Tower Rock State Park is a
state park near the community of
Cascade in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
in the United States. The centerpiece of the park is Tower Rock, a -high rock formation which marks the entrance to the Missouri River Canyon in the
Adel Mountains Volcanic Field
The Adel Mountains Volcanic Field (also known as the Adel Mountains, Adel Volcanics, and Adel Mountain Volcanics) is an ancient volcanic field of heavily eroded 75-million-year-oldGunderson, Jay A. and Sheriff, Steven D. "A New Late Cretaceous Pal ...
. It was well known to
Native Americans, and considered a sacred place by the
Piegan Blackfeet
The Piegan (Blackfoot: ''Piikáni'') are an Algonquian-speaking people from the North American Great Plains. They were the largest of three Blackfoot-speaking groups that made up the Blackfoot Confederacy; the Siksika and Kainai were the oth ...
. Tower Rock received its current name when
Meriwether Lewis of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gr ...
visited the site in 1805. Railroad and highway development in the late 1800s and 1900s skirted Tower Rock, but the landform itself remained pristine. The encompassing Tower Rock was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
on March 18, 2002. The Tower Rock State Park was created around the National Historic Site in 2004.
About Tower Rock
Tower Rock is located in the Adel Mountains Volcanic Field.
The Adel Mountains Volcanic Field is a thick unit which lies
unconformably
An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval ...
on top of
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
of the
Two Medicine Formation
The Two Medicine Formation is a geological formation, or rock body, in northwestern Montana and southern Alberta that was deposited between and (million years ago), during Campanian (Late Cretaceous) time. It crops out to the east of the Rocky M ...
on the edge of the
Great Falls Tectonic Zone
The Great Falls Tectonic Zone is a major intracontinental shear zone between the Hearne craton and Wyoming craton Basement (geology), basement rock of the Archean Eon which form part of the North American continent.Boerner, D.E.; Craven, J.A.; Kur ...
. The age of the volcanic field has been estimated to range from 60 million years to 66 million years old to 81 to 71 million years old, although most estimates today place its age at 75 million years.
Tower Rock is a
shonkinite
Shonkinite is an intrusive igneous rock found in few places in the world. It is unique in having low silica, feldspathoid minerals, and large blocky crystals of black augite. It makes up much of the hard dark grey rock comprising certain mountains ...
intrusion. As the surrounding rock weathered, the harder shonkinite remained behind. The rock is roughly oblong, occupying about . The landform is high, and consists of clear outcrops at the north and south ends connected by a broken
saddle
The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not k ...
ridge. The southern outcrop is higher than the northern outcrop. At its highest point, Tower Rock is above sea level.
Tower Rock is heavily
weathered, with the east side covered in
scree
Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ...
. The flat areas around Tower Rock are old channels of the Missouri River. Thin topsoil covers the base on the north, south, and west sides, with
juniper and stunted
fir trees,
grasses
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns ...
, and
sagebrush
Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus '' Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub '' Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west.
Following is an al ...
the dominant plant species. The south side of Tower Rock abuts the
Missouri River, where the rock face is almost vertical.
History of Tower Rock
Native Americans and Lewis and Clark
Toward the end of the
last glacial period, Tower Rock became inundated. The
Pinedale Glaciation (an ice sheet formed from glaciers originating in the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
) and the
Laurentide Ice Sheet
The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million year ...
(an ice sheet which covered the
Great Plains) blocked the Missouri River, which at that time flowed north into a terminal lake. As riverwater and glacial meltwater pooled at the base of the glacier, it created
Lake Great Falls. All but of Tower Rock was covered with the lake's waters.
Native Americans were well acquainted with Tower Rock. The
Bitterroot Salish
The Bitterroot Salish (or Flathead, Salish, Selish) are a Salish-speaking group of Native Americans, and one of three tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana. The Flathead Reservation is home to ...
and
Lower Kootenay often passed by Tower Rock on their way through the Adel Mountains Volcanic Field to hunting grounds. The
Piegan Blackfeet
The Piegan (Blackfoot: ''Piikáni'') are an Algonquian-speaking people from the North American Great Plains. They were the largest of three Blackfoot-speaking groups that made up the Blackfoot Confederacy; the Siksika and Kainai were the oth ...
often wintered near present-day
Helena, Montana, and passed through the Adel Mountains Volcanic Field by following the Missouri River.
Wickiup frames were often built in the area and reused as native people moved to their summer hunting grounds and back to their winter camps. The Piegan Blackfeet considered Tower Rock sacred, and conducted ceremonies there. Individual Blackfeet also visited the site alone for prayer and meditation.
