PRYOR - There’s a lot of history on display at Chief Plenty Coups State Park in Pryor.
It’s where the last great chief of the Crows made his home.
Chief Plenty Coups was known as a warrior, a visionary, and a diplomat. The chief also had a large apple orchard that still stands on the property.
Now a search is on to find new funding to continue the legacy of Chief Plenty Coups’ apple trees.
“When visitors come and walk the trail they always ask about the apples. I always say they are sort of a gift so pick an apple. It’s a snack provided by the chief,” says park manager Aaron Kind. “They always ask how many they can take—I say take enough for a pie just leave enough for the next person behind you.”
Two species of apples grow here, “The Chief Plenty Coup Dutchess of Oldenberg” and the “Chief Plenty Coups Wealth” apple.
“It’s a blessing that he kept them alive, and we can share them or we can use them because I don’t know of any other Indian that had an apple orchard,” says Bernadette Smith, a member of the tribe who also does some administrative work at the park.
She’s been eating the chief’s apples most of her life.
“They have a lot of juice which is nice. You know juicy apples - runs down your chin and you want more,” she grins.
Even though the trees still produce, the chief’s orchard is now about 120 years old and the trees are starting to show their age.
“This variety has probably a 130-to-135-year life span, so as you can see just by looking around, they are starting to get towards the end of their life and I think it’s part of our responsibility to start grafting them to keep those genetics going,” says Kind.
Previous efforts, through a Montana State University program, have been made to preserve heritage orchards by propagating trees and selling the new trees.
There are currently more than 70 heritage orchards registered in Montana, including the one at Chief Plenty Coups State Park.
Kind is hoping more funding can be found.
“We are really hoping to get another program going like where we can sort of utilize what we have—some of these cuttings off of here and see if we can graft them and just get the genetics out there. The real cool thing about these apples is they have got really good genetics. They have been here 120 years,” he says.
The hope is that the trees can then be sold at nurseries - continuing the legacy of Chief Plenty Coups’ apples.
“It would be the same apples, and it would be your connection to history that you can literally look back and you are touching the same species, the same genetics of apple that Chief Plenty Coups walked down and had,” says Kind.
