Columbus

The Bozeman Trail was located ten miles south of here. John Bozeman pioneered the trail in this area in July 1864. After crossing the Bighorn River eight miles below the opening of the Bighorn Canyon, he led his wagon train northwest to the Yellowstone River opposite present day Billings. He then attempted to proceed up the south side of the Yellowstone, but the steep bluffs lining the bank forced him to turn south away from the river. Leaving the Yellowstone, he went up the west side of Clarks Fork and then Rock Creek to where he intersected the Bridger Trail a mile northeast of Joliet. Jim Bridger's first wagon train over his trail had crossed Rock Creek three weeks earlier.

Bozeman's roundabout route was the original Bozeman Trail. James A. Sawyers opened a cutoff trail in August 1866. It ran from the recently established Fort C.F. Smith to the Clarks Fork. Sawyers' trail crossed the Clarks Fork at present Edgar, where he intersected the Bridger Trail and followed it 6 miles west to the Rock Creek crossing. On the west side of the crossing, Sawyer's route joined Bozeman's. From that point west to Gallatin Valley, the Bozeman

Trail followed the Bridger Trail with only a few miner deviations.

Columbus, located ten miles west of here, has a rich and colorful history. In 1874, whiskey trader Horace Countryman built a trading post a few miles west of the future site of Columbus. The Crow Reservation was then on the south side of the Yellowstone River and, at first, his main customers were Crow Indians. Two years later, Countryman's trading post became a stage station called Stillwater. He opened a post office at the station in 1877. Other men saw potential in the trade with the Crows. In 1879, business partners Mithoff and Kaufman opened a trading post opposite the mouth of the Stillwater River. Called Eagle's Nest, the post proved more popular than Countryman's venture, boasting a hotel, blacksmith, harness shop, and a telegraph station along with a few dwellings. The traders distilled a particularly vile whiskey that tasted like insecticide, earning the trading post the nickname of "Sheep Dip.:

By 1881, Countryman had relocated his stage station and post office, still called Stillwater to the present site of Columbus. Eagle's Nest and its infamous whiskey, soon disappeared. After the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1882, Stillwater prospered as an important shipping and trade center in the area. Countryman became a respectable businessman in the community and a hero to some for his 200-mile ride to Helena with news of the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. In 1894, the railroad and post authorities changed the name of the settlement from Stillwater to Columbus to avoid confusion with a similarly named community in Minnesota.

In 1899, a group of Montana businessmen created the Montana Sandstone Company to quarry building stone north of Columbus. The stone was used to construct buildings all over Montana, including the State Capitol building in Helena. In 1913, Columbus became the seat of the newly created Stillwater County.

"Our course led us past Countryman's ranch, a couple of miles below the camp, the last occupied house on the Yellowstone. It is a trading establishment, whisky being the principal commodity and the customers being Crow Indians." - Lieutenant James H. Bradley

Ho! For the States!

For a short time in the 1860s, fleets of Mackinaw boats plied the Yellowstone River, carrying passengers and cargo downstream to the "States." For many sojourners, the thought of backtracking along the route they took to Montana to reach home wasn't very appealing. Instead, many people took an easier route: floating down the Yellowstone on vessels resembling Mackinaw boats. Overland the trip could take several months, but on a boat, it took about a month. Entrepreneurs built the boats at the Great Bend of the Yellowstone, near present Livingston, to float their passengers downriver. Mackinaw boats in name only they were up to 50 feet long and 12 feet wide with flat bottoms to navigate over the many gravel bars and rapids on the river. Each boat had a crew of five: four oarsmen and one man at the rudder. Boat tickets averaged about $35 per person, comparable to today's airline fares.

