Camp Disappointment
Photo courtesy: Donnie Sexton
Santa Rita is on the road to the rich Cut Bank oil and natural gas fields. (from Cheney's Names on the Face of Montana, Mountain Press Publishing Company) This small town is in northwestern Montana not far from Hay Lake and numerous other glacial lakes in the Glacier National Park region.
Nearby is the Blackfeet Indian Reservation is along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Its one and a half million acres are bordered on the north by Canada and on the west by Glacier National Park.
Santa Rita is also near Camp Disappointment, the northernmost point reached by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They reached here on July 23, 1806. On the Cut Bank River east of present-day Browning, Lewis could see the river exiting the mountains. He called this northern-most campsite of the expedition "Camp Disappointment" since this meant Marias River did not reach 50 degrees north latitude, which would have extended the boundary of the Louisiana Territory.
