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In 2001, the Upper Missouri River Breaks joined the Department of the Interior's National Landscape Monument System.
This monument preserves an ecosystem that parallels the Upper Missouri National Wild and Scenic River through north-central Montana. Much of the 375,000-acre monument is public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management that intermingles with State of Montana land and private property.
The landscape throughout this remote monument contains a spectacular array of biological, scientific, historic, wildlife, geological and cultural resources.
This area retains unspoiled, natural settings that form a backdrop for outstanding recreational and cultural opportunities.
The center of this monument is the 149-mile long river that begins at historic Fort Benton, Montana on U.S. Hwy. 87 and ends 149 miles later where the Fred Robinson Bridge on U.S. Hwy. 191 crosses the Missouri River.
The remote location has buffered the region from development and preserved the same vistas that awed the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805 and 1806.
Long before Lewis and Clark, the area was inhabited by numerous native tribes, including the Blackfeet, Assiniboin, Gros Ventre (Atsina), Crow, Plains Cree, and Plains Ojibwa.
The confluence of the Judith and Missouri rivers was the setting for important peace councils in 1846 and 1855. In 1877, the Nez Perce crossed the Missouri and entered the Breaks country in their attempt to escape to Canada.
The Cow Island Skirmish occurred in the Breaks and was the last encounter before the Nez Perce surrender to the U.S. Army at the Battle of Bears Paw just north of the monument.
Outdoor Activities |
Hiking at Neat Coulee, River Mile 56.
The view from the Lewis and Clark campsite at LeBarge Rock.
The view from the rim above River Mile 131.
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