TWIN BRIDGES — For almost a century beginning in the late 1800s, many children from across Montana called a state-run orphanage in Twin Bridges home. When it closed almost 50 years ago, it was also home to many Native American children.
"You know, it took me a couple of years after I got out of there to realize that it was a good thing. If we were left to our own devices on the street, we probably would have ended up in prison or dead," says Peggy Falcon.
Falcon and several of her siblings were placed in the state facility after being taken from her parents in 1970 and her first memory after arriving at the state-run children's center was not a good one.
"I was always in that cell. My first memory was getting locked up for fighting," says Falcon.
The fight landed the twelve-year-old in a tiny locked room without windows or contact with other children for three days.
"That was my first, worst memory. Good memories? All the time after that. I made best friends. I remember talking to my friends, mopping the halls, I mean they were big halls too. I personally didn’t even know that I was Indian because we were all kids sharing our lives together in the institution," says Falcon.
She says she was surrounded by a diverse group of children from all walks of life and many Native American children from different tribes but she did not get to experience her Chippewa Cree culture or traditions.
"Not whatsoever. And there were a lot of Natives over there too. And, like I said, I truly believed that we were all bad kids, that’s why we were there," says Falcon. "Until a couple years later that I learned that kids were brought over there because their parents couldn’t take care of them."
Despite being separated from her Chippewa Cree Tribe at an early age, Falcon has found her way back to her roots and is currently the president of the Powwow in Butte. She has made trips to the Fort Belknap Reservation where she discovered she was born in the hospital on the reservation and has many ancestors buried in the cemetery.
The connection helped Falcon and her family revive the Butte Powwow.
"My mom would always go to the powwow and when she passed away I told myself I was going to start dancing for her," says Falcon.
The new owner of the Twin Bridges facility hopes to open the space up to tours during the upcoming Madison County Fair in August.
