it at that time. These people were probably nomadic tribes of Mongolian origin, looking for new lands over which to roam. It is also believed that these people first reached the plains country, where evidences are first found, by following down the eastern front of the Rocky Mountains, either over the ice or by way of an ice-free lane that existed at the same time that much of northern North America was covered by the last great ice sheet." [10]

By studying the ancient camp sites that have been found just south of the terminus of this last great glacier, archeologists can tell us much about the wanderings of these first citizens of this country. They also are able to trace to some extent, the migration of these people from this area to other parts of the country. If this is true, and we have no reason to disbelieve it, we can assume that the area immediately east of Glacier National Park, and possibly even parts of the park, was visited by some of the first men to inhabit North America. It is doubtful that these early men went into the mountains, but they most certainly entered the foothills along the eastern front of the range as the vegetation and wild game followed the retreating ice sheet northward.

An old Piegan chief tells an interesting Indian legend depicting the origin of the Old North Trail, an ancient Indian trail extending along the entire eastern front of the Rocky Mountains from northern Canada to Mexico. "This old Indian, Brings-Down-The-Sun, stated that no one knew how long this trail had been used by the Indians, but that his father told him it had originated, with the migration of a 'great tribe' of Indians from the distant north to the south, and all the tribes since that time had continued to use sections of it." [11]

When we stop to consider this legend, we realize how closely it ties in with the archeologists' findings, and it is not beyond the realm of possibility that this "great tribe" was the first migration of Mongolian peoples into the plains country of North America. If this is true, then Glacier National Park comes into still more prominence in the pre-history of the continent, for the remains of the Old North Trail can still be found in places, a very short distance east of the present park boundary, in the vicinity of East Glacier Park.

The present Blackfeet Indians that live on the reservation just east of the park, once controlled a vast area immediately east of the Rocky Mountains and were very jealous of any other tribe or white men entering this area. Unlike many of the other tribes of the west and the plains region, the Blackfeet have no clear-cut record of migration or origin. The only clue that we have to their probable origin is in their language, which is closely related to the Algonkian family language spoken only by the Indians of eastern North America. From this fact and certain legends, students of Indian culture have been led to believe that this once-great nation migrated from the east, probably through the Lake States, into southern Canada, and from there spread southward into Eastern Montana driving lesser tribes before them as they went.

"Culturally, the Blackfeet's closest kin are to the south, although he possesses many traits linking him with the Plateau area to the west and some linking him with the north. Linguistic and cultural comparisons, however, prove little as to origin of these people. for any or all of these may have come to them by diffusion and so imply nothing whatever as to tribal movements." [12]

Today the remnants of this great warrior nation reside on four reservations in southern Alberta and northern Montana, gradually losing the ways of their forefathers and taking on the dress, language, and ways of the white man.

The Coming of the White Man

The warlike Blackfeet Indians were a big factor in preventing the early trappers and traders from entering this area from the east. In addition, the great distances involved and the slow methods of transportation (mainly by canoe or other water craft) slowed the entry into eastern Montana and northern Wyoming. Yet, despite the hazards involved, the valuable furs to be found upon the upper reaches of the Missouri River brought adventuresome trappers and traders into the region early in the nineteenth century. They were quite successful in their efforts to push through the mountains south of the park, but attempts to penetrate into the country of the Blackfeet more often than not resulted in a "hair-raising" party, at which the Indians were more adept than the white man.

La Verendrye

It is believed that the first sighting of the Rocky Mountains was an outgrowth of an attempt by a party of French fur traders and adventurers under the leadership of Pierre Caultier de Varennes de la Verendrye, of Montreal, to reach the "western sea." La Verendrye spent several years, accompanied by his sons, pushing a line of trading posts westward from the Great Lakes, mainly in southern Saskatchewan plains. The elder Verendrye finally had to abandon his efforts and return to Montreal, but his two sons, Pierre and a younger brother, Francois de la Verendrye, continued the effort. Finally, on their last trip westward, they made a great swing to the southwest and, on the first day of January, 1743, obtained their first sight of the eastern reaches of the Rocky Mountains, from a point believed to be in the southeastern part of the state of Montana.

