Great Falls - Charles Russell - Buffalo Jump

While in Great Falls, Montana we visited three different historic venues. 

Since we have been following Lewis & Clark's trail, we had to see the area where they had to portage their heavy canoes for 18 miles to avoid five sets of waterfalls in the area now appropriately named Great Falls. 

This display shows the sites of the 5 dams that now control the river.

The Missouri takes a different course now than in did when Lewis & Clark traveled here.

Here are 4 of the 5 dams

We had a picnic lunch on the island just below Ryan Dam. 

There was an occupied eagle nest on the tip of the island.

An adult eagle can be seen slightly to the left of center. A youngster is located toward the right side of the nest. 

The adult (mom? dad?) flew off while we were watching, and then returned. I snapped a picture as the eagle was coming into the home base.

Great Falls was the home of Charlie and Nancy Russell, and now houses an expansive collection (over 350 pieces) of his works. 

It was interesting to compare some of his earlier works with later works. Russell was self taught, and later in his career he took lessons from painters in New York. His work after this time had more color and light. 

We liked this painting of the Indians overlooking the Missouri and questioning each other about the boat that can be seen below. 

Nancy and Charlie eventually purchased property in a fashionable neighborhood in Great Falls and built a modest home, and later ,a log cabin studio.  

Sacred Indian lands in nearby Ulm, Montana, are located where a buffalo jump was used to kill bison for centuries.

One Indian was designated to lure the bison up on a plateau with one side having a sheer cliff. The Indian would entice the herd to follow, as several other Indians would flank the herd, and begin to pressure them into moving. At the last minute the lead Indian would race toward the precipice and scramble over the edge, taking cover under a ledge of rock or protected by a log. The Indians in the back, now more numerous, would frighten the herd into running. Their eyesight wasn't the best, and by the time they realized there was a drop-off in front of them it was too late. The momentum of the animals behind them would push them over the edge and hundreds of bison would plummet to their death. Indians waited below to kill any bison that survived the fall but were injured. 

What the buffalo saw ahead of them....

What was actually in front of them....

The location remains a sacred Indian land and is occasionally used for sacred ceremonies. 

These are the remains of sweat lodges from one ceremony.

The clash of white and Indian cultures resulted in the near extinction of the American Bison

White men hunted the buffalo not only for the hides, but to remove those animals from the hands of the Indians