Editing Montana (section)

===Conflicts===
{{see also|List of military installations in Montana}}

As settlers began populating Montana from the 1850s through the 1870s, disputes with Native Americans ensued, primarily over land ownership and control. In 1855, Washington Territorial Governor [[Isaac Stevens]] negotiated the [[Hellgate Treaty]] between the United States government and the Salish, Pend d'Oreille, and Kootenai people of western Montana, which established boundaries for the tribal nations. The treaty was ratified in 1859.{{sfn|Hellgate Treaty|1855}} While the treaty established what later became the [[Flathead Indian Reservation]], trouble with interpreters and confusion over the terms of the treaty led settlers to believe the [[Bitterroot Valley]] was opened to settlement, but the tribal nations disputed those provisions.{{sfn|Montana Office of Public Instruction|2010}} The Salish remained in the Bitterroot Valley until 1891.{{sfn|Holmes|2009|loc=[https://web.archive.org/web/20240117154347/https://mhs.mt.gov/education/Textbook/Chapter7/chapter7.pdf Ch. 7] |pp=123–146}}

The first U.S. Army post established in Montana was [[Camp Cooke (Montana)|Camp Cooke]] in 1866, on the Missouri River, to protect steamboat traffic to Fort Benton. More than a dozen additional military outposts were established in the state. Pressure over land ownership and control increased due to discoveries of gold in various parts of Montana and surrounding states. Major battles occurred in Montana during [[Red Cloud's War]], the [[Great Sioux War of 1876]], and the [[Nez Perce War]] and in conflicts with [[Piegan Blackfeet]].<!--these may need further breakout later--> The most notable were the [[Marias Massacre]] (1870), [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] (1876), [[Battle of the Big Hole]] (1877), and [[Battle of Bear Paw]] (1877). The last recorded conflict in Montana between the U.S. Army and Native Americans occurred in 1887 during the [[Crow War#Battle of Crow Agency|Battle of Crow Agency]] in the Big Horn country. Native survivors who had signed treaties were generally required to move onto [[Indian reservation|reservations]].{{sfn|Malone|Roeder|Lang|1976|pp=114–144}}
[[File:Chief Joseph and Col. John Gibbon.jpg|thumb|Chief Joseph and Col. John Gibbon met again on the Big Hole Battlefield site in 1889.]]

Simultaneously with these conflicts, [[American bison|bison]], a [[keystone species]] and the primary protein source that Native people had survived on for many centuries, were being destroyed. Experts estimate that around 13&nbsp;million bison roamed Montana in 1870.{{sfn|Malone|Roeder|Lang|1976|pp=145–171}} In 1875, General [[Philip Sheridan]] pleaded to a joint session of [[United States Congress|Congress]] to authorize the slaughtering of bison herds to deprive Native people of their source of food.{{sfn|Bergman|2004}} By 1884, commercial hunting had brought bison to the verge of extinction; only about 325 bison remained in the entire United States.{{sfn|Fish and Wildlife Service—Bison|2013}}