It was long believed that they actually saw the main range of the Rocky Mountains from a point about the site of the City of Helena, but the discovery of a lead plate, in 1913, by some high school students on a bluff on the east bank of the Missouri River, opposite the City of Pierre, S. D., leads us to believe that they did not get as far as the "Gates of the Mountains." They perhaps saw the Big Horn Mountains and may have crossed the southeastern part of the state. This lead plate, inscribed with their names and the date, was recorded in their journal, along with a description of the mountains which they saw. The fact that the mountains were probably covered with snow at this time of year led Pierre and Francois to refer to them as the "Shining Mountains."

"Some historians believe that Pierre and Francois did not come closer than one hundred miles to these mountains, but other accounts record that, upon sighting the mountains, they turned west and traveled for twelve days, reaching the foot of the mountains, 'well wooded and very high.' This could also have been the Wind River Range, in Wyoming. In any event, we do know that this was the first recorded sight of the Rocky Mountains from the east." [13]

Peter Fidler

The next evidence of approach to the park area is found in the records of the Hudson's Bay Company, telling of a young surveyor, Peter Fidler, who was employed by them to map the area for their fur enterprises. In 1792 Peter Fidler left the Company's Buckingham House, in Canada, to winter with the Piegans, just east of the Rocky Mountains. While there he compiled considerable information about the mountains in the main range, which later appeared in the Arrowsmith maps of 1795. On these maps appeared "King Mountain," now known as Chief Mountain, and the Belly River. From these records we know that Fidler was acquainted with the eastern slopes of the park and we may conjecture that he may even have set foot within what we now call Glacier National Park. If so, he was the first white man to have done so.

Lewis and Clark

The next recorded approach to this area is found in the journals of Lewis and Clark, who passed to the south of the park on their way through the mountains to the mouth of the Columbia River. "On their westward journey, in 1805, Captain Meriwether Lewis ascended the Marias River some distance in order to determine which was the correct branch to follow, this or the Missouri proper. After ascertaining that this river followed too northerly a direction for their purposes, he returned to their camp at the forks of the rivers. Recognizing it as a major drainage in the area and a possible future route of trade, he named it the "Maria's River," in honor of his cousin, Miss Maria Wood." [14]

In July, 1806, upon their return from the coast, Captain Lewis and three men traveled upstream on the Marias River in an attempt to locate its source. On July 22, they reached a point where the course of the river turned south westward, about twenty-five miles from the mountains. Here they remained for two days to make observations, but the weather was overcast and nasty, making astronomical observations impossible, and they were finally forced to the Missouri, after labeling this camp "Camp Disappointment." From here Lewis was able to look into what we know to be Marias Pass, and if he had continued undoubtedly he would have been the first white man to set foot in the pass. He makes no mention of the pass in his journals, though, which indicates that he did not realize what he had observed.

The location of Camp Disappointment is marked by a sandstone monument just off highway number 2, about two miles west of the station of Meriwether on the Great Northern Railroad near Cut Bank, Montana.

Marias Pass

Marias Pass, around the south end of the park, figures prominently in the early explorations of the area, along with Cut Bank (Pitamakan) Pass. It was due mainly to the search for easy passes through the mountains that much of the later exploration was conducted. Marias Pass was one of the principal early passes through which the Indians from west of the mountains, mainly the Selish, (Flatheads) and Kootenais, came across the mountains to the buffalo hunting grounds in the country of the Blackfeet. Many early fur traders and prospectors also used this and other passes in the area, but, unfortunately, because too few left any record of their passing we know little of who they were, where they went, or when they passed. Indian warfare and ambushes eventually caused the western Indians to abandon general use of this pass forcing them to swing farther north to Cut Bank, Red Eagle, and other more difficult but safer routes of travel. Except for an occasional unrecorded crossing by trappers, miners, or others who left little record of their passing, Marias Pass did not again come into general use until its re-discovery in 1889 by John L. Stevens of the Great Northern Railway.

The first known use of Marias Pass by white men occurred in the year 1810 when David Thompson reported in his journals that a band of 150 Flathead Indians, accompanied by the white traders Finan McDonald, Michael Bourdeaux, and Baptiste Buch, crossed the mountains by a "wide defile of easy passage eastward of Selish (Flathead) Lake," [15] to hunt buffalo and make dried provisions. As this was an early Indian pass and the most easily traversed, undoubtedly it was Marias Pass. Later accounts seem to bear this fact out, as does the description of the trip and the following battle accounts. "At a spot believed to be just below the old railroad siding of Skyland, on Bear Creek, the party was attacked by 170 Piegans (Blackfeet) and a furious battle ensued. The Flatheads were forewarned, however, and had time to consolidate their positions, so that the Piegans were unable to inflict any damage and were finally driven off. Ambushes of this type were one of the reasons why this pass was not in general use at this time, and, although the Flatheads were quite jubilant over their decisive victory over the Piegans they did not again use this route for some time." [16]

