-->When you go to bed at 8:30, you can get up really early the
next day, so we were on the road before 7.
We watched a beautiful sunrise as we packed up for the drive.
First stop today was an amazing National Park site, Fort Union National
Historic Site.
If you look at it on the
map, it is off the beaten path for sure.
Sitting on the border with Montana, far off of any interstates.
However, when it was built in the 1830s, it was in a prime location on the Missouri River.
This was The American Fur Company’s major
trading fort in the Northern United Sates.
For nearly 40 years, Indians from 600 miles around would come on a
yearly basis to trade their furs for manufactured timesaving or ornamental
goods.
Everything was available.
It was the Mall of America of its day.
The primary interpretive ranger we spoke with was a history
professor from a local college, and had been involved with the fort for 19
years.
His knowledge was impressive, and
he and another renactors were so gracious spending over an hour with us (and
served Patti a fresh cup of coffee brewed over an open fire.)
Although the fort had been dismantled when
the trading was done, the foundations remained and, with extensive archeological
work, they were able to reconstruct the fort very accurately.
They also were able to take advantage of
several famous artists renderings of the buildings and the trading going on
during the heyday.
Among artists to have
extensive visits to the fort were Catlin, Audubon, and Bosmer, each who painted not only the fort but especially focused on the native people, plants, and animals.
We crossed into Montana and drove a third of the way across
the state.
We were amazed that we
continued to follow the Lewis and Clark Trail, which runs across much of the
country.
One of the stops was at Pompeys
Pillar, which was well known to the native people and later to Whites as they traveled the Yellowstone River.
It is also where William Clark stopped during the return trip form the West coast. It was the one place that he left his mark on the land when he carved his name
in the wall of the pillar.
Again, they
had good interpretation regarding this part of the expedition.
Then we went to Little Bighorn National Battlefield.
Dick had been there in the 1950’s with his
family.
Park interpretation has changed
since then when it was called Custer Battlefield, with the focus on Custer’s
Last Stand.
The current thinking is
that the battle was a clash between two cultures:
The White and the Indian.
They did a good job of presenting both sides.
We were very pleased to be part of a ranger
talk given by a passionate young Native American Park Ranger.
He told the story in quite a balanced manner.
It was very sobering to drive and walk around
this area with the white markers indicating where the soldiers had died.
More recently, they have now added a number
of red granite markers to indicate where Native Americans died.
There was quite
a powerful memorial, created by tribal leaders, honoring those Indian people
who took part in the battle.
The national
Park Service works very hard to tell some very complex stories that took place
in sites around the country.
We applaud
their great work.
Then we drove on leaving Montana and entering into Wyoming,
going to Buffalo at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains. We were struck by the number of motorcycles
at our hotel, and then remembered that this next week is the Motorcycle extravaganza
in Sturgis SD. The hotel clerk asked if
we were headed there. Not this time!
“Map out your future, but do it in pencil. The road ahead is
as long as you make it. Make it worth the trip.”
Bon Jovi
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