Bison! This great shaggy beast sustained the Indians of the Plains and adjacent areas for thousands of years. And in these parts we call Montana, an ancient network of trails led the Salish, Pend d'Oreille, and related Indian tribes, whose territory once straddled both sides of the Continental Divide, into prime bison country on the high plains of central and eastern Montana.

The Nez Perce called this ancient trail leading through traditional Salish-Pend d'Oreille territory "Qoq'aalx 'Iskit!" meaning "Buffalo Road."

This well-worn trail crossed the Continental Divide at a low pass the Salish called "Smitu Sxcucs.i" This means Indian Fort Pass, a place where warriors sat in small stone structures to watch for approaching Blackfeet raiders. Today we know this landmark as Lewis and Clark Pass.

The invasion of the West by EuroAmerican led to the virtual extermination of the bison by 1883, with the devastating impacts for many tribes. Despite their losses, Indian people survived, and today they still maintain an intimate relationship with these important cultural landscapes.

"the road which they [the Nez Perce] shewed me ... would lead up the East branch of Clark's river and a river called Cokahlarishkit or the river of the road to buffaloe and thence to ... the falls of the Missouri where we wished to go. they alleged that as the road was a well beaten track we could not now miss our way." -- Meriwether Lewis, July 3, 1806

Erected by Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail.