Montana Small Towns and Downtowns

Bozeman in 1864, John Bozeman led a wagon train over Bozeman Pass into the Gallatin Valley, where his friends W. J. Beall and D. E. Rouse staked out the town site for the city of Bozeman. It is considered one of the most diverse small towns in the Rocky Mountains, with a mix of ranchers, artists, professors, ski enthusiasts and entrepreneurs drawn here by Montana’s world-class outdoor recreation.

Billings was established in 1882 with the coming of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Today it is a major shipping center for cattle and other agricultural products and is Montana's largest city. Known as Montana's Trailhead, it has access to the Beartooth Mountains, the Yellowstone River and local trails.

Missoula is nestled in the heart of the northern Rockies in the western part of the state.  Home to the country's largest smokejumper base, the historic downtown features classic early-century buildings and unique galleries, shops and restaurants. All three are excellent year-round bases to explore Montana.

Butte is a melting pot of ethnicities and culture that shape it to this day.  From all corners of the world, immigrants came to this tough mining town, created distinct neighborhoods, and brought with them the cultural heritage of their native countries of Ireland, Wales, China, Croatia, Italy, Serbia, Lebanon, England, Canada, and Finland. Butte’s very placement near the crest of the Continental Divide is unique.  The sheer elevation of nearly 6,000 feet makes the journey to the city a challenge.  The terrain of the city is a dichotomy between “the flats,” a stretch of even terrain that spreads south, and Uptown Butte, the face of the city that saw the most growth in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Book Your Montana Small Town and Downtown Travel Experience Here!

      

Beer Trail

Montana's vast farmland provides ample area for wheat and hops production and is home to 53 breweries, the most per capita in the country. Experience a walking brewery tour in historic downtown Billings where six breweries and one distillery are within walking distance of each other. Or tour the Bitterroot Valley south of Missoula and try seasonal varieties. Taste samples of brews such as Mountain Man Stout, Pigs Ass Porter or Coldsmoke throughout the state at many local craft breweries, each with their own special brews and character.

Missouri River Trails

Navigation Tributaries Watershed and People

The Missouri is the longest river in North America, rising in the Rocky Mountains and flowing east and south for 2,341 miles - 3,767 km - before connecting with the Mississippi north of St. Louis.

History for over 12 thousand years, people have depended on the Missouri River as a source of food and transportation as ten Native American groups have led a nomadic lifestyles along with the buffalo herds. In the late 17^th century, Spanish and French explorers reached the river which become part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase of the early 1800s. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark followed the Missouri on their 1803-06 journey to the Pacific Ocean.

Navigation boat travel on the Missouri started with wood-framed canoes and Native American bull boats. The first steamboat was the Independence, in 1819. By the 1830s, large mail and freight-carrying vessels were running regularly between Kansas City and St. Louis. Water transport increased through the 1850s with craft ferrying pioneers, emigrants and miners. Steamboat navigation peaked in 1858 with over 130 boats operating full-time on the Missouri.

Tributaries nearly 100 significant tributaries and hundreds of smaller ones feed the Missouri River. Most rivers and streams in the Missouri River basin flow from west to east, following the incline of the Great Plains; however, some eastern tributaries, such as the James River, flow from north to south. The largest by runoff are the Yellowstone in Montana and Wyoming, and the Platte in Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska.

Upper and Lower the Upper River is north of Gavin Point Dam, the last of 15 hydroelectric dams upstream of Sioux City. The lower Missouri runs 840 miles meeting the Mississippi just above St. Louis.

The Watershed encompasses most of the central Great Plains, stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Mississippi River Valley in the east and from the southern extreme of western Canada to the border of the Arkansas River. This watershed is home to 12 million people in Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming. The watershed's largest city is Denver; many northwestern cities, like Billings Montana, are among the fastest growing in the Missouri basin.

The Missouri Watershed includes 25 percent of Agricultural Land in the United States

The People archaeological evidence suggests that the first arrivals in the watershed of the Missouri River were between 10 and 12 thousand years ago, making the Missouri River one of the main migration paths that settled in the Ohio and the lower Mississippi River Valley.

Pioneers the river defined the American frontier in the 19^th century as the major trails that opened the American West started on the Missouri River.

The First Westward leg of the Pony Express was a Ferry across the Missouri River

 Most emigrants arrived at the eastern terminus of the First Transcontinental Railroad via a ferry ride across the Missouri between Council Bluffs and Omaha. In 1869, the Hannibal was the first bridge to cross the Missouri River near Kansas City, the largest city upstream from St. Louis.

