Montana Adventure Guide

By Genevieve Rowles

Offering coverage of the history, culture, geography and climate, this book also looks at wilderness trips in Montana, USA. Areas featured include Flathead and Clearwater Mountains, and fly-fishing, Nordic skiing, rock-hounding and overnight hiking excurs

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hunter Publishing
• Release date: Oct 24, 2009
• ISBN: 9781588430595

Book preview

Montana Travel Adventures

Genevieve Rowles

HUNTER PUBLISHING, INC.

Web site: www.hunterpublishing.com

[e-mail]

IN THE UNITED KINGDOM:

Windsor Books International

The Boundary, Wheatley Road, Garsington

Oxford, OX44 9EJ England

01865-361122 / fax [phone]

© 2010 Genevieve Rowles

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

This guide focuses on recreational activities. As all such activities contain elements of risk, the publisher, author, affiliated individuals and companies disclaim any responsibility for any injury, harm, or illness that may occur to anyone through, or by use of, the information in this book. Every effort was made to insure the accuracy of information in this book, but the publisher and author do not assume, and hereby disclaim, any liability for any loss or damage caused by errors, omissions, misleading information or potential travel problems caused by this guide, even if such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause.

Introduction

Discovering Montana

Mountain Adventures

High Plains Adventures

Native Culture

Taking Off

Geography & History

Prehistoric Montana

The First Montanans

The Legacy of the Slaughtered Buffalo

The Homestead Boom

Trails Through Montana

Climate

Flora & Fauna

The People

How to Use this Book

Travel Strategies & Helpful Facts

Ecological Etiquette

Custer Country

Introduction

History

Custer Country Today

The Land

Climate

Getting Around

Highways & Byways

Road Etiquette

Information Sources

Touring

The Southern Corridor

The I-94 Corridor

Ranch Country Via US 12

Adventures

Adventures on Foot

Adventures on Horseback

Adventures on Snow

Eco-Tours & Cultural Excursions

Wildlife Watching

State Parks

Special Interest Adventures

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

The Crow & Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservations

Kid Stuff

Festivals & Special Events

Where to Stay & Eat

Hotels, Motels & B&Bs

US Forest Service Cabins

Camping

Public Campgrounds

Private Campgrounds

Where to Eat

Yellowstone Country

Introduction

The Church Universal & Triumphant

History

A Volcanic Geology

Weather

Getting Around

Highways & Byways

Information Sources

Getting There

Touring

East of the Absaroka-Beartooths

Bridger

Bearcreek

Absarokee

Red Lodge

Cooke City

I-90: Columbus to Three Forks

Reedpoint

Greycliff Prairie Dog Town State Park

Big Timber

McLeod

Livingston

Bozeman

Belgrade & Manhattan

Three Forks

Paradise Valley

Emigrant

Gardiner

West Yellowstone

Adventures

Adventures on Foot

Guided Hiking & Backpacking Trips

Special Interest Hikes

Caving

Rock Climbing

Rock Hounding

Adventures on Horseback

One- and Two-Day Trail Rides

Multi-Day & Wilderness Pack Trips

Wagon & Sleigh Rides/Wagon Trains

Guest Ranches

Adventures on Wheels

OHV, ATV & Powered Mountain Biking

Non-Powered Mountain Biking

Adventures in the Air

Adventures on Water

Rafting/Kayaking/Floating

Kayaking

Canoeing

Boating & Wind Surfing

Fishing

Adventures on Snow

Downhill Skiing/Snowboarding

Cross-Country Skiing/Snowshoeing

Snowmobiling

Dogsledding

Wildlife Watching

Hailstone National Wildlife Refuge

Greycliff Prairie Dog Town

Missouri Headwaters State Park

Bridger Raptor Migration Route

Bozeman Fish Technology Center

Kirk Hill

Boulder River Falls

The Northern Yellowstone Winter Range

Yellowstone River Trout Hatchery

Jimmy Joe Campground

State Parks

Madison Buffalo Jump State Park

Greycliff Prairie Dog Town State Park

Cooney Lake State Park

Missouri Headwaters State Park

Special Interest Adventures

Field Guides Birding Worldwide

Mountain Taxi Tours

Safari for Wildlife & Cultural History

Sierra Safaris

Kid Stuff

Festivals & Special Events

Ongoing Events

Where to Stay & Eat

Hotels, Motels & B&Bs

Historic Hotels

US Forest Service Cabins & Lookouts

Camping

Public Campgrounds

Private Campgrounds

Big Sky

Big Timber

Bozeman

Cooke City

Gallatin Gateway

Livingston

Pine Creek

Pray

Red Lodge

West Yellowstone

Gold West Country

Introduction

History

Landscape

Weather

Getting Around

Highways & Byways

Road Watch

Information Sources

Getting There

Touring

Madison, Jefferson & Beaverhead Valleys

US 287

Ennis

Lewis & Clark Caverns

Whitehall

Twin Bridges

The Beaverhead Valley

Nevada City

Virginia City

West of I-15 & South of I-90

Lima & Dell

Dillon

Bannack

MT 43

Anaconda

The Pintler Scenic Highway

Phillipsburg

North of I-90

The Deer Lodge Valley

The Grant-Kohrs Ranch

Butte

Boulder

Helena Approaching

Townsend

Marysville

MT 200

Lincoln

Adventures

Adventures on Foot

The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail

Hiking on BLM Lands

The Lee Metcalf Wilderness

The Pioneer Mountains

The Dillon Ranger District

The Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness

Hiking in the Helena National Forest

Guided Hiking Trips

Llama Treks

Caving

Rock Climbing

Rock Hounding

Adventures on Horseback

Guest Dude Ranches

Working Cattle/Guest Ranches

Adventures on Wheels

OHV, 4WD & ATV Riding

Mountain Biking

Guided Cycling Trips

Adventures on Water

River Floating/Kayaking

Canoeing

Recreational Boating & Other Watery Fun

Fishing

Adventures on Snow

Downhill Skiing/Snowboarding

Cross-Country Skiing/Snowshoeing

Snowmobiling

Wildlife Watching

Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge

The Rocky Mountain Front Eagle Migration Area

Canyon Ferry Lake

Canyon Ferry Wildlife Management Area

Beartooth Wildlife Management Area

Mount Haggin Wildlife Management Area

Clark Canyon Reservoir

Bannack Ghost Town

State Parks

Special Interest Adventures

Kid Stuff

Festivals & Special Events

Ongoing Events

Where to Stay & Eat

Hotels, Motels & B&Bs

Anaconda

Boulder

Butte

Cameron

Centennial Valley

Dell

Dillon

Ennis

Grant

Helena

Jackson

Lincoln

McAllister (Ennis Lake)

