38. Glacier County

The area bordering Canada and reaching east from the Continental Divide was originally part of Chouteau County (#19), and became part of Teton County (#31) when western Chouteau County was broken off.  In 1919, the state Legislature took the northern part of Teton County to create Glacier County.  The two main towns in the county were Cut Bank and Browning, and after a bitter fight, Cut Bank was chosen as the Seat.  It's important to note that by the time the Legislature created Glacier County, most of the land base for the county was outside the County's tax-base.  The Blackfeet Reservation, created by treaty in 1855 (before the creation of Montana Territory) and the eastern half of Glacier National Park (created in 1910) take up most of the land area of Glacier County.  Only a narrow strip of land bordering Toole County (#21) lies outside Federal or Tribal jurisdiction, a strip approximately eleven miles wide.  Or to put it another way, nearly 71% of the County's land area is within the Blackfeet Reservation and another 20.6% lies within Glacier National Park.  Not surprisingly, over 60% of the County's population is Native American.  The 2010 U.S. Census counted 13,399 county residents and the 2012 estimate of 13,711 is the highest population count in the County's history.

The Glacier County Courthouse

Cut Bank, Montana

The County Seat, Cut Bank, traces its history to the coming of the Great Northern Railroad in the 1890s.  It takes its name from Cut Bank Creek, one of the main water courses in the County, a stream which the Native folk called "the river that cuts into the white clay bank," according to the city's web site.  According to that same site, the city was originally located on the west side of the creek, but when it was discovered that the location was on Reservation land, the city fathers up and moved the town across the creek.  Today, the railroad bridge across the creek is one of the notable features of the local architectural landscape.

Rail Bridge across Cut Bank Creek

Based on the pictures above, one could reasonably conclude that Glacier County's topography is part of the Great Plains, flat to gently rolling land that stretches from the Canadian Rockies to the Mississippi River.  But we cannot forget that the County takes its name from Glacier National Park and the County extends west to the Continental Divide where it joins Flathead County (#7).  The western portion of the County is stunningly beautiful with countless vistas of mountains and lakes to capture the viewer's attention.  The Blackfeet called this area the Backbone of the World, and one of the common nicknames for Glacier National Park is the Crown of the Continent,  a phrase first used by George Bird Grinnell in 1901.  

The Siksika (Blackfoot) people are the largest population group in Glacier County.  An Algonquian speaking people, the Siksika are believed to have originated in the area north of the Great Lakes.  (There is considerable controversy over the English name of the tribe. Officially known as the Blackfeet Nation, tribal members point out that in their own language, the term is singular, not plural, and many use Blackfoot instead.  Rather than get into that battle, for the purposes of this essay, I shall use the term Siksika.)  In advance of European settlement, the Siksika moved westward and by the 1700s were living in what is now Saskatchewan.  By the 1800s, they were the dominant tribe in the northern plains, and their home territory reached westward to the Rocky Mountains and south to the Yellowstone River and beyond.  The Blackfeet Treaty of Fort Benton, signed in 1855 when Montana east of the Divide was known as Nebraska Territory, allocated almost two thirds of what is now eastern Montana to the Siksika people.  As has happened repeatedly in US/Native American relations, that reserved land has been taken time and again, and today's Blackfeet Reservation covers less than 1,500,000 acres, with over one third of that owned by non-Native people.  Note that the Blackfeet Reservation, unlike the Flathead Reservation west of the Divide, was never opened to non-Native settlement.  However, between 1907 and 1911, tribal lands were allotted to individual members, and those lands could be sold, and often were sold to non-Native people so that the original owners could have money to live on.  Today, the Tribe has first right of refusal allowing it to buy back reservation land being sold by non-Native land owners.  

Colorful Tipis at a private campground at St Mary's

Eastern edge of Glacier National Park

Unfortunately, these tipis, photographed in 2009 and not at all authentic, no longer exist

In 1896, the Tribe sold the western extent of its much reduced reservation for the sum of $1,500,000 with the intent that the land sold would be used for mineral exploration.  Fortunately, for us, not enough minerals were found to lead to the kind of land rush that has happened elsewhere under similar circumstances, and in 1910 this area was set aside as Glacier National Park.  The Great Northern Railroad built a series of hotels and chalets through the park with the goal of increasing tourism (and not-so-coincidentally rail travel revenues), and the railroad advertised the "Switzerland of America" heavily.  By the early 1930s, it became obvious that a road would need to be built through the mountains of the Park, and in 1932, Going-to-the-Sun Road was completed, connecting Apgar Village near West Glacier to Lake McDonald and St. Mary's on the eastern edge of the park, traversing 6,647 foot Logan Pass on its way across the park.  To this day, Going-to-the-Sun is the only road that crosses the Park, although U.S. Highway 2 connects West Glacier with East Glacier and follows the southern edge of the Park, with less than ten miles of the highway actually within the Park's borders.  In 1932, thanks to the efforts of people on both sides of the U.S./Canadian border, Glacier Park and the adjoining Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta were connected under the name Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.  This was the first international park in the world.  Today there are 170 such parks.  This is also the only place on the 5,525 mile U.S./Canadian border where you can cross the line without showing documentation.  (Note that I have never tried to enter Canada, or re-enter the U.S. by taking the boat trip across Waterton Lake.  Also note that should you try to enter the U.S. this way, you'll have a long hike from Goat Haunt at the southern end of the lake to any road or highway that will get you further into the U.S.)  

St Mary's Lake

Glacier National Park