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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 6
A
T AGE NINE, BUD CHEFF JR. AND HIS SISTER WERE EX-
PLORING ABOVE THE ROAD IN BAD ROCK CANYON
WHILE THEIR DAD FIXED A FLAT ON THEIR '36 CHEVY.
They were on their way to Martin City to see relatives on the
Martin side of the family. They came across a crevasse in the
rock face, with an old packrat nest in it. Peering in, Bud could see
something sticking out of the nest. Clearing some of the accumu-
lated dirt away, Bud and his sister pulled it out. It was a Blackfeet
war club. That treasure would eventually be lost in a house fire
15 years later, but it started a lifelong passion for preserving the
past for the future.
This is Bud Cheff Jr., family chronicler and historian. Bud sits at
the confluence of several family tree branches that reach deep into
area history. The Cheff clan were a mix of French and Iroquois,
and there was something of a mass migration of Cheffs to Mon-
tana in the late 1800s. Bud's grandfather, Ovila Cheff, was one of
The Ninepipes Museum
of Early Montana
by DOUG STEVENS
A Rich Cheff Family Heritage
DOUG
STEVENS
(2)
