Big Sky Country; exploring southern Montana and northwestern Wyoming

 Debbie and I were thinking about taking a trip to Washington this fall to spend some time at the Smithsonian.  After we looked into the lodging, transportation and other logistics, we decided we’d rather not spend our vacation time in a big crowded city. It just didn’t seem like it would be very relaxing. Besides, if we wanted to fight crowds in a big city we could just go to Dallas and ride around on buses.

 After considering a few more places, we settled on a plan quite different than a trip to D.C.. We flew to Bozeman, MT, rented a car and drove around Yellowstone and on to Wyoming. We ended up in Billings, MT a week later and flew home from there.

 We arrived in Bozeman around 1:00 PM on Sept. 20. We picked up the car and drove around Bozeman a while then headed south to check in at the lodge. 

 Debbie picked Rainbow Ranch Lodge on the Gallatin River. Here’s their web site: http://www.rainbowranchbigsky.com/

                                                                           

 The drive to lodge was like a fantastic sightseeing tour. The road curved back and forth across the cold clear river while we climbed into the mountains. The golden aspens were intermingled with the dark green evergreens---spruce, pine and fir. The sky was mostly cloudy with a few blue patches where the sun shone through at times like a spotlight.  As the mountains became steeper and steeper we could hardly see the tops of them through the car windows. All the time we were going up the temperature was going down and when we reached our destination it was a cool 56 degrees.

Gallatin River near Rainbow Ranch Lodge

The road from Bozeman started in the prairie and climbed into snow topped mountains.

Club house and dining room.

Our room was on the bottom floor right behind...

Debbie.

Huge fly sculpture in front of club house.

Another fly for really big fish.

Pond in front of our room.

 If you followed the link above you saw the rustic beauty of the lodge and its setting. Debbie pick a great place for us to call home for four days.

  The first day we got settled in and talked to a few people about the surrounding area and about Yellowstone park. That evening we made a tentative plan for the rest of the trip.

Tyrannasarus (behind me).

Me.

 The first morning we drove back into Bozeman to see the Museum of the Rocky  Mountains. The highlight of the museum was the fossilized remains of a  tyrannosaurus discovered several years ago.

 The third day we went to Yellowstone

 Shortly after entering the park we saw a huge bull elk and his harem of cows on the far side of the Madison River. We stopped and took a few pictures and then headed for Old Faithful.

 A couple of miles from the elk we saw a small herd of bison milling around by the side of the road. The biggest one in the group wouldn't move for anything, not that anybody was trying to move him.

Elk herd across the Madison River.

We drove the car as close to Old Faithful as we could then walked a quarter mile and waited for it to erupt. It was actually kind of disappointing; not much to it.

 The area all around the famous geyser is a waste land. There are hundreds of places where putrid smelling water is spraying into the air. The ground is either crusted over or has hot water standing on it and looks like a hazardous material dump.  Where the ground isn’t level the hot water drains into the cold river producing more steam.

 The ground heaves and grumbles from the affects of the hot rocks and magma in the volcanic plume below the Yellowstone Caldera.

Debbie was stalked by a panhandling bird.

 We stopped to take a picture of the geothermal activity and were greeted by a raven which had no tail feathers. I don’t know if he had been injured by another animal or by the hot chemicals in the water. Regardless, the poor bird had been reduced to a parking lot beggar.

The amount of area already affected by the heat from the magma below Yellowstone is scary.

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 On the way out of the park we past the herd of elk again but this time the bull was in the river with one of the cows. It looked like he was trying to keep her near the other cows and prevent her from crossing the river.

  Then I heard another bull bugle from upriver. The larger bull, in the river, lifted his head to catch the scent of the second bull and started toward the bank. He came out of the river with his antlers back and bugling. In a couple of seconds he spotted the smaller elk and start walking toward him at a fast pace. It didn't take long before the smaller bull turned around and left. The larger bull returned to his harem quickly and began to walk in circles around the cows. I guess he was making sure they were all still there and no more intruders were in the area.

This event alone was exciting enough to make the trip to the park worthwhile.

The larger bull came out of the river bugling.

The small bull heading back to where he came from.

