BILLINGS— A family in central Montana is preserving more than 1,000 years of Blackfeet history they found on their Bear Gulch property, which contains approximately 5,000 pictographs and petroglyphs.
Watch to see how one family is preserving history:
Macie Ahlgren’s grandfather traded a cow, a calf and two horses for the 40-acre property in Forest Grove, which is southeast of Lewistown, more than 100 years ago.
Six generations of the family have lived on the land, but the family realized only realized the significance of the area 25 years ago.
“A lot of people knew that the site was there, but they never really knew the extent of it,” said Ahlgren.
In 2000, archaeologists surveyed the property, looking for historic artifacts.
“It'd be quiet, kind of just peaceful and everything. And then you hear, ‘Eureka’,” said Xerxes Vodicka, Ahlgren’s son.
The family found out they had been living next to a site sacred to the Blackfeet Nation.
“It means a lot to them. They're still trying to figure out exactly what it was used for. Based on the pictographs that are here and the panels that are here, very much a sacred site, a prayer site for vision questing, preparation for battle, hunting, things of that sort.,” Vodicka said.
The discoveries also resulted in a book, “Fraternity of War”, which helped popularize the site.
Ahlgren and Vodicka have given Bear Gulch tours to thousands of visitors from across the country over the past two decades.
Human handprints, pictographs and petrographs are found all over the walls of the site. The pictographs and petroglyphs depict images of shields, weapons, animals and even childbirth.
“This is the only known birthing scene in the Northern Plains rock art,” said Vodicka, pointing at the pictograph.
Archaeologists do not know exactly how far the markings date back to, but of the two that they carbon-dated, the older is 1,615 years old.
The family worked with the Blackfeet Nation to construct a visitor center in June, which contains more information on the area.
They plan on adding more to the center in the future.
“This little building with the bare walls, rafters. We fully intend to have it solar powered,” said Ahlgren.
In the meantime, they are continuing to dedicate hours sharing history with the people who travel to see it.
“If I don't have a very large group and I know they're very interested, I'll spend seven or eight hours down here with them instead of the two and a half or three like we normally do,” said Vodicka.
To book a tour, people can call the phone number on their website.
