Cow Creek is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in north central Montana in the United States. Cow Creek rises in the southern foothills of the Bear Paw Mountains in western Blaine County and flows east and then south, joining the Missouri approximately northeast of Winifred, Montana—or upstream from the Fred Robinson Bridge.
Name The creek's Gros Ventre name is , meaning 'big gulch'.
History
Prehistory Cow Creek flows from the southern foothills of the Bear Paw Mountains to the Missouri through a unique and remote area known as the Missouri Breaks. The breaks are extensive and steeply eroded badlands. They are so rough that they are a barrier to travel by animals or man. They extend along the Missouri River for over . In this long stretch of river the Missouri Breaks extend back from the river on either side, for many miles. As the Missouri flows through this 200 mile stretch, the breaks limit access to the river from the wide undulating grasslands north and south of the river.
Cow Creek provides one of the few access routes down to the Missouri River through the Missouri Breaks. As Cow Creek flows through the breaks it passes between high canyon like walls, but the stream meanders back and forth over a canyon floor that is relatively level and from in width.
The canyon bottom along Cow Creek creates a corridor of travel from the northern Montana plains down to the river through the breaks. Sediments seasonally washed out from the mouth of Cow Creek into the Missouri River formed Cow Island, just downriver from the creek mouth. Cow Island divides the Missouri into two channels, which makes crossing the broad Missouri easier at this point. On the south side of the river opposite the Cow Island, a steep but relatively short four mile climb out of the breaks gains the wide plains of Central Montana south of the river.
This combination of geographic features made Cow Creek and the ford at Cow Island an ancient highway of travel. For thousands of years, Cow Creek and the Cow Island ford was used by migrating buffalo herds and other migrating animals, and by nomadic Native Americans bent on going between the plains north of the Missouri River Breaks and the plains lying south of the Missouri Breaks.
Lewis and Clark expedition Lewis and Clark passed Cow Creek on May 26, 1805, after they had camped two miles below Cow Creek. Cow Creek was originally named Windsor Creek in the journals of the expedition for Pvt. Richard Windsor, but was later named Cow Creek by fur traders. May 26, 1805 was the day that Clark climbed out of the breaks (probably going up Bull Whacker Creek, and climbing up on a ridge), where he saw the Rocky Mountains for the first time. When Windsor/Cow Creek was noted by Lewis, it was reported to be 30 yards wide, which meant it would be in spring flood stage. Normally Windsor/Cow Creek would be a few yards wide, and in very dry weather (during a dry summer, or in the depth of a dry winter) it can become a trickle between stagnant pools of water.
Steamboat landing
The mouth of Cow Creek became a steamboat landing, known as Cow Island landing, in the later months of the summer and fall when the Missouri river level dropped to a level so that steamboats could not get through a series of rapids above Cow Island, which are Bird Rapids, Cabin Rapids, Dauphine Rapids, and Deadman Rapids. Being some 126 river miles short of Ft. Benton, steamboats had to offload their cargo at the Cow Island landing for it to be freighted the rest of the way up the Cow Island trail.
Once gold was discovered in the Montana Territory in 1862, the Missouri River became the most reliable pathway to bring passengers and freight—particularly heavy or bulky freight—to the booming gold fields. In the era from 1860 the mid-1880s steamboats brought supplies and heavy equipment some from ports like St. Louis in "the states" to the upriver terminus port of Ft. Benton in the Montana Territory.
The final of the river was called the "upper Missouri" – this stretch traversed remote unsettled plains, and the last few hundred miles to Ft. Benton passed through the Missouri Breaks. In May and June the Missouri River has "high water" from mountain snow melt, and steamboats who caught this flood could travel all the way through the breaks to reach the upriver terminus at Ft. Benton. Later, in the summer and fall the water levels dropped, and there was "low water" on the upper Missouri. When "low water" came, deeper draft steamboats often could not reach Ft. Benton, and they had to drop their cargos downstream in the Missouri Breaks.
Each year during the steamboat era, in the late summer and fall, if there wasn't a full three feet of water depth in the channel, Cow Island and the mouth of Cow Creek became a river port, known as Cow Island landing. The mouth of Cow Creek is 126 river miles below Ft. Benton. Some 24 miles above Cow Island was Dauphine Rapids, which was the worst of the rapids. It was difficult to run even in high water, but was a deadly barrier to riverboats in low water. If a steamboat could get through Dauphine Rapids, they then faced Deadman Rapids, some 18 miles further up the river. In the stretch of river below Deadman and Dauphine Rapids, Cow Island landing was the best place from which freight could be offloaded and then transported overland to Ft. Benton, via the Cow Island Trail.
To offload cargo at Cow island, the steamboats used a landing point several hundred yards above Cow Creek, in front of the now abandoned buildings of the Kipp homestead (see photo), or down river, several hundreds of yards below Cow Creek. The steamboats used landing sites where the water of the Missouri was deep up against the north bank, so the river boats could pull in close to the bank to discharge cargo.
