Tale of Two Treaties: Cultures Clash, Relationships Change

By editor

Big Sandy, Chouteau County, Montana

As one stands at the confluence of the Judith and Missouri Rivers near Big Sandy, Montana, it is difficult to conceive that this serene landscape once hosted gatherings of immense magnitude--assemblies of Indigenous peoples numbering in the thousands, convened to negotiate peace and determine the fate of vast territories. These two treaties, forged in the years 1846 and 1855, mark pivotal moments in the history of the northern plains, where the interplay of tribal warfare, European-American expansion, and diplomatic endeavor reshaped the contours of power and possession.

The first of these great councils occurred in September of 1846, under the stewardship of Father Pierre Jean DeSmet, a Jesuit missionary renowned for his diplomatic skill among the tribes of the western frontier. The Blackfeet and the Flathead tribes had long been embroiled in hostilities--conflicts that fractured their ability to repel incursions by the Crow, who exploited this division to raid and control key buffalo hunting grounds. The struggle over these lands was not merely a contest for game but a matter of survival and sovereignty, for the buffalo was the economic and spiritual foundation of Plains tribal life.

DeSmet, understanding the gravity of continued warfare, called together an assembly of some 2,000 individuals from the Blackfeet and Flathead nations at this very site. His mission was to broker a peace, to halt the internecine strife that threatened to unravel the fabric of tribal alliances and invite further predation by rival peoples. The Jesuit’s endeavor was both spiritual and political, as he sought to impose a framework of order upon a landscape riven by cycles of violence. His success in securing a truce between these formidable tribes was a rare achievement amid the turbulent dynamics of the mid-nineteenth century West.

Yet, peace among the tribes did not herald the end of conflict in the region. The inexorable advance of Euro-American settlement and the strategic interests of the United States government soon imposed a new order upon these lands. In the autumn of 1855, nine years after DeSmet’s peace council, a vastly larger gathering convened at the same place. This time, the assembly swelled to an estimated 15,000 members drawn from the Blackfeet, Nez Perce, and Flathead tribes. The United States had dispatched Isaac Ingalls Stevens, the Governor of Washington Territory and a man of military and political acumen, to negotiate a formal treaty that would open the region to safe passage by settlers and the establishment of government infrastructure.

Stevens arrived with clear instructions from Washington: to secure land cessions and ensure the construction of roads, forts, and telegraph lines essential for communication and navigation along the Missouri River. The treaty negotiations lasted ten days, culminating on October 17, 1855, with the signing of what came to be known as the Stevens Treaty, or, among the Blackfeet, "Lame Deer's Treaty," named for their chief negotiator.

The treaty delineated the Blackfeet homeland in terms that would profoundly affect the future of Montana. It recognized a vast expanse east of the Rocky Mountains as Blackfeet territory, encompassing most of the land north of the Missouri River and extending north and west of the Musselshell River. Within this domain, other tribes retained limited rights to hunt buffalo once annually, a concession to the complexities of intertribal relations. Crucially, the United States reserved the right to establish trade routes, military forts, and telegraph lines -- developments that would irrevocably alter the landscape and sovereignty of the Indigenous nations.

Central to the success of these negotiations was the presence and influence of Natawista, a woman of the Blood tribe within the Blackfoot Confederacy. She was married to Alexander Culbertson, the founder of Fort Benton, a vital fur trading post and nexus of commerce. Natawista’s role extended beyond that of a mere interpreter; she was a mediator who sought to bridge the gulf of misunderstanding between her people and the encroaching Americans. Before the council convened, she expressed her apprehensions with a clarity that speaks to the tensions of the moment: "My people are a good people but they are jealous and vindictive. I am afraid that the whites will not understand each other, but if I go I may be able to explain things to them and sooth them if they should be irritated. I know there is great danger."

Her prescience was justified, for the treaty negotiations were fraught with suspicion and the prospect of violence. It was through her mediation that a measure of trust was established, allowing the treaty to be signed and thus setting the terms for future relations. The treaty’s provisions, while ostensibly designed to preserve Indigenous lands, in fact signaled the beginning of a transformation that would see the gradual erosion of tribal autonomy and the imposition of federal authority over the northern plains.

The strategic significance of this location--the junction of the Judith and Missouri Rivers--cannot be overstated. The Missouri River was the principal artery for transportation, trade, and military movement into the vast interior of the continent. Control of this corridor was vital for the United States as it pursued its manifest destiny, seeking to link the Pacific coast with the eastern states. The treaties negotiated here thus played a crucial role in facilitating this expansion, effectively opening Montana to the influx of settlers, miners, and entrepreneurs who would reshape the region’s demographic and economic landscape.

The consequences of these treaties reverberated far beyond their immediate terms. The peace brokered by DeSmet temporarily halted tribal warfare, but the treaty of 1855 marked a watershed in the relationship between Native peoples and the United States government. It laid the groundwork for subsequent treaties and military campaigns that would lead to the confinement of tribes onto reservations and the diminution of their traditional hunting grounds. The Blackfeet, Nez Perce, and Flathead found themselves navigating an uncertain future, caught between the demands of a growing nation and the preservation of their ancestral ways of life.

Isaac Stevens, reflecting on the treaty’s significance, declared in his report to the federal government: "It is of the utmost importance that the tribes of these regions be brought to terms of peace and friendship, to secure the safe passage of our people, and to establish the foundations of civilization upon the soil." His words encapsulate the ethos of the era -- a conviction that the expansion of American dominion was both inevitable and just, even as it entailed profound upheaval for the Indigenous nations.

Thus, the tale of two treaties at Big Sandy reveals the complex interplay of diplomacy, culture, and power that shaped the history of Montana and the American West. These gatherings were not mere formalities but critical junctures where the destinies of peoples and empires were contested and forged beneath the vast sky of the northern plains.

See also

• Tale of Two Treaties at Big Sandy, Chouteau County
• Welcome to the Mountain Ranges at Big Sandy, Chouteau County
• The Little Shell Chippewa at Fort Benton, Chouteau County