We moved away from the Piegon, Blackfoot, Cree, Crow and other tribes of the western Plains and move toward the Central Plains.
American Indians inhabited this region for centuries, and extensive buffalo and pronghorn antelope herds provided ample food for the nomadic tribes. The Nakoda, Lakota, and Dakota peoples alternately inhabited and claimed the region from the 16th to the late 19th centuries. In 1804 the Lewis and Clark expedition came within 15 miles (24 km) of the future site of Glasgow and noted the extensive herds of buffalo and various game. In 1851, the US government formed the first treaty with the Native American tribes, in 1885 the tribes engaged in the last known buffalo hunt in the region, and in 1887, a treaty was signed where the tribes surrendered 17,500,000 acres (7,100,000 ha), which led from 1888 to the formation of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and the removal of the tribes from the Glasgow area. (We did see some Antelope agan today but not as many as yesterday.)
Glasgow got it’s name when a globe was spun and the indicator landed on Glascow, Scotland. The High School nickname is the “Scots”. They are a football powerhouse in their division having won 12 state championships and the girls Cross country team has won 16 All Class state championships.
The land on the 240 miles to Glascow was mostly growing wheat with 50% fallow along with some lentils. No cattle, just wheat. After passing east through Havre, the soil changed abruptly where there was no wheat and mostly sage, and scrub land. There was some cattle and farms but decidedly differently as the soil deteriorated to growing scrub plants only. The hills began to increase in number and as we passed the Bears PAw Mountains to the south, the tilled agriculture disappeared.
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| The nine miles of road "redo"on US 2 . All dirt! |
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| Many trains were held up today...by the RR workers leveling the new ties. |
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| One of the techniques for the ditches is to dry the soil before packing. |
After seeing so many trains on the tracks this week I asked the questions to Ruth and myself. Who owns the Railroads? I knew historically the RR
owned a vary large amount of land but that was changed by law and they cannot own only so much on each side of the track now. So here is the current major ownership (Buffett and Gates are in competition ).
--Union Pacific - 32,100 miles of route length, 8,500 locomotives. 44,500 employees
--BNSF Railway - 32,500 miles of route length, 8,000 locomotives, 41,000 employees.
--CSX - 21,000 miles route length, 4,000 locomotives, 29,000 employees
--Norfolk Southern - 20,000 miles route length, 4,100 locomotives, 30,000 employees.
--Kansas City Southern - 6,000 miles route length, 1,200 locomotives, 6,500 employees
--Canadian National and Canadian Pacific both own track in the US, but are principally concentrated in Canada.
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| The hills begin to appear after Malta. |
Then further east after Malta, where we took lunch at an "A and W Root Beer stand", the tillage again appears. I will research that area and see what the soil is there.
But we did stop three times to look for birds and found some along US 2 where there was a good spot to get off the rosd. That list of 23 birds, included, but was not limited to : EASTERN MEADOWLARK, NORTHERN HARRIER, WILSON'S PHALAROPE, NORTHERN SHOVELER, AMERICAN AVOCET, PINTAIL, HORNED GREBE, WHITE RUMPED SANDPIPER, RUDDY DUCK, HORNED LARK, MCCOWN'S LONGSPUR, TUNDRA SWAN, BALTIMORE ORIOLE (in the RV park).
US 2 is the Main street in all three of the major towns (Havre, Malta, Glascow) and all but one of the minor towns from Shelby to Glascow. There was a push to make this road a 4 lane highway but it was not to be as the Commissioners did not vote it in. (Cost?)
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| Last night the sunset reflected in the eastern sky these clouds and colors. |
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| And this group of clouds in the east at sunset. |
We settled into a very quiet campground off the highway (we can hear the RR in the "not too far away" distance). Highway noise is nil.
