Montana16

It was common for the Blackfeet to come to Fort Benton and set up their teepees while they were trading for goods.

The fort's museum contained a number of beautiful bronze sculptures. This one depicted Blackfeet returning to camp holding their prizes of war high over their heads and shouting their victory to the world. A war shirt, a feathered war flag, a stone club and a bonnet were all taken from their enemies, the Crow.

Our next stop was at the Museum of the Northern Great Plains which documents the last one hundred years of life on the vast Montana plains. It is actually three museums in one including Homesteader Village, The Hornaday/Smithsonian Buffalo and Western Art Gallery, and the Montana Agricultural Center.

The Hornaday Smithsonian group of six buffalo, titled "Bison Bison", established the standards for museums all over the world. It was the first display of an entire family group of large mammals and the first exhibit to surround specimens with their natural surroundings. The animals were collected in 1886 by William T. Hornaday for the National Museum in Washington D.C. It was feared that bison were about to become extinct and none had been preserved in the national collection. They were taken from the last of the wild herd found between the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, the same area as the last buffalo hunt of the Blackfoot in 1879 before they were forced to the reservation. Twenty-four animals were taken by Hornaday, but only these six mounts were put on exhibition at the Smithsonian in 1887. They were on display there for 70 years.

The museum contained beautiful paintings of western life such as this one titled, "Hunt on Arrow Creek", painted by R.E. Morgan in 1887.

The agricultural museum documents the last one hundred years of life on the vast Montana plains. I loved this mural found in the entryway to the museum.

This display held actual newspapers with headlines from significant events in history. It was fascinating to read the headlines and stories.