Welcome
to Havre & Montana's Hi-Line
Photograph courtesy of Peggy Ray
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elcome to Havre, located on Montana’s Hi-Line. Many charming communities make up this area that follows the northern line of the railroad, first built in the late 1800s. The area is rich in history of the American West. Havre was settled more than 100 years ago, after James J. Hill forged the Great Northern Railroad, now Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, across the Great Plains. Havre quickly became the transportation hub of the area, providing goods and supplies to the area trappers, miners and military personnal stationed at Fort Assinniboine. Area museums and attractions set the stage for a visit, showcasing and recreating local history.
The Havre Daily News is pleased to bring this community tourism information guide for visitors to the area. Recreation can be found in town at city parks, the golf courses, historical attractions and art venues. Western hospitality is no catchpenny phrase in Havre. Hospitality and friendliness are a charming part of the town’s personality, as genuine and as real as the surrounding hills. Havre is a town where visitors are warmly welcomed whether the stay is an hour, a day or a week. Outstanding outdoor recreation opportunities beckon with camping and fishing in Beaver Creek Park located in the Bear Paw Mountains and at Fresno Reservoir. Beaver Creek Park, 10,000 acres in size, provides a beautiful natural recreation area.
Historical and archeological sites await visitors, including the bison kill site on the western edge of Havre, and Fort Assinniboine, one of the largest forts in the nation built just south of Havre at the end of the Indian Wars. The arts also embrace Havre, from art shows to theater productions performed by local actors, and concerts and shows by nationally recognized talent. A variety of attractions also exist in surrounding communities. Numerous museums, historical sites and other attractions are all awaiting within a few hours drive of Havre. A smiling welcome awaits visitors, who can use this guide to find activities, accommodations and services while they enjoy Havre and the Hi-Line.
Table of Contents HAVRE ll Trails Lead to Havre..........................................6 A Saturday Market...................................................7 Sounds on the Square............................................8 Golfing.........................................................10-11 Fort Assinniboine...........................................18-19 Old Forts Trail.....................................................20 The Montana Dinosaur Trail.................................21 Havre Beneath the Streets....................................30 Wahkpa Chu'gn Buffalo Jump..............................31 Historic Havre Strolls...........................................34 Havre Historic District.....................................35-36 H. Earl Clack Museum.........................................36 Havre Festival Days.............................................38 City Parks...........................................................41 Arts and Culture..................................................42 MSU-N Collections..............................................43 College Town.....................................................44 Great Northern Fair............................................45 Fresno Reservoir.................................................46 Havre, Hub of the Hi-Line.....................................47 Beaver Creek Park.........................................48-49 Fishing...............................................................50
HI-LINE Missouri River Breaks...........................................51 The Little Rockies.................................................52 Native American Powwows..................................53 Big Sandy, Montana............................................54 Kremlin, Gildford, Higham, Rudyard, MT...............55 Inverness, Joplin, Chester, MT...............................56 Fort Benton, Montana..........................................57 Glacier Park.......................................................58 Chinook, Montana.........................................59-61 Bear Paw Battlefield............................................61 Fort Belknap.......................................................62 Glasgow, Montana........................................63-65 MEDICINE HAT, ALBERTA Border Hours, Events...........................................65 STORIES cont...................................................................67 WORSHIP Directory............................................................69 CALENDAR Events...........................................................70-71
OFFICE
406.265.6795 • 1.800.993.2459
PUBLISHER
Stacy Mantle smantle@havredailynews.com
EDITOR
John Kelleher jkelleher@havredailynews.com
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Melanie Gilman mgilman@havredailynews.com
DESIGN
Stacy Mantle Melanie Gilman Jenn Thompson
ADVERTISING SALES Amanda Christofferson Hannah Somers Jenn Thompson SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES Michael Hartman mhartman@havredailynews.com For advertising information, contact
Havre Daily News 119 Second Street P.O. Box 431 Havre, MT 59501 406.265.6795
Havre and Montana's Hi-Line Visitors Guide is an annual publication of the Havre Daily News. ON THE COVER: Pow Wow, photo by Steve Helmbrecht
Havre Daily News file photo
All trails lead to Havre, MT I
n north-central Montana, the corridor along U.S. Highway 2 between North Dakota and the Rocky Mountains is called the Hi-Line. Consider the Hi-Line a trail to adventure: It’s part of the Lewis and Clark Trail, the Old Forts Trail, the Nez Perce Trail and the Dinosaur Trail, as well as the Great Northern Trail and Cottonwood Country Byway — two of the Hands of Harvest heritage trails of north-central Montana. The region is one of beauty, including the plains, the mountain ranges and the badlands that stand in stark contrast to the prairie. The land is graced with forests in the Little Rockies and the Bear Paw Mountains, clean lakes and reservoirs, and the spectacular cliffs of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. It’s an area rich with history, settled around towns that sprung up as the railroad extended across the land. Those bustling towns provided services of every kind to the Western worker. Some towns are now shadows of what they once were and preserve their past glory in local museums. Others, like Havre, mix the old with the new. Havre is the economic and cultural center of the Hi-Line. It presents its unique history with a small-town feeling that is very much a part of life on the Hi-Line. The world-class bison kill site, Wahkpa Chu’gn, can be found atop the hill that rises to the west of town. Re-creations of old Havre businesses are featured in the Havre Beneath the Streets tour, which tells visitors about turn-of-the-century life in Havre and some of its more famous and infamous characters. Today’s Havre offers a wide variety of arts, from the vast local talents portrayed in galleries to the special performances of Montana Actors’ Theatre and the Northern Showcase Concert Association, as well as numerous talented musicians who call the Hi-Line home and entertain at a number of public venues. Tours of the nearby remnants of Fort Assinniboine, the former home of Lt. John “Black Jack” Pershing and the Buffalo Soldiers and part of the Old Forts Trail, are also available. When finished touring for the day, visitors can check out one of the local restaurants for a delicious variety of foods, including fabulous buffet, thick juicy steak or giant shrimp cocktail. Havre also offers two golf courses, miniature golf, indoor public swimming pool, movie theaters and more. North-central Montana near Havre also is home to two American Indian reservations. Fort Belknap Indian Reservation was formed for the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes in the Little Rockies. The Chippewa and Cree Tribes live on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation in the Bear Paw Mountains south of Havre. During the summer, both Indian communities host powwows that are attended by Native American dancers from across the United States and Canada.
Photograph courtesy of David Lewis
The market place also provides community social benefits. The festive nature of the market creates an enjoyable atmosphere to visit with friends and make new acquaintances. All area gardeners, bakers and crafters are extended an invitation to participate. Vendors are welcome to set up every Saturday starting July 6 and running through Saturday, Sept. 21. The Market opens at 8 a.m. and runs until noon. Contact the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce at 265-4383 to participate. Farmers' markets play a valuable role in promoting healthy local economies in communities. They provide a viable economic opportunity for local residents to market their goods and create an accessible, social atmosphere for the community.
Town Square Downtown Havre, MT
JULY - SEPTEMBER Saturdays 8 a.m. - noon (Starting July 6)
Havre offers its own opportunity every summer for visitors to connect to the community, farmers and ranchers and businesses at Saturday Market. It has become an important part of the community, providing a safe, healthy, weekly event in the downtown neighborhood during the summer. The market is held Saturdays at Town Square in downtown Havre, between 3rd and 4th avenues on 1st Street. The market is visited by many – from local families to travelers passing through or visiting Havre.
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Come join us at the Square … a place to have fun!
Town Square Downtown Havre, MT
JUNE - AUGUST Wednesdays at 6 p.m. (Starting June 19)
The arrival of summer means a variety of kick-back activities and one that has become increasingly popular and anticipated is the Wednesday summer music at Town Square, Sounds on the Square. Wednesday, June 19, will mark the start of the free, summer concerts provided by several area bands and sponsored by
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Devon Energy. Sounds on the Square music will start at 6 p.m. and continue to 8 p.m., weather permitting. Pack up that picnic basket and dine al fresco with friends, neighbors and family at the Square all while enjoying the rhythm of the music from old favorites, country and rock. Large crowds have enjoyed the variety of music provided by area bands – so make your plans now to relax each Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Sounds on the Square at Town Square. Sounds on the Square will continue through Aug. 21 with no concert on Wednesday, July 3. All events are weather permitting.
Tee-Time Calls
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all in your tee time. Whether you’re visiting Havre, Chinook, Harlem, Malta, Shelby or Fort Benton — there are plenty of challenging golf opportunities in north-central Montana. Four courses await nearby: Prairie Farms Golf Course Now becoming a mature golf course, Prairie Farms Golf Course, is located five miles east of North Havre and one mile south of Shepherd Road on the Baltrusch Land and Cattle Co. ranch. The course measures a total distance of 3,042 yards from the farthest tees. There are two par-5s, two par-3s and five par-4s, making the course a traditional par36. There are four sets of tee markers for each hole, and the nine-hole layout has both front-nine and back-nine tees. A challenging and tight course with towering cottonwood trees, Prairie Farms forces golfers to manage their game and hit straight. The environmentally sensitive area offers wildlife viewing while golfing, along with plenty of beautiful scenery as the course winds along the Milk River. Add in the grand views of Saddle Butte and a spectacularly peaceful experience awaits. The course is also currently undergoing the addition of a new nine holes. The new nine is being routed around the perimeter of the existing nine and, when completed, will be a more wide-open layout, running through much of what was once fertile farmland. No official timeline has been given for when the second nine will be completed, but when finished, Prairie Farms will be Havre's first-ever, full 18-hole golf facility.
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Prairie Farms' amenities include a clubhouse and full-practice facility complete with an expansive driving range, which features several target greens at different distances, along with a full-sized turf teeing area. The facility also has a chipping area complete with a green and practice bunkers, as well as a traditional practice putting green. The course has a wide array of rental carts. For more information, call (406) 265-4790. Beaver Creek Golf Course Havre’s legendary longtime course is the Beaver Creek Golf Course and pro shop just west of Havre along U.S. Highway 2. Beaver Creek features nine holes of golf, with front- and back-nine tee boxes for both men and women. And plenty of water on course–a creek and three ponds–to challenge all golfers. The course is as challenging as it gets with water is in play twice on No.1, once on No. 3, once on No. 5, once on No. 6, once on No. 7, once on No. 8 and twice on No. 9. There is also extensive out-of-bounds to the left of the course, so driving is always at a premium. BCGC features some of the most difficult and challenging sloping greens of any nine-hole course in Montana, as well as several bunkers keenly guarding those greens. That makes shot-making a premium as well. The course also features a driving range and two practice putting greens, as well as a chipping area. ■ See Tee-Time Calls Page 11
Tee-Time Calls ■ From Page 10
The course is open, weather permitting, from 7 a.m. to dark seven days a week throughout the season. Cart rental is available. For more information, call (406) 265-4201. Signal Point Golf Course Located above the scenic Missouri River, Fort Benton's Signal Point Golf Club has long been known as one of the "Finest" nine-hole golf courses in Montana. Signal Point is a traditional par-36 nine-hole course with alternate teeing areas for front and back-nine play. Signal Point is known for its well-groomed greens which slope front to back, as well as its tight, tree-lined fairways and several key water hazards. Bunkers and plenty of out-of-bounds makes Signal Point a challenging golfing test, while the scenery of the Missouri River Breaks and of historic downtown Fort Benton below, offers golfers a unique experience. Opened in 1969, Signal Point is located on 345 Signal Point Rd. in Fort Benton. The course has a full practice area and a full clubhouse.
ting. Tee times are not necessary. Cart rentals are available. The nine-hole course has daily rates for nine- and 18-hole rounds. For more information, call (406) 357-2112.
