-From Great Falls Tribune / Kristen Inbody
ZORTMAN – You have to aim for Zortman to end up in this small town in the Little Rocky Mountains.
U.S. Highway 191 south of Malta is a lonely road anyway, about 100 miles with only scattered farmhouses. Those Zortman-bound turn off 191 about 40 miles south of Malta onto seven miles of winding road, the vast prairie quickly giving way to mountains.
The Little Rockies were a blank space for me on the map, home to some of the very few Montana towns I hadn’t seen. I fixed that problem on a recent Hi-Line trek.
A town built on gold mining, Zortman has gone from 2,000 residents in the 1920s to about 50, “48 nice people and two grouches,” according to a sign. The town is surrounded by colorful rocky outcroppings.
Meet the locals at the Miners Club Cafe, or check out the rustic jail across the street (excellent photo opportunities). Quaint Saint Joseph Catholic Church is on a hill overlooking the town and also photo-worthy.
To the south is the ghost town of Landusky, but our destination was Hays and the Mission Canyon.
St. Paul Mission, founded 128 years ago this September, is through the small town of 850 on the Fort Belknap Reservation. According to the mission, when a Jesuit scouted the area in 1886, he wrote: “The cattle country with grazing land: the best I ever saw. Timber: that whole mountain range is thickly covered from the bottom to the top of the mountains. Water: seven beautiful creeks, running into the Milk River, clear as crystal, sweet as honey. Cultivating land: at all the creeks, but especially at ‘Peoples Creek’; at least 15 miles long remaining near the mountains is a deep, wide valley of the best garden-land, enough to make the whole tribe here very rich and happy.”
Don’t miss the small shrine to Our Lady of the Little Rockies, erected in the 1930s.
Just past the mission, continuing on the main road through town, one arrives in the
The most famous spot is the Natural Bridge (look to your right as you drive into the canyon). The arch of rock is dotted with scraggly trees. Picture Outlaw Harvey Kid Curry on the lam when the Little Rockies were wild.
Circumnavigate the mountains to see Fort Belknap Agency along U.S. Highway 2, 31 miles north. Lodgepole is out-of-the-way but a scenic detour.
Don’t let the Little Rockies be terra incognita on your map of Montana.