Montanan maintains historic passageway
CHOTEAU, Mont. -- It's one of the oldest trails known to mankind; in fact,
it could be the oldest in the Western Hemisphere. The Blackfeet called it
the "Old North Trail." It drops down from Canada following the east side of
the Rockies, providing a route from the hunting grounds in the north to
winter camps farther south. Those believing in the land bridge that
connected Siberia with Alaska and the emigration of people across that
bridge through North America might argue the trail dates back thousands of
years.
It has undoubtedly been well-used; first on foot, then later with dogs,
eventually horses, pulling travois. Portions of it were used at least into
the 1920s and likely even later, transporting trade goods or simply
providing a relatively easy route from north to south. It could very well
be one of the most significant trails of all time. But now the trail is
growing dim, totally disappearing in places and only slightly visible
elsewhere.
Al Wiseman is trying to keep the trail alive and marked through Teton
County, where he was born and still lives. Wiseman is a Metis whose mother
was Chippewa-Cree and father was German. Metis is a French word referring
to mixed racial heritage; many of the early Metis were the offspring of
French trappers who married American Indians, largely Chippewa-Cree.
Wiseman's grandparents are buried in a small cemetery that he maintains and
which is located very near the trail. His grandfather died in 1890, and his
grandmother died in 1909 at the age of 106. Al Wiseman knows this country
very well, knows the people of the valley, and that has allowed him access
to portions of the trail that now cross private land.
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The trail can be accessed in this area by traveling west from the towns of
Choteau, Bynum or Dupuyer. Wiseman and others have placed boulders along
the trail engraved with the simple words "Old North Trail." They have
placed 23 boulders along the trail through Teton County in northwestern
Montana.
Wisman was happy to point out landmarks. Eerie Mountain was often used as a
vision quest site. Eagle-catching pits used by the Blackfeet were on the
ridge across the valley. Old, abandoned houses and barns were once owned by
members of his family. Tipi rings are numerous in this valley, and Wiseman
pointed out an ulm pushkin where buffalo were driven off a cliff.
The Old North Trail is very distinct through here, grown over with
vegetation but noticeably deeper than the adjacent soil. He pointed out one
of the marker boulders. Rock cairns also mark the trail in other areas,
cairns built by travelers possibly thousands of years earlier. The trail
follows the eastern slope of the Rockies in the valleys but with the
mountains rising immediately behind to the west. It's an area that gets
Chinook winds which reduce ice and snow, making for a relatively easy
corridor extending southward from Canada. Wiseman remembers stories from
his parents of Metis using the trail into the late 1920s to travel from
Canada to the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana to attend fiddle dances.
Fences built by homesteaders made travel increasingly difficult after that
time.
Geologists can trace stones to particular sites, something like a DNA
profile, and have traced obsidian at Fort McLeod, Alberta to its original
source in Yellowstone Park. Archeologists have located major concentrations
of buffalo jumps within short range of the trail, with corresponding tipi
rings indicating sizeable hunting parties. This was undoubtedly a trail of
major use over a long period of time.
The Old North Trail is very likely the major "transcontinental highway" of
prehistoric times.