Chinook Golf and Country Club The Chinook Golf and Country Club is northwest of the town of Chinook. The turnoff to the golf course from U.S. Highway 2 west of Chinook is designated by a highway sign marked “Golf.” The course is open throughout the week during daylight hours, weather permit-
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Havre,
MONTANA 15 West 109 1st Street West | 406.265.4747 4B's 604 1st Street West | 406.265.9721 Altec Graphics 501 7th Street | 406.265.5041 Flynn Realty 201 3rd Avenue | 406.265.7845
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Havre,
MONTANA
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Havre,
MONTANA Havre Bicycle 117 4th Avenue | 406.265.3654 Havre Laundry & Drycleaning 34 1st Street | 406.265.2234 Havre Space Center 518 1st Street | 406.265.5922 Palace Bar 228 1st Street | 406.265.7584
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Havre,
MONTANA Saddle Butte Custom Smoking 2520 38th Street SE | 406.265.8533 Tire Rama 205 1st Street West | 406.265.4318 Havre Hill County Library 402 3rd Street | 406.265.2123 Havre Chamber of Commerce 130 5th Avenue | 406.265.4383
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Havre,
MONTANA
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Fort Assinniboine takes you back in time
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short drive south of Havre on U.S. Highway 87 allows people to step into the military history of the Old West. Fort Assinniboine, at one time, had more than 100 buildings and averaged about 600 officers, enlisted men and civilians who were stationed there each year. Today, it houses Montana State University’s Northern Agricultural Research Center. Many of the original buildings are gone, but a tour that captures its oncegrand history is available. Plans are under way to greatly expand the opportunities for tours, with hopes for tours to be offered hourly during the week, and twice a day on weekends. To make an appointment for a tour or to check on times for tours, call 406-2654000. Tour groups meet at the H. Earl Clack Museum at the Holiday Village Mall just west of Havre, and people drive their own vehicles to the fort. Once visitors arrive, the tour starts at the fort library, which until recently housed the headquarters of the agricultural station. The tour makes four stops, with the visitors walking around each area and receiving a detailed description of each site and its history from their guide. The fort’s history is extensive and colorful, though relatively short. Congress initially appropriated $100,000 to build a fort in northern Montana in 1878, two years after Custer’s defeat at the Battle of the Little Big Horn and one year after Chief Joseph and the band of Nez Perce trying to flee to Canada surrendered in the Bear Paw Mountains. Construction at Fort Assinniboine started in 1879, and eventually cost the U.S. government more than $1 million. Fort Assinniboine was abandoned 32 years later in 1911. The original plans for the fort included a military reservation of 700,000 acres,
including much of the Bear Paw Mountains, but later was reduced to 220,000 acres. Fort Assinniboine’s site, about six miles south of present-day Havre on the banks of Beaver Creek, was chosen because of its strategic location. Many traditional Native American trails crossed near the site, and it was close to the Canadian border, where many tribes had crossed back and forth. One major concern was caused by several bands of Sioux — totaling over 5,000 people — led by Chief Sitting Bull who moved to the Cypress Hills in Canada following the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The danger of the Sioux bands was, perhaps, overestimated in the few years following the 7th Cavalry's defeat under Colonel Custer. However, the U.S. Army leaders were also concerned that additional bands and tribes would join the Sioux in Canada. Another reason the United States created the fort was to prevent Sioux hostiles from raiding south of the Missouri River to steal cattle and horses — and to hunt for food in the Milk River country. The fort not only increased the feeling of safety for white settlers in Montana, but also helped prevent the tribes from raiding each other. The style of the fort was somewhat unusual for the time. It had no outer wall, since it was intended as an offensive location rather than a defensive one, and was primarily constructed of brick made on the site. It was one of the first forts in the West built of brick. Towers and turrets on buildings gave the fort a distinctive look unlike other military structures of the time. In its heyday, among the same 100 buildings, the post had more than just enlisted men’s barracks, officers’ quarters and cavalry stables. Along with the post ■ See Fort Assinniboine Page 19
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Fort Assinniboine
■ From Page 18
trader’s store, there was a post exchange, a hospital, a saloon, a hotel, a restaurant, a telegraph office, a photography studio, an extensive garden, an officers’ club, the “hop room” and a water tank that was heated in the winter to keep the fort’s water supply flowing during freezing weather. Life at the fort varied greatly between the officers and the enlisted men, although it was a remote and often boring existence for both. The officers had more elegant living quarters and had their social hall, for dining occasions, plays and musical entertainment and dancing. The regimental band could supply the music. Outside of their military duty, the enlisted men didn’t have as much to do except drinking and gambling, although a barracks for the fort band with a second floor for a recreation hall was eventually built. Accounts from the time say one of the greatest enemies the fort had was “the old black bottle.” The wild frontier town of Cypress — a few miles west of where Havre is now was reputed to have 32 saloons and two houses of ill repute and was a common destination for the enlisted men. A guardhouse that could hold 24 prisoners was built at the fort to help the officers respond to discipline problems and desertion. A second guardhouse with a capacity for 50 prisoners was later built. Desertion was relatively common, although perhaps no more than at any other fort. Accounts say that once the railroad arrived it became fairly easy for a soldier to put on civilian clothes and board the train to nonmilitary destinations. There is no record of major battles fought by the troops of Fort Assinniboine in Montana, although they did fight many skirmishes. The troops were kept busy with military duties. The troops had to keep the peace between tribes, escort tribes that had come south to Montana back to Canada, perform other escort duties, search for lost horses and stop contraband trade of liquor and other items from Canada. Some soldiers of note were stationed at Fort Assinniboine. Two companies of the African-American 10th Cavalry, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, were garrisoned at
The castled tower on the south end of the Bachelor Officer's Quarters at Fort Assinniboine is a typical example of the uncharacteristic elegance of this old west fort.
the fort in 1892. All 10 companies of the 10th Cavalry were eventually stationed at Assinniboine as other Montana frontier forts closed. The soldiers of the 10th Cavalry stayed in Montana until they rose to fame with their combat in the Spanish-American War in 1898. One of the company commanders of the 10th Cavalry at Fort Assinniboine was Lt. John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, who later became the general who commanded the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. By 1911, Havre and the Hi-Line had grown to a relatively settled state, with homesteaders dotting the countryside. The military need for the fort had diminished, and after the heated water tank burned to the ground for the third time, the U.S. government decided to stop garrisoning the fort. The state of Montana purchased the fort, intending it to be the location of an agricultural experiment station and college in the area. The college plans fell through, with Northern Montana College starting in Havre in 1929 instead. Other ideas tossed about for the fort location were a vocational school for Native Americans and an insane asylum. The present Northern Agricultural Research Center opened at the fort in 1915.
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Old Forts Trails
Visitors to the Hi-Line have a rare opportunity to trace the steps of settlers while viewing the trail of wagon wheels so deeply ingrained in the landscape they have stood the test of time and weather. The Old Forts Trail, an international historic trail, began at Fort Benton in Montana Territory. The eastern half of that trail, along the Benton-Walsh Trail, led to Fort Assinniboine and to forts Walsh, Battleford and Wood Mountain Post in Saskatchewan. The western branch along the Whoop-Up Trail connected Fort Benton with forts Whoop-Up, MacLeod and Calgary in Alberta, Canada. The trail was an international pioneer roadway and a vital economic and military link in the development of the Canadian and American West. There are interpretive centers and museums at each of the sites along the Old Forts Trail. The nationally distributed American Road速 magazine, which features locations on two-lane highways, featured the Old Forts Trail in their spring 2008 issue. The feature included seven illustrated pages on the history of Fort Benton, Fort Assinniboine, Bear Paw Battlefield, Fort Walsh, Medicine Hat and beyond. For information on how to view the trail locally, call the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce at 406-265-4383 or H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum at 406-265-4000, or go online to oldfortstrail.com.
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mack in the middle of dinosaur country, the Hi-Line has a series of dinosaur exhibits that are featured in Montana’s focus on the prehistoric, the Montana Dinosaur Trail. Created in 2005, the trail features 15 sites in 12 Montana communities including Havre, Chinook, Malta and Rudyard. People participating in the trail can purchase a “prehistoric passport,” which includes information about the displays at each of the 15 sites, information about fossils and a space to take notes, as well as the passport section. People taking the passport to the sites can receive a “dino icon” stamp from each location. Users who fill the passport with stamps from all 15 sites within five years receive a Montana Di-
nosaur Trail Prehistoric Passport T-shirt. The local dinosaur displays continue to grow. Slightly to the east of Havre in Malta two locations –– the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum and Field Station, and the Phillips County Museum –– feature displays on some world-famous fossils, including Leonardo, the mummified-thenfossilized duckbill dinosaur found near Malta and recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the best-preserved dinosaur fossil ever found. The Blaine County Museum in Chinook features extensive exhibits including different dinosaur fossils from the area, as well as marine reptiles, with visitors allowed to look at and actually handle fossils in the displays. The exhibits at the H. Earl Clack Museum in Havre also continue to grow,
with many new additions in the last few years. A recent addition to the museum system in Rudyard, which includes a classic car museum and the Museum of the Rockies-affiliated Depot Museum, is a set of dinosaur displays. Lifelike displays show visitors a representation of the ancient animals that once lived in the area. Dinosaur Trail Passport books can be purchased at the member sites of the trail or online at http://mtdinotrail. org/.
Hi-Line’s ancient history on display in Malta Montana has always had beautiful wildlife, even 65 million years ago. The Great Plains Dinosaur Museum and Field Station in downtown Malta allows visitors to sneak a peek at what Big Sky Country looked like back when it was Big Lizard Country. The museum has numerous specimens of diverse species, many of which were uncovered just outside of town. The museum’s duck-billed dinosaur, the hadrosaur Leonardo, may currently be on tour in Houston, Texas, but the rest of his hadrosaur family, Roberta and Peanut, are holding down the fort in Malta. They also have such popular species as the long-necked sauropod, a stegosaurus and a triceratops. Open from May 2 until autumn, the museum is open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through
Saturday, and from 12:30 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Other than dinosaur fossils, the museum currently has an exhibit of ancient sea creatures on loan from the Eichorns in Lewistown. For those interested in a more handson approach to the ancient world, the museum also offers three sessions of archaeological expeditions, for anyone at least 11 years old. During the sessions, July 30 to Aug. 3 and Aug. 20 to 24, paleontologist Dave Trexler leads attendees in hunt of signs of ancient life. Trexler, from the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center in Bynum, will teach groups how to excavate, record and transport fossils in the rugged plains of Phillips County. “Our main registration group is a family. It’s usually one of the kids that
gets fascinated with dinosaurs and the family decides to take some time in the field, but once we get out there it’s usually the parents that get into it,” Trexler said. “Everyone kind of has a misconception about what it’s all about when they get there. They’re usually pleasantly surprised when they get out there.” “It’s not just important work; it’s fun.” The museum’s biggest event of the year is the annual fundraising dinner during the second weekend of June, to coincide with Malta’s other big draws, the car show and races at the Phillips County Motor Sports drag strip. Information about the museum or any of their program offerings and events can be found online at www. greatplainsdinosaurs.org. Tour fees are $5 for adults, and $3 for youth 12 and under. There is no tour fee for members.
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Dining
in Havre, Montana
Full Throttle Grill 1903 5th Avenue 406.265.7505
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Havre
Beneath the Streets
a Vacation into
History People who go beneath the streets of Havre enter a different time. Havre Beneath the Streets Inc., a nonprofit corporation, re-created displays of old Havre businesses in spaces connected by a series of tunnels underneath downtown Havre. The attraction offers guided underground tours. Visitors will see period displays of a saloon, dental office, drug store, barber shop, meat market, businessman C.W. “Shorty” Young’s office, bakery, laundry, opium den and bordello complete with a wax figure of a madam made by retired railroader Jack VanKoten of Havre. VanKoten also completed a
figure of Young to display in the office re-created for the tour. This was the office from which Young, touted as a charitable and kindly man, operated saloons and dancehalls and possibly other, more illicit, operations. VanKoten has created five other wax figures for Beneath the Streets, as well as two figures for the Railroad Museum. Havre Beneath the Streets makes every effort to make the displays as authentic as possible. Though, little to no documentation exists about the businesses, the nonprofit has collected information from people who remembered the times and conducted other research.
Photograph courtesy of Steve Helmbrecht
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Photograph courtesy of Steve Helmbrecht
The displays beneath the street are of actual businesses from the past, like Holland and Son Mercantile, Wright’s Dental Office, the Sporting Eagle Saloon, the Pioneer Meat Market, Gourley Brothers Bakery, Boone’s Drug Store, Wah Sing Laundry and the Motor Services Co. These displays were created with items loaned or donated by people in the area and some found during the clean up and reconstruction of the underground. The gift shop in the Frank DeRosa Railroad Museum, which houses the above-ground offices for the site, has period memorabilia for Beneath the Streets as well as railroad items. Visitors can purchase decorative tins,
hard candy, histories of the area and more. The railroad museum has a selection of items showing the history of the railroad in the area. The coming of The Great Northern Railway was instrumental in the creation and growth of many towns on the Hi-Line. The hours for the summer tours are 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. seven days a week, with the ticket office in the museum open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Winter hours are 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for tours, with the office open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. After-hours tours are available by appointment. For more information, call (406) 265-8888.
Wahkpa Chu'gn Buffalo Jump
New and improved Buffalo Jump offers history to area visitors Nestled in the shadow of the Bear Paw Mountains, this is the most extensive and bestpreserved Native American hunting ground buffalo bone deposit in the northern Great Plains.
