Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Line, with an economy that is increasingly diversifying. As with so many towns along the
Hi-Line, the existence of the settlement can unquestionably be attributed to railroad titan
James J. Hill, who sent his construction crew to the area in 1887.
The city itself is defined by various natural features: the Bears Paw Mountains to the
south, the wide-open plains in every direction, and the Milk River, which borders Havre.
With the exception of the Havre Beneath the Streets Tour, which is remarkably well done,
Havre has not done well in preserving and promoting its historical attractions, many of
which, in Havre's defense, were not actually discovered until the 1960s and 1970s. This is
an agricultural and college town—Montana State University-Northern—as well as the trade
center for many of the smaller towns in the region.
MM
Havre Beneath the Streets
When the city of Havre nearly burned to the ground in 1904, business owners moved under-
ground in an effort to stay afloat while the city was rebuilt. The
Havre Beneath the Streets
Tour
(120 3rd Ave., 406/265-8888,
www.havremt.com
, 2-hour tours 9:30am-3:30pm daily
late May-mid-Sept., 10am-4pm Mon.-Sat. mid Sept.-late May, call for specific tour times
and reservations, $12 adults, $10 seniors, $5 children 6-12) takes visitors into this phenom-
enal maze of turn-of-the-century establishments that include a faithfully re-created saloon,
brothel, bakery, sausage factory, opium den, and more. The guides are passionate and have
juicy stories of Havre's wild days and wilder characters. The underground passages were
only discovered in 1976 when the city undertook a street-widening project, but the care with
which the businesses have been restored is remarkable, making it one of the best historical
tours in the state. Each year in early June, actors in period garb bring the underground city
to life with a
Living History Weekend.
Other Sights
If you don't get your fill of Havre history on the underground tour, visit the
H. Earl
Clack Memorial Museum
(Holiday Village Mall, 1753 U.S. 2, 406/265-4000,
clack-
museum@co.hill.mt.us
,
10am-5pm Mon.-Sat., noon-5pm Sun. May-mid-Sept., 1pm-5pm
daily mid-Sept.-Apr., free), oddly located in a shopping mall, for illustrative dioramas on
the development of Havre, an assortment of dinosaur eggs and embryos, and most inter-
estingly, artifacts from the adjacent
Wahkpa Chu'gn Archeological Site
(406/265-6417,
www.buffalojump.org
,
9am-2pm daily June-Labor Day, $9 adults, $8 seniors, $5 students,
free for children under 6), a 2,000-year-old buffalo jump that was discovered in the early
1960s. Unfortunately the site is located immediately behind the mall surrounded by a chain-
link fence that detracts from the perceived significance of the place, but it is one of the best-
