Valleys and Rivers
This area, Beaverhead County and Southwest Montana, geologically speaking, is considered a basin and range province or an inter-mountain region. That is the landscape is a mix of parallel mountain ranges separated by broad, often sagebrush filled valleys. The Big Hole, Beaverhead and Centennial valleys are “textbook” examples of such geography.
Big Hole
Montana's Big Hole Country
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By Rick and Susie Graetz – The University of Montana
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Native Americans who frequented the area called it the “land of big snows,” in 1806, William Clark christened it Hot Springs Valley, early trappers used the French word trou (hole), to describe a wide-open basin between mountain ranges, and the homesteaders and ranchers, who moved into these bottomlands in the 1880s, adopted this term for the Big Hole Valley. Later, in the days when hay was piled high like giant loaves of bread, it was often referred to as the “valley of 10,000 hay stacks.”
Legendary for its fishing, haystacks, tough winters, and multi-generation ranches, southwest Montana’s Big Hole country is still the real west. Considered one of Montana’s most beautiful valleys, this sparsely populated landscape is home to some of the largest and oldest working ranches in Montana. Cowboys are alive and well here. Many of the cow-calf operations are still roping, herding, and branding like they have done for 150 years.
Sprawling in a most beautiful setting, the Big Hole’s east side touches the Pioneer Mountains. On the west, topped by the Continental Divide, the Beaverhead and Anaconda ranges rise. At 15 to 20 miles across, nearly 75 miles long, and 6,000 plus feet and in elevation, this is the state’s highest and broadest valley.
The centerpiece of this southwest Montana domain is the Big Hole River. Native Americans called it "waters of the pocket gopher” and the Corps of Discovery labeled it Wisdom River. On August 6, 1805, Meriwether Lewis penned in his journal “we therefore determined that the middle fork was that which ought of right to bear the name we had given to the lower portion or River Jefferson and called the bold rapid an clear stream Wisdom and the more mild an placid one which flows in from the S. E. Philanthrophy, [2] in commemoration of two of those cardinal virtues, which have so eminently marked that deservedly selibrated character through life.” Lewis was referring to President Thomas Jefferson. Philanthrophy is now the Ruby River. The original journals didn’t surface until after Lewis’s death and settlers who came much later bestowed their own names on the rivers.
Below the river and surface of this grass and sagebrush filled-valley lies unique geology. When wells were first drilled, they showed an extraordinary deep fill of gravel, mud, clays, and sand extending downward more than 14,000 feet to a bedrock of much older solid volcanic materials. Through erosion and glaciation, sediments washed off of the mountains and filled in the valley.
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In geographic terms, this region is considered “basin and range” topography. As the earth’s crust was pulled apart, faults formed and down-dropped land masses into north-south oriented valleys, while uplifting the mountains that separated them. Much of southwest Montana and eastern Idaho is part of this realm of landscapes.
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Birthplace for the Big Hole River is Skinner Lake sitting at 7,340 feet in the high country of the Beaverhead Mountains in the southern most reaches of its watershed. Leaving this elevated wetland, the newly formed river gathers contributions from other waters pouring off of the Continental Divide and from many tributaries on the fringes of the upper basin. As it gains its place in the heart of the valley, it winds its way north through the entire 75 miles of its namesake valley.
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Below the town of Wisdom at Fish Trap, the river leaves the basin and turns northeast on its way to meet the Beaverhead just below Twin Bridges, where they form the Jefferson River, one of the three forks of the Missouri. When it ends its run, the Big Hole will have covered 153 miles. Along the way, waters from numerous lakes and streams, discharging from the surrounding mountains, feed it and help create a world-class fishery. It has been said that there are more than 3,000 fish per mile in the river.
