Raising Cattle on the Flathead Reservation

Cattle raising began on the reservation in the late 1850s when traders bought exhausted cattle from emigrants going to Oregon, usually in the vicinity of today's Pocatello, Idaho, drove them to the Jocko Valley to fatten, then resold them to other emigrants the following spring. Some of these cattle were traded to Indians for horses and were the source of the Indian herds.

During the 1850s Neil McArthur, first agent at Fort Connah, and Louis Mallet drove herds from Oregon into Bitterroot and Jocko Valleys for the winter, then drove them back westward to trade in the spring. John Owens recorded that in 1856 traders or stockmen who came to western Montana included Louis Brown and a Mormon trader, Van Etten, who was accompanied by George Goodwin, Bill Madison, James Brown and F. W. Woody. 

The cattle ranching industry became concentrated among a handful of white men who were married to Indian women. Angus McDonald (who had a verbal lease to lands around Fort Connah) raised cattle near the fort. Other men (some former employees of the Hudson's Bay Company, some free traders) included Peter Irvine and his son William, Dave Cachure, Charles Allard, and Michel Pablo.

By 1889, raising stock had become nearly as important as farming. There were 5,782 horses and 12,250 cattle. (Annual Report of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of Interior, 1889, pp. 522-23). Most of the cattle were owned by Pablo and Allard. In 1894, more than $40,000 worth of beef cattle were shipped to Chicago. The cattle were of good breed, having been improved over the years with Holstein and Poled Angus bulls. The horses were cayuses, small and of little value. Because of the mild winters, little supplemental feed was supplied, until the numbers of horses grew so large the grass was depleted.

By 1895, William Irvine drove six hundred cattle to Canada to winter because there was not enough grass on the reservation. About 13,000 horses were sold between 1903 and 1906 which took some pressure off the reservation grass. By 1904, tribal members began to fence their allotments in preparation for the opening of the reservation. In 1906, about half the reservation cattle were disposed of, thousands being driven to Canada.

Beginning about 1916, dairying became more important. By 1948, 1,100 farmers milked cows, about one fifth of whom got most of their money from their dairies.

Source: Hugh J. Biggar, "The Development of the Lower Flathead Valley" Masters Thesis, Montana State University, Missoula, 1951.