![Meriwether Lewis-Charles Willson Peale](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Meriwether_Lewis-Charles_Willson_Peale.jpg)
Tower Rock received its modern name from
Meriwether Lewis on July 16, 1805. Tower Rock marked the boundary where the Lewis and Clark Expedition left the Great Plains and entered the Rocky Mountains. Having completed the
portage around the Great Falls of the Missouri and made enough
canoe
A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle.
In British English, the ter ...
s to carry their baggage, the expedition set out from
White Bear Island (a little more than south of present-day
Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of and is the principal city of the Great Falls, M ...
) on July 15. Starting near dawn on July 16, Lewis took ailing expedition members Jean Baptiste Lepage and John Potts and set out on foot to explore ahead. Following an Indian trail, they passed Half-Breed Rapids. Lewis and his companions then became the first non-natives to see Tower Rock that afternoon. Lewis gave the landmark its name in his journal:
at this place there is a large rock of 400 feet high w ch stands immediately in the gap which the missouri makes on it's passage from the mountains; it is insulated from the neighbouring mountains by a handsome little plain which surrounds it base on 3 sides and the Missouri washes it's base on the other, leaving it on the Lard. as it de ends. this rock I called the tower. it may be ascended with some difficulty nearly to its summit, and from it there is a most pleasing view of the country we are now about to leave. from it I saw this evening immence herds of buffaloe in the plains below.
Tower Rock was visited by a member of the expedition again in 1806. The expedition remained a single party after departing
Fort Clatsop
Fort Clatsop was the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River during the winter of 1805–1806. Located along the Lewis and Clark River at the north end of the Clatsop Plains approxi ...
on the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
. Having reached
Traveler's Rest (near present-day
Lolo, Montana
Lolo is a census-designated place (CDP) in Missoula County, Montana, Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is part of the Missoula Metropolitan Area, Missoula Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,399 at the 2020 United States ...
), Lewis and Clark decided to split the expedition in two. Lewis took nine men and proceeded due east, intending to find the
Marias River
The Marias River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 210 mi (338 km) long, in the U.S. state of Montana. It is formed in Glacier County, in northwestern Montana, by the confluence of the Cut Bank Creek and the Two Med ...
again. Clark, meanwhile, proceeded south-southeast toward the headwaters of the Missouri, intending to locate the source of the
Yellowstone River
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains a ...
and explore it until its confluence with the Missouri. Lewis' group did not visit Tower Rock.
The main party under Clark followed the
Bitterroot River south to
Sula, Montana, where it turned south toward
Gibbons Pass and the crossing of the
Continental Divide
A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...
. Following a series of creeks and trails southwestward, Clarks' party reached the
Big Hole River
The Big Hole River is a tributary of the Jefferson River, approximately long, in Beaverhead County, in southwestern Montana, United States. It is the last habitat in the contiguous United States for native fluvial Arctic grayling and is ...
, following it to the
Jefferson River
The Jefferson River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the U.S. state of Montana. The Jefferson River and the Madison River form the official beginning of the Missouri at Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three F ...
and then to the Missouri again.
At
Three Forks (where the Jefferson,
Gallatin, and
Madison Madison may refer to:
People
* Madison (name), a given name and a surname
* James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States
Place names
* Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...
rivers join to form the Missouri River), on July 13, 1806, Clark ordered Sergeant
John Ordway
Sergeant John Ordway (c. 1775 – c. 1817), the youngest of ten siblings, was an important part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition across the United States. John Ordway was one of the sergeants from the United States Army who stepped forward t ...
to take a group of nine and go down the Missouri to the camp at White Bear Island and there await Meriwether Lewis. On the afternoon of July 17, the Ordway party approached Tower Rock. But high winds came up, causing heavy waves which nearly swamped the canoes. The Ordway group was forced to spend the afternoon and night near Tower Rock before proceeding past Half-Breed Rapids the next day. Ordway reached White Bear Island on July 19.
Railroad, settlement, and highways
The Missouri River canyon between Helena and Cascade was largely bypassed by white settlers for the next 65 years. In part, this was because easier routes allowed access to the western mountains and valleys, but also because the Piegan Blackfeet continued to claim the area as their own and were notoriously hostile to intruders.
From 1859 to 1860, the
Mullan Road
Mullan Road was the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains to the Inland of the Pacific Northwest. It was built by U.S. Army troops under the command of Lt. John Mullan, between the spring of 1859 and summer 1860. It led from Fort Ben ...
was constructed from
Fort Benton, then part of
Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of No ...
, to
Fort Walla Walla
Fort Walla Walla is a United States Army fort located in Walla Walla, Washington. The first Fort Walla Walla was established July 1856, by Lieutenant Colonel Edward Steptoe, 9th Infantry Regiment. A second Fort Walla Walla was occupied Septem ...
,
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...
