The Red-Capped Hills of Eastern Montana

The panel's burnt hills are Clark's phrase, first used on this river upstream of Terry. On July 30, 1806, twelve miles into the day, his canoes reached a run of shoals whose lowest crossed the whole Yellowstone with a drop of about three feet; the men let the canoes down by hand, and he named them Buffalow Sholes for a buffalo standing in them. Here, he wrote, was the first appearance of birnt hills he had seen on this river. That evening he named the Red Stone, today's Powder. Those red caps are the clinker this panel explains.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Makoshika State Park — 19 mi
  Montana's largest state park, a badland on the edge of Glendive where the rock shows the end of the age of dinosaurs.

More markers nearby

• The Yellowstone River — steps away
• Glendive — 19 mi
• The Powder River — 22 mi