President Thomas Jefferson's passion for botany fueled his instructions to Meriwether Lewis to notice "the soil and face of the country, it's growth & vegetable productions, especially those not in the U.S. ...the date at which particular plants put forth or lose their flowers or leaf." During the expedition Meriwether Lewis and William Clark collected 178 plants new to science. Most of these plants are now found at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

"observe the Silkgrass, Sunflower & Wild indigo all in blume." -- William Clark July 16, 1806

Indians taught the explorers to forage for plant berries and roots.

Several "new" plants were named for Meriwether Lewis & William Clark.

Serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) - Also known as Juneberry or Sarvisberry.

Silver Buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea)

Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) - Montana state tree. Indians burned the center of these tree to make canoes.

Cottonwood (Populus app.) - These lofty trees saved the day throughout the expedition by providing shade, shelter, furniture, wagon wheels, dugout canoes, and firewood.

Blue Flax (Linum lewisii)

Lewis' Monkeyflower (Mimulus lewisii)

Bitterroot (Lewisia redivide) - Montana's state flower was named for Meriwether Lewis. The specimen Lewis collected was taken to Philadelphia by horse, boat, and stagecoach.

Golden Currant (Ribes anreum) - "I found great quantities of the Purple, yellow & black currents ripe. they were of an excellent flavor. I think the purple Superior to any I have ever tasted." -- William Clark July 18 1806

Chokecherry (prunus Virginian) - The expedition used this wood to make ax handles.

Camas Lily (Camassia quomash)

Mockorange (Philadelphus lewisii)

Elkhorns (Clarkia pulchella) - Noted for its petals, which resemble an elk's antlers.

Erected by Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

During the 1806 return journey from the Pacific Ocean, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark traveled separate routes to explore more territory. Captain Clark and ten men, together with Sacagawea and her infant son Jean Baptiste (called "Pomp" by Clark), traveled east on horseback down well-worn Indian and buffalo trails along the Yellowstone River's north side The party spent three days in present Sweet Grass County - hunting, making moccasins for the horses, and exploring.

(excerpts from Wm. Clark's journal presented chronologically:)

"Two of the horses was So lame owing to their feet being worn quit Smooth and to the quick, the hind feet was much worst. I had Mockersons made of green Buffalow Skin and put on their feet which Seams to relieve them very much in passing over the Stoney plains." -- William Clark July 16, 1806

"Saw...two white or Grey Bears in the plains, one of them I Chased on horse back about 2 miles to the rigid part of the plain where I was compelled to give up the Chase." -- William Clark July 16, 1806

"as we were about Setting out this morning two Buffalow Bulls came near our Camp Several of the men Shot at one of them. their being near the river plunged in and Swam across to the opposit Side and there died." -- William Clark July `8, 1806

"I saw a Single Pelicon which is the first which I have Seen on this river." -- William Clark July 17, 1806

"I Saw on one of those Small bottoms which I passed this evening an Indian fort.... built of logs and bark. the Squaw informs me that when the war parties find themselves pursued they make those forts to defend themselves in from the pursuers whose Superior numbers might other wise over power them..." -- William Clark July 17, 1806

Erected by Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

The Yellowstone River valley provided a cornucopia of wildlife for the Corpa of Discovery. This was a blessing after periods of near starvation earlier in the journey.

Wildlife supplied the Corps with more than meat. Buffalo, deer and elk hides replaced threadbare clothing, buffalo hides were made into moccasins for sore footed horses and bear grease was applied for protection against ever-menacing mosquitoes.

"...two white or Grey Bears in the plains, one of them I Chased on horse back for about 2 miles to the rugid (sic) part of the plains when I was compelled to give up the Chase..." William Clark July 16. 1806

"not so many Elk & more deer Shannon killed one deer." William Clark July 17, 1806

"Saw emence hearts of Elk feeding." William Clark July 16, 1806

"this buffalow provd to be a very fat Bull I had...a part of the Skin to make mocker sons for Same of our lame horses." William Clark July 16, 1805

"Buffalow is getting much more plenty than they were above." William Clark July 17, 1806

"Saw a large gangue of about 200 Elk and nearly as many Antilope..."

William Clark July 16, 1806

Erected by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

Of the exploring expedition of Lewis and Clark when returning down the Yellowstone with 10 of his men and the Indian Sacajawea with her baby camped on the River’s bank the night of July 16, 1806 five and a half miles west of here.