Montana City

Nevada City/Virginia City

Philipsburg

Polaris

Pony

Sheridan

Townsend

Twin Bridges

Whitehall

Wisdom

Wolf Creek

US Forest Service Cabins

Camping

Public Campgrounds

Private Campgrounds

Where to Eat

Alder

Boulder

Butte

Deer Lodge

Dell

Dillon

Ennis

Grant

Helena

Marysville

Nevada City/Virginia City

Philipsburg

Glacier Country

Introduction

The Bitterroot Legend

History

Geography

The Valleys

The River System

Flora & Fauna

Climate

What to Wear

Getting Around

Highways & Byways

Road Watch

Information Sources

Getting There

Car Rentals

Tourism Offices

Chambers of Commerce

Indian Reservations

Outdoors Associations

Government Agencies

Touring

The Bitterroot Valley

Conner

Darby

Hamilton

Victor

Stevensville

The Lolo Trail

Lolo

Missoula & Environs

Fort Missoula

Ghost Towns & Swans

Garnet Ghost Town

The Seeley/Swan Valley

The Flathead Valley: Montana's Playground

Glacier National Park

Some Glacier Facts & Non-Facts

The Going-to-the-Sun Road

Blackfeet Indian Reservation

Cut Bank

Browning

The Moccasin Flat School

Bob Scriver

A Circle Tour: Tobacco Valley to Kalispell

Eureka

Lake Koocanusa

Yaak

Ross Creek Cedar Grove

Kootenai Falls

Libby

Kalispell

Circling the Flathead Indian Reservation

Clark Fork & the St. Regis

Adventures

Adventures on Foot

Hiking

Backpacking

Adventures on Horseback

Adventures on Wheels

Adventures on Water

Adventures on Snow

Downhill Skiing & Snowboarding

Adventures in the Air

Wildlife Watching

State Parks

Special Interest Adventures

Kid Stuff

Festivals & Special Events

On-Going Events

Where to Stay & Eat

Hotels, Motels & B&Bs

US Forest Service Cabins

Camping

State Parks

US Forest Service Campgrounds

Where to Eat

Bigfork

Charlie Russell Country

Introduction

The Hutterites

Mega-Monsters

Russell Country's Epochal Past

Geography & Fauna

Climate

Getting Around

Highways & Byways

Road Watch

Information Sources

Getting There

Tourism Offices

Chambers of Commerce

Ulm Pishkun

The Great Falls of the Missouri

On the Whoop-Up Trail

Fort Benton

A Tame Look At The Wild & Scenic Missouri

Bull Hook Siding, now Havre

Surrender in the Bears Paws

Fort Belknap Indian Reservation

Riding The Hi-Line

Facing Up To The Rocky Mountain Front

Riding High in the Little Belts

Discovering The Judith Basin

Adventures

Adventures on Foot

Adventures on Horseback

Adventures on Wheels

Adventures on Water

Adventures on Snow

Downhill Skiing & Snowboarding

Wildlife Watching

Special Interest Adventures

Festivals & Special Events

Where to Stay & Eat

Hotels, Motels & B&Bs

Forest Service Cabins

Camping

Public Campgrounds

Private Campgrounds

Where to Eat

Missouri River Country

Introduction

History

Weather

Getting Around

Highways & Byways

Road Watch

Information Sources

Getting There

Tourism Offices

Chambers of Commerce

Touring

200 Miles on the Hi-Line

Where the Rivers Meet

Farm & Ranch Country

Adventures

Adventures on Foot

Adventures on Horseback

Adventures on Water

Wildlife Watching

Special Interest Adventures

Kid Stuff

Festivals & Special Events

On-Going Events

Where To Stay & Eat

Where To Stay

Camping

Where to Eat

Bibliography

Introduction

In This Chapter

Discovering Montana

Geography & History

Climate

Flora & Fauna

The People

How to Use This Book

It kinda sneaks up on you, Montana does. You come to fly-fish a world class stream - say the Madison or Blackfoot. Or to take a hike on the wild side; check into a guest ranch. Or maybe you're here to explore the state's fabled ghost towns, or visit Glacier National Park. Whatever, the place grabs you and won't turn loose. The beauty of it makes your head reel. Curiosity sets you to wondering what's around the next twist in the trail; wondering what other adventures await in this broad-shouldered, sprawling place called Montana. This book will clue you in.

Discovering Montana

In order to simplify outlanders' quests for adventure, Travel Montana, the state's official welcome mat and magazine, divided the state into six travel regions: Missouri River, Charlie Russell, Glacier, Gold West, Yellowstone and Custer Country. This book follows these logical divisions.

Colorful as these monikers may be, they can't match the swagger of Montana's famous sobriquets: The Treasure State, Big Sky Country, The Headwaters State, The Last Best Place... tall claims all. Montana measures up to these and a heap more.

A passel of adventure opportunities reinforces the Treasure State nickname: sapphire mine pack trips, gold panning, hunting fossils and agates. All are doable.

The Big Sky Country claim was popularized by A.B. Guthrie, Jr. in his novel by that name. Montana's wide azure sky is a fitting foil for the High Plains' whispering wheat; for the soaring mass of the Rocky Mountain Front kicking the far distance.

Headwaters State is no idle boast. More rivers (81 to be exact) rise in the Montana Rockies than in any other state, inviting splashing good adventure. Rushing downslope from the Continental Divide, these rivers and streams feed the Mississippi to the east and the Columbia to the west.

Some might argue that the Last Best Place appellation is a tad outmoded. Montana's attraction for visitors, transplants and the rich and famous, all riding the coattails of a spate of highly hyped films, coat that sobriquet with irony. But Montanans have complained of over-crowding ever since prospectors and settlers gave the nudge to Indians and Mountain Men.

One constant no one refutes: Montana invites adventure.

Mountain Adventures

Montana is Latinized Spanish for mountainous. A partial misnomer, that. Only in the western third of the state do jagged peaks rise above valleys spiced with seductive streams.

The mountain mystique draws visitors as bears are drawn to berries. Adventuring here can be as tame as exploring Gold West Country ghost towns or driving Glacier National Park's Going To The Sun Highway. It can be as edge-pushing as rock climbing above Lolo Pass or kayaking the Yaak River in spring spate. It can be as exciting as exploring the Bob Marshall Wilderness on horseback or as challenging as fishing the sun-glinted Big Hole River.

With so many adventure opportunities, this up-thrust third of Montana attracts the most visitors. At times, it seems downright crowded. Not so, the eastern two-thirds.

High Plains Adventures

This is cowboy country, and there's plenty of that breed itching to make the acquaintance of adventurous city slickers. Guest ranches, often sidelines to working cattle ranches, welcome folks with a yen to sample the storied West. You can ride on a real cattle round-up, complete with branding and steering. The latter isn't something you do with a pickup; fried Rocky Mountain oysters are the byproducts. At least one eatery stages noisily-touted testicle festivals. Yee-haw! Fishing is big here, as it is throughout Montana. So is watching an ever-changing wildlife show while canoeing the fabled Missouri. These plains, where buffalo once roamed in their thousands, heft a richly endowed passel of history. Landmarks and trails celebrate the courage of men and women who live in legend: the Nez Perce Trail, Lewis and Clark's Journey of Discovery, Little Bighorn, the dashed hopes of hard-working homesteaders.

Native Culture

Indian tribes were here first. Though brutally shouldered aside, forced onto reservations comprising but a fraction of their sacred ancestral lands, Native peoples' enduring presence stands proud in today's Montana.

