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We haven't been to Montana for a few years. The
main difference is that Montana now has speed limits on its highways;
on our previous visit drivers were allowed to go as fast as they
wanted, as long as it was "reasonable and prudent." |
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When Lewis & Clark were looking for a
passage to the Northwest part of the country in 1803-05 they
were told that there were great falls on the Missouri that they
would have to portage. When they later came to a fork in the
river, they explored both arms and could tell that they were
on the real Missouri when they reached the falls. |
The city of Great Falls later became home
to one of America's best known artists, Charles M. Russell, the
"Cowboy Painter." Today a museum stands beside Russell's
original home and log studio. |
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Outside of town is the Lewis & Clark National
Historic Trail Interpretive Center, a museum and demonstration
center relating to the Corps of Discovery. This museum was one
of the most interesting and best organized of all the ones we
have visited, and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Great
Falls. |
Now, the falls also supply electricity; the
addition of power dams changes the appearance considerably from
what Merriwether Clark fist saw when he explored the river. |
About 35 miles from Great Falls is the town
of Fort Benton, a major trading area in the 1800s. Fort Benton
was as far up the Missouri as cargo boats could navigate, from
there trade goods traveled overland further west and into western
Canada. |
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Everywhere we went we saw statues by a Montana
sculptor named Robert Scriver, who apparently sculpted all of
the statues in the state until his death in 1999. There are no
known statues of Robert Scriver. |
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