On our way here, we made one nice stop: Ft. Abraham Lincoln State Park in North Dakato. It’s the post where General George Custer led his ill-fated 7th cavalry to its demise at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. It’s also the site of On-the-Slant Indian Village, a Madan tribal site that was already abandoned due to small pox when Lewis and Clark stopped by on their expedition.
Here at Ninemile, we completed our training last Wednesday and Thursday for duties as Visitor Center hosts. Our first real work day was Friday. We alternate work days with another couple from Arizona, Bill and Betty Jones, who worked here the summer of 2007. It’s hard to call this a real job, as the center averages only about 20 visitors a day, which means a lot of down time to read, do cross word puzzles, play cards, or visit the corrals and feed the horses and mules. On Saturday, the Ferrier was here, shoeing the animals. Pretty laid back.
I think what makes the Remount Depot unique is both its history and the role it plays today as a working ranger station and stock ranch. In 1984, it was designated a national historic site for its role in instituting and standardizing equipment and techniques for breeding, training, and using stock to fight forest fires.
Visitors can take a self-guided tour of the facilities but if requested, we are available to give tours as well. Our work schedule is sweet: on every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and every other Wednesday, which means we have lots of time off to explore the area. Good thing, as there is lots to see and do: we are 2.5 hours away from Glacier National Park, and 4 hours away from Yellowstone. Plus, there’s much to explore and enjoy in the surrounding region, including state parks, national forests and mountain lakes and rivers as well as Missoula, a nice university town only 30 miles away, where we are today, using the library’s internet.
We have a nice full-service camp site in the pine trees, courtesy of the forest service. But we discovered the hard way to be careful about what we store outside. It’s been really cold (40s) and rainy, so we thought we’d store our beer under the motor home to keep it cold. Bad idea. We woke up on our third morning here, and the entire 12-pack was gone. Found it ajavascript:void(0) few yards away. Four of the cans had been punctured by what looked like really BIG sharp teeth. Empty of course. Not sure why it only drank four cans. Maybe it didn’t like Pabst? Also, the-host’s bird feeder was raided the same night, so we are now keeping every thing that even resembles a food or beverage container under wraps, either in the motor home or the car.
All for now. Let’s hope it stops raining and the sun comes out for good. Next post, I’ll give you a brief outline of the Depot’s unique history.
A Mandan Dwelling
Interior of a Mandan Ceremonial House
Fort's graveyard. Note cause of this one's death.
Ready for guests at the visitor center (that's Splinter, the mule in the background)
Jim with one of the depot's permanent residents
The farrier at work
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