Chapter Seven: Making Checkers

The Flathead Allotment Act was passed in 1904, but the reservation was not opened until 1910. But those 6 years were far from idle. This chapter of Land Grab looks at how the white community of Missoula circled around the reservation, smelling a profit, while the native Salish, Pend D'Oreille, and Kootenai people fought  to hold on to the last vestiges of their homeland.  This chapter also examines the massive homestead boom into Montana in the 1910’s, that brought tens of thousands of honyockers onto the Flathead and the  whole state, inspired by railroad propaganda to claim as much government homestead land as possible and plow Montana’s arid prairies into vast wheat farms.  Find out more about Land Grab, and consider making a contribution at www.landgrabpodcast.com and find us on social media @landgrabpod