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Published: October 4th 2023
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Steamboat with mantis structure in front. Note pointed ends on spars hanging over frontAnyone with two neurons to rub together must be asking themselves "Why did they spend 3 nights in Winifred?" A good question.
We were aware before beginning the trip that seeing any of the Missouri that looked anything like it did in 1804-1806 was going to require getting off the grid a little. Or in this case, a lot. Much of the river is now impounded by dams, encased in levees, or otherwise altered in ways that make it quite different from its earlier self. One stretch that has remained untouched is the White Cliffs area, which also has some of the most iconic scenery, often painted by Charles M. Russell and others. In 1977 Bill Clinton proclaimed the formation of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, not without some opposition from local ranchers who were afraid of losing grazing rights they had used for decades. Those rights were preserved. The national monument designation does not prohibit private use of the land, but does prohibit certain activities. The Missouri River within the national monument has been designated a wild and scenic river, so is protected from damming or other activities that will reduce the quality of the river or
change its character.
Practically every county in eastern Montana has been losing population for some time. The land is most suited to grazing, but cattle ranching is difficult and generally not very profitable due to the severe winters and hot summers, with unpredictable rain. There is a movement under way to preserve a significant portion of that land as a wildlife preserve. American Prairie has been buying up land as aging ranchers quit and are unable to convince their family to continue a difficult life. They have established a bison herd with animals from stock known to be low in introduced cattle genes, and the herd is managed to increase genetic diversity. They allow hunting and fishing within their lands, but prohibit killing of large predators such a grizzlies and wolves. The hope is to gradually continue to expand their holdings and form a large area where wildlife can exist and migrate as they desire.They allow grazing of cattle on lands they control provided the ranchers agree to certain restrictions such as wildlife friendly fencing, no killing of large predators, etc. Ranchers can set up cameras and actually get paid for each sighting of certain animals. As someone who
is virtually completely ignorant of ranching, the restrictions seem reasonable enough, but local ranchers are mostly fiercely opposed to any restrictions and to American Prairie in general. Non-ranchers in the area are somewhat reluctant to talk about the issue, but seem to generally think the rancher concerns are overblown. The land that American Prairie preserves pays taxes to local governments, and in necessary areas grazing fees to the Bureau of Land Management.
The Missouri Breaks gets it name from the way the land seems to break into the river. This is series of badlands carved into sandstone and limestone sedimentary deposits dating from about 135 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period. In some areas there are wall-like structures formed about 50 million years ago when magma intruded upward through seams in the sandstone. The sandstone has weathered, but the much harder shonkinite igneous rock weathers much more slowly, leaving these dikes looking very much like manmade walls, particularly from a distance. Although shonkinite is common here, it is rare world-wide, found only here, in a small area in British Columbia, and in a restricted area in Indonesia.
Meriwether: "I'll be darned. We did not know that came
from volcanoes. I thought it was granite. But at least we got the rest of it right - sandstone, limestone, small seams of coal. Unfortunately our mandate with regard to rocks was mostly to look for things that could be exploited commercially, and I did not know nearly as much about geology as I did about plants and animals. I can see the beauty now, but at the time we were more concerned with the necessity of navigating the area, and getting out and pulling with ropes as we often did elsewhere was not possible here, at least not in the area I called the Stone Walls. But the river looks pretty much as it did then. When we were coming back from the Great Ocean this was a good area. The river's confinement within stone banks seemed to hurry its flow, and we could make many more miles per day."
Me: "Granite also comes from volcanoes, but is a different rock."
Meriwether: "I am beginning to think I should have had your resources when I made the trip."
So to finally answer the question as to why 3 days in Winifred. We knew that floating the
2023 Lewis and Clark trip 542 Decision Point MT 071923
Decision Point. Marias River on the left, Missouri coming toward you White Cliffs section of the Missouri would give us the closest experience we could get to mirror that of L&C. The small outfitter we chose has to juggle multiple issues, including the shuttle of vehicles between the point where we put in and the point where we hauled out. He was only able to pin that down to a two day period at the time we had to make decisions as to the overall itinerary, so we decided to spend three nights, and the two included full days, in Winifred. On the day that we weren't on the river we knew there were other things to be seen in the area. As it turned out the float trip was on the second day, so we spent the first day in the car to see local sites (after, of course, the necessary stop at the Winifred Tavern for breakfast). We made a big loop up through Ft. Benton, then on to Big Sandy, then on around back to Winifred, most of that last leg being on dirt roads.
