ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the central themes of contemporary tribal politics. The tribal territory of the Crow Indians was the country of the Upper Missouri, the Yellowstone, and the Bighorn. The Crow were hunters and perpetual enemies of the Blackfeet, Cheyenne, and Sioux. Toward whites, however, they generally were friendly, and they had the almost unique reputation of being humanitarian in their conduct of war with other tribes. The Indians of the Flathead reservation are principally the Salish and the Kootenai. Eventually the Blackfeet reservation occupied only the northwestern corner of the tribe's vast homeland. The reservation home of the Gros Ventre at Fort Belknap is along the Milk River and is shared with the Assiniboine. The Montana reservations vary considerably in geographical size, Indian population, tribal land holdings, white presence, natural resource wealth, and unemployment. Reform considerations are suggested with the variety of reservation situations in mind.
