Natives of Southwest Montana

There are remnants of Native American civilizations stretching back to over a thousand years in southwest Montana, evidence of which is shown in the travois marks and tipi rings stills stamding across the region. Throughout the Helena National Forest, many pictograms can be found on the walls or Magpie Gulch, Refrigerator Canyon and other such areas, sheltered from erosion. There are also multiple sites in the area symbolic of the native tribes that came prior to the ancient civilizations, such as the Blackfeet, Nez Perce, Shoshone and Salish. The battel of August, 1877, was one of many fought between the Nez Perce and the U.S. Cavalry during their flight from Idaho to Canada. The fight is memorialized by the Big Hole National Battlefield as a tribut to the many men and women who lost their lives. Today, a commemoration battle is held every August and includes ceremonies, demonstrations, and traditional Nez Perce music. Beverhead Rock, in what is now known as the Big Hole Valley, served as an important landmark of tribal lands of the west belonging to the Shoshones. It was near here that the expidition of Lewis and Clark, guided by the teenage Native American girl, Sacajawea, first connected with the Lemhi Shoshones in 1805. The landmark resembles a beaver's head at waterline and is located between Dillon and Twin Brigdes, off state Route 41.

Now, Montana as a whole is home to over 60000 people of Native descent. The majority of these people live in one of the seven reservations on Montana soil. There are public and private elementary and secondary schools on or very close to each reservation along with tribal community colleges or Head Start porgrams. They are making huge advancements in terms of professional jobs and integration into modern society while still keeping their ceremonies and cultural practices, the things that make the Natives a unique people, a gradual process that will take many years to complete, if ever. This state remains the first best place, home, a place to carry on ways and traditions, for tribes and tribal members who live within the boundaries of what is now known as Montana.

I'm behind on this blah blah blah, but I finished this entire thingy when we were in Yellowstone, I just didn't post it so don't yell at me. *drops mic*

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