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

HISTORY
On October 2, 1914, Montana State DAR placed a bronze tablet
memorial to Sacajawea on a five-ton boulder near the Chicago,
Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad station on a small plot of
ground at Three Forks across from the Sacajawea Hotel. The marker,
presented to Three Forks in the name of the Montana Society DAR,
created Three Forks’ first park. The tablet honored Sacajawea, the
Lemhi Shoshone Indian woman who guided the Lewis and Clark
Expedition through an uncharted wilderness in 1804-1806. Reportedly,
one thousand people attended the marker’s dedication and unveiling.
When DAR determined to erect a symbol of honor to Sacajawea, “a
ferociously determined lady often credited for the very survival of Lewis
and Clark and the success of that Expedition,” the organization first
approached the town of Livingston, but received little enthusiasm there.
Mrs. Clinton H. Moore of Butte, chair of the marker committee
working with Mrs. E. Broox Martin of Bozeman and Mrs. J.W. (Laura
Tolman) Scott of Armstead, pushed for the monument. She went so far
as dictating a letter to Montana U.S. Senator William A. Clark in
which she stressed the historical importance of a marker and urged Sen.
Clark to “heed her words.” She also inquired as to how much it would
take to finance the creation. As luck would have it, Sen. Clark gifted
the bronze plaque and Three Forks’ founder, J.Q. Adams, procured the
massive boulder upon which to affix the plaque. The bronze marker was
cast at the Henry Bonnard Bronze Co. in Mt. Vernon, New York
(owned by Senator Clark).
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