Three Dry-Laid Masonry Structures in the Northern Rocky Mountains

Extract

In July, 1956, I was requested by Harry B. Robinson, Chief Park Naturalist of Glacier National Park, to investigate 3 archaeological features reported to have been discovered in road construction through Marias Pass, along the southern boundary of Glacier Park. Boyd B. Gordon, Resident Engineer of the Bureau of Public Roads, in charge of the project, took me to the features in northwestern Montana, approximately 12 airline miles west of the Continental Divide, on Marias Pass between the Lewis Front Range and the Flathead Range. The site is situated on 2 flat benches high above the deep gorge of Crystal Creek and the floor of the Flathead River valley, about VA mile east of the juncture of the creek with the Middle Fork of the Flathead; its elevation is approximately 3600 feet, but it is surrounded by higher peaks such as Nyack Mountain, 4 miles southwest, which reaches 7760 feet.