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ork is continuing just outside of Havre to improve facilities that offer a glimpse into thousands of years of history, with visitors able to step back in time and view native activities and culture at the bison kill site just behind the Holiday Village Mall. Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump has completed improvements to its concrete path down the hill behind the mall and plans more work on one of the exhibit buildings this summer. Last year it opened new structures to house the dig sites and a brand-new interpretive center at the entrance to the archeological dig, at the northern edge of the Holiday Village parking lot. The entrance to the site is just a short walk from the eastern entrances to the mall, which is just a walk through a hallway or the local Sears store to the location of the county H. Earl Clack Museum inside the mall. Wahkpa Chu’gn offers tours of the location where Native Americans, starting as early as 2,000 years ago, drove bison off the bluff overlooking the Milk River, the bed of the Missouri River before the last ice age pushed that river south. The Native Americans harvested the bison that fell to the base of the bluff, with
some cultures using an atlatl — a weapon with a handle that propels a javelin — in the process. The results of the harvest, including meat, hides, bones and sinews from the animals, provided food, weapons, tools and clothing for the Native American tribes using the site. Archaeologist John Brumley, who discovered the site as a child in 1961 and who manages the site with his wife, Anna Brumley, has identified several different Native American cultures that used the site over the centuries. The site holds special events demonstrating the use of the ancient atlatl weapon, along with an annual competition with the device, and regularly demonstrates stone boiling, an early Native American technique using heated rocks dropped into water to boil the meat. A new interpretive center, built by people participating in the YouthBuild program at Montana State University-Northern, was completed last spring and opened before start of last year's regular season at the site. The new housing for the displays at the site itself, including a set of stairs that provides the chance to walk past and look at the archaeological digs John Brumley is working
on, have been erected, with additional improvements planned this year. Upgrades to the site over the last decade include installation of a restroom and making the site handicap-accessible, as well as upgrading the display houses and adding the interpretive center. A mural celebrating the site, with a depiction of it crafted by Medicine Hat, Alberta, artist Jim Marshall, sits a short distance away at Boot Hill Plaza, halfway up the hill to the east of the site on U.S. Highway 2. Once project planning and construction are complete, a park will surround the mural. During the regular season from June 1 through Labor Day, the site opens at 9 a.m. with the last tour starting at 4 p.m. Costs for the tours are $9 for adults, $8 for seniors and $5 for students. Groups of 10 or more receive a $1 discount on each ticket. Special tours at the site are available, weather permitting, upon request out of season. For more information or to schedule a tour, contact Anna Brumley at 406-2656417, or 406-945-3503; Judi Dritshulas at 406-265-9516, or the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum at 406-265-4000.
Holiday Village Mall in Havre, Montana is your best source for all your shopping needs. From fashion to farming, appliances to beauty and toys to fitness, there is nothing you can’t find at Holiday Village Mall! We invite you to shop our extensive line of stores, including locally owned and operated small businesses that support our local community. Restrooms, Telephones, and ATMs available.
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High Line Heritage House Museum Welcomes You
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Havre Residential and Downtown Historic District Tours
he High Line Heritage House Museum warmly welcomes visitors to Havre and Hill County, Montana! Experience the grace of days gone by and learn about north central Montana history in Havre’s most elegant historic site. The High Line Heritage House Museum, affectionately known as The Cottage, is located in the historic, circa 1895, Boone and Dalrymple Home, the oldest single-family dwelling in the Havre Residential Historic District. It is also the home of Miss Emily Ann Mayer, executive director, curator your professional interpreter of The Cottage. This is a “house museum with a twist," where tasteful antique-inspired furnishings of recent vintage are carefully combined with genuine antiques and artifacts painstak-
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ingly collected over many years. These valuable pieces of history are lovingly paired with photo-
graphs, art and documents to interpret area history, people and events, much of which is not interpreted at other local sites. Annually changing theme-exhibits set The Cottage apart from other sites and provide the opportunity to learn about areas of local history not otherwise available. The theme exhibit for 2013 is Hill County Schools.
The Cottage is open Saturdays and Sundays beginning Memorial Day weekend through the end of the year. From Memorial Day weekend through the last weekend in September, tours begin on Saturdays at 10 a.m., with the last tour leaving at 5 p.m., and Sunday tours begin at 8 a.m. with the last tour leaving at 3 p.m. During the Holiday Season from the first weekend in October through the end of the year, tours begin on Saturdays at 11 a.m. with the last tour leaving at 4 p.m., and on Sundays the first tour leaves at noon and
the last tour leaves at 3 p.m. All tours are every hour on the hour. The Cottage is closed holidays; September 19-22 to attend the Montana History Conference; Thanksgiving weekend to prepare for Christmas at the Cottage; and Dec. 7. Costs for the 2013 season are: $8 for adults and $4 for children 10 and under with accompanying adult. At this time, only cash is accepted. Canadian currency is always at par with legal Canadian ID. The Cottage serves as headquarters for the Havre 120th Anniversary Celebration events throughout 2013, National Historic Preservation Month activities in May, Christmas at The Cottage in December, and all Historic Havre Strolls conducted by appointment only. There are three strolls of the Havre Residential Historic District, one of Old Downtown Havre and a Combination Old Townsite/Downtown Havre stroll. In addition, Miss
Emily offers periodic Cemetery Tours. These Historic Havre Strolls and Cemetery Tours have been painstakingly researched to provide the best information
possible for guests and are more interactive than self-guided walking tours. Ask Miss Emily or visit The Cottage’s website for more information on these and other events and services offered by High Line Heritage Resources. The Cottage is a taxpaying private entrepreneurship. Funding comes from private sources, proceeds from tours, tea parties, books and other products and research services. The Cottage does not use government funding for its operations, restoration, maintenance, acquisition of
artifacts, production of publications or for advertising and promotion. It is easy to keep informed about the happenings at the Cottage! Visit online to http://www. highlinecottage.com; check our Facebook page; High Line Heritage Resources; go to Pintrest, The Cottage; check Twitter (@TheCottage8); or e-mail highlineheritageresources@ havremt.net. Call 406-399-5225 or 265-6233, or send mail to132 Third Street, Havre, MT 59501.
Havre's Historic Districts Residential , Downtown and Railroad
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avre offers three historic district tours for people to learn about the past: the Havre Residential District, the Downtown District and the Railroad District. All will give you a wonderful look back at Havre’s development over the
years. Self-guided walking tour maps are available at the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, 130 5th Ave., and the Havre-Hill County Library, 402 3rd St.
Havre Residential Historic District The Havre Residential Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The first settler in what is now Havre was John Bell, a sergeant from Fort Assinniboine. His first home was a simple log cabin. With the coming of the railroad came more settlers and they became merchants, business people, farmers, ranchers and entrepreneurs. As their finances increased, so did the need for permanent homes and many forms of popular architecture were constructed and still proudly exist today. All homes in the HRHD are privately owned. People are asked to respect the privacy of the homeowners and residents –– leave only footprints and take only photographs from the public right of ways – streets, boulevards and sidewalks.
The homestead boom and the creation of Hill County sparked the growth of businesses and industries. Many of Havre’s big commercial businesses like the Havre Commercial Company, the Lou Lucke Company and the H. Earl Clack Company were located on 3rd Avenue. These companies capitalized on the large number of people arriving or passing through town. New industries and businesses continued to develop and meet the needs of the growing community. These companies expanded while cementing Havre’s place as the regional hub in north-central Montana. Historic Railroad District In 1891, Bullhook Siding was chosen as the Great Northern Railway division point but railroad officials, especially Hill, did not think “Bullhook Bottoms” was a dignified enough name for their new rail hub. To decide on a new name, the town held a meeting. Though that first meeting ended in a brawl, the second meeting was more successful. There, the citizenry agreed that only the original five homesteaders, Gus Descelles, Exor Pepin, who was the nephew of Simon Pepin, Tom McDevitt, Joe Demars and Charlie Goutchie would be allowed to vote. After several suggestions, including “France” to acknowledge their common heritage, Gus Descelles then suggested Havre after his parents’ hometown of Le Havre, France. “Havre” means “the haven or harbor” and won the vote. In 1890, the Great Northern sent several hundred workers to Bullhook Bottoms to build a depot and several rail sidings. The depot was complete with a platform about two feet off the ground to facilitate boarding passengers and loading freight. The depot served as the gateway to the community. In 1904, a new depot was constructed, it is still used today, trimmed with granite and fronted by a small landscaped park. In August 1893, 26 people voted to incorporate Havre as a city on Sept. 5 of that year. The town-site was platted south of the railroad tracks on parts of Descelles’ and Simon Pepin’s ranches. ■ See Havre Historic District Page 36
Havre’s Historic Downtown Business District James J. Hill was very aware of the corrupt image Havre had, and he attempted to “clean up” the town. Hill called for social change, claiming Havre’s image tarnished any chance to entice outside visitors. Local entrepreneurs saw the potential the homestead boom could provide and promoted Havre as well. The Havre Industrial Association and the Havre Business Association did their parts to bring settlers to Havre with such slogans as “Boast Don’t Knock” and the newspaper ads described Havre as a “City of Progress.”
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County museum opens in new mall location for season
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he main Hill County museum continues its operations in the east end of the Holiday Village Mall, making improvements and additions to its displays of local history. Those displays range from paleontological exhibits as part of the Montana Dinosaur Trail to displays of one of the largest forts of the19th century, the Fort Assinniboine base of the U.S. Cavalry, located just a few miles southwest of where Havre later would be founded. The fort was built in 1879 at the end of the Indian Wars, shortly after the defeat of Gen. George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn and the surrender of the Nez Perce at the Battle of the Bear Paws in what would become Blaine County. It is known for housing the Buffalo Soldiers black 10th Cavalry, which became famous for its service during the Spanish American war, and a young then-Lt. John “Black Jack” Pershing, who went on to be the commander of Allied forces in World War I. Displays of local Native American history — including a close alliance to its county sister-site, the Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump archaeological site just north of the mall — sit along with exhibits honoring the farmers and ranchers who worked the land. Other exhibits display local figures — such as cowboy, lawman and convicted rustler Long George Francis, who died frozen in a snowstorm while out on bond awaiting his transport to his sentencing — depict life in the town and region from a century back through the world wars, and show products and images from businesses of times gone by. A newly added exhibit shows clothing given to state Sen. William Cowan of Box Elder, known as Little Bone Chief, by a local
Havre Daily News/file photo Ten-year-old Gunnar Wickum of Havre, in the orange T-shirt, unveils the skull casting of Stygi, the newest member of the H. Earl Clack Museum's dinosaur exhibit, during the museum's grand opening June 2012 in the Holiday Village Mall.
Indian tribe. Cowan, an influential senator, postmaster and U.S. land commissioner as well as businessman and rancher, started his career in the area working with his father including buying bison bones to ship east to be made into bone char for sugar processing. A large section of the museum deals with the earliest inhabitants of the region. As a member of the Montana Dinosaur Trail, the Clack Museum offers displays of dinosaurs and other prehistoric residents includ-
ing 75-million-year-old dinosaur eggs and embryos, and skeletal remains of dinosaurs that roamed the area and other castings and fossils. A new tenant, Stygi, a casting of a skull of a stygimolocha dinosaur, will join the museum this year. The Clack Museum was awarded the casting for winning a contest in stamping the passport books from the Montana Dinosaur Trail. The museum also offers a well-stocked gift shop and book store for its visitors.
Historic District ■ From Page 35
Like many railroad towns, Havre’s streets were set in a grid formation, with the east-west orientation of the railroad serving as the northern boundary of the town paralleled to the south by Main Street, which fronted the railroad tracks, followed by 1st through 3rd Streets. The avenues ran perpendicular to the tracks with 3rd Avenue running south from the Great Northern depot. The depot served as the gateway to the commercial district of Havre.
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H. Earl Clack built the first grain elevator in the area, which led to a chain of five elevators that handled more than 2 million bushels of grain a day. The depot was complete with a platform about two feet off the ground to facilitate boarding passengers and loading freight. The depot served as the gateway to the community. In 1904, a new depot was constructed, still used today, trimmed with granite and fronted by a small landscaped park.
Havre Festival Days A Community Celebration
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ith the end of summer comes that wonderful time of year – fall and Havre Festival Days. This year’s theme is “Honoring our Past and Celebrating our Future.” In the 1960s, Havre's long standing Music Festival was discontinued leaving the town without a community celebration. In 1980, a group of community members organized the first Havre Festival Days and this citywide celebration has become a fitting conclusion to the summer. A full schedule of events will be part of this year’s celebration, September 20-22. Collector Festival Days Buttons will be available along with a commemorative beer mug, both showcasing this year’s logo depicting the Hill County Courthouse. New this year will be a commemorative collector photo/print of the courthouse done by Steve Helmbrecht for the celebration. The weekend starts Friday with the opening of the 48-hour softball tournament, the Quilt Show and the Friends of the Library Book sale. The fun continues Saturday, starting with the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast. The parade, the high-
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light of the weekend, brings together spectators and paraders from far and wide. The parade truly captures the spirit and pride of the community, from the HHS Marching band, to floats representing clubs, organizations and local businesses to farm equipment, vintage automobiles, and horses. There are visiting entries from our Canadian neighbors as well. The Festival of Crafts opens at the Great Northern Fairgrounds and the Saturday Market at Town Square concludes it market season. The weekend’s fun schedule wraps up on Sunday with the Festival Walk/Run, and the conclusion of the 48-hour soft tournament, the craft show, the book sale and the quilt show. A great fall weekend combined with a lot of fun for your family to enjoy makes for a perfect Festival Days celebration. Join in the fun and help celebrate Havre’s 120th birthday at the 33rd celebration of Havre Festival Days. Havre Festival Days is a weekend organized by the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce and orchestrated by many for the whole community to have fun.
