Havre, Fort Benton, Great Falls - Lewis and Clark Caravan - Part 8…

Sunday, 5 June - Day 26

Today was another designated travel day - to travel from Fort Peck, MT, to Havre, MT. 180 mile drive with only three county museums mentioned in our trip log as possible points of interest. And all three are not open on Sundays.

Sprinty enjoyed a nice drive, spotting four pronghorn in the first half of the trip. Bob saw a fox with five kits along the drive.

About lunchtime, we were in Chinook, MT, so we looked up a place to eat. Several places were not open for lunch, we found the Chinook Diner. When we got seated, a gentleman at a nearby table asked out our eBikes, as they had seen us park across the street. That struck up a conversation about where we were going, places to see, etc. from two locals. Very nice couple, the conversation only ended when our food was delivered. They also said the rain we had the day before was the first rain that it had in this part of Montana. Things are really dry.

One of several historical markers along the way was about the Battle of Bears Paw. Kelly Ann got a picture of the sign for folks like Sprinty who did not stop.

We proceeded on to Havre. The small Rv park is sandwiched between US2 highway in one side and a rail yard on the other. The small RV park was excited to see us - they said they had been looking forward to our arrival since January. A couple of us commented that our welcome was along the lines of "Caravan is in town" (not the carnival).

The RV park was uniquely arranged - the back-in spots were short (just long enough for Sprinty and Jack and Jodee's truck camper), and longer rigs parallel camped.

Although it's home to Historic Fort Assinniboine, a late 19th-century Army installation, Buffalo Jump Archeological Site, and other Native American landmarks, Havre is best known as a railroad town. Founded in 1893 mainly to serve as a major railroad service center for the Great Northern Railway, it's still nicknamed the crown jewel of the Hi-Line.

Havre is the eighth largest city in Montana, and it's the largest city in the Montana section of the Hi-Line. (www.onlyinyourstate.com/montana/havre-sinister-history-mt/). It was also a melting pot of races - European settlers, African-American soldiers at Fort Assiniboine (Buffalo Soldiers), Chinese workers in the railroad, Japanese workers on the railroad, etc., which made for an explosive atmosphere and created a rough-and-tough town.

A few days ago, we saw a brochure for Havre Beneath the Streets. Sounded interesting. Jack and Jodee expressed interest, so we hatched a plan to check in to the RV park and then the four of us do the tour. Enroute, we called for a reservation for their 3:30 tour.

Word must have gotten out, and as the drive progressed others expressed interest, and we wound up with 16 of the 28 caravan folks taking the tour.

Havre Beneath the Streets (Historical Underground Tour, havrebeneaththestreets.com) is a recreation of Havre's history. When the 1904 fire destroyed most of Havre, business owners moved underground to carry on their business until the town could be rebuilt. Sporting Eagle Saloon, a Chinese laundry, an opium den, and a bordello are a few of the businesses.

Being basements, the rooms were small, so taking photos was a challenge especially with a group of our size. So included are photos taken by another caravaner.

Sporting Eagle Saloon

Barber Shop

Dental Office

Pharmacy

Bordello

They did a great job taking us through peoples' basements. Our guide, Cathy, was a hoot. And she enjoyed our group so much that our one-hour tour lasted 1-1/2 hours.

Back at the campground, the caravan staff put on a hamburger pot luck in the Best Western meeting room (campground is somehow connected with the adjacent Best Western).

Monday, 6 June - Day 27

Today was another travel day to Great Falls, MT, 123 miles, with a planned enroute stop in Fort Benton. A review of the museums of Fort Benton found the Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center, which was not on the caravan itinerary. As it was a mile from the Old Fort, and the website said it opened at 9:30, we decided to leave early to visit the Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center before our appointed rendezvous time of 10:30 at the Old Fort.

After a rainy drive to Fort Benton, we found that the Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center was not open on Mondays despite two websites which said it was. We enjoyed the extra hour by walking in the old part of town.

Fort Benton was the last destination for steamboat travel on the Missouri River.

75% of the freight for the northwest was unloaded here.

Several of the structures in Fort Benton date back to 1882 including the Grand Union Hotel.

As we walked along the path along the river,

we saw a number of interpretive signs for various things about Fort Benton history.

One of the signs talked about the keel boats which were used for river transportation before the steamboat. It also included a replica of a keelboat used in the 1951 movie "The Big Sky."

Our group gathered at the Old Fort.

Our guide gathered us up and first took us to the Lewis and Clark Memorial across the street.

He then gave us a tour of the Old Fort.

The original fort was made of adobe, which weathered poorly.

The only original structure of the fort is the blockhouse, which makes it to oldest building in Montana.

The art museum inside had a number of Bodmur lithographs and sculptures by the artist who did the Lewis and Clark Memorial.

Our guide also shared that this was their 22nd year of the drought, and some farmers were considering not planting this year.

We also visited the Museum of the Northern Great Plains a few blocks away. This museum was more about the agriculture in the area. The same building had the Hornaday Smithsonian Buffalo Gallery.

We continued on to Great Falls, MT, where the caravan is staying at the Great Falls RV Park. The majority of the campground are year-rounders, with lots of pull through sites on the west end for the caravans. Tonight, there are two caravans in the park, ours and the Adventure Caravans 61-day Alaska caravan which gathered here yesterday. While doing laundry, we got to chat with two of the Alaska caravaners. They head north on Wednesday.

Tuesday, 7 June - Day 28

Today, we boarded the bus at 8am for a motorcoach tour of the Great Falls' Lewis and Clark sites.

Norman, our guide, joined us at the campground and was with us all day.