The first boats sailed from the Great Bend near present Livingston in September 1864. The relative ease of the trip attracted more passengers in 1865, including territorial judge Hezekiah Hosmer and his family. His son, Allen, published an account of the journey, A Trip to the States. In it, he described the day-to-day events of the voyage and recounted how the passengers feared an attack by the Northern Cheyenne and Lakota Indians. Hosmer's cruise occurred when hostilities between Indians and travelers on the Bozeman Trail has erupted into war. He wrote "If it were not for the expectation of being fired into by (the Indians) every night, the traveler would enjoy the trip hugely." While Hosmer's trip was relatively uneventful, other voyages in 1866 and 1867 were not so lucky. By 1868, boat traffic on the Yellowstone River had all but ceased because the violence along the Bozeman Trail made this kind of travel too dangerous.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

”I deturmined to have two Canoes made out of largest of those trees and lash them together — had handles put in three Axes and after Sharpening them with a file fell the two trees — those appeared tolerably Sound and will make Canoes of 28 feet in length and about 16 or 18 inches deep and from 16 to 24 inches wide.” Captain Clark, from his journals of the Corps of Discovery's Journey

July 18, 1806, while riding downstream on the north side of Rochejhone (Yellowstone) River, 13 members of the now divided Corps of Discovery, led by William Clark, arrived on horseback in what is today Stillwater County, Montana. After a very eventful week in Crow country they departed, July 24, in two dugout canoes.

Friday evening, July 18, they camped about three miles west of the present location of Columbus, Montana. That evening, Pvt. George Gibson severely injured his thigh in a fall while mounting his horse. And with “Sharbono” still badly bruised from a horse fall in the Big Timber area, making two injured men, the need to return to traveling by water rather than by horseback quickened the search for suitable trees to build dugouts.

Continuing east Saturday morning, July 19, they passed the mouth of the Itch-ke-pe ar-ja (Rosebud River), now the Stillwater River, when they saw an Indian fort just downstream and opposite the Itch-ke-pe near today's site of the bicentennial canoe camp event. The river was so named by the Indians because of the numerous wild roses along her banks. Suitable-sized Cottonwood trees were located about 10-12 miles east of this Indian fort. That evening, the men made handles from chokecherry wood for the three axes and began the work of felling the Cottonwood trees and building two dugout canoes. By Monday evening, July 21, one canoe was nearly finished. The canoe camp was set up near today's Wimsett's and Young's Points.

Upon retiring Sunday evening, July 20, the party had 49 horses and one colt. During the night, Crow Indians took 24 of them while the rest of the herd ran off into “a Small Prarie Serounded with thick timber in the bottom” and were not found for three days. The fresh supply of jerky made for the canoe trip was eaten by wolves, Tuesday night, July 22.

Late Wednesday, July 23, the two dugouts were completed, had been put into the water and lashed together ready for an early morning departure. The plan was that four members were to trail the remaining horses and deliver them to the Mandan villages while the other nine members floated the dugouts by Bernard P. Thomas, Oil on Wall mural© and Courtesy Yellowstone Bank

Photography Courtesy of Clark Marten Photography down the Yellowstone River. Ironically, two nights later, the herders were set afoot because Crow Indians had succeeded in taking the rest of the horses. These men then had to build bullboats and catch up to the main party.

Early Thursday morning, July 24, 1806, they "PROCEDED ON".

Corps of Discovery, Yellowstone Expedition Members

William Clark, captain; Nathaniel Hale Prior, sergeant; William E. Bratton, private; George Gibson, private; Hugh Hall, private; Francois Labiche, private; George Shannon, private; John Shields, private; Richard Windsor, private; York, Clark's slave; Troussaint Charbonneau, interpreter; Sacagawea, interpreter; Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, (the baby, "Pomp")

