Aug 4-5 Forts along the Missouri River

Aug. 4
When you've grown up on the west coast, as we have, you don't think too much about commerce on the rivers. Here on the plains, surrounded by evidence of how important the Missouri river was to the westward movement, it is clear that river traffic and in later years the railroad, were essential to the development of towns and industry.

Where the boats could dock, towns sprung up, and later, any railroad stop, even if it was just a water stop in the days of steam engines, a little settlement would be

established.  Now, the river boats are done, trains no longer need water for their boilers, so along the river and the tracks we see many of those little settlements long abandoned.

This section of the Missouri was particularly critical is it was the end of the navigable section so supplies had to be off loaded and moved from the boats to another form of transportation. That lead to the formation of the settlement of the area.

Forts too, were established along those routes. Most were military forts, for the protection of westward moving citizens from the east, but many of the so-called forts were really commercial enterprises. The term "fort" in the historical sense means a trading post, and of course, as it had walls, warmth and food would have also been a refuge in time of need.

Leaving Great Falls, heading toward Havre (pronounced Hay-ver), we stopped to visit the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument visitor center. A short movie highlighted the importance of this river in the development of the west, touching on Lewis and Clark, the westward movement in general, the unique geology of the area, and the modes of travel necessitated by the river's character and the terrain. We don't think much about riverboats these days, but they were pretty essential at the time, as the river was very shallow in several places. A new riverboat design, with very little draft, had to be invented, which reminds me of the jet boats that now operate on the Rogue river in Oregon.

We spent the night at a great little campground on Fresno Reservoir, just a bit west of Havre. It's operated by the local chapter of Walleyes Unlimited (a walleye is a fish, for the uninitiated!)

Great, friendly folks. The campground asks for donations, but there's no set fee. We enjoyed visiting with the other campers and the hosts, and the doggies enjoyed a bit of freedom to play in the water.

Aug 5 - Friday
We pulled up stakes and headed east, still on hwy. 2. Our first stop was  Fort Benton , which bills itself as the "birthplace of Montana."

The actual fort is right in the center of town and surrounded by park area. It's restored and open for visitors.



In the middle of town, a block from the fort, next to the bridge, is this statue. It's titled "Rider of the Purple Sage".

It was donated to the town by the actor George Montgomery, who starred in many western movies.
He actually created it, as we was not only an actor but a sculptor and furniture maker, and a Montana native.


The museum in Fort Benton is a delightful blend of relics, memorabilia and historic items of all kinds that local people, and those with past connections to the area, have donated.

They are artfully displayed, and the topics range from the Indian wars to domestic issues like clothing and household goods. One of their prize items is the rifle Chief Joseph relinquished when he surrendered to the Army in 1877. Definitely worth a visit, and admission is free.

From town we followed signs to the Bear Paw Battlefield. This is the site of the last battle of the four month long Nez Perce War of 1877. The battlefield is part of the Nez Perce National Historic Park and the Nez Perce National Historic Trail.

We followed much of this trail in 2013 (in reverse order, due to where we started. You can read those posts here.) The trail follows the path of Chief Joseph and his band as they were driven from the Wallowa Mountains in eastern Oregon. Chief Joseph was an excellent tactician, and he outwitted the US Army at every turn, but in the long run, at the time of this final battle in the fall, the women, children and elders of his band were suffering.

This battle took place at the end of September, when snow had already come to this region. Looking and the windswept prairie, one can see there is little shelter available. With no food, no shelter, and little clothing, there was no way they could hold out any longer.

Chief Joseph sent most of his band north, to Canada, where they joined other tribes in safety, while he stayed here with the remainder and surrendered. They were all sent to Oklahoma, and were allowed to be "free" as long as they never went to Idaho or Oregon again.

The trail at the battlefield site is well marked with notations of events at each location, including survey tags marking the sites where several individuals perished.

At these sites one finds offerings made by Native Americans, who often visit as they consider this a sacred place. The offerings range from toys to favored items and "sweet grass".

The site has several memorials, all with historical information, and names important in the history of the battle.


Home for the night was an absolutely delightful, "free range" camping area on the shores of Nelson Reservoir, near Malta. It's a "pack it in, pack it out", low maintenance kind of camping area.

Drive up and pick a spot.... so we did. Very few neighbors, and the few that were there were spread out, and quiet.  The dogs enjoyed the water, and we enjoyed the view.

There were plenty of birds to watch - pelicans and seagulls primarily.