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Take the kids to the
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avre has more than 20 parks, plus a large city pool and other trails and park areas: • Havre-Hill County Community Swimming Pool, 420 6th Ave., indoor and open year-round. • Havre Community Skate Park, on 9th Street at Legion Lane. • Pepin Park, 4th Street and 7th Avenue, has playground equipment, restrooms, gazebo, horseshoe pits, barbecue pits, drinking fountain and picnic tables. • Carpenter Park, 4th Street and 12th Avenue, playground equipment, tennis courts, basketball courts and benches. • Lions Park, Main Street and 16th Avenue, restrooms and a baseball/softball field. • Eagles Park, 1st Street and 18th Avenue, playground equipment, drinking fountain, restrooms, horseshoe pits and picnic tables. • Patterson Park, 9th Street and 11th Avenue, playground equipment, fitness trail with stations, drinking fountain, restrooms, basketball court, off-street parking and picnic tables. • American Legion Park, 9th Street and 11th Avenue, baseball field with grandstand. • Elks Park, north and south of 16th Street at 9th Avenue, playground equipment, baseball field, drinking fountain and
PARK
restrooms. • Bill Vaughey Memorial Tennis Courts, south of Elks Park at 17th Street and 9th Avenue, four tennis courts. • Heritage Park, Heritage Drive and Bullhook Road, two sand volleyball courts and playground equipment. • Rotary Park, 19th Street and Beaver Creek Boulevard, playground equipment, drinking fountain, sun shade, barbecue pits and open grass area. • S Curve Park, 10th Street and 1st Avenue (northeast of MSU-Northern marquee sign). • Tourist Park, 1st Street and 12th Avenue, picnic tables and playground equipment. • Deaconess Park, 11th Street and Kennedy Avenue, playground equipment and open grass area. • First Bank Park, 11th Street West, off-street parking, walking and jogging trails and drinking fountain. • Optimist Park, Boulevard Avenue and 9th Street West, two baseball/softball fields, playground equipment, restrooms, horseshoe pits, basketball court, drinking fountain, off-street parking and picnic tables. • 6th Avenue Memorial Softball Field, 12th Street and 6th Avenue, men’s fast pitch and women’s softball field, concession stand and restrooms.
• Softball Complex, Beaver Creek Highway south of Border Patrol Havre Sector headquarters, two men’s slow pitch and women's softball fields, playground equipment, concession stand and restrooms. • Sunrise Edition Park, 6th Street and 12th Avenue, playground equipment. • Memorial Park, 12th Street and 6th Avenue, ice skating area and picnic area. Other recreational areas in the city include Northern Montana Hospital's Community Fitness Park and the Bill Baltrusch Walking Trail. People can play softball or soccer on the playing fields, or enjoy a picnic on the tables at the fitness park, located at 15th Street and Montana Avenue behind the hospital. A walking track and restrooms are also onsite. Recently paved to make it more accessible to elderly people and people with strollers, the Baltrusch Walking Trail offers 2 1/2 miles of trail. Runners, bikers and walkers can also add a mile of unpaved gravel trail to the paved section if they so choose. The trail follows the contours of the land, with slight inclines, but is easily traveled by anyone. An exercise station is found at the beginning of the trail at the south end of 12th Avenue and the corner of 17th Street.
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Arts and Culture
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avre is well known for its numerous enticements for history buffs, archaeology lovers, adventurers and the like. It also offeres an extensive, living and breathing artistic culture. Visitors to Havre can indulge their senses, whether their pleasure is live music, visual arts or theater. Easy on the eyes Artitudes Art Gallery, located in the Atrium Mall at 220 3rd Ave., showcases the artwork of a number of local and area artists. Every kind of art medium, from painting to photography to sculpture, abounds to suit any art lover’s taste. Sometimes the feature rooms hold more than one artists’ work in keeping with a certain theme, such as the Global Art Project and Eco-Art showing with environmental co-themes. Artitudes is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 406-265-2104. The Hi-Line Art Association has a large membership of local artists as well. The activities of the association include an Art and Garden Tour every other year, the next will be this summer, and an annual art show at Van Orsdel United Methodist Church in November. Music to the ears The Northern Showcase Concert Association offers a wide range of concerts and stage entertainment by nationally known artists. The price of a season ticket provides admittance to six concerts and one Montana Actors’ Theatre performance for a full range of performing arts. The Northern Showcase Concert Association has been honored by other concert association productions across the state. For more information and to purchase tickets, call Pam Hillery at 406-265-4455 or Denise Brewer at Montana State UniversityNorthern at 406-265-3700. Havre is also home to a number of talented bands, including country western, rock and jazz bands, that regularly perform at local establishments.
Intrigue for the soul Montana Actors’ Theatre presents plays year-round in the theater located on the college campus. Productions by this theater troupe, which has expanded to include groups in Great Falls and Missoula, range from quirky humor to the dramatic. Actors and directors from the community generally host several plays throughout the year, as well as summer youth activities. For more information, visit www.mtactors.com.
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MSU-N Collections
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ven before entering the Science Center building on the Montana State University-Northern campus, visitors are treated to vestiges of this area's past. A large palm stump along the north entrance is proof of the once tropical climate in the area. A large sandstone block along the south entrance shows a myriad of clam shells embedded in it –– proof of the inland seas that once inundated this area in the distant past. Inside the main entrance is a full-body mount of the now extinct Rocky Mountain sheep that Lewis and Clark and other early voyagers encountered in their voyages up the Missouri River. The animal was killed in 1900, the body mounted and put on display at the fabled Lou Lucke store in downtown Havre and the mount later moved to the Science Center when the store closed. A turn in the hallway to the right shows on the wall of the classroom, a cast of an almost complete skeleton of a plesiosaur found in the area and representative of the shallow and tropical seas that once occupied this
area. Continuing down the north hallway, the visitor will see a large variety of other fossil materials in the display cases along the wall.
birds done by Northern Montana College science students in the 1960s. Adjacent classrooms have more bird specimens along with an assortment of other local animals. A large exhibit back in the hallway, displays more fossils and some of the rocks unique to the nearby Bear Paw Mountains.
Viewing of the collections is possible
during regular hours of university operation. Classes in session, however, may not be disturbed. Guided tours can be obtained by contacting science department personnel in More fossils, including the preserved bones of an ice age elephant grace some of the exhibits on the north end of the second floor display cases. An extensive collection of Native American clothing and artifacts are displayed along the south end of the second floor hallway. The collection was made in the 1930s and donated to the college. Descending the stairs at the south end of the building brings the visitor to displays containing an extentive collection of local
advance.
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College Town
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Montana State University-Northern
avre is home to one of the main campuses of the Montana State University system, Montana State University-Northern. Founded in the 1920s as Northern Montana College, the university has many programs in numerous fields, including education, nursing, a widely praised four-year diesel degree and a world-class biodiesel and alternative energy research facility. Northern also offers visitors and community members a number of activities ranging from athletics to theater and from formal dances to musical concerts. The main attraction that Northern, like most universities, has to offer visitors is sports, including football, basketball, wrestling, volleyball, rodeo and golf. And with a newly renovated and still historic Armory Gymnasium, sports on the MSU-N campus are as exciting as ever.
The Northern Lights men’s basketball team also gets the Hi-Line pumped up each season, especially during games against conference rivals Carroll College. The Lights basketball team has done so well recently that they capped their last three seasons by flying to Kansas City to compete in the NAIA national championship. The Lights, under head coach Shawn Huse have had eight straight 20-win seasons, and have won Frontier Conference championships in two of the last three seasons. The MSU-N women's basketball team has also reached the Frontier Conference semifinals the last two years and went to the NAIA national tournament as recently as 2005. One of the most successful spectator sports at Northern is wrestling, featuring a program that since 1990 has captured numerous national championships. Under now
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head coach Tyson Thivierge, Lights' wrestling is thriving again. Northern recently finished third at the NAIA national tournament. While fans often pile into the Northern Fieldhouse to support the wrestling and basketball teams, the MSU-N football team has been a traditional fan favorite, packing crowds into Blue Pony Stadium to cheer on that autumn weekend crunching.
The MSU-N volleyball program is also on the rise. Under head coach Bill Huebsch, the Skylights went all the way to the Frontier Conference championship match last fall and will return in 2013 as one of the top teams in the Frontier Conference. For all people who have interests outside the realm of athletics, MSU-N has plenty of other activities. Locally started, though now statewide, Montana Actors’ Theatre produces several plays a year, from historical dramas to goofy comedies, frequently with intriguing takes, but always of astounding quality. The institution also brings events like concerts and comedians, usually for free for students and at reasonable rates for anyone. One of the highlights of Northern’s yearlong event calendar is the springtime formal, the We Love Northern Ball, which brings together Northern supporters and alumni of all kinds to celebrate the regionally vital institution.
Great Northern Fair
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rocks north-central Montana
venerable tradition will again draw thousands to the Great Northern Fairgrounds in July to try dozens of kinds of special foods, brave the traditional fair rides, peruse commercial booths, partake in free stage entertainment, watch 4-H presentations and competitions and see major arena events each night, with some changes to this year's lineup. The annual Great Northern Fair starts in Havre Wednesday, July 17, running through Sunday, July 21, with attractions for virtually any fair aficionado. The annual regional fair draws its roots from the Great Northern Stampede, which began in Havre nearly 100 years ago. The midway at the Hill County event holds
a wide variety of rides and games each year, from children’s rides to more hair-raising thrillers, and numerous carnival games. A main draw to the fair each year, however, are the food booths generally used by local nonprofit groups like the Lions, Optimists, Rotary and groups from Montana State University-Northern to sell food as a fundraiser. Local favorites usually include pronto pup corn dogs, ■See Great Northern Fair Page 66
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Boaters, anglers, campers gather at Fresno Reservoir
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resno Reservoir, 7,388 surface acres of recreational water, is about 12 miles west of Havre. Built for irrigation and flood control in the 1930s, Fresno is a very popular fishing spot, with walleye, northern pike, yellow perch, crappie and lake whitefish. Its 65 miles of shoreline, concrete boat ramp and developed beach make Fresno popular for boating, water-skiing, swimming and camping. The Fresno Chapter of Walleyes Unlimited has ongoing projects to improve facilities for campers, including covered picnic areas, restrooms and campsites. Fresno Reservoir offers year-
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round, world-class recreation from ice fishing tournaments in late winter to beaches, swimming, boating and fishing in early summer through fall. High water levels at the beginning of warmer weather lead up to the layers of massive rock shelves perfect for sunbathing and for jumping into the water below. And the boating and jet skiing opportunities are spectacular. Throughout the summer, as water levels lower, islands appear, offering afternoons of exploration and markers for swimming races. In fall, Fresno's many trees offer vibrant scenery with the leaves changing colors against the blue-green water — an amazing setting for afternoon nature walks.
Havre, B
Hub of the Hi-Line
y 1889 a few people were living north of Fort Assinniboine in an area called Bullhook Bottoms, at the confluence of Bullhook Creek –– which flows out of the hill now called Saddle Butte –– and the Milk River. Due to the proximity of Fort Assinniboine, many people of dubious quality settled in the bottom and ran bars and brothels out of cottonwood cabins and tents. Bullhook was a range town in the finest sense of the word. At one time it was such a tough town that railroad magnate James J. Hill threatened to pull his railroad hub out. However, Hill needed the new division point for his Great Northern Railway because the point at Fort Assinniboine Station didn’t have sufficient water. The towns of Yantic, later called Lohman, and Chinook had already been settled on the Milk River. After drilling test wells at Yantic and Chinook, Hill determined that Chinook didn’t have sufficient water. While water was plentiful at Yantic, he couldn’t reach a purchase agreement with homesteaders there. So he returned his focus to Bullhook Bottoms. It’s said that Simon Pepin, Ed Broadwater and Joe DeMars provided land for the new railroad facility. Three Frenchmen had settled in Bullhook Bottoms in what is now the town proper of Havre. Gus Decelles settled in the area where the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line is now located. Pepin, who was to become the proclaimed founder and father of the town, settled in the vicinity of the present-day Havre-Hill County Library, and Joe DeMars settled in what is now the east end of Havre. Those Frenchmen, along with fellow squatters Tom McDevitt and Charlie Goutchie, went about choosing a new name for Bull-
hook after Hill expressed displeasure with the name. Many names, mostly French, were discussed, and finally Decelles suggested they use the name Le Havre, in honor of the French seaport that was the hometown of his family. The name was chosen and a telegram sent back to Great Northern headquarters in St. Paul, Minn., where it was approved. Eventually, the name was shortened to Havre and pronounced “have-er.” Eventually a new mayor was elected to clean up the town. Louis Newman did just that and, after his sometimes dangerous tenure in Havre, was awarded the Great Northern Lunch Room franchise along most of the rail line in 1904. Just as the fledgling town was getting on its feet, a huge fire broke out in the downtown area in January 1904. Five blocks of the business district burned to the ground. Fires in the next two years led to a rebuilding of most of the downtown section of Havre — as well as the establishment of a professional fire department and new building codes. From 1909 to about 1917, a time of major influx of homesteaders, Havre and the surrounding area had many ethnic communities. Most of the north country was settled by Scandinavians. French and French Canadians settled in or near the Bear Paw Mountains. In Havre itself, there was a Japanese neighborhood along with strong Greek and Italian communities. Many of those residents worked on the railroad. Through the years, Havre became home to Northern Montana College, now Montana State University-Northern, and strong merchant empires like the Buttrey chain of food and department stores.