The defeat of the Piegans by the Flatheads in Marias Pass angered the Blackfeet nation against the white man, possibly because there were white men along, but more probably because the western Indians were friendly to the white man and blamed him for furnishing the Flatheads and Kootenais with arms and ammunition to make war upon them. The Blackfeet served notice that any white men found east of the mountains would be considered as enemies and treated as such. The Flatheads did not help this situation any by boasting of their victory at Marias Pass.

In August of 1812, following an unsuccessful attempt at peace with the Piegans, the Flatheads went to their hunting grounds east of the mountains accompanied this time by two free trappers, Michael Bourdeaux and Michael Kinville, both Frenchmen. On this trip they used the Cut Bank Pass, also one of their main routes of travel; but because the Piegans were guarding the eastern approaches to the pass a terrific battle ensued. Many white men and Indians on both sides were killed and the Flatheads were forced to withdraw to do their hunting elsewhere. On Cut Bank Creek there is reported to be a great pile of stones covering the bones of a party of Flathead Indians who met defeat at the hands of the Piegans long ago, but no one knows where or when. Perhaps this is the site of the 1812 battle, and, if so, perhaps the bones of Bourdeaux, who fought so successfully against the Piegans in 1810, and of Kinville, rest there too.

Following the defeat of the Flatheads in Cut Bank Pass, the Piegans became even more warlike and set about relentlessly to wipe out any small bands of Indians that they could find. They set sentries at high points to watch over the eastern approaches to the passes, particularly Marias Pass, and every band that came through was ambushed and killed. Because of this, Marias Pass was, in effect, completely closed to all travel, necessitating still further use of the better protected passes farther north and south. This situation explains to some extent the failure of later expeditions to locate the pass, either because of the hostility of the Blackfeet nation or because of the natural reluctance of the western Indian guides to take parties through it. Thus, we find the one easy route to the Flathead Valley from the east effectively blocked to travel for the next seventy-five years, until even the trail was over grown with grass and blocked by fallen timber. Only the more adventuresome attempted this route, and few left any record of their passing.

Hugh Monroe

Hugh Monroe was one of the earliest, if not the earliest, white man to see much of the area contained in the eastern portion of what is now Glacier National Park. There are many stories and legends concerning him and his doings, and many different dates are given for his birth and other events concerning his life in this part of the country.

Hugh Monroe was born in Quebec in 1798 (Canadian Archives), and came west at the age of sixteen to Fort Bow, on the Saskatchewan River as an apprentice to the Hudson's Bay Company. When he arrived at the fort he expressed a keen interest in the Indians and a desire to learn their language. The Factor at Fort Bow, sensing his value to the company, and wishing to learn more of the inroads of the American fur companies to the south, sent Hugh to live for one year with the Piegans and learn their language. He was also told to scout for beaver trapping areas and to learn if there were any competing fur companies working in the Blackfeet country.

On the trip, which started in the fall of 1814, he was put under the care of Chief Lone Walker—who later was to become his father-in-law—of the Small Robes band of Piegans, and left with them for the south. Some historians state that it was while on this trip that Monroe first saw the St. Mary Lakes, although others state that it was not until 1836 or even 1846. It is highly probable that, living as he did with the nomadic Piegans in the years to follow, he saw St. Mary Lakes long before 1836, and very likely in the years 1814 or 1815. If so, he was undoubtedly the first white man to set foot upon their shores.

Following his return from this first trip, he was sent again with them and this time apparently married his wife, Sinopah, daughter of Lone Walker. For the rest of his life he was to remain with the Blackfeet, a respected member of the tribe. Many descendants of Hugh still live on the plains of eastern Montana.

After Monroe went to live permanently with the Indians, he continued to serve the Hudson's Bay Company for some time, but later changed over to the employ of the American Fur Company. Still later, he left the American Fur Company to become a free trapper and trader, which status he held until his death. His friendly manner with the Indians made him an important factor in keeping peace between the white men and many bands of Piegans. He was also of considerable help to Governor Isaac I. Stevens of Washington Territory on the latter's survey trip of 1853, and is reported to have traveled extensively in the countries of the Flathead and Kootenai Indians.

