Anaconda-area sportsmen stage demonstration over whether road is public

ANACONDA -- While Anaconda-Deer Lodge County continues its research into what is allegedly a county road northeast of town, local sportsmen are uniting to press the issue.

About 75 people staged a peaceful (if at times heated) demonstration on Sunday afternoon on Modesty Creek Road, opening a pair of landowner gates to what they believe should be public access.

A line of more than 20 trucks rumbled over snow and ice on a stretch of the road running east to Dry Gulch through private land. There, they reviewed maps from as far back as 1889 that label the road as a county road.

One Anaconda police officer responded to the scene, but only to keep the peace. No arrests or citations were issued.

Read full text: Billings Gazette