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Beaver Creek Park J
Visit the largest county park in the nation while visiting the area
ust south of Havre in the Bear Paw Mountains is a little-known treasure — more than 10,000 acres stretched along 17 miles offering picnics, hiking, fishing, camping and more. Beaver Creek Park is in a new phase in its nearly century-old history, with a new group forming to find funding, provide volunteer labor and suggest improvements to the park. The park was first created in 1916 in the same legislation that created its neighbor, Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation. Congress designated the area, now called Beaver Creek Park, at the eastern edge of what had been the Fort Assinniboine military reservation, a city recreation area for the young city of Havre. Much work was done in the park by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. In 1947, the Hill County government bought the park and took over its operation. The funding for the park primarily comes from the sale of park use permit — a seasonal or day-use permit must be purchased to use the park — as well as leases of more than 100 cabins, reservations of large camp sites, sale of hay-harvesting leases and leasing cattle grazing rights during the off season. The latest turn in the park's history was the creation of the nonprofit group Friends of Beaver Creek Park, which formed last winter to help find ways to fund improvements and operations, help by its members volunteering for tasks like picking up litter and other work, and come up with ideas for improvements, pending approval by the county government. And the recreational opportunities in the park are nearly endless. Fishing is common in Beaver Creek, both in Beaver Creek Reservoir just south of Havre; Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Bear Paw Lake farther south; Rotary Pond even deeper into the park; other natural ponds; and in the streams themselves. Check with FWP at 2165 U.S Highway 2 E., Havre, or call 406-265-6177, for information about licenses, local regulations and other information. Park use permits are available at the park office at Camp Kiwanis, deep in the park itself, at the Hill County Courthouse on 3rd Avenue and 4th Street in Havre, and at Havre businesses Bing ’n’ Bob’s Sports Shop
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Photograph courtesy of Peggy Ray
on 3rd Street and Stromberg’s Sinclair 1st Street and 12th Avenue. The permits are $30 for county residents, $40 for nonresidents and $7 for day-use permits. Campsites are scattered throughout the 17-mile length of the park, along the banks of the lakes and ponds as well as off of the main road, and are available for barbecues or picnics as well as camping. Larger sites must be reserved in advance. For more information about reservations and fees, people can call the park office at Camp Kiwanis at 406-395-4565. Along with shorelines at the lakes and camp sites throughout the park, trails wander through aspen groves and mountain meadows and hit summits of mountains just a few hundred feet from the valley floor. Even the most difficult hikes can be made by young children and elderly people without much difficulty. Although some trails and trail heads may be poorly marked, if marked at all, park officials at Camp Kiwanis can give directions and suggest hiking areas. The lower areas of Beaver Creek Park are home to rattlesnakes, so caution should be taken when hiking through these parts. There have been mountain lion sightings in the upper park areas, so
caution should be observed there as well. Rotary Falls and Canyon hike: The canyon just to the north of Bear Paw Lake is popular for hiking. There are crude trails in the canyon on both sides of Beaver Creek, and building a major, marked and signed trail is one of the initial projects identified by Friends of Beaver Creek Park. The entire area can be accessed from the dam at Bear Paw Lake, the Beaver Creek Highway just north of Bear Paw Lake at the bottom of Rotary Hill, or by side roads above the canyon. The canyon is spectacular, and seeing Rotary Falls — the largest falls in Beaver Creek Park — is beautiful in winter or summer. The best way to get to the waterfall is to park at a campground west of the highway at the bottom of Rotary Hill and stroll up paths on the north or south side of the creek. The path to the north is an easier walk, being on more level ground, while the paths to the south crisscross the top of Rotary Canyon. Getting close to the waterfall is not possible from that side of the creek, but views of the canyon and waterfall from above are impressive. ■ See Beaver Creek Park Page 49
Beaver Creek Park ■ From Page 48
Hiking the rest of the canyon up to the spillway of Bear Paw Lake is also beautiful, as well as tricky, with the gorge sometimes just wide enough for the stream. On the wooded hillside south of the waterfall are the remains of an old Rotary Youth Camp built in the early 1900s. Mount Otis climb: The Mount Otis climb is a gentle, winding set of switchbacks leading from Mooney’s Coulee to the top of Mount Otis. This trail was built by Civilian Conservation Corps workers in the late 1930s and still is in good condition. Views are beautiful, and at times the trail meanders beside a lush fir forest on the north side of the mountain. Access to this hike is gained by traveling up Beaver Creek Highway past the Taylor Road turn to a marked coulee called Mooney’s Coulee. Drive up the coulee to the marked trail head on the north, or left, side of the road. Beaver Creek Trail hike: Beaver Creek Trail is the name of the first road through the upper reaches of Beaver Creek Park. This road hangs high above the valley floor mostly on the west side and stretches several miles to the Rocky Boy Recreation Area where it continues almost to Mount Baldy. After an elevation gain to get to the trail, it is remarkably flat all the way through Beaver Creek Park. The trail is one of the best areas of Beaver Creek Park for berry picking. An easy place to access the trail is at the Lions picnic shelter. Visitors will find the trail just above the valley floor to the west. Blackie Coulee Overlook Trail: This hike is one of the most difficult to find and is one of the most beautiful to take. Blackie Coulee is the last coulee on the east of Beaver Creek Park before the park joins the Rocky Boy Recreation Area. Head across the Beaver Creek ford in the middle of a camping area and start up the narrow and winding Blackie Coulee Road. Watch closely after going up a steep hill for the culvert along Blackie Creek. Stop there. A clearly marked trail takes off up through a meadow and hillside to the north and winds up at an overlook with great views looking up the Beaver Creek Valley. A rock monument rises at that point.
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Fish On!
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ishing is a popular recreation on the Hi-Line, and a cornucopia of opportunities exists for people who live in the area and people who visit. An abundance of sites, some privately owned and some owned by the county, state or federal government, provide angling for a multitude of both warm and cold water game fish. There are many sites, for creek, river and lake fishing in the area. Regulations and seasons vary from site to site. Cody Nagel of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Havre said the office has a current listing of regulations, including possession limits and where live bait is allowed. Most anglers need two licenses to fish in Montana — both a conservation license and a fishing license. A warm water stamp is needed to fish for warm water species. Some of the opportunities for lake fishing include the federally managed Fresno Reservoir west of Havre, which has walleye, northern pike, yellow perch, crappie and lake whitefish. There is also the privately owned Bailey’s Reservoir, south of Kremlin, with northern pike, crappie, yellow perch and walleye. South of Havre in the Bear Paw Mountains, the county-owned Beaver Creek Reservoir has rainbow, brown, brook and cutthroat trout as well as yellow perch, walleye, northern pike and smallmouth bass.
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Farther south at Bear Paw Lake, a FWP location, there are rainbow, brook and cutthroat trout, walleye and smallmouth bass. A few miles more to the south in Normandy Coulee is Rotary Pond, a county-owned location, where anglers can find rainbow and brook trout. Reser Reservoir northwest of Chinook, a federal location, offers yellow perch and bluegill. North Faber Reservoir east of Chinook and just north of U.S. Highway 2, also a federal location, has rainbow trout and has rebounded from a low water level last year. The levels this spring were good. South of Chinook, and just north of Lloyd, the privately owned Grasshopper Reservoir has rainbow trout. Privately owned Ross Reservoir, west of Lloyd, is open the third Saturday in May through Nov. 30, and has cutthroat trout. Faber Reservoir, just south east of Cleveland, is managed by FWP and has rainbow trout. Cow Creek Reservoir, about 15 miles south of Lloyd, has tiger muskie, walleye, channel catfish and yellow perch. Stream and river fishing in the area includes Beaver Creek south of Havre, portions of which are on private land and portions of which cross county land. Rainbow, brook, brown and cutthroat trout can be found in Beaver Creek. The Milk River below Fresno Reservoir has rainbow and brown trout, wall-
eye, sauger, pike, yellow perch, whitefish and channel catfish. Big Sandy Creek, which comes out of the Bear Paw Mountains by Big Sandy and flows north to the Milk River west of Havre, has rainbow and brook trout, northern pike and bullheads. Little Box Elder Creek flows out of the Bear's Paw Mountains into the Milk River east of Havre near the Blaine County line and has brook and rainbow trout. Access to stream fishing in Blaine County is mostly across private land. Sauger, walleye, northern pike, yellow perch, ling and catfish can be found in the Milk River. South of Chinook, Clear Creek has rainbow, brook and brown trout. Battle Creek, which flows from the north into the Milk River east of Chinook, has walleye, pike, yellow perch and bullhead in its lower portion. Peoples Creek, which flows through the Bear Paw Mountains past Cleveland onto the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, has brook and rainbow trout. Cow Creek, which starts south of Lloyd and flows into the Missouri River, has brook trout in its upper portion. Always check regulations before fishing an area, and always ask before fishing on private land. For more information, contact the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Havre at 2165 U.S. Highway 2 E.; 406-265-6177.
The Grandeur R
ecreation and history abound in the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. The Breaks were a wonder to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their voyage with the Corps of Discovery and have provided a spot for recreation and work for most of the time since. President Bill Clinton declared more than 377,000 acres of public Breaks land as monument in January 2001. About 120,000 more acres of state and private land are reserved to become part of the monument if sold or given to the federal government. The Bureau of Land Management, which managed the land before Clinton’s proclamation, continues to manage the monument. Access to the monument is generally by gravel roads, although, highways from Malta and Harlem meet and cross the Missouri just off the eastern edge of the monu-
of the Missouri River Breaks
ment in the James Kipp Recreation Area. Many outfitters are licensed to run boating trips and other organized expeditions down the river, and two of the three ferries operating on the upper Missouri are in the monument. One is at Virgelle, and the McClelland Ferry joins the roads between Chinook and Winifred. BLM has a visitor center in a more than 100-year-old building in Fort Benton, a town that is a registered historic site. Volunteers staff the center during the summer months and provide information about the monument, the Fort Benton community and local sites. The center also has a bookstore and interpretive displays. Some commercial uses of the Breaks, including cattle grazing, and oil and gas exploration on existing leases, continue. Recreational uses include camping, hiking,
fishing, hunting, sightseeing and noncommercial fossil seeking as permitted by rules and regulations prior to the area becoming a monument. Vehicles are allowed on existing roads and authorized trails, but the area is closed to off-road use of motorized or mechanized vehicles, including mountain bikes. A variety of plants and animals live in the monument, including more than 60 species of mammals, 20 amphibians and reptiles, and 48 species of fish. For more information, contact the BLM River Management Station in Fort Benton at 406-622-3839, or the Fort Benton Visitors Center at 406-622-5185. On the Net: BLM Upper Missouri Breaks Monument: www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/ fo/lewistown_field_office/umrbnm.html
The LITTLE ROCKIES
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here are three day-trips from Havre that provide memorable sightseeing in the Little Rockies, including areas around Zortman, Landusky and Hays. A trip across the northern Little Rockies is a beautiful sight. In the distance, rugged limestone cliffs separate the mountains from the vast northern prairies. Getting to the Little Rockies is simple. Just head south of Harlem or Malta and watch for road signs along the way. Zortman The Zortman area has the largest population of the Little Rockies and a wide variety of things to see with rental cabins, a motel, a restaurant and a bar for visitors' comfort. Performances are offered periodically at the town's Lewis and Clark Amphitheater. Camp Creek Campground is close to the town and gold-panning and hiking trails are available. The town was founded by Peter Zortman, who earlier had founded the town of Lloyd in the Bear Paw Mountains. The fortunes of Zortman were closely tied to the Whitcomb family, owners of part or
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most of the Ruby Mine at varying times, having such partners in the mine as B.D. Phillips, C.J. McNamara and the Colburn family. It is said that the Whitcomb family made and lost several fortunes through the years. At times they lived in one of the mansions of Helena, then as fortunes faded they would move back to various houses they had in Zortman, at the Ruby Mill or over the divide from the mine on Beaver Creek. A good way to learn about the Whitcombs is to visit the heavily forested cemetery at Zortman, where the Whitcombs have their own area separate from the rest of the townsfolk. People in Zortman can point out the Whitcomb house in town — tiny and nondescript in this day — and they will give directions to get over the divide, down to Beaver Creek where another Dutch-style Whitcomb house sits, deserted and intriguing. In Zortman, which has a Swiss flavor, folks can visit the tiny Catholic church. Perched on a hill above town, the church was given to the community by the Whitcomb family and is used to this day.
