Exploring Big Horn Canyon:
In North America people have traveled and made their living along rivers and streams for more than 40,000 years. But the Big Horn River was too treacherous and too steep-walled. People here lived near the Bighorn but avoided navigating it--until the dam tamed the river.
The broken land here also challenged the ingenuity of early residents forcing them to devise unusual strategies of survival. The many caves of the Bighorn area provided seasonal shelters and storage areas for the Indians as well as for the early traders and trappers.
Absaroke means “People of the large-beaked bird in the Siouan language of the Crow. Their reservation surrounds most of the Bighorn Canyon. Originally a farming people the Crow split off from the Hidatsa tribe more than 200 years ago. They became a renowned hunting people, described by one of the Lewis and Clark Expedition as the “finest horse-men in the world.” 
After the 1900 explorers, traders and trappers found their way up the Bighorn River, Charles Larocque met the Crow at the mouth of the Bighorn in 1805. Captain William Clark traveled through a year later. Jim Bridger claimed he had floated through the canyon on a raft. Later fur traders packed their good OVERLAND on the Bad pass Trail, avoiding the river’s dangers.
During the Civil War, the Bozeman Trail led to mines in western Montana by crossing the BigHorn River. Open from 1864 to 1868, the trail was bitterly opposed by the Sioux and the Cheyenene; the Crow were neutral. The Federal Government closed the trail in 1868 after the Fort Laramie Treaty. Fort CF Smith, n
ow on private land guarded the trail as an outpost.
Congress established Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area in 1966 as part of the National Park System to provide enjoyment for visitors today and to protect the park for future generations.
See information and maps: page 1&2 and page 3&4
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
GenTrails
Big Horn county.
WELCOME TO A VIEW OF MONTANA IN THE SUMMER TIME.
This site includes Crow and homesteader genealogy information. Many names of early Montanans in border crossings from Canada, Military wars, census information, history. I do answer queries and help you get started. If you have data to contribute please e-mail me.
My name is Jo Ann Boyd Scott and as your host I try to post as much data online online as possible in order to make it freely available to all.
I gratefully accept contributions of raw data such as census information, marriage/birth/death records, obituaries, county histories, biographies, old newspaper items, maps, anything that would help someone build their family tree!! E-mail me.
This site is linked to and from the websites, Montana State Genealogy Trails site which includes a list of all the 56 counties in Montana; to the Big Horn County Genealogy Trails site and to the Crow Reservation site.
Data is added daily to this site and the above sites. New is the beginning of the 1885-1914 Indian Census;new banner and Miss Indian America, Lucy Yellow Mule from Wyola, MT. A history is included. This can be found on Sheridan County Wyoming web site.
I have included some pictures of Montana from my favorite photographer, Montana Native -Joe! Thanks for the picture.Look for the trout in the first one. This water stays at 40 degrees in the summer. See the fish?
All data on this website is © Copyright 2007 by Genealogy Trails
with full rights reserved for original submitters. E-Mail Jo Ann
Sheridan WY. the nearest large town to the reservation.