Valier

A Dispute Over Horses and Guns

Meriwether Lewis and three men from the Corps of Discovery traveled through this area on July 26, 1806. During the journey, the men encountered eight (Blackfeet) American Indians near Two Medicine River Valley and decided to camp together under the bluffs of the river's south bank. In the evening, the men gathered in the Indian's shelter to talk and smoking tobacco.

At daybreak on July 27th, Lewis' party awoke to discover the Indians attempting to take some of the weapons and horses. The party fought for their supplies, leaving one Indian dead and another severely wounded, before fleeing south toward the Missouri River (near today's Fort Benton, Montana), and continuing to the confluence of the Marias and Missouri Rivers.

These were the only American Indians injured by the Corps of Discovery during their three year expedition.

From One Perspective

What did happen at the Two Medicine Fight Site? Wolf Calf, one of the Blackfeet Indian survivors, had vivid recollections. He and his companions were both surprised and frightened when they saw Lewis and his men, but decided to act in a "friendly fashion," for at least a short time. Both parties descended to the Two Medicine River and made camp on the evening of July 26, 1806.

The next morning, Joseph Field carelessly laid his gun aside. One of the young Indian men took the weapon, an act that would win power in his tribe, but signaled the other Indians to take the expedition's guns. When one of the expedition members saw the Blackfeet trying to escape with the guns and horses, a fight ensued. Side Hill Calf was overtaken by Reubin Fields and killed in the struggle. Another young Blackfeet man was shot in the stomach and what happened to him was unknown. The remaining men of the party rode quickly away.

From Another Perspective

What happened at the Two Medicine Site? Meriwether Lewis's group camped with the Blackfeet Indians, on July 26, 1806, at the river just west of this site. There was an exchange of gifts, smoking and talk. After much talking and smoking tobacco, Lewis posted a guard and retired for the night.

In the morning, Lewis and his companion's weapons were taken, an act that gave the Indians power in their tribe. In the ensuing struggle, "...a soldier stabbed a warrior...who fell dead..."

Just as Lewis retrieved his rifle, he saw two Indians attempting to drive off his horses. He sprinted after the Indians and as one turned to shoot, Lewis shot him in the stomach. Injured, but not willing to give up, the Indian raised and returned fire upon Lewis - the bullet whistled by his head. The other Indian fled the scene with some of the horses.

Lewis and his men retreated after bringing some of the Indian's gear left at the camp. Lewis placed a peace medal around the neck of the dead man so that "they would be informed who we were."

"Being bearheaded, I felt the wind of his bullet very distinctly." -- Meriwether Lewis, July 27, 1806

Erected by Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail.

Captain Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, accompanied by three of his men, explored this portion of the country upon their return trip from the coast. On July 26, 1806, they met eight Piegans (Blackfeet), who Lewis mistakenly identified as Gros Ventres, and camped with them that night on Two Medicine Creek at a point northeast of here. Next morning the Indians, by attempting to steal the explorers guns and horses, precipitated a fight in which two of the Indians were killed.

This was the only hostile encounter with Indians that the Expedition encountered in their entire trip from St. Louis to the Pacific and back. Lewis unwittingly dropped a bombshell on the Piegans with the news that their traditional enemies, the Nez Perce, Shoshoni and Kootenai, were uniting in an American-inspired peace and would be getting guns and supplies from Yankee traders. This threatened the Blackfeet’s 20 year domination of the Northern Plains made possible by Canadian guns.

You may have noticed a ring of rocks on the land before you. This is a tipi ring - a remnant of American Indian architecture. Like many other tribes, the Blackfeet tribe who lived in this area used tipis as moving homes.

The tipi was designed to accommodate a nomadic lifestyle. When an encampment was set up a ring of rocks were used to hold the tipis in place.

Traditionally, tipis were constructed and owned by American Indian women. The sides wee generally made of buffalo hides; it could take up to 20 hides to make a large tipi.

"The Blackfeet and their relatives, the Piegan and the Blood Indians, still have many beautiful painted "medicine" tipis and in this respect they have the most colorful lodges to be seen today." -- Reginald and Gladys Laupin, The Indian Tipi

Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union ran high during the cold war. Both sides relied heavily on their nuclear weapons arsenals as deterrents to actual combat between the two superpowers. When the Soviets launched the first man-made earth-orbiting satellite, Sputnik, in October 1957, it ushered in a new and deadlier phase to the cold war, the use of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBMs) to carry nuclear warheads.

The Montana missile field is a 23,500 square mile area that encompasses nine Montana counties and was the largest missile field in the United States. At its height in the late twentieth century, it contained 200 Minuteman missiles under the command of the 341st Missile Wing based at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls. This area was controlled by the 564th Missile Squadron. Nicknamed "Deuce," the squadron was responsible for five Minuteman Missile alert facilities and fifty nuclear missile silos. The unit originated as the 564th Bombardment Squadron during World War II. flying B-24 "Liberators" on missions in central and southern Europe. The Air Force reactivated it as an ICBM squadron in 1965. The 564th was the first squadron in Montana to receive the new Minuteman II missiles in 1967 and had upgraded to the Minuteman III ICBMs by 1975. The USAF inactivated the 431st Missile Squadron and removed the Minuteman III missiles from their silos in 2008.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

When the town of Valier was founded in 1909, a wood-frame schoolhouse was quickly erected to serve the children of the new community. Less than two years later, the school board moved to replace that school with a more substantial building. In 1911, with funds provided by the sale of bonds, the board commissioned prominent Great Falls architect George Shanley to design the new school. Sandstone was chosen as the building medium in order to keep the work local and avoid importing materials. Shanley selected a quarry site on Dupuyer Creek. William Young of Great Falls supervised the quarry, cutting and transporting the stone by horse-drawn wagon to the building site three miles away. Seven months later the new school opened with 121 students in attendance. The masterful stone architecture illustrates the high aspirations of Valier’s citizens for the prosperity of their community. Notable features include a stuccoed bell tower with applied metal and wood detailing and a tall, half-circle window that lights the inner stairway. Originally four classrooms opened onto central corridors and served all grades. With the completion of a high school in 1918, Valier Public School became a grammar school that served the children of Valier until 1952.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.