A Brief History of Whitehall: Part II

A prominent feature that draws visitors to this Jefferson Valley community are the twelve Lewis and Clark murals depicting the Corps of Discovery's passage thru the landscape. In 1999, residents created the base for each mural, while Kit Mather and Michelle Tebay, who both live in the area, painted the details. Spread around Whitehall, these paintings link the town today to Montana's important place in the exploration of the Louisiana Purchase and beyond.

Memories can be easily lost through the generations, but Whitehall strives to preserve the history of the Jefferson Valley and educate residents about the origins of the place. Near downtown Whitehall sits a restored barn from 1914 that holds the Jefferson Valley Museum. Free to visitors, the museum depicts the history of the region from before settlement by Europeans to modern times. They also store genealogy catalogs and other research materials about the area. Volunteers manage the museum.

One of the biggest events of the year for Whitehall is Frontier Days. It spans the fourth weekend of July and includes rodeos, street vendors, a parade, Kids Art in the Park, a talent show, and more. Each year has a theme, and residents from throughout the valley come to town to celebrate, watch various competitions, and learn more about their history. The 37th anniversary of Frontier Days was held in 2021; after the early days of the pandemic kept many people away from this community event, the theme was Rediscover Whitehall, inviting everyone to partake and celebrate the town, as it is today and throughout the past couple centuries.

Each May, the Whitehall Chamber of Commerce and the Jefferson Valley Community Foundation organize a fundraiser titled Black Tie Blue Jeans. The event raises money for local nonprofits, along with the funding for other Whitehall Chamber events including Frontier Days, the Fall Festival, and the Christmas Stroll, as well as the Whitehall Community Library's summer reading programs.

Whitehall can boast of being only a 20-mile drive from Montana's first state park: Lewis & Clark Caverns. It includes 3,000 acres of vistas, peaks, and opportunities for camping, but it is best known for its caverns, some of the largest known caves of their kind in the Northwest. These limestone caverns originally formed about 325 million years ago and were probably carved during ice ages with the help of acidic groundwater.

Today, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks offers guided tours of the caves. Lewis & Clark Caverns are also home to eight species of bats, including Townsend's big-eared species. These bats have only four known maternity rousts, one of which is in these caverns; park rangers monitor and protect them.

South of town the Tobacco Root Mountains rising to more than 6,400 feet above Main Street are home to a wide variety of species, including some of the most endangered wildlife in Montana, such as the western toad, flammulated owl, and Canada lynx.

Though glaciers cut towering rock walls, hikers can find a wide variety of trails and campsites.

Hollowtop Mountain is the high point of the Tobacco Roots, reaching 10,604 feet. Named for the large cutout on one side of the mountain, climbers will find a variety of routes to the peak. Also in the southwest viewshed of Whitehall, the less expansive but very impressive Highland Mountains crowd part of the horizon. The highest pinnacle, Table Mountain, 10,223 feet pinnacle is very visible.

Much of the area around Whitehall is included in the Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest, the largest national forest in Montana, covering over 3.36 million acres. It is beloved by hikers, hunters, climbers, and all other outdoor enthusiasts. Within this realm, and close to Whitehall, are two well-known points of interest: Delmoe Lake and Ringing Rocks. Picturesque Delmoe Lake, surrounded by forests and cliffs, is a popular camping and fishing spot for locals.

Ringing Rocks looks like a large pile of boulders, but due to the composition of the rock and the erosion around them, a chime can be heard when the pile is hit with a hammer. When a piece is removed, it does not ring. This fascinating and unique geologic outcropping makes its beautiful music together, not separately.

The Jefferson River is an invaluable asset to Whitehall. In many places it meanders through brushy, cottonwood bottoms, surrounded by numerous backwater sloughs that are vital to waterfowl, upland birds, and other wildlife in the area. Bird hunting and fishing pastimes are accessible to the community.

Whitehall's location near Interstate Hwy 90 and within easy reach of air service in Helena, Butte and Bozeman has held a stable population of just over 1,000 over the past 30 years. Within sight of easily reached big mountains, the navigable Jefferson River, a scenic setting in ranch country, easy access to the mountains and a peaceful atmosphere has much to do with folks not leaving.

Montana is a big state, both in land and sky, and over the years Montanans have settled in various small towns as important places to meet, cross paths with distant neighbors, and generally form larger communities. One prime example of towns like this is Whitehall, which remains an exciting community that welcomes all travelers to explore an important and scenic part of Montana's antiquity.