Why did the Crow Indians need a leader when they moved to reservations?

The Crow Indian people and other tribes were placed on reservations to make way for the great number of people coming from the East. It was difficult to change their habits and their ways. Leaders, such as Plenty Coups, helped to guide them into a new way of life. The move to reservations meant the Crow Indians had to change their attitudes and ways of life. One fact is that the reservation decreased in size fairly consistently. As each tribe tried to define its ancestral lands and as more demands were put upon this limited resource, the reservation decreased from approximately 38 million acres in 1851 to approximately 2.5 million acres today. There was a great transition in how they lived during the early reservation years to the traditional living culture they have today. Certainly, the leadership of some of their great chiefs, such as Sits In The Middle Of The Land, Pretty Eagle, Medicine Crow and Plenty Coups, helped them to change.

During Plenty Coups' time, the main government was at Crow Agency which is approximately 70 miles east of the town of Pryor. However, the Crow Indians found that they needed to have a governmental center of business in the Pryor vicinity because Plenty Coups was the head chief. They created a sub-agency which was essentially where the town of Pryor is today. They built residences around the sub-agency which became the town of Pryor.From: Chief Plenty Coups State Park Museum Tour Content