Montana has seven reservations: Blackfeet, Crow, Flathead (Salish and Kootenai), Fort Belknap (Assiniboine and Gros Ventre), Fort Peck (Assiniboine and Sioux), Northern Cheyenne and Rocky Boy's (Chippewa-Cree). Most welcome visitors. Some offer opportunities to explore tribal culture and traditions.

Visiting Montana without exploring its history and the people shaped by that history is akin to climbing a mountain blindfolded.

Taking Off

On the premise that there's no appreciating today without a handle on yesterday, this book includes plenty of Montana's swaggering history, plus insight into the people who made Montana the last best place and who want to keep it that way.

This book's title promises to steer you toward the state's adventure opportunities, which translates differently for every traveler. Some prefer to test their mettle. Others want adventures of the mind. Some prefer to carve out personal adventures. Others prefer to be guided by savvy outfitters. Many seek a middle ground.

So hang on tight. Pack a passel of curiosity and an open mind. We're off, adventuring to museums, on national forest trails, to historic landmarks, to guest ranches, on cultural safaris, to wildlife refuges and fly fishing streams, on lazy river floats, through white water rapids, on backpacking forays into the high mountains. And much more.

But whoa! First, read this book through. Savor the choices. Decide on the experiences that most intrigue you. Then allow plenty of time. One Montana adventure inevitably leads to another. Every road and trail ends at a place called serendipity.

Geography & History

Prehistoric Montana

Montana's geography and topography molded its human history. Some 12,000 years ago the ancestors of today's Blackfeet, Flathead and Kootenai Indians chased buffalo to their deaths over the High Plains' steep river breaks. For centuries, the meat and hides harvested in this manner sustained the people. The buffalo formed the foundation of the Plains Indians' rich culture and deep reverance for the land, for the creatures and plants that grace it.

Much earlier, dinosaurs roamed plains formed from ancient seas and lakes. Their bones keep turning up, delighting paleontologists. Over time, cataclysmic earthquakes and explosive lava spurts formed the mountains that we know as the Rockies.

Montana's geological history is written in these mountains' rocks and minerals. The gold digs that excited 19th-century prospectors have given way to a few commercial mines. But sapphires, one of two official Montana gemstones, can still be found in placer deposits. Some two million years ago huge ice sheets ground across the northern half of Montana. Cycles of freezing and melting created the deep valleys, the mountain lakes and river courses that comprise today's landscape. Most of these glaciers retreated 20,000 years ago. Remnants, such as Glacier National Park's Grinnell Glacier, are legacies of that age. Global warming has caused them to retreat.

The First Montanans

The hype surrounding the bicentennial of Meriwether Lewis's and William Clark's Voyage of Discovery suggests that it marked the dawn of Montana's human history. Not so. No one really knows from whence came the first Montanans. Recent discoveries suggest that the Bering Sea land bridge theory may be as full of holes as a scatter-shot hide. It's generally agreed that pre-historic buffalo hunters were the ancestors of many of the Plains Indians encountered by Lewis and Clark: Sioux, Blackfeet Piegans, Shoshone (Sacajawea was a Shoshone). Their descendants live in Montana today.

Most had made previous contact with Caucasians, trading with French fur trappers and British traders who had filtered down from Canada. Friendly toward whites (except for the wary Blackfeet), these people had little inkling of the dangers those contacts posed to their culture - to their very existence.

The first intimation came in the shape of death-dealing smallpox. Traders' rot gut (raw alcohol doctored with tobacco and capsicum) degraded a proud people to objects of derision. White men's ignorance of and disdain for Indian ways led to misunderstandings that spawned cruelty in both camps. The result was a trail of broken promises and abrogated treaties. The legacy yet lingers.

The Legacy of the Slaughtered Buffalo

By the mid-1870s, a few erstwhile miners and trappers had become cattlemen. Some trailed Oregon stock over the Continental Divide. Others drove herds up from Texas. The cattle thrived on the native grasses that had long sustained the buffalo. Perhaps buffalo and cattle might have co-inhabited these vast plains. But it was not to be. In the ensuing decades, the bleaching bones of systematically slaughtered buffalo littered the land. For eons, the shaggy hump-backed beasts had provided plains tribes with meat, hides and bone tools. Buffalo were the foundation of their culture and sense of place on the Earth. Then, in the space of two decades, the buffalo were gone. The killing of the buffalo and the arrival of settlers coincided, climaxing decades of gradual white intrusion onto tribal hunting grounds. The corral gates slammed shut, confining a once-free people.

Defeated, devoid of land and livelihood, the people had no choice but to move onto reservations. Even these were reduced in size over the decades. Contravening treaties, land was ruthlessly sliced from reservations to make way for railroads and the homesteaders they brought in.

Indian agencies, answering to Washington bureaucrats, could not or would not provide sustenance to replace the buffalo. A very few, such as Peter Ronan, agent to the Flathead Reservation, made honest efforts to help. More often, agents robbed their charges of what little the government allotted to them.

The people were starved and demoralized; their cultural and spiritual heritage violated. Traditional dance, music and worship were forbidden in the name of Christianity. Children were forced to attend schools designed to civilize them. Speaking their own language was a punishable offense. This cultural genocide lasted well into the 20th century. Bitter memories of these schools and of the punishments meted out there still linger.

Today's strong resurgence of Native culture and spirituality is instrumental in restoring the people's dignity and pride. Pow-wows, once forbidden, are joyful celebrations of Native spirit and culture. The buffalo remains a powerful symbol of identity.

The Homestead Boom

A combination of circumstances fueled Montana's homestead boom. By the turn of the 20th century, the fertile and relatively well watered mountain valleys had been pre-empted by a few prosperous cattle barons. The High Plains, vacated by Indian removal and the slaughter of the buffalo, sustained large free-ranging herds of sheep and cattle belonging to mountain valley ranchers. The grazing was free until railroads bought up large tracts along their rights of way. And until Congress passed the Desert Land Act.

Tidy 160-acre farms might sustain a family in well-watered Iowa and Minnesota, but not on the semi-arid high plains. So, in 1877, Congress amended the 1862 Homestead Act by passing the Desert Land Act. This allowed the sale of 640-acre sections of land at $1.25 per-acre - four times the acreage allowed by the Homestead Act. Then, in 1909, Congress passed the Enlarged Homestead Act, upping allowable free acreage to 320.

Earlier homesteaders, a.k.a. sodbusters, had pretty well settled the lands east of central North and South Dakota. By 1909, a second generation, augmented by would-be farmers riding the crest of an immigration wave from Germany and Scandinavia, sought new land.

A South Dakota farmer named Hardy Webster Campbell developed a highly hyped system for conserving water in the soil. It worked, in years of adequate rainfall.

The Milwaukee Road, the Great Northern and Northern Pacific lines seized on the amazing Campbell System of dryland farming to convince land seekers of the fertility and promise of Montana's Great Plains.

