YELLOWSTONE COUNTY, MONTANA

Yellowstone County – Your Ancestral Past Trail Series

Out in the Boonies #3

Pompeys Pillar

By Dave Dodge

The Mee-Tee-Tse Trail [1] (Section from Absarokee to Wyoming Border)

Here we will visit the St. Olaf’s Lutheran Church, Crow Agency on Rosebud Creek, Tolman Cemetery, Chance Cemetery, and Chance, MT. This section of the trail is one of the few locations where it is not closed to free public access. Parts of the trail exceeds 12% road climbing grades, and 4-wheel drive is a necessary ingredient. Portions of the trails and access are currently closed to travel, but we will describe them. Perhaps in another life the BLM will open the routes. Along the trail, we will visit some exceptional scenery. Although we have planned this excursion as a one-day trip (eight hours), picnic lunches are an added ingredient; and we will provide a few suggestions about the repast. This trip will be along the foothills of the ______________  Mountains; and as usual, in Montana there might be wind. Of course, it’s a mild sort of wind that rarely exceeds 30 mph. Portions of the trails are on un-maintained gravel-dirt roads, with single lane vehicular availability. This is the fun of the trip. These four trips can be made into separate ones if desired; but are linked together for the traveler who wants to observe as much as possible – my kind of person.

The trip starts from Columbus, MT, and you first must locate Sammy's Café for this is our 0.0 odometer point.  If you miss this location, all of the future location points will place you in Montana “forever!” The terrain is difficult to follow, and you will pass by some incredible landscape, and then be lost for future generations to find. These trips are all in sequence, and follow the Mee-Tee-Tse Trail to the Wyoming border. Most of this trail is closed to travel, but one small section is mainly on BLM land, and the side trips extend from it. Return will be through Bridger and on into Laurel.

Details of the exciting things to see will be described in part, in the sections below. Please remember that there are alternate routes to the sites, but the backcountry is the only one we recommend. A “substantial 4-wheeled vehicle” with adequate ground clearance will be required for full adventure. The trip will take about eight hours to complete, including stops and picnic lunch. Pack plenty of fluids. In 1883 it was recommended that a road from Billings to Cooke City be created. Although that road is not exactly on this route, it passes by the area traveled here.

Trips are all in a line, and are: 1) St. Olaf’s Lutheran Church & Cemetery + Crow Agency #2; 2) Tolman Flats & Cemetery, 3) Chance Cemetery, and 4) Chance, MT. Map used is the BLM Billings-Bridger-Powell, WY #36. Caution: only drive the trail when the roads are dry.

1-  St. Olaf’s Lutheran Church & Cemetery (and 2nd Crow Agency Site)

The church was founded in 1904, and the white wooden structure standing was built in 1921. Jorgen E. Madson is one of the main contributing pioneers to the area, and a significant influence in the areas development. The cemetery is directly adjacent to the church. It is located in SW1/4S12-T5S-R19E.

Start 0.0 - Enter the town of Columbus and locate “Sammy’s Café.” This will be the starting point for the journey. If you arrive there by 7:00 am, have a hearty breakfast while waiting for your special hand-made sandwiches for the trip are being prepared. Head south on Pratten Street (Hwy 78), cross the Yellowstone River, and at the fork in the road take the one leading to Absarokee.

13.8 - AbsarokeeAfter passing through Absarokee, continue south on 78 to a junction. A junction sign identifies “Roscoe 14 Miles, Red Lodge 33 Miles.” Later, at this point there will be a small gravel road leading off to the southeast, this is the road you will be following, it runs along Butcher & East Rosebud Creeks. At the same point is Nye Road, (419) leading west to Nye and Fishtail.

17.2 - Second Crow Agency Site. Continuing on 78, on the right will be a sign, “Site of Old Crow Agency.” The location of this historical point, the second Crow Agency [S24 T4S R19E], is about two miles south of Absarokee, Montana, Stillwater Co.  No traces of the agency buildings remain.  Grass covered pits, which were originally dug to store vegetables, are the reminders that the agency, constructed in 1876, once stood at this place on the East Rosebud.

18.4 - Trail Sign.Continuing on 78, on the left will be a Bozeman Trail sign, and a tall marble monolith marker-honoring pioneer Jorgen E. Madson [2] . In 1905 he organized the St. John’s Evangelical Church in Billings [3] . Its congregation was organized on August 21, 1905. This was after he had organized the St. Olaf’s Lutheran Church a year earlier. He is buried in the St. Olaf’s Cemetery.

19.3 - Turn Off FAP 78. At the junction signs “FAP78 & Butcher Creek Road”, turn off the pavement, heading southwest on the Butcher Creek Road. Zero the odometer.

Trail to St. Olaf’s Church - Continued

Trail to St. Olaf’s Church 0.0 – Go southeast for 1.6 miles, and at a point opposite Yancy Hill turn due east off of Butcher Creek Road. At 3.8 miles you will pass Grave Springs, and at about 5-1/2 miles you will see the church in the distance.

7.4 - St. Olaf’s Church. The church is located on the north side of the road; address is 863. The cemetery is immediately adjacent to the church on the east side.

