The northwest part of Montana is beautiful rolling plains, but sparsely populated and mostly wasteland. Since no highway closely follows the Missouri River (Lewis and Clark Trail) we decided to take highway U.S. 2 across the state. From Williston, ND we drove 306 miles to Havre, MT where we boondocked in Holiday Village Shopping Center's parking lot. Beside our motorhomes was a large lot occupied by a prairie dog village and the burrowing animals kept us entertained for hours popping out of their holes and diving back in. The next day, 195 miles took us to St. Mary at the eastern entrance to Glacier National Park.

Highway 89 on the eastern side of Glacier transverses beautiful mountain country and keeps the driver on edge with steep hills, sharp turns and speeds as low as 20 mph. We (us and the Martins) drive large motorhomes but with Cummins Turbo Diesel engines and exhaust brakes we easily made the drive into Glacier and out again. We stayed at Johnson's of St. Mary Campground on a high ridge facing a lush valley and beautiful rugged mountains of Glacier National Park.

Glacier National Park is one of our most beautiful parks and the scenery is different from morning to evening and during spring, summer and fall. Going To The Sun Road, fifty miles in length, transverses the park east and west. The road is snow covered until mid-June and had opened only three days before we arrived. The view from the road is breathtaking, if you can bear to look. The road is sixteen feet wide from the side of the mountain to the drop-off to the valley floor. One foot to one side and your car scrapes the mountain, one foot too far on the other side and your car drops over the side.

We spent eleven hours driving across the park, eating a picnic lunch, taking several walks, stopping at scenic views and then circling around the south side of the park. Melting snow had hundreds of waterfalls in full flow and the most interesting was "weeping wall." The side of a large vertical mountain has dozens of small waterfalls and seeping water that cascades down the side making the entire mountain look like it is weeping. In the park we saw three gray wolves, mule deer, a herd of mountain goats, a moose cow with her calf and many small animals. We were glad we visited the park just after it opened because the crowds were small and wildlife was active.

The park complex's full name is Waterton - Glacier International Peace Park World Heritage Site and contains 2,000 square miles in the United States and Canada. Many people bypass the Canadian side and that is a shame. At the international border we noticed a boundary marker and a strip about twenty feet wide that was devoid of trees and mowed to a few inches high so we could easily see the line separating the two countries. After answering a few routine questions we were waved into Canada. The quaint town of Waterton is beautiful and after walking around the downtown area we ate lunch in a sidewalk cafe. The unique Prince of Wales hotel overlooks Middle Waterton Lake and the town. We took two back road drives and saw deer and finally arrived at Cameron Lake, a breathtaking cold and clear water lake fed by glaciers. It is one of those places we wanted to sit a while and absorb the beauty which makes the heart beat slower, blood pressure drop and all the world's problems disappear. Crossing back into the USA was an adventure. An agent met us before we reached the gate and wanted to see our passports which we did not have. We got a long lecture on the need for passports and then he searched our car. When we got to the agent at the gate we received another lecture about not having passports. After he checked all of our drivers licenses he reluctantly allowed us through to the USA. Every vehicle passing into the USA was being searched so we were not alone.

After navigating mountainous and crooked highway US 89 we found mostly flat and rolling plains devoid of trees. We could see for miles in every direction and saw nothing but low growing grasses. It was here Meriwether Lewis and a companion on their eastern return trip encountered Blackfeet Indians and stabbed one and shot another. After the incident Lewis jumped on his horse and rode over one hundred miles in two days to the Missouri River where he had hidden a boat. We picked up the Lewis and Clark Trail again at the confluence of the Missouri and Marias Rivers where the Corps of Discovery camped ten days while trying to determine which river was the main or Missouri River. Down stream in Fort Benton a statue of Lewis, Clark and Sacagawea graces the waterfront.

We stopped in Fort Benton (population 1350) and planned to stay two or three nights, but we fell in love with the town and its friendly people so we stayed five days. Founded in 1846 as a fur post Fort Benton is the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in Montana. Downtown a walking bridge crosses the Missouri and there is a paved walking trail along the river with plaques telling the interesting history of the town. The bridge was completed in 1888 and remained open to vehicle traffic until 1963. For many years a great 225-foot turn span stood ready to swing open for steamboats that never came. Finally in 1908 the O.K. steamboat went through and that same year a flood collapsed the big span and a few days later the O.K. burned. When the span was rebuilt the Corps of Engineers gave permission for the bridge to block steamboat travel further up river. There was a shelf in the river downstream from Fort Benton that prevented traffic beyond town so Fort Benton was known as the head of steamboat traffic on the Missouri, the world's innermost port. A one and a half mile long levee along Front Street bustled with traffic and cargo from 1860 until the railroad arrived in 1887. Most of the freight for the northwestern U.S. and Canada was unloaded at the levee.

The Mullan Road was the first federal highway in the northwest. It began at Fort Benton and wound over 600 miles through gold mining country to Fort Walla Walla, Portland and to the Pacific Ocean. Covered wagons, stagecoaches and freighters used this route to gold bonanzas throughout the northwest. Another road, the Whoop-Up Trail, ran north from Fort Benton to Canada. Whiskey traders carried supplies north and brought buffalo robes south for transportation down river. Later the road supplied Canadian Mounted Police and settlements as far north as Calgary and Edmonton.