Owing to restoration projects, the rare fluvial (fish living in rivers and streams) Arctic grayling is found centered around Wisdom in the valley’s upper reaches. The Big Hole is one of only places left in the lower 48 states where this fish still lives in a native river environment. Additionally, east of Dillon, the Ruby River is home to a newly established population of fluvial grayling. The Red Rock Creek population of Arctic grayling in the Centennial Valley exhibits both adfluvial (residing in Upper Red Rock lake and spawning in Red Rock Creek) and fluvial behaviors with some grayling remaining in the stream for a prolonged period.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, The US Fish and Wildlife Service, Montana Department Natural Resources and Conservation and the Natural Resources Conservation Service is currently partnering with 33 ranchers to address threats and enhance habitat to allow this prize fish to increase its presence in the upper Big Hole watershed. Approximately 90% of the Arctic grayling habitat in the upper Big Hole flows through private lands.
Overall, the river represents the highest fish density of any Montana stream; along with the grayling, it hosts a robust whitefish population, brook trout, cutthroat, rainbow, and brown trout.
For the most part, time has passed by quietly in this crescent shaped valley.
Long before the European invasion of North America, for countless generations, the Shoshone Nation spent the warm months in the Big Hole in search of camas root and other plants. And as the valley is high, averaging over 6,000 feet in elevation, cold – temperatures can reach 50 below zero - and it accumulates deep winter snows, much of the year, these indigenous peoples lived below the west slope of the Beaverhead Mountains in today’s Salmon and Lemhi valleys of Idaho where they could fish, especially for salmon, and hunt in a more hospitable winter climate.
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Then came the first white men. On July 6 and 7, 1806, William Clark with members of the Corp of Discovery passed through the Big Hole, camping first on Moose Creek, about seven miles southwest of Wisdom. The next day they paused at today’s Jackson Hot Springs; here are excerpts from Clark’s journals.
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Sunday 6th July 1806
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“…we assended a Small rise and beheld an open boutifull Leavel Vally or plain of about 20 [NB: 15] Miles wide and near 60 [NB: 30] long extending N & S. in every direction around which I could see high points of Mountains Covered with Snow… The Squarpointed to the gap through which she said we must pass which was S. 56° E. She said we would pass the river before we reached the gap. we had not proceeded more than 2 Miles in the last Creek, before a violent Storm of wind accompand. with hard rain from the S W. imediately from off the Snow Mountains this rain was Cold and lasted 1½ hours. I discovd. the rain wind as it approached and halted and
formd. a solid column to protect our Selves from the Violency of the gust. after it was over I proceeded on about 5 Miles to Some Small dry timber on a Small Creek and encampd.
Monday 7th July 1806
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Situated about 100 paces from a large Easterly fork of the Small river in a leavel open vally plain and nearly opposit & E. of the 3 forks of this little river which heads in the Snowey Mountains to the S E. & S W of the Springs. this Spring [NB: 15 yds in circumc, boils up all over bottom which is Stoney] contains a very considerable quantity of water, and actually blubbers with heat for 20 paces below where it rises. it has every appearance of boiling, too hot for a man to endure his hand in it 3 seconds. I directt Sergt. Pryor and John Shields to put each a peice of meat in the water of different Sises. the one about the Size of my 3 fingers Cooked dun in 25 minits the other much thicker was 32 minits before it became Sufficiently dun. this water boils up through some loose hard gritty Stone
Clark and his crew camped that night at a spring just below today’s Big Hole Pass, on its east side.
From about 1810 to the 1840s, fur trappers, mostly French-Canadians from the Hudson's Bay Company, the North West Company, and the American Fur Company entered these valleys of southwest Montana and gave some of them their names. These groups of trappers, called brigades, came in search of beaver pelts and other furs. Their passing depleted the streams of fur-bearing wildlife. By the mid-1840s the fur trade was no longer profitable and the area saw very few white men for the next 25 years.
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The foundation of what would become Montana and eventually bring human permanency here dates back to an event that occurred just to the east. On July 28, 1862, John White and his fellow prospectors discovered gold on Grasshopper Creek, a tributary of the Beaverhead, that the Corps of Discovery had named Willards Creek. Bannack was born and by that autumn 3,000 people occupied the camp. On May 26, 1864, it became Montana’s first Territorial Capital.