On the bluffs east of Zortman are caves and indentations filled with tiny fossils, reminding everyone that at one time all this area was a vast ocean. Hays The town of Hays boasts a bed and breakfast, a store, and the nearly hidden entrance to the beautiful Mission Canyon, which provides a host of campgrounds, picnic areas and powwow grounds. The mission at Hays is as historic as anything in this part of Montana. It was founded before the turn of the century by Father Eberschweiler, who in 1905 established St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church in Havre. The mission is still intact and beautiful in its simplicity. In nearby Mission Canyon, limestone cliffs tower above a very narrow gorge that is sometimes almost too narrow for both the road and Mission Creek. If Native American culture is an interest, the upper canyon is home to powwows each summer, as well as religious ceremonies. Landusky Landusky is mostly a ghost
town these days. It is the place where Kid Curry shot and killed Pike Landusky in "Jew Jake" Harris' saloon in 1894 after a brawl and started a life of crime that ended in these parts with the robbery of a Great Northern Railway passenger train at Wagner just west of Malta on July 3, 1901. Some of the loot has never been found. Kid Curry was captured in Tennessee then escaped and never was found. An area south of Landusky is rumored as the hiding place for that loot, and Kid Curry’s hideouts are reportedly still standing in that part of the Little Rockies and adjoining Missouri Breaks. The grave of Pike Landusky lies on a hill on his former homestead just south of Landusky. It is said that Pike Landusky was so mean that townspeople buried him six feet deeper than usual and piled rocks on top of his grave. The rocks are still there along with the carved wood grave marker. The town of Landusky has a very nice campground called Montana Gulch Campground, very close to what is left of the town.
Authentic Native American Powwows
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he annual Rocky Boy Powwow attracts thousands of people from around Montana, the United States and Canada. This year's event starts Wednesdy, July 31, to Sunday, Aug. 4 on the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation. In recent years, the powwow has expanded to include an extensive rodeo with large payouts. The dances have attracted contestants from around the country. Few public events rival the beauty, intensity, spectacle and spirituality of Native American powwows. Competitive dancers and drumming/singing groups travel from all over the United States to vie for thousands of dollars in prize money. The feeling of family and community is palpable at powwows, where families host feasts at their camps of tepees and tents assembled nearby for the weekend. Everyone is invited to join the meal. Vendors sell everything from Indian tacos and traditional stews to T-shirts and CDs of the most popular drummers and singers. The dancing at powwows always begins with a grand entry, when all of the dancers gather by category of dance style and regalia — often 10 or more categoreis are featured — and dance into the powwow circle after veterans carrying the sacred eagle feather make their entrance. The groups of dancers continue to fill the circle as drumming groups take turns accompanying them. Grand entries are generally scheduled for early afternoon and again at night and are held on each day of the powwow. The grand entry is often followed by special dances in memory of elders and others who have died in the previous year. Sponsoring
captivate audiences of all ages
families have giveaways, bestowing fine blankets and other gifts to friends in the crowd. Competitive dancing is broken down by style, gender and age group, with even tiny tots participating. Each type of dancing has its guidelines for regalia and dancer's movements, and often its own story as well. For instance, the women’s jingle dance originated from a traditional story of love and healing. Originally the dress incorporated natural objects like shells and animal hooves to make sound. Today, dresses are decorated with metal cones, one for every day of the year. The cones are made from rolled-up snuff can lids. The men’s grass dance is one of the original dances of the Plains, and springs from spiritual roots. Grass represents the natural harmony in the universe and encompasses everything — the animals, all the elements, and the sky. The dance serves to bring about harmony between humans and the universe. Grass dancers wear costumes with a great deal of fringe, as well as colorful ribbons and beaded or decorated belts, cuffs and and armbands. They also wear colorfully decorated breechcloths. The collective impact of the dancers’ flowing motion in swirling vibrant regalia and the piercing sounds of singers testing the outer limits of their vocal cords against the backdrop of heavy drumbeats is breathtaking. People unable to attend can keep up with events by listening to KHEW, the reservation's radio station, For more information on the Rocky Boy powwow, call 406395-4478.
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Nestled at the foot of the Bear Paw Mountains, Big Sandy offers small town living at its best! Located on U.S. Highway 87 in north-central Montana, Big Sandy is a short drive from Havre and Great Falls. Its population is around 750, and it is the northern-most town in Chouteau County. The town boasts over 40 businesses, offering a full range of goods and services. Big Sandy is a recreational heaven. Some of the state's best hunting and fishing is just a stone's throw away, not to mention easy access to the wild and scenic Missouri River. Come visit Big Sandy and see all we have to offer!
Antiques & Miscellanea & Gallery 87 US Hwy 2 | 406.378.2637 Mint Bar & CafÊ 88 Johannes Avenue | 406.378.2679 Big Sandy Medical Center 166 Montana Avenue East | 406.378.2188 Pep’s Bar & Grill 61 Johannes Avenue | 406.378.2293 Bear Paw Coffee Shop & Deli 30 Johannes Ave | 406.378.2320 Kamut International 333 Kamut Lane | 406.378.3105 bob.quinn@kamut.com Big Sandy Historical Museum Hwy 87 | 406.378.2640 Big Sandy Activities 142 Great Northern Ave. | 406.378.2598 Big Sandy Supply 78 Montana Ave. E. | 406.378.2172 LaMesa Mexican Restaurant 28828 US Hwy 87 | 406.378.378.2670
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Rudyard's attractions include a museum of local history, a dinosaur museum featured on the Montana Dinosaur Trail and an automobile museum created with the help of a German book publisher who stopped in town during a motorcycle tour in 2006. The historical museum is housed in the old train depot. The museum features history of the local area, including a depot, working windmill, schoolhouse, outhouse, blacksmith shop, tar-paper shack, garage, farm implements and archives filled with photographs, family histories, obituaries, newspapers and school annuals.
Ag Wise, Inc. 25 3rd Ave. W. St. | Kremlin, MT | 406.372.3200
Country Dame Reed Street | Rudyard, MT | 406.355.4141
Gildford Mercantile 420 1st Avenue | Gildford, MT | 406.376.3113
Toner’s-Tire Rama Rudyard, MT | 406.355.4131
Hi-Line Insurance Hingham, MT | 406.397.3146 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. - Rudyard Branch 5 Main Street | Rudyard, MT | 406.355.4129 Heydon Overhead Door, Inc. ~ Raynor Rudyard, MT | 406.355.4114 | www.raynor.com Golden Triangle Seeds, Co. 10411 US Hwy 2 |Rudyard, MT | 406.355.4333 McNair Furniture 135 Main North | Rudyard, MT | 406.355.4330
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Chester provides plenty of recreational opportunities ranging from hunting, fishing, camping, and hiking to playing or watching sports. Lake Elwell/Tiber Dam-Located South of Chester on the Marias River, one of the largest lakes in Montana, attracts fishermen and boaters from all over. Walleye, pike, and perch are plentiful. Two boat ramps and docks make waterplay easy. Tiber Marina-Located on the North shore of Lake Elwell, offers a convenience store, restaurant, and bait shop. Restrooms and showers are also available. The Liberty County Performing Arts Council brings to Chester selected cultural opportunities for the community in the performing arts. Liberty Village Arts Center and Gallery, also located in Chester, sponsors local, state, and national visual and graphic art shows and workshops on a year round basis. The art center is open year round on Tuesday through Friday and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. The art center also houses a small gift shop of original art work which includes pottery, paper, wheat, and metal sculptures, jewelry, photographs, paintings and much more including tapes and CD’s by international pianist Phil Aaberg, a Chester native who returns to the area regularly to perform and support the local arts programs. Both groups actively encourage local elementary school, high school, and adult artists by incentive awards and opportunities to exhibit their work. Liberty County Museum, located three blocks south of U.S. Highway 2, stresses authentic displays of the Homestead Era. The museum is open from Memorial Day through September 15. Information can be obtained at the courthouse.
Frasers Oil 125 Main Street | Inverness, MT | 406.292.3833 Hi-Line Floral 5 2nd St. E. | Joplin, MT | 406.292.3225 Wood Enterprises 210 Rehal Avenue | Joplin, MT | 406.292.3325 Grand Bar & Chic N Coop 11 East Washington Avenue | Chester, MT 406.759.5582 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. - Chester Branch 11 East Adams | Chester, MT | 406.759.5107 Cicon & Associates, Surveyor Box 541 | Chester, MT | 406.759.5826 Mike’s Thriftway Travel Center & Hot Stuff Foods 1498 US Hwy 2 | Chester, MT | 406.759.5538 Liberty Village Art Center & Gallery 410 Main | Chester, MT | 406.759.5652 lvac@mtintouch.net Great Northern Bed & Breakfast 14 East Monroe Ave. | Chester, MT | 406.759.5900 www.greatnorthernBandB.com Sweetgrass Music - Patty Aaberg Box 625 | Chester, MT | 406.759.5347 x10 www.sweetgrassmusic.com | www.ofthewest.net Liberty County Museum 230 2nd St. E. | Chester, MT | 406.759.5256 The Front Porch 38 1st St. E. | Chester, MT | 406.759.5856
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Fort Benton,
MONTANA
Photograph courtesy of David Lewis
F
ort Benton was founded in 1846 by the American Fur Company at the head of the navigation on the Missouri River. It was the premier Blackfoot trading post in the Northwest. Known as the "Birthplace of Montana" Fort Benton is a small town with a large heritage. Situated on the banks of the Missouri River, Fort Benton is a haven for history buffs as well as canoeists seeking solitude and the unique beauty found along the Upper Missouri National Wild and Scenic River. Fort Benton is located along the Lewis & Clark National Historic trail and the Nez Perce National Historic Trail and is the gateway to the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. Fort Benton first gained fame as a robe trading post. The discovery of gold in the Montana and Idaho Territories brought countless fortune seekers, outlaws, merchants and madams to this
riverside town. Whiskey followed gold, and infamous trails were forged into Canada, including what is now the Old Forts Trail. As the terminus for the 642-mile long Mullan Wagon Road, Fort Benton became a crucial link between Missouri and Walla Walla, Washington, along the Columbia River. Steamboats plied the Missouri River to Fort Benton for 30 years, until the railroad signaled an end to this towns’ prominence
as the “World's Innermost Port.” This once-feisty outpost played such a vital role in the expansion of the West, that it is now registered as a National Historic Landmark.
Grand Union Hotel Grand Union Sqaure 406.622.1882 The Freeze 1722 Front 406.622.5071
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Glacier National Park
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etween 1.7 and 1.9 million people visit Glacier National Park, the crown of the continent, every year. Many of those people travel through Havre from points east, and the tourism community urges people to visit our community and its attractions on the way to the park or on the way back home. The highlight of the trip to Glacier is the 52-mile long Going-to-the-Sun Highway, which can be taken in a private car or on the iconic red buses that enable visitors to enjoy the scenery or take photos along the two-lane road. The road is just one way to get around one of North America's finest natural wonders. The park proudly calls itself the Crown of the continent. Areas near the park boundary such as Many Glacier, East Glacier, the North Fork and Two Medicine are also reachable by car. More than 700 miles of hiking trails
Photograph courtesy of Stacy Mantle
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crisscross the park, and several lakes offer crossings by boat. Along with lakes, peaks, mountains and rivers in the unspoiled park, there are 25 active glaciers for visitors to enjoy. Numerous kinds of wildlife animals can be seen throughout the park. There are more than 700 miles of hiking trails that tourists are invited to take so they can see the interior parts of the park. The historic lodges in Glacier National Park are almost as popular as its natural wonders. Two are within the park boundaries: Many Glacier Hotel on Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake McDonald Lodge. While guests are by no means roughing it, these lodges offer an experience that is in many ways similar to the one the park’s first visitors had. The entrance towns of West Glacier and East Glacier offer other lodging and dining options, while nearby Whitefish boasts modern hotels and award-winning restaurants.
