Missoula to Bozeman

Today we are traveling through the remainder of mountainous western Montana, crossing over the Continental Divide and then easing down the eastern slopes testing our newly installed breaks.  We pass even larger areas of forest fire damage and the Clark Fork River continues to keep us company on either side of the Interstate.

About noon we pause at a rest stop only a mile and a half from where the first gold discovery in Montana was made by Francois Finlay in 1852 at a site where a creek flowing from the southwest joins the Clark Fork River.  While Finlay was no expert in prospecting possessing only a small amount of knowledge he gained in California and working with only a few inferior tools for the task at hand, he nevertheless found evidence that gold was present in the creek.  Others verifying his find by 1858 started the Montana gold rush in the general area and Findlay’s creek was renamed Gold Creek.

On July 2, 1864, President Lincoln signed a charter granting funds for the construction of the Northern Transcontinental Railroad.  Work began from both ends of the proposed rail line in Minnesota (by 1870) and in Washington (by 1871.)  Approximately 25,000 Chinese were employed on the western division alone!  The slow and tedious work in areas of isolation made the task of maintaining labor crews difficult, especially in the east but year after year both divisions continued working toward each other.  In spite of a delay also caused by a financial panic in 1873, the rail line was finally completed on August 22, 1883.  The last spike in the rails was driven at the site of where Gold Creek joins the Clark Fork River.  Interestingly, they brought the first spike driven in Minnesota out to Gold Creek to serve again as the last spike driven.  A huge celebration ensued at a cost of $250,000 for the workers and five trainloads of invited guests from the U.S. and abroad who traveled to Gold Creek to mark man’s triumph over nature and financial adversity.  In just thirteen years a connection between both sides of the country was completed and the dream of serving military and commercial needs of the settlers in these isolated and rugged lands could now be met.

Passing through Butte we see a statue from the highway high atop the mountains to our north.  From the highway we could not tell exactly what we were viewing.  Wondering what it represented provides another interesting story from along our route.  Called “Our Lady of the Rockies”-the statute is a 90-foot tall rendition of the Virgin Mary placed upon the peak above I-90 in a location situated on the Continental Divide.  In 1979, Bob O’Bill, a resident of Butte, was struggling with his wife’s struggle with cancer.  He made a promise that if she recovered he would put a five-foot statue of the Virgin Mary in his yard in gratitude.  When folks in Butte learned of his promise, the project grew into a 90-foot mountain statue collaborative effort with Butte’s townspeople donating materials and funds for the project.  By September 1985, a 400-ton concrete base was constructed on the mountaintop.  Then in December the four parts of the statue were airlifted by helicopter by the Air National Guard of Nevada and put into place to complete a statue that would have to endure the powerful wind sheers that buffet the ridge top where the statue would stand.  The statue is dedicated to women, regardless of their religion.  A memorial wall for women at the base lists 13,000 women from around the world.  Tourists can access the site only by bus on a two-hour tour from Butte between June and September.

The valley we follow between the mountain ranges widens into golden meadows even as we see more mountains in the distance with snow gracing their summits.  We are aware that in just a few weeks this area will start to feel the breath of winter bearing down upon it.  The firs have given way to the beginnings of vast ranches across the valley dotted with grazing cattle and horses.  Harvested hay in huge rolls is being gathered while corn in adjacent fields awaits its harvest in a sequence that seems to follow after the hay.  The mystery of ranching is intriguing to me and I yearn to read more about the hard lives and harsh environment the people of Montana have endured here, both native and immigrating settlers alike.

Post Falls to Missoula

Leaving Lake Coeur d’Alene, we continued along Interstate-90 crossing Idaho and entering Montana following the Clark Ford River through fir-covered valleys that follow the river between mountains on either side of the coach.  The coach climbs and then descends the early phases of the Rocky Mountains with ease and we are glad we had her serviced and new rear brakes installed before leaving Everett.

In places past battles of the terrain with forest fires are evident revealing the craggy rocks and sudden rises hidden below the firs.  The power of fire is evident with acres of hillsides charred naked of trees with only the fallen remnants of huge trunks clinging to the slopes as if a child’s “pick-up-sticks” game was played here by giants.

The river meanders from one side of the road to the other, dancing with the ribbon of silver rail lines that form the lifeblood of transportation here along the Northern Transcontinental Railroad that stretches from Lake Superior to Puget Sound completed in 1883.  The rail lines are still very active and we see trains on a regular basis and hear them through the night as we stay in towns dominated by the rail lines and the Interstate alike.  Our elevation has climbed back into the mile-high range give or take.

The original draw to this area was trapping, followed by the lure of gold prospecting that established many of the towns in this area and finally logging that sustained the growth of the frontiersman population.  Their arrival disrupted the 14,000-year inhabitants of western Montana-Native Americans called the Kootenai.  Staying mostly west of the Continental Divide, the Kootenai only ventured east for buffalo hunts seasonally.  They were later joined by the Salish, the Pend d’Oreille and the Crow tribes with all sharing in common hunting and gathering grounds across the state.  By 1700 they had acquired horses from Spaniards in the Southwest to aid them in their bison-based economy.  Their customs and overall quality of life survived until the late-1800s as bison were hunted to almost extinction by newly arriving white men and white men’s diseases decimated their populations.  Driven to reservations by various treaties and executive orders, they now occupy only 9 percent of the Montana land base.

And so we arrive in Missoula, in awe of the grand topography and history that lured so many here before us.  Aside from the winters and the threat of forest fires caused most often by lightening strikes, this area’s scenic beauty is a huge draw for even us leisurely traversing the terrain in modern, air-conditioned comfort.  Aside from the bugs plastering themselves on the windshield impeding my photography, this is a fine portion of our trip in lovely mid-70s sunny weather.