Little Shell Band of the Chippewa Tribe: Difference between revisions

Chippewas have lived in Montana for a very long time. Centuries before the whites landed on the eastern shores of America, Native Americans were here. They are, in every sense of term:  First Nation People. In Montana, the Algonquians are known as the Arapaho (that includes the Gros Ventre), Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Chippewa,  and Cree. The Flathead (they include the Kailspel, Pend d'Oreille, and Spokane) are a mixture of Algonquin and non Algonquin Indians. Their language is a part of the Algonquian language family.Under important websites below''', '''is a link to a pdf book about the history of the Little Shell Tribe. It's the third link. It includes geneological information.  

What brought the Chippewas west into the Montana region was prophecy. They were alarmed about the Seven Fires Prophecy and reacted with intense acceptance. Survival was put first. They began their migration westward into the Montana region about 1,000 to 1,500 years ago. The Flathead People including the Kalispel, Pend d'Oreille, and Spokane speak the same language. Ojibway authors from the 19th century, wrote about the Chippewas forcing their way west into Montana and fighting the Flatheads. This ancient war happened long ago.  

In Montana, the Chippewas are also known as the Arapaho (that includes the Gros Ventre), Blackfeet, Cheyenne, and Cree. The Cree are the northern Chippewas. And the Blackfeet are Cree according to those who have researched their history and linguistics. They are also known as the Ma-ski-go-walk. It means Swamp or Swampy People. The word: "Cheyenne" means "south" in Chippewa. Of course, the Chippewa word for south is Shawan. Most think it is pronounced as Sha-wan but it is really pronounced as Shaw-an. The Arapaho (that includes the Gros Ventre) and the Cheyenne are the same people.  

They are also Chippewa. In the Lake Nipissing region of Ontario, the Amikwa Chippewas live. Actually they live between the north shores of Lake Huron and Lake Nipissing. Amikwa in Chippewa means Beavers. The Amikwa are also known as the Nez Perce. The Amikwa Chippewas were forced to retreat from the Lake Nipissing region before 1661, by the white invaders and their Indian allies. By 1661, they were living along the northern shores of Lake Superior. They continued to follow prophecy and migrated west into the Alberta and Montana region. After reaching the Montana region, they began waging war against the Flatheads. They eventually migrated west into Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. They also migrated southward into northern California. Other Amikwa Chippewas migrated north into northern Alberta and northern British Columbia. They are the Beaver Tribe including the Sekani, of that region. Click this link [http://www.wilkesweb.us/algonquin/nations.htm Algonquin Nations] to visit The Center for Algonquin Culture . It has a list of Anishinabe speaking Chippewas or Anishinabek.<br>  

In 1876, the United States launched a military campaign against the Montana Chippewas. It lasted for nearly 3 years. The Nez Perce migrated westward, as instructed in the Seven Fires Prophecy. The Great Sioux War of 1876-1877, was fought primarily in Montana and Wyoming, and did not involve the Indians from South Dakota.<br>  

According to a reporter from the Havre Advertiser, the Chippewa village located near Sun River Park, had 45 lodges and a population of 150 people. Three people per lodge. His population estimate it too low. Things were different back then. Families had to support each other which means household sizes were larger then. The population of the Chippewa village had to be between 300 and 400. Six people per lodge.

In June and July of 1896, Montana Governor Rickards, sent a telegram to the sheriff of Cascade County, sheriff Dwyer, informing him to instruct major Sanno to round up the Little Shell Chippewas in the Great Falls region (in the June 17, 1896 issue of the Anaconda Standard they claimed it was the Cree but the Cree are the northern Chippewas who are known as Mus-ke-go-walk which means Swampy People) to prepare them for relocations. <br>  

In other areas of Montana, the Little Shell Chippewas were gathered to be sent to board trains to be deported out of the Little Shell Chippewas Blackfeet Reservation (aka Turtle Mountain Reservation), They were the 4th Blackfeet Reservation (500), Crow Reservation (200 to 300), Havre (Fort Assiniboine Indian Reservation - 100 to 200), Malta (Fort Belknap Reservation 100 to 200), Missoula (Flathead Reservation - 200 to 300), and Glasgow (Fort Peck Reservation - 100 to 200).  

