Montana's DAR Markers . . . Honoring Where History Was Made

commemorates the Lewis and Clark Expedition and is the first of
Montana DAR’s markers to be placed in honor of the Expedition.
In July, the Yellowstone Park Chapter made a “considerable sum”
from an exhibit of “antique articles … of educational and artistic value.”
With this money and money from an assessment on the members of the
chapter, the marker was purchased. According to October 10, 1908,
chapter meeting minutes, there was:
…progress made in finding a ‘marker’ for the Lewis and Clark
Trail, Mrs. Scheuber having found a boulder, and the stone cutter
having come down in his price from $130 to $18, the possibilities of
placing the stone by the 23 rd seem more encouraging.
The boulder, marking the spot where Captain Clark camped on his
return journey from the Pacific Northwest, was placed close to the
Northern Pacific Railway spur to Gardiner, near the Billman Creek
crossing just south of Livingston in the Yellowstone River Canyon. Its
placement was so it could be read from trains entering or leaving the
station. The site was selected upon the authority of Olin D. Wheeler,
historian for the Northern Pacific Railway. Mr. Wheeler made a trip
through the West, following portions of the Lewis and Clark Trail and
located the spot where Captain Clark camped on his return from the
Northwest.
In 1912, the Yellowstone Park Chapter voted to move the boulder
to a more visible location in the Northern Pacific Depot Park in
downtown Livingston, where it remains today. Over the years, the
boulder tipped to one side and during the 1994-96 term of Chapter
Regent Mrs. Robert L. (Sharon) McIlhattan of Mt. Hyalite Chapter,
the boulder was lifted, placed on a concrete base, and rededicated.
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