When did the white man come to the area where the Crow Indian people lived?
Almost 200 years ago, explorers and fur traders began to come into the area where the Absaaloga people lived. The famous explorers Lewis and Clark floated down the Yellowstone River into this area. While they camped over night, the clever Crow Indians captured their horses. Lewis and Clark continued on special boats, called buffalo bull boats. There were certainly a few explorers and fur traders coming into the area where the Crow Indian people lived, but the most notable were Lewis and Clark from 1804-1806. William Clark came down the Yellowstone River on the return trip from mapping and exploring passage to the western coast of the United States in 1806. He and his party had an encounter with the Crow Indian people. In fact, the Pryor Mountains, Pryor Creek and the town of Pryor get their name from Sergeant Nathaniel Pryor of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Nathaniel Pryor was in charge of the horse herd. As he came down the Yellowstone one particular evening, half of his horses disappeared. They tried to track them, but they realized they should put their efforts into trying to save the other half of the horses. The next morning the other half of the horses also disappeared. The Crow warriors were notorious for capturing horses, and many believed it was probably the Crow Indians who relieved Sergeant Pryor of responsibility for them. Sergeant Pryor and his men then made buffalo bull boats and floated down the Yellowstone to meet with William Clark and Merriweather Lewis.

The importance of this event and others like it is that it marked the beginning of the inevitable encroachment of other civilizations into Indian land. Spain was claiming this area from the south and west, and France actually owned the region until it was sold to the United States in 1803. At that time, it was called the Louisiana Purchase. From: Chief Plenty Coups State Park Museum Tour Content