Cow Island Trail The wagon road that started at Cow Island Landing and went up Cow Creek, then out onto broad grassy plains and on to Ft. Benton, was called the Cow Island Trail. This road up Cow Creek traversed the only possible team-and-wagon route in this part of the rough badlands known as the Missouri Breaks. At 35 miles long, Cow Creek is one of the longer Missouri tributaries in the breaks. It extends north to the Bearpaw Mountains where it receives seasonal spring snow melt. Over many millenniums, this greater seasonal discharge eroded and widened the creek bottom so it became flat enough for a team and wagon to traverse. From the steamboat landing on the Missouri, the trail went north up the Cow Creek bottom for to Davidson Coulee, at which time the trail turned west and climbed up a long steep grade on Davidson Ridge to reach the plains north of the Missouri River Breaks.
From year to year, and month to month the volume of freight on the Cow Island Trail fluctuated depending on whether the riverboats had high water so they could get up river to Fort Benton, or whether low water over the Dauphine and other rapids caused riverboats to offload at Cow Island Landing. Starting in 1863 the Cow Island Trail had high volumes of freight traffic. 1863 was a low water year, and word was spreading that there were rich strikes in Montana Territory gold fields. In 1866 there was good water till July, so freight volume declined. 1868 was a different story. By year end, 2,500 men, 3,000 teams and 20,000 oxen ere involved in freighting on the Cow Island Trail to Ft. Benton.
No permanent storehouses were erected at Cow Island. Once freight was offloaded at Cow Island, it was tarped and remained only briefly before being moved to Ft. Benton. The high profits on freight could only be realized once the goods had gotten to Ft. Benton. A common outfit on the trail was 2 wagons, each pulled by six to eight oxen, with two bullwhackers. Oxen were preferred over horses and mules because they required less food and water, did not wander during storms, and "Indians didn't steal them because they couldn't ride them and they were to tough to eat".
The Cow Creek Trail was far from ideal, and carrying freight to Fr. Benton was never an easy task. In the confines of Cow Creek's narrow but relatively flat creek bottom, the creek meanders from one steep coulee sidewall to the other. While traveling the 15 miles up Cow Creek the heavy freight wagons had to ford Cow Creek 31 times. The fords would wash out if the area had a heavy rain. In wetter weather heavy wagons could bog down at a creek crossing. After going 15 miles up the creek bottom, the freighters encountered long steep grades. The freighters had to stop, unhitch and "double team" or even "triple team" each of the wagons. In 1864 while ascending a steep grade on the trail, a wagon ran its outside wheels off the trail and went over, dragging the ox team with it. The descent of 300 feet killed the oxen, badly damaged the wagon and scattered its contents.
Nez Perce War
On September 23, 1877, several hundred Nez Perce crossed the Missouri at Cow Creek in their flight toward Canada. An army garrison of twelve men under Sergeant William Molchert was at Cow Island Landing, along with four civilian clerks who represented freighting interests in the region. Fifty tons of freight, which had been offloaded from steamboats, lay under tarpaulins at the landing awaiting shipment by wagon to Fort Benton or other remote corners of the Montana Territory.
The Nez Perce crossed the Missouri at several places. The group observed by soldiers first sent an advance guard of 20 or so warriors across, who spread out on the north bank. Then the women and children crossed with pack animals and camp equipment, and finally a rear guard of warriors crossed.
Several armed encounters involving the Nez Perce occurred on Cow Creek, but the most important event was the fateful decision made while in camp on Cow Creek on September 25, 1877.
The squad of soldiers at Cow Island Landing on September 23, 1877, had been sent to guard the stockpiled supplies, which had been offloaded from steamboats. Upon the arrival of the Nez Perce, the soldiers and the clerks retreated into an earthen entrenchment which had been built around their tents to divert rain water. The entrenchment was a few hundred yards from the ford. Significantly the entrenchment was also a few hundred yards from the stacked supplies.
After crossing the river, the main body of the Nez Perce went past the soldiers without incident, and camped about two miles up Cow Creek. A small group of Nez Perce rode to the entrenchment. They indicated friendly intentions and asked for some of the stockpiled food. The army sergeant in charge at first ignored their request which reduced the Nez Perce to begging. Finally the sergeant gave them one bag of hardtack and one side of bacon from the soldier's own stores. At sundown gunfire broke from Indians in the breaks, who had located themselves so they could fire down into the entrenchment. Two civilians were wounded and the soldiers, though able to return fire, were now pinned down. The supplies were far enough from the entrenchment so that, as night fell, the Indians could filter out of the steep eroded breaks and get to the supplies without coming under effective fire. After dark the Indians broke into the supplies, and took what they found desirable in the dark. The supplies were set on fire. A large stockpile of bacon burned brightly for most of the night. The soldiers attributed the illumination from this blaze with preventing a concerted attack, but it is more likely that the Nez Perce only wanted the supplies and not a pitched battle with the soldiers. The Indians and the soldiers exchanged sporadic gunfire through the night until about 10:00 in the morning, after which the Nez Perce moved off up Cow Creek. Two civilians and one Nez Perce warrior were wounded.