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Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument
Special Features
The Upper Missouri River Breaks Monument covers 377,346 acres, including bluffs and badlands, wilderness, the premier segment of the Lewis and Clark Historic Trail, and 149 miles of the Upper Missouri National Wild and Scenic River--the last undeveloped stretch of the of the entire 2,341-mile Missouri River.
The Landscape Lewis and Clark Explored
Captain Meriwether Lewis of the Corps of Discovery encountered the Breaks as he paddled along the Missouri River in 1805. In his journal he wrote, "the hills and river cliffs which we passed today exhibit a most romantic appearance... it seemed as if those scenes of visionary enchantment would never end." Little has changed in this historic stretch of the Missouri River and surrounding lands since Lewis and Clark's now-famous westward expedition almost 200 years ago.
Long before Lewis and Clark passed through, numerous Indian tribes made their homes near the river and in the area that is today the National Monument. Teepee rings, artifacts, and notes of early explorers show that Blackfeet, Assiniboin, Gros Ventre (Atsina), Crow, Plains Cree and Plains Ojibwa all inhabited the area at some point.
Pioneers and the Army followed Lewis and Clark in the 1830's, establishing Forts Piegan, McKenzie and Benton. Many American settlers were disappointed, however: farming and ranching required the ability to withstand long hard winters, drought, hailstorms, poor soil, and grasshoppers.
"The bluffs of the river rise to a height from 2 to 300 feet, in most places nearly perpendicular... The water in the course of time...has trickled down the soft sand cliffs worn it into a thousand grotesque figures." -- Captain Meriwether Clark, 1805, describing the striking geological formations in what is today the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.
Today, the landscape--a National Monument since 2001-- still contains beautiful rock formations, magnificent cliffs, wide-open prairie scenery, and archaeological and historic sites. Its remote location provides solitude as well as a wealth of areas for the hiker, rafter and hunter to explore.
The Monument offers habitat to the most viable elk herd in Montana and one of the premier big horn sheep herds in the continental United States. Raptors, including hawks, falcons and bald and golden eagles, find perching and nesting areas in the Monument. The river teems with fish, including one of the six remaining paddlefish populations in the U.S. Along its shore live great blue herons, pelicans and a wide variety of other waterfowl. During the harsh winter months mule deer and elk move up to the Bullwhacker area of the Monument, away from the river, as antelope and sage-grouse move down from the benchlands.
Resources
Posted by Conservation System Alliance on September 23, 2007