With Spokane in the rearview mirror, things were already looking up. 30 minutes down the road and we found the Idaho border and our first stop for the day.
Located in Post Falls Idaho, Treaty Rock is a site of great historical significance. Before we get into the history of the area, let's look at some of the park first.
Upon arriving at the park you'll see the sign for the hiking path back to the Rock. In 1977 the land was donated to the Parks Department and in 1992 was added to the National Registry of Historical sites.
The sign doesn't really have a distance on it but I would guess the hike to be about a mile. There was no one else around and the trail was in an "Urban" type of environment. We made our way down the path until coming to the Rock.
On June 1st 1871, Chief Seltice of the Coeur d’Alene tribe and German settler Frederick Post made an agreement for 200 acres of land. Post would build a lumber mill on the land and in return he would supply the tribes with lumber.
This is the only known contract between the Native Americans and Settlers that was carved into a rock. It's very hard to picture due to the Plexiglass covering it. They had some problems with vandalism so it was installed. Here is the best picture I got of it and the sign showing what it says.
After taking in the sights and sounds of the area, we made our way back to the RoadTrip Chariot. A few minutes down the road and we were blown away. Coeur d’Alene is absolutely beautiful and we should have drove the extra 30min last night to stay here. Noted!
Our next stop was slightly off our route. Who am I fooling, we didn't have a route. 😂
Traveling East on Interstate 90 we came to Highway 4. Heading North up highway 4 you find yourself in a Geologists Dream. This area is home to the largest Silver producing mines in the World!
We went as far North on the road as we could and made it up to the small town of Burke. It was an old mine site that had shutdown after an explosion and fire. Here is some info from the signs.
We didn't really see any other people or vehicles, then out of nowhere an old women shows up. She has lived across the road from the mine for decades and her husband used to work there.
She invited us back to her house and told us her stories of the area. She also wrote a book about the railroad and mine here back in the 50's. She was a very sweet lady and probably doesn't get many visitors up here. This is one of the articles and the mine site.
After visiting with her for an hour or so, we got back on the road. She did warn us that the road was still snowed in before we could cross into Montana. We would have to follow Highway 4 back South to get back to I-90, and that's just what we did. It was afternoon now and time for some lunch.
Crossing into Montana we came to a town called Haugan and this is where we found some food. I'm not sure how they got the name for this café, but they did have a ton of silver coins at the giftshop.
Inside was just about everything you could want or need. They had a full Western Boot and Clothing section, a Café, a Hotel and giftshop and some other amenities. We headed in for a bite to eat.
The Café had about 10-15 people waiting for service. They were very understaffed and that was also a common theme across the country. The young women working was pregnant and due anytime. She was waiting the tables, bussing the food, cleaning the tables and working the register.
We ordered our food and dug in. I got the Double Bison Burger with fries and it was fantastic!
When we were done eating we bussed our own table and gave the waitress a hand with some of the others. People started to catch on that she had no help and started doing the same. Back on the road.
The drive from Haugan to here was nothing short of amazing. Beauty as far as the eye could see. On this part of the trip we also saw either a wildfire or controlled burn off in the mountains.
One thing that really stood out about Butte was the casinos. They were everywhere. Pull in to the Gas Station...Casino/slot machines. Get to the hotel and it has a Casino connected to it. It seemed like every business had a "Casino". Most of them were just a few slot machines and some video poker but they were literally in every establishment.
That was a wrap for Day 19. We found a hotel and wound down from the day. We didn't cover many miles as a good deal of the day was on icy mountain roads at slow speeds. Here is our trip for the day.
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