I know the Milk River well as it formed the northern border of the Fort Belknap Reservation.  The river was named by Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark) because of its milky white color.  The river starts in the Rocky Mountains near Glacier and runs east through much of northcentral Montana. The place where I took photographs of the river is close to the Canadian border. The river swings back and forth through valleys that are cut through the prairie grasslands.  There are few places that more strongly evoke my feelings about Montana – the dry grass blowing in the wind, sage, colorful rocks covered with lichen … there is such a distinctive look, feel, smell to northcentral Montana. The banks of the riverbeds are covered with tipi rings; very old tipi rings. The tribes in the area used rocks to hold down the buffalo hides that covered their tipi poles to keep out the winds on the plains. When they moved their lodges, the rocks stayed in the circles where they had been placed. It is very easy to imagine large settlements of people drawn by large buffalo herds and access to fresh water.  This is a very special place, and now it is a sacred place for me.  This is the place I was trying to take Pauline on the day that she died.