For centuries, the route near here has been used by travelers. Long before Lewis and Clark, members of the Crow Tribe came annually to this area for a rendezvous central to their culture, with nomadic families wintering on warmer plains to the east and spending summers headquartered here north of the Absaroka Mountain Range. On July 15, 1806, Captain William A. Clark camped nearby on the north side of the Yellowstone River while returning to St. Louis with his crew, as a separate group led by Meriwether Lewis followed the Missouri River. Eager to meet Lewis at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, Clark and his party moved quickly through the area. Later travelers remained longer, and the present-day Mission Ranch became the site of Fort Parker, where a treaty establishing the Crow Indian Reservation and the subsequent Crow Agency was signed in 1868. Named for Mission Creek, the present-day ranch began operating in 1947 and manages the 4,100 privately owned acres around it.