Chinook, Gateway to the Bear Paw Mountains
small town charm, big city ambience
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estled in the Milk River valley, along Montana’s Hi-Line, is the cozy town of Chinook which grew up in the 1890s as people looked for a good trade point and farmers and ranchers settled both in the flat lands and the Bear Paw Mountains to the south. When the railroad came through in the 1880s, it opened the fertile lands to homesteaders and created a shipping center for crops, livestock and other goods. Later, farmers planted thousands of acres into sugar beets to supply the Utah-Idaho Sugar Co. which operated in the area from 1924 until 1951. The sugarbeet factory and its 225 ft. smokestack are Chinook landmarks even today. That thriving business led to schools' team name, the Chinook Sugarbeeters. Chinook, the county seat of Blaine County, is located on Lodge Creek where it empties into the Milk River. The town's name comes from an Indian word meaning "warm wind," and it is this wind which melts snow in winter months. The town of Chinook is rich in the cultural heritage of Montana. South of Chinook lies the Bear Paw Battlefield, where the last Indian battle in the United States was fought in 1877. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce surrendered with the infamous words: “From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.” The Blaine County Museum is a site not to miss in Chinook. It offers people of all ages the chance to experience this area from prehistoric to pioneer times and through the two world wars. It is a part of the Montana Dinosaur Trail, and it offers Native American artifacts and culture exhibits including the outstanding multi-media presentation “Forty Miles to Freedom” which provides a comprehensive introduction to the flight of the Nez Perce. The Blaine County Wildlife Museum offers a world class array of mounted Montana animals and birds displayed in their natural habitat. Exhibits include a buffalo jump, wetlands, Peaks to Plains and more. Chinook offers year-round entertainment opportunities as well. On Friday and Saturday, June 21 and 22, Chinook welcomes the Bear Paw Roundup and PRCA Rodeo for a two-day competition spectacular. A street dance is held Friday and the Western Parade is Saturday for the event.
The third annual Blaine County Cruise will take place July 5 and 6. The Cruise will go from Chinook to Havre, Big Sandy, Loma, Fort Benton and back–approximately 192 total miles. There will be stops for games and picture opportunities. Entertain the whole family at the Blaine County Fair with exhibits, 4-H competitions and a state-renowned demolition derby. The fair starts Thursday, July 11, and runs through Sunday, July 14. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27 and 28, Chinook offers the 10th Annual Sugarbeet Festival. This event includes an outdoor pancake breakfast, community parade, sugar beet growing contest, arts and crafts, food booths, car show and more. On Friday, Nov. 29, the night after Thanksgiving, is the town's unique holiday celebration with a Parade of Lights, Christmas Stroll and 3rd Annual Festival of Trees.
Dans Auto Parts - NAPA 212 Indiana | 406.357.2615 Grande Villa Apt. 315 Pennsylvania | 406.357.2809 American Garage 534 Indiana St. | 406.357.4201
On the Net: Chinook Web site: www.chinookmontana.com.
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Blaine County Wildlife Museum T
he Blaine County Wildlife Museum will be open Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend for its second full season. The museum and gift shop are located in the old Chinook theater at 417 Indiana St. Work on the museum began in 1991 after the Blaine Bank of Montana donated the building for the project and the community began to raise funds for the project. After years of work, numerous displays were created of mounted wildlife. They include exhibits on: • Buffalo Jump — with a bison suspended in mid-air. • The Wetlands Exhibit • The Moose vs. Grizzly confrontation • The Swift fox • The Peaks to Plains Exhibit This year, the Nocturnal Exhibit is being installed and will be open for viewing this summer. An exhibit featuring Montana elk is under construction. The exhibits depict the native animals in their natural habitat The museum board continues to work on expanding the displays in the museum, and people continue to donate mounted animals for the museum to use. The gift shop offers wares, including the works of Montana artists, carvers and taxidermists. Summer hours will be Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission costs $6 for adults and $4 for students. Children under 5 are admitted free.
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Off-hours tours also can be scheduled. On the Net: Blaine County Wildlife Museum website: www.bcwildlifemuseum.com
Blaine County Museum
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isitors to Chinook can see exhibits from prehistory through modern times when they stop at the Blaine County Museum at 501 Indiana St. A main feature at the museum, which is a member of the Montana Dinosaur Trail, depicts something more recent, the exhibit on the Nez Perce Trail and the Bear Paw Battlefield, located south of Chinook. A centerpiece of the Nez Perce exhibit is the multimedia presentation “Forty Miles from Freedom,” which uses video, sound, lighting effects and photography to tell the tale of the 1,300-mile flight of the Nez Perce Indians from their homeland in Oregon to their final fight with the U.S. Army south of where Chinook is now. At the site Chief Joseph surrendered to the U.S. Cavalry Oct. 5, 1877, after a five-day battle. Tours of the battlefield also can be arranged at the museum,
which is the interim visitors center for the battlefield. Other exhibits include displays on the pioneer and cowboy era, the time of the homesteaders and the history of local residents through the two world wars. Visitors can tour numerous displays including an early church, school rooms, country dentist’s and doctor’s offices, and a tar-paper homestead complete with period furnishings. The paleontology exhibits include fossil remains of creatures that lived in the seas once covering the region, as well as dinosaur fossils and a hands-on exhibit where people can look at and touch the fossils. The museum gift shop offers a selection of titles including books relating to Nez Perce history, Western life, American Indian culture, "Poets & Pickers" cowboy music and stories, cookbooks, T-shirts, posters, post■ See Museum Page 66
Bear Paw Battlefield
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ocated 15 miles south of Chinook, on Highway 240, the Bear Paw Battlefield commemorates the final battle of the Nez Perce War of 1877. Following the breakout of war in Idaho, nearly 800 Nez Perce spent a long and arduous summer fleeing U.S. Army troops first toward Crow allies and then toward refuge in Canada. Forty miles short of the Canadian border and following a five-day battle and siege, the Nez Perce ceased fighting at Bear Paw on Oct. 5, 1877, with Chief Joseph's immortal speech: "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."
Blaine County Museum, 501 Indiana St., in Chinook. The museum offers the audio/visual presentation, "Forty Miles to Freedom," which depicts the battle and siege at Bear Paw. In the summer months, the museum is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Monday through Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., (closed noon to 1 p.m. for lunch) and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. In September and May the museum is open from Mon-
day through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Between October and April the museum is open Monday through Friday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. For information call the Blaine County Museum 406357-2590. A brochure/trail map is available at either the museum or the battlefield. A self-guided 1 ¼ mile interpretive trail winds through the battlefield. The trail is moderate in difficulty. Please bring a hat and
plenty of water during the hotter summer months. Picnic tables and vault toilets are available on site.
Social Media Bear Paw Battlefield has a presence in cyberspace. The battlefield has a photo-sharing site on Flikr; a Twitter feed; and is part of the Nez Perce National Historical Park's Facebook page.
Visiting the Battlefield
The battlefield is open daily, year-round, during daylight hours. The first stop should be the visitor center located at the
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Welcome to the Fort Belknap area…
F
ort Belknap is the agency headquarters for the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. More than 3,000 people live on the reservation, which is 45 miles west of Malta, between Dodson and Harlem, along U.S. Highway 66 in eastern Blaine County. The community of Fort Belknap, located in the northwestern edge of the reservation between the Milk River and Little Rocky Mountains, has about 425 residents. Two tribes — the Gros Ventre, also known as the White Clay People, and a band of upper Assiniboine, or Stone Boilers, from Canada — live on the reservation. Fort Belknap was named in honor of William L. Belknap, Secretary of War under President
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Grant. Annuities for the people on the reservation were distributed from the fort. The Gros Ventre and Assiniboine have lived together on the reservation since it was created. Fort Belknap Indian Reservation was created by an Act of Congress on May 1, 1888, and the Fort Belknap Agency was established at its present location, four miles southeast of the present township of Harlem. Tribal members accepted the Indian Reorganization Act on Oct. 27, 1934. Members of Fort Belknap adopted a constitution on Oct. 19, 1935, and a corporate charter on Aug. 25, 1937, in accordance with Section 16 of the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934. The Fort Belknap Indian Community Council is recognized as the governing body
on the Fort Belknap Reservation. They are charged with the duty of protecting the health, security, and general welfare of the Fort Belknap Indian Community. The combined reservation and additional tribal lands encompass 705,067 acres of the plains and grasslands of northcentral Montana. Guided tours are available to Snake Butte, Mission Canyon, Bear Gulch and St. Paul's Mission. Snake Butte is the imposing wall of rock that looms over the 10,000-acre buf-
falo reserve. It has great cultural significance to the tribes, and petroglyphs and tepee rings can be found there. Every summer the Milk River Indian Days powwow is held at Fort Belknap. Watchable wildlife in the area include bison, deer, antelope, golden eagles, migratory waterfowl and upland birds. Visitors can travel to several excellent wildlife viewing sites, including a large prairie dog town that is a site for the highly endangered black-footed ferret.
Zellmers 2975 W. End Loop | Hogeland, MT | 406.379.2634 Reeds Elevator 145 Cenex Dr. | Turner, MT | 406.379.2386 Turner Supply 30245 Turner Rd | Turner, MT | 406.379.2389
Glasgow, MONTANA
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lasgow, Montana and its surrounding area has a lot to offer those visiting northeastern Montana. The Valley County Pioneer Museum, located in Glasgow, is a great place to start. The museum has numerous exhibits ranging from dinosaurs to Lewis and Clark, Fort Peck Dam and the railroad. The Pioneer Museum is a great representation of Valley County's history. The Northeast Montana Fair is a lively attraction in Glasgow. Here you can find the rodeo, art and craft exhibits, livestock sales, bingo, a demolition derby and much more. There is definitely something for everyone going on during this time. The fair is usually held toward's the end of July or the beginning of August. For more information, call 406-2286266. Downtown Glasgow has many local stores in which to go shopping. You can find stores that sell anything from clothing to jewelry, flowers, furniture, electronics and gifts for any occasion.
Moving on to Fort Peck, which is located 18 miles southeast of Glasgow, you will find recreational activities for everyone. Activities range from fishing to boating, water skiing, swimming, camping, bird watching and hiking. Here you can also find the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge which has deer, elk and sharptailed grouse. Fort Peck also hosts the Montana Governor's Cup Walleye Tournament every summer during the second weekend in July. The Fort Peck Dam and Spillway are phe-
nomenal sites to visit. Over 750,000 visitors come to see the dam and to take a tour of the powerhouse complex. Tours are given hourly from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Next to the powerhouse complex is the Fort Peck Dam Interpretive Center and Museum. Here you will find displays of dinosaur species, fish aquariums, plants and animals found on the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge, the history of the Fort Peck Dam and much more. Admission is free to the Interpretive â– See Glasgow Page 64
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Glasgow, Mt â– From Page 63
Center. The Kiwanis Park and Campground is a great area to meet with family and friends to relax and have some fun. The park offers shelterhouses, picnic tables, a playground, a sand volleyball court, a horseshoe court and a paved trail for walking, biking or roller-blading. The campground offers paved sites with hot showers, electrical hookups, a dump station and a pay phone with Internet access. The campground is open from the end of April to the end of October. Kiwanis Park is located next to the Fort Peck Dam Interpretive Center. Another great attraction in Fort Peck is the Fort Peck Theatre. Since 1970 the theatre has put on presentations for audiences from all over the country. From musicals to comedies to dramatic presentations, the theatre is a great place to enjoy a traditional theatre performance. The plays are held on the weekends at 8 p.m. from June to August. Tickets are for sale at the door and concessions are available. For more information you can call 406-526-9943. On your way back to Glasgow, you can pass through the town of Nashua and enjoy some delicious homemade ice cream sold at Bergie's. You can also make a trip up to St. Marie which is located 17 miles north of Glasgow. This is the former site of the Glasgow Air Force Base. It is a quiet community and overlooks the Milk River valley. After all of that siteseeing you will surely work up a healthy appetite. There are a number of wonderful places to eat in Glasgow but there is little doubt that everyone would recommend you stop in for a Eugene's Pizza. Eugene's has been serving up delicious pizza since 1962. Stop in and grab a slice of Glasgow Montana history. The Children's Museum of Northeast Montana offers several hands-on exhibits for children of ages 12 and younger. Exhibits cover such topics as physics, music, space exploration, agriculture, geography and many more. The museum is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Cost of admission is just $2 for adults, $1 per child and children under age 2 are free. If all these activities still are not enough, you can find other activities in Glasgow
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â– See Glasgow Page 65
Glasgow, Mt â– From Page 64
that include golf, bowling, tennis, racquetball, soccer, dances, concerts and much more. The Sunnyside Golf and Country Club welcomes visitors to play on their nine-hole course. It is located off of Highway 2 on Skylark Road. You can call 406-228-9519 to reserve a tee time or for more information. The Glasgow Civic Center offers a wide range of activities such as tennis, racquetball, swimming and basketball. You can stop by the center located at 319 3rd St. S. or call them at 406-228-8341. There are also many parks located throughout Glasgow where you and family and friends can enjoy a picnic and some relaxation.
