Northern Cheyenne Reservation Collections

Tongue River Homesteaders

In January 1881, all of the Northern Cheyenne that were sent to Fort Keogh were eventually allowed to move south and take homesteads near the Tongue River and on Rosebud and Muddy Creeks under the Indian Homestead Act of 1875. However, in 1900, the Northern Cheyenne families were removed or agreed to move under duress off of their private or individual holdings on which the Army under General Miles’ command had helped them settle and placed on the newly expanded reservation. In 1884 the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation was created on unsurveyed lands north of Tongue River. The Reservation boundaries … Read more

The Northern Cheyenne Reservation

Ledger drawing - Cheyenne and Pawnee or Osage fight

This report has been prepared by the Northern Cheyenne Tribe under contract with the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”). The BLM was in the process of amending the Powder River and Billings Area Resource Management Plans to address large-scale development of coal-bed methane (“CBM”) resources in southeastern Montana, including lands in the vicinity of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. The purpose of the report is to characterize those aspects of the Reservation environment and resources, social, economic, cultural and physical, which have the potential to be affected by CBM and other energy development on adjacent lands. By identifying lands, resources and services which are likely to be vulnerable to impacts, the report is intended to assist BLM in meeting its trust obligations to prevent and/or mitigate the impacts of off-Reservation development on the Tribe and its Reservation.

Otter Creek Homesteaders

Otter Creek flows north into Montana out of the highlands in Wyoming and empties into the Tongue River at Ashland. Capt. Calvin Howes developed one of the earliest ranches on Otter Creek. He arrived in Montana in the early 1880’s and established the Circle Bar O Ranch on the lower Powder River. In 1884, Captain Howes drove 2,000 head of cattle from Texas to Otter Creek and maintained a successful cattle operation that survived the disastrous winter of 1886-87. The Creek’s naming is attributed to Howes. In total there were 50 families, 246 people on Otter Creek/Tongue River – Little … Read more