Manifest Destiny over one half million people set out from the river town of Independence, Missouri to their various destinations in the American West from the 1830s to the 1860s. Covered wagons, known as prairie schooners, provided the primary means of transport until the beginning of regular boat service in side wheelers and sternwheelers in the 1850s. Over 80 percent of upstream passengers and freight hauled from the Midwest to Montana was transported by boat, a journey that took 150 days. Conflicts between natives and settlers over the opening of the Bozeman Trail in the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana resulted in Native American victory. However, the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, sparked when American miners discovered gold in the Black Hills, ended in relocation to reservations.

Missouri River Itineraries

Travel to Montana

western history and culture two national parks a beer trail and small towns

National Parks

 Montana is home to two national parks:

Glacier National Park crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass, offering breathtaking views and opportunity to see wildlife, the rugged terrain along the way and the many unspoiled lakes on a wooden boat, kayak or canoe, a guided horseback ride, or hiking some of the 700 miles of trails.

The Gateway to Yellowstone National Park in South central Montana and shared with Wyoming and Idaho, Yellowstone is the world’s first national park. Renowned for its geysers, canyons, lakes, waterfalls and wildlife, Yellowstone encompasses 2.2 million acres, of which 7 % are in Montana. Three of the parks five entrances, Cooke City, Gardiner and West Yellowstone are located in Montana and provide year-round adventure to this wonderland of nature. 

Beartooth Highway extends from the quaint mountain town of Red Lodge and winds its way over the largest true high elevation plateau in North America, all the way to the Northeast Entrance of Yellowstone, near Cooke City; a spectacular 68 mile drive to elevations over 10,000 feet through a land of glaciers, high alpine lakes, glacier-carved cirques, and fragile tundra.

Small Towns and Downtowns

Bozeman in 1864, John Bozeman led a wagon train over Bozeman Pass into the Gallatin Valley, where his friends W. J. Beall and D. E. Rouse staked out the town site for the city of Bozeman. It is considered one of the most diverse small towns in the Rocky Mountains, with a mix of ranchers, artists, professors, ski enthusiasts and entrepreneurs drawn here by Montana’s world-class outdoor recreation.

Billings was established in 1882 with the coming of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Today it is a major shipping center for cattle and other agricultural products and is Montana's largest city. Known as Montana's Trailhead, it has access to the Beartooth Mountains, the Yellowstone River and local trails.

Missoula is nestled in the heart of the northern Rockies in the western part of the state.  Home to the country's largest smokejumper base, the historic downtown features classic early-century buildings and unique galleries, shops and restaurants. All three are excellent year round bases to explore Montana.

Butte is a melting pot of ethnicities and culture that shape it to this day.  From all corners of the world, immigrants came to this tough mining town, created distinct neighborhoods, and brought with them the cultural heritage of their native countries of Ireland, Wales, China, Croatia, Italy, Serbia, Lebanon, England, Canada, and Finland. Butte’s very placement near the crest of the Continental Divide is unique.  The sheer elevation of nearly 6,000 feet makes the journey to the city a challenge.  The terrain of the city is a dichotomy between “the flats,” a stretch of even terrain that spreads south, and Uptown Butte, the face of the city that saw the majority of growth in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Western History and Culture

Custer's Last Stand took place at the Little Big Horn in 1876 when the US 7th Cavalry Regiment led by Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer battled the Sioux and Cheyenne. Native American powwows such as North American Indian Days in Browning or Crow Fair in Hardin welcome visitors and give a glimpse into their traditional customs, dance and music.

Ranch Vacations the state has many unique guest ranches of different types: dude, working, or luxury resort ranches that offer a diverse array of activities from horseback riding to fly fishing, spa treatments to gourmet meals, hiking to rafting.

Rodeos are held all summer throughout Montana providing insight into past and present cowboy life. All rodeos, large or small, professional or down-home celebrations, are family friendly events.

Beer Trails

Montana's vast farmland provides ample area for wheat and hops production and is home to 53 breweries, the most per capita in the country. Experience a walking brewery tour in historic downtown Billings where six breweries and one distillery are within walking distance of each other. Or tour the Bitterroot Valley south of Missoula and try seasonal varieties. Taste samples of brews such as Mountain Man Stout, Pigs Ass Porter or Coldsmoke throughout the state at many local craft breweries, each with their own special brews and character.