The railroads' promotional efforts, circulated in fatally seductive packets, would cause today's brashest ad writers to blush. Today's ads contain kernels of truth. Those promoters didn't tweak the truth, they invented it. Glossy four-color brochures and extravagant promises inflamed gullible imaginations with visions of land ownership and prosperity beyond their wildest dreams.

Propaganda packets coined Montana's Treasure State sobriquet. Ironically, precious metals were Montana's proven treasures. The treasures of eastern Montana's high plains were as ephemeral as those greedy railroad barons' hype.

The weather cooperated with the railroads. Few realized that high plains rainfall comes in cycles. Montana's peak homesteading years coincided with a wet period averaging an annual 16 fortuitously timed inches of precipitation.

Between 1909 and 1923, homesteaders, derisively labelled honyockers and scissorbills by irate stockmen, filed 114,620 claims on nearly 25 million acres of Montana land. Untold thousands of miles of barbed wire fencing destroyed the open range. But the cattlemen got their revenge in the end.

Everything was hunky-dory for awhile. Towns and close-knit farming communities developed and thrived. Crops flourished. Montana's hard wheat was in high demand on the international market. World War I brought increased demand and assured prices. Times were so good that farmers mortgaged their land in order to purchase the shiny new tractors that would enable them to produce yet more wheat on yet more mortgaged land.

Then the rains stopped. The homestead boom went bust.

Demoralized families watched their fields turn to dust. They left their lands, houses, barns - all the results of incredibly hard work. They left those shiny new tractors to rust in the fields. Soon the steel rails tracked through near-deserted towns. Most folks headed for Oregon, for Washington and California. Some hung on. Some sold out to cattlemen. Some became cattlemen.

Today, the original Treasure State appellation has been affirmed through advanced soil technology and mechanization, larger farms, diversified farming, drought-resistant wheat varieties and shelter belts planted to cut damaging winds. Agriculture is Montana's number one industry.

Trails Through Montana

The trails trod by Montana's people and animals are outlines of her history. Many are still visible. Some remain in use, though in much altered forms. Each shaped a facet of history that impacts the state and its people even now, at the dawn of the 21st century.

Trails enter the state from each of the four directions: following the rivers, threading the mountain passes, traversing the plains.

The earliest tracks were made by deer and antelope seeking water, by bears and wolves in search of food. Native peoples' moccasins trod trails threading the mountains to the plains and back. They also trod trails forking down from the land that would become Canada. These trails were followed by trappers of beaver and mink, the legendary Mountain Men of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

It is fitting that Lewis and Clark blazed their trail at the turn of a new century. Yet, the Voyage of Discovery followed existing trails. Most of what we know as theLewis and Clark Trail traversed routes along river courses and over mountain passes traveled by Indians for centuries. You can follow the route today, driving or hiking snatches of it, canoeing the Missouri and Yellowstone, looking in on many of the landmarks that caused Lewis and Clark to marvel.

Gold Trails

The Bozeman Trail is less well known. In 1864, John Bozeman and John Jacobs mapped what they perceived to be an easy wagon route from the Oregon Trail near present-day Casper, Wyoming to the newly discovered gold digs on Grasshopper Creek, a tributary of the Beaverhead River. Angling into Montana east of the Bighorn River, the road skirted the Bighorn Mountains and ran along the Yellowstone River before crossing Bozeman Pass into the Gallatin Valley.

This easy route cut smack through the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne's prime buffalo hunting grounds. A few emigrant wagons got through despite Indian attacks. Others were less fortunate. After a couple of years, emigrants ceased using the trail. It was used as a military road until 1868, when it was abandoned following the Fort Laramie Treaty. The short-lived trail's legacy surfaced a decade later at Little Bighorn. Mostly traversing private lands and the Crow Indian Reservations, the route's Montana's stretch is difficult to follow until it parallels I-90 through Bozeman Pass.

The Corinne Road, an easy route over Monida Pass, opened the way to Montana's gold mining spree. Hundreds of prospectors and supply wagons crowded the road between 1862 and the 1880s, to-ing and fro-ing between Salt Lake City and rip roarin' gold towns whose names still resonate: Bannack, Virginia City, Nevada City.

Today, I-15 enters Montana from Idaho over the original route of the Corinne Road.

Highways roughly parallel many of the old trails, making some fairly easy to follow. Feasible highway routes through western Montana are generally limited to valleys and passes. Road building and rough mountain terrain are incompatible even today.

Though pleasant to muse upon, it's a stretch to think that Montana's glorious mountains and valleys, its shining rivers and bounteous wildlife, would have remained inviolate to large-scale mining had not the Mullan Road picked up where Missouri River steamboat navigation left off at Fort Benton.

The Corinne Road served gold camps from the south. The Mullan Road provided a link to the east, opening up mining opportunities to the north of those early digs. The road was conceived as a link between the head of navigation at Fort Benton and the Columbia River. The Columbia link never panned out as planned, the Bitterroots proving nearly impassable for wagon travel.

In the 1860s and 1870s, freight wagons loaded with heavy mining equipment lumbered over the Mullan Road to the gold camps spreading northward from Bannack to more lucrative digs. Last Chance Gulch, one of the few Montana gold camps to survive as a city, later shed its inelegant moniker in favor of Helena. Helena crowded out Anaconda in the capital city sweepstakes in 1889, when Montana became a state. Gold, silver and copper mines thrived, providing Montanans with jobs while heedlessly polluting both soil and politics. Butte dallied with gold and silver mining until, in 1882, the world's richest body of copper sulphide was discovered on its very doorstep. The world's largest copper smelter polluted nearby Anaconda.

Immigrants answered the promise of jobs in the mines, streaming into Butte and Anaconda from Ireland, Italy, Eastern Europe and elsewhere. Powerful political interests vied for control of Butte's copper, and thereby of the fledgling state. The Anaconda Copper Mining Company won, creating a far-ranging business empire that hogtied Montana's newspapers, and through them state politics, until the mid-20th century. Other mining conglomerates shouldered into the state. Anaconda and Butte became synonomous with heavy metal pollution. It's a dirty story that threw an ugly shroud over a state better celebrated for its great natural beauties.

The Nez Perce Trail

A very different trail seared across Montana in the fall of 1877. A year earlier, the trail followed by the vainglorious Col. George Armstrong Custer had led the US Cavalry to defeat at Little Bighorn. Both were steeped in tragedy.

Chief Joseph

The Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) Trail was blazed by Chief Joseph, leader of a non-treaty Nez Perce band banished from their ancestral lands in northeastern Oregon's Wallowa country. Accompanied by some 100 warriors, 800 women and children and 2,000 head of stock, Chief Joseph sought refuge in Canada rather than accept confinement on a reservation. He almost made it. Trapped, his people sick, cold and hungry, Joseph surrendered in the Bears Paw Mountains, some 30 miles short of the Canadian border.

