Flathead Indian Country - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 299

2. Flathead Indian Reservation
Traveling northwest from Missoula on I-90, the drive traces the Clark Fork for eight miles
through grassy bottomland and then turns sharply north on Rte. 93, where it begins to
climb. Seven miles later—and about a thousand feet higher, amid forests of Douglas fir
and ponderosa pines—you arrive at Evaro and the southern boundary of the Flathead In-
dian Reservation. Home to more than 5,000 Indians, the reservation encompasses over 1.2
million acres, including much of the valleys to the north and the mountain ranges on either
side.
From Evaro, the road descends into the Jocko Valley to Arlee, site of a major powwow
in the northwest, held every summer in July. From there a short, steep climb leads to a
turnout with an eye-popping view of the Mission Mountains. Reaching 10,000 feet, these
stunning peaks form a barricade of ice and stone that seems to launch skyward from the
valley floor. So protected is Mission Valley that the Indians knew it as the “place of en-
circlement.”
3. St. Ignatius Mission
As early as 1840, Jesuit missionaries—known to Indians as Black Robes—visited western
Montana, choosing this hillside spot to build their mission in 1854. The structure's plain
brick exterior gives little hint of the beauty to be found within; about 50 murals and fres-
coes with biblical themes adorn the walls and ceiling. Created by Brother Joseph Carig-
nano, a cook at the mission who had no formal training and worked only in his spare time,
the paintings—incredibly—were completed within just 13 months.
4. National Bison Range
Backtracking five miles south on Rte. 93 to Ravalli, take Rte. 200 west to Rte. 212, then
head north to Moiese, the starting point for a drive through the National Bison Range.
Once darkening the plains by the millions, these splendid, shaggy beasts were the victims
of wholesale slaughter by the white man in the 19th century. Today relatively few remain,
but their numbers are growing, and the National Bison Range is a cornerstone of these
restoration efforts. A 19-mile auto tour weaves through a rich pastiche of high-country
landscapes—swirling grasslands, timbered hillsides, streamside groves—where bison and
avarietyofotherwildanimals,suchasantelope,elk,anddeer,livemuchastheydidbefore
Europeans set foot in the New World.
Did you know…