The water level must have dropped considerably in recent days, as there were clams of all sizes sticking out of the sand, as if they'd suddenly been left high and dry.

Leaving the campground we stopped at the Sleeping Buffalo, a historic stone placed near the road in the settlement of Saco.

The buffalo stone has incised markings that resemble the ribs, spine, and nostrils. This stone, and others like it, often were mistaken for real buffalo on the plains, and were believed to have moved on occasion. Similar stories exist regarding powerful stones in England.

The smaller, buffalo stone, is accompanied by a larger medicine stone. It is covered with symbols of all kinds, and visitors often leave offerings at both these powerful stones.

The Buffalo stone

Offerings left on the medicine stone, with carved symbols

The Nez Perce Trail

July 20-21 May Creek Campground, near Wisdom, Montana.

This is the closest campground to the Big Hole National Battlefield, a part of the Nez Perce National Historical Park.  We stayed two nights, so we could devote a full day to visiting the park's Visitor's Center, and the area in general.

Following our visit to Utah our travels have been organized according to the history of the Nez Perce trail. Steve had recently finished reading The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story (Elliott West) and was so impressed by struggles of the tribe, the overall importance to history of the Northwest and the country as a whole, that we decided to base part of our trip on the trail they followed as the government pushed them first one way and then another in an attempt to confiscate their land.

The teepee poles are in the exact center of the photo, on the light green area

The visitor's center has new displays, installed only a year ago, that are beautifully fabricated to convey the critical concepts of the events that took place here in a minimal amount of space. Having just read the history of this horrific battle, which left 90 Nez Perce and 31 soldiers and volunteers dead, it was hard to view battlefield. Teepee poles are in place where the village once was, making it easy to picture the situation at the time of the battle. But those of us who have not been in a war cannot imagine what it was like for the Nez Perce, but also for the soldiers. This is history we should not forget.

We're doing the "trail" from the middle out, as a result of scheduling commitments, but the history and the impact are felt none-the-less. The history of the subjugation of the Nez Perce is too involved to do justice in this blog, so I'll include a few links for those who chose to delve further into the subject. I will say, West's book, mentioned above is excellent: very readable, and West does not tell the story from only one side... he reports facts as they were documented. It's difficult to ready history without putting today's value judgements on it, but West does his best not to reflect today's political and social values in his writing, leaving it to the reader to draw their own conclusions. It was a hard time, for all involved. Could there have been better solutions? Probably. Unfortunately, as with all political and military actions, humans are involved and therefore decisions made and actions taken were imperfect.

Having lived in the northwest for 30 years, and being fairly well informed students of American history, we often find ourselves saying "I didn't know that", and are repeatedly reminded of how much of our history has been buried. Never taught in school, never mentioned. Unless you go looking for it and inform yourself, and your children, you'd never know any of this happened. That is why history repeats itself. We can't learn from it if we aren't exposed to it.

We, unlike those whose history we are here to learn, could retreat to the comfort of our campsite - a wooded haven, with a creek running nearby. Shiner and I indulged in a lengthy walk along the creek for each of the two days we stayed at May Creek.

A sad note on the forests in the area of Wisdom: the bug kill here is terrible. Another camper said they didn't see any damage last year, but we estimate about 30% or more now. Don't be surprised to hear of huge wildfires in this part of Montana in the future. On one of our walks one day the sky darkened with a weird peachy gray tone that means fire in the distance. It turned out to be over the Idaho border, so no immediate danger to us, but it was very creepy to be surrounded by so many dead trees and see smoke that color.

I do think this was one of Shiner's favorite campsites so far! She really had a good time visiting with fellow campers too, especially Bill and Jack, who seem to be fairly accomplished fishermen. They seemed to know exactly where to scritch her her ears to make her happy....or maybe it was fish perfume?

Jack with a German Brown

Following the Nez Perce trail further west (in reverse of the way it originated) we'll be going to the Missoula, Montana area next. If you can't travel to the Nez Perce sites the National Parks Service has made a virtual museum available on park website. There are some great photos of the items and each has a detailed description.

After touring the visitor's center we went into the little near-by town of Wisdom. Originally named for the near-by river, before they changed the name of the river to Big Hole River.

Wisdom's population isn't much over 100, but I suspect there are a lot of weekenders represented by all the buildings with antenna and other signs of activity.

Newer and older, shoulder to shoulder

There are a lot of really old wooden structures, lending the feel of a ghost town, but a still-active church, a couple of saloons, a small grocery store keep it alive. An interesting place to visit on the way to the battlefield.