A National Historic Trail, the Nez Perce Trail enters Montana from Idaho at Lolo Pass and parallels US 93 to the Big Hole National Battlefield site. Here, with much loss of life, Nez Perce warriors defeated some 2,000 soldiers and civilian volunteers before they re-entered Idaho. In all, the band traveled over 1,100 miles while successfully engaging the US Cavalry in some 20 battles and skirmishes. Ironically, the band had preferred not to fight. Kind and peace-loving, Chief Joseph sought only freedom for his people. After traversing northeastern Idaho and part of Yellowstone National Park, the Nez Perce Trail follows the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River back into Montana west of the Crow Reservation. From here, it heads north into the Bears Paw Mountains. Much of this portion of the trail is on private land and is difficult to follow.

Trails of the Iron Horse

It was inevitable that railroad routes would trace those trod by the horses of Indians, trappers, traders and miners. In 1881, the Utah Northern reached Butte from the south. Over the next two decades, locomotives of the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern and the Milwaukee Road began pounding rails that straight-lined across the width of Montana. Box cars spilled homesteaders and their goods and chattel onto the prairie. Railroad towns sprang up beside the tracks. Much as the Indians were deceived by the so-called Great White Father, so homesteaders were deceived by railroad promoters. Jim Hill and other railroad barons visualized shining steel tracks linking a network of towns and farms.

The tide of homesteaders began to abate about the time a new class of people came to ride the rails: tourists bound for Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. Their descendants still ride rails through Montana. (See Railways).

Today's Trails

Montana's trails metamorphosed into the highways, roads and scenic byways linking the diverse facets of this huge state. Many roads cover the tracks that wrote the history of Montana's people. Many of the hiking trails threading Montana's wilderness and national forest lands link riders and hikers with the diverse peoples who trod them for centuries.

Climate

Montana has nine weather zones that roughly correspond with the state's six travel regions. Refer to regional chapters of this book for information on localized weather trends and extremes.

Montana's weather often pushes the envelope. Extremes are as dramatic as its jumbled mountains and high plains.

DID YOU KNOW? The lowest recorded temperature in the contiguous 48 states occurred on January 20, 1954 when the mercury fell to a numbing -70° at 5,470-foot-high Roger's Pass. Montana's highest reading, a sweltering 117°, was tied at Glendive on July 20, 1893 and at Medicine Lake on July 5, 1937.

The old saw, if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes, could have been a Montana original. Warm Chinook winds from the Pacific sometimes sweep in over the Front Range of the Rockies in winter, raising temperatures dramatically and quickly melting snow cover. Chinooks have dropped temperatures by as much as 30° in as little as seven minutes. The warming usually occurs more gradually, over a day or so.

The most rapid Chinook-generated temperature increase occurred at Great Falls on January 11, 1980 when the mercury rose from -32° to 15° in seven minutes. The greatest change over a 24-hour period occurred at Browning on January 23, 1916 when temperatures plunged from 44° to -56°. On Christmas Eve, 1924, Fairfield folks shivered when the temperature plummeted from a balmy 63° at noon to -21° at midnight. Such extremes aside, the weather is pretty much what you might expect at an average elevation of 3,400 feet, between the latitudes of 44 and 49 degrees north. Translation: be prepared for any kind of weather at any time.

Seasons

The air over Montana is squeezed of moisture as it passes over the Rockies. If you are accustomed to a moist climate, your skin will develop a sudden craving for heavy-duty lotion.

Springs tend to be brief and capricious. Sudden April or even May snowstorms give the lie to the calendar. Spring comes earliest to the lower elevations. Grasses green up and trees bud while snow still clings to the high country. Sunny, warm weather generally revs up in late June, though earlier warm spells aren't uncommon. Summer daytime temperatures in the mountains usually hover in the 70s to 80s; nighttime lows can dip into the upper 40s. The plains tend to be 10 or more degrees warmer. Three-digit heat waves are fairly common on the high plains.

Autumns bring glorious weather - clear sunny days and frosty nights. Snow can swirl through mountain passes as early as late September or October. Then come golden Indian summer days when the chokecherries are ripe and the air is crisp.

Winters play hardball. Snow can come as early as October and can linger into May. The cold is intense enough to freeze the ears off a cougar, particularly on the high plains.

Northern Lights

Northern Montana skies sometimes host the phantasmagorical displays known as the Aurora Borealis, common to Alaska's and Canada's far north. Referred to as northern lights, they have been variously described as dancing lights, a kaleidoscope of lights, or ghost lights. Not all are dramatic; they can be gentle as a breaking dawn. Sometimes they resemble paint brush streaks scooting across the sky.

These nocturnal displays occur at times of sunspots and solar flares. Most take place during the March and September equinoxes, but may happen any time of year.

The best time to see them is around midnight on a clear night. City lights interfere.

Any exposed area, be it campground or trail, is ideal.

Don't look straight up, but rather about halfway between the North Star and the horizon.

AUTHOR TIP  Stretch the season when packing for your Montana trip. Add a couple of sweatshirts and sweaters, wool socks, a jacket and gloves to your usual summer gear. Roll a blanket into your sleeping bag. Rain gear is a must, particularly in the mountains, where sudden summer rain squalls and thunderstorms are facts of life. In winter, add a t-shirt or two and a pair of lightweight pants to your snuggy cache.

Flora & Fauna

Montana abounds with plant and animal life. Many species went unrecorded until Lewis and Clark made meticulous drawings and descriptions during their 1805-06 expedition.

Much has changed since that time. Except in Yellowstone National Park, buffalo graze only on ranches and reservations. Mountain streams are no longer thick with beaver, though the resourceful rodents have made a comeback of sorts since being nearly trapped out in the mid-19th century. Trout aren't what they used to be either. Non-native trout have been introduced, native bull trout are on the endangered species list, whirling disease has infested most streams, and in some waters mandatory catch and release nixes the pleasure of dining on a mess of fresh-caught fish.

The virgin forests that once covered the Rocky Mountain slopes have been burned over by wildfires. The most destructive was the benchmark 1910 fire. Logging has also taken a toll. But forests recover quickly. Strong second growth, both natural and planted, soon sheltered a vigorous undergrowth of shrubs, wildflowers and berries. Montana boasts an unimaginable range of animal and plant diversity. Wildlife refuges offer opportunities for birding and for watching and photographing other wildlife and flora. These refuges are just a beginning. You can't set foot on a trail or dip a paddle into a river without spotting animals and birds.

Bison

Many people associate buffalo with news reports of Montana Fish and Wildlife officers destroying Yellowstone National Park bison straying beyond park boundaries in search of winter forage. Some 1,100 bison were killed in the severe winter of 1996-97, about 100 in the mild winter of 1997-98. The controversial practice is prompted by concerns that the buffalo may spread brucellosis among cattle. Brucellosis is a bovine disease that causes pregnant females to abort. In humans, it's a nasty called undulant fever.

While the intent of allowing Yellowstone bison to range free is to return them to their native habitat, today's reality suggests the wisdom of managed herds where animals can be tested for brucellosis and vaccinated against it. Buffalo ranches are increasing as the meat gains in popularity. It tastes like beef, but is leaner. The hardy animals thrive on natural rangeland.

Where to see them: Media mogul Ted Turner runs buffalo on his 107,000-acreFlying D Ranch near Bozeman. Some 500 buffalo roam theNational Bison Range, near Moise on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Residents of theFort Belknap Reservation also manage a herd of buffalo.

