Fort Benton to Havre, Montana

August 20 - 22, 2010:

  

I am taking route 87 north from Fort Benton to Havre, Montana.  The highway is following the Missouri River with many signs for the Lewis and Clark Trail.  Those guys would be amazed if they could see them all and probably dispute some of them.  I come to a sign for a historic point, which leads me down a dirt road to a parking lot for the “Decision Point”.  This place offered much confusion to the Lewis and Clark expedition as they traveled up the Missouri River.  At this point the river split and each branch was of similar size and they didn't know which branch was the real Missouri River.  They wanted to stay on the Missouri to get to the Great Falls as the Indians had told them.  The Indians hadn’t explained to them which way to go at this junction, more likely it was lost in the translation. They spent some time exploring each branch and made a decision which turned out to be correct.  There was a short trail to a view point overlooking the convergence of the rivers which was a beautiful view.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/decision-point.htm

The other river was the Marias River with quite a history also

The town of Ophir was expected to become the big river boat port, it had a great location, but is now known as "The city that never was"

That was the site of Ophir

View of the river junction from hillside trail

Official marker indicating this place as a Lewis and Clark campsite

A short distance away is the town of Loma which I rode into and took a few photos of the old grain elevators.  As I exited town at the highway I stopped to check out Ma’s Cafe and Pa’s General Store across from one another on the highway.  A middle aged man across the street had seen me with the camera and rushed over to see what I was up to, this will sometimes happen, he thought I might be taking pictures for some sort of professional cause.  We ended having a conversation where I learned he was originally from the area, but had moved away to Alaska for a while, then than returned and had operated a river guide service.  He went on to explain the complex geology of this area, from being a sea covered land to an ice age glacially covered land which was reshaped as the glaciers retreated.  

Every town in this part of the country has a grain elevator that can be seen for miles

PA's Market

MA's Cafe

Next was the town of Big Sandy, another name for the Missouri River as it carries much silt and debris.  The town is very distressed, very depressing actually.  It used to have an iconic water tower, now gone, it also had the worlds largest tractor, also gone, pretty much everything is gone, but it is the hometown of the bass player of the rock band Pearl Jam who built a skate park  for the youth here.

A really massive grain elevator 

Great wheat harvest mural

The Hotel is looking poor these days

The Museum in the old rail depot looked very nice, unfortunately was closed

These old combines are everywhere, it seems were was no market for used ones and everyone just parked them when they bought a newer machine

They take much pride in their pioneer heritage in these parts

The story of "Big Sandy" is a good one

I then entered the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation at Box Elder, Montana where it got worse, total poverty and depression here.  Ironically, Box Elder, South Dakota is still my official residence.  I started to drive into the reservation but saw that there was a Covid-19 road check point stopping non-residents and turned around.

There wasn't much to see except for this really trashy bar

I next stopped at Loredo, little more than a crossroads, just to take a photo of the Loredo sign next to the railroad tracks, probably where the train depot  used to be.

Laredo is empty, the train tracks are getting rusted and weed covered

The wheat fields are beautiful however

I entered the city of Havre which locals pronounce as “Hav’er” where I soon realized that I had been there before while I was standing in front of the BNSF train depot and looking at the statue of Great Northern Railroad founder, James J. Hill.  The last steam Locomotive to run on the Great Northern Line into Havre is also on display and looking pretty nasty, it needs to be cleaned up and repainted badly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havre,_Montana

The Palace Bar is beautiful inside, the Bar Back is reputed to be
one of the oldest in Montana

Monument to the Empire builder, James J Hill

Steam Locomotive 2584 was retired after it's final run into Havre

Downtown Havre view

A nice colorful mural

The Box Cars Grain Elevator is an impressive sight

Many western towns had these cowboy bands, there were great

As I passed the "Old Station Brewing Company" I saw a sign for live music at 5 PM.  I then went to the Havre underground tour location which is also a train museum.  I reserved a underground tour and looked around the museum which is kind of a mess, it needs considerable attention.  Much of Havre looks this way, dumpy, actually I find much of Northern Montana looks the same.    