 We had initially planned to cut across Yellowstone Park and go to Cody, WY to the Buffalo Bill Cody Center of the West. Luckily we watched the weather the night before and found out there was a possibility the road would be closed in the higher elevations because of snow. Rather than chance having to back track we went around the park and stayed in the lower elevations.

 When we got to Cody we checked in to our hotel and went on over to the center. It is called a center because it houses four museums. There are separate  museums for firearms, the Plains Indians, western art and natural science.

 Volumes could be written about this center. All I can say is if you are ever near Cody you have to spend at least a day at the museums.

 From Cody  we went to Billings, MT where we relaxed and got ready to go home.


This was the best trip Debbie and I have been on. It was also a lot different than the trip to Washington, DC, which we had initially considered.  Just for grins I looked up the population density of Washington, DC, Wyoming and Montana. Well, DC has the highest in the nation with 9856.5 people per square mile, Wyoming has 5.8 and Montana has 6.8. I still want to see the Smithsonian some day, however, I am glad we decided to make this trip to a part of the country where there is some elbow room.

Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody houses four excellent museums.

This is a library in Billings, MT. It just happens to be across the street from Western Pawnbrokers, the best pawn shop I've ever been in. They have everything from Indian art to one of the largest selections of guns you'll find in any one store. No books though. They're across the street.

Evolution of a Border

Throughout history men have fought and negotiated for control of parcels of land. To indicate the boundaries of land owned or controlled by groups of people or their governments, borders were established. In the sixteenth century European expeditionary forces began to claim parts of the New World and attempted to establish and maintain borders. Men fought and border lines shifted continually for centuries in North America. Due to limited communication in the early days of the United States and Mexico, the border between the two countries was often unclear. During the Mexican-American war The Army of the West had assumed victory over Mexico and claimed California for the United States before the Mexican government in Mexico City knew that California had been invaded.

The most recent revision in the Texas-Mexico border was in 1964 when the U.S. returned 600 acres in South El Paso, know as the Chamizal, back to Mexico.

The following time line and map are helpful to those interested in understanding the history of the current U.S.-Mexico border:

1519-1521: Hernan Cortes invades and conquers the natives of central Mexico.

1535: Spain claims Mexico as colony and sets up a colonial government

1819: In the Adams-Onis Treaty, also know as the Transcontinental Treaty, the U.S. agrees to pay up to $5 Million to Spain in an agreement that defines a border between Spanish land and the Louisiana Territory. Spain retains possession of Texas west of the Sabine River as well as lands then known as the California and New Mexico Territories.

1821-1824: Mexico becomes independent from Spain. Stephen F. Austin gains approval to start a colony in Texas.

1836: Texas wins war of independence from Mexico.

1845: Texas becomes a state.

1846-1848: Mexican-American War ends. In the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo land is seceded by Mexico which redefines the border and splits El Paso del Norte, making the north bank a part of Texas. Later the south bank is named Ciudad Juarez and the north bank is named El Paso.

1853: The Gadsden Purchase Treaty is signed and United States pays Mexico $15 Million for 30,000 square miles south of The Gila River. The Mesilla Valley of New Mexico is thus linked to California for the purpose of constructing a railroad to link the Atlantic and Pacific coasts together.

1862-1900: Mexico is pressured by European countries for payment of loans and Benito Juarez looses control Mexico. France installs Archduke Maximilian as emperor, and then in 1867 withdraws support allowing Juarez to regain control. Mining and rail construction in the U.S. provides jobs for many Mexicans.

1904: Border patrol groups are formed to stop Asian workers from entering The United States through Mexico.

1910: The Mexican Revolution begins and thousands flee across the border for safety.

1916: Poncho Villa raids the New Mexican town of Columbus and is pursued into Mexico unsuccessfully by 10,000 American troops lead by General John J. Pershing.

1917: The U.S. enters WWI after the Germans approaches Mexico with a proposal to form an armed alliance. Pershing and his troops are withdrawn from Mexico and sent to the war in Europe.

1964: The last geographical change in the border, to date, occurs on September 24 as President Lyndon B. Johnson returns the Chamizal to Mexico. Due to a shift in the natural flow of the Rio Grande, Mexico had disputed the U.S. occupation of 600 acres parcel of land on the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez Border for decades.