Hugh Monroe died in December, 1892, and was buried at the Holy Family Mission of the Two Medicine River. Although his age, as reported on the burial records, was 109 years, a mathematical calculation from the records of the Canadian Archives indicated that he could not have been over 94 years old when he died.

The American Fur Companies

Following the entrance of the Hudson's Bay Company into the Blackfeet country, largely through the efforts of Hugh Monroe, there were many attempts by the American Fur Companies to establish trading posts at the headwaters of the Missouri River. A few free traders undoubtedly did meet with some success, but this area to the east of Glacier National Park was, for all practical purposes, a dead spot as far as the American companies were concerned. It was not until 1831 that Captain James Kipp was able to establish the first successful post on the mouth of the Marias River. This post, called Fort Piegan, was burned down the following year, but was rebuilt that fall and the name changed to Fort McKenzie. This post was soon followed by others, and marked the beginning of the end of the reign of the Blackfeet. Indian wars and strife followed, but the irresistible push of the fur traders, followed by the prospectors, could not be stopped.

Smallpox Epidemics

The dreaded disease, smallpox, was another decisive factor in breaking the strength of the Blackfeet Nation. "In the years of 1837 and 1838, this disease ran rampant among the plains Indians of eastern Montana, and adjacent territories, brought into the country by one of the steamers on the Missouri, possibly the 'St. Peter' or the 'Assiniboine.' The epidemic appeared on the steamer on its way up river, and in passing one of the Mandan villages, an Indian is reported to have stolen a blanket from one of the sufferers. The disease immediately took hold in the village, and spread like wildfire, almost exterminating the tribe. From there it spread throughout the other tribes in the region, wiping them out like flies.

The accounts from the Blackfeet country, regarding the spread of this disease, were almost unbelievable. According to reports the number of Indians that died on the plains from this epidemic was between 60,000 and 150,000 victims. The wrath of the Indians toward the white man for bringing the disease into the country was understandable." [17]

Robert Greenhow

With the reports that began to filter back to the eastern states of these northern Rocky Mountains, with their furs and minerals came a demand for more knowledge of the area. Fur companies and individuals wanted maps and reports of what conditions were like in this far-away land. As a result, maps were compiled from time to time, some from actual reconnaissance, some from the tales of early day adventurers, and some "just compiled." One of the earliest maps and records of this area, after the Arrowsmith maps of 1795, was compiled by Robert Greenhow, an adventurous explorer who mapped the region in 1840 for the benefit of the fur companies. His map, published in 1850, as part of his "Memoir Historical and Political of the Northwest Coast of North America" was remarkably complete and accurate, and showed the territories occupied by the various Indian tribes, the lakes, streams, and trading posts. On almost the exact location of the present Marias Pass he marked "Route across the mountains." This is probably the earliest published record of this pass. Greenhow's information most likely came from accounts of the Indians that had used it, but nevertheless was astonishingly accurate.

Father DeSmet

At the same time that Greenhow was doing his exploration, another man who had a tremendous influence on the Indians of that day, although he never recorded setting foot in what is now Glacier National Park, started out from St. Louis for the west. The Jesuit priest, Father Pierre DeSmet, left St. Louis in April, 1840, to begin his missionary work among the Indians of the Northwest. He met an advance party of Flatheads on the Jefferson River and went with them into their country, the Bitterroot Valley. He spent many years with the Flatheads and other tribes of western Montana, Idaho, and Washington, and also worked some with the Blackfeet; his works were largely responsible for the acceptance of the white man by the western Montana tribes. DeSmet knew Hugh Monroe and evidently traveled with him to some extent. James Willard Schutlz states in his writings that Monroe took DeSmet to St. Mary Lakes and that the priest erected a cross there and gave them their name. However, various historians who have studied Father DeSmet's diaries and journals state that nowhere does he make mention of having entered what is now the park, nor does he make any mention of the St. Mary Lakes, which he most assuredly would have done had he seen and named them.

Our principal interest in DeSmet's work, though, concerns the influence that he had on the Indians, although when a question of war arose, many of the young bloods were often more than ready for the warpath, and the peaceful influence of the missionary was forgotten for the moment. Eventual settlement of the Indian's trouble was aided immeasurably by the early missionary teachings, but the history of white man-Indian relationships throughout the west is blackened by deeds on both sides that often tended to nullify the best efforts of those who worked so constantly for a peaceable solution.