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

Aug 1-3, Monday Great Falls, Montana

Aug 1-3, Monday
We arrive at Dick's RV, in Great Falls, in the early afternoon. It seemed like a good plan to lay claim to the laundry room before too many overnighters pulled in. I got things going and then soon struck up a conversation with another patron. She and her husband were just back from Alaska, it seems the rough roads pounded their little Casita to pieces, so they had repair work to do. We chatted while the machines worked, then I trundled back to the trailer, the laundry all finished for a week or so.  Dick's is OK for an overnight or two. The spaces are larger than average for an RV park, and all have grass and a picnic table.  The Sun River(a tributary of the Missouri) is right across the road, and there's a bike trail along part of it, allowing for some dog walking freedom. The train tracks nearby aren't in use except for storage, so there was very minimal traffic noise.

We took advantage of Great Falls "big city" resources and did chores like an oil change for the truck, groceries, and buying a new mattress!! Our old RV airbed (older than this trailer!) had decided it was going to leak no matter how many times we fixed it, so we had to work on a more permanent solution. Purchasing something that has to be shipped, when you have no permanent address, is always an interesting challenge. In this case the UPS Store in Rapid City, SD, was the solution. Now, we just hope that we, and the mattress, all show up in Rapid City, as scheduled.

I made a stop at Big Sky Quilts to pick up a Montana "license plate" for my collection, and also bought their row-by-row kit. There is a real story that goes with both.

Have you ever heard of Green Lights for Vets? It's a national program to establish visible, national support for veterans by burning at least one green light in or on a house, and for that reason the little house in the kit pattern has a green window.

 The license plate "MAJ STASH" refers not only to the fact that most quilters have major "stashes" (collected fabric) but one of the owners of the shop is a major! I didn't catch what branch of the military, but Malmstrom Air Force base is located here.

We also made a long-anticipated visit to the C.M. Russell Museum.

Oh-my-goodness. We've never before seen such a marvelous collection of western art all in one place. Paintings, sculptures, drawings, and casual whittled objects make up the collections. Coincidently, their current rotating display is the artists of the Going to the Sun Road, in Glacier, and their relationship to Charlie Russell, who had a cabin at the south end of St. Mary Lake, not too far from where we were camped on the west side of Glacier NP. (No photos are allowed in the museum and galleries, so you'll have to go to their website to see the offerings.) The profiles of each of the artists and the examples of their work were wonderful and really enriched the enjoyment of their individual works.    

The museum also houses a fantastic number of Native American artifacts. Many are displayed in glass cases, others in a multitude of drawers (their tops sealed with plexiglass) that visitors are invited to pull out and investigate. The beadwork, garments, stone weapons, ceremonial items, basketry, and more, were just amazing. Needless to say, by the time we'd finished our brains were numb. There was just too much to absorb, but it was a wonderful experience and we very much enjoyed it.

We had just enough umph left for a quick tour of Charlie and his wife Nancy's home, which is on the same property. It's furnished with period authentic items, though most didn't belong to the Russells. His log studio was under construction, being refurbished, so if we ever get up this way again we'll have to check it out.

From there we went to lunch at Bert and Ernies, a locally famous pub.

It's there we discovered Poutine, a Canadian dish that will melt in your mouth. Crispy fries with cheese curds, all topped with a flavorful brown gravy. 'May sound a little strange to some, but it was really good, and I can imagine really hits the spot on a cold Montana day.

Bert and Ernie's has a comfortable and interesting atmosphere. The restaurant has been there for something like 60 years, but no one knows how the name came to be - I though that was odd!

The ceiling of the restaurant, which is in the historic downtown area, is covered in the old tin panels. The tops of all the divider walls are covered with their collected bottles, and there are some very interesting ones. I'm afraid they put our collection to shame.


Great Falls is full of history and so we absorbed as much as we could.

The Lewis and Clark Interpretive center is very well done. Having spent so many years in Oregon we're very familiar with that end of the story, and this interpretive center filled in the beginning bits.    The city apparently did one of those charity drives that involves decorating a large animal. . . a buffalo in this case. We saw several interesting ones around town but this one is the only one I could capture for a photo.

