A path in rural Montana that the Lewis and Clark Expedition once trod joins historic sites in New York City, New Orleans and Chicago on the not-for-profit National Trust for Historic Preservation's 21st annual list of "America's Most Endangered Historic Places."

 

 

The list, released Tuesday, highlights examples of architectural, cultural and natural heritage threatened by destruction or irreparable damage.

The Great Falls Portage marks the 18-mile, 31-day portage of Lewis and Clark around the Great Falls of the Missouri River in 1805.

Highwood Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant proposed near the portage eight miles east of Great Falls, would mar its historic and visual significance of the portage, preservationists said Tuesday morning at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.

Barbara Pahl, the executive director of the National Trust's regional office in Denver, said she hopes including the site on the nationwide list prompts the plant's developer, Southern Montana Electric Generation and Transmission, to move the coal-fired power plant to a new location.

"We're doing this to build awareness," Pahl said.

Tim Gregori, general manager of SME, said later that the main portion of Highwood already has been relocated outside the landmark's footprint.

"We believe our actions and the presence of Highwood Station will not materially detract from the Lewis and Clark experience," he said.

The facility won't be visible from the expedition's most well-preserved campsite on the Missouri River and only the very top of the plant's 400-foot stack would be seen from an interpretive site on Salem Road, he said.

The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center was the backdrop for a news conference announcing that the Lewis and Clark site had made the list again.

Pompey's Pillar near Billings and Traveler's Rest by Lolo, also Lewis and Clark sites, previously were named.

"It is, indeed, a dubious honor to be here," said Dan Wiley of the National Park Service, which oversees historic places and the Lewis and Clark Trail.

Wiley said a coal-to-liquids facility being considered at Malmstrom Air Force base also threatens the portage.

As a result, the landmark is in jeopardy of being "delisted" as a national historic place, he said. Gregori says there's no evidence the site will lose its listing, noting a school and housing subdivision have been constructed in the corridor since plans for Highwood were announced.

Wiley said the Lewis and Clark portage is significant because it gives visitors a perspective of the landscape the explorers saw.

Carol Bronson, executive director of the Great Falls-based Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation Inc., which has 37 chapters nationwide, is conducting a national Lewis and Clark convention this summer.

"It would be very awkward to say, 'Guys, come to see our site,' but not have the landmark here," she said.

The Highwood plant wouldn't just have an aesthetic impact on the trail, the historic preservationists said. The historic designation brings with it tourists, funding and identity.

"It's no accident Great Falls is named after the falls," said Chere Jiusto, executive director of the Montana Preservation Alliance.

Besides the portage, this year's lists included Philadelphia's last downtown movie palace, California's financially strapped state park system and a 12-block stretch of historic buildings in Chicago.

It's the ninth time a Montana historic location has made the list, Pahl said.

One other Montana site, Rosebud Battlefield State Park in the southeastern part of the state, also was nominated this year, she said