Welcome to Floweree, Montana

Floweree is near the Missouri River northeast of Great Falls. It was a station on the Great Northern Railway. “From Texas in 1873 came Daniel Floweree with a herd of 1,500 cattle followed by another large herd from Oregon the next year” (Mockel). (from Cheney’s Names on the Face of Montana, Mountain Press Publishing Company)

Portage National Historic Landmark, Carter Ferry on the Missouri River, and Benton Lake. Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge covers 12,383 acres on the western edge of the Great Plains, near Great Falls, Montana. The lake is actually a 5,000-acre shallow marsh in a closed basin created by the last continental glacier to occupy the area. The gentle rolling refuge uplands are dominated by 6,000 acres of native short grass prairie. Approximately 700 acres of former cropland has been planted to dense nesting cover, a mix of tall growing grasses and legumes. Water for refuge marshes is supplied by natural runoff from the small Lake Creek watershed and by water pumped from Muddy Creek, a stream 15 miles west of the refuge. The refuge lands support a great variety of water birds with both nesting and migration habitat. Up to 100,000 ducks, 40,000 geese, 5,000 tundra swans, bald eagles and peregrines may be observed in migration. Refuge habitat annually produces up to 20,000 ducks, 500 Canada geese, 10,000 Franklin's gulls, white-faced ibis and other species. A 9-mile auto tour route is open to the public for wildlife observation. About 4,000 acres is open to public hunting of game birds.