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Hands of Harvest: The Craft Heritage Trails of North Central Montana
October 14, 2010
Kim Thielman-Ibes
High, wide and handsome is how Joseph Kinsey Howard once described Montana and even penned a book with that name. For most visitors to our state they see the high and the handsome of Glacier National Park and on south to Yellowstone National Park, but somehow, and perhaps understandably, miss the wide section of the other Montana—that which lies on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountain Front. North Central Montana is an area known for its unobstructed sunsets and lush fields of wheat. It is a culturally rich hotbed of undiscovered artistic talent, craftspeople, natural history and manmade wonders. After all, this is where Lewis and Clark set the stage for the Upper Missouri River development, where Charlie Russell made western art history and where dinosaurs still populate the countryside. These small towns and rurally populated plains are truly one of the last best places for adventure and real off-the-beaten-path discoveries. This is what the Hands of Harvest Craft Heritage Trail is all about, inspired by a Blue Ridge Mountain’s community strategy to support and develop its crafts heritage. Montana’s Hands of Harvest invites you to follow six expansive trails built upon the cultural, crafts and historical treasures of these vast North Central plains.
Hands of Harvest Sampler:
Gateway Crossing: Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls, Montana, the Hands of Harvest Gateway Crossing, is your portal into this wonderful western world. Once an inland sea bed, Great Falls geological history is evident from the surrounding buttes and mountain ranges that enclose the city to the east, south and west. Broad, grassy Montana plains open to the north while the great Missouri River runs through the core of the city and is responsible for its existence. In 1805, it took Lewis and Clark over a month to port around the five falls that make up the Great Falls of the Missouri River. Today, you can re-live President Thomas Jefferson’s vision, and Lewis and Clark’s trek through this uncharted western territory by visiting the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. Lewis and Clark may have been one of the first western visitors, but it was Paris Gibson in the latter 1800’s who actually built the city. Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art is a Nationally Historic Registered Landmark and Montana’s second largest contemporary art museum. The C.M Russell, Children’s, High Plains Heritage and Montana Cowboys Museum are just a few more sites that capture the spirit, culture and heritage of Gateway Crossing.
Three Rivers Roundabout: Missouri, Dearborn and Sun River Loop
The 180-mile Three Rivers Roundabout heritage loop swoops south and west before returning you to Great Falls, or for the real adventurers sending you on your way to the Peaks and Prairies loop that follows. Here family ranches date back to the 1870’s, archaeological sites to 500 A.D., and the landscape bears the scars from the ancient glacial Lake Great Falls. Jim Kittredge forges original copper and silver jewelry at the Bird Creek Ranch, one of the first working ranches in the area and home to a herd of Highland Cattle and Icelandic Sheep. Nearby, Ulm Pishkin State Park is potentially the largest bison cliff jump in North America. Its newly built visitors and education center offers storytelling circles, pow-wow demonstrations and buffalo culture exhibits. At Big Sky Fiber Farm, the land continues to spur a craftsman heritage. Angora rabbits, alpacas and Cotwold/Wensleydale sheep are raised for their fiber. Here you can buy natural dyed yarn, fiber, hand-woven creations or even the livestock! Anglers, hikers, horseback riders and lovers of gourmet food will enjoy an overnight or two at the Bull Run Outfitting and Guest Ranch. Put your feet up, pull out your Hands of Harvest guide and prepare yourself for the Peaks and Prairies loop.
Peaks and Prairies Country: Footsteps in History
This is a land of contrasts. One no more so than the stark delineation between the elevated peaks of the Rocky Mountain Front as they drop precipitously and spill into the wide open plains of eastern Montana. At one time volcanic ash spewed from the ragged peaks of the deeply glaciated Sawtooth Mountains, just outside Chouteau, covering what has become one of the most prolific Cretaceous period dinosaur discoveries in the world. Egg Mountain, offering paleontology field programs and tours, has added more to dinosaur biology than any other paleontology dig in the world. With the death of the dinosaur came the birth of the Old North Trail, both have left their indelible mark in Peaks and Prairies Country. Teton County volunteers have commemorated the trail as it meanders along the front with 23 boulders bearing the name “The Old North Trail” and at the Old Trail Museum you can explore Native American history and culture. Truly, this area is one worth lingering in.
Foothills Loop: The Backbone of the World
The Blackfeet Indians know this area as the Mistakis or the Backbone of the World. Riding along the dichotomous Continental Divide, their 1.5 million acre reservation makes up the majority of this loop, extending west towards Glacier National Park and east into the foothills and just beyond into the eastern Montana plains. Curly Bear Wagner provides historical tours that leave from the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning. Here, you’ll also find exhibits featuring the creative achievements and artifacts of the Northern Plains Indians. Just down the road, at the Lodgepole Gallery and Tipi Village, enjoy contemporary craftsman’s designs of these beautiful traditional art forms. The Stone School Inn Bed and Breakfast, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was once Valier’s elementary school. This finely restored bed and breakfast gets an A++ for its gourmet meals and historic décor. Truly an unexpected delight, one night might just not be enough!
Great Northern Trail: Eastward Ho!
The term, Big Sky Montana, is given a new meaning on this Great Northern Trail. The cultural and geographical differences within this region contrast greatly with that of Western Montana. Here the plains give rise to unending golden fields, unimpeded sunsets and an undeniable beauty driven by its simplicity. Fine craftsman, like Janet Christenot, weave Montana gold—wheat, into creative sculptures and arrangements. Her work, along with that of skilled landscape artists, stained glass craftsman and photographers is exhibited at the Liberty Village Arts Center in Chester. Just across the street, world-renowned pianist/composer, Philip Aaberg, has built the Great Northern Bed and Breakfast. Further down the line, Havre Beneath the Streets provides us with a real life 100-year-old city complete with bordello and saloon while Havre’s Carnegie Library houses native and contemporary art. Beaver Creek Park—only 1 mile wide and 18 miles long is one of the sites not to be missed along your Great Northern adventure.
Cottonwood Country Byway: Birthplace of Montana
Whew! This is your last loop in the trail. No visit is complete without experiencing the hospitality of Montana’s oldest operating hotel, the elegantly restored Grand Union in Fort Benton. Fort Benton, founded as a military and trading post, was the furthest inland port in the mid-1800’s. Steamboats ferried seekers of riches from fur to gold to land making Fort Benton the head of navigation to the west and thus the birthplace of Montana. Fine artist like Karl Bodmer and Willaim Cary traversed through these parts putting down on canvas the wonders that they saw. Today, you can see these same wonders by touring with Missouri River Breaks Tours or Missouri River Outfitters for one day or seven through the White Cliffs and Missouri River Breaks wild and scenic areas. At the Tumbleweed Gallery in Big Sandy, artists reinterpret history and landscape using music, sculpture, metal and beaver-fur and some unique methods such as its resident railroad-spike artist. These are just a few of the highlights on this byway.
For more information email Russell@visitmt.com and check out their website at www.handsofharvest.org
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