Big Sky heaven - Paradise Valley, Montana

Sunset, August, 2000 by Caroline Patterson

Paradise Valley is Montana at its best

Imagine the opening of a movie about the 19th-century West. The camera sweeps over Livingston, situated on a bend in the Yellowstone River in southwestern Montana, its sturdy Victorian houses laid out in a grid bisected by railroad tracks. Follow the river south as it squeezes through a canyon that opens into the Paradise Valley--a broad valley set between the spiky Absarokas and the rounded Gallatin Range, where drowsy cattle graze in the lush, sunlit fields.

Now, look closer. As worthy as it is of the wide screen, this corner of Montana is no mere exercise in nostalgia. Long loved by Montanans, Livingston and the Paradise Valley are being discovered by outsiders who have put new coats of paint on the Victorians, and opened art galleries and fly-fishing shops. The influx has brought challenges, and possibilities. In its way, it's a fitting tribute to one of the most beautiful parts of the American West.

From Madame Bulldog to portabella mushrooms

From its start in 1882, when it was founded as a division point for the Northern Pacific Railroad, Livingston was part company town and part Wild West. Railroad officials built elegant offices and homes. "Our city is taking on metropolitan airs," the Enterprise boasted in 1883. Still, Livingston retained its rough edge. In 1887 the paper described the 1,300 residents as "gamblers, saloonmen and prizefighters." At the Bucket of Blood saloon, two sheepherders reportedly got in a fight and went outside. Only one returned. He set the other's head on the bar and asked the bartender, Madame Bulldog, to give his friend a drink.

Today Livingston is tamer, but its population of 7,500 is still an eclectic mix of retirees, railroad men, mill workers--and wealthy newcomers, drawn by the superb natural setting.

The change has sparked concerns. "Livingston is attached to its past as an old cow town where you could walk down the street and greet your neighbors," says Jim Barrett of the Park County Environmental Council. "If we convert it into a boutique, that character is lost." Still, the new Livingston possesses an undeniable, if improbable, charm. Ranchwear stores stand next to galleries. At Chatham's Livingston Bar & Grill on Main Street, ranchers belly up to the mahogany bar next to diners eating portabella mushrooms and discussing meditation.

The town's quieter attractions likewise blend traditional and timely. The region's love of fly-fishing--the trout-rich Yellowstone River attracts anglers from around the world--has for more than 60 years supported Dan Bailey's Fly Shop, where you can purchase royal wulffs or find out about fishing guides. The newer International Fly Fishing Center is located in a 1910 brick schoolhouse and exhibits angling art and an array of flies and fly rods.

A trip through paradise

Paradise Valley begins 4 miles south of Livingston on U.S. 89. For more than 2,500 years, people have come to this valley searching for something. Crow Indians sought visions on Livingston Peak. Miners sought gold. Shortly after the Civil War, the "dispossessed and freebooters," as one rancher described them, established sprawling cattle ranches on the rich bottomlands of the Yellowstone River.

More recently, retirees and members of the fax-and-modem set--including actors Jeff Bridges, Dennis Quaid, and Meg Ryan--have left the hurly-burly of the city for mountain-edged views.

The two best places to stay here reflect the tastes of this new crowd. Undeniably historic, both have updated themselves with well-appointed rooms and dinner menus that are a far cry from Montana's steak-and-potatoes standard. One-hundred-year-old Chico Hot Springs is now a bustling resort. The Mountain Sky Guest Ranch sponsors classic dude activities like horseback rides, but its dining room features entr[acute{e}]es like rosemary-smoked lamb.

As in Livingston, the influx of wealth has been unsettling. Yet locals retain faith that their valley is close-knit enough to withstand the changes.

"As new people come in, they meet the old-timers," says fourth-generation cattle rancher and former state senator Pete Story. "We have three well-attended churches. We have poker games, barbecues. It makes this valley a better place to live."

What also hasn't changed is the simple grandeur of this land--the broad sweep of the valley and mountains as they open north toward Livingston, the slow roll of the Yellowstone as it flows north under the blue sky. In this favored corner of Montana, you will find beauty, changes, and the accompanying conflict. But that's what happens when you call a place Paradise.

Paradise Valley travel planner

Livingston is about 50 miles north of Yellowstone National Park via U.S. 89 and 25 miles east of Bozeman via I-90. The Paradise Valley runs south from Livingston to near Gardiner. For more information contact the Livingston Area Chamber of Commerce at (406) 222-0850 or www.yellowstonechamber.com. Area code is 406 unless noted.

Attractions

Start your Livingston visit with a stop at the Livingston Depot Center, the Italianate train depot turned historical museum, which features a Rails Across the Rockies exhibit and a model train. 9-5 Mon-Sat, 1-5 Sun, mid-May-mid-October; $3.200 W Park St.; 222-2300.