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1901 Map of St. Xavier

Name: 1901 Topographic Map of St. Xavier
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1901
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1901

About this map

The St. Xavier Mission stands at the northern edge of this territory, serving as a primary cultural landmark within the Crow Indian Reservation at the turn of the century. This landscape is defined by the dramatic convergence of water and high relief, where the Bighorn River carves through the Bighorn Canyon as it flows north from the Bighorn Mountains.

Historical transit and military presence are etched into the terrain via the Old Bozeman Military Road, which traces a path across the central hills toward the Site of Old Fort C. F. Smith. The map records a complex drainage system including Little Bighorn River and Rotten Grass Creek, illustrating the natural corridors that dictated the movement of early Montana travelers and the placement of frontier outposts. Notable elevations like Point Lookout and Mission Buttes provided significant vantage points overlooking the winding river valleys and the Montana Wyoming Boundary Line.