Some Little Shell Chippewas were relocated to Alberta (the Montana Reserve) and Saskatchewan (Onion Lake Reserve). However, the whites were cautious about relocating the Chippewas to Canada. Exactly how many originally lived in the Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin region, is not known. Many were refugees from the 1862 Minnesota Indian War.&nbsp; Only a few Chippewas fled south back to their native Montana, in 1885. They were most likely the immediate families of chiefs Little Bear, Little Poplar, and Lucky Man. Perhaps as many as 30-50 Chippewas returned to Montana in 1885.  

Chippewas followed prophecy. They knew if they fled to an area with a large white population, there would be discord which might well lead to fighting and deaths. Many Chippewas from the Great Lakes region, followed the Seven Fires Prophecy and migrated west into Montana. Exactly how many of the Montana Chippewas were sent back to Minnesota and Wisconsin is unknown.&nbsp; Even Montana born Chippewas were required to relocate outside of Montana.<br>  

This following link [http://www.nps.gov/nagpra/documents/ResMAP.HTM Government Nagpra Documents Map] has a map of the Indian Reservations in the United States. Look for the number 173. Click on "Map Index" or click this link [http://www.nps.gov/nagpra/documents/ResMapIndex.htm Government Nagpra Documents Map Index] to find a list of the numbers which identify each Indian Reservation. For 173, it has OUT. It probably represents the forced relocation of the Little Shell Chippewas of Montana, out of Montana.<br>  

As written earlier, in April of 1894 the Great Falls Park Commission purchased land for future park sites. They were probably Reservations for the Chippewas who remained after the forced deportations. Most were Metis who were predomiantly Indian. There was already the Fort Shaw Indian School Reservation about 15 miles west of Great Falls in 1894. St. Peters Mission near Garrison and Ulm, Montana, became a Chippewa Reservation. It is connected to the Park Island Reservation. It includes Park Island, Taylor Island, and White Bear Islands.

To the south of Great Falls, another Chippewa Reservation was set aside between Gibson Flats and the Missouri River. It is actually a part of the Park Island Reservation. However, to distinguish it from Park Island, it must be referred to as Highland Park. And the Sun River Park where the Chippewa village chief Little Bear lived in, was located, is the other. It extends from Mount Royal (aka Hill 57) to Vaughn, Montana.  

There may have been another Chippewa Reservation where the St. Peters Mission was located within the mountains 10.5 miles northwest of Cascade, Montana. Each of these Chippewa Reservations have one thing in common. Each has an excellent view of Square Butte.  

In 1908-1909, the United States broke treaty and seized those lands. Indian Agent Frank Churchill found chief Rocky Boy at the Chippewa village near Garrison, Montana and negotiations followed. The United States did not want the large Chippewa population living in the Great Falls region.  

The Chippewa Reservation west of Cascade was also seized. It was the second largest. It includes the Big Belt Mountains and Little Belt Mountains. As mentioned, it is located in the mountains with the exception of a narrow entrance to the northeast where you can see Square Butte. That Reservation extended south and east and southeast of Helena. Chief Rocky Boy commenced to gather the Chippewas from that Reservation in 1908, to gather near Helena, to be deported to the 4th Blackfeet Reservation. They were deported in November of 1909. However, not all Chippewas moved. Some stayed in the Helena area.&nbsp; Even in the 1940s, around 40 to 50 Chippewas lived there. It was known as Moccasin Flats.  

Another very large Chippewa Reservation was located in what is now Bob Marshall Wilderness Area and Scapegoat Wilderness Area. It may have included Swan Valley. In October of 1908, the Swan Valley Massacre happened. The Chippewa camp attacked was not the only Chippewa camp in Swan Valley at that time. The Chippewas of that location were deported to both Blackfeet Reservation and Flathead Reservation.The other Chippewas in the Great Falls region were deported to the 4th Blackfeet Reservation and Fort Belknap Reservation. Fort Belknap Reservation was increased in size from just under 1,000 sq. mi. to over 3,500 sq. mi. to accomodate the 100s of Chippewas who relocated. In 1910, Rainbow Falls Dam was constructed.<br>  

There is evidence the Chippewa Reservation where Sun River Park is located was not entirely gone. On August 18, 1950, the United States auctioned off what little land remained. Click this link [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol6/html_files/v6p0509b.html INDIAN AFFAIRS: LAWS AND TREATIES] to read it.  