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As word spread, prospectors, searching for “colors” fanned out to the Big Hole and other streams and creeks of Southwest Montana. Very few had success as the geology wasn’t as favorable as in the gulches in and around Bannack and the Virginia City.
Miners and homesteaders settled the area between 1880 and the early 1900s. The Homestead Act of 1862 that gave 160 acres of land enabled these first pioneers to claim Big Hole Valley land. Those who received a site were required to live on their land, cultivate it, and develop it, then they could obtain a deed after five years. In 1877, Congress passed the Desert Land Act allowing settlers to obtain 640 acres of land, which had to be irrigated within three years.
Historical accounts credit A.J. and Hattie Noyes as being the first homesteaders in the valley. They came to The Crossings (now Wisdom) in May 1882 and filed a homestead claim that summer. The place gained its initial name as two roads, one down the Big Hole to the Jefferson and the other westward to the Bitterroot, intersected here.
In 1877, to accommodate a mail route from Bannack to Missoula through the Big Hole, two men, Salisbury and Gilmer, built three stage stations each consisting of a one-room log cabin, a barn, and corral for horses. One was near Jackson, another a bit north of there, and a third at what was then The Crossings. As deep snows blocked passage for six months out of the year, after only a few trips, the enterprise ended. The stops were abandoned. Jack Hicks, an old trapper, made good use of one, spending the winter of 1881-1882 there.
As Bannack grew and other gold strikes in the region brought more people to Southwest Montana, the abundance of grass and water for irrigation coupled with the demand for meat by the miners, attracted cattlemen to the valley. The Big Hole as well as nearby Grasshopper Creek and Beaverhead valleys, was the stage for the growth of ranching in Montana. Ranches still operating today expanded from the heyday of the mining camps and have been in the same family for generations. Many of these old-time ranches were established by buying homesteader’s lands and cobbling them together.
Long winters and a short summer season dictate that growing hay – lots of it – was one of the very few crops possible to flourish. Hay had to be stored for feeding cattle in winter and it could be sold. Early on, this was a tough proposition, then in 1909, two valley ranchers Herbert S. Armitage and David J. Stephens invented the “Hay-Stacker.”
Often called a “beaverslide,” the apparatus allows for loose hay to be loaded on the platform part of the inclined slide, which moves upward on pulleys (some powered by truck motors and some by horses), to a height of about 30 feet where the hay then drops over the top edge into a rectangular pole cage forming a stack upwards of 30 feet high. The result is a wind-proof stash of hay that can last at least three years and longer.
The slides remained in use until the 1990s when they were replaced by mechanized equipment that formed large round bales. Owing to the high cost of buying mechanized equipment, a few ranchers in the Big Hole continue to utilize the traditional stacker.
While the demand for beef by the miners and early settlers was the catalyst to propel this important Montana industry forward, it was the coming of the railroad into Montana in 1891 that opened markets for Big Hole rancher’s beef, horses, dairy items, and hay.
In 1869, the Transcontinental Union Pacific Road reached Corrine, Utah. And when it did, crews began laying track for the Utah and Northern heading about 300 miles north toward the Butte mines. The first train rolled into Butte on December 26, 1881. Important to Big Hole interests was that the tracks ran through the Beaverhead Valley with sidings in Dillon and Divide, both within easy reach.
One major and violent bit of history did occur in the valley. On August 9, 1877, the US Army ambushed the peaceful Nez Perce Indians. Although many of their numbers were killed in the surprise attack, under the leadership of Chief Joseph, they were able to hold off the enemy and escape. The site, west of Wisdom, is now the Big Hole Battlefield National Monument.
Today, Wisdom and Jackson with populations of 100 and 36 respectively are the mainstays of this ranching domain. Wisdom, first known as The Crossings, has its collection of saloons, eateries and a general store. After the post office was established in 1884, the town folk revived the original name as the former moniker had lost favor.
