Distinctly Montana Magazine

W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M 27 T A N A Northern airie Reserve Bowdoin National ldlife Refuge St. Marie Bear Paw Battlefield HAVRE CHINOOK MALTA GLASGOW WOLF POINT CULBERTSON selected the site because of its clear skies, flat terrain, and strategic northern location tucked just 48 miles south of the Canadian line. Squadrons of Voodoo F101-B fighter jets patrolled the skies and to support the mission, the town was constructed to house the projected 7,000 airmen and their families. Now the gigantic 13,500-foot-long runway, aircraft hangers, apartments, homes, and barracks—are all abandoned. TIP: To find this town, drive north of Glasgow for 16 miles on highway 24. BEAR PAW BATTLEFIELD Perhaps no place along the 49th parallel evokes the agony as- sociated with Native people's identity with the "line" more than the Bear Paw Battlefield south of Chinook. Chief Joseph's band of 700 Nez Perce and their prized 800 horses made a run for the border in the summer of 1877, pursued by two cavalry units led by Nelson Miles and Oliver O. Howard. After a long 1,200-mile escape from their reservations in Idaho through Montana, they struck north from Yellowstone Park and sought relief across the Medicine Line. Either thinking they had reached Canada or just because they were too exhausted to march any more, they huddled in an early fall snowstorm alongside Snake Creek to rest. ere they were overtaken. Amidst gunfire. Some of Joseph's band escaped one night and made it to Canada. Joseph and his followers, in rags and tattered blankets, surrendered on October 5, 1877—just 44 miles short of freedom. TIPS: The Nez Perce National Battlefield Historic Site is administered by the National Park Service in an interpretive center partnered with the Blaine County Historical Museum in Chinook Montana. The battlefield is 16 miles south of town on paved highway 40. Guided tours with rangers are available in the summer but in the off season you'll likely be the only vehicle in the parking lot. A 1.5-mile self-guided trail encircles the battle site. Visitors can see the places where soldiers dug rifle pits, where Joseph's lodge was and where Indians fell adjacent to bullet-splattered rocks. Native visitors have placed offerings, not to be disturbed, at loca- tions where Indians were camped or fell that include tobacco, beads, coins, strips of cloth, and dried food. The site is free and open year-round, sunrise to sunset. ere you have it—a roundup of sites you can visit along the Medicine Line. Take a drive around the St. Marie ghost down www.distinctlymontana.com/medicine182 DISTINCTLY MONTANA | DIGITAL Travelers looking to enter Canada at the Trail Creek "Port of Entry" are reminded that a border crossing is not possible at the end of the 55-mile, bumpy North Fork Road. Bear Paw Battlefield group tour CHUCK HANEY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ALANNA OBER

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