Between the time dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, and the beginning of the Ice Age, some 2 million years ago, is a time called the Age of Mammals. During this period of time the western third of Montana experienced a variety of geological activities, some of which raised mountains and lowered valleys. The valleys became the homes of a wide variety of interesting and bizarre animals. Many of these have since gone extinct or today live in much warmer climates. During the early part of this period, about 35 million years ago, Montana was home to animals like the double-horned rhinoceros-like brontotheres, and primitive little three-toed horse, camels, and deer. In the later part of the period, 20 million years ago, the valleys hosted bizarre-looking ancestors of our modern elephants, camels, deer and pigs. These included elephants with shovel-like tusks, deer-like animals with forked horns over their noses, and pigs the size of hippos. Montana was such and subtropical. The extinction of these groups of animals would coincide with the coming of the Ice Age, and the arrival of humans less than 50,000 years ago.

Erected by

Montana Department of Transportation.

Authorized by the town council in 1922, the fish pond was designed and built by American Legion commander, Edwin C. Speck. He received $195.40 for labor and materials. The rocks on the center pyramid are all donated local ore samples. A dough boy stood atop the pyramid, honoring WWI soldiers. The first 17 fish to live in the pond came from Meadow Lake on the Madison. During WWII, the names of all local soldiers were mounted around the center structure. For years after that, the pond was filled with dirt and planted with flours by the Women's Club. About 1955, the Rotary club became custodians and fish have been in the pond each summer since. The eagle which now perches on top of the pyramid was donated to Rotary by Louis Lepp. It once adorned the Tait garage. (July, 2004)

Erected 2004 by Rotary Club.

Newlyweds Lot and Hilda Borden arrived in Whitehall early in 1900, and for the next seventy years, their business contributed to the local economy. At first, Lot ran a saloon and Hilda a cafe. The Bordens built the east portion of the present building in 1913 as a billiard hall, saloon, and second-floor dance hall. Its eye-catching canted corner recalls the days when Whitehall, situated along both the old highway and the Northern Pacific Railroad, was a hub for tourists. Railroad workers—who proved loyal patrons over the next fifty years—persuaded the Bordens to convert the dance hall to hotel rooms in 1916. The Bordens soon expanded, adding a one-story lobby and restaurant to the west in 1919. During Prohibition, the saloon became a commercial storefront housing the Golden Rule, the telephone exchange, and other enterprises. Upon Lot’s death in 1922, Hilda ran both the hotel and restaurant. In 1929, she commissioned Bozeman architect Fred Willson to design the attached Craftsman style residence. With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Hilda obtained the town’s first beer license and the Modern Hotel became the Borden Hotel. Business was so brisk that in 1941 Fred Willson designed a second-story addition, adding nine hotel rooms. The crisp stepped parapet, similar to the older one adjacent, architecturally melds the older and newer portions. Although tourism declined after the construction of Interstate 90 in 1961, Hilda continued in business until her death at 91 in 1971. The Whitehall community remembers her for financing the education of many a local youngster. The Borden Hotel still anchors Legion Avenue.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.

The Flint Creek Valley has, according to archeologists, been the home to humans for around 10,000 years. Fur trappers and traders frequented the valley in the early 19th century. Prospectors discovered gold in the Granite Mountains and on Henderson Gulch in the early 1860s. Founded in 1864, Philipsburg became an important mining camp in Montana by the 1880s. In 1865, the Stone stage station was established near here on the road between Philipsburg and the Mullen road junction near Drummond. By the early 1880s, the stage stop included a post office, school, store, and boarding house. After the construction of the Drummond-Philipsburg branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1887, this part of the valley became important for the productivity of its farms and ranches.

Named for pioneers Henry and Julia Byrne Hall, the community of Hall was an important agricultural center in the valley and a shipping point for the farm and ranch products raised there. The town thrived until the economic depression following the First World War caused Hall's bank to close. The history and verdant beauty of the Flint Creek Valley is a lasting monument to pioneer vision and enterprise.

Erected by Montana Department of Transportation.

Montana was part of Idaho Territory in 1863. In 1864 when the Idaho Territorial Legislature agreed to a separate Montana Territory, its members wanted the boundary to be the Continental Divide. When the separation bill was proposed in Congress, however, James Ashley of the House Committee on Territories and Idaho Territorial Judge Sydney Edgerton placed the border along the Bitterroot Mountains. The survey followed its current jagged line from Yellowstone Park west and north until it reached about 60 miles from Canada. Ashley and Edgerton then determined that the boundary was veering too far west, so they ran it straight north to Canada, creating the one flat section of Montana’s western boundary. The Idaho Legislature protested the proposed border and petitioned Congress to restore the “stolen” lands with no success. Think of it, if the boundary between Montana and Idaho had been the Continental Divide, The University of Montana’s Grizzlies at Missoula would have been in Idaho and Montana State’s Bobcats at Bozeman would have been in Montana there would be an even greater Great Divide between the Cats and the Griz.

Montana’s crown jewel of sporting events takes place every fall. It's the annual football contest between The University of Montana Grizzlies and Montana State University Bobcats. The frenzy surrounding the Brawl of the Wild game between the Bobcats and Grizzlies is evident in every corner of the state. The passion to win that contest binds and divides families, neighbors and communities.

The game is the football rivalry divided by a mountain range, the Continental Divide. The first game took place in 1897 in Missoula. Since then both schools have enjoyed success on the gridiron. The two schools battled twice in one season seven times between 1898 and 1913. The contest was moved to Butte in 1926. The Griz and Cats did battle in the Mining City from 1926 to 1950, battling for the Copper Bowl from 1946 to 1950. The annual contest was moved to the campus sites in Bozeman and Missoula starting in 1951.

Beginning in 2001, the two teams started playing for the Great Divide Trophy. The trophy was created to resemble Bear Mountain, which can be seen off in the distance. The mountain sits on the Continental Divide, the heart and soul of Montana. The victorious team displays the traveling trophy on their campus for the following year. The Bobcats and Grizzlies will battle for the Great Divide Trophy throughout the century. The team with the most wins during the 21st century will keep the trophy permanently following the 2100 game. Bear Mountain and the Great Divide Trophy are landmarks for all Montanans.

The original painting, by Dave Samuelson, hangs in the Montana Historical Society. The painting was used to create the Great Divide Trophy which goes to the winning institution's campus each year.