. The Mullan Road bypassed Tower Rock and its canyon: The Mullan Road only followed the Missouri River until it reached the
Dearborn River
The Dearborn River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 70 mi (113 km) long, in central Montana in the United States. It rises in the Lewis and Clark National Forest, near Scapegoat Mountain in the Lewis and Clark Ran ...
. Rather than enter the Missouri River canyon, it struck inland and passed south through a wide, flat prairie about west of the river. This allowed the road to skirt the rugged Adel Mountains Volcanic Field. The Mullan Road then followed the valley of Little Prickly Pear Creek back to the Missouri River near present-day
Wolf Creek, Montana
Wolf Creek is an unincorporated community in Lewis and Clark County, Montana, United States, along Interstate 15, north of Helena. Its ZIP code is 59648.
In 1887, the Montana Central Railway built its line through the narrow Prickly Pear Can ...
. North of Helena, the road left the Missouri and followed
Tenmile Creek and Austin Creek up to
Mullan Pass
Mullan Pass is a mountain pass in the western United States, in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. It sits on the Continental Divide on the border between Powell and Lewis and Clark counties at 5,902 feet (1,799 m) above sea level. Located in ...
, where it crossed the Continental Divide. In 1866, the Little Prickly Pear Wagon Road Company secured a license to manage the Mullan Road from
Craig to Helena, and made significant improvements to it.
In 1872, engineer Thomas Roberts surveyed the valley for the
Northern Pacific Railway. Roberts recommended that the railway ship goods via
steamship
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
through the canyon rather than by railroad. The plan was not acted on. Two years later, however, the railroad contracted with the Diamond R Freight Company to build a wagon road from Helena through the canyon past Tower Rock to the new trading post of Carroll at the headwaters of the
Musselshell River
The Musselshell River is a tributary of the Missouri River, long from its origins at the confluence of its North and South Forks near Martinsdale, Montana to its mouth on the Missouri River. It is located east of the Continental divide entir ...
. The "Carroll Trail" was constructed, but closed in 1876 due to hostility from Native Americans and shifts in the Missouri River's channel. In 1885, the
St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway (which later became part of the
Great Northern Railway) decided to connect the burgeoning mining district around
Butte, Montana
Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the ...
, with Helena and the nascent city of Great Falls. Surveyors and engineers began grading a route between Helena and Great Falls through the Missouri River canyon in the winter of 1885-1886, and by the end of 1886 had surveyed a route from Helena to Butte. Construction on the Great Northern's line westward began in late 1886, The railroad line passed between Tower Rock and the river, forcing the construction crews to do some blasting to clear room at the extreme edge of the landmark's base. On October 16, 1887, the link between
Devils Lake, North Dakota
Devils Lake is a city in Ramsey County, North Dakota, United States. It is the county seat of Ramsey County. The population was 7,192 at the 2020 census. It is named after the nearby body of water called Devils Lake. The first house in Devils ...
;
Fort Assinniboine
Fort Assinniboine was a United States Army fort located in present-day north central Montana (historically within the military Department of Dakota). It was built in 1879 and operated by the Army through 1911. The 10th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers, ...
(near the present-day city of
Havre); and Great Falls was complete. Service from Great Falls to Helena began in November 1887, and Butte followed on November 10, 1888.
![Tower Rock and State Park 08](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Tower_Rock_and_State_Park_08.jpg)
The unincorporated hamlet of
Hardy was established on the north boundary of Tower Rock as a
siding by the Montana Central Railway in 1888. Named for rancher Rufus Hardy, who in 1866 became the first white settler on the west bank of the river in the canyon, the settlement was given a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
the year it was founded. Although the town had 52 residents in the 1910s, a
depression in the agricultural sector in the 1920s and the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
reduced its population to near zero. By 1934, Hardy consisted only of the railroad station and a tool shed.
No road passed by Tower Rock until 1932. The route of the old Mullan Road served as the only automobile link between Cascade and Helena. In 1921, the state of Montana and the counties of Cascade and Lewis and Clark jointly proposed building a road on the east bank of the Missouri River between the towns of Hardy and Craig. The route would have avoided Tower Rock. But this project was never acted on. Beginning in 1928, businessmen in Great Falls, Cascade, and Helena began petitioning the state of Montana to build a state highway from Cascade to Wolf Creek through the Missouri River. This project, whose route was on the west bank of the Missouri and largely paralleled the railroad tracks, was approved. The area was still sparsely settled, and little blasting or digging had to be done as the route went around Tower Rock to the west rather than east. Contracts for the project were first let in 1929, although most construction occurred in 1930 and 1931. The road through the Missouri River canyon was completed in 1932, and all of Highway 91 in Montana opened by 1935. (The
Hardy Bridge, located south of Tower Rock, was constructed as part of this project.) The segment from Cascade to Wolf Creek provided some of the most extensive views of any highway in the state.