Montana Flora

Homesteaders' plows destroyed many of the high plains' native grasses. Only scattered stands of tuft-growing bunchgrass, sagebrush, buffalo grass and bluejoint remain.Cottonwoods grow to tremendous size along prairie water courses, affording habitat for numerous species of birds.

? Where there are cottonwoods, you can bet on finding shade, water and lush grasses.

Conifersmarch up Montana's high mountains and eastward-facing slopes, casting green-black shadows. Balsam, Western red cedar, lodgepole pines, yellow pine, red fir, Western larch (also referred to as tamarack), ponderosa pines and other conifers thrive on congenial soil and weather conditions. Lodgepole pines continue to be highly prized as tepee poles.

Deer and elk graze onalpine meadows amid scatterings of wildflowers. Moose and wildfowl enjoy copious wetlands. Mountain stream courses are lush with grasses, alders, woods roses, berries, and chokecherries.Huckleberry bushes ripen in woodlands and on disturbed terrain, bringing out droves of pickers to supply Western Montana's thriving wild huckleberry preserves industry.

Come autumn, stands ofaspen andWestern larch glow golden against conifers' contrasting green. Early-changingsumac andmountain maple paint the slopes with red.Chokecherries are ripe and as sweet as they'll ever be, to the delight of both bears and humans.

Indian Plants

Plains Indians once included some 70 plants in their diets and recognized the medicinal properties in 50 plants. Eight plants were used to freshen and cleanse tepees and campsites. Fifteen sacred plants were used in war and hunting preparations.

Montana's Native Peoples still gather wild plants for healing and religious ceremonies. Chokecherries have long been valued as a principle ingredient in pemmican. These cakes, made of dried chokecherries and bear grease, were winter staples that staved off scurvy when game was the only other item on the menu. Mountain men and settlers also relished the fruit. Their descendants make chokecherry jellies, syrups, even wines. Lewistown stages a fall chokecherry festival.

Montana Fauna

You're right on if you associate Montana with high profile wild animals such as grizzly bears, mountain lions and wolves.

Bears

Montana has more grizzlies than any other state in the Lower 48. An estimated 100,000 roamed the area in Lewis's and Clark's time. Today, some 500 to 600 live in the mountains of northwest Montana. Decimated by hunters, grizzlies became almost as scarce as hair on a duck. The bruins have been making a comeback since 1975, when they were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Bear sightings are increasing. Grizzlies like the taste of sheep and young stock, especially in autumn when they gorge to store fat for winter hibernation. Both grizzly and black bears sometimes venture near ranch buildings. Reports of ranchers killing bears in defense of themselves or their stock seem to be increasing.

Hikers' encounters of a scary kind are also occurring more frequently. In May, 1998 a hiker in Glacier National Park's Two Medicine area was killed and partially consumed by a grizzly sow and her half-grown young. The sow and one cub were tracked down and destroyed. The other cub was shot after eluding rangers for weeks, and bluff charging a group of hikers.

More grizzlies may be moved from Canada to the Bitterroot Mountains along the Montana-Idaho border. The goal is to transplant five grizzlies each year for five years. Conservationists like the proposal. Ranchers and rural residents are vehemently opposed. Montana is a magnet for disenchanted city folks who regard the last best place sobriquet as gospel truth. That factor, plus the normal growth of towns and cities, is causing housing developments and ranchettes to encroach on many animals' traditional feeding territory. Deer, coyotes and bears are sometimes seen checking out life in the suburbs. Even sightings of usually reclusive mountain lions have increased.

Co-Adventuring With Grizzlies

Grizzlies are BIG. They weigh 250 to 500 pounds and measure six to eight feet when standing upright. They are almost twice the size of black bears. You can identify a grizzly by its dished face, prominent shoulder hump and long curved claws. Grizzly fur is often brown, tipped with blonde, causing the grizzled or silvertip appearance that prompts their name. Bears sense fear. If you are uncomfortable hiking in grizzly country, choose another area. But bear-savvy behavior on your part can help to alleviate that fear.

Take sensible safety measures when hiking or camping in grizzly country. Never hike alone. Leave Rover at home - dogs attract bears. Make lots of noise by singing and talking. Some hikers carry bells, but old timers say the human voice is a better deterrent.

Be especially wary when near berry patches or upon seeing signs of grizzly activity such as tracks, droppings, clawed trees or partially consumed animal carcasses. Camp away from trails or areas where grizzly signs are apparent.

A fed bear will soon be a dead bear. Ergo: once a bear tastes people food he'll seek out more. Used to human smells, he'll cease avoiding humans, become a threat and eventually have to be shot.

Never allow a grizzly to get at your food. He'll associate it with snacks. You don't want to be a snack. Avoid cooking smelly foods and keep a clean camp. That means hanging all food, trash, personal cosmetics and other strong smelling items at least 10 feet up in a tree, on a branch that's at least four feet away from a vertical support. Or store these items in a bear-proof container. That goes for livestock feed, too. Don't sleep in the same clothes you wore while cooking or eating. Set up your tent at least 300 feet from your cook site in order to discourage bears from nosing about your sleeping area. To leave fish entrails beside lakes or streams is to invite trouble.

Women traveling in grizzly country during their menstrual periods must take special precautions. Use pre-moistened unscented cleaning towelettes, use tampons instead of pads, and never bury them. Place used tampons or pads in double zip-lock bags and store them 10 feet up, as you would food. Use only unscented feminine products.

Bear-resistant panniers, backpacker food tubes and rope and pulley hoisting systems can be rented for nominal fees at the Hungry Horse, Spotted Bear, Lincoln, Seeley Lake, Missoula and Rocky Mountain Ranger District offices of the Flathead, Helena, Lewis & Clark and Lolo National Forests. These items are also available at the Augusta Information Station in the Lewis & Clark National Forest, and the Flathead National Forest Condon Work Center and Kalispell Office. Poles or bear-resistant boxes are provided at all Glacier National Park campgrounds.

Encountering a Grizzly

So what to do if, after taking all the above precautions, you encounter a grizzly? The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks suggests the following:

Maintain a safe distance and behave in a non-threatening manner. Drop something like a hat or gloves on the ground in front of you, then slowly back away. Avoid eye contact. Speak in a soft monotone. Hopefully, the bear will lumber off into the bush. Don't climb a tree unless you can get at least 10 feet up before the bruin reaches the tree.Don't run. To run is to invite attack. It's surmised that the young man killed in Glacier National Park in May, 1998 made two big mistakes: he hiked alone and he ran from the bear.

If a bear charges, remain standing in the hope that it's a bluff charge and the bear will run past you. Otherwise, assume a cannonball or fetal position. Some rangers advocate lying flat on your stomach in order to make it harder for the bear to turn you over. Either way, the idea is to protect your vulnerable front. Play dead. Keep your pack on to protect your back. Cover your neck and head with your arms and hands. Don't look up until you are certain the bear has gone away. The object is not to appear threatening. If you do, the bear will likely charge.

