Established in 2010 and spanning some 5,600 acres, Fish Creek State Park is one of Montana’s newest and largest state parks. But for a seemingly new park, it also holds a considerable amount of history. Aboriginal peoples have utilized the drainage for generations. Just outside the park sits the “Big Pine,” which is the largest known ponderosa pine in Montana. The 194-foot giant is believed to be more than 350 years old.

In more recent times, the drainage was home to Andrew Garcia, a frontier renaissance man who herded cattle to Montana from Texas, worked as a trapper, and served as U.S. Army agent during the Indian Wars. Garcia settled along the creek in 1887, where he lived until his death in 1943. During his time at Fish Creek, Garcia recorded his memoirs in a manuscript that was later published as the renowned Tough Trip Through Paradise. When Garcia lived in the valley, he could have traveled to and from his homestead on a train he could board at a depot in nearby Rivulet. The Northern Pacific line, built in 1883, crossed Fish Creek at its mouth over a distinct trestle that remains in service today.

The railroad’s place in Fish Creek’s history also extends up the drainage. The federal government granted the railroad alternating sections of land—some 20 sections per mile on each side of its right-of-way—to help fund construction of the line. The railroad sold its Fish Creek holdings to the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in 1907, so the latter could supply timber in support of its mining enterprises. Timber giant Champion International bought the land in 1972 and, in turn, sold it to Plum Creek in 1993. The timber companies logged Fish Creek, as evidenced by the roughly 500 miles of logging roads cut into its mountainsides. In 2008, Plum Creek sold its landholdings to the Nature Conservatory and Trust for Public Lands. From there, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks stepped forward, acquired the property, and established it as a state park. Now much of the drainage is the public’s to enjoy—for hiking, fishing, hunting, or simply relaxing—and with it both the new and the old that Fish Creek has to offer.

Credits and Sources:

Aarstad, Rich , Ellen Arguimbau, Ellen Baumler, Charlene L. Porsild, and Brian Shovers. Montana Place Names from Alzada to Zortman. Helena: Montana Historical Society, 2009.

Banfill, W. H. “Story of Andrew Garcia.” The Philipsburg Mail, June 17, 1932.

Erickson, Jeff. “Under the Sheltering Pine: Coloring Fish Creek’s Checkerboard.” Big Sky Journal. Bozeman, MT: J. D. Publishing LLC, 2011.

Hill, Pat. “The Search for Andrew Garcia.” The Montana Pioneer. Livingston: Montana Pioneer Publishing, 2014.

Mineral County Historical Society. Mineral County History. Superior, MT: Mineral County Historical Society, 2004.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. “Fish Creek State Park.” http://stateparks.mt.gov/fish-creek/.

Historic photograph of “Milwaukee Train 264 on Fish Creek Viaduct,”

courtesy of the Philip C. Johnson Photographs; MSS 455. Photo Number 92.2818. Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, University of Montana, Missoula, MT.

Historic Photograph of “BRIDGE, OBLIQUE ANGLE, FACING SOUTHWEST. - Fish Creek Bridge, Cyr-Iron Mountain Road, Alberton, Mineral County, MT” courtesy of the Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

Contemporary photographs of Fish Creek courtesy of Montana State Parks.