MAKOSHIKA STATE PARK:

DEEP TIME, DEEP HISTORY, AND THE PRESERVATION OF MONTANA’S BADLANDS

INTRODUCTION

Situated on the southeastern edge of Glendive in Dawson County, Montana, Makoshika State Park occupies a singular place in both the natural and institutional history of the American West. Covering 11,538 acres of eroded badland terrain, it stands as Montana’s largest state park, a designation that understates its importance. The landscape preserved within its boundaries carries evidence of human habitation spanning more than 12,000 years, the geological memory of an ancient subtropical coastline, the skeletal remains of creatures that once dominated the earth, and the documented efforts of local citizens to protect a place they recognized as extraordinary long before it carried any formal designation. To understand Makoshika fully requires moving between scales of time – from the deep geological past to the mid-twentieth century decisions that formalized the park’s existence – while recognizing that the land itself has always been a subject of human meaning, whether in the oral traditions of indigenous peoples, the field notes of nineteenth-century naturalists, or the management plans of contemporary state administrators.

THE GEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK: HELL CREEK AND THE CEDAR CREEK ANTICLINE

The terrain that defines Makoshika State Park is the product of forces operating across hundreds of millions of years. The park’s most immediate geological context is the Hell Creek Formation, a sequence of sedimentary rock comprising grayish sandstones, siltstones, and mudstones deposited approximately 66 to 68 million years ago during the late Cretaceous and earliest Paleocene epochs. The formation extends across portions of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming, representing the accumulated sediment of a low-lying coastal plain that bordered the retreating Western Interior Seaway – a shallow epicontinental sea that had divided North America into two landmasses during much of the Cretaceous period. As that sea withdrew westward, rivers and deltas deposited the fine-grained material that now constitutes the most productive fossil-bearing rock unit in North America (Britannica, “Hell Creek Formation,” 2024).

The Hell Creek Formation was formally named and described by paleontologist Barnum Brown, who investigated the badlands near Jordan, Montana, in the early twentieth century in search of museum-quality specimens for the American Museum of Natural History. Brown recognized what he termed the “Hell Creek beds” as a geologically distinct unit, partly on the basis of their low lignite content relative to the overlying Fort Union Formation. His observations laid the groundwork for over a century of research (Hartman et al., 2014, as cited in MDPI, 2020). At Makoshika specifically, the Hell Creek Formation overlies the older Fox Hills Formation and is capped in places by the younger Fort Union Formation, with the contact between the two upper units marking the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary – the sedimentary record of the mass extinction event approximately 65.5 million years ago that ended the reign of non-avian dinosaurs. A thin clay seam rich in iridium runs through these exposures, consistent with the global geochemical signature attributed to the Chicxulub bolide impact. Visitors to the park can observe this boundary line directly in the exposed strata (Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks [FWP], 2024).

The larger tectonic context of Makoshika involves the Cedar Creek Anticline, an asymmetrical northwest-trending structural fold approximately 100 to 115 miles long, extending from the vicinity of Glendive southeast into South Dakota. This anticline was formed during the Laramide-Sevier Orogeny, a period of mountain-building between roughly 55 and 65 million years ago driven by subduction and terrane collisions along the western margin of North America, with compressional stresses transmitted hundreds of miles into the continental interior. The anticline’s steep southwestern flank and comparatively gentle northeastern flank produced the structural setting within which the Hell Creek Formation is exposed at Makoshika, seated on the nearly flat northeastern limb of the fold (Gibson, “Makoshika,” 2024; AAPG Bulletin, 1954). The anticline has its own economic history – natural gas was discovered in the Glendive area in 1913, and oil followed in the 1930s and 1950s – but its greater scientific significance lies in the way its uplift has exposed rock that would otherwise remain buried beneath younger sediments, making the fossil record of the late Cretaceous available for study.

The badlands morphology of the park results from differential erosion of these sedimentary layers. Harder rock forms capstones, natural bridges, and the distinctive balanced columns known as hoodoos, while softer materials erode away beneath them. The landscape shifts constantly as water and wind continue to work at the exposed rock faces, a process that simultaneously destroys existing fossil-bearing layers and reveals new ones.

THE PREHISTORIC RECORD: FROM DINOSAURS TO EARLY HUMAN OCCUPATION

During the late Cretaceous period, the region that is now Makoshika State Park bore no resemblance to its current arid configuration. Scientific reconstructions indicate that the Hell Creek ecosystem was a humid, low-lying environment of rivers, coastal marshes, and forested floodplains, broadly comparable in climate to the present-day Gulf Coast. Temperatures were warm year-round, supporting a diverse fauna that included crocodilians, turtles, fish, early mammals, and, most famously, large dinosaurs (Distinctly Montana, 2024). Among the species documented at Makoshika are Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops horridus, Edmontosaurus, Thescelosaurus, and more than ten additional dinosaur taxa, along with various pterosaurs. The park’s fossil assemblage reflects the broader composition of the Hell Creek fauna, which research at the Museum of the Rockies has shown to be dominated numerically by Triceratops among large-bodied dinosaurs, with Tyrannosaurus and Edmontosaurus also well-represented (UC Museum of Paleontology, 2024).

Following the K-Pg extinction event, the region transitioned through the Paleocene epoch and eventually to the drier conditions that characterize eastern Montana today. The mammals that survived and diversified after the extinction are also preserved in the Fort Union Formation layers above the K-Pg boundary.

Human presence in the Makoshika area dates to at least 12,000 years before the present. Paleo-Indian stone tool assemblages recovered from within and near the park’s boundaries include Clovis and Agate Basin projectile point types, reflecting the technology of nomadic hunter-gatherer populations who moved across the Northern Great Plains in pursuit of megafauna such as mammoth and early bison forms (Friends of Makoshika, 2024; Montana Office of Public Instruction [OPI], 2024). Over subsequent millennia, the area was inhabited and traversed by a succession of indigenous peoples. In the historical period, the badlands of eastern Montana fell within territories associated with Lakota, Dakota, and Nakoda (Assiniboine) peoples, among others, several of whom maintained oral traditions that assigned cultural significance to the fossilized bones and dramatic terrain encountered in the badlands. In the Lakota tradition, large fossil bones were associated with the Unktehi, a powerful water creature of spiritual significance. The landscape’s very name, Makoshika (mako sica in Lakota), reflects this cultural geography: it translates variously as “bad land,” “bad earth,” or “pitiful earth,” a characterization of terrain that was inhospitable to agriculture and poor for hunting – land that was difficult rather than malevolent (Montana OPI, 2024).

EARLY EURO-AMERICAN OBSERVATION AND THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY FOSSIL RECORD

The arrival of Euro-American explorers introduced a new mode of observation to the Makoshika landscape. During the return leg of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1806, William Clark and his party traveled down the Yellowstone River, passing through the area that now encompasses Glendive. Clark recorded in his journal a note about the “birnt hills” – a reference to the reddish, eroded terrain that is a characteristic feature of the badlands visible near the present park boundary. This casual field notation represents one of the earliest documented references by Euro-American observers to the Makoshika landscape (National Park Service, 2024).

The scientific documentation of the region’s fossil wealth followed closely on the heels of railroad survey and settlement activity later in the nineteenth century. In 1889, a research associate of Yale paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh conducted a reconnaissance of the Makoshika badlands on horseback and recorded the observation of approximately 500 Triceratops skulls visible in the eroding outcrops – a figure that, while representing the exuberant counting habits of the era, speaks to the extraordinary density of fossil material that characterized the Hell Creek exposures of eastern Montana at that time (Friends of Makoshika, 2024). The late nineteenth century was the period of the so-called Bone Wars, during which Marsh and his rival Edward Drinker Cope competed aggressively to name new dinosaur species from Western fossil localities. Eastern Montana’s badlands were drawn into this competitive collecting effort, and the Glendive area’s scientific reputation was established during these decades.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PARK: LOCAL ADVOCACY AND INSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

The formal protection of the Makoshika landscape was driven not by federal initiative but by sustained local advocacy from the citizens of Glendive and Dawson County. The first significant recorded effort came in 1938, when the Glendive Chamber of Commerce proposed the creation of a Badlands National Park to rival the one established in South Dakota. Chamber secretary K. E. Burleigh wrote to federal officials requesting an inspection of the local badlands and making the case that the region needed an attraction capable of retaining tourist traffic. The National Park Service’s regional office evaluated the proposal but ultimately determined that the area did not rise to the standard of national significance required for park status (Friends of Makoshika, 2024; List of Parks, 2020).

The decisive catalyst for the park’s creation came from a private landowner. Catherine McCarty, a homesteader who had settled on land adjacent to the badlands, proposed Makoshika as a state park in 1939 and donated a quarter-section of land along with her homestead cabin to Dawson County as the nucleus of the proposed park. McCarty’s cabin still stands within the park today, a material artifact of the human habitation that preceded formal designation. Acting on McCarty’s donation, Dawson County transferred 160 acres to the state of Montana in 1939, establishing what would become Montana’s largest state park (Friends of Makoshika, 2024). In 1953, the county contributed an additional 80 acres. Subsequent decades saw the park’s footprint expand substantially through acquisitions from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, additional Dawson County land transfers, and purchases from private landowners, eventually reaching its current extent of 11,538 acres.

The park’s administration passed to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks agency, which continues to manage it as part of the state parks system. A visitor center was established at the park entrance, housing interpretive displays on the park’s geology, paleontology, and natural history, as well as actual fossil specimens. The construction of the visitor center was motivated in part by the discovery of major fossil specimens in the early 1990s, which sharpened awareness of both the site’s scientific importance and the need for institutional infrastructure to interpret it for the public.