Underground tours have become very popular these days, many cities have these underground areas, but do nothing with them.  I have gone on a few and this one is like the others, lots of hype, some stuff is real, other stuff recreated.  There is always a “bordello”, a Chinese area with an “Opium Den” and of course a “Speak Easy area.  The stories told by the guides about the underground areas can be interesting and it helps much to have a guide who adds some personality to it all.

The Saloon area

The Madam of the bordello

An underground meat market

       

Afterwards, I go to the Old Station Brewing and there is actually live music, a solo opening act who did acoustic classic rock, done well, but without vocals.  I didn’t stay for the main act who was more of a singer/songwriter type.  This seems to be only live music going on, actually I don’t see where much of anything goes on here.  It’s even hard to find a decent place to eat unless you like to eat in a sleazy looking bar / casino.   

Saturday, morning I found a great, but small, bakery, the Infinity Bake Shop,  which I believe I also went to on my previous visit here.

The Bakery is in this beautiful building

I then took a day trip on route 2 west from Havre to Chester, Montana, this highway is known as the “High Line”.  My object was to stop at every small farming town along the route such as, Bernham, Fresno, Kremlin, Gidford, Hingham, Rudyard, Inverness, Joplin and Chester, and I did most of them.  In summary I will tell you. it’s very sad, the towns all all dying places, slowly turning into ghost towns.   The huge grain elevators that mark the location of every town are mostly quiet now, unused, outdated by new more efficient methods.

https://www.bigskyfishing.com/Montana-Info/Hi-Line/history-hi-line.shtm

I spent some the most time in Rudyard visiting the Rudyard Depot Museum where they are doing great things, saving a lot of the historic things from these dying towns before they are gone forever. They are also very pleasant nice folks.  Also in town is an automotive museum, but unfortunately it was closed.  The original "High Line Theater" remains and still shows movies.

The High Line Theater

The original Rudyard Train Depot  is now part of the museum

Lots of farm equipment id being saved

Lots of quirky items of interest here

This town seems to still have fun

A good policy

I opened the autograph book and found this great one

I'm glad this ended up in the museum, but I wonder exactly why
it isn't a treasure for some family member

These towns all take great pride in being on the “High Line”, like it's a badge of courage I suppose, and they have boastful welcome signs are are entertaining now such as ; Joplin: “The biggest little small town in the world”,  Kremlin: USA Style

This road view reminds me of John Steinbeck

This makes me want to hop a freight train

The wheat is formulated for the weather and soil of this area

I'm guessing this is Gildford, Montana, there were many similar looking towns

Joplin won in the best sign category 

These hills were once covered in vast grass lands and buffalo herds, a revered place by the indigenous Indians for thousands of years

Chester Montana also had a good sign

And a large grain elevator complex

This is a mountain of wheat, I noticed wheat trailers from the fields were dumping their
wheat in areas like this.  Not exactly sure how this works.

The wheat farming along the High Line appears to be thriving, it is harvest time and huge combines and truck trailers are everywhere.  You will be passed by tractor trailers rigs carrying huge combines or trucks with huge hay rolls.  Also there are huge combines with cutting their head disconnected on the road, towing these lengthy cutting heads behind them on a special trailer.  

Grasshoppers are thriving on the High Line, every time I step out of the van there are thousands hopping about, the front of the van is covered, what a mess.  I am wondering why they don’t devour the wheat crop ?  Research into this tells me that the perimeter of the fields are sprayed which keeps them out, sounds to simple to me ?

I find Havre basically kind of a dumpy city, although there are some nice residential areas, but there is little of interest here for me.  They lack any form of entertainment, except for small sleazy casinos/bars and have a poor selection of restaurants.  The massive grain elevators are really scenic though.

Get Lost in Montana, that's about what I am doing

   

Next stop is Malta, Montana