blackfoot-valley

Ovando One of the earliest historical notices of the area a little farther north, around present Ovando - other than Meriwether Lewis’s notes on his expo- sitions while pushing through in 1806 - concerns a scout for the U.S. Army based at Fort Missoula. George Montour, son of a French-Canadian Hudson Bay Company fur trapper and an Indian woman, in the fall of 1877, rode from Missoula along the Blackfoot toward the Nevada Valley to warn settlers in the region of possible Indian trouble. This was the result of the Nez Perce epic flight across Idaho, Montana, northern Wyoming, and Montana again during the summer and well into fall of that year. The Nez Perce several times out- witted and outfought pursuing U.S. Army troops. Although Chief Joseph had finally surrendered on October 5th, just short of reaching sanctuary across the Canadian border well east of the Rockies, the news had not yet reached all quarters, and in any case one group of Nez Perce had escaped. No doubt there were rumors of unrest among the other Indian groups too. The people and the authorities throughout Montana were jittery. 135 Near the confluence of the Blackfoot River with its North Fork, Montour encountered a group of Blackfeet, who killed him. Montour’s solitary grave may be seen by the Black- foot’s North Fork on the north end of the bridge where the Ovando - Helm- ville country road crosses it. The well-tended grave enclosed by a worn picket honors this hero. Less than four years later a group of English settlers had laid claim to land between the creek known for Montour, a few miles west of the future site of Ovando and the Blackfoot’s north fork. The town, lying a couple of miles north of the Blackfoot, was named by the stockman Ovando Hoyt, who in 1883, got approval to establish a post office in his name. Mail was brought north from Drummond. In future years other settlers set up ranches and homesteads. The town grew, and eventually, seven school districts were designated (since consolidated into just one).