Sunday, September 4, 2011

Great Falls, Montana

Fri Aug 26th-27th – We spent two nights in Great Falls, Montana, so that we could have one, full, leisurely day sightseeing. The first thing that Great Falls has is, of course, falls – a number of them along the Missouri River. They were impressive, however, the hydroelectric dams built on them did detract from their original sense of ‘wildness’.

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It was, nonetheless, easy to appreciate how the ‘Great Falls’ appeared to Lewis and Clark, who first discovered the falls on their expedition westward.

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When the Lewis and Clark expedition came upon the area they named Great Falls, they had to portage around the 5 sets of falls. They had to abandon their keel boats and fashion dug-out canoes that could be hauled up over the land and around the falls. The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls did a wonderful job of describing the difficulties encountered by the expedition and their one month stay at Great Falls.

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The Missouri River was beautiful. They had had very high water levels similar to the flooding around Sioux City, but the river had gone down.

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We noticed these pelicans and cormorants just ‘hanging out’ together.

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We also enjoyed Big Spring State Park…….

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Where a wonderful, crystal clear, spring bubbles out of the ground, forming a pool…..

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That spills into the Missouri River.

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Another State Park close by is the First Peoples Buffalo Jump.  I loved the stained glass panels (there were 3 of them) that greeted you at the center.

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This park had a wonderful interpretive center that describes the sacred relationship that the Native Americans had with the buffalo, which provided the food, clothes, tools and other necessities of life for them.

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This ‘buffalo jump’ was the site of seasonal gatherings of all the Native American tribes in the area for a big buffalo kill. The Plains Indians would all work together, herding the buffalo over the edge of this embankment, where they would plunge to their death. Then, over a number of weeks, while the Indians would remain camped there, they would butcher the buffalo- curing the meat, and processing the hides- before returning home.

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The ‘buffalo jump’ is considered a sacred site, and one of great celebration. We could close our eyes and just imagine the intertwining lives of the Plains Indians and the noble buffalo.

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This is the top of the embankment. It is amazing how far one can see in the Great Plains.

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And this is the edge over which hundreds of buffalo would plunge….

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It was absolutely peaceful on top of this butte. No one around for miles…….just the sun and the wind…….

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And a few prairie dogs chattering away at having been disturbed ……..

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1 comment:

  1. Nice post. I've always wondered about Lewis And Clark's trials at this spot. Your pictures help me envision what they might have gone through. Safe travels.

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