A Legacy Fit for a Chief

By Cassie J. Moore
Fourteen years ago, the Chief Plenty Coups State Park, in Pryor, Mont., didn’t have much of a budget for employees, repairs, or maintenance. The 195-acre site had been operating for years as a state monument to Chief Plenty Coups, a Crow Indian leader who worked for cooperation between American Indians and white settlers. But as of 1991, the park’s greatest artifact — Chief Plenty Coup’s house, built in 1884 — was in complete disrepair.

“The porches had fallen down, the roof was leaking. The old house was just really terrible,” says Howard Boggess, one of the founding members of the Friends of Chief Plenty Coups Association, the nonprofit group formed to help improve the park.

By applying for government and foundation grants and recruiting volunteers, the organization has been able to renovate the house and turn the park into a cultural center that offers special events, tours, dance demonstrations, and a yearly buffalo feast.

In addition to the grants it receives, the group collects money by means of a donation box at the park and through its Web site, solicits nearby businesses, and sells T-shirts and holds raffles during special events. In 2004, the group received almost $8,000 in individual donations.

Susan Stewart Medicine Horse, who began working as manager of the park this spring, has plans to further enhance the chief’s legacy and attract new visitors.

For example, the group is raising money for a playground, says Ms. Medicine Horse, a member of the Crow tribe. “We’re also going to do irrigation for a picnic area,” she says. “We have a lot of things to do.”

Here, Ms. Medicine Horse shows off the chief’s house, which, with help from the Friends of Chief Plenty Coups Association, was completely refurbished and listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1999.