The Montana Dinosaur Trail

If Russell Country seems interesting today, wait until you check out our prehistoric past.

Today, Russell Country is one of the richest areas in the world for dinosaur fossils. Here you will find "hands on" archaeological, paleontological and geological experiences.

Summer is an excellent time to dig dinosaurs along the Rocky Mountain Front or visit ancient archaeological sites like First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park or discover dinosaur eggs at Egg Mountain.

More than 65 million years ago, the Montana landscape was very different than it is today. A large inland sea covered much of the area that is now Montana. It created a semi-tropical flood plain not unlike the Everglades of Florida today.

During the last days of the dinosaurs, large herds of these massive beasts lived, migrated and nested in the upland areas surrounding the shallow sea. Duckbill dinosaurs and horned dinosaurs known as Triceratops are two of the plant eating varieties that inhabited the area.

The Triceratops was a herd animal; it is believed that large groups roamed North America. Their large beaks and long rows of teeth were well designed for chewing tough, low growing plants. It was likely the main predator of these animals was the Tyrannosaurus rex which means "tyrant lizard". A number of skeletons show bite and chew marks that match the teeth of T. rex.

The Russell Country portion of the Montana Dinosaur Trail includes the following sites at Bynum, Chinook, Choteau, Havre, Harlowton and Rudyard.

Blaine County Museum - Chinook

The Blaine County Museum's Paleontology Department displays a dozen Judith River Formation exhibits including Hadrosaur, Gorgosaurus and Ankylosaurus fossils from the area. Remains of gigantic marine reptiles Mosasaur and Pleisosaur are featured, along with invertebrates from the area's ancient ocean (75-500 million years past). In the Look, Touch and Wonder room, guests can handle fossils of sea creatures, plants and dinosaurs that roamed this area millions of years ago.

H. Earl Clack Museum - Havre

Many dinosaur discoveries of world-wide significance have been found in Montana and along the Montana/Canadian border. One such find, 75 million year old dinosaur eggs with embryos found in the Judith River Formation, is on display in the H. Earl Clack Museum. Research suggests these eggs were laid by a Lambeosaur, a large duck-billed, plant-eating dinosaur that grew bigger than most of the meat-eaters of its time. It walked on all four legs much of the time, but it could also stand easily on its hind legs, as they were much larger than its front legs.

These specimens are extremely rare and give visitors, and paleontologists alike, a glimpse into dinosaur development. Visitors to the museum also have a chance to touch actual fossils in the hands-on exhibit. This feature is especially attractive to younger visitors who have never touched fossils before.

Rudyard Depot Museum - Rudyard

The Rudyard area has provided dinosaur specimens for the Museum of the Rockies (MOR) and other premier institutions for years. Now an MOR affiliate, the Depot Museumís signature display is the "Oldest Sorehead," a fully articulated Gryposaurus found near here. The facilityís lifelike duckbill dinosaur and egg nest display places you right next to these ancient creatures. Other permanent and changing dinosaur exhibits. Open Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Upper Musselshell Museum - Harlowton

The Upper Musselshell Museum in Harlowton is also part of the Dinosaur Trail in Russell Country. The museum's centerpiece is a full-size replica of a skeleton found in the Judith River Formation near Shawmut: an Avaceratops, the first dinosaur found of its kind. The Avaceratops had a short, deep snout with a thick and powerful lower jaw.

The museum also has a Hadrosaur tibia and fibula, a cast of a Gypsonictops jaw, numerous dinosaur leg bone and hip bone fossils, fossilized clam shells, musselshells and snails, and a large ammonite (coiled chamber shell of an extinct mollusk).

Old Trail Museum - Choteau

The last stop on the Dinosaur Trail in Russell Country is located near the Two Medicine Formation along the Rocky Mountain Front. The Old Trail Museum in Choteau features a "Dinosaurs of the Two Medicine" paleontology gallery. The area west of Choteau is where egg shell fragments and baby dinosaurs were found thirty years ago, forever changing how the world thinks about dinosaurs.

Two Medicine Dinosaur Center - Bynum

Montana dinosaurs at the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center include the world's longest dinosaur, a full-size skeletal model of Seismosaurus halli (earth-shaker lizard); a Guinness Book of World Records listing at 137 feet long, nearly 23 feet tall at the hips. The Center also features the first baby dinosaur bones found in North America among its displays.

The Center is famous for its public hands-on dinosaur research and education programs. Advance registration required for most programs; some offer College credit.

View a photo gallery of sites and museums along Montana's Dinosaur Trail by clicking here.