The Hidasta described to Lewis and Clark a fall of water on the Missouri River near the mountains, so the Captains expected a short portage. Instead of one waterfall, Lewis happened upon a succession of five, and their hope for a short portage faded. 

Each of the five falls (over 360 foot elevation drop) is caused by the presence of a resistant sandstone unit in the Cretaceous Kootenai Formation, which consists of sedimentary rocks formed from sands and silts roughly 115 million years ago. The entire region is called the Missouri Breaks.

The original plan for the day was to start at Portage Creek, the creek where the Corps departed the Missouri River below the first set of falls to begin their 18-mile portage. 

Unfortunately, road repairs made it inaccessible today. So we started with Rainbow Falls, the middle of five falls (and third falls Lewis encountered).

Which Lewis described as "pleasingly beautiful".

As we drove past, Norman pointed out the general location of Colter Falls, which is now buried under the reservoir created by the dam at Rainbow Falls. he also pointed out that the river flow was low, about 1/4th of previous years flow. The dams provided Great Falls with hydroelectric power, which was used for copper smelting and other industries.

From the Rainbow Falls overlook, we could see Crooked Falls downstream, the second falls Lewis encountered.

We then made our way to the location of the Upper Portage Camp, where the Corps attempted to build Lewis' iron boat before continuing up the Missouri.

Iron Boat Replica at Upper Portage Camp

The iron boat did not float as they could not seal the seams. They had mistakenly assumed there would be pine trees for making pitch as in the East.

We made a brief stop at the Great Falls Visitor Center to admire the Bob Scriver sculpture, same artist who did the Lewis and Clark Memorial in Fort Benton.

Next up was the Ryan Dam and 'The True Great Falls'. Just below the dam, we walked across a suspension bridge to Ryan Island for a good view of Ryan Dam and Great Falls, the first falls Lewis encountered.

With the current flow, the only flow over the Great Falls was what leaked from the boards in the dam.

While on Ryan Island, we enjoyed a picnic lunch prepared by our caravan staff.

After lunch, we visited the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center. There, we watched the Ken Burns video "The Corps of Discovery" and the "Confluence of Time and Courage" video focused on the Great Falls portion of the exploration.

The Interpretive Center was very well done. The exhibits spanned the entire expedition, to the Pacific Ocean and back. The largest exhibit portrayed how the Corps portaged their boats and supplies from the river to the prairie above.

A serendipitous moment occurred when Darrell was looking at an exhibit of the Army uniform worn by the Corps of Discovery. Julie, our Tailgunner, around the corner saw that the reflection on the glass case made it appear as if Darrell was wearing an Army uniform. Kind of spooky.

Our final stop of the day was at Black Eagle Falls nearby, the fifth set of falls Lewis encountered.

Wednesday, 8 June - Day 29

Today was a rideshare, and we rode with Bob and Debbie again. The first stop of the day was the C. M. Russell Museum. C. M. Russell was known as "The Cowboy Artist." The C.M. Russell Museum contains more than 3,000 pieces of Western art in a complex that covers an entire city block and encompasses 16 exhibition galleries. With nearly 1,000 Charles M. Russell creations in the collection, the museum presents Russell's comprehensive, very personal, and authentic reflection on Western history.

Art museums are not a normal stop for Sprinty and his humans. But as we learned on our first caravan, caravans schedule things to do that you might not otherwise visit, then you are really, really glad you did. The Russell Museum for our group was that way. Being on a tour, they had two docents ready for us when the opened at 10am. We split, odd and even. The odds went with docent Bob - and he made the entire visit simply amazing.

We started in the Russell home which had a recent major restoration to have it look like when the Russells lived there. We then went to his studio next door, which was built as a log cabin on purpose to contribute to his artistic inspiration.

Bob then took us inside the museum and shared some insights on a few of the pieces of art. Today, when an original C. M. Russell oil painting goes to auction, it is typical to fetch $2-3 million. A couple of examples:

The museum also has art from other artists.

Unfortunately, our docent was interrupted at 11:30 by our Wagonmaster as it was time to leave. We are sure Bob, the docent, had many, many stories to tell, and we viewed but a couple dozen of the artwork in the museum.

The group was treated to lunch at Applebees by the staff.

After lunch, we drove west of Great Falls to First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park in Ulm, MT. The First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park and National Historic Landmark is an archaeological site with possibly the largest bison cliff jump in North America. Native peoples used this site for at least a thousand years before Lewis and Clark passed through here. The bison jump site consists of a mile long sandstone cliff; there are remnants of drive lines on top of the cliff and there are up to 18 ft. of compacted buffalo remains below the cliff.

A Native American docent shared the history of this buffalo jump - at least nine tribes used it as far back as 900AD - and described how the bison would be processed by the Native Americans.

Artifacts have been dated showing the use of this buffalo jump to the 1500s. It is likely it was used into the 1700s when the Native Americans got the horse. Artifacts of the time period of 1500 to 1700 were damaged or carted off as the area was used for quarrying limestone and tons of bones were collected and sent back East to make fertilizer.

Painting of Buffalo Jump

There was a trail from the Visitor Center to the top of the Mesa where the bison would have been guided to the cliffs. We chose to hike the trail to the top, while others drove the gravel road. The trail was not as difficult as hinted at on the Park sign - but the elevation gain was 400 feet according to AllTrails.

The trail led to the south side of the Mesa where we could easily imagine a herd of up to 150 bison being led/chased over the cliff.

Visitor Center from the Cliff

Square Butte to the West

Back at the campground, the caravan staff provided heavy hors d’oeuvres at the travel briefing.  A very enjoyable day, made even more special by the docents at the Russell Museum and the First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park.