Welcome to the Mountain Ranges

The Judith Landing area has long been an important crossroads because at the confluence of two rivers it offers denser trees than elsewhere in this part of Montana and the easiest place to cross the Missouri for miles in either direction. With ready water, wood, forage, and sheltered space, numerous Indian tribes and their ancestors gathered here for seasonal hunts and meetings, and these lands and river routes were widely known long before the Lewis and Clark Expedition camped here in 1805. For the same reasons, two pivotal Indian treaties were later negotiated and signed here. As Euro-American immigration increased in the mid-18?0s, the Missouri River became a major route for supplies and people, and the area's geography made it a primary stopping point; until railroads were completed in 1887, most everything entering or leaving Montana passed here. Ranching began on these lands in 1881 and has continued ever since, and today the Wortman Ranch manages its land and livestock through Undaunted Stewardship so that grazing preserves the land's historic character and maintains habitat for wildlife and waterfowl.

Montana · United States