Lewis & Clark Motel of Three Forks

02/01/2024

Just dreaming about summer...

07/19/2023

🥰🐎

Travel Highway 287, north of Three Forks, and your eyes will certainly be drawn to a hill where you will see a herd of animals.What are they you think--elk, dee

12/21/2022

On this day in Montana history in 1985, the Montana Standard proclaimed, “Lady Mission Accomplished.” Butte mine electrician Bob O’Bill originally wanted to build a five-foot statue of the Virgin Mary in his backyard to celebrate his wife’s recovery from cancer. The project grew in scope and Bob’s backyard project became a community-wide effort to install a 90-foot-tall statue of Mary on one the mining city’s highest peaks, Saddle Rock (elevation 8,510 feet).

Construction began in December 1979. Bob’s friend, welder Leroy Lee, designed, sculpted, and welded the statue’s three pieces together, despite having no sculpting experience. Appropriately, the Lady’s interior support system is an upside-down mine shaft. Volunteers helped blast the road to the top of the Rockies and other residents raised funds. All labor, materials, heavy machinery, and even the land where the statue stands, was donated -- a remarkable achievement given Butte’s severely depressed economy at the time.

As thousands watched, on Dec. 17, 1985, a helicopter lifted the head, the final piece of the statue of Our Lady of the Rockies, up to Saddle Rock. Today, the statue is a memorial to all women, especially mothers. Find information on summer tours and memorial tiles at https://www.ourladyoftherockies.com/.

Photo credit: Montana Standard file photo

05/23/2022