by Joan Taylor
Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center
Visitors to the Great Falls, Montana, area will enjoy the new Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center, the latest "link" in the chain of National Park Service visitors' centers, monuments, and interpretive signs/location markers that follow the explorers' 1803 - 1806 journeys through parts of the territory acquired through the Louisiana Purchase. Directed by Thomas Jefferson to "explore the Missouri River, & such principal stream of it, as, by it's course and communication with the waters of the Pacific ocean...may offer the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent for the purposes of commerce", Lewis and Clark began a remarkable succession of land and water expeditions that led them to the mouth of the Columbia River on the "pacific Ocian" and eventually, back to St. Louis.
The Great Falls Center overlooks the Missouri River, and some of the exhibits, including a life-size (of fiberglass, not cottonwood) representation of a canoe and its contents being dragged uphill by moccasin-footed men through sharp, dried-mud ridges and prickly pear cactus, highlight the hardships of Lewis and Clark's month-long, 18-mile portage with their pirogues (canoes) and tons of equipment around the five "great falls" of the Missouri in June and July of 1805. All the falls are now dammed (or "no longer visible"), but an excellent map and brochure (available at the Center) prepared by the Portage Route Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation describes the "current status" of and "access" to the portage sites and "overlooks" in and
around the city of Great Falls, including several walking trails and "drive- to" directions. Lewis and Clark would never have dreamed that the following directions (quoted from the Portage Route Chapter's very informative pamphlet) would have led future "explorers" through the portage segment from Willow Run to the White Bear Islands..."You may follow Lewis and Clark's route past the Circle K convenience store, through the residential area, past the elevated water tower near 10th Avenue South, between City Chevrolet and the Black Angus restaurant, south to Park Place Nursing Home, through Mount Olivet and Highland Cemeteries, then down the gradual slopes leading toward Ayrshire Dairy."
The 5500 square-foot Center's facilities include a large entrance area (with an interesting marble, stone and brass floor display of donors'/sponsors' names), a theater showing a short, Ken Burns-made video of Lewis and Clark's journey, a library, a "classroom" for interpretive presentations, and a "compact" gift shop. The exhibit/display area is located downstairs in the Center; the visitor follows a self-guided, "switch-back" path past replicas, graphics and representations of the explorers' several-thousand-mile travels, all produced for the exhibit. Viewing/reading an exhibit can be difficult if more than a very few people are congregated at one time; be prepared to take your time. A couple of large windows looking out over the bluff to the river provide light and the suggestion of space.
Just up the road from the Center is Giant Springs State Park; the springs deliver over 388 million gallons of water from an underground spring in a 24-hour period. The flow is called the "Roe River" - the shortest river in the world. The park has parking space, walking trails, picnic facilities, and a fish hatchery. One note... as of a few weeks ago, the continuation of Giant Springs Road that passes part of Malmstrom AFB leading back to Highway 87/200/89 was gravel; visitors may want to return to the highway by going back on River Drive to 25th St. S.
The Center is located at 4201 Giant Springs Road, P.O. Box 1806, Great Falls, MT, 59403. Phone: 406-727-8733. Fax: 406-453-6157. Summer hours are 9 - 8 daily; after Labor Day, the Center closes at 5. Admission is $5.00 for adults, $4.00 for those 62 and over and students with ID, $2.00 for children 6-17; under 6, free. All the "Golden" passes are honored, but, apparently, the Golden Age Pass is good for the holder only.
Drivers of large RVs may want to consider parking in the bus lot on the hill opposite the Center; the parking area next to the Center is not designed to accommodate large rigs.
C.M. Russell Museum
In 1880, 16-year-old Charlie Russell came to Montana from St. Louis, Missouri, and spent several years as a cowboy before devoting his life to painting and sculpting. At his death in 1926, Russell was a successful and internationally-known artist; his popularity has endured among admirers of western art. His sculptures of Native Americans, horses, cowboys, western animals, and a few more "whimsical" subjects, were styled mostly in clay or bronze; their detail and life-like features show Russell's respect and love for a western culture that was rapidly changing. Russell's oils and watercolors deal with many of the same subjects as his sculptures, and show the same sensitivity to the people, animals, and ways of life in the "old West."
The museum's Trigg Gallery is especially interesting; this collection of paintings, sculptures, letters, etc., were gifts to the Albert Trigg family from Charlie Russell during their many years of friendship. Russell wrote frequently to "Dear Friend Trigg" from cities where his works were on exhibition; many of the letters are on hotel stationery and are wonderfully illustrated. Josephine Trigg, Albert's daughter, donated the collection when the museum opened in 1953.
Other galleries in the C.M. Russell Museum display the works of contemporary western artists and house special exhibitions. The Browning Firearms Collection is a permanent exhibit, and contains historically-interesting rifles and pistols from the company's line.
The family home, designed in 1900 by Russell's talented and energetic wife, Nancy Cooper Russell, is currently being renovated and is closed to the public, but the "log cabin studio" adjacent to the home, is well worth a visit. Built in 1903, the studio contains a broad collection of Russell's personal memorabilia - saddles, paints, easels, guns, blankets, cigarette papers/tobacco, furniture, buffalo skulls, clay, photographs, articles of Native American dress - many of the items serve as "background" in many of Russell's paintings. The museum brochure suggests that Russell always finished his paintings in this studio. A docent is available to answer questions.
The C.M. Russell Museum is located at 400 13th Street North in Great Falls. Phone 406-727-8787 for current hours, admission prices, and special exhibit information.