of the buffalo herds in the 1870s and 1880s forced them to turn to farming and ranching. They had some success with agriculture until an unprecedented drought in 1889. With food scarce, the people suffered and finally began to consider the U.S. government's offer of land on the Flathead Reservation. In October 1889, retired general Henry B. Carrington arrived in the Bitterroot to negotiate with the Salish and convince them to move to the Flathead once and for all. Carrington tried to gain Charlo's trust, first with gifts, then by bringing out the original 1872 Garfield agreement to address Charlo's claim that he never signed it. He also made many promises to the people: they would get to pick out good farms on the Flathead reservation, they would receive assistance with plowing and fencing their new farms, every family with children would get a cow, and they would receive rations until the move or until they received money from the sale of their Bitterroot lands. At first, the Salish rejected Carrington's offers and refused to sign the agreement. They asked for the "literal execution" of the Hellgate treaty, but Carrington did not acknowledge their request. Finally, Charlot signed Carrington's agreement on November 3, 1889. The Salish were forced to accept removal to the Flathead, making the painful decision to give up their homeland in order to preserve their people and culture. They left the valley on October 15, 1891. Charlot organized the march himself and insisted that it take place without a white military escort. However, Salish oral histories and newspaper accounts indicate that troops were present during the removal. Elders later remembered the three-day, sixty-mile journey as a funeral march. Some historians have nicknamed this event Montana's Trail of Tears or the Salish Trail of Tears. Flathead Indian Reservation During and after the removal to the Flathead, the Salish had to contend with broken government promises. They received insufficient rations. They never received the promised assistance with plowing and fencing or the promised cows. In 1910, the Flathead reservation was opened to white homesteaders through the efforts of Congressman Joseph M. Dixon. The Bitterroot Salish weathered all of these attacks and created a community on the reservation. In the 1920s, the tribes on the Flathead reservation forced the U.S. government to recognize their ownership interest in the Kerr Dam, or Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ Dam. The Salish joined the other