Chief Plenty Coups (Alek-Chea-Ahoosh) State Park and Home - Park History

Park History

In a vision as a young man, Plenty Coups saw his future as an old man sitting in the shade of trees with a house and spring nearby. In 1883, he settled on an allotment of 320 acres (130 ha) on the Crow Indian Reservation and built a log homestead beginning in 1884. In 1928 he and his wife, Strikes the Iron, presented 189 acres (76 ha) of the land in trust to Big Horn County, including the house, spring, and trees Plenty Coups had envisioned, saying:

Today, I who have been called Chief of Chiefs, among red men, present to all the children of our Great White Father this land where the snows of many winters have fallen on my tepee. This park is not to be a memorial to me, but to the Crow Nation. It is given as a token of my friendship for all people, both red and white.

Upon Plenty Coups' death in 1932, the Big Horn County Commission assumed responsibility and employed a caretaker for the farm and buildings. The Billings Kiwanis Club took stewardship of the land in 1951. The club operated a small museum in the house and placed small sandstone markers at the grave sites of Plenty Coups and his wives. In 1961, the site entered state ownership under the control of the Montana State Highway Commission, who in turn passed it on to the parks division of the Montana Fish and Game Department, the predecessor to today's Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, in 1965. It was at this time that Chief Plenty Coups' land became a state park. In about 1970, the State of Montana purchased an additional small tract of 6.2 acres (2.5 ha) for access and park structures, bringing the total to today's area of 195.4 acres (79.1 ha). This additional parcel had been part of an allotment to Plenty Coups' wife, Kills Together, who died in 1923.

Neglect took a toll through the decades of the 1950s and 60s and under threat of lawsuit, the state, along with tribal and private donors, built a visitor center and museum in 1972. The house that Plenty Coups had begun in 1884 was stabilized in 1993 and 1994. In 2003, the state spent US$600,000 on renovations and improvements to the museum including the addition of a fire suppression system and other building safety features and refurbishment of the interpretative displays.