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Much earlier in time, control of the hunting lands of what would one day become Montana east of the mountains
rotated through various tribes. But it was the acquisition first of horses, and then of guns, that allowed the Blackfeet Nation to rule the prairie the bison roamed, especially within the area in the shadow of today’s Rocky Mountain Front. With the arrival of white Europeans, the Blackfeet were pushed into the neighborhood they occupy today—the Blackfeet Reservation—hard up against the eastern flanks of Glacier Nation Park. Corralled in a distinctly smaller landscape, the natives ventured into the high country to hunt, fish and establish vision-quest sites. In awe of what they saw, the Blackfeet referred to the compilation of jagged, soaring edifices as the “Backbone of the World.” Searching for adventure, James Willard Schultz, an educated easterner and accomplished author, migrated to Montana’s high plains in 1876 and eventually came to live with the Blackfeet Indians. He took a wife from the Piegan band of the Blackfeet and, despite being a white man, Schultz melded in so well that the Piegan name “Apikuni,” meaning “Far-off White Robe,” was bestowed upon him. Time spent hunting and exploring the mountainous terrain that rose abruptly west of the Indians’ encampments inspired him to write about
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Crown of the Continent
Mount Reynolds – Logan Pass Area, Glacier National Park