Fort Benton MT
We’re sitting in front of the Pioneer Lodge in Fort Benton Montana watching the river flow steadily by. It is raining pretty hard. As a result, we have decided to delay our river trip by one (more) day. This was fine with us, as it gave us a day to tool around and explore this historical river-front town of Fort Benton.
Fort Benton is an outpost that Lewis and Clark passed by both going up and down river some 200 years ago on their historic expedition, thus opening up the West to exploration and development. Many things have changed, and much of this enormous river that meanders through parts of no less than 10 US states and 2 Canadian provinces has been dammed up. But starting here in Fort Benton, and for the next 150 miles as the river flows within the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, she flows freely and swiftly by. And with the late spring/early summer snow melt bolstering the flows, she is in an especially aggressive mood right now.
In watching the river from the shore here in Ft Benton, one really can conjure up a sense of what the river must have been like back in the days of Lews and Clark. Although today the town is a pretty sleepy little place, this used to be a bustling center of river commerce. With the aforementioned great series of waterfalls beginning just upstream, this was the final stop for the grand paddle wheeled steamers that plied the length of the Missouri River a century ago- before the railroads rendered them obsolete.
And this is the place where we will drop in our big red canoe to begin our approximately 90 mile float down the river to Judith Landing. The trip we are anticipating will take 4 or 5 days. We are especially looking forward to the scenic White Cliffs section about 40 miles downstream. Weather permitting, tomorrow is the day!
Grand Union Hotel Fort Benton MT
Almost immediately upon arrival in town, we strolled into the bar at the immaculately restored turn of the century Grand Union Hotel on the waterfront for a hot chocolate to warm up. On the way out we made an inquiry at the front desk about room rates. Before even proffering a rate, after glancing at our fleece and Gore-tex layers and hiking boots, she sized us up for the pair of vagrant canoe campers we are- and which over-run her town all summer. She then proceeded to suggest maybe we should head up to the canoe campsite on the outskirts of town, where we’d find more folks of our same social set or something. OK then.. it’s off to “Canoeverville”!
The Old Bridge in Ft Benton
This afternoon we walked across the first bridge across the Missouri in Montana. Built in 1888, and closed to auto traffic since 1931, it is just down the street from the above mentioned Grand Union Hotel. We also heard the story of Shepp at the visitor center. Shepp was one of the most famous and beloved residents in the history of Fort Benton. And who, after a long and laborious career, was hit by a train and died in 1941. Schools were closed, and 200 people turned out for the memorial. But the strange part is that Shepp was a dog! Go figure…
Upper Missouri River, Mile 1
Editor’s note: Had another one of those only in Montana moments, which just jolted me out of my river-induced trance: While sitting on a little bench along the river-front whiling the afternoon away while watching the river flow steadily by and listening to birds chirp in the cottonwood trees overhead, a diesel Dodge pick-up truck with a confederate flag sticker just drove by sporting noisy black-smoke emitting big-rig style exhaust stacks. He proceeded to gun it the whole way down the street…
Our late afternoon stroll through town led us to the Pioneer Lodge, right on the waterfront. We couldnt resist splurging for one more night in a comfy bed and one more morning hot shower. The roughing-it will start tomorrow..