Madison Valley ...

When I sat down this morning I realized I was about to make my 200th post in this blog ... who would have thought? Not me.

Anyhow, since the open road has been such a big part of this journal so far, I thought another highway picture would be a proper commemoration. Here's a shot I took several days ago, driving through the upper Madison Valley just before sunset.

Underdogs ...

I'm finding that small-town football games are great excuses for long roadtrips ... and so yesterday I drove all the way out to Hysham to watch one of the semifinal games in the state 6-man tournament.

The Hysham Pirates were the host team ... they've been a powerhouse for years, and came into the game at 10-0, regarded by many as the best 6-man team in the state. This is a photo I took of their opponents, the Outlaws ... a co-op team of kids from the tiny high schools in Winifred and Roy. They came in second in their division but are a tough bunch, and managed to topple the previously-unbeaten Big Sandy Pioneers the week before. But the Outlaws had lost to Hysham back in September.

It was a beautiful but chilly day, and it seemed like a good chunk of small-town Montana was there. The little concession stand did a brisk business selling hot chocolate, and "lunches" that featured bowls of chili along with insanely-large homemade cinnamon rolls. The crowd was rowdy, and pirate flags waved proudly from the top of the tiny bleachers.

And the unthinkable happened, at least from Hysham's perspective. Winifred/Roy started out with two fast, unanswered touchdowns ... and they never looked back, cruising to an effortless 52-34 win. Next week the Outlaws play Denton for the state championship. The two teams are neighbors and long-time rivals, so it's likely to be a heck of an afternoon. I just might have to drive up.

Forgotten buildings ...

Years ago, I was doing historic research at an archive out in Milwaukee, and I came across an architect's sketch for a proposed railway depot in the little town of Musselshell ... which is a ways east of Roundup, in case you're wondering. I thought it was a gorgeous little building, and so I made a photocopy of the drawing, and tried to find out more about the thing.

But there wasn't much to be found. I saw an old photo proving that the station had indeed been built, and I learned that the architect had also done the landmark Milwaukee depots in Missoula and Great Falls ... but that was it, either about the building or the designer. Nearly always, small Montana towns like Musselshell used to get simple, standardized depot buildings, designs that were replicated dozens of times across a railroad system. Why did Musselshell, of all places, merit something this unique and cool?

A pointless question, I know, and I'll never find the answer ... but I still wonder about it.

Roads to romance ...

There's no doubt (at least to me) that maps provide the greatest recreational reading imaginable. And old maps can be particularly fascinating, both for their period graphics and because they provide fascinating insights on how the human landscapes of the world are changing.

The Montana map that most people know, of course, is the official highway map that's been published by the state since 1935. The current version is computer-generated and informative and handsome, but for real visual appeal you just can't beat the state's earliest maps. The Department of Transportation website has scans of the cover panels of of those first maps, and all the pre-World War II ones are great. This one, I think, is my favorite:

Big drift ...

So I'm scheduled to give a presentation on the Going-to-the-Sun Road at the Montana Historical Society in Helena tonight ... and somehow Mother Nature must have found out about my upcoming drive, because there's nearly a foot of new snow in my yard this morning. The joys of living in Montana!

Here's a photo to mark this combination of events. This is an early 1930s shot of a car passing through the "Big Drift" on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The Big Drift is just east of Logan Pass, and is often the last obstacle cleared by the plows before the road opens each summer.

Arlo ...

I'm definitely a fan of Arlo Guthrie, the folk singer ... back in college, I practically had the "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" memorized, and though I'm generally not a concert-goer I've been to a couple of his shows when he's come to the Gallatin Valley. As far as I know, though, Arlo's only done one song with Montana lyrics -- it's called "Somebody Turned on the Light," and here are the opening stanzas:

I've been to wild Montana
I went there in a storm
My boots were Texas leather
My Levis wet and torn

I loved it in Montana
Loved it in the storm
I think I'm gonna cross that river
I just might be reborn

Danvers ...

I was wandering around up in the Judith Basin country last weekend, and I took this photo of the old St. Wenceslas Catholic Church in Danvers. Danvers is an evocative but dying little town on the old Milwaukee Road line between Lewistown and Denton ... just a couple of grain elevators, a handful of houses, and the church. There was a really handsome old schoolhouse there, too ... at least until earlier this year, when some evil, heartless person tore it down.

It's been a long time since St. Wenceslas has seen more than occasional use, and now I hear that the local diocese (true to form) wants to tear it down, too ... this despite strong local sentiment to save it. I'm betting the diocese gets its way, and that the next time I visit Danvers there will be one less landmark on the prairie. Breaks my heart.

Red Rock Lakes ...

I paid a quick visit to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge a few days ago, making the long, dirt-road drive from Monida and then over the pass to Henry's Lake in Idaho. It was a blustery autumn afternoon, and it was easy to see that it wouldn't be long until the place was snowed in for the winter. But it was gorgeous.

The refuge is in the high Centennial Valley, just north of the Idaho line in Beaverhead County. The valley was once a primary route for stagecoach travelers headed to Yellowstone, and homesteaders later settled there, but hardly anyone lives in the valley anymore ... it's too remote and the winters are too long. Much of the valley floor is used as summer range for cattle, while the Refuge occupies the eastern end. It was established in 1935 to protect habitat for migratory birds, and was a key part of the effort to save the Trumpeter Swan from extinction. Beautiful country, and well worth a visit.