Day 5: Glasgow MT to Williston ND

We had a great view of the town of Glasgow from the Motel. Grain elevators on the right, downtown buildings in the center and the railroad to the left. Glasgow started out as a railroad stop (no city). But if you stop there, they will come so it grew. It was originally known only as Siding 45, but in 1887 a railroad clerk named the town Glasgow.

We headed back to Fort Peck in hopes that the Interpretive Center would be open. Jim called and the message indicated that they would be open at 9am. I wanted to gthere to see Peck Rex, a reconstruction of a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton that was found near by. This area is dinosaur country -- they even have a dinosaur trail with a number of centers for recovering fossils. Peck Rex's picture is on many of the travel brochures, and he is very impressive.

When we got there, there were no cars. They had switched to October hours one day early -- closed Mondays. We could look in and see Peck Rex though -- he is in the lobby and takes up two stories. It was a beautiful day -- the sky is so blue here - and there is so much of it since there is nothing to block your view -- like trees. We took a nice walk along the nature trails around the Center. Then headed out for Bainville where Jim's mom was born and grew up.

We followed Highway 2, which parallels the Missouri River and the train tracks. We went through the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Jim noticed a sign for a "Red Bottom Festival." Of course, I didn't see it. He suggested that it might be connected to the anti monkey butt powder.

We stopped for a rest at Poplar which had the most activity going on of any of the towns we went through. They have a college and Tribal Arts and Crafts Center (which was closed for inventory). They had some outside exhibits though. Of interest was the old Tribal jail and the skeleton of an old ferry boat. I guess that there was lots of water traffic along the Missouri. It was probably a wider river before the Fort Peck Dam.

Just outside the Reservation we came to Culbertson, population 718. We found a place for lunch named "Me Too Pizza." How could we resist. There were three Montana Patrol cars parked out front -- the first we had seen in 600+ miles. It was a nice little place and we ordered. Then the waitress asked, "for here or to go?" Jim is hard of hearing and sometimes when he can't hear he ad libs and just answers. He looked at her and said, "cornbread." We had a good laugh about that one.

On to Bainville. Bainville is quite small. You have to turn off the highway, or you miss it entirely. All there is on the highway is an old fashioned gas station convenience store. There is a sign on the road into town. The road goes about 7 blocks and ends with a beautiful old church at the end of the road. The First English Lutheran Church.

Jim wanted to find some buildings that were around 90 years ago when his mother was born, so he asked a group of men that were working on a house. He told them the family name, and one man told him, "I think we are related." He was about Jim's age and full of information about the early homesteaders. He said that he had met Jim's uncle and cousin. His aunt runs the city museum and he thought there were pictures of Jim's relatives in the museum. Of course the museum closes on Labor Day and they couldn't locate his aunt. But we got his contact information.

We had a family mystery that started with an old picture that was labeled on the back, "Grandpa Fry on the island." It was an old log cabin and we were pretty sure it was the house on his homestead which was supposed to be southwest of Bainville. People still use the old homestead names for old houses, so we were looking for the "Fry House." One of the guys said that he thought that it might be on the road to Fort Union -- what was left of it.

So we turned onto the gravel road to Fort Union. About 11 miles later, Jim spotted an old log house up the hill. We found a driveway and drove over to it. It certainly looked like it could be the remains of an old homestead (1906ish) house. Then Jim looked at the area around the house and said, "This must be it." That was because there was a gully almost all the way around the house which when filled with water would make it an "island." It was quite exciting to find the house.

We went on to Fort Union Trading Post. Interestingly, the parking lot was in Montana and the Fort was in North Dakota. So we literally walked from Montana to North Dakota. The fort really stood out in the landscape. It was white with a bright red roof. Inside the "bourgeois" house was white with green, blue, and red trim. The fort was built by the American Fur Company in 1828. The CEO of the fort got to live in the huge bourgeois house while all the others were cramped 6 families per room. They did have a dining hall, so some of the workers got to eat in the big house. The guide said that "no white woman ever lived here." That is, all the men married Indian women. An interesting dynamic. The post was dismantled in the late 1800's. They have done an excellent job of reconstructing the fort.

The gravel road became paved at the North Dakota line and we headed east again. The next town of any size was Williston, population 12,000 people. Compared to the towns we have been in for the last two days, it seems like a BIG city. We will find a car wash tomorrow. Our silver car is now white.