Broadwater County Historian John Stoner estimated approximately 200 people in attendance at the dedication of the Crimson Bluffs interpretive site north of Townsend Saturday. 

Among the attendees at the red-walled bluff overlooking the Missouri River were local members of the Crimson Bluffs Chapter of the National Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation.  The locals spear-headed efforts for the Bureau of Land Management to obtain approximately 50 acres surrounding the Corps of  Discovery’s journals.  Representing the Crimson Bluffs Chapter was member Troy Helmick, who said, “This is a very happy day for us...and a day long in coming.” 

Helmick noted local preservation efforts and deemed Hal Price the “kingpin in the organization of the chapter.”  Helmick continued, “We hope that 100 years from now, we hope that people can still come and see Lewis and Clark here.” 

Also present was Hugh Ambrose, son of author Stephen Ambrose, who wrote Undaunted Courage.  Colorfully, Ambrose explained how his family retraced the route of Lewis and Clark westward and said, “On behalf of my family, I’m pleased to join you in this dedication.” 

Master of ceremonies Rick Hotaling, BLM Butte Field Office Manager  said that the day was significant because it ensured that the site is “one of those pieces of Montana identical to what Lewis and Clark saw.” 

Holly Luck read a statement prepared by Senator Max Baucus concerning the dedication, and Jeff Garrard recited comments from Senator Conrad Burns and Congressman Dennis Rehberg. 

John Stoner presented a 15-star, 15-stripe 1805 American flag, and muskets were fired to acknowledge the dedication.  Townsend Boy Scout Troop 235 presented the colors to begin the ceremony. 

The week of the dedication coincided with the dates that the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through the Townsend Valley in 1805.  Expedition member Patrick Gass wrote July 24, 1805.  “The morning was fine, and we nearly prosecuted our voyage; passed a bank of very red earth, which our squaw told us the natives use for paint.  Deer are plenty among the bushes, and one of our men killed one on the bank.  We continued through the valley all day:  Went 19 miles and camped on the north side.”

INDEPENDENT RECORD

Lewis and Clark buffs from across the state gathered Saturday to celebrate the dedication of Montana’s newest public access site along the Missouri River. 

The Crimson Bluffs, noted in the Corps of Discovery’s journals, are located on River Road north of Townsend, where “for sale” signs almost outnumber pelicans. The Bureau of Land Management finalized the purchase of 50 acres surrounding the bluffs in February, ensuring that the site would be protected from development and preserved for future generations, said Rick Hotaling, BLM field manager in Butte. 

For Troy Helmick, a member of the Crimson Bluffs chapter of the National Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, the dedication ceremony was a long time coming. “This is a very happy day for us,” he said, reflecting that the process to purchase the bluffs began about four years ago. 

Members of the Crimson Bluffs chapter initiated the effort to acquire the site, which was purchased using funds from the BLM’s Land and Water Conservation Fund. 

The date of the dedication coincided with the week the Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled through the Townsend Valley in 1805. The difference, Helmick said, was that expedition member Patrick Gass reported in his journal that “the morning was fine” when they visited. Saturday’s ceremony, in contrast, was doused with sprinkles and the appearance of some historically inaccurate umbrellas. 

“I’ve read the journals, spent 20 years in the state, and I still don’t know enough to keep a rain jacket in the truck,” joked presenter Hugh Ambrose, getting laughs from the audience which was kept mostly dry by a portable shelter. 

Ambrose represented his father Stephen Ambrose, author of “Undaunted Courage,” and expressed his thanks to those who made the Crimson Bluffs purchase possible. He said his family’s retracing of the Lewis and Clark Expedition during the 1976 U.S. bicentennial brought his family closer together, as he hopes it will do for future families who visit the bluffs. 
Representatives for Sens. Max Baucus and Conrad Burns, as well as Rep. Dennis Rehberg, read statements sent in support of the project. Also speaking at the dedication were Clint Blackwood, executive director for the Montana Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission, and KiKu Hanes, a representative of The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit group that facilitated purchase of the property. 

Adding authenticity to the ceremony was the presentation of the 15-star flag that Lewis and Clark would have flown as they passed by the bluffs to indicate to any observing Native Americans that they came in peace. 
Lyle Schwope and two others dressed in period costume performed a flintlock salute, but only after the little girl in overalls and a coonskin cap playing at the edge of a bluff moved out of the way. 

Hotaling said the BLM will manage the site but doesn’t want to develop it in any way. An interpretative sign featuring a photograph of the bluffs taken by Helmick will be placed on River Road sometime in the fall, accompanied by a small parking area. There will be no vehicle traffic allowed past that point, Hotaling said, but the public can take a trail to the base of the cliffs. 
“The best way to see it is from the river,” he added. 

That’s what Eleanor Mest, her husband John and friend Jean Thorson did. Mest, mayor of Manhattan, is a member of the Headwaters chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation in Bozeman. They floated the Missouri in a canoe from the York Islands fishing access site, stopped at Crimson Bluffs for the ceremony, and planned to float on to the Indian Creek fishing access. 

“It must be so much like it was when Lewis and Clark floated it,” Thorson said.