————— In 1983 this monument and sign were moved here and refurbished by the S. G. Pioneer Society. It originally stood on old highway 10.

Erected 1983 by Sweet Grass Pioneer Society.

An alternative to saloons and pool halls, the Big Timber Library stayed open evenings in 1914, with the hope of “not only … educating [people] … in the right way, but keeping them from falling by the wayside, as so many do in these western towns.” Big Timber’s first library, a “branch” of the Parmley Billings Library, was a shelf of books in a local store in 1901. By 1911, the library, then housed in the Town Hall, had grown to 1,300 volumes, and the community approached industrialist and library patron Andrew Carnegie for funding for a new building. Carnegie provided $7,500, stipulating, as he did with all his library grants, that Big Timber provide a building site and commit tax funds to support library services. Like many other Carnegie libraries, this “temple of learning,” designed by the architectural firm of Link and Haire and built in 1914, embraces Classical Revival elements made popular for civic buildings by the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. One of 17 Carnegie libraries in Montana, its floor plan matches one Carnegie’s assistant recommended for small libraries. Decorated with Tuscan columns and a pedimented entry, the symmetrical one-story building has a hipped roof, large windows, a daylight basement (which houses a meeting room) and a flight of stairs leading to the main floor (which contains reading rooms and open stacks). It is a fine example of “Carnegie Classic” design, personalized by a façade of river rock at the basement level.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

Captain William Clark and the Corps of Discovery camped on July 16, 1806 under the shade of cottonwood trees on the north side of the Yellowstone River. This valley provided grass for their 50 horses to graze and an abundance of wildlife - a blessing after periods of near starvation earlier in their journey.

Saw a large gangue of about 200 Elk and nearly as many Antilope...." -- William Clark, July 17, 1806

Erected by Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

Captain William Clark was the primary cartographer for the Corps of Discovery. With very little training prior to the expedition, he created maps based on field sketches, celestial readings, and compass bearings that were an invaluable contribution to knowledge. Not only did they dispel the myth of the Northwest Passage, they also recorded previously uncharted lands and paved the way for westward expansion and opportunity.

Several creeks in the Yellowstone Valley were named after Corps of Discovery members or dramatic incidents. Private Gibson was thrown from his horse and pierced his thigh on a snag. The wound, two inches deep, left him in great pain. Clark named a creek "Thy Snag'd Creek."

Using mostly a surveyor's compass, field observations and estimates, Clark drew nearly 5,000 miles of new mapping. Amazingly, his measurements were only off by a mere 5%.

Erected by Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

In 1806 the Native American called it "Elk River.' The French trappers had given it the name "Rochejhone," which became for us today "The Yellowstone River."

As Lewis and Clark traveled homeward the captains took different routes to cover more territory. Captain Clark, ten men and Sacagawea and her infant son, Pomp, explored the Yellowstone River. The party crossed the Bridger Mountains and rode their horses along the north side of the river until they found trees large enough to make dugout canoes near present day Park City, Montana.

Clark's group passed through Sweet Grass County July 16-18, 1806, camping the evening of July 16 at Little Timber Creek east of Big Timber. The next day they covered 33 miles along well worn Indian and buffalo trails, passing where you are now standing. They camped just west of present day Reed Point.

"The river and Creek bottoms abound in Cotton wood trees, tho' none of them Sufficently large for Canoes. and the current of the Rochejhone is too rapid to depend on Skinn canoes. no other alternative for me but to proceed on down untill I can find a tree Sufficently large &c. to make a Canoe." William Clark July 16, 1806

Erected by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

This property has been placed on the

National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior 1890

About 150 million years ago, during late Jurassic times, dinosaurs ruled the earth. Much of Montana was underwater, part of an arm of an inland sea that extended southward from the Arctic Ocean. Distinct wet and dry seasons characterized the semi-arid climate. Conifer trees, cycads, and ferns covered the land. It was the age of sauropods, gigantic herbivorous dinosaurs that browsed trees and ferns in that ancient environment. In Montana, the most common sauropod was Diplodocus, one of the longest dinosaurs with full-grown adults averaging 100 feet in length. The graceful long neck of the animal was well adapted to browsing on the vegetation of that time. Diplodocus coexisted with the enormous Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Camarasaurus as well as Stegasarus, and primitive birds and mammals. Groups of juvenile Diplodocus have been found in Montana that got themselves stuck in mud while crossing rivers. These groups suggest that these giant dinosaurs were very social, similar to birds, the descendants of dinosaurs.