MAJOR FOSSIL DISCOVERIES AND SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE

The paleontological record of Makoshika State Park has attracted sustained research attention from major scientific institutions. Among the most significant discoveries in the park’s history was the 1990-1991 excavation led by paleontologist Diane Gabriel of the Museum of the Rockies, which recovered a complete female Triceratops horridus skull weighing approximately 600 pounds and measuring 5.5 feet in length. This specimen, now displayed as the central exhibit in the park’s visitor center, is considered one of the finest Triceratops skulls ever recovered and directly prompted the construction of a dedicated visitor facility at Makoshika (Friends of Makoshika, 2024; Montana FWP, 2024).

In 1997, a second major discovery drew attention to the park when an expedition led by Museum of the Rockies curator Jack Horner and fossil preparator Bob Harmon recovered what is considered the largest and most complete Thescelosaurus skeleton known to science. Thescelosaurus was a small, bipedal herbivore from the latest Cretaceous, rarely preserved in complete or near-complete form. The Makoshika specimen’s quality placed the park in the broader scientific discussion of Hell Creek fauna diversity and provided material for comparative anatomical study (Friends of Makoshika, 2024; Montana FWP, 2024).

These high-profile discoveries exist within a broader context of ongoing field research. The Museum of the Rockies, the Burpee Museum of Natural History, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Notre Dame, and other academic institutions conduct annual excavation programs within the park and on adjacent lands, contributing to a cumulative knowledge base about late Cretaceous ecology, taxonomy, and extinction dynamics. Fossil remains of more than ten dinosaur species have been formally documented from Makoshika’s exposures, along with evidence of pterosaurs, fish, and early mammals. The Diane Gabriel Trail within the park allows visitors to observe in situ hadrosaur vertebrate fossils projecting from the sediment in the manner of an active excavation site, bridging the gap between scientific fieldwork and public interpretation (Montana Dinosaur Trail, 2024).

The park’s contribution to science extends beyond individual specimen recovery. The visible K-Pg boundary within the park’s stratigraphy makes Makoshika one of a relatively small number of accessible sites where visitors can directly observe the sedimentary record of the end-Cretaceous extinction event. The iridium-rich clay layer that marks this boundary is geochemically consistent with the global signature of the Chicxulub impact, and its presence within the park connects a local geological feature to one of the most consequential events in the history of life on Earth.

THE BROADER LANDSCAPE: ECOLOGY, GEOGRAPHY, AND PUBLIC USE

Makoshika’s ecological character reflects the intersection of its badlands topography, semi-arid climate, and geographic position in the Northern Great Plains. The park’s vegetation is sparse by design: stands of ponderosa pine and Rocky Mountain juniper occupy sheltered draws and ridge tops, while open badland slopes support drought-tolerant grasses and forbs. Wildlife documented within the park includes mule deer, coyotes, prairie rattlesnakes, and a diverse avian assemblage of more than 200 recorded species, among them golden eagles, bald eagles, prairie falcons, turkey vultures, and mountain bluebirds (The Tourist Checklist, 2025; Southeast Montana Tourism, 2024). The park’s remote location in eastern Montana, well away from urban light pollution, also makes it a regionally recognized site for night-sky observation.

Glendive, the nearest community, lies immediately north of the park entrance and has maintained a close civic and economic relationship with Makoshika since the park’s founding. The Yellowstone River flows through Glendive, connecting the town to a wider recreational geography that includes fishing, agate hunting, and boating. The Frontier Gateway Museum in Glendive houses additional paleontological and regional historical collections that complement the interpretive offerings at Makoshika.

The park has developed a range of visitor facilities and programming over the decades since its establishment. In addition to the visitor center, the park offers scenic drives, eleven marked hiking and biking trails of varying difficulty, a campground with 28 sites, a group picnic area, an outdoor amphitheater used for summer programming and the annual Montana Shakespeare in the Parks series, an 18-hole disc golf course, and an archery range. Annual events include the Buzzard Day celebration on the second Saturday of June and National Fossil Day activities in October. The Friends of Makoshika, a nonprofit support organization, coordinates volunteer activities and community engagement with the park (Montana FWP, 2024; Southeast Montana Tourism, 2024).

CONCLUSIONS

Makoshika State Park occupies an unusual position in Montana’s public lands history. It was not created through federal initiative or the intervention of national conservation organizations, but through the convergence of civic entrepreneurialism, a single landowner’s generosity, and a local community’s recognition that the terrain on its doorstep held value that extended beyond agriculture or extraction. The park now preserves, within its 11,538 acres, one of the most significant exposures of Hell Creek Formation geology on the continent – a geological record spanning the final period of dinosaur dominance, the catastrophic extinction that ended it, and the early recovery of mammalian life that followed. Layered within that geological record is evidence of human engagement with the landscape stretching back 12,000 years, from Paleo-Indian hunters to Lakota oral traditions to nineteenth-century fossil collectors to the state park system’s contemporary stewardship. Makoshika remains an active site of scientific research, public education, and community identity, its significance deepened by each new fossil recovered from its eroding walls.

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