Lewistown

The panel credits Camp Lewis with the town and never names the families who founded it. In 1879 Pierre Berger and his wife, Judith Wilkie, led about twenty-five Métis families, buffalo hunters following the last herds south from the Milk River, to the place where the Carroll Trail crossed Spring Creek. Their settlement became Lewistown, formally established in 1883. Many of those founders were buried in unmarked graves at Calvary Cemetery, where a memorial paid for by the community and carrying thirty-five names was unveiled in September 2023.

What the plaque says

Lewistown Located at the geographical center of the state, the Lewis- town area was the center of many significant events during Montana's formative years. The Blackfeet, Crow and Lakota knew the area as one of their last great buffalo hunting grounds. In 1874, after the establishment of the Carroll Trail by the Diamond R Transportation Company, Alonzo Reed and John Bowles opened a trading post in the area. At about the same time, the U.S. Army built Camp Lewis, named for Major William Lewis, a few miles away at the present site of Lewistown. The camp, which housed infantry and cavalry companies during the summer months, protected travelers on the Carroll Trail. Reed and Bowles were an annoyance to the soldiers as the unsavory partners sold liquor to the Indians, until a knife fight ended their partnership in 1880. Camp Lewis became the foundation for a new community in 1881. Lewistown became a thriving trade and trans- portation center in the Judith Basin graced by substantial sandstone buildings built by Croation stonemasons.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• The Judith Basin Country — 3.8 mi
• Lewistown Army Airfield — 3.8 mi
• The Nez Perce Conflict of 1877 — 3.8 mi
• The Queen of the Judith Basin — 9.0 mi