Flathead territory extended from what is now Billings, Montana, west to the continental divide. The Flathead supplemented big game hunting with fishing. They used hook and line, basket traps, and weirs. The Flathead used the introduction of the horse in 1730 to expand the range of their hunting and fishing.
Kerr Dam, built in 1938 by the Montana Power Company on the Flathead Indian Reservation, is the project that has had the largest effect on the Flathead people. Reservation residents receive a portion of the profits from the dam which has played an important role in the economic livilhood of the Flathead since its construction. The dam is a symbol of economic progress. For many Indians, it is also one of spiritual loss because it transformed the Flathead River falls into a quiet lake.
