How The Bighorn Mountains Got Their Name

When you hear the name Bighorn Mountains, you might think that they got their name because someone saw some bighorn sheep up there. But there is a little more to it than that.

The name of those mountains and that mountain range comes from an old Crow indian legend.

According to Crow legend, a boy named Big Iron was pushed off a cliff by his stepfather but was saved by seven bighorn sheep, who gave him powers and told him the mountains and river should be called "Bighorn". If the name were ever changed, the Crow tribe would disappear. The Bighorn Mountains were later named after this Bighorn River, which is a name the Crow have traditionally associated with the area.

The gentleman in the video below tells the story.

The legend of "Big Metal" and the boy, referred to as "Big Iron," forms the basis of the name. The seven sacred rams, led by "Big Metal," gave the boy powers.

When explorers like Lewis and Clark and fur traders arrived, they heard these stories from the Crow and adopted the name for the river and then the adjacent mountains.

Other tribes' names: Other tribes, such as the Cheyenne and Arapaho, also referred to the river as "Mountain Sheep River," while the Lakota called the mountains the "Rugged mountain ridge" or "rough animal horns,"

The Little Bighorn is a river that flows up into Montana, and it is by that river that George Armstrong Custer and his men met their fate.