The center is built overlooking the river, and one can see a portion of the "great falls" that inspired the town's name.

After "touring" for the day we were ready to settle in for the evening and get packed up for an early start in the morning.

Montana is going the way of many other northwest states and really developing a microbrew industry. We had to pick up a sampling of course, to work on while we packed!

The Lodges of Glacier National Park

We've always been fond of the Craftsman era lodges. This was a time when the west was really being promoted by the railroads, and the land developers.

Some of the western lodges were built before that time, but all have a unique, luxurious feel to them. The logs used to build them are larger than you will ever see after that era, there is more hand crafted work involved. . . carvings on bannisters, evenly paired, but natural, forked limbs used as supports, that sort of thing. The three lodges we visited in Glacier all are good examples of that period.

On the west side of Glacier, on the northwest shore of Lake McDonald is the beautiful McDonald lodge.

Charlie Russell, the famous western artist, had a cabin at the side of this lake. He named it Bullhead Lodge.
 He and his wife entertained other artists and interesting people of the time here, and he and his wife often dined at McDonald lodge with their friends. He would sit and tell stories by the hour, they say. For this reason, the dining room is now the "Russell Dining Room".

The lodge has a definite western/wildlife/Native American tone, judging by the artworks hanging in the hallways and by the decor in the lobby.


The motifs on the lamp shades, hanging above the seating area in the lobby, are Native American, and the mounted heads of local wildlife, interspaced between western themed paintings really set the atmosphere.

The lodge is one of the locations from which the red 'jammer buses' leave, and there was one loading passengers just as we arrived, so we were able to chat with the driver.

She informed us that the fleet of "jammers" consists of 33 busses, all fully restored, and with new natural gas engines. The Ford Motor company restored them as a gift to the park. It seemed like everywhere we went we ran into several of them, so they must all be in use every day.


On our way to the second half of our stay we took Highway 2 southeast around the southern end of the park and through the settlement of East Glacier (which is actually outside the park), past the elegant Glacier Park Lodge.

This  one of the grandest lodges of the era, and has extensive grounds that are beautifully maintained. It overlooks the train station, where many of it's guests arrive.

The lodge was built in 1913 by the Glacier Park Company, a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway. It was the first of a series of hotels built in and near Glacier National Park by the Great Northern to house visitors brought to the park by the railroad. The connection with the railway is carried over in the decor and the uniform of the bell hops - they dress like old fashioned train engineers, in striped coveralls!

The grounds of the lodge are beautiful, with lush gardens and flowers in bloom everywhere. The interior of the lodge displays Native American themed art, amazing woodwork, and a general air of elegance. 

On the East side of Glacier, at the end of a rather rough 12 mile drive, is the grand Many Glacier Hotel. 

This alpine style lodge has a beautiful setting on Swiftcurrent Lake.

It must be the setting that inspired it, as the theme here is less wildlife and Native American, and more alpine influence. The feeling is a bit different as this lodge is more remote, and everyone moves a bit slower that in other areas of the park. The lobby area is smaller than that of Glacier Park Lodge, but still very beautiful and comfortable. The view of beautiful Swiftcurrent Lake helps! This lodge is arranged in a long, somewhat curved configuration to take full advantage of the lake front exposure, and a panorama shot was the only way to capture it.

A short distance from the lodge the road crosses Swiftcurrent creek, which soon turns into a fairly impressive waterfall on the opposite side of the road. It's a beautiful area, and a peaceful setting for a very comfortable and unique lodge.

Several very unique design features caught my eye. Among them, the artwork around a series of windows, custom carpet in the main lobby is another. It was a unique pattern of pine branches and cones.

The wonderful thing about visiting all these lodges is that the are all open to the public whether you are staying as a guest or just visiting the area. Everyone can enjoy the undique art and ambiance. We certainly did!

Click on any photo to go to a larger view, or get into the album.