Remnants of the campground where the Nez Perce were ambushed by the army in 1877, at Big Hole National Battlefield in Southwestern Montana.










The road along the Big Hole River offers iconic views of Southwestern Montana, such as this one driving southwest.

ON THE ROAD: Southwestern Montana and Butte

One of the loveliest spots on God’s green earth is Western Montana. This is high country, beautiful beyond description, and it’s a wonderful place to RV.

We’ve been there a couple or so times, the last of which was last summer. This time we stayed at Fairmont Hot Springs RV Park just outside Anaconda and quickly accessible from the two freeways (90 and 15) that intersect just west of Butte, which is only a few short miles away. We pulled into a large, spacious RV park bordered on one side by the Fairmont Resort. Three sides were open pastures and behind the park were stables and horses. The resort is in a valley setting surrounded by snow covered peaks in late June, and who knows, maybe all summer?

As we had once before, we hopped in the car and headed for the Big Hole Crossing Restaurant in Wisdom, Montana because of their absolutely divine food. Hey, if there’s good food within hundreds of miles, we can sniff it out! To get there, we had to travel over a narrow, pothole riddled road that still had snow next to it (this was over a high mountain pass and is not suitable for RVers unless you’re into scary thrills).

After several long miles of bouncing and hanging on, we dropped into a valley on a road that traveled along the Big Hole River, which was running swiftly because of snow melt. When we reached the restaurant, the mosquitoes were so thick we couldn’t begin to beat them, so a few hundred made it in the door with us. No problem though. The waitress brought over a citronella candle and placed it on our table, which seemed to keep them somewhat at bay while we enjoyed the wonderful food and atmosphere.

Once before when we stayed outside Butte, we made the trip on to the Big Hole in the Bitterroot Valley, which is the spot that the U.S. Cavalry ambushed the just awakening village of Nez Perce Indians that had been fleeing, trying to make it to Canada and freedom after being forced from their beautiful homeland in Northwest Oregon and Eastern Idaho in 1877. This was not the Cavalry’s finest hour as, after massacring nearly 90 elderly, women and small children, the Nez Perce managed to sneak up the hillside and capture their cannon, and pinned down the Cavalry, allowing their women and children to escape.

That was only a part of a sad chapter in America’s history, as the Nez Perce managed to escape, but after dropping down into Yellowstone area and then turning north through Montana towards Canada, were finally ambushed again and their Chief, Joseph, finally surrendered at Bear Paw Battlefield, only about 50 miles from the border and uttered the immortal words, “from where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”

Big Hole is a memorial to these brave, intelligent, peaceable souls who had helped Lewis and Clark survive when their party was near starvation and showed them the way to the Columbia River, then to the Pacific Ocean. The Nez Perce wanted desperately to continue to live in their own homeland and had trusted that the treaty they had signed would be honored forever, but the discovery of gold and consequently, the greed and rush of whites westward had wiped away the good intentions of the U.S. government. At the site of the ambush are triangular lodge pole skeletons where tipis would have stood during the ambush, and a few artifacts still lay scattered on the ground.

As we watched the film about the story of Big Hole, tears streamed down my cheeks thinking of the innocents who had perished on that spot. I had been to their homeland because it was where my family settled in 1878, so I knew what a magnificent land they had been forced to leave. This region holds much of the history of the West, and should not be missed if you’re in Western Montana. The drive to Big Hole is an easy ride by RV or car from Interstate 15, and that’s the way we headed back to Butte. RVs were parked by the Big Hole River all along the route to I-15.

As for the town of Butte, its history is in mining, and the setting of the town is really picturesque. It’s an old town, so many historical buildings remain along the streets in the historic district. There is a wonderful museum of mining history on the Montana Tech campus where you can view specimens of rocks and ore from the region and learn the story of Western Montana’s past. We spent a long time exploring this museum. There is also a museum of transportation, called Piccadilly Museum, but we didn’t visit it—not sure we even knew about it.

As for shopping, Butte is pretty much it in the area, but you won’t find many fast food places or car repair franchises. We had our car serviced in town at a tiny little garage that must have been there since the first automobile rolled down the street. There is a Super Walmart and a small shopping mall with a couple of major (though small) department stores. They’re all located along the same street in the flats, Harrison, on the south side of I-90, so are convenient no matter where you stay in the area.

