leifw

Two hundred years ago yesterday, the first white guy walked into the valley I live in. Two hundred years ago today, William Clark and his company followed old buffalo roads out of my valley, over the Bozeman pass, and into the Yellowstone valley at the direction of the invaluable Sacagawea.

Upon arriving near present day, Livingston, Montana, Clark remarked on

• "those Snowey Mountains to the N W"
• "a high rugid mountain covered with Snow"
• "mountains to the S. S. E on the East side of the river is rocky rugid and on them are great quantities of Snow"
• "a high rugid Mtn. on which is Snow bearing North 15 or 20 miles"

I'm guessing the snowy, high points he mentions are the Crazy Mountains, Livingston Peak, the Absaroka Mountains, and some point in the Bridgers. It's been at least a month seen there's been a significant amount of snow on the peaks around here, as has been the case in recent years past. I feel like that leaves two reasonable conclusions:

1. 1806 was an unusually cold and snowy year.
2. 2003-2006 have been notably warmer and/or drier than 1806.

My guess is for the latter.