The Great Falls of the Missouri River in Montana

Location: Dick's RV Park (el 3,300 ft); Great Falls, Montana

(click picture to enlarge)
(all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia 929 cell phone)

Note: I have added a new page to the blog called "Map with Dates of Travel", it is located on a "tab" below the picture of Freedom and Liberty. The blog has gotten so large that it is hard to find an old post. The new page is a series of maps with pins at each place that I camped. There is a date by one of the pins about every month. This allows you to narrow down, to within one month, a place that you may want to read about. Once you're within a month, you can then go to the archive listing on the panel on the right side of the blog to find the post. I hope it helps you, because it sure helped me. Dates were blending together and I was having a hard time remembering when I was in a particular place. The memory of the place was still alive in my head, but if I wanted to re-read the post, it was very hard to find. Let me know if it works or not and any suggestions for improvements are welcome.

I've been in Great Falls, Montana for 7 days while waiting for the Going To The Sun Road in Glacier National Park to open. It opened yesterday and tomorrow is moving day. This campground has been centrally located for me to explore the Bear Paw Battlefield and the falls of the Missouri River. 

When Lewis and Clark reached this point of their exploration, they were blocked by a series of waterfalls on the Missouri. They had to carry (portage) their dugout canoes and supplies around the falls. This effort took several weeks. There were 5 waterfalls within a 10 mile area of the river. Today, there are hydro-electric dams located on the falls with only portions of the falls still visible. Those dams range in age from 100 to 125 years old. 

The following pictures were taken while driving around the area. 

A suspension bridge spanning the
downstream channel from the
electrical powerhouse from Ryan
Dam.

This tree is along the bank of stream
by the campground. I'm not sure if
that tree has beaver damage or been
worn that way from ropes used to
tie up boats.

This is a bend in Missouri River
downstream of Great Falls. 

A good example as to why it is called "The Big Sky Country"

A field of Mustard Seeds.

I will be seeing Glacier National Park tomorrow. I anticipate many "wow" sights. There are two main entrances to the park and I'll be staying on the eastern side. 

It's gotten late and I'm getting sleepy. I may post more about this area in the future but I know the next few posts will be full of great pictures from Glacier.  
Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road. 

I Will Fight No More Forever; The Story of the Nez Perce

Location: Dick's RV Park (el 3,300 ft); Great Falls, Montana

(click picture to enlarge)
(all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia 929 cell phone)

Note: I have added a new page to the blog called "Map with Dates of Travel", it is located on a "tab" below the picture of Freedom and Liberty. The blog has gotten so large that it is hard to find an old post. The new page is a series of maps with pins at each place that I camped. There is a date by one of the pins about every month. This allows you to narrow down, to within one month, a place that you may want to read about. Once you're within a month, you can then go to the archive listing on the panel on the right side of the blog to find the post. I hope it helps you, because it sure helped me. Dates were blending together and I was having a hard time remembering when I was in a particular place. The memory of the place was still alive in my head, but if I wanted to re-read the post, it was very hard to find. Let me know if it works or not and any suggestions for improvements are welcome.

I've read stories about the Indians since I was a child. The story-lines for the encounters between the whites and the Indians are usually very similar and goes a little like this: 
1) A few whites expand into territory controlled by an Indian tribe, 
2) At first, whites and Indians become friends, 
3) More whites flood into the territory in search of either minerals (gold, silver) or land,
4) Minor conflicts happen between the two different cultures.
5) There is no legal mechanism, recognized by each side, to resolve the conflict,
6) The minor conflicts grow into larger ones or get blown out of proportion, 
7) A treaty is made in an attempt to resolve the conflicts, 
8) The treaty is broken, 
9) Open warfare begins, 
10) The militarily weaker Indians lose the war,
10) The defeated Indians are placed on reservations where they become wards of the government,
12) This dependence on the government slowly destroys the "self" of the Indians,
13) Most reservations eventually deteriorate into what becomes similar to inter-city ghettos. 

Dependency breeds complacency, which limits the determination to improve yourself. Those who were able to leave the reservation and assimilate into the American society usually were more successful in life than those who chose to remain behind. This lesson is still being learned today by groups of people who depend on the government for their basic needs.   

