Chief Plenty Coups State Park - Celebrating Montana's Native Leaders

As we celebrated our nation’s Independence Day this past weekend, we felt it was important to acknowledge the history of Montana’s native people and how it shaped our state and nation. 

We recently visited Chief Plenty Coups State Park within the Crow Reservation in south central Montana as part of a summer-long tour of Montana State Parks. Beyond the natural beauty, we were deeply moved by the bravery and integrity of the Apsáalooke leader whose homestead is the center piece of the park. 

Honoring the legacy of Chief Plenty Coups

Located 40 minutes south of Billings, the day-use park is a cultural site that preserves the log home, sacred spring, and farmstead of Chief Plenty Coups, known as a fearless leader and diplomat. The park is now a National Historic Landmark that attracts visitors from across the country. 

Plenty Coups (Aleek-chea-ahoosh, meaning "many achievements") began his life as a warrior, and developed a keen sense of how to connect and build alliances across cultures throughout his life. His vision helped bridge a gap between the Crow tribe and early white settlers to Montana.  In recognition of his bravery and leadership, he was made a chief of the Apsáalooke (Crow) tribe by the age of 28. 

Later in life, Plenty Coups farmed a 320-acre tract located just east of Pryor, Montana. He opened a general store, built a home, and stayed closely connected to the earth until his death in 1932 at age 84.

As requested by Plenty Coups and his wife, Strikes the Iron, 195 acres of his land was made into the public park Montanans have the good fortune of including in our State Parks roster today. 

Protecting sacred natural resources

Located within the parameter of the State Park is the sacred spring, an important spiritual site for Chief Plenty Coups. Today visitors enjoy sitting by the spring to reflect, and leave offerings on its banks. We are committed to helping protect the sacred spring’s water quality in honor of a visionary leader and his legacy.

A biological surface water treatment system is one of WGM Group’s unique offerings that would help protect the spring from contamination without detracting from the natural beauty or history of the park. 

These unique systems use strategic vegetation plantings and stratified ground layers to naturally filter out contaminants in areas like Pryor where a tie-in to municipal wastewater systems is difficult and expensive. Last year we welcomed Chris Allen to our Bozeman office in order to add his expertise in biological wastewater treatment wetlands to our team, and look forward to working with state and community leaders to deploy these simple and effective systems. 

Supporting Montana State Parks as a bridge between our past and future

Recognizing the contributions of Montana’s historic leaders naturally causes us to reflect on our own leadership. As a company, we believe it’s imperative to support the people and programs that contribute significant value in terms of natural resources, history, and sense of place to our state. 

Supporting Montana State Parks through Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks funding will be a priority for us during the upcoming legislative session. We encourage all Montanans to visit these historic and cultural sites across our state, and to make our collective voices heard to preserve them for the future.