In 1950, Joseph Dussome and Elizabeth Swan, both leaders from Rocky Boy's Reservation, and other Chippewa leaders, hired a lawyer who then filed a land claim lawsuit in 1951. Instead of including the entire land area of the original Blackfeet Reservation which was created on October 17, 1855, they confined their land claim to the land area of the original Blackfeet Reservation with the number 565 or the 3rd Blackfeet Reservation. On April 5, 1974, the United States rejected the land claim lawsuit.  

They confined their land claim lawsuit to the April 15, 1874 Treaty. Click this link [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/hlaw:@filreq%28@band%28@field%28DATE+18740415%29+@field%28FLD003+@band%28llss+c56%29%29%29+@field%28COLLID+llss%29%29 A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875] to read the April 15, 1874 Treaty. They included the Crow but did not include the Crow in the treaty which created the original Blackfeet Reservation on October 17, 1855.<br>  

According to the pdf book mentioned above, which relates the history of the Little Shell Chippewa and geneological information. According to Howard Paul (Joseph Pauls's son) a meeting was held at the family ranch of Joseph Paul in 1921 near Lewistown, Montana. (page 92). We know from that same book that the Montana Chippewas were continuing to govern the entire land area of the original Blackfeet Reservation. On page 119, it is written that a meeting was held at Joseph Paul's home in Great Falls, Montana on June 10, 1939. Even in 1939, they were assigning representatives for districts throughout the original Blackfeet Reservation. Those districts are: Wolf Point (565); Hays (565); Harlem (565); Box Elder (565); Dupuyer (574); August (399); Great Falls (399 and 574); Lewistown (399); and Helena (398).  

After the June 10, 1939 meeting, the Little Shell Tribes government experienced friction. By 1950, Joseph Dussome and the other Chippewa leaders hired a lawyer. The following year, they filed the land claim lawsuit for the land area with the number 565.  

It is that information which proves the Chippewas did not cede their vast Reservation which is the original Blackfeet Reservation created on October 17, 1855. We have to include the land area with the number 574 because a district was located within that land area in 1939. That was Dupuyer, Montana which is 6 miles south of the 4th Blackfeet Reservation. Land areas with the numbers 398 and 399, were not ceded by the September 1, 1868 Treaty. According to the United States the September 1, 1868 Treaty was not ratified. By Executive order of July 5, 1873, a reserve was set apart for the joint occupancy of the Gros Ventres, Piegan, Blackfeet, and River Crows.Chiefs Little Shell III, Red Thunder, and other Chippewa leaders refused to cede the original Blackfeet Reservation in 1892. They continued to honor the treaties which created their vast Reservation.

Chippewas from the Montana region, were sent to the east to support the Great Lakes Chippewas in wars against the white settlers and their Indian allies. According to Chippewa author George Copway, the Chippewas forced their way to the east from the west. According to the 1832 Edinburgh Encyclopedia, the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Tribe, forced their way from the Missouri River region to the east. They are the Chippewas.<br>  

White settlers began to settle in the Great Plains from the West and East. Chippewa soldiers were constantly at war against the whites and their Indian allies.  

An exodus to the west began. After a few months the United States halted the westward exodus but the Chippewas then began an exodus to the north into Alberta and Saskatchewan. They were led there by chiefs Big Bear and Sitting Bull.  

Joseph Paul is born near Fort McGinnis, Montana. His father was Elzear Paul and his mother was Rose LaPlant.

Chiefs Little Shell III, Red Thunder, and many other Chippewa leaders are arrested and forced to relocate to the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota. Many barricaded themselves in a fort but eventually surrendered. Chief Little Shell III and about 150 to 200 Chippewa soldiers, arrived to the fort after the surrender. Afterwards, chief Little Shell III was arrested. This event ended Chippewa resistance. .  

Joseph Paul passed away. To this day the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana are not recognized by the United States. To learn about the land owned by the Chippewa's at Little Shell Mountain (Hill 57) which was auctioned off in 1950, click the digital.library.okstate.edu link below. Though the United States won't let the truth be known, the Chippewas did own considerable land around Hill 57. The current Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana were in a dispute some time ago which was recently settled. <br>

Additional References to the History of the Tribe