Travels of Geo Nova: Roosevelt National Park and Montana

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is located in the north west part of North Dakota, it has 4 distinct sections. The Park is steeped in history and is a treasure chest of natural beauty including all sorts of wildlife and geologic formations. We meet up with some Airstream friends who are also enrolled in the Alaska caravan.

Our first section to be explored is the easternmost section called the Painted canyon. A short hike took us down into the canyon. The painted name come from the red color rocks mixed in with the usual brown tones and oranges. We managed to see a number of birds that we haven’t seen for a while. The next section is referred to as the South Unit. This is the main and most well known section. Here we toured the Ranch House built by Teddy Roosevelt when he first came to North Dakota shortly after the death of his wife and mother. He was looking for solitude and also trying to experience the “Wild West” before it vanished. Our first morning all 6 of the Airstream contingent went on a ranger lead hike following game trails into the interior of the park. As it turned out we were the only people who showed up for the hike so we had in essence what was a private guided hike filled with both historical and geological instruction. The Park is home to a healthy herd of Bison, Elk, two kinds of deer, prong horns, wild horses, mountain goats and a multitude of small mammals and birds. We enjoined 2 great dinners whipped together by all 3 couples. After one we all drove out to Wind Canyon Trail for a short hike and watched a beautiful sunset.

We parted ways with the other Airstreams and went to the North section for two nights. It is a less visited area that has a very different topography comprised of short stem grass lands and large deep canyons. After dinner we went for a walk and were delayed by a group of Bison grazing their way toward the campground. The next day we had several wonderful self guided hikes into very different terrains. Upon leaving the park the Bison were grazing at the visitor entrance and we almost were delayed again.

As beautiful and special as this place is it is under attack from the encroaching oil and gas extraction industry. On our drive here we passed a multitude of oil wells and surrounding infrastructure but we didn’t realize the extent of this until we left. We drove past the town that was on 60 Minutes several years ago when the boom exploded in Williston ND. It was amazing to see the structures put up to handle the workers needed here. Especially in today’s environment this acutely reaffirms the need to protect our national treasures for future generations.

Glasgow Montana was our next stop however along the way from Roosevelt NP we stopped at several other historic sites. Fort Union a fur trading out post, dates back to 1828 owned by the American Fur Trading Co of the John Jacob Astor fame. This recreated fort told the story of how furs gathered by Indians were traded for goods and subsequently sent back east. Fort Buford our next stop was an army fort set up in 1866 near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone River’s. This location was strategic in the protection out the burgeoning Gold Rush of Montana but later was used in the Indian wars. In fact we sat in the same room where Sitting Bull surrendered his rifle after his people were starved out by the decimation of the once vast herds of Bison that freely roamed the Great Plains.

Glasgow is near the Fort Peck dam. A Massive earthen dam constructed in the Depression Era by the WPA. A massive undertaking designed to help prevent flooding on the Missouri River. Today the large lake is a major fishing destination. At the dam the arm Corps of Engineers maintains a wonderful interpretive center that includes displays not only on the dams construction but also a large Paleontology display including many dinosaurs fossils. After viewing the displays we went on a tour of the Power generating plant.

Our next destination was The town of Fort Benton the home of several museums. About half way to Fort Benton we stopped on the small town of Chinook and viewed a wonderful museum that covered frontier life and also the Battle of Bears Paw. After the Museum we went to the battle site, a National Parks site and received a private tour by the ranger. We stood at the exact same place where Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians surrendered to the US Army after a relentless pursuit. He gave his famed speech ending in “I will fight no more forever”. A very solemn place again illustrating the horrific treatment of Native Americans by the US Government.

Today at the Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center in Ft Benton Mt we learned about the history and geology of the Break. Among the displays was the rifle Chief Joseph surrendered to Co Miles at Bears Paw.

Ft Benton is a beautiful small down located on the banks if the Missouri River. Here we toured the recreated old Ft Benton that was originally a trading fort owned by the American Fur Co. They traded primarily with the Blackfeet people. They had an art gallery that had many original Carl Bodmer lithographs along with at least 20 Bronzes.All I can say is they are spectacular! The other large museum in town is the Museum of The Northern Plains. There were three distinct sections. One displayed life and many facets of agriculture in Montana. They had assembled many old buildings to make a replica of an old Plains village. The structures covered the time period from the late 19th century to early-mid 20th century. The last section was the Hornaday Gallery. William Hornaday was a pivotal figure in early conservation and preservation of the American West. He was curator at was the precursor to the Smithsonian in Washington DC. He also was a driving force in the passage of the Migratory Bird Act of 1911, a pivotal piece of legislation that helped prevent the slaughter and perhaps eventual extinction of many birds and other animals. It is interesting that today there are forces trying to erode this great piece of legislation. The gallery contained a group of taxidermy Bison specimens that we’re used for the design of the Buffalo Nickel and the present day symbol for the Department of Interior. They also had manny original Remington Bronzes.