Year of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

History

Department or School/College

History

Committee Chair

Dr. Wade Davies

Commitee Members

Dr. Leif Fredrickson Dr. Fernando Sanchez

Abstract

In 1905, Indian Agent William R. Logan filed an injunction to stop upriver irrigators from diverting Milk River water before it reached the Fort Belknap reservation. This culminated in Winters v. U.S. (1908) and became known as the Winters decision, the Winters Doctrine, or Indian Reserved Water Rights. This case is the foundation for Native American water rights cases today. This study explores the historical context of the case, specifically focusing on Fort Belknap Indian Agent William Logan’s role. William Logan was a devout Montana entrepreneur who carried his entrepreneurial spirit into his tenure as Fort Belknap Agent. This fact became evident in his project to create a sugar beet economy on the Fort Belknap reservation shortly after he received water from his injunction. This study also looks at the plaintiffs in the Winters decision as major irrigators in the Milk River Valley and demonstrates that they had diverse goals for their projects that created conflict in the valley prior to the court case. The findings herein contribute to scholarship about the Winters decision, the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, the history of the Indian Office, and early Montana statehood water history.

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