Chief Plenty Coups State Park and Home

Chief Plenty Coups State Park is a state park located approximately 0.5mi west of Pryor, Montana, on the Crow Indian Reservation. Chief Plenty Coups' (Alek-Chea-Ahoosh) Home, located in the state park, is a National Historic Landmark with several contributing resources. The homestead was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1999. The 195acre property belonged to Chief Plenty Coups, the last traditional tribal Chief of the Apsáalooke people. He and his wife, Strikes the Iron, left their home and property to all people in 1928. The only museum of Apsáalooke culture in the United States is located here along with a memorial to Plenty Coups and his achievements.Park historyIn a vision as a young man, Chief 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 on the Crow Indian Reservation where he had seen his vision, and built a log homestead beginning in 1884. After he visited Mount Vernon in 1880, Chief Plenty Coups built several additions to his house and planted Cottonwood trees, modeling his house after what he had seen at Mount Vernon. He also planted several apple trees in 1903 that are now listed as a Heritage Orchard. In 1928 he and his wife, Strikes the Iron, presented of his land in trust to Big Horn County, including the house, spring, and trees Chief Plenty Coups had envisioned, saying: