Colter Shelter and Monument Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

MONTANA
2003

So how did a granite boulder from Montana wind up in the John Colter memorial Shelter in new Haven?

The story of the rock is an interesting sidelight in what's been a project of interesting stories.

David Menke, who organized the Colter project, said the original design for the Shelter included a rock column with a plaque on top. But when workers had finished the shelter, the idea came up to put a large boulder at the center of the shelter instead.

As Menke says, the next problem was where to get the right rock. Most of the rock in this area is sedimentary and wouldn't work right for the Shelter.

One day while standing in the shelter, looking out over the river, Menke and others had the idea to try to get a rock from the Yellowstone region, where Colter had lived and explored.

But how would you get such a rock, and how would you get it here?

Menke drove to Bockting Truck, which runs routes of the northwest, and told him about the idea. Dave Bockting was glad to help.

"Before I had hardly completed my story, Dave said 'you and a rock and I'll haul it here fro you,'" Menke said.

So Menke had a truck, but now he needed a rock. Menke then thought of a couple from Montana he had met during the spring. The couple, Phyllis Friesz of Billings and Jim Meade of Great Falls, had visited to discuss the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and in particular John Colter.

Jim is an interpreter at the Lewis and Clark Visitors Center in Great Falls, where he details the life of Colter to visitors. After their visit, which included a trip to the Arch in St. Louis, Jim and Phyllis wrote back to say that New Haven was the "highlight of their trip."

So Menke made some phone calls and it turned out, Phyllis' son-in-law is a masonry contractor. Phyllis called back the next day and said she was trying to find a rock in the Billings area.

"She took it as a personal challenge," Menke says. "Could she find a rock and have it transported to New Haven before Millers Landing Days, which was then only three weeks away."

oon she and others were scouring the mountains for the right rock. Stone masons had told them what kind of rock and texture to look for, and they found several that were suitable.

"They had difficulty making the final decision," Menke says.

The boulder came from the Stillwater drainage of the Yellowstone River, near the small community of Nye, Montana, according to an email from Phyllis. The area is just a few miles from the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Boundary in the Beartooth mountain range of the Rocky Mountains. A nearby wilderness trail leads to the top of the Beartooth mountains, with access to Yellowstone Park.

As Phyllis puts it, "it seemed like just the right place to get the John Colter rock."

Once the rock was chosen, it was taken to a monument company where it was inscribed. From there it went back to Phyllis' son-in-law's brickyard, where it was wrapped and crated for shipping.

Arrangements were made with Dave Bockting to have a truck driver, Hank Hoerstkamp, pick up the rock at the brickyard loading dock. Hoerstkamp loaded the rock in Billings on August 29 and drove it 300 miles, arriving here on Sunday, August 31. The rock was unloaded Tuesday, Sept. 2, with the help of Lee Gildehaus and Tom Kuhlmann. The rock was loaded on a Bobcat and placed in the memorial.

The inscription reads "John Colter, Mountain Man, Member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Montana, 2003."

Afterward, Menke called Phyllis and told her the job was completed.

"Her voice resonated with relief and joy," Menke says. "Her Montana 'Pet Rock' was now resting securely in the John Colter Memorial in new Haven, Missouri."

And it all came free of charge, as a gift "from the people of Montana," and from the one's who made it happen.

Menke said several people deserve acknowledgement and thanks for their efforts, including Phyllis Friesz and Jim Meade, (who each made cash donations); Gerald Hill Masonry (who helped pick out the rock); Teyler Enterprises (which helped pay for the rock and moved it to the monument company); Billings Monument Company (which donated more than half of the cost of engraving); and Hill Masonry Inc. (Phyllis' daughter and son-in-law, who helped manage the project.)

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