Chippewa Cree

The Chippewa Cree Tribe is a mixed group of Native Americans in Montana, among the last to come into the state. They are descended from Cree that had come south from Canada, and from Chippewa that had moved east from the Turtle Mountains in North Dakota.

The members of the tribe, feeling cheated by the reservation system, continued to live a nomadic life, and were deported to Canada, but returned to hunt buffalo. Having fallen on hard times, they finally accepted settlement on Rocky Boys Indian Reservation (also known as "Rocky Boy's" - a mis-translation of the name of the tribal chief Stone Child), established in 1916 south of Havre in the Bears Paw Mountains of north-central Montana.

Today the tribe consists of about 4,700 registered members, of whom about 2,500 live on the reservation. The tribe operates the commercial ski area Bear Paw Ski Bowl, and Stone Child College, a two-year institution.