In the story-line, I didn't say who caused the conflicts and hostilities because most of the time it was evenly split between the two sides. During the last half of the 1800's and early part of the 1900's, the stories were slanted in favor of the whites. The Indians were usually portrayed as savages who needed to be conquered and dominated. Although blacks were granted U.S. citizenship after the Civil War in 1868 by the 14th amendment to the Constitution, it was not until The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 that Indians were granted that same citizenship. It was about that time that the tone of the stories began to change in favor of the Indians and they became the "noble savages" in many stories. The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in between.  

The story I like the best is about the Nez Perce Indians. Their ancestral territory was a large area around the junction of present day Oregon, Idaho and Washington State. They were the largest tribe of Indians that Lewis & Clark met between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean. The two cultures formally met in 1805 as Lewis & Clark emerged from the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains. They were exhausted and the Nez Perce fed them and allowed them to rest in their villages. Lewis & Clark left their horses in the care of the Nez Perce as they continued their journey to the Pacific Ocean using canoes they built under the direction of the Nez Perce. The horses were waiting for them the following year when Lewis & Clark returned. The Corps stayed a couple months with the Nez Perce while the mountain passes thawed out. A friendship was formed and Lewis & Clark both spoke favorably of the Nez Perce. 

Decades pass as whites slowly begin the inevitable encroachment into the Nez Perce territory. This encroachment is slowed by the Civil War of the 1860's, but once it is over, the flood of whites begin. 

There were several bands of Nez Perce, each with their own territory. Treaties were made with some of the bands, but not all of them. The bands who did not sign the treaty were called the "non-treaty Nez Perce". Eventually, after pushing and pushing from both sides, an ultimatum was issued by the U.S. government in May of 1877 that required all Nez Perce to report to a reservation in present day Idaho. They were given 30 days to round up their herds of horses, collect their belongings and move their entire villages to the reservation. The non-treaty Nez Perce said the time was too short, but General Howard said if they missed the deadline, even by one day, his Army would "drive them like cattle onto the reservation".

After some random killings by both sides during the 30 day period, a meeting was held between the chiefs of the non-treaty Nez Perce to decide what action they were going to take. Some wanted to fight even though they knew they would lose in the long run. This was the attitude of most of the Indian tribes up to this point in time. The most recent example had been the Battle of the Little Bighorn where the Sioux and Cheyenne beat Custer and the 7th Calvary before eventually escaping to Canada to avoid being totally destroyed as a people. The chiefs of the Nez Perce surely knew this story and realized that if the combined strength of the Sioux and Cheyenne could not defeat the U.S. Army then they couldn't either. They also had heard the stories of how Indians were treated on reservations. Either way, fight or reservation life, would be bad for the tribe. What to do?

A decision is made by the group of chiefs to simply leave the area and head to the lands of their Indian friends, the Crows. The Crows were located to the east of the Rockies on the plains of present day Wyoming and Montana. To get there, required the tribe to cross the Rocky Mountains which their hunting parties did every year to get to the place where the buffalo lived. This time though, it meant carrying the entire village with older people, women and children. The Chief that was chosen to lead this effort was 37 year old Chief Joseph of the Wallowa band. Of course the U.S. Army wouldn't just let them leave, especially after what General Howard had told them about driving them like cattle onto the reservation. This set in motion one of the greatest retreats against a superior military force in history. 

The Army had almost 1,500 soldiers and civilian volunteers in the field trying to catch the Nez Perce. The Indians had about 250 warriors and 500 women, children and older people plus all of their belongings. The retreat lasted 5 months and covered nearly 1,250 miles across the Rocky Mountains, through Yellowstone Park and into Montana. There were a few times where the Army thought they had the Indians but the Nez Perce either won the fight or held the army off long enough so the rest of the people could escape and continue the retreat. The Army tried to catch the Indians from behind as well as sending word ahead for troops to head them off. 

The Nez Perce sent word ahead to the Crow Indians asking for help and to let them know they would be passing through their lands. The Crows refused to help the Nez Perce and actually became part of the Army's scouts. After refusal by the Crows, the Nez Perce had no choice other than to head to Canada with hopes of joining up with Sitting Bull and the Sioux/Cheyennes. They made it as far as the Bear Paw Mountains in north central Montana which is about 40 miles from Canada. The land was rolling hills with plenty of game for hunting and grass for their horses. The Indians, knowing that General Howard was at least a week or more behind them decided to rest. Little did they know that General Howard had sent word to General Miles who was near the border of Montana and the Dakotas to intercept the Nez Perce. General Miles, who one year earlier had chased the Sioux into Canada, marched his troops quickly westward to cut off Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce from escaping to Canada. He caught up with the Indians near the Bear Paws while they were resting. After an initial attack failed, he laid siege to the Indians until General Howard could arrive. The siege lasted for 5 days. Several of the chiefs had been killed, they were running out of food, the weather was turning colder and most were just plain worn out from the trip. 

