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

HISTORY
Originally located across the Beaverhead River from Rattlesnake
Cliffs, this tablet commemorates the exceptional history of the site–
Beaverhead Canyon Gateway’s ancient Indian trails, the Lewis and
Clark Expedition to the Pacific Coast, the path of Father DeSmet in
1840, the first railroad into Montana, and the Great Beaverhead
Wagon Toll Road (1868-1880) which opened traffic to Virginia City.
The area, called “the Southern Gateway into Montana,” is said to be
exceeded in history only by Fort Benton.
In 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through this route
going west. The Expedition also returned by this route in 1806, when
Captain Clark and his party came back to recover a cache of guns and
ammunition left at Camp Fortunate when they journeyed west. Clark
and his men continued homeward through the Big Hole over the
Bozeman Pass and down the Yellowstone River to its mouth where the
entire command of Lewis and Clark was reunited.
When the DAR marker was originally dedicated at 10:30 a.m. on
September 23, 1935, DAR President General Mrs. William A.
(Florence) Becker, DAR Organizing Secretary General Mrs. William
H. (Helena) Pouch, DAR National Vice Chair of Historical Research
Mrs. Laura Tolman Scott, and Montana Governor Frank H. Cooney
and his wife (a “native daughter of Beaverhead County”) attended the
ceremony, “witnessed by scores of Montana and Idaho people.” Mrs.
Kate Sturgis Poindexter Linn, daughter of William Sturgis who is
mentioned on the marker, also attended. Historian Dr. R.E. Albright
delivered the historical address. DAR State Regent Mrs. Elfreda (J.
Fred) Woodside formally presented the marker to the State of
Montana. It consisted of a bronze tablet donated by the Anaconda
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