The West Old & New December Vol. II Issue XII | Page 20
majority of the French-Cree descendents lived there. On the American side of the line a goodly number also lived-- those who
were closer related to the Chippewa. Their center was Pembina, established as a trading center in 1870, a factor which gives it the
distinction of being the oldest settlement in the northwest. These Indians moved constantly westward in their pursuit of the buffalo-- along the Missouri River and its tributaries, but often west and south again to the valleys of the rivers there.
Individual members penetrated the now Montana region, too, often serving as guides for the fur traders.
As the years passed, many carts filled with Red River hunters and trappers came into Montana Territory, and settled in regions
where buffalo were plentiful. In making this move, the Métis followed somewhat the pattern of their Indian heritage, a nomadic
tendency to follow their food. Unlike the Indians, they built cabins, and stayed sometimes several years. Then, group by group,
they returned to relatives and friends in the Pembina region, where after a succession of years of residence, they moved again to
Montana. Thus it was that during the decades of the 1850's, 1860's and 1870's, the creaking carts groaned their way back and forth
between the little settlement at Pembina and the unspoiled valleys of Montana.
Perhaps one of the best known settlements (for it became more permanent than did the others who so frequently left their cabins and returned to the Red river) is the one at the present Lewistown in central Montana. A group of Métis left the Pembina district in 1870 and headed West ?\? ?]?? \?X?[\?\?[?][?[?Z[? ?]?H ]? ?Z[[?? H?Y??[??H? HY[X?\??\??X?Y?X?] ?? ]^ Y][? ?[ ?[? ?H ??K ?? H?Y??H\?X][?]?\???[? NM ? H????[??X???[??????[H ?H ??[YY H ?Z\?Y\?? H ?\?\??Z??\? ?H ?\?H[ ?^\?[? H??\[?H? [?B?? \?[?X[???? [? ?]?[Y[?X[?H??\ ??HY?Z??H[? N
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