[4] Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation is located in Hill and Chouteau counties in northeastern Montana, about 40 miles (64 km) from the Canada–United States border.
At the time, Chippewa-Cree lived throughout present-day Montana, on the Blackfeet and other reservations, as well as in the new towns developed by European-American settlers and immigrants.
In January 1902 Asiniiwin petitioned President Theodore Roosevelt for a closed reservation so the landless Chippewa-Cree could settle and get an education.
Reflecting the social turmoil of the time, many of Asiniiwin's people left the reservation within a decade; others had never relocated there, and their descendants live in towns throughout the Pacific Northwest.
The Cree and Métis migrants and their descendants have lived on the Rocky Boy's Reservation under self-declared "adopted" status.
The constitution provided that members of the tribe who were absent from the reservation for 10 years or more (a ten-year absentee provision) lost their tribal status and were no longer qualified for benefits and membership.
[6] There are also efforts to use revenue from sale of Official Tribal vehicle license plate would be used for installation of Cree signage in the community as well as investment in other language revitalization programs.
[4][7] As part of its economic development, the tribe started a business "Plain Green Loans," for online lending to Native Americans who are underserved by the lack of banks on many reservations.