Remembering the Eye of the Needle, which was vandalized and destroyed over Memorial Day weekend in 1997.
The Eye of the Needle could be seen a few miles upstream while floating the Missouri River, and from a distance it appeared to be just that - a tiny window allowing some of the sky to shine through. The structure was only about 11 feet high, created by nature over thousands of years and was built out of sandstone in the white cliffs above the Missouri. It wasn't very close to any town, so the most popular method of observing the structure was to float the river, and then pull over and scramble up to the top - where the views were amazing!
Through 1997, the Eye of the Needle sat on top of the white cliffs overlooking a section of the Missouri River along the Lewis and Clark Trail. The expedition passed through this part of Montana in 1805 when Lewis wrote in his journal, 'The hills and river Clifts which we passed today exhibit a most romantic appearance.'
The BLM (Bureau of Land Management) was going to rebuild a replica of the structure in Fort Benton - a town 30 miles downstream. I'm not sure if this ever happened - maybe one of you can confirm?
That said, I enjoyed my trip to the Eye of the Needle tremendously on a scout float trip when I was around 12 years old. Please enjoy the following photos of the structure fully in tact:
A photo of the current condition of the structure can be found here.
