Bozeman

The last few days of the vacation were spent waiting for the van repairs to be completed.  We needed to be close enough that we could go pick it up when it was done but couldn't afford more nights in Missoula.  We found a hotel in Bozeman that would allow all of us to be in one suite, was affordable and included made to order breakfasts.  We killed time by checking out anything cheap or free in Bozeman. 

One of the museums we went to was pretty interesting.  The Pioneer museum is housed in an old jailhouse that was built in 1911.  The building itself is a historical monument.  The tour was self guided except the first room which tells the history of the area.  They share the story of the history of Bozeman with you and give you the layout of the museum.  Since we love history and we were the only people there we got to ask questions and learn some of the gritty details of Bozemans beginnings.

The original population of Bozeman was composed of miners who were not able to make it rich in the gold fields.

In 1864, John Bozeman started bringing settlers over a trail that was a spur of the Oregon trail. The Bozeman Trail remained the primary route to Montana until it was closed by the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians.

The town was established and named Bozeman in 1864.  In 1867 it became the county seat. But at the time nobody really knew very much about John Bozeman.  As the years went on he became known as a philanderer and a gambler.

Bozeman was murdered while traveling with his business partner in 1867.  His partner, Tom Cover, reported they had been attacked by a band of Blackfoot Indians. Inconsistencies in his story have led historians to suspect that Bozeman was actually killed by Cover himself.

After learning about the towns namesake we went into the next area of the building.  It was a room built as a public execution area.  However, only 1 hanging actually took place here. 

They had a neat collection of handcuffs, ball chains and restraints. 

The Jail section was left as it was in 1911.  You could walk in and shut the doors to experience the living conditions of prisoners in the early 1900s.

This was fun until the children got locked in here.  The museum docent had to come get the door open.  He said it happens all the time when they host field trips.  We think maybe he just said that to make us feel better.

It would seem Clara hasn't seen enough Loony Toons. 

 "Now why won't this thing fire?"

They had one of the biggest collection of antique toys that we had seen but it was behind glass and in a dark corner of the museum so most of the pictures didn't turn out. 

 I loved the toy/learning sewing machine for little girls.

Before we went to the museum we went to check out a historical railroad trail.  The trail runs along what was once the original tracks to the area.  It was labled in tourist brochures as an interpretive trail but we went quite a distance and didn't come across any signs or information other than this one.  But it was still a fun walk.

We ended the day with a quick visit to this climbing rock.  It was neat because each side offered a different challenge.  The little girls went up this easy side and the older kids did the more challenging side.  Jacob was able to go up the "arms only" side after working at it the whole time we were there.  Right before we left he managed to pull himself to the top arms only. 

The clouds were rolling in by the time we went home, you can see in the background it is getting very dark.  This was one of the few times we experienced clouds on the vacation.