A terrific farmer’s market (summer, only) takes place on Saturday morning in downtown (in this case, uptown, since it’s high up on a hill), and parking is available in lots or along the streets bisecting the market street. You’ll find fresh, Montana grown produce and flowering plants along with baked goods and crafts, and possibly fresh eggs from a local farmer’s chickens. The produce we purchased was exceptionally fresh and delicious.

Our Lady of the Rockies is a must see monument standing tall and white on top of a notch in a mountain above Butte, and is a landmark along I-90. A 2-1/2 hour bus trip takes you up for a close-up view of the 90-foot tall statue. Butte yearly activities include an annual Dinosaur Festival that takes place in June and a National Folk Festival in July, among others.

If you find that you have difficulty breathing, or simply tire easily, remember that at the Butte airport you are at 5549 feet, along the Continental Divide, and elevation only goes up from there. Those with heart problems should take precautions, and everyone else should start drinking lots of water as soon as they arrive to avoid altitude sickness.

I hear fishing for trout is fabulous along the Big Hole River, and many people rave about the Berkeley Pit Mine in Butte as an interesting site to see, if you're into those sorts of activities. All in all, the Western part of Montana is loaded with activities for all types of sports enthusiasts, including white water rafting, hunting, and hiking, and you won't find a prettier setting to pursue them in.

Why Not Write a Cookbook?

One of the most popular sellers by any book retailer is the cookbook; any cookbook. Why? Surely we all own way more recipes than we can ever use. I’ve decided that if they’re still selling so well, don’t bother to ask why? Instead, make plans to enjoy the sales of your own cookbook contribution to the culinary world.

There will most likely be an audience for almost any type of cookbook you can think up. Appetizers? Yep, we all have a box load of those recipes, plus desserts, meats, vegetables, pasta, and on and on.

There might even be one using store bought dog food, for all I know – and no, I wasn’t referring to food for Bowzer, I was talking about people-food made from dog chow. Who knows? There already is a small cookbook available for making pet food for Bowzer and Fluffy, which I just happen to own, among dozens of others. And I don’t even like to cook. I’ve never cooked from most of the books I own. But give me a new cookbook, especially one that features lots of mouthwatering pictures, and I’m hooked for a day or so of browsing and dreaming (of eating the dishes after having someone else make the dishes for me).

Take a look at your collection of cookbooks and tell me you couldn’t write one yourself, or maybe that you’ve been thinking of producing one someday. One thing is for certain, we’ve all collected favorite recipes from friends and relatives from time to time, and some of us have even come up with our own versions of green bean casserole. If you love to cook, or hate to cook but have managed to survive anyway, why not write a book about it? Include your favorite recipes along with your own ideas about coping or making do when the cupboard is bare and you don’t want to drive to the supermarket.

Maybe you have some unique experiences, or a background that suggests an unusual perspective on cooking and serving. A “Back to the land” cookbook would be appropriate from someone raised in a commune or the environmentalist movement. “Cooking for a crowd” would be an easy topic for someone reared in a large family, or who cooked meals for and with an extended family. Everyone from the South who attended a rural church knows what “Dinner on the Grounds” means. They’re the get-togethers outdoors following church services where everyone brought a favorite dish that was shared among all the other attendees—in other words, a potluck. However, “Dinners on the Grounds” usually featured only the favorite recipes of families attending, while a potluck dinner suggests that something was hastily thrown together at the last minute.

I have one from a small town in Arizona that even includes a recipe for making corn liquor, or as we called it in the South, “mountain dew.” Not that I ever plan to try the recipe, but the book happens to include lots of recipes from grizzled miners and prospectors who share tips on basic survival cooking over an open fire.

Someday I plan to make a list of all my cookbooks, but the list still won’t include the dozens of recipes I’ve clipped from magazines and newspapers. I would just like to see how many duplications I have! And I have produced three cookbooks to date, one for a family reunion which was presold to the attendees and included old family stories; and one called “Pizza Through a Straw” for dental surgery patients who can’t chew. This idea came during my own seven months of surviving with my jaws wired and I can remember lying in a hospital bed on one of my many hospitalizations during that time and signing copies for other patients that the doctors had given them.

My last cookbook was a collection of my favorite recipes gathered from friends and family over the years. plus my own few creations. Included in the book were brief stories about where the recipes came from, and fond memories of sharing the dishes with friends. It wasn't written for the commercial market, so only about 50 were printed and distributed.