Point of Rocks Stage Station, Dillon, MT
N 45° 22.477 W 112° 27.705
12T E 385545 N 5025606
There are 4 signs placed by the State of Montana at this overlook.
Waymark Code: WM9ZVT
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 10/23/2010
Views: 6
The text on the sign reads:
"Travelers Crossroads for Centuries
"Beaver's Head" * Point of Rocks Stage Station
Both before and since the passage of Lewis and Clark, the limestone outcrop in front of you served as an important landmark and meeting area. The Shoshone tribe, from whom Sacagawea had been kidnapped as a child, came to this area every summer. By the time members of the Corps of Discovery caught sight of the rock on August 5, 1805, they had been watching for it for days, and were growing desparate. They needed to find it in order to meet up with the Shoshone from whom they hoped to obtain horses-the only way they could cross the Rockies before winter. A few days later, they did indeed come upon the Shoshone whose chief-by an amazing coincidence-was Sacagawea's own brother. By 1856, one of the ancient roads here had become the primary travel route used by the regions first ranchers for cattle drives. Once gold was discovered in the early 1860s, freight wagons used the Montana-Utah Road to bring supplies to prospectors and the settlers who followed them. In 1869, the present day Beaverhead Gateway Ranch becmae the site of the Point of Rocks State Station, which included a hotel, saloon, and post office that operated until 1885. Roads to the Big Hole Valley and to Helena also converged here. Railroads built in the early 1880s made the state route obsolete but for at least 22 years nearly everyone traveling to or from Helena, Virginia City or Bannack passed through here."
Describe the area and history:
This area a viewing area for the famous Beaverhead lanmark (limestone outcrop) and wildlife viewing. The Lewis and Clark "Corps of Discovery" Expedition traveled through here in 1805.
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