Montana - Day 6 - north to Helena

Helena North KOA, Helena

Saturday, 6 August 2022

I knew we didn't have a long distance to travel today, so I took my time about leaving Anaconda.  I spent some time on the internet and the phone locating a vet to clip Lily's claws and a groomer who could fit Dext in without a 3 week wait.  I also tried to find some place to deal with my check-engine light problem - I think spark plugs will fix it but nobody could accommodate me within the next few days.  So it was 9:30 before we hit the road.

today's route

Google sent me on a short cut, but after I took a good look at it, I agreed to follow their directions.  It took me past this place.

Warm Springs State Hospital

The first real job I ever had was at the Austin State Hospital, so I guessed that this was a psychiatric facility, and I was right.  But when I found it online, I learned that it's got a whole lot of pretty ghastly problems.  Not the least of those is that it's lost its federal accreditation, which means it's no longer able to get federal funding.  Since one of its main problems in the first place was being seriously underfunded, the situation is now really hurting.  A recent news article said the new state Director of Public Health promises to look at this really seriously, but he hasn't committed to working towards reaccreditation, for some reason.  

I've been hearing that mental health is an increasing problem in Montana, which has for years ranked among the top 5 states in the country for its suicide rate.  More than 10% of MT kids 9th through 12th grades have tried to kill themselves.  The rate among veterans here is even higher than the high civilian rate.  And among the many exacerbating factors in Montana is the perception that mental health problems are a weakness, and the culture here is not to talk about it.  With their increasing funding problems, that's not going to get better any time soon.  

I grew up in Texas, which sees itself as home of the rugged west and its mentality.  But as far as I can tell, that attitude is starting to change there (possibly because of increasing urbanization), but Montana is still a very rural state.  Most towns are small, many folks live in isolated areas, and the idea of self-reliance is important.  I agree, but I also know a person can't doctor himself out of most mental health problems any more than he can remove his own burst appendix.  It looks like things will get worse here before they get better.

I drove through some striking countryside.  Many of the hillsides looked like patchwork quilts or camouflage fabric.  I found a place where I could take a photo of one of them.

This is, to me, a camouflage hill.

The road took me past the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, which I hadn't heard of but turned out to be protected because it was once the center of a 10-million-acre cattle ranching empire.

The road turned and took me past the Little Blackfoot River, where I saw some more of that technique of piling up grain instead of putting it in bales, like I'd seen yesterday.  I took photos of a couple of places.

This is the grain piled into the wire frame,
which is a lot bigger than it looks here.

This is one of those piles without the frame.

The road was climbing, a lot, and I finally came to an elevation sign that said 6,325'.  I'm guessing it was the Continental Divide again, which I knew was around here somewhere, but there wasn't any sign other than that elevation sign.

Well, there were these 2 historical markers too.

I think this is a sad story. 
She didn't even get the pass named for her.

Right after this, I found several warning signs:

   "Trucks Steep Grade 6 Miles - Advise 25 MPH Max."

   2 flashing lights with this: "Curve in ½ Mile - Advise 50 MPH."

   "8% Grade Next 6 Miles."

   "Trucks Steep Grade Next 5½ Miles - Advise 25 MPH Speed."

I was glad to get down in one piece after all that, though I didn't think it was particularly bad.

Back down on level ground, I passed 2 bicyclists, a man and a woman, and the woman had a small child in a seat behind hers.  Normal except: they were both wearing navy blue shirts so I had trouble seeing them along the road, there was no reflective anything anywhere on them or their bikes, and the man was in the lead, leaving the little kid in the most vulnerable position at the rear.  I'm sure it was just thoughtlessness that caused their actions (or inactions), but it was a set-up for tragedy, which they wouldn't realize until it was too late.

Speaking of that, I saw a billboard with a little girl and her dog walking across a pretty green meadow, and the caption read, "See the trap?  Neither does she."  I looked it up and learned there's an organization called Trap Free Montana that wants to end trapping in the state.  They say trappers set 50,000 traps in inconspicuous places each year; Fish, Wildlife and Parks says it's not unusual for 50 pet dogs to be caught in those traps annually.  This group says what are the odds that some day it'll be a kid caught in one of those traps.

I've also seen a heart-rending billboard of theirs that says "End the Suffering" that you can see here.   https://trapfreemt.org/our-work  That website explains the data behind their campaign.

We got into Helena just before noon - there was no sign telling me I was here, but I guessed.  My first stop was the state capitol, which was built at the turn of the 20th century.

Montana State Capitol
Tribal flags are included with the state and national flags.

She's called "Montana."

The copper-covered dome is elaborate.

I'd parked on the other side of the building so got a good look at the architecture as I was walking around to the front.  I'd found it all to be so impressive that I figured this statue must be equally important.  I'm including all the signs on the base so you can see for yourself, but I still can't figure out what on earth this guy is doing in such a prominent place at the Montana State Capitol. 

The only reason I could find that made any sense was that he was twice appointed as territorial governor here.  And apparently a lot of Irish folks immigrated to Montana, so his statue celebrates them as well as him.  That's the not-really-sensible reason I found.  And that was it.  But okay.  Every state has its oddities and I'm figuring this is one of Montana's.

From there I headed ten blocks away to a building known here as the Original Governor's Mansion.  On my way I came across this impressive mural.

Rodney is the name of the street.

And here's the old mansion.

Original Governors Mansion, built 1888.

And then I accidentally stumbled on this beautiful church.

Cathedral of St. Helena,
built 1908.

detail from the front

closer view of the steeples

I was really lucky it happened to be a Saturday when I got here, because it made parking at both the capitol and the cathedral possible.  I'm guessing that on a weekday, parking for my RV would have been nearly nonexistent.

I saw a bumper sticker that said, "Tell Your Cat I Said ppspspspppssss."

When I headed north from town on I-15 toward the campground, I saw a sign saying it was the First Special Service Force Memorial Highway.  That made me curious and I looked it up and learned it was an elite commando unit in WWII from both Canada and America.  This unit had an interesting history and subsequent evolutions, and if you're interested, here's the Wikipedia page.   https://en.wikipedia.org/First-Special-Service-Force

And then on to the campground, where we'll stay 2 nights.