Simple Contentment

In 1910 the Dawes Act opened the Flathead Indian Reservation to immigrants and white settlers. A flood of families, single men and women made their way to the Little Bitterroot Valley in western Montana to claim high desert prairie ground. They found sagebrush, rattlesnakes, wild bison and Native Americans. Some buckled down to stay while others moved on. This is their stories, in their own words about the weather, survival, architecture, animals and entertainment.