Near Piegan in Glacier County, Montana — The American West (Mountains)

Ghost Ridge

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 9, 2015

1. Ghost Ridge Marker

Inscription.
With the disappearance of the buffalo in 1883, the entire tribe depended on the Agency for food. The agency failed to provide adequate rations during that winter, which resulted in over 600 tribal members starving to death. They were buried along the south ridge of the agency, which was called "Ghost Ridge, or the Country of the Dead by the Blackfeet."

Erected by Blackfeet Nation. (Marker Number 10.)

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Disasters • Indigenous Peoples and Communities. A significant historical year for this entry is 1883.

Location. 48° 25.752′ N, 112° 41.937′ W. Marker is near Piegan, Montana, in Glacier County. It is on Badger Creek Road 0.1 miles south of U.S. 89, on the left when traveling north. Marker is located in a pull-out on the west side of the road, overlooking the Old Agency site. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Cut Bank MT 59427, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Western Montana

and in Glacier Country.

It is also in the American Mountain West

and in the Lewis

Paid Advertisement

Click or scan to see
this page online

& Clark Corridor.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Rocky Mountains,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once Rupert’s Land

and also the Louisiana Purchase.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 13 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Ration Day (here, next to this marker); Old Agency Site (here, next to this marker); Old Agency (approx. 0.4 miles away); Chief Mountain and Old North Trail (approx. 4½ miles away); Captain Meriwether Lewis (approx. 10.4 miles away); The 546th Missile Squadron (approx. 10.4 miles away); Camp Disappointment (approx. 12.3 miles away); a different marker also named Camp Disappointment (approx. 12.6 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Piegan.

More about this marker. This is a large, framed, painted metal marker, mounted at eye-level in a heavy-duty wooden frame.

Regarding Ghost Ridge. In the winter of 1883 the Blackfeet began to die of starvation and a streptococcal epidemic. In the spring, they ate their last government-provided seed potatoes; by June they were

Ghost Ridge Marker (<i>wide view; rightmost of three historical markers at this site</i>) image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 9, 2015

2. Ghost Ridge Marker (wide view; rightmost of three historical markers at this site)

stripping cottonwood trees to chew the inner bark; and by the time BIA officials in Washington, D.C., finally responded with extra rations, a Blackfeet man called Almost-A-Dog was said to have cut 555 notches in a willow stick, one for every Indian who had died -- one in every four Blackfeet in the state of Montana. Just west of the Old Agency historical marker, in what is now the Blackfeet Nation, lies an unmarked, wind-scoured rise of hills the Indians call Ghost Ridge, where the dead from the Starvation Winter, which actually lasted 18 unrelenting months, were buried in mass graves.

Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. Old Agency, Blackfeet Nation, Montana

Also see . . . The starvation winter of the Piegan Indians, 1883-84. Montana Memory website entry (Submitted on September 4, 2024, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)

Credits. This page was last revised on December 27, 2024. It was originally submitted on February 23, 2019, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 3,032 times since then and 145 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on February 23, 2019, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.