05/04/2026
Tahnsikiyahahwahw!
This post is meant to give some historical context/insight into the Cree’s recent relationship to Buffalo🦬. The information comes from both oral history and written records. It should be noted that our history is much deeper, entertaining, and complex than what is mentioned in this post. A post detailing the Chippewa’s recent relationship to buffalo will be made soon!
Worlds Collide:
-1600’s: European presence in North America increases, specifically along the eastern seaboard. The North American fur trade starts, with very high demands in European/Asian markets for North American furs. The fur trade gives participating tribes access to horses, guns, and other valuable trade goods. Participating tribes are pressured to control best hunting grounds and easiest trade access. This leads to increased intertribal warfare, displacement, and migration. The fur trade exploits the animal populations to the point of depletion in some areas.
Cree Expansion:
-1640: The first written record of the Cree Tribe comes from Jesuit priests in James Bay, Ontario. Cree historically found in woodlands. Would have known about vast buffalo herds on the plains and acknowledged their importance since time immemorial, though they were not fully dependent on buffalo.
-1670: Hudson Bay Company (HBC) is formed under the British Crown to exploit North American fur trade. HBC is granted exclusive trading rights in the Hudson Bay Watershed via royal charter. Cree ally themselves with the HBC early on. Allowing themselves to acquire better quality British trade goods than can be acquired from the other European traders.
-1680’s: Cree ally themselves with the Nakoda (Assiniboine) people, forming the
Iron Confederacy. The Nakoda help teach the Cree how to live on the plains. Some Cree bands fully adopt the nomadic plains culture early on. Becoming completely dependent on the buffalo herds for food, shelter, clothing, tools, culture, spirituality and much more. Thus differentiating themselves from their woodland cousins and becoming Plains Cree.
-1770’s: Multiple generations of plains Cree have lived freely in the northern Great Plains. Keeping close trade relationships with the European fur trappers the entire time. Very strong cultural ties to Buffalo herds have been forged by Plains Cree now.
-1770-1800: Most fur bearing game populations closest to eastern seaboard trapped out. HBC starts establishing trading posts along Canada’s interior prairie rivers. The Cree expand further into the plains along with the fur trade.
-1776: United States declares its independence from the British Empire and establishes itself as a country
-1783: Following the American revolutionary war, The treaty of Paris is signed between the British crown and the United States. Establishing a border along the 49th parallel between the two nations’ territories.
-1803: United States makes the Louisiana Purchase with France. Doubling the size of the country. Land from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains is now under US ownership and control.
-1804: Lewis & Clark’s Corps of Discovery journals make several mentions of the Cree being in the Upper Missouri River region (North Dakota, Montana) at the time of their expedition.
-1808: American Fur Company (AFC) is founded in St Louis, seeking to exploit upper Missouri fur trade. More trade opportunities, more hunting in the region.
-1840: AFC ships 67,000 Buffalo robes to St Louis
-1843: 75,000 buffalo robes are traded to HBC
-1800-1850’s: Cree establish themselves as a powerhouse in Upper Missouri River region. Able to use superior British guns acquired through trade to push other tribes out and move in. Plains Cree freely cross US/Canadian border at will to hunt, gather, raid, and trade.
Change comes:
-1850’s: Smallpox wave decimates upper Missouri region, Plains Cree hit hard.
-1860’s: Montana Gold Rush happens. First big influx of settlers into the region. The first cattle drive into Montana happens in 1866 to feed the new influx of Montana settlers.
-1870: The territory under the Hudson Bay Company’s control is turned into the Dominion of Canada. Canada is established as a country.
-1874-1876: Treaties #4, #5, and #6 are signed between the British Crown(Dominion of Canada) and the Plains Cree. The Plains Cree agree to cede large tracts of land in exchange for reserves, annuities, food security, as well as agriculture and educational assistance. Some plains Cree leaders refuse to sign treaties.
-1876: Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho defeat the US Army at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Will be the last victory that any tribes have against the United States militarily.
-1880: North American Fur Trade comes to an end.
-1881: Miles City, Montana ships out 180,000 Buffalo robes on railroad.
-1882: No sizable Buffalo herds can be found. Chief Big Bear is the last Plains Cree Chief to sign treaty #6.
-1885: Treaties are not being honored, rations being withheld on purpose. Members of big bears band retaliate and participate in the Frog Lake Massacre in Saskatchewan. Big bear and his band go on the run for weeks until the battle of Frenchman’s Butte. Following this battle Chief Big Bear surrenders to Canadian government. While his son Little Bear leads those who are willing into Montana territory to escape Canadian forces.
Wandering times:(1886-1916)
-1886: Little Bear and his band find themselves wandering a changed world. The buffalo herds and other big game are gone. The other tribes in the region are put onto reservations. Towns and settlements are growing and popping up everywhere.
-1888: Montana is established as the 48th state in the United States.
-1889-1890: Chippewa Chief Rocky Boy leads his band of Chippewa to Montana after a treaty/land dispute in Wisconsin. Little Bear and Rocky Boy’s bands are the last free roaming tribes in the state not assigned to a reservation.
-1890-1916: Both Little Bears band of Plains Cree and Rocky Boy’s band of Chippewa share the same struggle. They roam from city to city looking for opportunities of any kind. Have to learn how to transition from traditional nomadic lifestyle to civilized sedentary lifestyles in one generation. Many complaints are sent to Washington DC from Montana about the wandering Cree and Chippewa bands.
Reservation period: (1916-present)
-1916: US Congress establishes Rocky Boy’s Indian reservation for Rocky Boy’s band of Chippewa. Little Bear’s band of Plains Cree are allowed to call the reservation home as well.
-1935: Chippewa-Cree tribe is among the first to reorganize under the Indian Reorganization Act. Paving the way for the reservation to be self compact and self governing.
-1980’s: Chippewa Cree Tribe brings buffalo back. Herd eventually dissolves in early 1990’s due to lack of resources/habitat.
-2021: Chippewa Cree tribe is gifted 5 buffalo from Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes, and 6 buffalo from American Prairie. 11 buffalo in total are released onto pasture on Rocky Boy Indian Reservation.
-2026: Herd grows to 60 head of buffalo. Since the herd was established in 2021, 8 community buffalo harvests have taken place, thousands of pounds of buffalo meat supplied to community, hundreds of people toured Buffalo pasture/herd. Our tribe is still in the process of relearning and reestablishing our connection to these animals.
History shows how both the bison and tribes were caught at the intersection of colonialism, capitalism, and environmental destruction. How our stories are deeply intertwined and that there is cultural/spiritual significance that comes with that. It is important to acknowledge that our relationship with this animal is ancient yet not a thing of the past. We are still helping each other survive and advance into the future.