A decision was made by the remaining Chiefs that those who were able, could slip away and try to escape to Canada which was only 40 miles away. Those that were unable to leave would stay with Joseph who would surrender. That would mean a chief would be with both groups. About 200 made it to Canada and joined up with Sitting Bull, 400 surrendered and about 200 died along the way. 

During his surrender, Chief Joseph gave his famous speech which ended with, "I will fight no more, forever". General Miles promised Joseph that they would be taken back to the Wallowa Valley, but instead they were taken to reservations in Kansas and Oklahoma where many died from poor living conditions. Eventually, Joseph and several of the survivors were allowed to relocate to reservations in Idaho and Washington state. He died at the Colville Reservation in Washington State in 1904 at the age of 64. 

I had read about Joseph and the Nez Perce a long time ago. As I was passing through Oregon, I thought about going to see the Wallowa Valley that Joseph and his people were forced to give up, but decided against it. Instead I wanted to see where they passed through Yellowstone and the Beartooth Mountains. I saw those places when I was staying at West Yellowstone and then again when I rode the Beartooth Highway and Chief Joseph highway while staying at Red Lodge, Montana. Finally, I wanted to see the surrender site. Having seen the tough mountains they had crossed, I wanted to see the landscape where they finally said, enough is enough. 

The final battle and surrender site is a National Historic Park and I visited it the other day. I was very, very disappointed. It is small, which is understandable, but there were very few displays or information stands. There is no visitor center or place to talk with someone about the place. I was the only one there and I stayed about 45 minutes. Heck, there was a flag pole but no America Flag flying. I guess my expectations were too high and I thought it would have been a place of honor to the Nez Perce and the U.S. Army who participated in this 5 month, 1500 mile epic journey. Live and learn, I guess.

The Entrance to the Battlefield. Notice
the flagpole in the background, with
NO flag. I guess the federal
employees treat this place as an outpost
to visit once a month or so.

To the left is the total amount of
information and tributes.

There was a bench but it was cold
and uncomfortable. 

This is a panoramic view of the battlefield. It marks the end
of one of the greatest retreats and chases. It is very different from the mountain valleys were the Nez Perce had always lived. Although they still exist as a tribe today, the Nez Perce culture ended here. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road. 
     

Resting and Planning in White Sulphur Springs, Montana

Location: Conestoga Campground (el 5,050 ft); White Sulphur Springs, Montana

(click pictures to enlarge)
(all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia 929 cell phone)

I'm still waiting for the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park to open. The latest information is that it is open for 32 miles from the western end but the remaining 20 miles or so is closed due to road construction. Apparently they finished plowing the snow, which usually takes until about the first of July, but now they are needing to finish some road work. I've thought about going around to the west entrance but that seems to be the more busy entrance so I'll stay with the east side. Their web site says it may open June 19th (fingers crossed). 

So, since I have to wait, I found a nice campground in White Sulphur Springs, Montana with full hook-ups at a very reasonable rate since they are members of Passport America. The trip here was a nice drive of a little bit more than 200 miles.

I stopped at a Walmart on the way since I knew there wasn't a large grocery store around here. 

I saw this guy on the side of the road
alongside a pull-out. It was a pretty
good statue to be out in the middle
of nowhere.

Speaking about being in the middle of nowhere, I saw this house for several miles before reaching it. It is a large two story house just sitting alone except for one out-building. 

A guess would put the date of its construction about 40 to 50 years ago. It must have been a good sized family to need a house that size but now it sits empty and for sale. It made me wonder about its past. Had there be a dozen kids of stair-stepped ages playing around it at one time. And if so, I guess they all moved off. How long had the mother and father been left alone after the last child flew the coop? I wondered if it was part of an old homestead from a hundred years ago and this house was just the latest in a chain of smaller to larger houses. 

Why was this place chosen to build a house since there was nothing around for miles. All of those thoughts and many more in just the minute or so it took to drive by. 

A storm was coming across the mountains. I was lucky and stayed in front of it all the way to the campground.

 The road was long and lonely with on an occasional vehicle seen along the way. Except for the rain coming up behind me, the weather ahead looked nice and the sky bright blue. 

