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Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees in the North American Borderlands by Brenden W. Rensink, Texas A&M Press, 2018

Chapter 9, Note 9 (pages 185 and 264)

Previously local white outcry had bent federal policy, but in mid-October 1908 special allotting agent John F. Armstrong was instructed to move forward in gathering Rocky Boy’s people at Birdseye, Montana. (p. 185)

Chapter 9, Note 9 . . . for additional sources and discussion of local opposition to the Valley County plan. (p. 264)

Consider the following sources as indications of the varied opinions of Rocky Boy’s settlement and the previously failed Valley County Plan:

  • “Rocky Boy Has a Soft Snap,” The River Press, August 18, 1909, 2
  • “Rocky Boys Band of Paupers,” The Searchlight, August 13, 1909, 1
  • “Rocky Boys Band,” The Searchlight, October 1, 1909, 1
  • “Asks Immediate Help for Rocky Boy’s Band,” Anaconda Standard, October 16, 1909
  • ”Chippewa Indians Saved from Death,” Omaha Daily Bee, October 20, 1909, 2
  • “Rocky Boy’s Indians in Distress,” The River Press, October 20, 1909, 3
  • “Rocky Boy’s Band,” Washington Herald (Washington, D.C.), October 21, 1909, 3
  • “Rocky Boys” and “To Care for Indians,” The Searchlight, October 22, 1909, 1
  • “Rush Food to Chief Rocky Boy,” Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg, VA), October 28, 1909
  • “Would Remove the Chippewas,” Helena Independent, October 21, 1909.

The Valley County Plan failed in November 1909 and the lands were opened for non-Native settlement on March 1, 1910. The resulting land rush was swift. See the following sources on the demise of the plan and subsequent nation publicizing of the lands.

  • “Protest May Save Valuable Lands,” Yellowstone Monitor, November 4, 1909.
  • “Indian Paupers Will not Come,” The Searchlight, November 5, 1909, 1.
  • “Secretary of the Interior Ballinger Relieves a Bad Situation,” Williston Graphic (ND), November 11, 1909.
  • “Federal Action Pleases,” The Wibaux Pioneer (MT), November 18, 1909, 2.
  • “Valley County Lands will not be Given into the Hands of the Rocky Boy Tribe of Indians,” Havre Plaindealer, January 22, 1910.
  • “Montana Land to be Opened,” The Ismay (MT), January 26, 1910, 1.
  • “There Will Be No Registration and No Drawing. Plain Homesteading,” Daily Huronite (Huron, South Dakota), January 17, 1910.
  • “Opening Rocky Boy Indian Lands,” Newport Miner (WA), January 20, 1910, 2.
  • “Rocky Boy Indian Lands Open for Settlement,” Waterloo Evening Courier (Iowa), January 21, 1910.
  • Newark Advocate (Ohio), January 24, 1910, Stevens Point Daily Journal (Wisconsin), January 24, 1910.
  • The Pointer (Riverdale, Illinois), February 18, 1910.
  • “Rush of Land-Hungry Coming in the Spring: Montana to Have Drawing,” Centralia Daily Chronicle (Washington)February 21, 1910.
  • “Indian Allotments,” The Searchlight, March 18, 1910, 1.
  • “New England Colonists off Today for Montana Venture,” Christian Science Monitor, April 4, 1910.
  • “Your Chance is West” (Great Northern Railway adversitement), The Enterprise, February 9, 1911, 8.