A couple weekends ago we took a drive to Fort Benton, Montana just forty miles northeast of Great Falls, Montana. Right before the turn off of Highway 87 to the town is a scenic overlook that is spectacular, even in rainy overcast weather as pictured here.
A covered area has many informative signs about the area and I have included them here for some history of Lewis and Clark expedition, early Montana settlements, historical travel routes, and trade industry of that time period.
The river below was the first trail west. On their way to the Pacific, Lewis and Clark used the Missouri as their route to the Rocky Mountains. Maria's River enters the Missouri fifteen miles down stream. In June 1805 the Captains spent 10 days exploring both forks, trying to decide which way led to the mountains. Although their men wanted to continue up the north fork, Lewis and Clark chose the south fork. Their decision prevented weeks of retracing the trail and probably saved the expedition. The Corps of Discovery was able to cross the Rockies before winter prevented its passage.
Founded in 1846 as a fur post, Fort Benton is the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in Montana. From its palisaded walls grew the most important transportation center in the Northwest. Trails led to all points of the compass, carrying goods and supplies to the U.S. and Canada. Steamboats docked at Fort Benton's levee. Freight was loaded into giant wagons pulled by hundreds of mules and oxen to faraway places in Idaho, Washington, and Alberta. When the railroads crossed Montana and Alberta in the early 1880's, the town ended as a transportation center but the area continued to prosper with cattle, sheep, and wheat.
A very beautiful view and a rich full history are quiet a pair of this site we visited. It was also interesting to see license plates of others stopping at this site -- most of them from Canada with cameras in hand snapping pictures like me.
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