The sauropods were preyed on by Allosaurus, a large meat-eating dinosaur that may have been at the top of the late Jurassic food chain. Allosaurus was an active predator, who pursued and killed its quarry. The animal averaged 28 feet in length and could reach speeds of 19 to 34 mph when hunting. Allosaurus teeth had saw-like edges that are often found with Diplodocus fossils. Allosaurus has also been found in groups suggesting that they too were very social.

Morrison Formation

Jurassic fossils are found in the Morrison Formation, sandstones and mudstones that were deposited about 155 to 150 million years ago. At that time, this part of Montana was a vast coastal plain that bordered the southern edge of the shallow inland sea. The Morrison Formation consists of layers of sandstone deposited by rivers alternating with lakes of mudstone, which originated as river flood plains. Most of the exposures of the formation in Montana are around the edges of mountain ranges, like the Crazy Mountains to the northwest.

Geo-facts:

• The inland sea was populated by marine reptiles like Ichthyosaurus and the long-necked Plesiosaurs.

• Diplodocus was not only the largest known dinosaur in North America during the Jurassic times, it is also one of the most common fossils found in the upper Morrison Formation.

• Although some paleontologists speculate that Allosaurus hunted in packs, fossils have revealed that the animals sometimes didn't get along well together. The bones show breaks, punctures, and other lesions that may have occurred when the animals were attacked by other Allosaurus.

Geo-activity:

• You can see fossils of Jurassic dinosaurs at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman and the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum in Malta.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

The settlement of Big Timber coincided with the advent of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which steamed into the Yellowstone Valley in 1882, spurring settlement along the line. In 1884, Rev. Alfred Brown, an Episcopal minister from Livingston, held the town’s first Protestant church services in the local schoolhouse. The Rev. J. F. Pritchard of Livingston soon began conducting regular services and the Congregational church hospitably shared its facilities. With the encouragement of Rev. Pritchard in 1892, the Episcopal women’s guild began plans to build St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. The name was changed in 1895 to St. Mark’s and a subscription paper circulated, raising $900. St. Mark’s cornerstone was laid in the fall of 1895. Rev. Pritchard and the Rt. Rev. Dr. Leigh R. Brewer, Missionary Bishop of the Episcopal District of Montana, Idaho and Utah, conducted the first services in February of 1896. St. John’s Episcopal Church in Butte and individuals in Chicago and Waterton, New York, donated many of the interior furnishings for the $2,215 building. By 1899, the diligent fund-raising efforts of the women’s guild had cleared the debt. The beautiful

Gothic Revival style stone building, designed by F. S. Hornbeck and constructed by skilled craftsmen under local builder O. M. Lanphear, reflects the English roots of the Episcopal church. Masterfully cut and fitted native limestone, the characteristic vertical emphasis of the Gothic style and exquisite stained glass make this truly an architectural gem. Historically significant as the town’s oldest standing church, St. Mark’s remains a handsome memorial to the dedicated members of its founding congregation.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

During the 1890's the community of Big Timber experienced a marked population growth resulting from the lucrative wool trade in this area. By the turn of the century, Big Timber was an important wool shipping center in Montana, then the number one wool-growing state. The manufacture of woolen goods was a natural development in this area owing to the abundance of raw material and good water supply. The Sweet Grass Woolen Mill was constructed along the Boulder River just one block south of this monument. The mill was in operation by August 1901 through the efforts of a local group of investors backed by an eastern industrial entrepreneur. Early plans for expansion were thwarted by a lack of capital and eastern monopolistic competition which led to the mill’s demise in late 1906.

The native sandstone structure, measuring 40’ x 84’, saw many uses including a hatchery and an apiary after the unsuccessful textile enterprise. The building deteriorated badly over the years and in 1980 the ruins were removed to make way for the interstate highway system. Blocks from the original mill were used in the construction of this monument.

In the early 1860s there wasn't a ranch in this country from Bismarck to Bozeman and from the Platte River to Canada. To non-Indians it was land considered "fit only to raise Indians" and while some of them were hoping for a crop failure, the majority were indifferent. They didn't care how much the tribes fought amongst themselves. They were like the old-timer whose wife was battling a grizzly bear. He said he never had seen a fight where he took so little interest in the outcome.

