Beautiful Bentonite

Open doors to let the wind blow through.

We have spent the last week south of Glasgow, Montana looking at several BLM areas.  We have covered over 1000 miles this week already.  Miles that were mainly on paved “roads,” “ways,” and “two-tracks.”  I’ve learned those designations are very important in determining the use, intent, and management of an area as well as how to judge the difference.  At the moment we are sitting in a truck, parked on a ridge, getting wind-blown by the blast-furnace of Mother Nature, watching a storm build. 

I have such an appreciation for the people who live and work in this land.  It is wild and dry, with hard bentonite soil that is as unforgiving when wet as it is when dry.  The farmers and ranchers are challenged with knowing when to drive on which roads, when that perfect time is to harvest and work the land, and how to move the cattle through the numerous drainages.

Sunset at our camp on Fort Peck Reservoir 

Much of this area borders the Charles M Russell Nature Preserve.  Its landscape makes up the Missouri River Breaks along the Fort Peck Reservoir.  This area is prime hunting ground for elk, big-horn sheep, mule deer, and antelope.  However, the antelope and white-tail deer suffered almost a 95% reduction in their populations during the winter of 2010-11.  The highline saw record amounts of snow that year.  So much snow that the only way the animals could move around was to use the rail-road tracks which were maintained.  Hundreds of pronghorn (antelope) were killed at a time when the trains came through.  The next spring the white-tail deer suffered a disease called blue-tongue which truly devastated their herds in this area.  The loss is evident as we have seen a handful of pronghorn or deer when we should be seeing hundreds a day.   

Bentonite hill sides

Bentonite….bentonite is the dark, hard, cracking, dry soil that comprises much of this landscape.  As I look over landscape much of it is bentonite bad-lands.  We passed an abandoned bentonite mine that we were told hauled one load before closing down.  This soil is tough when dry, and clay-like when wet.  It can absorb as much as several times its dry mass in water and makes a perfect seal when wet.  It is used in products such as kitty-litter as well as for the lining of bore holes for mining.  My grandma said they used it to line a reservoir on “the farm” in Chester.  We experienced firsthand the power of this substance when we sunk to the axel of Tony’s truck while trying to cross a creek crossing we thought was dry.  It took us upwards of 2 hours of literally digging the clay by hand out from under the axel to get us out.  As we were working there was a perfect sunset and full moon rising that we missed…of course.  I also can’t believe we didn’t get a photo of the whole ordeal.  All we have left is the clay caked on my Keens, clumps that will forever be stuck to the underside of the rig, and the lesson I’m sure many hunters and ranchers have learned in this area…always test the solidity of the ground when driving across bentonite! 

These rock "bubbles" are whats left after the bentonite erodes away.  Beautiful tubular formations!

Ti-pi rings looking over the wild prairie.

We are finding some cultural artifacts but wish we had more time to explore the hillsides.  Tony found a bi-face and we did run across this fairly large establishment of "ti-pi rings."  The sad thing is that there is a bladed road right through the middle of this encampment and I'm sure it's been looted thousands of times.  

We are now home for a few days trying to catch up and start working on our reports and maps.  Anyone know ArcMap?  Ugh!  My brain is being flexed with this darn program for sure!  Next stop…the Musselshell River area.  I can’t wait!