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Published: July 14th 2011
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Montana State Capitol
Montana State Capitol With XM blasting out "Light My Fire", we departed Helena for Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada, first making a quit visit to the beautiful Montana State Capitol. Jan asked why Yellowstone overlaps into Idaho and Montana, and we discovered that at the time U.S. Grant signed the order creating Yellowstone, Montana and Idaho were not yet states. Montana became the 41st state on November 8, 1889. and Idaho followed as the 43rd on July 3, 1890. Yellowstone was established as the world's first National Park when Grant signed the law creating it on March 1,1872.
Our first stop was at First People's Buffalo Jump State Park. On maps it is still usually listed as Ulm Pishkun, but that was from a single native American language and it was felt best to change the name since many tribes used the jump. FPBJSP is the largest of about 4000 such sites that have been located in North America. They were used in the days before horses had been re-introduced into North America by the Spanish as a means to quickly and with relative safety kill bison for food , hides, and other uses.
The mesa falls off in steep cliffs
on three sides. There were two lines of stones set up in rows like the narrowing sides of a funnel. Young braves would get behind these and wait. One young teenager would put on a buffalo robe and act like a calf in trouble. WHen he got the attention of the dominant cow, he would begin to lead them toward the cliff. With their poor eyesight, the bison did not see the looming danger. at the last instant, he would ump over the cliff at a predetermined point and land on a narrow ledge, huddling and hoping not to get hit by flailing hooves or horns. The buffalo would go over the precipice. Originally the fall was about 60 feet, but is now about 40 feet because of the 15-20 feet of buried bison remains piled up at the base. Many of the bison would be killed by the fall, and the rest were dispatched with spears and arrows. They were butchered on the spot, and the meat made into jerky, while hides were hung to dry and bones were made into implements. They would camp there for several days then move on. If you look for this on a
Cut Bank sign
Cut Bank MT questionable advertisement map, look for Ulm Pishkun. Pishkun comes from a single tribe's language, and the name was changed about 4-5 years ago to reflect the fact that many tribes used the site, sometimes cooperatively.
Leaving the park, we headed north again, stopping briefly for burgers at Grammie B's in Dutton MT. An interesting display of a cross section of American life comes through there.
Making our way northward, we passed through Cut Bank, which advertises itself as the coldest spot in the nation. Not sure how they arrive at that conclusion, but I am absolutely certain that I would not want to advertise it. Besides, that penguin looks like it should be on Route 66.
THe rest of the afternoon was spent working our way northward through fields of flowers, with vistas of the Rockies to our left as a perpetual guide. We were constantly intrigued by a square mountain that we effectively half-circumnavigated, finding out later on our return that it was the striking 9080' Chief Mountain. More about that later.
We finally arrived at Waterton Lakes, where the Prince of Wales Hotel would be our abode for two nights. Trip totaled about 293 miles. They
Chief Mountain from a distance
Chief Mountain from a distance have changed the way they display things on this blog site, so be sure to look at all the photos. You have to scroll down.
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Kristine
non-member comment
Keep the blogs coming....
Love the blog, love the pics - You need to consider a second career writing travel zines or books.