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.

The second Indian Agency on the Blackfeet Reservation was built in 1879 at Old Agency, at the bend in the Flathead River. Agent John Young moved the buildings from Upper Badger Creek with help from the Blackfeet Indians. Both men and women dug cellars, hauled stone and mixed mortar. The women covered the exterior with lime from Heart Butte. The Indians called it "Old Ration Place" after the government began issuing rations.