The Lunch Box Journals

The Yellowstone River rises out of Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park, then flows about 100 miles directly north to a narrow gap between the Gallatin Mountains on the west and the Absaroka Mountains on the right before turning east towards Billings. After our exhilarating side trip to the Beartooth Highway it’s time to get moving west exploring the upper Yellowstone Valley.

In general the highway follows the river bottom between bluffs on both sides. An occasional glimpse of the Beartooth Mountains peaking above the bluffs appears the south.

The river bottom begins to narrow and farming on the valley floor benefits from the accessibility of river water for irrigation.

About an hour west of Billings the small town of Columbus, county seat of Stillwater County, is dwarfed by a massive industrial plant on the eastern edge of town. This is the Columbus Metallurgical Complex, one of the world’s largest producers of platinum group metals from recycled automotive catalytic converters. The Stillwater Mining Company developed two mines southwest of Columbus in the Absaroka Mountains that are the only source of platinum and platinum related minerals in the United States and one of the top three platinum producing mines in the world (other two are in Russia and South Africa.) A South African company, Sibanye, purchased Stillwater Mining in 2016 for 2.2 billion dollars and now does business as Sibanye-Stillwater.

Columbus started life as a stage coach stop along the Yellowstone River named “Sheep Dip”, later changed to “Stillwater”, and finally in 1882 changed to Columbus when the Northern Pacific Railroad came to town and established a station. The Northern Pacific already had a station named Stillwater in Minnesota and to avoid confusion named this stop Columbus. Nearly 2,000 people live in the surrounding area, many commuting the hour east to Billings for work and shopping. The small historic city core stretches for a couple of blocks along Pike Street by the railroad tracks with a number of buildings constructed out of Montana sandstone in the early 1900’s by a local legend, Michael Jacobs. His company, the Montana Sandstone Company, not only built buildings here in Columbus but also in Billings, Butte, and most famously, the Montana State Capitol in Helena. The Jacobs’ house was also built of Montana sandstone.

As we are going to see throughout our tour of Eastern Montana the boom years of the early 1900’s ended with World War I and the other building of note in Columbus, the Stillwater County courthouse was built in 1921 of more economical brick.

Leaving Columbus the road quickly climbs out of the Yellowstone River bottom and gives great views of the Absaroka Mountains to the south.

Just as quickly we descend back to the river valley bottom and follow the path of the Yellowstone for another 45 minutes to our next stop, Big Timber.

The valley has widened and the views stretch out to the Absarokas to the south and the Crazy Mountains to the northwest.

Big Timber is the county seat of Sweet Grass County, a county that is larger than the State of Rhode Island. On Clark’s return from the Pacific in 1806 he named the area where the Boulder River from the south entered the Yellowstone River “Rivers Across” but, in a repeat of the story we saw with our visit to Columbus, the railroad came to the area in 1883, established a station farther south from the river bank and named it Big Timber for the abundance of cottonwood trees lining the rivers. Today Big Timber continues to be the center of services for this large county with most businesses still housed in buildings constructed before 1915 along the main street. This view is north towards the Crazy Mountains. The red 1909 Big Timber fire house anchors the south east end of the small business district.

The Grand Hotel Big Timber was built in 1890 and has been restored to her original state.

Just off the main street are two churches built of Montana sandstone. On the right is St. Mark’s Episcopal Church was built in 1895 and across the street is the 1907 Lutheran church.

The Sweet Grass County courthouse was built in 1897 with an addition added in 1928.

Heading west the first great wall of the Rocky Mountains begins to loom on the horizon. We are still following up the Yellowstone River and it looks like those mountains are in our way but a geographic anomaly means that at the foot of the mountains the Yellowstone actually makes roughly a 90 degree turn from the south. The looming mountains actually form the boundary between the Yellowstone River drainage on the eastern side and the Missouri River drainage on the west.

Livingston, county seat of Park County, sits right at the base of the mountains where the Yellowstone turns to the east. Since we are traveling up the river, we turn left and head due south towards Yellowstone National Park. The river flows through a very narrow gap between the Absaroka Mountains to the east and the Gallatin Mountains to the west. This view looks directly south at the gap where the river flows.

Once through the narrow gap the valley opens wide as we head towards the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park about 50 miles to the south. Once through the gap the valley widens with towering mountains on both sides. This is Paradise Valley, home to world-renowned fishing on the Yellowstone and home to a number of famous people who have retreats in the valley.

