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Update: Boulder River Bridges South of Box Canyon in Park County
This update describes what I’ve learned over the last several months from discussions with various Park County and State officials. Before I get to that, telling the history (condensed) of the road south of Box Canyon to Cooke City is helpful to understand the legacy we are entrusted with.
The road from Big Timber to Independence to Cooke City was established by the 1890’s.
In the early 1970’s, draft maps of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Area were available to the public as Congressional committees debated enacting wilderness legislation. Due to private land in Independence and Yeager Mine and Cowles Mining Camp, those draft maps showed a wilderness boundary drawn to include Blue Lake and then northerly to Baboon Mountain, excluding motorized use to Blue Lake and Lake City and beyond to Cooke City.
Members of the Sweet Grass County Recreation Association knew the history of the corridor from Independence to Cooke City. They knew the road was lawfully established by County actions in the 1890’s; those County actions obeyed a Federal statute enacted in the late 1800’s specifically for the purpose of allowing county governments to establish roads across Federal lands. Park and Sweet Grass counties established a road commission (per the Federal law) and made the necessary declaration for a local government to acquire legal rights to the right of way. The road from Independence to Cooke City was a mail route in the mining era as it was the quickest trek from a railroad station (Big Timber) to the miners in Cooke City.
Fast forward to 1975, the members of Sweet Grass County Recreation Association made their position known to the Sweet Grass and Park County commissions and attorneys about the Federal government’s unlawful taking of county right of way by virtue of the proposed Wilderness area . As a result, Park and Sweet Grass County joined together to contest the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness that would usurp legally recorded county right of way.
During the period 1975-1978, the two counties sued the Federal government for an unlawful taking. The counties lost in a bench trial in the district court, appealed and lost in the Ninth Circuit Court, and appealed to the Supreme Court. The highest Court refused to review the appellate court’s ruling. Ultimately, the case was lost because the Forest Service placed a sign in about 1962 where the road to Cooke City first crosses Slough Creek south of Lake City, Cowles Mining Camp, and Independence. The sign declared that the area behind the sign was a primitive area established by Congress and motorized vehicles were prohibited. Side note, there was no known enforcement of the prohibition of motorized vehicles using the road or trail beyond the sign.
About the district court’s decision, the judge ruled that the taking of county owned right of way was moot because of a 12-year statute of limitations. In other words, the counties ceded the right-of-way in about 1974 (1962 + 12 years) because the sign was known to the counties and the matter was not contested. The counties were too late in 1977 to make a claim for the road. The court did not find that the road was NOT established or that the right of way was NOT county owned.
Now to the update, here we are over 100 years later, and Park County is inclined to ignore the road south of Box Canyon. True, the County suffered a horrendous flood in 2022 that damaged road infrastructure county wide. Yet, marginalizing maintenance of the road and impairing access South of Box Canyon isn’t caused by the flood event.
Park County has a great asset in a County-owned road that traverses stunning back country and yet has ignored corridor maintenance for decades. I know of no other county-owned road in the State that is equivalent in terms of access to the back country, surrounded by wilderness. What an asset and if that road is abandoned, the Federal government assumes ownership, asset lost. That would be a very sad day for Montana.
Park County officials indicate there are no plans for any work PERIOD. Nothing. I feel like I was the proverbial “can” getting kicked down the road over the last two years. I hear remarks like: “We have a plan.” “We want to keep the road open.” “We’ll get up there and remove those bridges and establish a low water crossing.” “We have to fix Hilary Bridge first.” And now, “Sweet Grass County’s Fleming bridge is a problem; we can’t cross it with our equipment.”
The only bright spot is that the Montana Department of Transportation included two bridges south of Box Canyon in their application for a Federal grant. That application included the first (closed but still standing) and third bridge (in service), not the middle bridge wiped out by the 2022 flood. I initially assumed that it was by the County’s initiative that the two bridges were included in the State’s application. I was corrected by a State contact who indicated the State made the decision independent of any input by Park County; the State contact indicated the bridges were included because of their very, very low bridge condition rating.
The road south of Box Canyon is a Western Unites States gem that is in danger of being lost. We must raise our voices, tell Park County how important it is to honor the legacy of those that established the road, and make a real plan to restore access.
Ignoring the condition of infrastructure is a malfeasance, particularly if the condition of a potential infrastructure failure is known, there was opportunity to repair it, and no action was taken. Inaction is more costly in the long term than basic maintenance and repair to preserve infrastructure that maintains 100 years of back country access.
Join me on June 11, 9 am, at the Park County Commission meeting. I will deliver a statement seeking action to perform basic maintenance, preserve existing infrastructure, and reopen the road to motorized vehicles.
Please make time, drive to Livingston, and attend the June 11 commission meeting. Park County officials need to hear from you!
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