Jackson, 19 miles upstream, came into being in 1896 and was named for the first postmaster. Today it boasts of a mercantile, hotel, hat-maker, and Jackson Hot Springs with its lodge and artesian fed hot plunge.
As a result of the expanded Homestead Act of 1912, the valley’s population slowly increased. New folks began fencing out the ranchers to the south who had summered their cattle in the area since the 1870s. Tensions escalated to just short of range-war status. The depression in the 1920s and fierce winters eventually thinned out the ranks of the homesteaders.
Now the Big Hole River draws fisherman from across the globe, but the area offers far more than fly-casting opportunities. The surrounding wilderness has many hiking trails, easy mountains to climb and dependable winter snows make for excellent cross-country and backcountry skiing. And then there is the quiet beauty of the valley that in itself is worth a visit!
Author’s note:
We will make note here of the outstanding book a group of women published on the history of the Big Hole.
Jefferson River
“JEFFERSON’S” RIVER
The Most Distant Fountain
By Rick and Susie Graetz | The University of Montana
The Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin rivers are famous for forming the Missouri River. But of the three, it is the Jefferson River and its many upper components that hold a lofty ranking in the annals of history. It was this southwest Montana river that the Corps of Discovery used after they left the beginnings of the Missouri, to take them to their land route across the massive Rocky Mountains.
On July 28, 1805, while at the three forks of the Missouri, Meriwether Lewis, co-captain of the Expedition wrote, “Both Capt. C. and myself corrisponded in opinion, with rispect, to the impropriety of calling either of these streams the Missouri and accordingly agreed to name them ... we called the S.W. Fork, that which we meant to ascend, Jefferson’s river in honor of Thomas Jefferson.
In their journals the captains named the entire length of the now Jefferson and Beaverhead rivers “Jefferson’s River,” but today’s Jefferson begins where the Big Hole (Wisdom to the Expedition) and Beaverhead rivers mix their waters, north of Twin Bridges and downstream from the entrance of the Ruby (“Philanthropy”) River. The Beaverhead originates farther south at the joining of Red Rock River and Horse Prairie Creek. The actual confluence is now under the waters of Clark Canyon Reservoir. The Jefferson River is complicated with numerous tributaries responsible for its creation. At 294 miles in length and combining all its segments, it drains the largest area of the Missouri’s three tributaries.
Lewis, on August 12, 1805, exclaimed, “the road was still plain, I therefore did not dispare of shortly finding a passage over the mountains and of tasting the waters of the great Columbia this evening. At the distance of four miles further the road took us to the most distant fountain of the waters of the mighty Missouri in search of which we have spent so many toilsome days in wristless nights.” Lewis was describing today’s Distant Fountain Spring, part of Trail Creek, flowing off the east side of the Continental Divide at Lemhi Pass. Climbing above the trickle, Lewis became the first known white man to have stepped onto and across the Continental Divide.
In terms of the most distant waters, he was a bit off. That honor is reserved for a spring and Hellroaring Creek, coming off the Montana side of the Continental Divide just below 9,846-foot Mt. Jefferson at the eastern end of the Centennial Range that separates Montana and Idaho. Hellroaring Creek has a short life; it is hastily consumed by Red Rock Creek, which begins just off the Divide below Red Rock Mountain at Lillian Lake, 9,000 feet above sea level. Hellroaring and Red Rock creeks are then the furthest sources for the Jefferson as well as the Missouri.
Red Rock River falls out of the mountains and courses through a most beautiful setting, the Centennial Valley and the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Slowing to fill Upper and Lower Red Rock lakes, it offers haven and nesting ground for species such as the endangered trumpeter swan. Marshes, meadows, creeks, sand hills and the two lakes make up the 51,426-acre refuge, of which 32,350 acres are designated as the Red Rocks Lake Wilderness.
If it weren’t for the wildlife refuge, few travelers would make their way through this nearly 40-mile-long valley. From the slowly disappearing town of Monida, just off of Interstate 15 and Monida Pass, a dirt and gravel road winds its way east through windswept hills of sage before easing down into the Centennial Valley. Peaks of the 10,000-foot Centennial Mountains and the Continental Divide rise abruptly on the valley’s southern flank. The 9,000-foot and 10,000-foot summits of the Gravelly and Snowcrest ranges guard the drainage’s north side.
The landscape and most of the activities of this 6,600-foot-high broad and flat basin haven’t changed much in the last one hundred years. Cattlemen first ventured into the place in 1876, establishing what are now some of the oldest ranches in the state.
In the 1880s, determined Yellowstone National Park tourists coming from Salt Lake City, Utah, traveled by train to Monida and then endured a two-day stagecoach trip through the valley to the Park. It was necessary to overnight at Lakeview, now the headquarters for the Refuge.
During the homestead era of the early 1900s, Lakeview and the surrounding area permanently hosted nearly 400 people. The stores, saloons and a hotel were prosperous until the drought years and Great Depression coupled with the struggle against tough winters ended the hopes of most of the population. Many of the homesteads were bought out as land was acquired for the wildlife reserve.
At the western end of the Centennial Valley, Red Rock River enters the 13-mile-long Lima Reservoir. Until this point, the river has been extending westward, now, beyond the man-made lake, it begins a northwesterly setting until it meets Clark Canyon Reservoir and the waters of Horse Prairie Creek entering from the west. The dam for the reservoir was completed in 1964. Here, Interstate 15 guides fast moving traffic between Montana and Idaho, with most of the travelers oblivious to the historic landscape they are passing through.
Horse Prairie Creek takes its initial waters from the Continental Divide below Deadman’s Pass southwest of Clark Canyon Reservoir. Out in the sagebrush flats of this remote ranching country, it picks up Trail Creek coming off the Divide near Lemhi Pass. Frying Pan Creek, Bear Creek and Spring Creek also contribute their waters to Horse Prairie. After meeting, they flow eastward toward Clark Canyon passing the settlement of Grant, and its old hotel and stagecoach stop. A post office was established here in 1899, but was discontinued in the late 1950s.
All this water pools together in Clark Canyon Reservoir, then after squeezing through a gap, it emerges as the Beaverhead River and heads toward Dillon and one of the largest of the intermountain valleys of southwest Montana and home to many multi-generational family ranches. Several creeks, including historic Grasshopper Creek on the west, as well as Blacktail Deer Creek on the east, add to the Beaverhead. Grasshopper Creek (“Willard Creek” to Lewis and Clark) was the site in July 1862 of Montana’s first major gold strike and led to the founding of Bannack, Montana’s initial territorial capital
Dillon, the “capital” of far southwest Montana originated because the laying of railroad tracks came to a temporary stop here. In 1880, Sydney Dillon, president of the Utah and Northern Railroad (later the Union Pacific) was building rail from Utah to Butte when he was blocked just 60 miles south of his goal, by a rancher who refused to sell the right of way across his property.
The railroad construction crew population spent the winter of 1880-1881 in a makeshift town of tents and rickety wood buildings in the Beaverhead Valley. The lengthy delay allowed for the establishment of businesses to serve the laborers. By summer, Sydney Dillon received his right of way and the railroad continued northward. But a town, named for the entrepreneur took hold.
For a while the Beaverhead Valley and Dillon was the state's largest wool shipping area and also profited from nearby gold, silver and lead mines. Presently, this community of about 4,200 people is known for its historic architecture. Places such as the 1888 Dillon Tribune Building and the Metlen Hotel, finished in 1897, stand out and add to the feel of the old west town that Dillon is.
