Before the railroad arrived the lower Clark Fork River valley was very quiet, traveled seasonally by the local Salish and Kootenai peoples and then by the occasional fur trapper and adventurer following on the heels of David Thompson. Steep mountains, rain, snow, and river rapids made travel challenging. Camps were temporary, used only for berry picking, camas digging, fishing and hunting. They then moved on. Originally a railroad town on the Northern Pacific, the North Pacific Railway reached Heron in 1882.

This is the agency headquarters for the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. The Gros Ventre and the Assiniboine, who were former enemies, have lived together on the reservation since it was set aside for them in 1887. It has great cultural significance to the tribes, and petroglyphs and tipi rings can be found there. Every summer the Milk River Indian Days powwow is held in Fort Belknap.

Fort Belknap