Bozeman, Montana April 11-12
The culmination of at least two years of effort was realized in the ominations of four tipi ring sites on the Benjamin Ranch in Toole County approved by the last State Review Board for forwarding to the Keeper for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. These four sites in the shadow of the Sweetgrass Hills were inventoried and initially researched at the request and expense of the present loand owner, Gary Wolfe, whose great-grandfather Harry Benjamin homesteaded the land in 1910. Full recordation of the sites was accomplished through a SHPO (Montana State Historical Preservation Office) grant with Aaberg Cultural Resource Consulting Service and teir significance established in the format of a Multiple Property Document (MPD) prepared by the SHPO entitled Hunter-Gatherer Archaeological Resources onthe Northern Glaciated Plains of Montana.. An initial context in this MPD for Settlement and Domestic House Forms, ca. 5,000-120 B.P. establishes the relevant significance of the property type Habitation-Stone Circle Site for which the Benjamin Ranch sites were found to qualify under Criteria A and D. [Additional contexts envisioned for the MPD may include, for example, ones for hunting and subsistence, ceremonial behavior, and cultural change for which this and other property types may also be defined and evaluated in the futre, thereby eliminating the need for repetition in nominations and providing valuable background for evaluations.] Unfortunately, the unanimous accptance at the State Review Board meeting of the MPD and the Benjamin Ranch nominations is currently being challenged and blocked by some individuals on minor procedural grounds. The outcome is pending resolution of this issue; in the meantime, no sites representing tipi rings on the HiLine are currently listed on the Register for Montana.