The Absaroka Mountains to the east offer spectacular views across the Yellowstone River hidden in the trees.

Farther south the valley begins to narrow as we approach and pass through Yankee Jim Canyon.

Once through Yankee Jim Canyon the valley widens a bit as we approach the small town of Gardiner, north entrance to Yellowstone National Park. The town, pretty much totally dependent upon a tourist economy, hugs a bench on the east side of the Yellowstone River. Across the river are some hotels and the iconic Roosevelt Arch, completed in 1903, marking the entrance to the park.

I’m not visiting the park on this trip, it’s just not a good time. The pandemic has prompted lots of people to take car trips for their vacations rather than flying somewhere and Yellowstone National Park has been slammed with people this year. The narrow roads through the park quickly become jammed around the thermal sites (i.e. Old Faithful, etc.) and even more annoying are the traffic jams caused by people stopping right in the road to watch the buffalo. I’ll go some other time off-season since it’s only a couple of hours from my house to the park. So I turn around and head back to Livingston, our next stop. The views now heading north as we re-enter Yankee Jim Canyon give a bit of a different perspective as the Gallatin Mountains on the west side of Paradise Valley are now more prominent.

Once through Yankee Jim Canyon I leave the main highway which runs along the west side of the Yellowstone and take the road which follows along the east bank of the river. The Paradise valley is a mixture of cattle ranches and vacation homes.

Approaching the gap in the mountains that the Yellowstone has carved as it flows north, the hills visible through the gap show where the river turns 90 degrees to the right just beyond the city of Livingston.

Livingston

Livingston started life as “Clark City” named after the explorer who passed through the area on his return from the Pacific coast in 1806. In summer 1882 30 freight wagons drawn by 140 oxen carrying 140,000 of supplies arrived on the west bank of the Yellowstone with the goal of building a store to supply the area. The Northern Pacific Railroad was building up the Yellowstone River alley and reached just west of Clark City in November 1882. The railroad named the stop Livingston in honor of Johnston Livingston, Northern Pacific director and friend of the railroad president. Sitting at the base of Bozeman pass roughly halfway between Tacoma, WA, and St. Paul, MN, Livingston quickly became home to a major repair and maintenance facility for the railroad. The railroad remained the major employer in the area for many years, with employment peaking at around 1,100 during the 1950’s. The Northern Pacific also publicized Livingston as the gateway to Yellowstone National Park in an effort to promote travel on the railroad and in 1902 the Livingston Depot was completed. The façade presented to the street pales in comparison to the stunning presentation facing the railroad tracks. The large center building is connected to smaller structures on either side with columns lining a crescent-shaped passageway. Clearly the focus was on the arriving travelers. First is the south side, facing downtown Livingston.

The complex is so large that I was unable to get it all in one picture, so here is the Livingston Depot from east to west.

Passenger service is no longer provided in southern Montana so the main depot is now a museum, the side buildings house a gift shop/art gallery on the west and a restaurant on the east. Turning around the view is of the extensive railyards, still an important facility for the railroad.

Employment by the railroad did peak during the 1950’s but a gradual decline began and the local economy became more and more depressed until Livingston was “discovered” and is now a bustling town with an emphasis upon the creative arts. Writers and artists have flocked to Livingston in the last couple of decades and now the city center is alive with galleries, boutiques, restaurants and bars. Standing on the front steps of the depot the view south stretches down South 2^nd Street across the Yellowstone River and on to Mt Livingston in the distance.

Right across the street is the iconic Murray Hotel, built in 1904 as the Elite Hotel and named the Murray in 1925. It contained the town’s only elevator (which is still in use). Though demise of rail travel lead to the Murray’s decline in the 1960’s it is now the crown jewel in the renaissance of downtown Livingston, in part because of patronage of Hollywood notables such as Robert Redford, Peter Fonda, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Street construction temporarily mars the view from the Murray’s front door but beyond downtown Livingston hums with activity.

Perched just west of the city center is another Livingston piece of history, BeefBurgers. Established in 1954 BeefBurgers has operated in the same spot for 66 years, still going strong despite the emergence of modern fast food options farther south by the interstate.

The emergence of the creative community along with an influx of people from out of state seeking the Montana lifestyle has also lead to a revitalization of the residential area just west of the downtown area. Block after block of turn of the century housing has been brought to life.