Zero the odometer and follow the road for 14.8 miles to its junction with Hwy 78 leading into Red Lodge. At this junction, the gravel road on the opposite side of 78 is called Two Willow Lane.

0.0   – Depart St Olaf’s Church. Continuing east, at 0.4 miles the road you need to follow turns south. There is a sign located there to assist in directing tourists, but it has been removed for safe keeping, since anyone out this far in the boonies knows where to go. At 1.6 miles there is another “Y”, take the fork to the right (south.) You will remain on the mail route along East Red Lodge Creek.

6.8 – White Wooden School House.

14.8 – Junction with Hwy 78. Turn left (east) on the pavement and go into Red Lodge. Stay on Broadway, and at 11^th Street (Pollard’s Hotel),
Reset the odometer to zero.

2. Road to Red Lodge for 2^nd Part of the Trip – Tolman Flat & Cemetery Section 3b

0.0 - Start on Mee-Tee-Tse Trail Trek. Leaving the Pollard Hotel, continue south on Broadway (Hwy 212) until you reach the Red Lodge Historic Signs on the left. Stop and read the information. Continue south to 1.4 miles and on the left will be a small, somewhat obscured sign directing you onto the Mee-Tee-Tse-Trail. Drive slowly, or you will certainly miss it. Cross over Rock Creek, and you are on the trail.

Entering Mee-Tee-Tse Trail

This is the southernmost portion of the trail in Montana. It continues north into Yellowstone County, where it merges with the Indian Trail, and some old Buffalo Trek trails as it passes through the valley between the South Hills and the Pryor Mountains. Although the trail has been in use for many years, this is the only viable portion open to travelers. Most of the rest is on private land, or lost to cultivation and civilization’s progress. The trail portion that passes along the west side of Pryor Creek, used to pass through the eastern edge of the lower plateau, about 10-20 feet above the Pryor Road. No portion of it is visible today, although it joins with Monument Trail across from the Hay Creek junction north of the town of Pryor. A new roadbed, created in 2003 has eliminated even that junction. This section of the trip requires a high-ground clearance vehicle, and the roads need to be dry. As you start into the valley floor, the trail is virtually all un-maintained dirt, has grades of 12% in places, and there is no water available for many miles.

3.7 - The road comes to a “Y”, stay to the left (east).

6.6 - You will be opposite Mee-Tee-Tse Spires, located to the right. This spire is a picturesque sharply broken mountain ridge.

7.3 - Snowmobile Gulch. Here is where a distraught and troubled friendship ended.

3 - Tolman Flat & Cemetery

Tolman Cemetery is located on private land, NE1/4S8, T9S, R21E. All access is currently closed.

8.0 - Entering Grove Creek Cooperative Management Area (BLM). Here you will see another sign, with only the posts remaining. This is sometimes used as a mailbox by the BLM, and maps were occasionally placed there.

8.6 - Road bears 90 degrees to the left, but is hard to discern. It appears to go straight ahead. There will be a small metal pole at the corner on the left side. This road goes downhill and you will cross over a small creek.

10.5 - Post with Tire. This is a critical point to the journey, as you will be entering a combination of BLM land and private land. Access to the area roads in 2003 leading into Tolman Cemetery have been closed. Tolman Flat is the bottomland north of this juncture. It is fenced in, and travel onto it is prohibited. Three trails lead to the cemetery (Identified as Trail 1, 2 or 3 on the trail sketch) and are not always open. At this point continue on to the Chance Cemetery. Zero the odometer before continuing.

3 – Chance Cemetery & Chance (End of Journey)

Start 0.0 - Tire on Post. Continue eastward, along the Fenceline enclosing Tolman Flat. At 1.3 miles there is a signpost, Mee-Tee-Tse. Continue on the road to 2.0 miles. At this point there will be a junction of two roads crossing each other on opposite sides of a Fenceline. The roads on the west side of the fence are closed to travel, and are the ones that lead to Tolman Cemetery. Pass through the cattle gate to the east, and take the road to the right leading south. At 3.0 there will be another junction, but continue east.

5.7 - Chance Cemetery. The cemetery is located on the hillside immediately adjacent to the road. There is also a sign directing people to the Coombs Ranch. Turn left onto the cemetery road, and the gravesite will be in view. A barbed wire fence encloses it. After viewing the cemetery continue south on the road, and at 7.4 turn due east and pass through the feedlots to where it tee’s into the road alongside of Clark’s Fork. Turn south and at 8.5 you will reach Robinson’s Draw Road, and at 9.4 the junction of where the town used to be located is reached. This is the terminus of the journey.

Chance was a postoffice, banking point, settlement and shipping center for the NPR at this river junction point. Nothing exists of the town today. Stage and mail was delivered tri-weekly from Red Lodge in 1905. W. E. Reno was postmaster. This was a rather large community at the time, and several farmers had their mail delivery sent there.

End of Journey

There are two bridges across the Clark’s Fork River, but the one near to the cemetery is in process (2003) of replacement. It has direct access to Hwy 310 leading back to Yellowstone County and the freeway, and is closed. The bridge crossing the river at Chance has to be taken, and a detour through Wyoming is required to return you to the road.

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