The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau pg.110-111

The border-towns of Cut Bank, Valier, Conrad through their Commercial Clubs; and border-whites continued their campaign to force the sale of the Blackfeet irrigated lands and oil fields of the Blackfeet reservation, while government officials in the Interior Department denied there were any oil fields on the reservation and only a tiny amount of coal deposits not of commercial value, although James J. Hills railroad and the Fort Benton merchants had been mining Blackfeet coal since the 1860’s. The Hill interests funded a study of potential oil & gas geological structures on the reservation as the fuel requirements of the railway changed from wood and coal to oil & gas. Louis Hill would promote the issuance of fee patents to the Blackfeet and Cree Indians and obtain tribal oil leases through his influence with the tribal council chairman and the Indian Office.

Senator Lane Investigates the Blackfeet Agency

Senator Lane of the Joint Committee to Investigate Indian Affairs, Congress of the United States, arrived on the eastbound train at Browning, on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, and proceeded to travel the reserve and consult with any and all persons who desired to present their views regarding their ideas to improve the Indians. The agency superintendent had reported there were no records or documents to support over $3,000,000 expenditures of the Blackfeet Agency of tribal land cession funds from 1887 to 1904, and the Indians were nearly broke once again.
-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau  
pg.110-111