2011 Summer Schedule

Date: May 16, 2011
Contact: Mandi Wick, 208-689-3151, ext. 1023

Big Hole National Battlefield will begin its summer hours on Sunday, May 22, 2011.

The renovations on the main visitor center will continue through the summer. There is a contact station located in the housing area which provides information on the park, exhibits, and sales area. The contact station will be open from 9am to 5pm daily, seven days a week. 

A movie is still available and shown on request to smaller groups. Larger groups will need to contact the park to make other arrangements. The Battlefield also offers three separate trails; these trails allow visitors access to the actual sites where the events took place.   Trail guides are available at the trailheads to provide opportunities for learning about the battle and the people who participated in it. Our Summer Speaker Series begins on June 25th and will continue every weekend through August 14th.  Look for a schedule of specific speakers to be announced at a later time. 

Directions to Big Hole National Battlefield from Wisdom, MT, take State Highway 43 west for 10 miles, or from Lost Trail Pass junction with US Highway 93, on the Montana and Idaho border, take State Highway 43 east for 16 miles. 

Big Hole National Battlefield is the site of a battle between the Nez Perce Indians and the 7th U.S. Infantry forces with civilian volunteers. Five bands of Nez Perce in 1877 were fleeing the government's attempt to confine them on a small reservation in

Idaho . On August 9 & 10, 1877 between 75 – 90 Nez Perce men, women and children and 31 soldiers lost their lives in one of the bloodiest conflicts in the history of the American West.