Italian stonemason Michael Jacobs built this outstanding Eclectic style house for his family in 1907. Born Michelangelo Jacobucci, Jacobs apprenticed in Vinchiaturo, Italy, before joining his brother Gabriel in the United States circa 1878. The brothers soon found work in Chicago, where Michael also attended night school in architecture. In 1901, the Montana Sandstone Company recruited Jacobs to become foreman of the Columbus quarry, best known for providing the stone for the Montana state capitol. By 1906, he had become superintendent. He later formed Stillwater Monumental Works, which created ornately carved cemetery markers. Jacobs’ skill and building trades connections are apparent in the sandstone residence. In 1906, Jacobs shared a floorplan his wife Hannah had sketched with noted Helena architect J. G. Link and asked Link to draw up plans. In 1907, when orders were slow, he kept his quarrymen busy cutting stone for the house. Huge sandstone blocks from Jacobs’ quarry form the exterior walls. Jacobs likely carved the intricate sandstone details himself, including the decorative flowers and scrollwork, balustrades, finials, and a carved lion’s head, which functions as a downspout. The home’s Renaissance Revival elements include its low-pitched, hipped roof, Corinthian columns, and arched windows. The most prominent decorative feature is the curvilinear stone parapet. The parapet’s shape, if not its material, mimics those found on Spanish Colonial style missions. Jacobs may have encountered the style at the 1893 Columbian Exposition, where the design of the California Building brought it to public attention.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

In 1878, a local farmer named Alonzo Young established a boat landing on the Yellowstone River several miles east of here. In addition to the boat landing, Young and his wife operated a stage station on the road to Coulson and Fort Keogh. In addition to the station, the couple provided a restaurant and hotel accommodations for weary travelers on the road. An advertisement in the Bozeman Avant Courier for Young's Point boasted of the couple's "strict attention to travelers" along with the area's "fine hunting, fowling, and fishing." Young's Point, the advertisement claimed, was "A Splendid Summer Resort." Young's Point even boasted a post office from 1878 until the Youngs moved it to the new community of Park City in 1882.

In 1882, a group of settlers from Ripon, Wisconsin, making the trip in the prairie schooners, settled in this region near the mouth of Valley Creek about seven miles east of here. It was to be their future home, so they planted trees and made what improvements they could to ultimately beautify the little city. The Northern Pacific Railway donated a section of land to them, and things started off in a prosperous pleasant manner. The railroad soon came through and established a station. The bare, sandstone bluffs north of town inspired the officials to christen the place Rimrock, but not so with the persons who planted sprigs and started a city of trees. Bravely they clung to the name Park City, and Rimrock finally disappeared with the list of unused titles. This was unfortunate inasmuch as the general manager of the N.P. resented this stubbornness on the part of the homesteaders, and in retaliation he changed the location of the proposed railroad yards and shops from townsite to Laurel.

Ho! For the States!

For a short time in the 1860s, fleets of Mackinaw boats plied the Yellowstone River, carrying passengers and cargo downstream to the "States." For many sojourners, the thought of backtracking along the route they took to Montana to reach home wasn't very appealing. Instead, many people took an easier route: floating down the Yellowstone on vessels resembling Mackinaw boats. Overland the trip could take several months, but on a boat, it took about a month. Entrepreneurs built the boats at the Great Bend of the Yellowstone, near present Livingston, to float their passengers downriver. Mackinaw boats in name only they were up to 50 feet long and 12 feet wide with flat bottoms to navigate over the many gravel bars and rapids on the river. Each boat had a crew of five: four oarsmen and one man at the rudder. Boat tickets averaged about $35 per person, comparable to today's airline fares.

The first boats sailed from the Great Bend near present Livingston in September 1864. The relative ease of the trip attracted more passengers in 1865, including territorial judge Hezekiah Hosmer and his family. His son, Allen, published an account of the journey, A Trip to the States. In it, he described the day-to-day events of the voyage and recounted how the passengers feared an attack by the Northern Cheyenne and Lakota Indians. Hosmer's cruise occurred when hostilities between Indians and travelers on the Bozeman Trail has erupted into war. He wrote "If it were not for the expectation of being fired into by (the Indians) every night, the traveler would enjoy the trip hugely." While Hosmer's trip was relatively uneventful, other voyages in 1866 and 1867 were not so lucky. By 1868, boat traffic on the Yellowstone River had all but ceased because the violence along the Bozeman Trail made this kind of travel too dangerous.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

For over sixty million years during the Cretaceous Period, much of eastern Montana was underwater, covered by an vast inland sea. As the Rocky Mountains formed to the west, it created a broad, flat coastal plain that was home to many different species of dinosaurs. Indeed, the long life of the sea saw the rise and extinction of many dinosaur species until it finally receded from Montana about 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period. The sediments deposited underwater or along the sea's coast formed the spectacular sandstone rimrocks in the Yellowstone River valley between Columbus and Billings.