Many experts recommend carrying a spray made of cayenne pepper extract. It's intended to be sprayed directly into the face of a charging bear. Do not use it as a bear repellent. Oddly, bruins are attracted to the stuff like kittys to catnip when it's sprayed around a campsite or wherever. The sprays are available at sporting goods stores.

If you carry a weapon, use it only as a last resort and at close quarters. It takes a heap of firepower to stop a bear. A wounded grizzly is an enraged grizzly.

If a bear attacks at night when you are in your tent he may be seeking food rather than trying to neutralize a threat. It's recommended that you fight back to show that you are dangerous.

Finally, report all encounters. In Montana, grizzlies are managed jointly by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and tribal wildlife managers. Much of their habitat is managed by the US Forest Service and other public and tribal land management agencies. Report grizzly encounters to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Endangered Species Field Office, PO Box 10023, Helena, MT 59626 (ph. 406-449-5225), the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 490 N. Meridian Road, Kalispell, MT 59901 (ph. 406-752-5501), or to the nearest Forest Service ranger station or Indian reservation.

Wolves

Wolves, as numerous as needles on a pine tree before being hunted almost clear out in the last century, have been reintroduced in some mountainous areas of eastern Idaho and to Yellowstone National Park. Occasionally, a wolf wearing a telltale radio collar wanders into Montana, or someone reports sighting a collarless native wolf. The chances of seeing one of these reclusive characters ranges from unlikely to nil. More wolves may extend their range into Montana as time goes on.

Wolfing

The rampant wolfing of the 1880s and 1890s was, depending on which side of the fence you stand on, a black mark on Montana's escutcheon or good riddance. These viewpoints color the differences of opinion surrounding the re-entry of Canadian wolves into Northern Idaho and Yellowstone.

Environmentalists, delighted with the transplanted wolves' quick adjustment to their new habitat, downplay occasional stock killings. Ranchers are compensated for their losses, yet are adamant in wanting the wolves out. In 1998, US District Judge William Downes ordered non-native wolves removed from the region. Canadian officials refuse to accept the wolves. Environmental groups claim the order amounts to the wolves' death penalty. So goes the see-saw. Stay tuned.

In 1880, some 200,000 gray wolves roamed Montana. The killing of the vast buffalo herds forced the wolves to scout out new dinner entrées. Young cattle made tasty substitutes. Canis lupus nubilus prefer fresh meat. They eat to satiation, often devouring only a portion of a kill. This fastidious habit leads to more kills than would occur if wolves dined on a carcass over the course of a few days. Stockmen wanted the wolves gone.

Enter wolfers, a motley crew comprised of seasonal Missouri River steamboat workers, hard luck miners, discontents. Prime wolf pelts harvested in winter brought high prices, plus bounty money.

A wolfer would track down the few remaining bison and shoot them at intervals of a few miles, leaving them to lie in a circular pattern. He would implant each carcass with strychnine and wait. Wolves would feed on the poisoned meat and drop dead. Wolfers got their pelts and bounty money and stockmen had one less pack of wolves to worry their young animals.

Stockmen also got into the wolf eradication act. In spring, they would destroy she wolves and pups in their dens, effectively cutting down on the propagation of the species. Today's native wolf population is estimated at less than 100.

Though it's unlikely that you'll glimpse a wolf, you're bound to see other animals. Elk, moose, beaver, eagles, black bears, mule and white-tailed deer, racoons, great horned owls, river otters, prairie dogs, proghorn antelopes, rattlesnakes, waterfowl - all enjoy Montana's prime habitat. Hiking is a good way to see them.

Mountain Lions

Mountain lions, the legendary ghosts of the Rockies, are also known as cougars or pumas. They range through all the mountainous areas of Montana and in the vicinity of the Missouri River breaks. Lions are big, stealthy and vicious. They vary in weight from 85 to 180 pounds and measure six to eight feet from nose to tip of tail. The reclusive cats were once almost never seen, but encounters are becoming more frequent. These guys are a far leap from your playful pussy cat. While grizzlies attack when they feel threatened and often leave when they think the attackee is dead, lions regard humans as dinner.

Lions are most active at dusk or dawn, but they sometimes travel in the daytime. When hiking in lion habitat, go in groups, make noise and carry a walking stick. Keep children close to your side. Never approach a mountain lion. If you do come onto one, offer it a way out. Don't expect your dog to act as a deterrent. A dog can act as a decoy. The lion may be more likely to attack if a hiker is accompanied by a tasty looking dog. This horrific possibility may be acceptable if it comes down to the dog's life or yours.

If you do encounter a mountain lion, stay calm. Talk to the lion in a quiet, confident voice. Immediately pick young children up off the ground. Rapid movements of a frightened child may provoke an attack. Don't run. Slowly back away from the lion. The idea is to move slowly at all times. Sudden movement or fleeing behavior often triggers instinctive predatory attacks. Never turn your back on a lion. Face it and remain upright. Try to project a large image.

If the lion behaves aggressively, seize a big stick, throw rocks, raise your voice. Don't turn or crouch. You want him to think you are dangerous. If the lion attacks, remain standing and fight.

If you have a confrontation with a mountain lion, immediately report it by calling the nearest office of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Kalispell, ph. 752-5501; Missoula, ph. 542-5500; Bozeman, ph. 994-4042; Great Falls, ph. 454-3441; Billings, ph. 252-4654; Glasgow, ph. 228-9347; Miles City, ph. 232-4365; Helena, ph. 444-4720.

The People

Montanans are a hardy, individualistic breed reflecting an adventurous history and the state's rugged topography. Granted, some religous cultists and militant survivalists carry individualism to extremes. Some are clearly wacko. Some are scary. For the most part, these way-out types simply interject spice and color in the state's cultural brew.

High Plains ranchers and farmers, mountain folk, Native Peoples, fishing and hunting guides, townsfolk, emigrant outlanders: each is distinct; all take pride in being Montanans.

DID YOU KNOW? Montana's natural wonders, its ghost towns and wild animals, ranches and cattle drives, are the genuine items. No room here for Disneyesque pseudo anything. This sense of genuineness is one of the reasons visitors return to Montana again and again. Disney artists and imagineers number among these visitors. They come seeking inspiration from the real thing. Ironically, many a theme park or thrill ride had its genesis in Montana's on-the-edge reality.

Montanans harbor a deep love of the land - of mountain grandeur and the changeable luminosity of the plains. Most every individual values some special place in the vast outdoors. It might be a haven in the wilderness or a certain lake or stretch of river. Montanans guard the land jealously. Voters reacted to proposals permitting oil and gas leasing on the sensitive Rocky Mountain Front with a resounding No!

The Creator lavishly distributed riches both under and across the land that would be known as Montana. A penalty must be payed for disturbing Mother Earth to extract the gold, silver, copper, coal, oil, gas, precious stones, timber and other materials. So it is that deep scars and ugly slag piles mar the surface of the land. A hot topic is how to ameliorate the damage and prevent further depredations without endangering Montanans' livelihoods.

