Lodge Grass, Montana

Lodge Grass (Crow: Eelalapiío)[4] is a town in Big Horn County, Montana, United States.

[5] It is at the confluence of Lodge Grass Creek and the Little Bighorn River, on the Crow Indian Reservation.

[6] Crow tradition holds that when the Crows camped on the bottoms of the Lodge Grass Creek or the Little Bighorn River in the spring and summer, when the grass in the valley would be high and when the dew was heavy the bellies and legs of the horses would become wet and glisten as if covered with grease.

[6] In another traditional version of the same derivation of the name, when the Crows camped on the creek and walked through the thick grass in the morning when it held dew, their moccasins and leggings would get wet and they would look greasy.

The Sioux also called the Little Horn River the Greasy Grass Creek.

[6] The misinterpreted name stuck, and so the creek, and then the town became known as Lodge Grass.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.24 square miles (0.62 km2), all land.

[7] A traditional camping area near the town is called Iishipia in the Crow language.

[14] The Lodge Grass High School boys' basketball program is noted for having won five Class B state championships from 1980 to 1990, under Coach Gordon Real Bird.

Big Horn County map