Then greed asserted itself and John Bozeman blazed a shortcut in 1863 from the Oregon Trail in Wyoming to the gold diggin's of southwestern Montana. The Bonanza or Bozeman Trail passed through the last great Indian hunting grounds on the northern Great Plains. The trail forded the Yellowstone River near here, coming from the southeast. It was a trail soaked with the blood of warriors, soldiers, and immigrants. Thousands of Lakota warriors, primarily under Red Cloud's leadership, bolstered by hundreds of Northern Cheyennes and some Arapahos, fought against the trail for five years and forced its closure by the military in 1868, a rare victory over the US Government.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

The Bozeman Trail descended from the high plateau to the Yellowstone River on the east side of Bridger Creek. The trail crossed the creek and then continued one mile to the Yellowstone. From there, the trail went west along the south bank of the river to Yellowstone Ford east of Springdale. The trails (sic) was nearing its end, with only sixty-eight miles of its nearly five hundred mile length remaining to reach the new established town of Bozeman. While the trail west of the Bighorn River was considered safe from marauding Lakota warriors a grave two miles east of here proves that this was not alway true.

William K. Thomas, his young son Charley, and their driver Joseph Schultz believed it was safe to travel alone west of the Bighorn crossing. The Thomas party left the large wagon train they had been traveling with and went ahead. On August 24, 1866, the Lakota attacked their camp on the bank of the Yellowstone. William and Charley Thomas were killed near their wagon, Schultz was killed by the river where he was fishing. The wagon train they had left came upon them later that day. They were buried in a common grave beside the road.

To reach the grave take I-90 exit 384 and go west two miles on the frontage road. An historical marker is located at the grave site.

Diary Excerpts

"For a moment I stand gazing at the lofty peaks now at the ruged (sic) rock while my mind runs even then at the wild scenes of nature that spread out before my eyes. I am meditating upon the adventure that I am about to take county the cost. Summing up the danger, cold chills run through my blood." -- William Thomas, July 31, 1866

"Where we struck the Yellowstone we found a Minister, his little son, and a driver (the Thomas Party) that has left the train at Big Horn and gone ahead, murdered by the Indians. They were scalped..., their stock run off and the contents of their wagon destroyed. They had not been killed long for their camp fire had not gone out." -- Perry Burgess, August 25, 1866

"We camped near the graves of three men that were killed here on the 24th (of this month) by Indians. They had been traveling alone with one wagon, and had no arms. (William) Thomas, the man that owns the team was a religious man and said he put his trust in the Lord, and didn't think he needed any arms. His son and a hired man were the other two. Thomas has 14 arrows put through him. He had $3,000 in greenbacks which was taken. A party which came along the next day found these men and buried them." -- Samuel Finlay Blythe, August 26, 1866

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

In 1866, Nelson Story and two dozen cowboys drove six hundred longhorn cattle from Texas over 1400 miles to the Livingston area in Montana. The journey was an epic one, the stuff of countless Hollywood Westerns.

The Montana mining camps provided a lucrative market for those who "mined the miners." Although bison and local game was plentiful, the miners had a taste for beef and there were men willing to provide it to them. One of those, Nelson Story, had panned enough gold in the placer mines to invest in other economic pursuits, including provisioning the mining camps. In 1866, he purchased rangy Texas longhorns with the intent of driving them to Montana to sell in Virginia City. He and his hired hands left Fort Worth in the spring and began the long journey north.

On the way, they evaded toll collectors, outfoxed rustlers, and swam the cattle across flood-swollen streams - then the trouble really started. Story resolved to drive his cattle up the Bozeman Trail in central Wyoming. In 1866 the trail was hotly contested as the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne Indians defended their hunting grounds from the hundreds of emigrants heading for the Montana mining camps. To protect the pilgrims, the US Army established three military posts on the trail. By the time Story arrived in October, the forts were under siege and travel on the trail was extremely dangerous.

Near the first post, Fort Reno, the Indians ran off many of Story's cattle. Not to be intimidated, Story and his men followed the Indians into the badlands and retrieved the animals after a short skirmish that left two of his cowboys wounded. When they neared Fort Phil Kearney, the post commander, Henry Carrington, made them camp three miles from the post. He didm't want the cattle to eat all the grass adjacent to the fort. Story cooled his heels for two weeks, waiting for Carrington's permission to push on. Eventually, he decided to go without the officer's consent.

Traveling by night and corralling the cattle during the day, the crew largely managed to avoid trouble with the Indians. When they reached the third post, Fort C.F. Smith, in Montana, the danger had passed. But they remained vigilant as they pushed up the Yellowstone Valley to near present Livingston, where Story established a cattle camp. Not only did Story successfully run a dangerous gauntlet to Virginia City, he also was the first to make the long cattle drive from Texas to Montana. In the process, he pioneered the famed Texas Trail and established the foundation of Montana's cattle industry.

