Cow Creek (Montana) - The Cow Island Trail Up Cow Creek, and Freighting To Fort Benton, Montana

The Cow Island Trail Up Cow Creek, and Freighting To Fort Benton, Montana

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 15 miles (24 km) miles 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.