The sea was shallow and warm, probably no more than a few hundred feet deep. But it was home to a wide variety of aquatic life. Oysters lived in dense banks along the shore, while tentacled ammonites fed on monster clams that lived in the shallow water offshore; sharks also cruised the shallows preying on whatever animals appeared tasty to them. For several million years, two predators, synonymous with prehistoric sea creatures, were at the top of the food chain in the sea: the long-necked Plesiosaurs and the snakelike Mosasaurs. Neither animals were dinosaurs, but were air-breathing reptiles who had adapted to living in the oceans. Both were carnivores that ate just about anything they could seize and swallow. Fossils of Plesiosaurs and Mosasaurs have been found throughout eastern Montana.

For centuries, the sandstone rimrocks along the Yellowstone River guided travelers between the mountains and the buffalo country to the east. In 1912, regional Good Roads enthusiasts and county officials created one of the first interstate highways in the United States, the Yellowstone Trail, an interconnected network of county roads blazed by distinctive chrome yellow signs with black arrows. The 4,000-mile highway connected Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts and Seattle, Washington with a branch to Yellowstone National Park. Later re-designated U.S. Highway 10, Interstate 90 bypassed it in 1971.

Geo-facts:

The first Tyrannosaurus rex fossils were discovered in Montana by paleontologist Barnum Brown in 1902.

Deinonychus was the model for the Velociraptors in the film Jurassic Park.

Many believe Scotland's Loch Ness Monster resembles a Plesiosaur.

Geo-activity:

See if you can trace the route of the Yellowstone Trail as you drive through the Yellowstone Valley.

Think of your favorite dinosaur. Have the people in your car ask you 10 questions to guess the dino you are thinking of!

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

Fighting escalated between the Lake and Northern Cheyenne Indians and American miners and settlers in early 1876. Increasing pressure from non-Indians in the region, coupled with a desire by the Indians to live free on the northern Great Plains, brought the two sides into conflict. After issuing an ultimatum to the tribes in late 1875, the US Army implemented a plan to trap the Indians in the vicinity of the Little Bighorn River through a three-pronged attack. Three columns of soldiers would converge on the Big Horn River area from the east, west and south to inflict a decisive defeat on the tribes and return them to the reservation in Dakota Territory.

Colonel John Gibbon and troops from the 5th Infantry left Fort Shaw on the Sun River in March 1876 and rendezvoused with elements of the Second Cavalry near Fort Ellis in the Gallatin Valley. After marching down the Yellowstone Valley, sometimes through hip-deep snow, the soldiers reached the mouth of the Stillwater River, about 10 miles west of here on April 8th. Gibbon and a small detachment of officers then rode up the Stillwater to the Crow Agency on Rosebud Creek. At the agency, Gibbon hired Crow warriors to scout ahead of the soldiers as they advance downriver to the Little Bighorn.

While camped at the mouth of the Stillwater, a company of infantry from Camp Baker, near today's White Sulphur Springs, joined the column. Gibbon's negotiations at the Crow Agency gave the soldiers time to rest in preparation for the next phase of the their march. To while away the time, many soldiers became avid fishermen, depleting the river of over 500 pounds of trout during their 8-day stay in camp.

The lack of communication between the three columns doomed the campaign from the start. After several weeks marching back and forth along the Yellowstone, the Montana Column joined with General Alfred Terry's troops from the east. The combined force marched south up the Big Horn River. On June 27, 1876, the soldiers found the grisly remains of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer's Seventh Cavalry, who had been soundly defeated but the Indians on the Little Bighorn. The soldiers also rescued several companies of cavalrymen, under the command of Major Marcus Reno, who had been besieged by the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne a few miles south of the site of Custer's defeat. The Montana Column played an important part in the 1876-77 Centennial Campaign against the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne.