Terry, the seat of Prairie County, is an often forgotten, bypassed part of the Yellowstone River valley. Yet it has long been one of my favorite places, beginning with my first exploration of its history and landscape in 1984.
The valley is stunning—the river is wide and commanding buttes and badland outcroppings flank either river bank, as do the tracks of the Northern Pacific Railroad (now Burlington Santa Fe) on the river’s south side and the later automobile Yellowstone Trail (old U.S. 10).
Once from 1997 to c 1980 the tracks of the Milwaukee Road ran along the north side of the river, from east of Terry into Miles City. Today you can still see traces of its roadbed and right of way.
In the 1980s residents impressed me greatly with their sense of, and pride in, their settlement past.
For my work on the state historic preservation plan in 1984, I held a community meeting in Terry, at the recently established Prairie County Museum.
It was a converted State Bank Building, an architecturally impressive 2-story Classical Revival-style building, anchoring one of the corners of the business district. The historical society had basically just moved in and kept many of the ban’s interior details and furnishings and used them to place objects on.
The meeting was a lot of fun, at least for me. And I learned a valuable lesson—listen and observe, don’t immediately judge. The example was a small graveyard, near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Powder Rivers, where the museum had installed a low fence and basic interpretive sign.
I acknowledged that this site was clearly significant but offered that without an interstate highway sign (an exit was less than a mile away) or a marker on old U.S. 10, which was adjacent to the cemetery), “no one knows that it exists or where to find it.” One resident then remarked: “son, we know where it is and what it means.” I have never made that boneheaded mistake again.
In the 1980s, another museum devoted to the amazing photography of Evelyn Cameron was established, in a historic building next to the museum.
The impressive preservation work already underway in Terry was not the only reason I liked Terry. It was a “double railroad” town, that still had its northern Pacific depot at the top of the “T” in the classic t-town plan found in some many Montana towns.
Then its county courthouse was one of the most unassuming public buildings in the state.
Plus there were two can’t miss heritage tourism experiences. The historic Kempton Hotel, a huge rambling, fascinating place is where I spent a night.
And I probably had too much to eat and drink at the local bar/cafe, Bud ‘n’ Bette’s. Bud and Bette Goplen owned and operated the place. Bud died in the 1990s but Bette kept it going until the end of the century. Not only were the pours generous and the beer cold, but they sold one of the best caramel rolls in the valley. And yes it did have prints of C.M. Russell paintings plastered along the walls and a fairly size-able Jim Beam decanter and bottle collection. What a place!
Little did I know that when I visited Terry in 1984, 1985, and 1988, it was during its height. Today the town’s and county’s population is about half of what it was in the 1980s.
The county courthouse has been modernized and enlarged while the Northern Pacific depot has been moved to the museum’s block.
Much had changed in the 20 years between visits in 1994 and 2014. When I had the chance to stop for a moment in 2026, I was concerned with the condition of the Northern Pacific caboose.
At the same time I was very happy to see the excellent condition of the early 20th century Terry school. It is a great building, so expressive of the founders’ hope for the town and county. 100 years ago.
I already noted in an earlier post the transformation of the hunters graveyard along old U.S. Highway 10–it is now one of the best interpreted sites along the Yellowstone River. Along the interpretive panels there is a short-distance walking trail with great views of the river plus you can easily see both the historic bridges over the Powder River at the confluence of the Powder and Yellowstone rivers.
And residents of Prairie County are not done. In partnership with the Montana History Foundation, the state historical society, and the county economic development office, they have added other markers about the deep history of this place in the Yellowstone valley.
Just wish I had a caramel roll from Bud ‘n’ Bette’s!
Community Center Bowl in Hardin, Big Horn County, is a wonderful recreational space, with its bays defined by c. 1960 styled “picture windows” framed in glass blocks. The owners have refurbished the lanes two years ago–this institution still has years left in it.
From the southeast corner of the state to its northwest corner–the Trojan Lanes (so named for the school mascot) in Troy, Montana. Here you find the type of alley that is common throughout the small towns of Big Sky Country. Not only do you have a recreational center but you often have the best family restaurant in town. That’s the
case where at Troy’s Trojan as well as–returning to the southeast corner–the Powder River Lanes in Broadus. This tiny county seat has lost several of its classic cafes from the 1980s–the Montana Bar and Cafe on the opposite side of the town square being my favorite in 1984–but Powder River Lanes makes up for it.
I am sorta partial to the small-town lanes, like the Lucky Strike above in Ronan, Lake County. Located next door to “Entertainer Theatre,” this corner of the town is clearly its center for pop culture experience.
Another fav–admittedly in a beat-up turn of the 20th century building–is Roper Lanes and Lounge in Whitehall, Jefferson county, in the southwest corner of the state. Gotta love the painted sign over the entrance–emojis before they were called emojis.
One of my favorite weekend drives, when I lived in Helena over 30 years ago, was to head north, via the Flesher Pass (above) and Montana Highway 279, and hit the very different landscape of Montana Highway 200 (below) and eastern end of the Blackfoot Valley.
The destination was breakfast, often at Lambkin’s, a family business that, to my delight, still operates when I visited in 2015. Lambkin’s is one of those classic small town Montana eateries, great for breakfast, and not bad for a burger and pie later in the day. The town is
Bozeman has boomed with many new chef-driven restaurants but of the downtown establishments my favorite for good fresh, creative food remains the Co-Op Downtown nestled within the Gallatin Block, a historic building, tastefully renovated, in the downtown historic district.
head to Miles City, which is the place to go if you wonder, still, “where’s the beef” and a city that is the proud home of the famous Montana Bar.
within New Deal landscape that forever changed the look of this region in the 1930s. Locals and tourists mix together–because the hotel is the only place to go, unless you want to backtrack to Glasgow and check out Sam’s Supper Club on U.S. Highway 2, and its equally neat 1960s roadside look.
The two railroads and the river that shaped Missoula also carved the landscape to the northwest. Following the Clark’s Fork River to the northwest, the Milwaukee Road passes through Mineral County, adding to a transportation corridor that, earlier, included the Mullan Road, and then later U.S. Highway 10. It is now the route of Interstate Highway I-90 as i heads west to Idaho and then Washington State.
As the interstate crosses the Clark’s Fork River near Tarkio it bypasses the earlier transportation network. A particular marvel is the Scenic Bridge, listed in the National Register in 2010, especially how the bridge of U.S. 10, built in 1928, was designed in dialogue with the earlier high-steel bridge of the Milwaukee Road.
The Scenic Bridge has been closed to traffic but is safe to walk across, creating great views of both bridges and the Clark’s Fork River–travel here has always been challenging.
Twenty years historic preservationists stepped up to add numerous properties to the National Register throughout the county. In addition to the passenger depot, the Montana Valley Book Store, above, was listed. This two-story false front building, with attached one-story building, was once the town’s commercial heart and known as Bestwick’s Market–it has been close to the heart of book lovers for years now. Montana Valley Book Store was a relatively new business when I first visited in 1984 but now it is one of the region’s cultural institutions, especially when a visit is combined with a quick stop at the adjacent Trax Bar.
The historic three-story brick Alberton High School (now the Alberton School) operated from 1919 to 1960 as the only high school facility within miles of the railroad corridor. It too is listed in the National Register and was one of the community landmarks I noted in the 1984-1985 state historic preservation plan work.
I gave no notice to the replacement school, the modern Alberton High School, c. 1960. That was a mistake–this building too reflects school design ideas of its time–the Space Age of the late 1950s and 1960s, when open classrooms, circular designs, and a space-age aesthetic were all the rage. Alberton High School is one of my favorite small-town examples of Montana modernism.
The school is a modern marvel just as the high school football field and track are reminders of how central the schools are to rural community and identity in Montana. Alberton has held its own in population in the decades since the closing of the Milwaukee Road, largely due to its proximity to Missoula and the dramatic gorges created by the Clark’s Fork River. Change is probably coming, and hopefully these landmarks will remain in service for years to come.
The Silver Dollar, like the Double Front, were meccas not just for railroad workers but also travelers weary of life on the rails and looking for a bit of liquid refreshment. It remains a drinkers’ bar today.
I realize that Missoula now has a wide range of downtown establishments–even a wine bar for a good measure–and I wish them well. But give me the Ox, the Double Front, or the Club any day, any time.