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Great Northern Fair ■ From Page 45
the meatball-on-a-stick Vikings, the ever-popular fried-bread scones, fresh-roasted corn on the cob, pig-on-a-pole, steakon-a-stick, buffalo burgers, pork chop sandwiches, snow cups and extreme nachos. The booths are arranged along the western edge of the fair grounds, next to the tables with awnings to help people keep out of the sun. Another local food favorite is in the buildings on the south edge, the 4-H Chuckwagon. Along with the Chuckwagon fundraiser, the 4-H activities run through the fair, with entries and some competition starting even before the Wednesday opening of the midway and exhibits. Animals raised and trained by local 4-H-ers are kept in the Bigger Better Barn on the east edge of the fairgrounds and other nearby buildings. Many competitions, ranging from horse and cattle showmanship to rabbit and poultry showmanship, take place throughout the fair. The culmination of the market livestock exhibits each year is the 4-H livestock sale, held Sunday afternoon in the Bigger Better Barn. Another favorite portion of the fair along with 4H exhibits are the open exhibits for community members to display, and compete, arts, crafts, foods and more. 4-H-ers, local school children and other local residents all enter examples of cooking, photography, needlework, reports and other activities in the fair, which are judged and displayed — with ribbons, if any — during the week’s activities. The Commercial Building also is a main draw for many at the Great Northern Fair. Booths range from vendors displaying their wares to nonprofit groups and businesses showing their
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Havre Daily News/Daniel Horton Weston Brown is thrown from his horse during a dramatic moment at last year's NRA rodeo at the Great Northern Fair.
services to political candidates telling people why they should be elected to office. The free stage entertainment has several acts scheduled for this year. Some changes for the fair happened this year with the events in the arena, with the sponsor of the local and professional truck pull canceling that event, which had held the Saturday slot for 10 years or more. The Northern Rodeo Association, which had run Thursday and Friday, moved up a day to take that Saturday slot along with Friday. The rodeo organizers added a special attraction to follow — concerts by Ogden, Utah, crossover-country-rock band II Amendment. The association that organizes the rodeo plans to move the rodeo events back earlier in the day, allowing for a 9 p.m. start time for the concert. Tickets will be sold for all four events — each day of the rodeo and each concert — but
a special package-deal ticket for all four will go for $40. Tickets will be available July 1 at Norman’s Ranch and Sportswear and at the Great Northern Fair office at the fairgrounds. While details were not confirmed as of presstime for this publication, the moving of events could bring something new to the Great Northern Fair. With the junior rodeo scheduled to move up to the Thursday night slot formerly held for the professional rodeo, the board
planned to fill the Wednesday night slot with a pig-wrestling event. And the fair closes out with a decades-long favorite, the annual Havre Jaycees Demolition Derby on Sunday. Sales for tickets for the events at the fair — which offers free admission and free parking at the fairgrounds just west of Havre — generally start the month before the fair.
Museum ■ From Page 61
cards, video and audio recordings. The museum is open Monday through Saturday 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday the rest of the year. Admission is free and guided tours are available. For more information, call 406-357-2590. On the Net: Blaine County Museum Web site: www.blainecountymuseum.com
Havre, Medicine Hat invite each other for M
Visits
edicine Hat, Alberta, just a short drive north of the border, typically has many visitors over the summer, both as a destination and as a one-day stop for people passing through. Groups on both side of the border have been promoting travel in both directions. The Port of Wild Horse between Havre and Medicine Hat, Alberta will continue their extended hours 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., from May 15 to Sept. 30 Trips to the town often start with the visitors center a major draw in itself. Along with the travelers' center, people also can find out about attractions and events at the organization website, Tourismmedicinehat.com. The city has an extensive list of hotels and motels, with many just a short distance from the local attractions, Solomon said. The Medicine Hat Jazz Fest, now in its 16th year, is set to run from June 24-30. The festival has performances throughout the city by artists from Canada and around the world. The annual Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede, set to run July 24-27 this year, is a full-fledged fair and rodeo. A debate has
occurred for years as to whether it or the Calgary Stampede is older. Several historical sites also are in or near the city. The Medalta Potteries National Historic Site is an interactive museum showcasing the site that once produced 75 percent of the pottery in Canada. The downtown of Medicine Hat also has much to offer. There is a national historic district of buildings in the downtown section, as well as the museum, art gallery and performance gallery. The performance gallery has one of the best acoustically rated theaters in the region. The town also has more than 100 parks, along with four camp sites outside its borders, and some 60 miles of trails throughout. The trail system is very popular for the locals as well as for visitors. Between Havre and Medicine Hat, and extending into Saskatchewan, is the Cypress Hills Provincial Park. Lane said the region, a mass of hills rising out of the flatland, also is a popular spot. That is a popular location for camping and for day trips.
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Van Orsdel United Methodist Church
Pastor John Ulrich 410 Fifth Avenue • Havre, MT 59501 (406) 265-4232 Sunday Worship ~ 10:00am
First Lutheran Church (ELCA)
303 Sixth Avenue • Havre, MT 59501 (406) 265-5881 Sunday Worship ~ 9:00 am www.flchavre.org
St. Jude's Catholic Church
624 Fourth Street • Havre, MT 59501 (406) 265-4261 Saturday Worship ~ 5:00 pm Sunday Worship ~ 9:30am
St. Paul's Lutheran Church
1100 11th Street • Havre, MT 59501 Church's Office (406) 265-7637 Pastor's Office (406) 265-2115 Sunday Worship ~ 11:00am
Community Alliance Church
925 Eighth Street • Havre, MT 59501 (406) 265-8482 Sunday Worship ~ 10:45am
Christ Messiah Lutheran Parish
417 Twentieth Street • Havre, MT 59501 (406) 265-2334 Sunday Worship ~ 9:30am
Zion Lutheran Church
803 Illinois Street • Chinook, MT 59523 Pastor's Office (406) 265-2115 Church Office (406) 357-2516 Sunday Worship ~ 9:00am
First Lutheran Church
641 2nd Avenue North • Glasgow, MT 59230 (406) 228-4862 Sunday Worship ~ 9:30am Sunday School - May-Sept. 10:45am
CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2013 Havre & Montana's Hi-Line
May
3 MSU-Northern Hall of Fame & Founders Excellence Dinner 4 MSU-Northern Graduation Atrium Craft Fair – 10am-4pm Cinco de Mayo After Hours – Atrium Mall 4-12 National Tourism Week 5 Salute to Senior Citizens – Noon – Havre Middle School 8 District 9-C Track Meet – Havre Middle School 12 Mother’s Day 14 Salvation Army/Feed My Sheep Volunteer Dinner 6pm-8pm–Van Orsdel Methodist Church 17-18 Central “A” Divisional Softball Tournament 17-18 Montana Actors' Theatre presents “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” 8pm – MSU-Northern Theatre 18 Recycle Drive and Free E-Waste Collection 8am-Noon – Corner of 1st St. & 5th Ave. 20 Canadian Victoria Day 23-25 Montana Actors' Theatre presents “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” 8pm – MSU-Northern Theatre 25-27 Bullhook Bottoms Black Powder Shoot 8am – Fort Assinniboine 27 Memorial Day – Chamber Office Closed Memorial Day Ceremony – 11am Hill County Courthouse 30 Montana Actors' Theatre presents “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” 8pm – MSU-Northern Theatre 31 Everything Antique Show Great Northern Fairgrounds June 1st – 10am-5pm; June 2nd – 10am-4pm
June
1-2 Everything Antique Show Great Northern Fairgrounds June 1st – 10am-5pm; June 2nd – 10am-4pm 1 Montana Actors' Theatre presents “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” 8pm – MSU-Northern Theatre 1 Living History Weekend
Tours of Clack Museum, Fort Assinniboine, Buffalo Jump & Havre Beneath the Streets 7-9 Montana Pioneer & Classic Auto Club’s Havre & the Hi-Line Spring Tour 8-9 Fresno Walleye Challenge 14 Flag Day 15 Recycle Drive and Free E-Waste Collection 8am-Noon – Corner of 1st St. & 5th Ave. 16 Father’s Day 19 Sounds on the Square – 6pm – Town Square Park 20 Summer Begins 21-23 37th Annual Fort Benton Summer Celebration 22 Northern Lights Athletic & Scholarship Foundation Golf Scramble – Prairie Farms Relay for Life – 10am-3pm – Town Square Park 24-26 Hill County Conservation District Range Days 26 Sounds on the Square – 6pm – Town Square Park 26 Northern Ag Research Field Day Fort Assinniboine 29 Havre Women Fighting Breast Cancer Golf Tournament – Prairie Farms
July
4 Independence Day – Chamber Office Closed BBQ & Music – Noon – Pepin Park Jaycees Fireworks Display – 10pm Great Northern Fairgrounds 6 Saturday Market – 8am-Noon Town Square Park 5 Chamber Office Closed 10 Sounds on the Square – 6pm – Town Square Park 11-14 Blaine County Fair 13 Saturday Market – 8am-Noon Town Square Park 12-13 Relay for Life – Havre High School 17 Sounds on the Square – 6pm – Town Square Park 17-21 Great Northern Fair 20 Saturday Market – 8am-Noon Town Square Park 20 Recycle Drive and Free E-Waste Collection 8am-Noon – Corner of 1st St. & 5th Ave. 24 Sounds on the Square – 6pm – Town Square Park 25-28 Milk River Indian Days – Fort Belknap 27 Saturday Market – 8am-Noon Town Square Park 25-27 Montana Actors' Theatre presents a Midsummer/ Jersey Youth Production 1pm-3pm – MSU-Northern Theatre
July cont.
26-Aug 3 Montana State Fair – Great Falls 27 Community Appreciation Day Fresno Reservoir Pavillion 31 Sounds on the Square – 6pm – Town Square Park
8am-Noon–Corner of 1st St. & 5th Ave. 21 Saturday Market – 8am-Noon Town Square Park 22 Autumn Begins 28 Montana Actors' Theatre presents “Death by Chocolate” – 7pm – MSU-N SUB Ag Appreciation Banquet 6pm Havre Ice Dome 29 St. Jude Harvest Dinner
August
1-3 Montana Actors' Theatre presents a Midsummer/ Jersey Youth Production 1pm-3pm – MSU-Northern Theatre 3 Saturday Market – 8am-Noon Town Square Park 1-4 Rocky Boy Powwow 3 19th Annual Northern Montana Health Care Golf Tournament–Prairie Farms Golf Course 7 Sounds on the Square – 6pm – Town Square Park 8-11 Hays Powwow – Fort Belknap 10 Saturday Market – 8am-Noon Town Square Park 14 Sounds on the Square – 6pm – Town Square Park 16-18 Chouteau County Fair – Fort Benton 17 Recycle Drive and Free E-Waste Collection 8am-Noon – Corner of 1st St. & 5th Ave. 17 Saturday Market – 8am-Noon Town Square Park 21 Sounds on the Square – 6pm – Town Square Park 23-25 Class of 1973 Reunion 24 Saturday Market – 8am-Noon Town Square Park 31 Saturday Market – 8am-Noon Town Square Park
October
5 First Presbyterian Church Bazaar 11am-1:30 pm 10-13 13th Annual Legends for Lights Pheasant Jam. 14 Columbus Day – Chamber Office Closed Canadian Thanksgiving Holiday 16 National Boss Day 19 Recycle Drive and Free E-Waste Collection 8am-Noon – Corner of 1st St. & 5th Ave. 20 Van Orsdel United Methodist Church Harvest Dinner – Noon-4pm 31 Halloween
November
2 Messiah Lutheran Church Bazaar – 11am-1:30pm NMHC 20th Annual Wine & Cheese Gala – 7pm Holiday Village Mall 3 Daylight Savings Time Ends 8 Montana Birthday 11 Veterans Day – Chamber Office Closed Remembrance Day (Canadian Holiday) 16 Recycle Drive and Free E-Waste Collection 8am-Noon–Corner of 1st St. & 5th Ave. 28 Thanksgiving Day – Chamber Office Closed Thanksgiving Dinner – 11am-2pm St. Jude Social Hall 29 Chamber Office Closed 30 Community Tree Lighting – 5:30 pm Town Square
December September
2 Labor Day – Chamber Office Closed 7 Saturday Market – 8am-Noon Town Square Park 7-8 Atlatl Competition – Wahkpa Chu’gn Buffalo Jump 11 Remembrance Day 9/11 14 Havre PRIDE Unfinished Fort Tour 14 Saturday Market – 8am-Noon Town Square Park 20-22 Havre Festival Days 21 Recycle Drive and Free E-Waste Collection
5 Festival of Trees Open House 6 Festival of Trees 7 St. Jude Bazaar – 10:30 am – 2pm 14 Lunch with Santa – Noon – Holiday Village Mall 21 Recycle Drive and Free E-Waste Collection 8am-Noon – Corner of 1st St. & 5th Ave. 22 Winter Begins 24 Christmas Eve – Chamber Office Closed at 3pm 25 Christmas Day – Chamber Office Closed 26 Boxing Day (Canadian Holiday) 31 New Year’s Eve