Great Falls, Montana (CoD June 13-July 13, 1805)

The Mandan’s told the Captains of the great falls of the Missouri, that it would be about ½ day portage around them. Lewis was amazed when he first gazed at the great falls, which turned out to be the first of five! The ½ day portage turned out to take about 3 weeks. All the boats and gear were hauled up a ravine on the south side of the river and up onto the plains, about 1000 feet above. The portage was about 18 miles in length to get above the last falls. It took four trips to get all there stuff to the upper portage camp.
It was on July 4th that the CoD finished the last of there hard spirits. There were no more happy hours until they got back to St Louis 14 months later. Captain Lewis was also attacked by a grizzly bear at the upper portage camp. The bear chased him into the river but then left him alone.
The river now sports dams ahead of the major falls, to generate power. There are lookouts from the bluffs to see most of the falls/dams. They are still impressive today, no wonder Lewis was overcome when he first heard the roar of the great falls. The first photo shows Pris in front of the Great Falls, with the dam behind. If you look carefully, you can see a half dozen bikers on top of the ridge at the left side of the dam.
On the south shore of the river is the national forest Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center. It is right on the bluff about 800 feet above the water. It is the most comprehensive and impressive L&C center we have encountered so far. While it concentrates on the falls portage, it covers the entire trip from both the CoD and Indian perspectives.
We also visited the First People’s Buffalo Jump State Park, about 15 miles south of Great Falls. For about 1000 years prior to the acquisition of horses, Indians would lure buffalo up to and over the cliffs. This would be done by the swiftest runner wearing a buffalo calf’s skin to lure the lead cow of the herd and for other runners wearing wolf’s skins to harass the rest of the herd from behind. When all worked well, the herd got on top of the mesa and was stampeded over the cliff with the front runner managing to avoid the falling buffalo by diving into a crack. These guys deserved the best steaks from the buffalo feast! The second photo shows Pris in a tee pee with the “killing cliff” of the mesa behind her. The third photo shows Pris with a new found friend at the visitor center.
Great Falls is also home to Malmstrom Air Force base. Our good friends Ken and Barb A. used to live here as Ken was a pilot in the AF. He flew KC 135 tankers up over the artic to be ready to refuel B 52s, if there was ever a hot war with the Soviets. Thankfully that never materialized. After Ken finished his AF career, he went to JPL where John and Ken both worked in the same group in 1970. Ken finally retired from JPL in the mid 2000s; no one is quite sure when since he “oozed out” one day at a time. Ken’s latest career is as grammarian of the blog, which John is so thankful for.