About 5 miles of so before reaching White Sulphur Springs, a bright yellow field of what looked like dandelions showed up on the right.

Conestoga Campground

Not a great sunset, but peaceful.

There isn't a lot of stuff to do around here, but I was able to play a round of golf on a nice little 9-hole course just across from the campground.

It was the first time I've played in over 6 months and it was fun except for the mosquitoes. After the 3rd hole, I bought some "Off" from the club house. They had it in a wipe which worked better than a spray. After that, those "skeeters" quit messing with this southern blood. 

I also drove into the Lewis and Clark National Forest area to find Memorial Falls. 

I was told about the falls when I checked into the campground. It was worth the trip. The lower falls are a little less than 1/2 mile from the parking area. I got there about 1 o'clock in the afternoon and there were 3 other vehicles in the parking lot. I have learned not to head off on the mountain trails if the parking area is empty. 

That is the path to the right, through the rocks

Since I'm walking alone, if I fall and break something, I'm gonna be there until someone comes along. If there are vehicles in the parking lot, that means people are ahead of me on the trail and if it is a single trail, then they have to come by me on their way out. In this instance, the 3 vehicles meant at least 3 groups ahead of me. Once the 3rd group passed me going down, then I knew I would be alone on the trail and this late in the afternoon, no one possible coming up. This trail was full of large rocks, some loose while others were used as stair steps. It would be very easy to trip and fall if I wasn't paying attention and the fall would be on some pretty nasty looking rocks. The 3rd group passed me going down just as I was about to reach the lower falls. The upper falls were another 1/4 mile or so farther but on a much steeper trail. What to do, what to do? Should I act stupid or smart? 

That's when I saw the bench. Nothing like a good "thinking bench" to sit and contemplate on the situation. So, I had a seat with a nice view of the falls and thought it over. I thought about how

View from the bench

nice the upper falls "may" look and balanced that with the thought of having to spend the night along the trail with a broken leg or ankle. Hmmmm,,,,,. I headed back down the trail. Ain't I the smart one? At least today. :)

A look back at the falls on my way down. 

I'll be moving on tomorrow. My plan right now is to maybe head to Great Falls and stay there for a few days. I will be close enough to Bear's Paw to take a day trip there and will only be 1 day's trip from the east entrance to Glacier. Or I may extend my stay here a day or two before moving on since it is pretty restful here. I'll make my final decision later this afternoon. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.    

Indians, Indians and Custer

Location: Hardin KOA (el. 3,000 ft); Hardin, Montana

(click pictures to enlarge)
(all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia 929 cell phone)

One of the reasons for stopping here was to visit The Little Bighorn Battlefield. It used to be called Custer's Battlefield National Monument until it was changed in 1991. The reason for the change was to honor the Indians as well as the soldiers. I don't have a problem with the name change but others do. From what I've read, Custer was arrogant and over-confident which cost the lives of a couple hundred of his men. I won't go into a lot of his history because it is long and storied. It is worth reading about but be sure to read both sides. 

A brief summary of my thoughts about the Indians is that in cultural clashes, the strong will always push the weak aside, it is just a matter of how they do it. This has happened throughout the ages with the Romans, the Mongols, the Greeks, the Persians, and every other strong culture on the move. In the American case, it was the whites against the Indians. Prior to that though, strong Indian tribes pushed weaker Indian tribes around. For example, the Seminoles were pushed from Georgia to deep inside Florida and the Comanches were pushed out of the plains and into the New Mexico/Texas area where they in turn pushed the Apaches. It appears to be human nature. The outcome is usually not good, and it would have been nice had the whites treated the Indians better while still acquiring their land. On the same hand, the Indians fought a war they had no chance to win. There was one tribe and chief whose story was legendary. I'll will tell that story when I get to another battlefield. 

The Sioux and Cheyenne won this battle but eventually lost the war.

All of the soldiers are buried in
a mass grave under the monument.
All except Custer, who was dug up
and reburied at West Point. Even
the horses which were shot and
used as breastwork are buried here.

The Markers represent the location
where a soldier died. The one in the middle with the black is where Custer fell. 

They all didn't die around Custer. As
you drive or walk around the park, you
will see white markers. It makes you
wonder about these two markers.
Were they friends in life and died
together?

More markers.

Looking up the hill to where the last stand happened.

Everywhere you look are markers

Typical terrain in the area around the battlefield

It is also home to a National Cemetery. Military personnel are buried here who served during the Indian Wars all the way up to Vietnam. I didn't see anything more recent. In the background, just to the left of the teepee is the monument where the 7th cavalry are buried. 