Ft. Benton, started as a private fur trading post by Auguste Chouteau and his son Pierre (founders of St. Louis, was first
occupied in 1846, and is the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the state. Home to only 1500 people, the historic little town is now a sleepy country town with wide streets, shaded sidewalks, and no one in a hurry. During its heyday, it was known as the "innermost port in the world" since it was placed at the upper extent of the navigable Missouri River. Specially built steamboats plied the river up from St. Louis from about 1860-1890, carrying goods and migrants, many of them going to new gold finds around Bannack and Virginia City starting in about 1862. It was also the eastern terminus of the overland route to the Columbia, connecting the western terminus in Walla Walla WA. Today it is the county seat of Chouteau County, one of the two highest wheat producing counties in the USA. The climate and soil favor the production of very "hard" wheat (high protein content).
While wandering through town we came upon the Grand Union Hotel, a relic of a bygone age, now restored, and spent a delightful hour or so with light lunch and wine, sitting right on the banks of the Missouri. Adjacent to the hotel, in a
small park on the banks of the river, is a monument to Shep. In 1936 the casket of a sheepherder bound eastward for burial was loaded onto the train here. For the next 6 years every train was greeted by his dog Shep, hoping to see his master returning. IN 1942 he accidentally slipped on wet ground and fall under the train. He was buried with full honors at there top of a bluff overlooking the town, and a statue to him was erected here in this small park. Here's to faithful Shep.
While I am at this point, I should say a word about the steamships that carried the trade up and down the Missouri. I have frequently mentioned the common sandbars and the changing river channels. These made navigation by deeper draft steamboats difficult. However, the boats were built with as shallow a draft as possible, and also had another innovation that made navigation possible. You may have seen pictures of the big Mississippi-Missouri steamboats with large pole structures on the front of them. I always assumed those were for loading cargo, but actually they were there to help the boat get over sand bars and shallow
spots. Large poles would be extended out in front of the grounded boat, and pushed into the mud. Winches then pulled the boat forward. Although sandbars and shallow areas made navigation difficult, the biggest problem was underwater snags which could rip into the bottom of a boat and sink it, the cause of loss of about 60% of the 200 or so steamboats that were lost on the river. Steamboats rarely lasted more than four years before succumbing to a hull-ripping snag, a boiler explosion, a fire, or occasionally an Indian attack. But until the arrival of the railroads, the steamboats were profitable enough to make it worth the losses. We were able to see one of the mantis-like pole structures at the Missouri River Breaks Interpretive Center in Ft. Benton.
Another important location we visited today was Decision Point. On June 3 1805 the expedition reached the confluence of the Missouri and what they named Maria's River, now simply the Marias River. They had not been told of the large river joining the Missouri, and were unsure of which of the forks to follow as the true Missouri. I'll let Meriwether tell us about it.
"We had
not been told about a large River joining the Missouri in this location, and it seemed strange that it had not been mentioned. The river I eventually named Maria's River was larger, and had a roiling character of the muddy water like the Missouri with which we were accustomed. Practically all the men were convinced that it was the continuation of the Missouri. But I was not so sure. The smaller river had clearer water and rounded stones in its bottom, such as are found in mountain streams. I reasoned that it was likely this river that was the true Missouri, since we were looking for the river that came down out of the mountains just on our side of the divide, with the Columbia starting just over the other side of the great divide. We sent canoe parties and land parties up both of the rivers, and even after that every man except myself thought the north fork (Marias River) was the correct one. Part of my reasoning was that we had been told that the water of the Missouri at its great falls was transparent, closer to what we were seeing in the south fork. I was absolutely
convinced that the south fork was correct. We decided to start up the south fork, and to send an advance party ahead to locate the great falls we knew were on the Missouri. I led that small party, and it was with some gratitude to divine provenance that we discovered the great falls, first locating them by the roar and then by the plume of spray."
Decision Point is another one of the few points where you can stand knowing that Lewis and Clark stood there, because they noted in their journals that they climbed this high bluff to get a better look at the rivers. From that vantage point, it is easy to see the rivers and their character.
We proceeded on up to Big Sandy, original home of Pearl Jam bassist James Ament, Democratic Senator Jon Tester, and Big Bud 747, the world's largest farm tractor.
The rest of the afternoon was spent getting back to Winifred. We zig-zagged over country dirt roads through pastures, hay fields, and what fields, all of which look fairly similar at this time of year. Large round hay bales are everywhere. So is the dust, which the locals call
"Montana gumbo".
Our next day started with a ride to the area of Coal Bank Landing, where we took a small vehicle ferry across the river, and then put in for the float trip on a jet boat. Our speed was never greater than moderate, and at points was just an idle because boat speed is strictly regulated in areas. Our guide pointed out various riverside features, and was able to give us the local names for many of the fantastic carved rock shapes. There was one canoe group on the river that we passed, but otherwise we were alone except for the occasional small group of cattle.We floated first between low banks and then through the magnificent White Cliffs. As expected, we could almost feel like early 1800's adventurers - except for the jet boat. Our journey from the boat landing where we got off the river back to Winifred was over dirt roads and very dusty. No surprises. The trip down the Missouri was one of the highlights of the entire trip, but the pictures do it more justice than my words can.
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