Twin Bridges in Madison County, Montana — The American West (Mountains)

Welcome to Beaverhead Gateway Ranch

Ancient Grazing Lands Today

Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, July 27, 2021

1. Welcome to Beaverhead Gateway Ranch Marker

Caption: (middle right) Prehistoric animals like these titanotheres grazed on the land in front of you around 30 million years ago. Their fossilized remains were discovered on the Beaverhead Gateway Ranch in the 1980s.

Inscription. Many of the rangelands in this valley still look largely as they did even before the Lewis and Clark Expedition walked here. Yet people and animals have traveled through and use the lands around you since prehistoric times. Montana Highway 41, and several other roads here, began as aboriginal trails that covegred near the landmark now called Beaverhead Rock. It was the sight of this natural limestone outcrop that brought long-sought relief to the Corp of Discovery in 1805. Barely 60 years later, the pathway here had become part of the well-traveled Montana-Utah Road. Originally use by ranchers, it was later a primary shipping route after gold was discovered in nearby Grasshopper and Alder Gulches in the early 1860s. For a 22-year period in the mid-1800s, the present-day ranchlands also contained a hotel, saloon, post office and stage coach stop. For most of the last 200 years, these landscapes have continued to sustain livestock and wildlife, both coexisting much as prehistoric animals did when grazing together here millions of years ago.
Today, the Beaverhead Gateway Ranch borders federal land and Beaverhead State Park.

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The ranch features an 118-acre wetland, teeming with birds and wildlife year-around, developed by the Montana Department of Transportation in 1997. With the help of a program called Undaunted Stewardship®, the private ranch property is managed so that livestock grazing will sustain historic vegetative patterns and enhance wildlife and waterfowl habitat. Welcome to a glimpse of this area's ghosts, its life and its future-enjoy your visit.

The lands here have yielded some of the best discoveries in North America of the remains of small mammals that lived at least 37-38 million years ago. Some of the species found here are new to science, and still haven't been found elsewhere. Today, these lands continue to be used for grazing by numerous species of wildlife, including an occasional moose, mule deer (right) and pronghorn antelope (below).

Erected by Undaunted Stewardship.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Natural Features • Paleontology • Roads & Vehicles.

Location. 45° 22.476′ N, 112° 27.711′ W. Marker is in Twin Bridges, Montana, in

Welcome to Beaverhead Gateway Ranch Marker, on the right image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Barry Swackhamer, July 27, 2021

2. Welcome to Beaverhead Gateway Ranch Marker, on the right

Beaverhead Rock in the background.

Madison County. It is on State Highway 41 at milepost 13, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1420 Montana Highway 41, Twin Bridges MT 59754, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Southwest Montana, in Gold West Country, in Mining Country and in Greater Bozeman.

It is also in the American Mountain West

and in the Lewis & Clark Corridor.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Rocky Mountains,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once Rupert’s Land

and also the Louisiana Purchase.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 13 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Traveler's Crossroads for Centuries (here, next to this marker); Beaver's Head Rock: Native Road Sign (approx. 0.8 miles away); Beaverhead Rock (approx. 0.8 miles away); Distant Features (approx. 12.7 miles away); Mapping the Way (approx. 12.7 miles away); Reliable Landmarks (approx. 12.7 miles away); William Clark (approx. 12.7 miles away); Clark Pocket Compass Monument (approx.

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12.8 miles away).

Credits. This page was last revised on March 6, 2022. It was originally submitted on March 6, 2022, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 1,494 times since then and 86 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on March 6, 2022, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.