Fort Belknap Indian Reservation Flag Gros Ventre means “big belly” in French, and it was actually used to designate two different tribes. Both the Atsina and Hidatsa tribes used sign language when communicating with Europeans, and each other, and both used similar signs to explain who they were.
These signs involved them moving their hands over their bellies to show that they were robust eaters, in the Atsina’s case, and that they tattooed their chests, in the case of the Hidatsa. The Hidatsa were the tribe that remained near the Missouri River, while the Atsina chose the Great Plains. And it was the Atsina that would come to settle in Montana.
These signs involved them moving their hands over their bellies to show that they were robust eaters, in the Atsina’s case, and that they tattooed their chests, in the case of the Hidatsa. The Hidatsa were the tribe that remained near the Missouri River, while the Atsina chose the Great Plains. And it was the Atsina that would come to settle in Montana.
Early History
Gros Ventre with travois, c. 1900 The Gros Ventre of the Plains, as the Atsina came to be called, had been living an agrarian lifestyle around the Great Lakes for thousands of years. They spoke the common Algonquin dialect in the area, which was also shared by the Arapaho and the Cheyenne.
A split occurred with the Arapaho around 1700, and the Gros Ventre headed west. They adopted the same customs and nomadic lifestyle that all the Plains Indians would come to be known for, including rigorous hunting of the buffalo, often from horseback, and a pronounced wanderlust. It was also during this time that they had their first encounter with Europeans.
A split occurred with the Arapaho around 1700, and the Gros Ventre headed west. They adopted the same customs and nomadic lifestyle that all the Plains Indians would come to be known for, including rigorous hunting of the buffalo, often from horseback, and a pronounced wanderlust. It was also during this time that they had their first encounter with Europeans.
To Montana
Depiction of a buffalo jump They wandered about in relative peace for 80 years before an epidemic of smallpox struck in 1780. This weakened them substantially, and they couldn’t hold off attacks from the Cree and Assiniboine, who drove them further north and west to the Milk River area of Montana.
And as is so common throughout the Indian Tribes’ history, this bullied group went ahead and bullied another, this time the Shoshone, Flathead, Kootenai, and Pend d’Oreille tribes, who moved further west across the Continental Divide, and in the case of the Shoshone, south out of the state.
And as is so common throughout the Indian Tribes’ history, this bullied group went ahead and bullied another, this time the Shoshone, Flathead, Kootenai, and Pend d’Oreille tribes, who moved further west across the Continental Divide, and in the case of the Shoshone, south out of the state.
First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park
First Peoples Buffalo Jump cliff face One buffalo jump that is near where the Gros Ventre tribe lives today is the First Peoples Buffalo Jump, located in Cascade County. The buffalo jump was used by several Montana Indian tribes besides the Gros Ventre, including the Assiniboine, Blackfeet, Cree, Kalispel, Salish, and Shoshone.
Arrowheads and a spearhead that have been carbon dated suggest that the site was used as early as 5,000 years ago. Still, it’s widely agreed that the buffalo jump wasn’t really made a regular feature of the Plains Indians’ way of life until around 900.
The Indians who got their meals from the site would simply take the meat right off the animals and eat it on the spot. Fire pits changed all that beginning around 500, and “blood kettles,” which were shallow bowls dug into the earth. These were then used to boil the bison blood, making it last longer without risk of spoilage. The cooked blood was then often used to make high-protein biscuits.
The First Peoples Buffalo Jump was used frequently and extensively as time went on, as the debris left behind attests. The bone bed at the site extends all along the face of the cliff and measures 13 feet deep, and archaeologists estimate that it would have taken 6,000 buffalo to create it.
That all changed when the horses came to the Great Plains tribes around 1700, and the site eventually became just another relic of Montana’s past.
Notes
Bryan, William L. Montana’s Indians: Yesterday and Today. American & World Geographic Publishing: Helena, 1996. p 30-2.
Walden, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Infobase Publishing: New York, 2006. p 98.
Arrowheads and a spearhead that have been carbon dated suggest that the site was used as early as 5,000 years ago. Still, it’s widely agreed that the buffalo jump wasn’t really made a regular feature of the Plains Indians’ way of life until around 900.
The Indians who got their meals from the site would simply take the meat right off the animals and eat it on the spot. Fire pits changed all that beginning around 500, and “blood kettles,” which were shallow bowls dug into the earth. These were then used to boil the bison blood, making it last longer without risk of spoilage. The cooked blood was then often used to make high-protein biscuits.
The First Peoples Buffalo Jump was used frequently and extensively as time went on, as the debris left behind attests. The bone bed at the site extends all along the face of the cliff and measures 13 feet deep, and archaeologists estimate that it would have taken 6,000 buffalo to create it.
That all changed when the horses came to the Great Plains tribes around 1700, and the site eventually became just another relic of Montana’s past.
Notes
Bryan, William L. Montana’s Indians: Yesterday and Today. American & World Geographic Publishing: Helena, 1996. p 30-2.
Walden, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Infobase Publishing: New York, 2006. p 98.
Learn More about the Gros Ventre
Montana State Parks Site
http://stateparks.mt.gov/first-peoples-buffalo-jump/
State of Montana Gros Ventre Information
http://tribalnations.mt.gov/fortbelknap.asp
http://stateparks.mt.gov/first-peoples-buffalo-jump/
State of Montana Gros Ventre Information
http://tribalnations.mt.gov/fortbelknap.asp
