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How to Read This Crosswalk

The Tribal–County Crosswalk identifies primary historical, geographic, and administrative relationships between Montana’s Tribal Nations and its 56 counties. A filled circle (●) marks a primary linkage—typically a reservation boundary, core homeland, major community center, or long-standing administrative connection. Empty cells indicate that no primary relationship has yet been identified in this working draft.

This matrix is not a boundary map. Instead, it is a research tool designed to reveal where New Deal programs, federal agencies, county governments, and Tribal Nations may have intersected between 1933 and 1942. Many counties without reservation lands still contain Little Shell communities, historic Tribal presence, or New Deal projects involving Tribal citizens. These secondary or emerging relationships will be added as research progresses.

The crosswalk also highlights where gaps remain. Counties with no marked connections may still contain undocumented New Deal projects involving Tribal citizens, seasonal labor, agency interactions, or community histories not yet captured in the archival record. Each blank cell is a potential research lead.

As the Montana New Deal Heritage Partnership continues to gather documents, maps, oral histories, agency files, and local records, this crosswalk will evolve into a more detailed, multi-layered relational map of Tribal–county interactions during the New Deal era.

Roosevelt County: Research Mandates

Roosevelt County sits at the heart of the Fort Peck Reservation, making it one of the most significant Tribal–county intersections in the state. Both the Assiniboine and Sioux Nations have deep historical, cultural, and administrative ties to this county, and New Deal programs operated here at a scale unmatched in most of Montana. CCC-ID camps, irrigation projects, school improvements, road construction, and emergency relief efforts all left a substantial footprint. The research mandate for Roosevelt County is clear: identify every CCC-ID camp, map every WPA project, locate surviving structures, and gather oral histories that document how these programs shaped Assiniboine and Sioux communities during the 1930s. Roosevelt County is a cornerstone of the statewide Tribal–New Deal story.

TRIBAL NATIONS OF MONTANA

Overview: Montana’s Tribal Nations steward some of the most culturally and ecologically significant lands in the state. This page provides an index of Nations and their connections to New Deal programs, landscapes, and historical narratives.

Tribal Nations

Resources

Related Pages

Tribal Nations of Montana — Cultural Institutions & Archives