Today, June 13, I saw mountains for the first time in weeks! Glacier National Park is on the horizon. But before I got here . . .
“You drove all the way from Wyoming to go to Writing-on-Stone?” asked the Canadian border guard incredously. I answered that I was just wandering around and had heard about the park the week before. It is to my friend, Bert Raynes, I owe the debt of guiding me to this little-heard of place and for him I am posting photos and a bit of information of the place that he and Meg did not get to see years ago.
Writing-on-Stone is less than 10 miles north and 25 miles east of where I-15 ends at the boundary of Montana and Alberta. In the middle of endless-seeming prairie just north of the Sweet Grass Hills in Montana, straddling the Milk River, is the largest concentration of petroglyphs and pictographs in the Northern Plains. While it has seen probably thousands of years use by First Peoples, Native Americans, it is believed that most of the evidence remaining of these visits is of the Blackfoot.
The Milk River has made it’s way from the eastern side of Glacier National Park northeast for about 50 miles into Canada, turns toward the east and flows about another 100 miles before it drops back into Montana, flows eastward again, and finally, after another 240, plus or minus, miles joins the Missouri River at Ft. Peck. Erosion here has formed hoodoos of the softer, upper sandstone, and the harder, lower sandstone forms flat, easily reachable surfaces that have been used to leave stories, offerings and history. This area is a sacred region for the Blackfoot and was used for spiritual guidance and direction for the people. Both upstream and down, you can find remnants of permanent camps, but Writing-on-Stone had a higher, more ethereal purpose. It is believed that the images left are stories of successes in battle gained from an earlier visit, offerings to spirits, or biographies of honored leaders.
The earliest petroglyphs/pictographs are thought to be about 3,500 years old. Very few survive the weathering. The subject matter is the greatest clue as to a relative age. The earliest ones depict “shield men”; warriors with large round shields that protect them and even others during battle. Later horses and guns show up. This is around 1730 for the area, but was not a uniform change and some images show shield men fighting men on horses with guns. Two sites are particularly notable.
In 1924, Rattle Bird was able to visit Writing-on-Stone. After a day of personal and tribal ceremonies, Rattle Bird viewed the stone walls that told of events of the Blackfoot and earlier people. That day he incised the last known petroglyph made there: the depiction of the two Model Ts that brought them to Writing-on-Stone.
Among other information he gave that helped determine what some of the images meant, he described the Battle Scene. This is the most intricate and detailed image in the park. This is a battle between the Blackfoot and a combined war party of Gros Ventre, Crow and Plains Cree who lost more than 300 warriors. The scene shows hundreds of warriors, dozens of horses and tepees, guns, and images of hand-to-hand combat. The scene on rock is difficult to make out in the intense, bright sunlight, but a plaque shows the scale and detail of the effort.
Above the river, on the plains, it is hard to conceive of the tranquility, beauty, and sacredness that lie just out of view. And sometimes it takes another to point us to something that we would have otherwise missed. Thanks, Bert!
