In this valley, many rangelands still look much as they did before the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through in 1805, though people and animals have traveled through and used these lands since prehistoric times. Montana Highway 41 and several nearby roads began as aboriginal trails that converged near Beaverhead Rock, the natural limestone outcrop whose sight brought long-sought relief to the Corps of Discovery in 1805. Barely 60 years later, the route here had become part of the well-traveled Montana-Utah Road, first used by ranchers and later serving as a primary shipping route after gold was discovered in nearby Grasshopper and Alder Gulches in the early 1860s. For 22 years in the mid-1800s, the present-day ranchlands also included a hotel, saloon, post office, and stage coach stop. For most of the last 200 years, these landscapes have continued to sustain livestock and wildlife coexisting much as prehistoric animals did when grazing together here millions of years ago. Today, Beaverhead Gateway Ranch borders federal land and Beaverhead State Park and includes a 118-acre wetland, developed by the Montana Department of Transportation in 1997, that teems year-round with birds and wildlife. Through the Undaunted Stewardship® program, the private ranch is managed so livestock grazing will sustain historic vegetative patterns and enhance wildlife and waterfowl habitat. The lands here have also yielded some of North America's best discoveries of the remains of small mammals that lived at least 37-38 million years ago, including species new to science that still have not been found elsewhere, and they continue to support grazing wildlife such as occasional moose, mule deer, and pronghorn antelope.