Ijkalaka and David H. Russell
Ijkalaka was the daughter of Eagle man, Oglala Sioux, and the wife of David H. Russell, the first white settler in an area that would later be known as the Russell creek Valley of Carter County Montana.
Born circa 1856, on the powder River in Wyoming territory, and left motherless at a very early age due to her mother's death, she was raided by her mothers' sister who had married a white settler at Fort Laramie, named Bullard. Later, she made her home with a cousin, Elizabeth (Renshaw) and her husband, Hiram B. Kelly on their cattle ranch located on Chugwater Creek, about 30 miles from fort Laramie. Elizabeth (Renshaw) Kelly, was a granddaughter of the War Chief Red Cloud, Ijkalaka was his niece.
It was during this period that she met David H. Russell, a buffalo hunter originally from Henderson County, Illinois. When she was 16, Russell, b. 3dec 1843, now age 31, paid Eagle Man 8 horses and a 100 pound sack of sugar for his daughter's hand in marriage.
Having renamed herself, Mary Ellen Kelly, they were married on 16 February 1874, at Gellet Parrier near Fort Laramie, Wyoming territory. they would become the parents of 13 children.
In 1880, Now a rancher as well as a buffalo hunter, Russell learned of the order sent out by the government to anyone wishing to help in clearing this area of the Montana Territory of buffalo. Selling their ranch and most of the stock, he moved his family to the black Hills in South Dakota while he came to Montana and located a place upon which they could homestead. By the Spring of 1881, he returned to the Black Hills, and along with his wife and their four children they made their way back to Montana and settled on land located four miles southeast of what is now Ekalaka. Russell had seen what he termed as "the beautiful valley at the edge of the forest", about 15 years earlier while on a buffalo hunt with Chief Joseph. Here they made their home and raised their children.
During the time of 1881-1883, he in the company of Isaac Downing, killed and Shipped many buffalo hides out of this region. this area of Montana Territory had been the hunting grounds for the Sioux tribes and buffalo were plentiful. By 1885, a town had sprung up and a post office had opened. A town, nestled in David's beautiful valley at the edge of the forest and named for his wife, Ijkalaka. however, it was soon decided that the name of the town would have to be phonically spelled as it was simply too difficult for people living away from here to spell.
Ijkalaka died 16 may 1901, at the age of 46, from smallpox, as did two of their children. David remarried 24 may 1902, Mrs. Elizabeth Josephine Boyle, of New England. A lady whom he met through correspondence. Although they made their home here for a short time, in 1919, they returned to new England to make their home. On 4 February 1935, David H. Russell passed away. Although originally laid to rest in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the family returned his body to Ekalaka in 1974. David and Ijkalaka are buried in the family plot, known as Russell cemetery, located on the original homestead.