The University of Montana Western serves as an anchor for this, the seat of Beaverhead County, a province larger in size than the combined states of Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Red Rock River
Southwest Montana's Red Rock River Valley
By Chris Montgomery
with contributions by Rick and Susie Graetz | The University of Montana
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Originating at the outlet of Lima Reservoir, the relatively narrow Red Rock River Valley extends for 35 miles in a north by northwest bearing before its river empties into Clark Canyon Reservoir.
Surrounded by impressive natural sights, the valley boasts of lofty summits framing its western horizon… the Lima Peaks, some nearing 11,000 feet, carry the Continental Divide and the Montana/Idaho border, and the Tendoy Mountains have many pinnacles reaching beyond 9,000 feet. The Snowcrest and Blacktail ranges rise from the valley’s eastern side.
Below the heights, a pastoral valley and open space project peace and solitude in this, Montana’s quiet corner.
Typical of all of the valleys of the state's southwest quadrant, in places where agriculture hasn't changed the vegetation, it is sagebrush that dominates. In cultivated pastures, rich grasses flourish. Reaching above the bottomlands, stands of spruce, fir, and quaking aspen congregate. And in late spring and early summer, a multitude of wildflowers as vivid as an artist's palette adds to the beauty of it all.
One might notice that the name Red Rock is attached to anything and everything around here. A crimson-colored butte near Dell that served as a convenient landmark to early-day travelers is the standard-bearer of this moniker. Known simply as Red Rock, it is from this geologic feature that the Red Rock Valley, as it fans out northward, is bisected by the Red Rock River. According to historian George Melton, a surveyor who knew the area well, the Shoshone and Bannock Indians used the moniker Red Rock for the river and the valley because “of the ‘gurasic’ red beds which gave them their paint.”
![RED ROCK BUTTE - RICK & SUSIE GRAETZ[1].](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/3584a9_cfbe20cdea9c4b4fb8153d52fb307fd8~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_401,h_257,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/RED%20ROCK%20BUTTE%20-%20RICK%20%26%20SUSIE%20GRAETZ%5B1%5D_.jpg)
To the east, above the Centennial Valley in the Centennial Range, the farthest traceable headwaters of the Red Rock waterway and hence the farthest reach of the Missouri River are found. In a large bowl located just below a ridgeline at about 8,800 feet, that divides all water of the continent and the states of Montana and Idaho, icy cold rivulets seeping from Brower’s Spring, named for surveyor and explorer Jacob Brower, begin a downhill trek.
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Soon, other small trickles join in forming a little brook. Coming upon a waterfall, it cascades into Hell Roaring Creek, which then flows into Red Rock Creek and through Red Rock Upper and Lower lakes into Red Rock River.
Along the way, a canyon proved to be an excellent place to construct a dam. In 1934, an impediment was built to backing up the Red Rock River into Lima Reservoir. Newspapers at the time noted that it was completed at a cost of $75,000.
Upon leaving the reservoir, the river now enters the Red Rock River Valley. Passing just to the northeast of the town of Lima, it commences its journey to Clark Canyon about 58 river miles away.
Lima, population 225, sits beneath the often-snow-capped Lima Peaks. First known as Allerdice, later Spring Hill then finally in 1889, it was named after early-settler Henry Thompson's hometown in Wisconsin. The village flourished when the Utah and Northern Railroad entered Montana from the south in 1880. At one time, it hosted locomotive maintenance facilities—a 14-bay roundhouse with turntable, water tank, housing, dining, and depot. The town soon grew to include a café, land office, newspaper, bank, hotels, two mercantile stores, school, churches, doctor, dentist, hardware store, livery stable, liquor store, saloons, and a brothel.
By 1960, most of these establishments had folded, but Lima continued to survive. While cattle ranches dot the Red Rock River Valley, in town, the K-12 school, as well as the local bar, café, convenience store, post office, sports shop, tire shop, motel, and churches continue to support the town and visitors. A rest stop off I-15 is home to one of the state's mid-20th century examples of a Montana tourist welcome center.
