Called Awaxaawippiia by the Apsaalooka (Crow) Indians, the Crazy Mountains are an igneous formation forged about 50 million years ago and, for the Apsaalooka, the most sacred and revered mountains on the northern Great Plains. Awaxaawippiia was a place of refuge and protection because the Apsaalooka's enemies would not follow them into the mountains, and because of their great spiritual power it continues to be an important vision quest site for the tribe. Chief Plenty Coups had a vision there in 1857 in which, he said, the end of the plains Indian way-of-life was shown to him. Several stories explain the current name, most popularly that a woman traveling across the plains with a wagon train went insane, escaped from the party, and was found near the mountains, leading them to be called the Crazy Woman Mountains before the name was shortened; others have claimed they were named for their crazy appearance. The Crazy Mountains were also an important landmark for Bozeman Trail emigrants in the Yellowstone Valley, and the surrounding district was great cow and sheep country in the days of the open range, with a number of large ranches still in the vicinity under fence.