July 2007 ...........

Great Falls: The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center, near the great falls of the Missouri River. "From President Thomas Jefferson vision of an expanding United States, to the daily experiences of the expeditionary corps and native peoples of the uncharted west, the incredible story of the 19th century adventure comes alive".The center is managed by the USDA Forest Service, is has a permanent exhibit hall, a theater, an education room and a retail store. The exhibits are very interesting, one could spend a day there very easily.

July 2007 ...........

Helena: Helena became the Territorial Capitol of Montana in 1875 and Montana became a state in 1889. The capitol was built between 1896 and 1902, with wings added between 1909 and 1912. A multi-million dollar renovation began in 1997 and was done in time for the 100 year celebration in 2002. The inside is beautiful, definitely worth the stop.

Helena National Forest: The forest surrounds Helena and has close to one million acres. We visited Gates of the Mountain Wilderness area, which is North of Helena on I-15, and was first discovered by Lewis and Clark. We took a guided sight seeing boat tour on the Missouri River that was very interesting. One of the stops was the Mann Gulch Fire Area. In 1949 a forest fire started and a ranger fought it by himself until the smoke jumpers arrived. They dropped 15 men and 13 died, including the ranger. The fire was the first major catastrophe to befall the US Forest Services Smoke Jumper program. The fire had a great impact on fire fighting training and safety. The movie "Red Sky's of Montana" was based on the fire. The lower left picture is Mann Gulch. The statue is in a field close to the area, and represents the Montana Rancher.

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