To the north, after passing Red Rock landmark, the river approaches the small ranching community of Dell, supposedly so named because of the topography of the area - a small valley surrounded by mountains. Originally called Red Rock, this picturesque town began as a stage stop. It later became another terminus of the Utah and Northern Railroad with a depot, water tank with a windmill, section house, bunkhouse, coal house, and hand cart house. Thanks to the railroads, stockyards with pens and loading chutes kept sheep and cattle ready for shipping, and local crops of barley, oats, wheat, hay, and potatoes found homes in far-away markets. Over the years, Dell has had numerous businesses that took on the town's name: Dell Hotel, Dell Store, Dell Mercantile, Dell Calf-A and Saloon, Dell Post Office, and the Dell School, which is now consolidated with Lima.
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Located on the west side of the river about a mile south of Clark Canyon Reservoir, Red Rock was once a thriving town with a post office, hotel, livery stable, blacksmith shop, drug store, several saloons, a mercantile, and a dry goods store. Then, with the growth of Armstead only five miles to the north, the town began to decline. By 1910, nearly all of the buildings had been moved or collapsed, today, bison and cattle ranches grace the landscape.
Armstead had been a community located near the historic confluence of the Beaverhead River and Horse Prairie Creek… both today are buried beneath the waters of the Clark Canyon Reservoir. To the Corps of Discovery, this was where the river they named the Jefferson River began. Merriweather Lewis called the area, “…one of the handsomest coves I ever saw.” It was the site of Camp Fortunate, where they stayed August 17-22, 1805. Sacagawea, kidnapped by Minnetaree Indians of the Dakota Nation five years previous, recognized her brother Cameahwait, Chief of the Shoshoni tribe. As an interpreter for Lewis and Clark, Sacagawea helped negotiate for horses and supplies.
It was here they cached the canoes and equipment they planned to retrieve on the return trip.
Named after Harvey Armstead, a miner, the village grew quickly. With two railroads in town, it soon became a major shipping point for livestock and ore coming from mines in the area. The Oregon Short Line was headquartered in Armstead and shipped livestock of all kinds northward. The Gilmore and Pittsburg Railroad, which only operated from 1910–1939, moved west with passengers, livestock, and ore trailed in from the Horse Prairie, Grasshopper, and Big Hole valleys. Remnants of the railroad bed are visible as you drive the scenic route.
From 1961-1963, work commenced on the Clark Canyon Dam on the Beaverhead River. The residents of Armstead were bought out, and water covered the place in 1964.
Clark Canyon Reservoir, sometimes called Clark Canyon Lake, is the terminus of the Red Rock River. Water stored during the winter season and spring runoff is released into Beaverhead River for downstream irrigation of crops and livestock ranching. The reservoir continues to be an ideal location for picnicking, fishing, boating, and camping. Often, visitors are favored with breathtaking sunsets.
Fishing is an important pursuit in Montana and the Red Rock River is a fine place to put in a line. From where it leaves Lima Dam until it arrives at the reservoir, one will find mountain whitefish, hybrid west slope cutthroat, rainbow, brown, and brook trout. Anglers have a good chance of experiencing long stretches of water to themselves, as this is a relatively remote area of Montana.
Red Rock River Valley's high-country terrain offers almost unlimited opportunities for hiking, backpacking, mountain climbing, and cross country and backcountry skiing. And in some places, especially the Tendoys, motorized activities are permitted. Favorite accesses for outdoor activities are from Big Sheep and Little Sheep creek canyons. Numerous roads and trails lead into the Blacktail and Snowcrest ranges.
Its origins have been lost to history, but the hamlet of Crabtree, down-river from Dell, was a railroad station that was renamed Kidd after a passenger train conductor.
As the tracks continued farther to the north, another stop, Red Rock, was established ed to serve the freight wagons and travelers of that time. The geographic location of this town is more of a true "dell" than the town named Dell to the south. Some believe the names were switched either by the railroad carpenter assigned to place the signs or at the Helena office when names were submitted for state registration.
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