Distinctly Montana Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.distinctlymontana.com/i/570217
W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A . C O M 41 Looking north while along the Hi-Line between Shelby and Chester, the viewer will see three distinct buttes; West Butte, Middle Butte, and East Butte. Healthy sprouts of winter wheat line the fields on either side of the dirt road, while most remain- ing buildings look abandoned and wind worn. Located about 40 miles north of each town, as one gets closer we can also see the smaller Haystack and Grassy Butte, and then that the East Butte area is really multiple mountains. Many elk, antelope, and variet- ies of birds live around these mountains, but not many people. A gold rush came once, a century ago, earning Middle Butte a new name of Gold Butte. e mining town once boasted 500 people, a school, hotel, and saloon, but only a cemetery remains today. When the miners left, the free range cattle businesses moved in. Charlie Russell, the great Montana artist, even tried his hand at ranching in the area. e Lazy KY Ranch near Gold Butte later became a beautiful water- color painting. Later, thousands of homesteaders rushed the area in search of free land, but only a few were successful. e strong few who today call this place home will attest to the spirituality of the hills. Perhaps those with the strongest connection to the mountains are members of the Blackfeet tribe. e areas around the hills was once their homeland, and a view from atop the buttes could easily track the massive buffalo herds. In their legends, the only location named in their creation story is the Katoyisiks. e Sweetgrass Hills were once named for the famous hero Katoyis, who slay the wind-sucker monster atop one of these buttes. An ancient vision quest to the top of these mountains led to the discovery of the Sun Dance. e hills were sacred friends, as the gods asked the hills to swallow the bison, to save them from the rifles of the buf- falo hunters. But of the many stories associated with these hills, this Chippewa-Cree legend might be the most amazing. DEAN HELLINGER Ancient plow below the East Face of Mount Royal CONTINUED