12. Hill County

James J. Hill, founder and CEO of the Great Northern Railway, became known as the Empire Builder as he pushed his railroad westward from St. Paul, Minnesota to Seattle, Washington. Along the way, the railroad built a station in north central Montana, near the site of Fort Assiniboine, and named it Havre, for the port city in France, Le Havre. On February 28, 1912, the Montana Legislature split Chouteau County, one of Montana's original nine counties and formed a new county from the northern part of the original. They named the new county for James J. Hill (who was still alive at the time), and chose Havre as the county seat. Today, Hill County covers 2,897 square miles (or approximately 50 x 57 miles), and according to the 2010 U.S. Census, 16,096 people call it home. This is down 3.5% from the 2000 census count, and even more from the 1990 count of 17,654. The county number assigned to Hill County is 12, although today's population would put it at number 11. A life-sized stature of James Jerome Hill stands in front of the Amtrak Station in downtown Havre.

The Hill County Court House in Havre, Montana

Montana east of the Continental Divide became part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Lewis and Clark crossed what would become Montana both headed west and on their return, but their route following the Missouri River had them south of what is now Hill County. The first white settlement in the region was Fort Assiniboine, built in May of 1879, fifteen years after the creation of Montana Territory, and in direct response to the Battle of the Little Big Horn (Custer's Last Stand). A certain First Lieutenant John J. Pershing (later to become a General--you may have heard of him) had an early assignment at the Fort. Pershing led the 10th U.S. Cavalry to Montana, which later earned him the sobriquet "Black Jack." (The 10th U.S. Cavalry was at that time an all-black unit of the Army, part of the famous "Buffalo Soldiers." Fort Assiniboine was the largest military base within the confines of Montana, indeed the largest in the U.S. at the time, and today is largely intact, though serving now as an Agricultural Experiment Station run by the Montana University System. Built as an offensive fort rather than a defensive fort, there was no wall or protective fence surrounding the complex.

Located on the Milk River, the Great Northern Railway, and U.S. Highway 2, Havre grew into a prosperous commercial center, serving as the main hub for a large section of north central Montana. Incorporated in 1893, the 1900 U.S. Census showed 1,033 residents of the city. This grew to a high of 10,891 recorded in the 1980 Census, but has declined steadily since. The 2000 Census showed 9,621 city residents, and the 2010 Census 9,310. Havre is home to Montana State University-Northern, formerly known as Northern Montana College of Education.

A waterfall in Beaver Creek Park, the largest county park in the U.S.

Driving south from the center of Havre, you pass farms covering the rolling hills as you climb toward the Bears Paw Mountains. Visiting Havre, I asked several people what was the one thing to tell people they should see in the area. Everyone responded "The Bear Paws." Note that while the actual name is Bears Paw, almost no one says that. A former colleague, now living in his home town of Havre, offered to act as a guide, and on a beautifully sunny Saturday morning, we headed into the mountains. After twelve miles of farmland, we entered Beaver Creek Park. One of the largest, if not the largest county administered park in the U.S., Beaver Creek Park covers 10,000 acres on the northern slopes of the Bears Paw. Roughly one mile wide by seventeen miles long, the park is full of lakes, camping areas, hiking and riding trails, and local history.

What remains of the Cottonwood Community Church
(and indeed of the Cottonwood Community itself)

Back in Havre, I asked our guide about old barns that I might photograph. He countered with old churches, and led us to what is left of Cottonwood Community, roughly ten miles north of Havre. This proved to be a treasure trove of photographic opportunity for me, but the only building left standing was the former Cottonwood Community Church. A truly ecumenical structure, having served as a meeting hall for Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Roman Catholics (at different periods), today the structure seems to serve mainly as a cowshed, judging by the amount of dung covering the building's floor. Can anyone say, "Holy Cow"? As you can see by this picture and the one below, the landscape is relatively flat--perhaps the flattest land in Montana. This is farm land, wheat and barley being the most important crops. In the early days of Hill County, ranching was an important part of the economy, but the climate is not kind to the raising of animals, and sheep and cattle gave way to winter wheat, arguably the finest wheat grown in the U.S. Havre is the northern terminus of U.S. Highway 87, and the area bounded by US 87 and US 89 to the west is called the Golden Triangle. You can drive for miles on end seeing only wheat growing alongside the road. Hill County towns are visible from a distance largely because of the grain elevators that rise along the railroad.

A Hill County Farm, perhaps the flattest place in Montana

The southern part of Hill County (and the neighboring northern Chouteau County) serves as the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation. Set aside for the Chippewa and Cree people in 1916, Rocky Boy is the smallest of Montana's seven reservations. It is the home of Stone Child Community College.

Havre has an extensive website located at http://www.havremt.com/index.html

and Hill County's website is found at http://co.hill.mt.us/