In the 1960s,
Interstate 15
Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border i ...
(I-15) was constructed next to Tower Rock. The general route of I-15 was established by 1957 (a year after passage of the
Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956
The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, also known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, was enacted on June 29, 1956, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law. With an original authorization of $25 billion for ...
which established funding for the interstate highway system), but there were 11 specific alternative routes available. These were narrowed down to just three, with the chosen route following the route of Highway 91 through the Missouri Canyon and past Tower Rock. This route provided both lower construction and maintenance costs, and had the added benefit of allowing Highway 91 to act as a
frontage road
A frontage road (also known as an access road, outer road, service road, feeder road, or parallel road) is a local road running parallel to a higher-speed, limited-access road. A frontage road is often used to provide access to private drivew ...
. State planners also chose to build a four-lane rather than two-lane interstate, arguing that it was less expensive to build a four-lane road now than to widen the route in the future. I-15 in obliterated parts of Highway 91, and paralleled it in other places. I-15 deviated from the route of Highway 91 by passing Tower Rock to the east. The segment of I-15 between Helena and Great Falls opened in 1968.
About the park
Legal history of the site
Tower Rock had been claimed by Native Americans, the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
before becoming part of the United States in 1803 through the
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...
. The territory's name and boundaries changed extensively over the next 60 years until Tower Rock fell under the federal government's jurisdiction as part of the
Montana Territory
The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana.
Original boundaries
...
, which was organized on May 26, 1864.
Tower Rock straddles two
sections
Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea
* Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents
** Section sig ...
of land, Section 35, T17N, R2W ("Section 35") and Section 36, T17N, R2W ("Section 36"). The federal government granted
title
A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...
to Section 35 to the Northern Pacific Railway in May 1870. The Northern Pacific gave its title back to the state in a land swap in July 1898, and of Section 35 (including a portion of Tower Rock) was purchased by white settler Allen Woods in August 1898. Woods raised beef and dairy cattle on the parcel before returning title to the state in July 1904. Four months later, his brother, George Woods, purchased the 160-acre tract. Section 36 was designated school trust land by the federal government in 1898, but the state transferred of Section 36 (including a portion of Tower Rock) to Rufus Hardy in 1904. White settle James Austin purchased of Hardy's land (not including Tower Rock) in November 1907. Title to Tower Rock in Section 36 is unclear between 1902 and the early 1920s, but title reverted to the state some times in the early 1920s as school trust land.
Creation of the state park
The privately owned portion of Tower Rock was acquired by the
Montana Department of Transportation
The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) is a governmental agency in the U.S. state of Montana, responsible for numerous programs related to the construction, maintenance, and monitoring of Montana's transportation infrastructure and operati ...
(MDOT) in 1957 as part of the land acquisition of I-15 construction. But because the interstate passed east, rather than west, of Tower Rock, the new state land was never developed. MDOT later attempted to sell the land, but local residents successfully petitioned to have the sale canceled.
Tower Rock was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 18, 2002. In 2003, a bill was introduced in the
Montana Legislature
The Montana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Montana. It is composed of the 100-member Montana House of Representatives and the 50-member Montana Senate.
The Montana Constitution dictates that the legislature meet ...
prohibiting the state from selling Tower Rock and the surrounding acreage. Although the bill did not pass, MDOT officials paid heed to public sentiment and in February 2004 transferred ownership of the site enclosing Tower Rock to the
Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks
The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MFWP) is a government agency in the executive branch state of Montana in the United States with responsibility for protecting sustainable fish, wildlife, and state-owned park resources in Montan ...
.
About the state park
![Tower_Rock_and_State_Park_02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Tower_Rock_and_State_Park_02.jpg)
Tower Rock State Park is located about south of the city of Great Falls
in Cascade County, Montana. It may be accessed from interchange number 247 on Interstate 15.
The state park is located at the mouth of the Missouri River Canyon, a long canyon that begins at
Canyon Ferry Dam and ends at Tower Rock.
Tower Rock State Park has changed little from when Lewis and Clark first saw it in 1805. The site was unimproved when it was designated a state park in 2004,
and remained undeveloped in 2006. By 2016, however, a parking lot and interpretative signage had been added at the north end of the site.
A trail
led from the parking lot toward the saddle between the two outcrops. Use of Tower Rock State Park is restricted to daylight hours only.
Tower Rock had 11,496 visitors in 2016, a 61 percent increase over the 2015 visitor level of 7,128.
References
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External links
Tower Rock State Park. Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks
{{authority control
State parks of Montana
Protected areas of Cascade County, Montana
Pre-statehood history of Montana
National Register of Historic Places in Cascade County, Montana
Natural features on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana