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The Centennial Cairn
The construction for the Milk River Centennial Cairn began early in 1966
with the collection of suitable rocks locally. The rocks which were eventually
included in the cairn come, appropriately enough, from all over North
America, but the majority of them were collected in this vicinity. Although
the base rocks of the region are primarily limestone and sandstone, igneous
outcrops are found in the vicinity of the Sweetgrass Hills, and large
areas of glacial deposition occur; thus a wide variety of rocks may be
gathered within a few miles, including agate, petrified wood and dinosaur
fossils. Examples of this are built into the cairn.
Actual construction of the cairn began in June 1966, and the task was completed just prior to the Sunshine Centennial Celebrations on the first of May, 1967. Although many people contributed to its building, special mention must be made of John Kolesar and Alva Bair, both of Milk River, and Lawrence Halmrast of Warner. Without the skill and technical knowledge of these men, the project would not have been possible.
The completed cairn weighs a total of 37 tons, including the pediment, is 12 feet long, 61/2 feet high and 31/2 feet thick. It carries a large bronze plaque outlining the history of the eight flags and stands in front of eight flag poles bearing the flags themselves.
