Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation differs in several respects from the other Indian reservations in Montana. It is the smallest reservation and the home of the smallest group of Indians. Unlike the other eservations, Rocky Boy was not established by treaty, but by Executive Order in 1916. It was the last Indian reservation to be established in Montana.

Rocky Boy's Reservation was named after Chief Rocky Boy(left), its original Chippewa leader. Stone Child, considered a better translation by some, is a derivative of that name.

The history of the settling of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation was in its infancy long after the other Indian reservations in Montana were established. Rocky Boy's people were among a number of Chippewa Indians who originated in the Great Lakes region. Little Bear(right) was the chief of one of the Canadian Cree bands.

For many years, the small bands of Chippewa and Cree Indians moved between Montana cities such as Butte, Helena, Great Falls, Havre, Choteau, and Chinook and often into and out of Canada. Montanans tended to regard them as Canadian Indians, a and in 1896 congress appropriated $5,000 to finance the deportation of these so-called Canadian Indians from Montana back into Canada. Some of the Indians were deported, but they quickly returned.

Chief Little Bear was considered a Canadian Cree; thus, Congress would not set aside a reservation for his tribe in the United States. Because Little Bear was unsuccessful in his attempts to obtain reservation lands for his followers, he joined Rocky Boy’s band. In 1904 a bill was introduced into Congress to provide a home for the Indians on the Flathead Reservation. The bill was not passed. In 1909 the Rocky Boy band was located near Helena, and a bill was introduced to set aside land for them in northeastern Montana. They never occupied this land and in 1910, the 1,400,000 acres in Valley County were opened for homesteading.

Chief Little Bear and Chief Rocky Boy were weary of the hand-to-mouth existence for their people. With the help of some prominent white men of the time, including William Bole, publisher of the Great Falls Tribune, Charlie Russell and Frank Linderman, the Rocky Boy Reservation was created. On September 7, 1916, the 64th Congress designated a tract of land once part of the abandoned Fort Assiniboine Military Reserve as a home for the Chippewa and Cree Indians. Located south of Havre, this refuge consisted of approximately 55,000 acres. Only about 450 of the Indians, perhaps half of those eligible, chose to settle on the reservation. In later years, more land was added to the original acreage until the reservation reached its present size of 121,646 acres as of January, 1998.

The Rocky Boy’s Reservation lies in the shadows and scenic area of the Bear Paw Mountains of north central Montana and includes country of rolling foothills and prairie land. The Rocky Boy Agency is located 30 miles south of the city of Havre, which is a farming and railroad community of approximately 12,000 people. The principal use of lands within the reservation is grazing and dryland farming. There are no light industries or businesses located on the reservation except for small family-owned enterprises. Even though the reservation is isolated from larger metropolitan areas, community residents are avid participants in church and school related activities, stick games, and attending basketball games. This extreme isolation however, also accounts for the rich cultural heritage continuing on the Rocky Boy’s Reservation.