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TRAVELERS' REST STATE PARK:
A CROSSROADS OF MONTANA HISTORY
Nestled at the junction of U.S. Highways 12 and 93, Travel-
ers' Rest State Park and National Historic Landmark must be
one of the most unassuming historic sites in the entire state
of Montana. Traversed by Lolo Creek, much of the park sits
in a low riparian area that floods every spring. The Séliš (Sal-
ish), Qlispé (Kalispell) and Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) peo-
ples have used the area as a thoroughfare and campsite for
millennia, white settlers didn't have much use for a soggy
bog that didn't lend itself to farming. As a result, Travelers'
Rest looks much as it did when the Corps of Discovery passed
through—once on September 9-11, 1805, on their way out to
the Pacific, and again on June 30-July 3,1806 on their way
back to St. Louis.
As far as scenic vistas witnessed by Lewis and Clark, Mon-
tana has a lot better to offer than Travelers' Rest. It boggles
the mind to consider, as intimated in the National Register
of Historic Places (NRHP) Nomination for the site, that the
dreams of our young nation—the fantasy of an ideal topog-
A Study in Precision on the Lewis and Clark Trail
by LINDSAY TRAN
Travelers' Rest:
DALE DUFOUR
