“The Ramparts of God” Part of the joy in being retired is freedom of time and as the temperature began to approach the 100’s in Billings I decided to leave town and spend three weeks exploring the Rocky Mountains of northwestern Montana. The plan is to head northwest from Billings to Glacier National Park, cross over into the Flathead Valley, explore the forests of the northwest corner of Montana, then turn east and tour central Montana before returning south to Billings. Augie the doggie and I packed up and hit the road. Come along! (Remember, the plan has changed due to weather and forest fires. Now we’re heading down I-90 to home.)
Deer Lodge, MT to Bozeman, MT, to home (Billings, MT) via I-90
Normally I would not follow I-90 from Deer Lodge to Billings but I need to be home for a doctor’s appointment plus I have explored “off the beaten track” southwestern Montana in previous editions of the journal. (If you are interested in other small towns in southwestern Montana enter Phillipsburg, Dillon, Virginia City, Helena or Butte in the “Search” box and it will take you to those chapters.) The stormy weather has lifted a bit as I leave Deer Lodge on I-90, heading southeast to Butte and then over the Homestake Pass (and Continental Divide) into another of the great open valleys of southwest Montana, the headwaters of the Missouri River. Three rivers (Gallatin-east, Madison-middle and Jefferson-west) drain this wide valley surrounded by towering mountains on all sides coming together near the town of Three Forks to form the Missouri River, which then heads north through the mountains for nearly 150 miles before turning east across north-central Montana. The river system forms an upside-down “trident”, thus the name “Three Forks” bestowed upon the area by Lewis and Clark on their way to the Pacific Ocean. Just north of the little town of Three Forks is the state park where the rivers come together. They don’t actually join at the same spot. The Madison and Jefferson come together first as seen in this picture (Madison on the left and Jefferson on the right). The Gallatin then comes in about a quarter mile downstream.
Turning to my right, I can then see the entrance to the narrow canyon where the Missouri begins to head north, cutting through the mountains in a narrow canyon before opening up in another wide valley near Helena and then cutting another canyon before finally entering the plains at Great Falls.
The current town of Three Forks was formally established in 1908 though an earlier town of the same name had been founded fifty years earlier closer to the banks of the river as an important stage stop between the mining towns of Virginia City and Butte. The Madison Hotel was built in 1863 and when the town relocated in 1908 to be near the new railroad depot, the 1863 building was moved to the new town, expanded, and re-named the Sacagawea Hotel. As was so often the case, once the railroad left town the boom years were over. Now a national historic landmark, the Sacagawea still serves tourists heading into the local mountains and streams for some of the world’s best fishing experiences.
This view of the north side clearly shows the two buildings. The 1863 structure is on the left and the 1910 building is on the right.
The magnificent lobby has been restored to its’ 1910 elegance.
In all my years of travelling back and forth along I-90 another town that I have never had to time to stop and explore is Bozeman so I grabbed the opportunity to stop and visit what is currently Montana’s most happening city!
Bozeman, MT
Bozeman sits at the western foot of Bozeman Pass, the first major pass that pioneers faced on their trek into the northwest Rocky Mountain region. Just 15 miles to the east on the other side of the mountains is the Yellowstone River Valley, leading out onto the Great Plains. Bozeman was founded in 1864 as a stop along the Bozeman Trail, which ran from Laramie, Wyoming to the booming gold town of Virginia City, Montana. In the last 20 years Bozeman has emerged as the fastest growing city in Montana (now over 40,000 people) and, as home to Montana State University, is the tech center of the state as well as the gateway to all of the recreational opportunities in the surrounding mountains and valleys. Despite only being the fourth largest city in the state, the Bozeman airport is the busiest, serving as the gateway to Yellowstone Park (80 miles to the south) as well as two major ski resorts. Montana State, riding the wave of the boom in science and technology education, is now the largest university in the state after years of laboring in the shadow of the University of Montana in Missoula.
Downtown Bozeman is essentially a one-street phenomenon. Running for blocks along the old highway, Main Street is a happening place. I try to visit downtowns on a Sunday as there is usually much less traffic, I’m more apt to find a place to park the Lunch Box without hitting something, and it’s easier to take pictures. That was not the case in Bozeman. Downtown was hopping, the sidewalks crowded, and traffic slowed to a crawl so I postponed my downtown excursion until Monday. I was really impressed with the vibrant downtown area. Full of shops, restaurants, bars, etc., the only empty spaces were construction sites. The buildings are a mix of old and new and the sidewalks are full of art. Let’s take a walk down Main Street Bozeman.
The sidewalks are enlivened with metal sculptures through the downtown area.
On every street corner are the ubiquitous utility boxes but here they are the opportunity for more street art!
Testimony as to how hip Bozeman is exists right in downtown is a chic 50’s era motel. The Lark, with the coolest ice cream trailer you’ll ever see.in the middle of its’ parking lot.
And, if there is any doubt as to how cool Bozeman is, check out the city buses. Is this “Portlandia East”?
As I noted earlier, key to the renaissance occurring in Bozeman is the presence of Montana State University on the southern edge of town. Sprawling beneath the Gallatin Range, MSU was the “land grant” counterpoint to the University of Montana in Missoula and center of agricultural and science education for the state. Established in 1893 in temporary housing, Montana Hall was completed in 1898.
