Distinctly Montana Magazine

86 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • FA L L 2 0 2 3 W HEN THE CORPS OF DISCOVERY TRAVERSED THE GREAT PLAINS OF MONTANA IN 1805 AND 1806, THEY ENCOUNTERED A LANDSCAPE THAT UTTERLY TEEMED WITH WILDLIFE. Indeed, Lewis and Clark proclaimed that the headwaters of the Missouri were "richer in beaver and ot- ter than any country on earth." Reports of those findings reached the receptive ears of traders traveling upriver even before Lewis and Clark returned to St. Louis on September 23, 1806. Prior to the onset of winter in 1807, three trading posts were constructed near the western and southern borders of Piikáni (Piegan) country. Establishment of trapping operations in their territory and trade with the Flathead and Crows, both of whom were tribal enemies, aroused Nitsitapii (Blackfeet) and Gros Ventre opposition, which quickly escalated into a sustained pat- tern of conflict with American trappers. Between the summer of 1808 and autumn of 1810, Blackfoot war parties systematically decimated expeditions led, respectively, by John McClellan and Charles Courtin. In 1810, the Missouri Fur Company, which fo- cused its efforts on the Three Forks of the Missouri, also suffered catastrophic losses. By that fall, 20 members of their 32-man contingent had fallen in battle. A decade-long hiatus in trapping activity followed Blackfoot and Gros Ventre expulsion of this first wave of interlopers. The duration of this period is attributable primarily to the financial impact of the War of 1812, but Nitsitapii military might most certainly made an indelible impression on subsequent traders, trappers, and explorers, who steered far to the south of Blackfoot lands. The magnitude of this closure, however, is summarized by DOUGLAS A. SCHMITTOU From to Lewis and Clark Fort Piegan Map of Lewis and Clark's Track, Across the Western Portion of North America, published 1814. THE 25-YEAR-LONG WAR BETWEEN MOUNTAIN MEN AND THE PIIKÁNI (PIEGAN) BLACKFEET

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