Old School
Photo courtesy: MTOT
Vandalia is on the Milk River between Glasgow and Saco near the site of an old trading post called Campbell's Houses or Hammett's Houses. The post office opened in 1904 with Henry H. Nelson as postmaster, who had already established his ranch in the area. The house was built of huge cottonwood logs and patterned after manor houses in the Nelson's native Denmark. It took from 1898 to 1902 to complete the structure because each log had to be peeled and seasoned. St. Mary's Lodge, at the eastern entrance to Glacier National Park, is said to be patterned after Nelson's house. (from Cheney's Names on the Face of Montana, Mountain Press Publishing Company)
More than 50 different kinds of fish swim in Fort Peck Reservoir, Montana's largest body of water. The lake is about 134 miles in length and has a maximum depth of 220 feet when full. There are over 1,520 miles of shoreline, longer than the California coast. At the reservoir is the Fort Peck Interpretive Center and Museum, and surrounding this large expanse of water is the Charles M. Russell (CMR) National Wildlife Refuge, which provides over one million acres of public land for fishing, hiking, hunting, camping, bird-watching, and other outdoor recreation.
