Pablo, Montana - People-Named Places on Waymarking.com

Pablo got its start in 1917, when the Northern Pacific Railway completed a branch line between Dixon and Polson. The town takes its name from Salish pioneer cattleman Michel Pablo, who is perhaps best known for his efforts to save the American bison from extinction. The timber industry was an early economic boon. Boosters predicted that Pablo would surpass Spokane, Washington, in size and importance, but by 1923 several disastrous fires had taken their toll and the dream of expansion diminished. Today Pablo is the headquarters of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and home to Salish-Kootenai College and the Sqelix’u/Aqtsmaknik, “The People’s” Cultural Center.
From the Montana Place Names Companion

Michel Pablo was born sometime in 1844 or 1845 probably at Fort Benton, Montana Territory, the son of Michel Pablo and Otter Woman, a Piegan Blackfeet. I don’t know anything about his parents. Although his mother was Blackfeet he was still enrolled on the Flathead Reservation. He father is said to be Mexican, but the when, why and what of his time in Montana isn’t known. He had two brothers, Frank and Laurette “Larak” Pablo, and one sister, Margaret “Maggie” Pablo who married James Todd. He was orphaned as a youngster and it “is related on seemingly reliable authority that Michel and his brother, Laurette, were the only survivors of an Indian raid on the white settlement at Fort Benton. Michel's first memory, after the skirmish, was of being wrapped in a buffalo robe in the company of the Blackfeet Indians.”

The Buffalo Roundup
Michel Pablo hired 25 of Montana's best cowboys. When the task proved very difficult, more men were hired. Most stayed with the roundup until it was completed, others worked for only a season. Headquarters were at the Pablo Ranch two miles south of Pablo, as it now stands. (There was no town of Pablo at the time.) It was planned to hold the buffalo bulls in corrals, load them into wagons reinforced to hold them, and haul them to the train in Ravalli. Some of the bulls weighed as much as 2,200 pounds so the wagon sides were raised to ten feet and well braced. Each wagon rack was built so that only one bull could stand in it. At Ravalli special corrals were built with chutes leading to reinforced stock cars owned by the Northern Pacific. Corrals, wagons, trains, and even men on horseback were completely foreign to the buffalo and their reactions were violent and dangerous, with many narrow escapes for both horses and riders.

The first summer found no buffalo shipped to Canada. Pablo decided to put Charles Allard Jr. in charge of the roundup. Young Allard was versed in the habits of buffalo and given complete charge, had corrals built about 25 miles from Ronan on the flats in the Big Bend of the Pend d'Oreille (Flathead) river, south west of where Round Butte is now - northwest of the Sloan bridge. The largest corral included about five acres with wings on both sides of the entrance, extending out and down to the river. Small corrals and a strong loading chute were connected with the large corral. Here the land sloped gently to the river, but across the water cliffs rose abruptly, broken by small coulees which led to the river. The fences, corrals, etc., had been built from cedar posts found in the groves along the river. Now at the edge of the cliffs, for some 26 miles, a fence was built, gradually fanning out to lead the buffalo to the center where a coulee led directly to the river, as most of the buffalo were on the west side of the river.

The roundup started in earnest, buffalo from as far away as 30 miles were herded into this natural trap, where they had to ford the river. When they came out on the other side the wings of the big corral herded them into it. The first herd of about 300 was brought into the wings but the cowboys could not hold them. They finally ended up with 120 buffalo in the trap, but woke the next morning with one old cow. The rest had climbed the cliff and got away. The next day a very bad blizzard came and the roundup was called off until the next summer.

The next spring in May 1908, the roundup was resumed. It was not easy, for these wild, unruly beasts attacked horse and rider when cornered. Only fast work saved them from injury. The cows, calves, and younger bulls were easier to move into corrals but it was difficult to move the heavier bulls. Often, when a herd was almost in the corral, they broke and ran leaving only 10 or 12 animals in the corral. A Butte photographer, N.A Forsyth, taking pictures from the river bank, was lucky, when the animals broke away, that he could hide in a nearby cedar grove and lose only his hat and part of his pants. The roundup brought photographers, writers, and noted men as well as the best cowpunchers from all over. One cowpuncher artist was Charles M. Russell, [well known and prolific artist and sculptor of the old west] who came in 1907 and 1908 to talk with cowboy friends and sketch buffalo. He wrote back telling what a wide open town Ronan was for gambling.

When buffalo had been captured in the corral they were loaded in wagons and hauled over the hills to where Charlo now stands and then on to the waiting cars in Ravalli. Some tried to climb the corral fence and one big bull succeeded in getting over and running through the town. About 25 had to be killed as they were so wild they could not be loaded. One powerful bull crashed through the side of the stock car and had to be killed. As the shipments continued, many of the small bands were brought to Ravalli on hoof. The final shipment to Canada was June 1, 1912.
From Oregon Pioneers