In 2011 the Three Forks Historical Society rescued the Trident Northern Pacific Railway Station, moving it to Three Forks. The station was scheduled for demolition by its owner, Montana Rail Link. Built at Trident, Montana in 1910 by the Northern Pacific Railroad, the station was the town's major link to the outside world until the advent of improved highways and motor vehicles. Built by the Three Forks Portland Cement Company, the town of Trident was a company town with but one product, cement processed from the surrounding limestone hills. When, in the 1940s and 50s, it became easier to commute from nearby Three Forks, employees, despite the cheap rent available in Trident, began to build houses in Three Forks. Slowly Trident emptied, the post office closed and the railway station closed, remaining unused until being threatened with demolition in 2010.
When the station arrived in Three Forks it was placed at the northern end of a small historical park named
Milwaukee Railroad Park alongside the Milwaukee Road tracks in Three Forks. Nearby is a Milwaukee Railroad caboose which serves as the Three Forks Visitor Information Centre. The rest of the park is dedicated to educating visitors to the town on the importance of the Three Forks area to the settlement and development of Montana. Signs and placards, large and small, relate the story of Three Forks, the Headwaters of the Missouri River, and the natives, fur traders, explorers and others who came to the area, if only briefly.
Much of the content is dedicated to the Headwaters of the Missouri, where the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin Rivers meet to form the Missouri River, only four miles northeast of Milwaukee Railroad Park.
Along the south end of the park are a series of nine plaques which cover an array of historical subjects. This, the third one, describes a typical fur trapper of the early 1800s.
For over 40 years these men frequented the Headwaters, trapping beaver.
THE FUR TRAPPER
Clad in buckskin,the trapper carried with him his knives, gunpowder and lead, a Hawken rifle, perhaps a pipe and a book. Except for flour and salt, he lived entirely off the land. He did his trapping in spring and fall. During the summer, trappers would gather at the annual rendezvous to exchange the season's catch_ for supplies. In winter the trapper would take refuge in whatever shelter he could find, passing the time by curing and tanning skins, making clothes for next year. Popular history has surrounded the mountain man with glory and adventure, but reality was often short rations, bitter cold, boredom and even sudden death.