Larger Than Life

As I mentioned in my last entry, I did not photograph Irving Porter because of his poor health. I just received this photo of Irving and his daughter Cindy, that was taken in the late 1950’s. It appears that the photo may have been cropped but I think that that there is enough of it there for you to agree that Irving was the real thing. Hollywood would be hard pressed to outfit an actor that would project a stronger impression of a cowboy in the West.

Post edit:
I regret to report that Irving porter has passed away. Here’s an excerpt from the Alamogordo news paper:
Don Irving Porter, 85, passed from this life on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010, at his home in Piñon.
I am glad I had a chance to visit with this fine man.

Post Edit 5 months later:

Lessie (Smith) Porter passed from this life Friday, Feb. 25, 2011, at
her home in Piñon.
She was born to Alva and Ethel (West) Smith on July 2, 1926, in Artesia. She was a lifelong resident of the Piñon area. She attended elementary school at Bonita School, high school at Weed and college at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales.
In 1948 Lessie married Irving Porter in Alamogordo. They lived on ranches their entire married life of 62 years. She was caregiver to Irving at their home for the last year of his life.

On the Trail of a Legend

We often hear or say things like, “the movie just wasn’t like the book”, or, “the book wasn’t as good as the movie”. When commenting on a work based on a real person or happening there are also conflicts between realty and journalism. For some of us it is not enough to just speculate about what really happened People like me feel compelled to delve into the history of the story. We seek out those who have first hand knowledge of the incidents and people depicted in literature or cinema. There are some who lean the other way and view movies as documentaries rather than entertainment.


When Bill Key and I read Fire on the Mountain, by Edward Abbey, we vaguely recalled the movie. We then began to recall stories of the real life circumstances that inspired the novel. It is the story of a rancher who is told that he must leave his land behind and move on because the US Army needs his ranch for the expansion of White Sands Missile Range. The rancher was named John Prather and he raised mules for the Army on the Otero Mesa. He told the officials that he wasn’t going to leave and would spend the rest of his life on his ranch.

Bill and I knew that the book was based on real people and events so we set out to meet anyone who had direct contact with the characters mentioned in the book. Our research led us to the remote home of Irving Porter in the southern New Mexico mountains. In Abbey’s book the character Billy, was based on Irving. We also met Arleen Gaba and her son Mike Gaba. Arleen’s husband was Prather’s grandson and the Gabas lived on the ranch with “Grandpa” Prather. Arleen wrote an article called Five Years with the Mule King for Range Magazine. Her story is about the conflict between Prather and the US Government.

During our visit with Mike and Arleen they gave Bill a stack of photographs. The images are of family members and some even show Army personnel at the ranch. Mike, who continues to research his family history, gave Bill permission to use the photos in a magazine article.

The most interesting part of the whole trip was listening to Mr. Porter tell his about what really happened out there on the ranch. There is a lot more to the stories than a conflict with the US Army. For example; at one time, in the early 1930’s, Prather had agreed to sell mules to the Mexican Army. This meant that he had to drive the mules eighty miles to the Santa Fe Street Bridge in El Paso. After the three day trip Prather met the Mexicans half way across the bridge to complete the transaction. Prather did not speak Spanish and for some reason suspected that the Mexican officer was trying to get the best of him. One of Prather’s men finally stepped forward to do some translating. The Mexican leader then got down off of his horse and emptied a bag of money out on the bridge. After Prather was satisfied that all of the money was there the deal was done and the groups parted ways without further dialogue.

Another interesting fact was brought to light when talking to the Porters and the Gabas. Edward Abbey never interviewed Prather or any of the people that and first hand knowledge of what really went on. He just followed the news and let the his imagination run with the story. So there is reality, the book, and the movie. Unfortunately too many  folks just accept what they see on a movie screen, or television, as history. Then they go on making real life decisions based false history.

The trip was fun and we met some great folks. I took a few pictures while we were visiting the Porters; the first photo shows Bill flirting with Lessie Porter. The second is me making friends with a corgi named Moose. Moose is in charge of ranch security these days.

 In order to preserve Mr. Porter's dignity, I chose not to photograph him in a state of bad health.

By the way, Kirk Douglas was the star of the movie Lonely are the Brave, which was based on Abbey’s novel called The Brave Cowboy. Douglas says this was his favorite motion picture. If you are interested, here is a link to a multi part interview of Douglas discussing the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onzqlL3rey8