Archives West Finding Aid

In what would become the state of Montana, the Blackfeet signed a treaty establishing their reservation in 1855. As with many tribes the Blackfeet Reservation did not stabilize with that treaty but was subject to the shifting land demands of settlers, stockmen, and miners. In 1886 Congress appointed a new Treaty Commission to negotiate with the Blackfeet and other tribes about reservation land sales. In 1887 Blackfeet elders signed a treaty that gave away most of their land in exchange for funds that the government hoped would lead to tribal members' economic independence and cultural assimilation. A local Indian agent was assigned to implement government policy while protecting the Blackfeet and their complicated interests. In the fourteen-year period between 1886 and 1900 the Blackfeet had seven different agents. In 1876 the Blackfeet Agency was relocated on Badger Creek to accommodate changing reservation boundaries. The Agency remained in that location until 1892 when a population shift moved the agency twenty miles north of the old Badger Creek location.

Arthur E. McFatridge served as superintendent or agent at the Agency from 1910-1915. His trouble-ridden tenure ended when he was fired in 1915 and embezzled $1200 from grazing fees as he fled to Canada.