Distinctly Montana Magazine

82 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G 2 0 2 6 article and photos by BRYAN SPELLMAN G E T T O K N O W G E T T O K N O W A C O U N T Y A C O U N T Y R A V A L L I C O U N T Y R A V A L L I C O U N T Y T O ADAPT ROBERTA CARKEEK CHENEY'S PHRASE, RAVALLI COUNTY IS THE NOSE ON THE FACE OF MONTANA. The Montana State legislature took the southern extent of Missoula County and created Ravalli County in 1893. Today the county covers roughly 2,400 square miles, the same as at its creation. The county's borders have never changed. In terms of land area, Ravalli County is 26th of Mon- tana's 56 counties. The 2024 census estimate counts just over 48,000 people in the county which puts its rank at 7th. The county takes its name from Father Anthony Raval- li, a Jesuit priest who first came to the area in 1854 and died in 1884. He is buried in Saint Mary's cemetery in Stevensville. The largest and only city in the county is Hamilton which serves as county seat. The county number is 13. The county is bisected by the Bitterroot River which has its headwaters in the Sapphire Mountains (East Fork) and the Bit- terroot Mountains (West Fork). The two forks converge near the community of Conner and from that point, the Bitterroot flows north for over eighty miles to its confluence with the Clark Fork just west of Missoula. As most of the river's length is in Ravalli County, the area is most commonly referred to as "The Bitter- root." And as the river flows south to north, old timers go "up" (south) when travelling from Missoula to Hamilton and beyond, or "down" (north) when going to Missoula. They will be polite, but look at you funny if you think that up means north. It is beyond the scope of this article to talk about pre-European visits to the Bitterroot Valley. Suffice it to say that on September 4th, 1805, Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery crossed Lost Trail Pass and entered the Bitterroot from the south. At Ross' Hole near present day Sula, they encountered a band of Salish Indians who were headed to the southeast to hunt for bi- son. This band of Salish had lived in the Bitterroot for who knows how many generations. The meeting between the Corps of Dis- covery and the Salish was friendly and the Corps were able to purchase horses and gather information to help them with their trek further west to the Pacific. In 1912 the state of Montana commissioned artist Charlie Rus- sell to paint a mural destined to hang in the chambers of the House of Representatives. After much back and forth between HAMILTON

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