For the first half of the century the college grew very slowly and few buildings were constructed during that time period. Hamilton Hall (1910) and Romney Gymnasium, built in 1922 and home to the 1928 MSU national basketball champions!
A building spurt in the 1950’s and again in the 1990’s gives the campus a much more modern look than the more classical Missoula campus. A grand promenade looks north down from the steps of Montana Hall towards downtown Bozeman.
For blocks on either side of the promenade campus buildings display a utilitarian vision of architecture over the last 60+ years.
Anchoring the north end of campus is another of the sacred sites in Montana, MSU Bobcat Stadium!
Cruising campus is all well and good, but any trip here is not complete without stopping at one of the most enticing of Bozeman’s attraction, the renowned Museum of the Rockies, home to the largest collection of dinosaur fossils in the United States and specifically, one of most complete collections of Tyrannosaurus Rex fossils in the world.
Museum of the Rockies
The Museum of the Rockies is an affiliate of Montana State University and the Smithsonian Institute and is as much a research facility as museum. In addition to dinosaurs the museum hosts two other permanent collections. one focusing on the American Indians of the northern Rockies (in which photographs cannot be taken out of respect for the cultural items on display) and one featuring the settling of Montana prior to World War II. This year the pioneer gallery features transportation during that period. A third major gallery features a revolving display, this summer it focuses on the history of chocolate. Quite an eclectic adventure! The museum is housed in a modern building where one is greeted by “Mike”, the dinosaur at the entrance.
Once inside my first stop is the Hall of the Giants, dedicated to the Tyrannosaurus Rex with displays of other fossils around the perimeter. A large ocean once covered the land east of the Rocky Mountains during prehistoric times and during the era of the dinosaur the ocean was disappearing, leaving a land that was hot, humid and wet. An especially benevolent climate existed in an area south of the current Missouri River in central Montana, now known as the Missouri Breaks. This is amongst the most desolate land in Montana, a rugged stretch of arid land that sees little rain, but when it does rain it falls in brief, violent thunderstorms that dump a huge amount of water in a short period of time. This, in turn, carved the ocean floor into a cracked landscape of gullies and canyons unable to sustain agriculture or ranching. Few paved roads cross central Montana and the ground (locally referred to as “gumbo”) underlying the dirt/gravel roads in the area turns into a viscous mud that is virtually impassable at times, even with four-wheel drive vehicles. Winters are extremely harsh with winds howling down from Canada driving temperatures thirty and forty degrees below zero. Few people live in the huge swath of land east of Great Falls between the Missouri to the north and the Yellowstone River to the south.
Buried within these cliffs is a treasure trove of fossils from the era of the dinosaurs. Ranchers trying to scratch out a living stumbled across the fossilized remains of prehistoric creatures and the paleontology department of MSU became the center of research for the area. Over the years many stunning discoveries were made, including some of the largest and most complete remains of the feared Tyrannosaurus Rex, king of the dinosaur era. Just as in life, the centerpiece of the Hall of the Giants is surrounded by the remains of other creatures from the era.
One of the more stunning discoveries of recent times occurred in 2000 when the oldest T. Rex on record (68 million years old) was found by a university student wandering around a dig during his lunch break. Not only was this the oldest dinosaur on record, but SOFT tissue was found within both thigh bones of the giant beast, including soft and pliable blood vessels! It’s difficult to see in this picture, but here is a section of the actual thigh bone with the soft tissue marked by the arrow.
At the base of the large T. Rex skeleton in the center of the hall is a series of T. Rex skulls showing the development from birth to maturity. The skulls are reconstructed out of actual pieces of fossils and a composite in order to display what a complete skull looks like.
I’ll definitely come back in the future to explore the other galleries in the museum as well as the Tinsley House, an original homestead house from the 1890’s that has been located on the museum grounds and functions as a living history museum, operating as closely as possible as the original homestead did with university students playing the role of the homesteaders going about their daily life. Just didn’t seem to be the time to spend a couple of hours outdoors as a thunderstorm was setting in!
This is the final chapter of Volume 6, my exploration of the western Montana mountain country. It’s been a great exploration of an area that I have driven through many. Many times but seldom stopped to savor. Of course, my trusty companion Augie the Doggie has been along. Several readers have written in to ask how he handles all of this so here’s an update. Augie LOVES to travel in the Lunch Box. When he sees the motorhome pull up in the driveway to get ready to leave he goes crazy. He was used to being alone all day while I worked and so now when I leave him in the Lunch Box while I go off on an adventure he does just fine. I make sure that the roof vents and some windows are open and the water dish is full so even on the warmest days it stays reasonably cool. He only barks if someone comes to the door so I really don’t hesitate to leave him while I head off for 3-4 hours on my forays into America. I have created his own little perch in the passenger seat so that he can see out the window and that’s where he travels most of the time, either sleeping or standing up, scouting the trail!
Yes, I know he’s cute but looks are deceiving! Augie does have one drawback as a travelling companion in that he is NOT friendly with strangers but like a stealth fighter, looks innocently and then lunges at the drop of a hat. Many a friendly butt has been nipped because people don’t believe my warning to stay back… All in all, its’ a rough life!
I am now back in Billings for at least a couple of months as I have cataract surgery coming up so unless I get a bee in my bonnet and decide to hit the road on the spur of the moment, the next volume of The Lunch Box Journals probably won’t come out until mid-October.
Thanks again for joining me on my continuing exploration of America!
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