The first people to inhabit what is now Montana were the American Indians, or Native Americans as they are often called, and they had been around for some time before anyone else showed up interested in the land. Whether they knew that there were other people in the world who might want to live there someday can be speculated on, but it’s really not known. Just like in other states, the Native Americans in Montana hunted, fished, raised families, and grew crops as well as participating in other activities in their daily lives. There were different groups, but they all had their own land that they stayed on.
Since there was a large amount of space available, most tribes were able to get along with one another, if only because they didn’t see each other that much. The Blackfeet, the Crow, and the Cheyenne were just some of the tribes that made that area their home for a number of years. Some kept to themselves because they were smaller, and others were large and influential, trading with other tribes and occasionally just taking what they wanted. Smaller tribes mostly focused on simply staying clear of the larger tribes.
When the Louisiana Purchase occurred back in 1803 the part of Montana east of the continental divide was included. During that period of time you didn’t need a lot of money to buy a great big piece of land. There weren’t a bunch of people who wanted the land, so it became easy for a person to get a great deal of it, and it wasn’t considered to be worth very much. The idea of owning land so you could have value later, or owning it so that you could resell it, wasn’t really there.
Things started to change with the Louisiana Purchase, and people begin to discover the different climates in the new world and how much land was really out there. Some areas of land also had a lot of minerals in them, and that increased their value relative to other areas. Lewis and Clark explored the country and there was gold found in Montana, so in the 1860s Montana was made into a United States Territory. There were other areas that started becoming states, but Montana waited a while.
It became the 41st state in 1889. Soon there was construction of all kinds of buildings, including Fort Shaw. That particular fort was used during the civil war. It had not only parade grounds and barracks, but stores, a hospital, and other important necessities that the soldier staying there would require.
There were still vast areas where nothing had been built, so places like Fort Shaw had to be generally self-sufficient so that they could operate and be effective. Fort Shaw became obsolete, was no longer needed, and eventually closed in 1891. After closing down as a military installation it was decided that Fort Shaw would be used as a school. The alternatives were to allow it to decay or to tear it down, both of which seemed to be wasteful, so the school idea was a great alternative.
The school on the old Fort Shaw military base provided industrial training to youngsters who were American Indian. There were more than 300 students when it opened, and over 20 of the original army buildings were utilized. In the early 1900s, a revised Homestead Act also greatly affected the people who lived in Montana. It expanded the land that had already been provided by the Homestead Act of 1862, and the change increased the land that a person could homestead from 160 acres up to 320 acres.
President Taft made it law and in 1908 there was another homesteading change when the Sun River Irrigation Project was opened up to homesteaders. Located west of Great Falls, that area allowed people to claim 40 acres to use as their homestead but they had to remain there a certain length of time and couldn’t even leave very long for travel or vacation. Young couples from the Midwest who wanted to live near the mountains were the most common site there and they hunted and fished and raised their families. Custer’s Last Stand was also there.
Another issue for the state was the Nez Perce Wars, but it’s much more peaceful there now. Cattle ranching plays a big part in the history of Montana, as well as its modern-day economy. There’s more to do and the state has grown, but cattle ranching and the Native American influence are still strong and popular there.
Tags: history, leisure, montana, state history, Travel