Traveling the Bighorn Basin

Grant Bulltail describes the traditional lands of the Southern River Crow. The area around present-day Cody, Wyoming, is the Bighorn Basin which is surrounded by mountain ranges on three sides. With abundant wild game and natural resources, it was a region well-traveled by many Native peoples. The Crow referred to this land as “the door of a tipi.”  It was the gateway to the resources of the greater Yellowstone landscape. Travel routes that came through this valley led to Yellowstone Lake and on to the Fire Hole River. The Nez Perce Trail that ran on to Sunlight Basin came through this valley. Because of its unique location, where Chinook winds blew the snow away in winter, a bustling trading post sprang up, frequented by many tribes, including the Flathead and Nez Pierce.

Grant Bulltail explains the Crow’s strong connections to the trails and travel routes that led into Yellowstone National Park. He lived in this area from 1947-1952 and to Grant, “it feels like home.”  In the summers, he and others would dance for tourists at Fishing Bridge inside the park, and at the Cody Stampede rodeos.

Grant remembers that his grandmother collected the grey mud from Yellowstone’s geyser basins to finish off and clean her moccasins and buckskin dresses.  She was still using the old trails in this area in the 1940’s.

With 12 bands of Crow it can be hard to remember who was allied to whom, and where each band roamed. Grant Bulltail delineates some of the main groups, their allies and enemies.

Grant’s great grandfather, Comes Up Red’s people belonged to the Southern River Crow. Before his great grandfather’s time, under the leadership of Matted Hair the Crow had driven the Blackfeet out of the Bighorn Basin. During Come’s Up Red’s time, the Southern River Crow were peaceful and friendly with the Shoshone. Taunted by the fighting bands when they came into their territory, the Southern River Crow would engage in sham battles to protect their honor.

Storyteller and Crow historian Grant Bulltail learned from his great grandfather Come Up Red, a man whose long life spanned the last two centuries. Comes Up Red spent much of his life in the Cody area of Northwest Wyoming, a landscape defined by Heart Mountain and the entrance to what is now Yellowstone National Park. Known to the Crow as “The Doorway” this area is rich in the stories and history of the Crow people.

The Crow living in this area were under the leadership of Sits in the Middle of the Land. Not interested in waging war, they were known as the “Peace Treaty Indians.”