The
Fort Laramie Indian Treaty of 1868, which closed travel on the
Bozeman Trail
The Bozeman Trail was an overland route in the western United States, connecting the gold rush territory of southern Montana to the Oregon Trail in eastern Wyoming. Its most important period was from 1863–68. Despite the fact that the major pa ...
and the Yellowstone Valley, stipulated that the re-defined Crow Reserve would have a new "centerpoint" or agency for the Crow. The first Crow Agency, which was supposed to be built where
Big Timber is today, was eventually located about eight miles east of present-day
Livingston
Livingston may refer to:
Businesses
* Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010)
* Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline
* Livingston International, a North American custom ...
in the year 1869.
Fort E.S. Parker, the first Crow Indian Agency, was built in the fall of 1869, southwest of present-day
Springdale, Montana
Springdale is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Park County, Montana, United States. Its population was 42 at the 2010 census. The community is located near Interstate 90 and the Yellowstone River. Springdale has its own ...
(Big Timber). It was named for
Ely S. Parker, a Seneca lawyer who served as secretary to
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
, wrote the Confederate terms of surrender, and was appointed as Commissioner of Indian Affairs under President Grant.
The first Crow Indian agency was in operation here from 1869–1875, until being moved eastward, in 1875, to Rosebud Creek
Absarokee, Montana
Absarokee ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Stillwater County, Montana, United States, approximately south of Columbus on Highway 78. It is named after the Crow Indians who formerly inhabited the land. The population was 1,234 at the ...
and eventually to its present and final location at
Crow Agency
Crow Agency ( cro, awaasúuchia) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Big Horn County, Montana, United States and is near the actual location for the Little Bighorn National Monument and re-enactment produced by the Real Bird family known as Ba ...
in 1884.
Thomas Leforge
Thomas H. Leforge (July 9, 1850 – March 28, 1931) was an American writer who was the author of ''Memoirs of a White Crow Indian'', his highly detailed account of living among the Crow Indian nation during the mid-to-late 19th century, first pub ...
, a white Crow man, said it took its secondary name, the Mission Agency, "merely by reason of the fact that in those days and earlier most of the Indian agencies were set up where a Christian missionary enterprise had already been in operation. This was not the case here". James Wright, however, a Methodist minister and Crow Agent, tried to institute Christian learning in the Agency's boarding school in 1873.
The Agency was built on a commanding bluff about 40–60 feet above the valley floor. Mission Creek (or Skull or Rock Creek - This Creek was actually called "Scraping Hide Creek" by the Crow) flows just to the east of the Fort. The agency fort overlooks the Yellowstone River which is about a half a mile away. The fort / agency was constructed of square-hewn logs, shingle roof, with storehouses and living quarters for the agent, physician, engineer, miller carpenter, blacksmith, and school teacher, storehouses. It had two bastions that served as guard towers. The Agency burned down on October 30, 1872, and quickly replaced by buildings made of
adobe
Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
, since timber was becoming scarce.
L.M. Black, a Bozeman businessman and trader, was temporarily placed in the position of first Crow Agent until Major E.M. Camp, the assigned agent took over in October, 1869. He was succeeded by a Fellows David Pease, a reputable businessman who was fluent in two Indian languages and married to a Crow Indian woman. Dr. James Wright, a Methodist minister, removed Pease from his duties by August 1873. Wright was replaced by Dexter Clapp, a former Union officer, just prior to the agency being moved east. The Agency was often a stopover for travelers on their way to explore
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
in the early 1870s.
The fort was built as a centerpoint for distributing Crow annuities and to encourage the Crow to take up farming. It was a difficult location to teach farming, due to constant winds, cold weather, and buffalo herds roaming northeast of the Agency. Several non-Native Americans, including local fur-trappers, interpreters, and F.D. Pease, the Indian Agent, married into the Crow Tribe. The Agency also acted as a line of defense for the people of
Bozeman and Crow from assaults by the
Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
,
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
, and
Blackfeet
The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Monta ...
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
s.
Fort Parker was abandoned in 1875, even though the Crow and locals from Bozeman and the
Gallatin Valley
Gallatin County is located in the U.S. state of Montana. With its county seat in Bozeman, Montana, Bozeman, it is the List of counties in Montana, second-most populous county in Montana, with a population of 118,960 in the 2020 United States cen ...
opposed the move east (further into country dominated by the Sioux). Just before the move to Rosebud Creek, near present day
Absarokee, the ''Bozeman Grange'' communicated a letter of support for the Crow and the Agency on the Yellowstone:
{{Montana
Parker Parker may refer to:
Persons
* Parker (given name)
* Parker (surname)
Places Place names in the United States
*Parker, Arizona
*Parker, Colorado
* Parker, Florida
* Parker, Idaho
* Parker, Kansas
* Parker, Missouri
* Parker, North Carolina
*Park ...
Buildings and structures in Park County, Montana
1869 establishments in Montana Territory