Another view of the National Cemetery.

Tomorrow is moving day. I'll be heading to a small town called White Sulfur Springs, Montana. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.   

Yellowtail Dam, 2 Men and The American Dream

Location: Hardin KOA (el. 3,000 ft); Hardin, Montana

(click pictures to enlarge)
(all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia 929 cell phone)

Yellowtail Dam is named after Robert Yellowtail who was the Chairman of the Crow Indian Tribe in the 1940's and was a very vocal opponent to the construction of the dam. Since the dam and river is located on the Crow Reservation, cooperation was necessary. Sentiments, for and against the construction was so high it split the Crow Nation into two separate parties. The two parties were the Mountain Crows and the River Crows. Eventually, agreement was met and construction began in 1961 and was completed in 1967. The reasons for the dam was flood control, water reservoir, recreation and sediment control. It accomplished all of its goals. It isn't the biggest in the country or even the state of Montana. I went to visit it because of the construction company that built the dam. 

It is a Concrete Arch

Stilling basin

The year was 1905 when two men first met each other while working on an irrigation project in Idaho. The older man, 43 year old Morris Knudsen was an old farmer from Nebraska who owned a team of horses and a Fresno Scraper. The scraper was high technology for its time and was used to scrape dirt, place it in a holding container and then empty it by evenly spreading it over an area. The younger man, 20 year old Harry Morrison was a Concrete Superintendent and familiar with concrete construction. Together they formed a partnership that would become one of the largest in the world. Although they started out in the construction industry by building simple projects such as irrigation ditches, logging roads and railway grades, they eventually grew to the point of designing and building literally anything. Their company (Morrison-Knudsen Corporation) incorporated in 1923 and 8 years later they were the lead contractor on the construction of Hoover Dam. During World War II they built airfields, storage depots and bases all over the Pacific Ocean while at the same time building ships on the west coast. They eventually branched off into so many different areas that it is amazing how large the company grew. 

These two men lived the American Dream to the fullest. They provided jobs to hundreds of thousand of people over the last century and helped make this country the most powerful one in the world in terms of not only military might but also economic might. That type of success story is still alive today, but with a lot more federal restrictions. 

The view from the overlook by the Dam's Visitor's Center

On the way back to the campground I stopped off at the local museum. It covers the history of this part of Montana. There were lots of nice exhibits to browse through and was a nice way to spend a few hours wandering around. I took several pictures but am only posting a few here. 

I know someone who rides horses in
rodeos so I thought these old saddles
were interesting. They look to be in
great shape. I'm not familiar with the
different types.

This was in the school house building on site. I thought it was nice. It is interesting to see how they looked 83 years ago. All of them had their entire lives ahead of them. It would be interesting to find out what happened to each of them, how they spent the lives given to them.

One of the most unique benches I've seen.

I saw these fields on the way back from Yellowtail Dam. I haven't been able to find anyone that really knows what those big boxes are used for. They are evenly spaced in the field and there must have been several dozen. I'm still searching. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.

The "Remarkable" Beartooth Highway, (mostly pictures)

Location: Hardin KOA (el 3,000 ft); Hardin, Montana

(click pictures to enlarge)
(all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia 929 cell phone)

Although the location above says Hardin, this posting is from when I was staying in Red Lodge, Montana. I am still catching up on posts because I fell behind due to the large amount of things I saw in such a short time period in Yellowstone and then the Beartooth.

The one and only thing I went to Red Lodge to see was the Beartooth Highway. Built in 1937, it crosses the mountains between Red Lodge and Yellowstone with a summit that tops out at an elevation of 10,947 feet. Just a little walking at that altitude got me to breathing hard. I can't imagine having to do lots of physical work up that high. 

The road is only open during the summer months. It opened to traffic on May 29th and I rode it on June 3rd. It is another one of those right place, right time things. Snow was still in many places which gave a different impression than what it would be like in the middle of summer. There were not many people on the road which gave me time to stop on the road to see things that I wouldn't be able to see if there had been more traffic.

The first six pictures are travel pictures from West Yellowstone, Montana to Red Lodge, Montana. They represent south-western Montana.  

Campsite at Red Lodge KOA; Red Lodge, Montana

It had rained in the days before I arrived in Red Lodge but it was a nice day for a ride on the Beartooth. There won't be any captions for these pictures, because most of them would just be 'wow'.

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.