Also of concern is the disposition of Montana's large historic ranches. Some occasionally come on the market. The sigh of relief can be heard statewide when a buyer declares his intention to continue running a ranch as a cattle operation. Such was the case in 1997 when the 70,000-acre-plus Dearborn Ranch was purchased by a California millionaire who made that intention clear.

Latter-day emigrants' rosy fantasies of life in rural Montana often succumb to reality over the first harsh winter. Some haven't a clue as to rural etiquette. They tangle with the neighbors when their dogs chase stock, or wrinkle delicate noses when it comes time for a neighboring farmer to spread the manure that's been piling up in the corral all winter. Or they feed those cute bears and raccoons, then complain when their garbage cans are overturned.

Not that Montanans mean to be inhospitable. It's just that they prefer that visitors spend their money and go home. Montanans have an innate aversion to crowding - a protectiveness toward the beautiful places that feed the soul. Emigrants coming in droves make folks a mite edgy. They bring their high-falutin' lifestyles and pricey tastes with them. And there's the jobs crunch. Some towns, Kalispell comes to mind, out and out tell people not to come unless they can bring their jobs with them. Land-gobbling religious cults and weirdos like the Montana Militia and Ted Kaczynski have given rise to a wariness akin to that of a skunk-sprayed dog. Nobody needs that kind of notoriety.

How to Tell a Montanan From a Dude

Telling a real Montanan from a dude is easy. With tongue firmly planted in cheek, I offer the following tips:

Who else arrives at a symphony concert in a pickup truck? Or accepts a compliment on her outfit as referring to the pickup she's driving, not the clothes she's wearing? Or whose outfit's accessories include a gun rack, gun and dog?

Most Montanans' best friends have four legs and either whinny or bark. The barkers' job descriptions include waiting in their masters' pickups outside a bar named The Mint or The Stockman.

Real Montanans think it's odd that some people have to pay sales taxes and observe a numerical speed limit. Up until the law changed as this book went to press, only a Montanan would speed down the Interstate at a reasonable and prudent 80 mph while talking on a cellular phone and waving at the Highway Patrol. But he willingly gives herds of cattle or sheep the right of way.

Montana's city police officers direct more than vehicular traffic, such as persuading an errant moose or elk to mosey on out of town. You can tell a born and bred Montanan by his or her eagerness to inform a stranger that grandma and grandpa settled in the Deer Lodge Valley in 1888, or that great-gramps proved a mining claim on Grasshopper Creek in 1863.

But there's hope for you. You're a bonafide adopted Montanan if you moved into the state a year ago from California and now gripe about all those dang-blasted Californians invading Montana.

Montana's Native Peoples

Sometimes, you might think you'd been plunked down in a foreign country. Which, in a sense, you have if you visit one of Montana's seven Indian reservations.

Native Americans are United States citizens, but their reservations are sovereign nations and are governed as such. The Bureau of Indian Affairs serves as a guardian of sorts, holding moneys in trust. And Congress has more say over Indian affairs than most think is just. This situation is gradually changing as more young Indian men and women seek higher educations. Some are becoming attorneys with a mandate to serve as advocates for their people.

Most tribal members retain strong ties to their reservations. Respect for Mother Earth and all life is basic to Native beliefs. Indians traditionally hunted and fished for food, not for sport.

DID YOU KNOW?When an Indian kills a deer or other creature, he thanks the Creator for the food and begs the animal's forgiveness.

On the surface, reservation life may appear similar to that of any rural town. Below the surface runs a strong current of cultural re-identity. Each tribe struggles in its own way with vital issues such as employment, housing, educational opportunities for young people, health care and alcohol abuse.

Ever since it was introduced by white traders, alcohol has been Indians' most deadly enemy. Its grip tightened when tribes were forced onto reservations. Men could no longer hunt and wage war, but they knew no other life. Adapting to white ways and occupations wrenched the pride clear out of them. Today, sobriety is a mark of pride.

Balancing tribal traditions with tourism is a complex issue. Some reservations discourage tourists. Others welcome visitors with traditional hospitality. The Flathead, Blackfeet and Fort Belknap reservations are in the vanguard of a cultural tour concept designed to foster understanding between Indians and non-Indians. Some reservations maintain museums with exhibits highlighting tribal history and traditional skills. Some Indians, particularly on the Crow and Blackfeet reservations, work as fishing guides.

Today's Indians are a proud people fighting to abolish the stereotypical image that has dogged them for too long. Poverty is an on-going problem. Alcohol addiction remains a problem of tragic proportions that's being fought in the schools and through recovery programs. Alcohol and drug-free pow-wows are the rule rather than the exception.

Visitors are welcome at pow-wows. A pow-wow will likely serve as your introduction to reservation life. People will be dressed in colorful regalia (outfit is an acceptable term, but costume is not). Each person's regalia has special cultural and religious significance. You will meet friendly people who will treat you with courtesy. But you may sense a cultural barrier, much as you would when visiting any foreign country. It takes time to get to know Native People, but once you are accepted they are warm friends.

Plains Folk

Smile lines are etched deeply in their suntanned faces. You sense an almost ingenuous friendliness upon meeting these ranchers and farmers and their families - an honest, open friendliness honed by long dusty miles between farms and towns.

If the traditional rural values of honesty and integrity, of making do and cobbling together, are alive in any corner of the US, they surely are here. Ask a plains dweller why Montana is called the last best place and he'll likely give credit to the ranch and farm families who hold it together.

Grain farmers till and harvest hundreds of acres with computerized tractors boasting air-conditioned and heated cabs. Ranchers are as apt to herd cattle and ride fencelines on ATVs as on horseback. Pickup trucks are indispensible and come in all guises, from battered, beat up and held together with baling wire to late models sporting chrome wheels and extenda-cabs. Every pickup has a coating of fine road dust, a dog or two in the bed, and a driver sporting a 10-gallon hat.

Farm and ranch families live in comfortable homes equipped with the latest in household gadgetry. Yet, they retain spiritual ties to forebears who literally coaxed a living from the soil with their bare hands and raised families in flimsy shacks or drafty log cabins. Identification with the heartache and hardship that rode in with the homesteading bust is palpable in plains country.

Tractors, ATVs and pickups aside, horses remain central to prairie life. Some tasks, like roping young stock for branding, cannot be accomplished without horses. And folks just plain like 'em. Kids grow up on horseback, learning to rope and barrel race as naturally as city kids learn to shoot baskets. Every crossroads town hosts a rodeo and boys' heroes are more apt to be rodeo champions than basketball greats.

Times Have Changed

The days are pretty well gone when a cowboy could ride his horse into town and tie him outside a saloon without causing a second look from passersby. Wayne Ellsworth found that out one November day when he loped into Great Falls, tied his pony to a succession of parking meters and proceeded to sample the local watering holes. The bemused constabulary took a dim view of the cowpoke's bar-hoofin' spree, but failed to find a law prohibiting parking a pony downtown. They strongly suggested that the pair ride out of town before sundown. Pretty well tanked up by then, Ellsworth treated Great Falls's finest to some blazin'-hot language before he and his horse moseyed off into the sunset.

It's tough to make