The Mysterious Death of John Bozeman

About thirty miles west of here on April 18, 1867, Blackfeet Indians allegedly shot and killed John Bozeman, the blazer of the Bozeman Trail and a founder of the city named for him. But is that what really happened?

Bozeman and Tom Cover hoped to secure four contracts with the military at Bozeman Trail forts. While stopped near the mouth of Mission Creek, several Indians approached the men's camp. Thinking they were Crow Indians, Bozeman waved them in. Too late did he realize they were Blackfeet, who opened fire killing Bozeman and wounding Cover. He returned fire, killing one of the Indians. The Blackfeet fled with the pair's horses. Cover made his way back up the Yellowstone River finding refuge in Nelson Story's cattle camp.

Cover's account of the incident widely varied and rumors persisted that he had shot Bozeman. Evidence at the site suggested there were no Indians. Strikingly handsome, Bozeman was a noted Beau Brummel with a reputation as a ladies' man. Could Bozeman have dallied with Clover's wife? The answer will never be known, so, the official story stands.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

Called Awaxaawippila by the Apsáalooka (Crow) Indians, The Crazy Mountains, which you can see to the northwest, are an igneous formation forged about 50 million years ago. For the Apsáalooka, they are the most sacred and revered mountains on the northern Great Plains. Awaxaawippila was a place of refuge and protection. The Apsáalooka's enemies would not follow them into the mountain. Because of their great spiritual power, Awaxaawippila continues to be an important vision quest site for the tribe. Famed Chief Plenty Coups had a vision there in 1857 in which, he said, the end of the plains Indian way-of-life was shown to him.

Plenty Coup's Vision

The Crazy Mountains are an important spiritual place for the Apsáalooka. Countless generations of Apsáalooka boys have gone there to vision quest, an important rite of passage for them. At young ages, they come to the mountains to seek spiritual guidance from guardian animals and spirit world helpers. In 1857, nine year-old Plenty Coups, famed chief of the Apsáalooka people, came to the Crazy Mountains to dream. After four days of fasting and little sleep, the boy had a powerful vision about the future of his people. In it he saw the disappearance of the buffalo and there replacement by "spotted-buffalo," the white-man's cattle. He also experienced a powerful storm that destroyed all but one of the trees in an ancient forest. That lone tree sheltered the nest of a small bird, a chickadee. When an Apsáalooka elder named Yellow Bear later interpreted his dream, Plenty Coups earned that he would see the disappearance of the buffalo in his lifetime. The forest destroyed by the storm represented other Native American tribes who had resisted the Euro-Americans and had been beaten by them. To Plenty Coups, the lone remaining tree represented the Apsáalooka. The dream told him that the Apsáalooka must adapt to survive as a people. The chickadee became Plenty Coup's medicine. The bird was the "least in strength, but strongest of mind among his kind." Plenty Coups' vision quest proved to be prophetic and he lived his long life guided by the vision he had in the Crazy Mountains as a boy.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

In 1804-06, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led about 40 soldiers and boatmen on an epic journey. President Thomas Jefferson commissioned this “Corps of Discovery” to find a route to the Pacific Ocean through the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. Along the way, they mapped the land, recorded its resources, and contacted its native inhabitants. The landscape has changed since Lewis and Clark explored it: rivers have been dammed, forests cut over, prairies plowed under, and roads built to the horizon. Although remnants of wilderness still exist, imagine this land as Lewis and Clark first saw it two centuries ago

Erected by Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.

As the longest free-flowing river left in the lower 48 states, the Yellowstone is one of the few waterways along the Lewis and Clark trail that looks and acts much as it did when Captain Clark and his crew made their way down it in 1806. Unlike so many other great western rivers that have seen their currents stilled by dams and their channels shackled by levees, the Yellowstone is still free to roam within much of its floodplain.

Consequently, the river continues to renew itself by carving new sidechannels, forming new islands, and creating the bare sand beaches that give rise to lush cottonwood forests. With periodic flooding, tributaries to the Yellowstone are also affected (see inset maps).

While sidechannels provide key nursery areas for young trout and other fish, cottonwood forests provide prime habitat for literally hundreds of wildlife species including beaver, river otter, whitetail deer, bald eagles, and countless varieties of songbirds.

Erected by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.