Ellen Thompson
Havre Daily News
ethompson@havredailynews.com
A historic road in Beaver Creek Park will become an improved and well-marked hiking trail, the Hill County Park Board learned this week.
Earlier this month, the Hill County Conservation District received a $15,000 grant for improvements on a three-mile stretch of the old Beaver Creek Road, an unmarked trail local walkers have used for decades. The part slated for improvements extends from the Lions Campground to Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation.
Plans for the old road include trail markers, foot bridges and benches. Markers will point out spots with historical or ecological significance, including wagon ruts left by Fort Assinniboine soldiers when the road was first in use.
The June grant from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation gets the conservation district halfway to its goal, district administrator Shannon Patterson said today.
Patterson is working on a grant for another $16,000 from the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to pay for the rest of the project, which will include gravel for a parking lot and erosion control on the trail.
Though the trail is unmarked, county park board member Dean Hansen reminded the board of the trail's long use by hikers by reading from a summary of board minutes.
At a meeting in 1966, Hansen said, the Beaver Creek Trail opened to walkers and riders.
"It'll make something that's existing better, more accessible, more usable and more popular," board chair Steve Mariani said of the planned improvements. "It's a neat trail anyway."