Fort Benton was know as the toughest town in the west. With the Civil War over both Northerners and Southerners arrived seeking their fortunes in gold. Bullwackers and mule skinners brandished their whips while men working the roads stopped to spend their hard earned money in saloons, playing poker and visiting one of the many dance halls and brothels that stayed open 24-hours a day. The town was occupied by Englishmen, Frenchmen, Irishmen, boat and wharf workers, Indians and Canadians. There were frequent gunfights and the only law was vigilante justice. With the arrival of the Northwest Mounted Police north of the border in 1874 law and order was served and the town became a respectable place to live.

Summer Celebration in Fort Benton occurs the fourth weekend in June and we happened to be there during the celebration. One bank offered free pig roast lunches while singers and the town's band entertained us. We walked a few blocks to another bank serving free ice cream and that night attended a community pot-luck-supper with meat and drinks supplied by donors. There was entertainment and bands playing all weekend and a beautiful fireworks display over the river. Yes, we have rambled on and on about Fort Benton but we have not listed all the history and interesting things we did. Some day we hope to return and spend a couple of weeks with the friendly people of the community.

When we tried to leave Fort Benton the motorhome's level jacks would not retract and the engine would not start - dead chassis batteries. They were over five years old so the failure was no surprise. We used the "battery boost" switch to connect the house and chassis batteries together and we were on the road again. We stopped at Wal*Mart in Great Falls and Norm bought two new batteries and he and Don installed them in the parking lot. Of course we spent the night in Wal*Mart's lot, but we left a lot of money with the store.

Lewis and Clark had been told of the great falls on the Missouri River that blocked boat traffic. They understood there was one large falls and thought they could portage around it in one day. To their surprise they found five falls and a series of rapids covering 18.25 miles that took thirty days to portage including time to build additional new boats. The men worked dawn to dusk pulling boats and supplies up and down cliffs, across plains covered in prickly pear cactus and in searing heat. The first falls they named Great Falls which is interesting because it is several miles north of the present-day city of Great Falls. Today Ryan Dam sits on top of the falls. The next falls was named Crooked Falls. The third falls was named Rainbow Falls and also called Handsome or Beautiful Falls. A dam sits atop this falls today. The next falls was named Colter Falls for one of the men in the Corps and today the falls is submerged. The final falls was named Black Eagle Falls, for an eagle on a nearby island, and today is also known as Upper Falls. A dam also sits above this falls.

Between the fourth and fifth falls the Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center sits on a hill overlooking the river. During our trip we have visited many interpretative centers and this was the best by far. We watched a movie about Lewis and Clark, attended a seminar about the misconceptions of "savage" Blackfeet Indians given by a Park Ranger who is a Blackfeet, read many displays and viewed exhibits. Plant expert, Fay Schaller, led a walk behind the center, down a hill and along the river explaining native plants and their traditional uses. Linda and Don joined her in making rope bracelets from blue flax, the same flax used by Lewis and Clark to make fishing line and ropes.

A short distance down river is Giant Springs State Park where we found many free events including re-enactors at a Lewis and Clark Encampment and a Plains Indian Encampment, both demonstrating their skills. An interpretative guide took us on a personal (just the four of us) tour of the Lewis and Clark site where we found Lewis and his men trying to make a boat by stitching elk skins to a steel frame held together by sticks. Since we knew the history we knew the boat did not float and it was discarded.

When Lewis discovered Giant Springs in 1805 he thought it to be the largest springs in the nation and he was right. Crystal clear water is forced out of Giant Springs by a force of 300 pounds per square inch and it discharges about 134 thousand gallons per minute. The springs creates Roe River, the worlds shortest river being about 201 feet long. Lewis and Clark were the first white men to see Giant Springs and Roe River and it has been preserved today by the state of Montana for us to see and enjoy.

Before leaving Great Falls we visited the C.M. Russell Museum complex consisting of the museum, the Russell home and his log cabin studio. He was known by locals as Charlie Russell. He was born in 1864 and through his painting and sculptures he captured the old west, the Indians, cowboys, buffalos and the lives they lived before they became a bygone era. The museum houses many of his original works as well as works by other artists of his time. The Russell home is furnished with original furnishings and his log cabin located next door had a skylight for true lighting for painting his best pictures.

After following the Lewis and Clark Trail several weeks we have come to two conclusions. First, the Corps of Discovery should have left St. Louis riding horses with pack-horses for their supplies. It would have been easier and quicker to follow the Missouri River by horse than by boat. Second, the Corps of Discovery consisted of men highly skilled as interpreters, hunters, boatmen, carpenter, blacksmith, gunsmith, fishermen, cooks, tailor, etc. If they had taken an artist they would have returned with pictures of the places they visited and the Indians instead of only written descriptions.

Our next adventures will take us off the trail to Helena, Montana's State Capitol, back on the trail to Three Forks, then off the trail to Bozeman and Yellowstone National Park.